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the reaction of methyldithiocarbazinate ( mdtc ) with trifluoroacetic acid ( tfa ) forms a mixture of 2 -( methylthio )- 5 -( trifluoromethyl )- 1 , 3 , 4 - thiadiazole ( tda ) and 2 , 5 - bis -( methylthio )- 1 , 3 , 4 - thiadiazole ( bis by - product ). the reaction of mdtc with tfa forms a reaction mixture comprising an aqueous phase , which is removed from the reaction mixture by azeotropic distillation , and an organic phase . the tda and bis by - product are contained in the organic phase . while not being bound by theory , it is believed that both the bis by - product and the tda form complexes with acid , and that the bis by - product can displace tda from tda - acid complexes . the displacement can be diagrammed in the reaction shown below : wherein “ a ” represents an acid , preferably an inorganic acid such as sulfuric acid , “( a · tda )” represents a tda - acid complex , and “( bis · tda )” represents a bis by - product - acid complex . the tda - acid complex and bis by - product - acid complex are acid soluble , and thus may be removed from an organic phase with an acid solution , preferably an inorganic acid solution . a single acid extraction often results is loss of tda into the acid solution , or undesirable levels of bis by - product in the organic phase . it has unexpectedly been found that multiple acid extractions , particularly acid extractions wherein a first extraction is performed using an acid solution which was previously used in a prior extraction , results in improved yield and purity of tda . as used herein , “ acid extraction ” refers to a process in which an organic phase is acidified with an acid solution , and as a result of acidification , a second organic phase and aqueous phase are formed . thus “ multiple acid extractions ” refers to a process in which a second organic phase is obtained from the first acid extraction , and the second organic phase is subjected to at least one additional acid extraction , resulting in , for example , a third organic phase and aqueous phase from a second extraction ; a fourth organic phase and aqueous phase from a third extraction ; and so forth . while not being bound by theory , an initial acid extraction of the organic phase from a first tda reaction mixture is believed to result in an acid phase containing both ( a · tda ) and ( a · bis ) complexes . when this acid phase is separated from the organic phase of the first tda reaction mixture , and is used in the first extraction of the organic phase from a subsequent tda reaction mixture , the bis by - product in the organic phase of the subsequent reaction mixture displaces the tda from the ( a · tda ) of the acid phase , resulting in an acid phase with a significant amount of bis by - product and a low level of tda . the subsequent tda reaction mixture is extracted with a fresh acid solution ( i . e . an acid solution which has not been used in a prior extraction ) to give tda of high yield and / or purity . it has surprisingly been found that bis by - product removal is improved by using two acid extractions , rather than one acid extraction , of the organic phase of the reaction mixture . it has also surprisingly been found that the tda yield obtained from a first extraction using an acid comprising both ( a · tda ) and ( a · bis ) complexes and a second extraction using an acid which is free of ( a · tda ) and ( a · bis ) complexes is greater that the yield obtained from a single extraction using an acid which is free of ( a · tda ) and ( a · bis ) complexes . generally , organic phases of tda reaction mixtures treated in accordance with the present invention comprise from about 1 to about 5 , preferably 1 . 5 to about 2 . 5 %, by weight , of bis by - product . tda purified in accordance with the present invention is generally obtained in yields of from about 99 to about 99 . 5 %, preferably from about 99 . 3 to about 99 . 5 %, and in a purity of from about 59 to about 63 %, preferably from about 60 to about 62 %. in one embodiment the tda yield obtained from a first extraction using an acid comprising both ( a · tda ) and ( a · bis ) complexes and a second extraction using an acid which is free of ( a · tda ) and ( a · bis ) complexes is at least about 3 % greater , preferably at least about 3 . 4 % greater than the yield obtained from a single extraction using an acid which is free of ( a · tda ) and ( a · bis ) complexes . methods of preparing 2 -( methylthio )- 5 -( trifluoromethyl )- 1 , 3 , 4 - thiadiazole by reacting methyldithiocarbazinate with trifluoroacetic acid are disclosed in u . s . pat . nos . 5 , 101 , 034 , 5 , 162 , 539 , 5 , 898 , 074 , 5 , 905 , 157 , 6 , 005 , 114 , and 6 , 034 , 245 , all incorporated herein by reference . in one embodiment the reaction of methyidithiocarbazinate with trifluoroacetic acid occurs in the presence of phosphoryl chloride , in another embodiment the reaction occurs in the presence of phosphorus trichloride , and in yet another embodiment the reaction occurs in the absence of phosphorus trichloride . any suitable ratio of methyldithiocarbazinate and trifluoroacetic acid may be used , and either reactant may be present in a molar excess . in one embodiment the molar ratio of methyldithiocarbazinate to trifluoroacetic acid is from about 4 : 1 to about 1 : 5 , while in another embodiment the molar ratio of methyidithiocarbazinate to trifluoroacetic acid is from about 2 : 1 to about 1 . 5 : 1 . in other embodiments the molar ratio of methyldithiocarbazinate to trifluoroacetic acid is from about 1 . 1 : 1 to about 5 : 1 , from about 1 . 25 : 1 to about 2 . 5 : 1 , or from about 1 . 25 : 1 to about 2 : 1 . the reaction of methyidithiocarbazinate with trifluoroacetic acid occurs in the presence of an organic solvent . the organic solvent may be the trifluoroacetic acid itself or may comprise an additional organic solvent , such as aprotic aromatic solvents . as used herein , “ aprotic solvents ” is intended to refer to solvents that do not dissociate to provide substantial and measurable proton concentrations . suitable aprotic aromatic solvents include toluene , xylene , cumene or mesitylene . in one embodiment the reaction of methyidithiocarbazinate with trifluoroacetic acid occurs in the presence of toluene , thus the solvent comprises tfa and toluene . in one embodiment an aprotic aromatic solvent present in an amount of from about 0 . 5 moles to about 3 . 5 , preferably from about 1 . 5 to about 2 . 5 , moles of aprotic aromatic solvent per mole of mdtc . in another embodiment , toluene is present in an amount of from about 0 . 5 moles to about 3 . 5 moles , preferably from about 1 . 5 moles to about 3 . 0 moles , more preferably from about 2 . 5 to about 3 . 0 moles , of toluene per mole of mdtc . the reaction may proceed by mixing the entire desired amounts of mdtc and tfa . all other modes of addition are suitable as well . the reaction mixture of mdtc and tfa may optionally include a catalyst , such as p - toluene sulfonic acid . in one embodiment p - toluene sulfonic acid is present in an amount of about 2 . 0 grams per mole of mdtc . the methyidithiocarbazinate and trifluoroacetic acid are combined at a temperature and for a time sufficient for the desire reaction to occur . in one embodiment the reaction temperature is from about 30 ° c . to about 150 ° c ., preferably from about 30 ° c . to about 140 ° c . in another embodiment the reaction time is from about 1 to about 10 , preferably from about 2 to about 6 hours . in another embodiment the reaction temperature is from about 80 ° c . to about 130 ° c ., and the reaction time is from about 1 to about 5 hours . the mdtc used in the present process may contain up to about 10 weight percent water . in one embodiment water is added as a separate reactant . the total amount of water in the reaction mixture is preferably less than about 30 grams of water per 0 . 5 moles of mdtc . water is formed as a reaction product of the tfa and mdtc . the water thus formed and any additional water present , referred to herein as “ a first aqueous phase ”, is removed from the reaction mixture by an azeotropic distillation , while not being bound by theory , it is believed that the removal of the water formed during the reaction assists in driving the reaction toward completion . the azeotropic removal of water may be accomplished in the presence of solvent , such as toluene . the temperature required from the completion of the reaction is adequate for the azeotropic removal of the water and excess tfa . after the azeotropic removal of water and excess tfa a first organic phase containing the tda and bis by - product is obtained . the first organic phase may optionally be extracted with a basic solution . the first organic phase in then subjected to at least two acid extractions . in one method in accordance with the present invention , the first organic phase is acidified with a first inorganic acid solution , thereby forming a second organic phase and a second aqueous phase . the second organic phase and the second aqueous phase are then separated , and the second organic phase is acidified with a second inorganic acid solution , thereby forming a third organic phase and a third aqueous phase . the third organic phase and the third aqueous phase are separated . the 2 -( methylthio )- 5 -( trifluoromethyl )- 1 , 3 , 4 - thiadiazole is present in the third organic phase . the third organic phase may be a yellowish oil . preferably the acid solution comprises an inorganic acid , more preferably a concentrated inorganic acid . suitable inorganic acids include phosphoric acid , hydrochloric acid ( hcl ), sulfuric acid ( h 2 so 4 ) or nitric acid ( hno 3 ). generally , the acid has a pka of from about 1 to about 4 . in one embodiment the acid is sulfuric acid . the sulfuric acid may have a concentration of from about 55 % to about 95 % and , preferably about 65 % to about 75 %, by weight . in one embodiment the sulfuric acid concentration is about 70 %, by weight . the molar ratio of total inorganic acid used in both the first and second extractions to 2 , 5 - bis - methylthio - 1 , 3 , 4 - thiadiazole may be from about 3 : 1 to about 12 : 1 ; preferably from about 4 : 1 to about 6 : 1 . acidification typically occurs at a temperature of from about 10 ° c . to about 60 ° c ., preferably from about 20 ° c . to about 40 ° c ., more preferably from about 25 ° c . to about 30 ° c . preferably the inorganic acid solution used in the second extraction of the organic phase of a tda reaction mixture is used in the first extraction of the organic phase of a subsequent tda reaction mixture . the inorganic acid solution is generally discarded after this second use . although the first extraction of the organic phase of the tda reaction mixture is preferably performed with an inorganic acid solution used in a previous extraction , the second extraction of the organic phase is performed with an inorganic acid solution which has not been used in a previous extraction . throughout the examples and the present specification , parts and percentages are by weight unless otherwise specified . the following example is illustrative only and is not intended to limit the scope of the methods and fabrics of the invention as defined by the claims . to about 40 gm of tda reaction mixture ( containing , by weight , about 37 % toluene , about 60 . 42 % tda and about 2 . 64 % bis by - product ) at room temperature is added sulfuric acid as indicated in table 1 below . the acid layer is removed , and the organic layer analyzed by gas chromatography . the acid layer is weighed and mixed with about 20 times its volume of ice water and neutralized with sodium bicarbonate . the liberated organics are extracted from the acid layer / ice water mixture using chloroform and analyzed by gas chromatography . the percentages are calculated based on total weight of organic , thus the weight of the solvent is included when determining percentages . sample 1 is a sample of the tda reaction mixture , while samples 2 and 4 are sample treated with single extractions using 65 % and 70 %, by weight , sulfuric acid , respectively , in accordance with the prior art . samples 3 and 5 are samples treated with multiple extractions using previously unused , or “ fresh ”, sulfuric acid , in accordance with one embodiment of the invention . samples 3a and 5a represent the first extractions , using 65 % and 70 %, by weight , sulfuric acid , respectively ; while samples 3b and 5b represent the second extractions , using 65 % and 70 %, by weight , sulfuric acid , respectively . as indicated by the sample 2 , when a single extraction using 9 . 5 gm of 65 % by weight , sulfuric acid is performed , the remaining organic layer still contains 0 . 11 %, by weight , bis by - product . however , when the same amount of acid is divided into two serial extractions , the organic layer contains no detectable bis by - product following the second extraction , as indicated by sample 3b . similarly , when a single extraction using 9 . 5 gm of 70 % by weight , sulfuric acid is performed , the remaining organic layer still contains 0 . 08 %, by weight , bis by - product , as indicated by the sample 4 . however , when the same amount of acid is divided into two serial extractions , the organic layer contains no detectable bis by - product following the second extraction , as indicated by sample 5b . to about 400 gm of the organic phase from a tda reaction mixture ( containing about 36 . 4 % toluene , about 61 . 0 % tda , and about 1 . 9 % bis by - product ) at room temperature is added about 12 . 5 gm of 70 % sulfuric acid . the mixture is stirred in a morton ( baffled ) flask for 15 minutes , then allowed to stand for 15 minutes . the lower acid phase is removed through a bottom drain , and the organic phase analyzed by gas chromatography . discarded acid phases , that is , acid phases which are not to be used in an additional extraction , are weighed and mixed with from about 20 to about 30 times their volume of ice water and then neutralized . the liberated organics from the acid phase / ice water mixture are dissolved in toluene or chloroform and analyzed by gas chromatography . one organic phase , sample 1 , is extracted twice using previously unused , or “ fresh ”, sulfuric acid . another organic phase , sample 2 , is extracted a first time using the acid phase from the second extraction of sample 1 , and extracted a second time with fresh acid . the results of this treatment in accordance with one aspect of the invention are set forth below in table 2 . the percentages are calculated on a solvent free basis , that is , the toluene is not included when determining percentages . as indicated by the data set forth for sample 1 in table 2 , after one extraction using “ fresh ” sulfuric acid , the organic phase contains 1 . 3 %, by weight , bis by - product , and following a second extraction using fresh sulfuric acid the organic phase contains only 0 . 2 %, by weight , bis by - product . the acid used in the first extraction contains 9 . 6 %, by weight , tda , and the acid used in the second extraction contains 31 . 2 %, by weight tda . as indicated by the data set forth for sample 2 in table 2 , after one extraction using the sulfuric acid used in the second extraction of sample 1 , the organic phase contains 2 . 3 %, by weight , bis by - product , and following a second extraction using fresh sulfuric acid the organic phase contains only 0 . 5 %, by weight , bis by - product . the acid used in the first extraction contains 7 . 8 %, by weight , tda , and the acid used in the second extraction contains 14 . 3 %, by weight tda . thus , the amount of tda in the acid phase originally designated “ 2 nd a1 ” dropped from 31 . 2 % to 7 . 8 % when that acid phase was used in the first extraction of sample 2 , indicating that tda originally left behind in the acid phase of the second extraction of sample 1 is recovered when that acid phase is used in the first extraction of sample 2 . thus , treatment of samples in accordance with this embodiment of the invention increases overall tda yield as compared to a single acid extraction . the process is repeated as above except about 16 . 5 gm of 70 % sulfuric acid is used . the results are set forth below in table 3 . the percentages are calculated on a solvent free basis . as indicated by the data set forth for sample 1 in table 3 , after two extractions using “ fresh ” sulfuric acid , the acid used in the first extraction contains 12 . 3 %, by weight , tda , and the acid used in the second extraction contains 60 . 2 %, by weight tda . as indicated by the data set forth for sample 2 in table 3 , after one extraction using the sulfuric acid used in the second extraction of sample 1 and a second extraction using fresh sulfuric acid the acid used in the first extraction contains 11 . 8 %, by weight , tda , and the acid used in the second extraction contains 39 . 8 %, by weight tda . the data indicates that tda originally left behind in the acid phase of the second extraction of sample 1 is recovered when that acid phase is used in the first extraction of sample 2 . thus , treatment of samples in accordance with this embodiment of the invention increases overall tda yield as compared to a single acid extraction . the process is repeated as above except about 21 . 0 gm of 70 % sulfuric acid is used . the results are set forth below in table 4 . the percentages are calculated on a solvent free basis . as indicated by the data set forth for sample 1 in table 4 , after two extractions using “ fresh ” sulfuric acid , the acid used in the first extraction contains 20 . 0 %, by weight , tda , and the acid used in the second extraction contains 78 . 4 %, by weight tda . as indicated by the data set forth for sample 2 in table 4 , after one extraction using the sulfuric acid used in the second extraction of sample 1 and a second extraction using fresh sulfuric acid the acid used in the first extraction contains 12 . 9 %, by weight , tda , and the acid used in the second extraction contains 65 .%, by weight tda . the data indicates that tda originally left behind in the acid phase of the second extraction of sample 1 is recovered when that acid phase is used in the first extraction of sample 2 . thus , treatment of samples in accordance with this embodiment of the invention increases overall tda yield as compared to a single acid extraction . additional embodiments and modifications within the scope of the claimed invention will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art . accordingly , the scope of the present invention shall be considered in terms of the following claims , and is understood not to be limited to the details of the methods described in the specification . although the invention has been described in detail in the foregoing for the purpose of illustration , it is to be understood that such detail is solely for that purpose and that variations can be made therein by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention except as it may be limited by the claims .	2
fig1 shows a dispensing apparatus 10 that includes a housing 12 having a front cover 15 , which may be articulated to the housing in any manner that allows the front cover 15 to be pivotally mounted to the housing 12 . alternatively , the front cover can be mounted to the housing and be detachable from the housing in an open position . the front cover is retained in a closed position using a lock assembly 25 . within the housing is a roll of absorbent material r ( see fig7 ). as the roll r unrolls , the advancing sheet is fed between pinch roller 2 and drive roller 5 . as seen in fig2 , the pinch roller 2 is adjacent to a primary roller , which in this embodiment is a drive roller 5 to create a nip area 11 . the pinch roller 2 is rotatable with the drive roller 5 to tension absorbent material being unrolled from the roll r when the drive roller 5 is operated . as further seen in fig2 , the pinch roller 2 has a first end 4 and a second end 6 . as seen in fig3 and 4 , the first end 4 of the pinch roller 2 is movable from a first position where the pinch roller 2 and the drive roller 5 are contacting or closely adjacent to each other , to a second position where the ends of the pinch and drive rollers 2 , 5 are spaced relatively further apart from each other . whilst the first end 4 of the pinch roller 2 is being moved between the first and second positions , the second end 6 of the pinch roller 2 remains substantially in place , but pivots to keep a distance between the second end 6 of the pinch roller 2 and a second end 9 of the drive roller 5 substantially unchanged as seen in fig7 and 8 . in the first position , the pinch roller 2 may be in contact with the drive roller 5 . in a preferred embodiment , a disengagement mechanism 19 may be a means for pivoting the pinch roller to effectuate movement of the first end 4 of the pinch roller 2 from the first position to the second position . fig2 shows the disengagement mechanism 19 having a shaft 14 and a button 16 . a slot 20 that is inclined with respect to a longitudinal axis of the shaft 14 may be near a bottom of shaft 14 . the slot 20 receives the first end 4 of the pinch roller 2 . in the embodiment of fig2 , the first end 4 of the pinch roller 2 extends through a support plate 13 . the support plate has a slot 22 that is inclined in a direction opposite to that of slot 20 so that the disengagement mechanism 19 is able to move in a vertical plane ( see fig3 and 4 ). alternatively , it is within the scope of the present invention that the disengagement mechanism 19 moves the first end of the drive roller with respect to the pinch roller . the support plate 13 may include an opening such as a slot or a circular hole , such as hole 24 that receives the first end 7 of drive roller 5 . a second support plate 23 , which is similar to the first support plate 13 , but does not necessarily include the disengagement mechanism , has additional openings 32 , 34 to receive the respective second ends 6 , 9 of the pinch roller and the drive roller . the support plate 13 and the second support plate 23 may further include a pin 27 to pivotally receive cutting member 29 . bushings , such as bushing 26 may be on the first end 4 of the pinch roller to provide a bearing surface between the first end 4 and the support plate 13 as well as a spacer between the disengagement mechanism 19 and the support plate 13 . in a presently preferred embodiment , the dispensing apparatus 10 may be a hands - free dispenser that dispenses a length of material upon certain conditions being met , such as the activation of a sensor . such an embodiment may include a motor 40 and an object detection device 50 . the motor 40 drives the drive roller 5 when the motor 40 is triggered to activate , upon the object detection device 50 detecting an object . the object may be a user &# 39 ; s hand . however , the type of sensing is not limited in this invention , and could be for example passive or active infrared sensing , or capacitive proximity sensing . in addition , other embodiments are envisioned such as the “ hands - free mechanical ” type dispenser or a dispenser that is activated by a mechanical lever or the like . the roll of absorbent sheet material r to be dispensed from the dispenser may either be a continuous imperforate roll , which is detached from the roll by the user pulling the dispensed sheet against a cutting blade , or may instead be a partially pre - cut web in which the force of the user pulling on the dispensed sheet serves to sever the tabs that connect the dispensed sheet to the next sheet to be dispensed , as is common in hands - free mechanical dispensers . those pre - cuts can be made either during manufacturing converting of the roll , or in - situ by a blade in the dispenser that pre - cuts the tail of the sheet as it is being dispensed . it is also possible to employ the invention in a dispenser for discrete folded pieces of absorbent sheet material . in a presently preferred embodiment , the motor 40 , the object detection device 50 , the drive roller 5 , the pinch roller 2 , the cutting member 29 and the disengagement mechanism 19 are part of a removable cassette 60 . as seen in fig2 and 5 , the cassette 60 may be attached to a rear mounting surface 70 of the housing 12 using one or more screws 62 . the rear mounting surface 70 may also include tabs 75 that mate with a notch in the rear of the cassette 60 . although description is made with respect to a disengagement mechanism being on the side of the cassette 60 opposite the gears 66 of the drive roller 5 , it is contemplated that a disengagement mechanism could be on either or both sides of the cassette 60 . returning to fig1 , to support the roll of material r ( see fig7 ), it is contemplated that a roll receiver ( not shown ) may be inserted into the ends of the roll of material r , which in turn may be supported on roll support arms 33 , 35 . alternatively , the receiver may only be at one end of the roll r and supported by the support arm 33 , and the other end of the roll may be supported by the roll support arm 35 without a receiver being inserted into the second end of the roll r . in this embodiment , as shown in fig1 , for example , the support arm 35 has an extension piece 37 that inserts into the second end of the roll r . as to the roll or stack of absorbent material , the term absorbent material as used herein embraces not only paper products such as paper towels and napkins , but also absorbent nonwoven materials not normally classed as papers or tissues . such nonwoven materials include pure nonwovens and hybrid nonwoven / pulp webs whose properties are similar to those of tissue paper , but which are based for example on nonwoven or airlaid materials containing low amounts of synthetic fibers , binders , wet strength agents and the like . an example of such a material would be a wetlaid or foam - formed hydraulically entangled nonwoven material comprising at least 30 % by weight pulp fibers and at least 20 % by weight manmade fibers or filaments . in operation , as seen in fig1 and 7 , a web of material is unwound from the roll r and is fed between the pinch roller 2 and the drive roller 5 . a feed button ( not shown ) may be used to energize the drive roller 2 to facilitate the movement of the web into the nip between the pinch roller 2 and the drive roller 5 . the web is then fed through an outlet opening 65 in the front cover 15 . the front cover 15 is then closed and locked in place using lock assembly 25 . the dispensing apparatus is now ready to dispense sheets of absorbent material through the outlet opening 65 . when the sheets are not being dispensed from the dispensing apparatus because of a jam or other malfunction , a maintenance person or other person authorized to unlock the locking assembly 25 may unlock the locking assembly 25 and then rotate the front cover 15 toward him / her . this person would then manually depress the button 16 of the disengagement mechanism 19 to move the pinch roller 2 from the first position to the second position to relieve tension on the web of material . once the tension on the web of material is relieved , the web of material may be readily dislodged from the nip area 11 to remove the jam . the invention has been described in detail with respect to presently preferred embodiments . however , it will be apparent to those of skill in the art that changes or modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention . the invention should not be limited by the disclosed embodiments and rather should be defined by the appended claims .	0
the novel aromatic diaminoamide monomer represented by the above formula ( i ) can be produced by the following process . as shown in the following reaction scheme i , an equimolar amount of 5 ( or 4 )- nitro - 2 - aminobenzamide ( 1 ) and 4 ( or 3 )- nitro benzoylchloride ( 2 ) are reacted by condensation using pyridine as a catalyst to obtain 4 ( or 3 ), 4 &# 39 ;( or 3 &# 39 ;)- dinitro - 6 - carbamoyl benzanilide ( 3 ) which is then reduced by hydrogen gas using pd / c catalyst with heating under pressure , finally to obtain 4 ( or 3 ), 4 &# 39 ;( or 3 &# 39 ;)- diamino - 6 - carbamoyl benzanilide ( 4 ). ## str5 ## the process for producing an aromatic polyamide by the polycondensation of . an aromatic diaminoamide of the formula ( i ) and an aromatic diacid halide comprises the following steps : a ) preparing a solvent for polymerization from amide type solvent , urea type solvent , sulfoxide type solvent or a mixture thereof , b ) adding and dissolving the aromatic diaminoamide in the solvent for polymerization , c ) adding pyridine as a polycondensation catalyst in the obtained solution , d ) adding the aromatic diacid halide in the solution with vigorous stirring at 0 ° to 50 ° c . temperature , and e ) continuing the stirring during 1 to 50 minutes at the temperature to polycondense the monomers , thereby to obtain a high viscous polymer solution . as the solvent for polymerization , all the organic solvent of amide or urea type can be used but it is desirable to use n - methyl - 2 - pyrrolidone ( nmp ), n , n - dimethyl acetamide ( dmac ), hexamethyl phosphoramide ( hmpa ), n , n , n &# 39 ;, n &# 39 ;- tetramethyl urea ( tmu ), n , n - dimethyl formamide ( dmf ), dimethyl sulfoxide ( dmso ) or a mixture thereof . the solvent for polymerization used in the present invention may be further added with an inorganic salt in order to increase the solubility . typical examples of the inorganic salt include alkali metal halide or alkali earth metal halide such as cacl 2 , licl , nacl , kcl , libr and kbr . the added amount of the inorganic salt is desirably 12 percent by weight or lower based upon the weight of solvent for polymerization . the amount higher than 12 percent by weight is economically disadvantageous because the desired effects cannot be expected to increase . typical examples of the aromatic diacid halide include phthalic dichloride , isophthalic dichloride and terephthalic dichloride which may be unsubstituted or substituted with cl , br , i , no 2 or alkyl or alkoxy group having 1 to 4 carbon atom . the aromatic polyamide represented by the above formula ( ii ) is a novel high molecular weight aromatic polyamide having a limiting viscosity of 3 . 0 or higher , desirably 2 to 10 , which is soluble in a polar organic solvent and has an amide group substituted on the aromatic nucleus . the limiting viscosity can be calculated from the following formula by the measurement using ubbelohde viscometer and extrapolation of about 5 selected dilute concentration ( in 98 % sulfuric acid at 30 ° c .). ## equ1 ## in a process generally used to produce a film , the polymer solution is spread in a film form on a support , immersed in a coagulating bath , washed with water and dried . in the present invention , after washing with water , the gel film is i ) fixed to prevent shrinkage and then dried and heat - treated or ii ) drawn in the non - dried state and thereafter fixed to prevent shrinkage , dried and heat - treated , thereby to obtain a polyamide film . the aromatic polyamide represented by the formula ( ii ) does not undergo a conversion of the polymer &# 39 ; s chemical structure when heat - treated at a temperature lower than 200 ° c ., but it is converted to a heterocyclic aromatic polyamide due to formation of quinazolone and / or benzoxazinone nucleus by dehydration and deammoniation when heat - treated at a temperature of 200 ° c . or higher . the heterocyclic aromatic polyamide film having quinazolone and / or benzoxazinone nucleus exhibits higher strength , modulusity and heat resistance than the heterocyclic polymer in kurihara et al &# 39 ; s . the gel film made from the polyamide represented by the formula ( ii ) is fixed in two axial directions to prevent shrinkage , dried and heat - treated at 200 ° to 400 ° c . temperature to produce a polyamide film having a tensile modulus in one direction of 1 , 000 kg / mm 2 or higher . especially , in case that the gel film is drawn in the wet state and then fixed in two axial directions to prevent shrinkage and heat - treated at 200 ° to 400 ° c . temperature , a high modulus aromatic polyamide film is obtained which has a tensile modulus in one direction of 1 , 500 kg / mm 2 or higher . the aromatic polyamide film produced by the present invention shows a strong diffraction at 2θ = 24 °- 26 ° when irradiated with an x - ray in a direction perpendicular to the film surface . the infrared spectrum of the film heat - treated at 200 ° c . or higher compared to that of one heat - treated at temperature lower than 200 ° c . shown the new absorption peaks at 1743cm - 1 ( lactone carbonyl ) and 1058cm - 1 ( lactone ether ), characteristic of benzoxazinone ring , as well as the new absorption peaks at 1677cm - 1 ( lactone carbonyl ), 1347cm - 1 ( lactam c - n stretching ) and 1622cm - 1 ( cyclic imine stretching ), characteristic of quinazolone ring . that is , the aromatic polyamide is converted by drying and heat - treating at temperatures of 200 ° c . or higher , to a heterocyclic aromatic polyamide wherein benzoxazinone and quinazolone rings are introduced in the main chains of aromatic polyamide . this heterocyclic aromatic polyamide is proved to have more excellent heat resistance because it shows an initial weight decrease at temperatures of 300 ° c . or higher in a nitrogen atmosphere and exhibits a dynamic modulus at 450 ° c . which corresponds to 60 to 90 percent of its dynamic modulus at room temperature . the preferred examples will be described hereinafter to illustrate the present invention , but not limiting it . 150ml of n - methyl - 2 - pyrrolidone ( nmp ) is charged into a 1 liter reactor under nitrogen stream , and 28 . 1g ( 0 . 155mol ) of 5 - nitro - 2 - aminobenzamide is added and dissolved . after the solution is cooled to 0 °- 10 ° c . in a ice - salt bath , 12 . 5ml of pyridine is added . then , the solution is added with 28 . 7g ( 0 . 155mol ) of 4 - nitrobenzoyl chloride in a powder form with vigorous stirring . 4 - nitrobenzoyl chloride is dissolved at the initial period but precipitated soon to form a paste . the nitrogen purge is stopped and further 50ml of nmp is added to facilitate the stirring and then , the solution is stirred during 4 hours . at the end of the period , the precipitate is washed with water sufficiently to a neutral ph and dried in a vacuum oven at 60 ° c . to obtain a raw product ( 46 . 8g ) which is then recrystallized . 200ml of dimethylacetamide ( dmac ) is charged into a 1 liter reactor and added with 15 . 6g of 4 , 4 &# 39 ;- diamino - 6 - carbamoyl benzanilide and 1 . 56 g of pd / c ( 10 %), then reduced at 75 ° to 80 ° c . under 140 psi hydrogen pressure . the hydrogen pressure does not drop after 80 minutes &# 39 ; lapse and the reaction solution is left standing overnight . thereafter , the reaction solution is filtered and dmac distilled off completely . the remaining reaction material is added with water to form a precipitate . after washing the precipitate with distilled water , it is cooled to a temperature of 10 ° c . or lower and added with hcl to ph 1 - 2 , thereby the precipitate is dissolved completely to form a transparent solution . the solution is filtered and added with na 2 co 3 to ph 8 to form a precipitate . after the dissolving , filtering and precipitating procedure using hcl and na 2 co 3 repeated once more , the precipitate is washed sufficiently with distilled water to a neutral ph and dried to obtain a raw product ( 11 . 45 g ) which is then recrystallized with ethanol , thereby to obtain a final product . this product is identified to be 4 , 4 &# 39 ;- diamino - 6 - carbamoyl benzanilide by the elemental analysis and nmr spectroscopy . 450 ml of dimethyl acetamide ( dmac ) is charged into a 1 liter reactor , and 7 . 5 g of licl is added and dissolved completely to prepare a solvent for polymerization . in the solvent , 20 . 25 g of 4 , 4 &# 39 ;- diamino - 6 - carbamoyl benzanilide is added and completely dissolved . then , 19 ml of pyridine is added and the solution is added with 15 . 3 g of terephthaloyl chloride at once with vigorous stirring while maintaining the temperature of the solution at 10 ° to 15 ° c . the viscosity of the polymerization solution is gradually increased immediately after the addition and the solution becomes a high viscous polymer solution after a few minutes . the recovered aromatic polyamide has a limiting viscosity of 6 . 5 ( in 98 % sulfuric acid at 30 ° c .). the polymer solution obtained in example 2 is spread as a film using a doctor blade on a glass plate and immersed in 40 % aqueous dmac solution at 10 ° c . during 10 minutes and washed with water . the obtained gel film is fixed in two axial directions to prevent shrinkage , dried in an oven at 100 ° c . during 30 minutes , and heat - treated in a vacuum oven during 30 minutes to obtain a film of 11 μm thickness . the film is by a tensile strength tester ( autograph , manufactured by shimaju co . in japan ) to have a tensile strength of 30 kg / mm 2 , a tensile modulus of 1 , 000 kg / mm 2 and an elongation of 12 %. the polymer solution obtained in example 2 is spread as a film using a doctor blade on a glass plate and immersed in 40 % aqueous dmac solution at 10 ° c . during 10 minutes and washed with water . the obtained gel film is drawn in one axial direction by 1 . 7 times , washed with water . then the film is fixed in two axial directions to prevent shrinkage , dried in an oven at 100 ° c . during 30 minutes , and heat - treated in a vacuum oven during 30 minutes to obtain a film of 7 μm thickness . the film is determined by a tensile strength tester to have a tensile strength of 40 kg / mm 2 , a tensile modulus of 2 , 100 kg / mm 2 and an elongation of 4 %. a film obtained by the same procedure as that of example 4 is subjected to a further heat treatment in a vacuum oven at 250 ° c . for 30 minutes to obtain a film of 7 μm thickness . the film is tested by a tensile strength tester determined to have a tensile strength of 50 kg / mm 2 , a tensile modulus of 2 , 300 kg / mm 2 and an elongation of 4 %. a film obtained by the procedure same as that of example 4 is subjected to a further heat treatment in a vacuum oven at 300 ° c . for 30 minutes to obtain a film of 7 μm thickness . the film is tested by a tensile strength tester and determined to have a tensile strength of 63 kg / mm 2 a tensile modulus of 2 800 kg / mm 2 and an elongation of 5 %. a film obtained by the same procedure as that of example 4 is subjected to a further heat treatment in a vacuum oven at 350 ° c . for 30 minutes to obtain a film of 7 μm thickness . the film is tested by a tensile strength tester and determined to have a tensile strength of 55 kg / mm 2 a tensile modulus of 2 , 500 kg / mm 2 and an elongation of 5 %. 150 ml of n - methyl - 2 - pyrrolidone ( nmp ) is charged into a 1 liter reactor under nitrogen stream , and 28 . 1 g ( 0 . 155mol ) of 5 - nitro - 2 - aminobenzamide is added and dissolved . after the solution is cooled to 0 °- 10 ° c . in a ice - salt bath , 12 . 5 ml of pyridine is added . then , the solution is added with 28 . 7 g ( 0 . 155mol ) of 3 - nitrobenzoyl chloride in a powder form with vigorous stirring . 3 - nitrobenzoyl chloride is dissolved at the initial period but precipitated soon to form a paste . the nitrogen purge is stopped and further 50 ml of nmp is added to facilitate the stirring and then , the solution is stirred during 4 hours . at the end of the period , the precipitate is washed with water sufficiently to a neutral ph and dried in a vacuum oven at 60 ° c . to obtain a raw product ( 46 . 8 g ) which is then recrystallized . 200 ml of dimethylacetamide ( dmac ) is charged into a 1 liter reactor and added with 15 . 6 g of 3 , 4 &# 39 ;- dinitro - 6 - carbamoyl benzanilide and 1 . 56 g of pd / c ( 10 %), then reduced at 75 ° to 80 ° c . under 140 psi hydrogen pressure . the hydrogen pressure does not drop after 80 minutes &# 39 ; lapse and the reaction solution is left standing overnight . thereafter , the reaction solution is filtered and dmac is distilled off completely . the remaining reaction material is added with water to form a precipitate . after washing the precipitate with distilled water , it is cooled to a temperature of 10 ° c . or lower and added with hcl to ph 1 - 2 , thereby the precipitate is dissolved completely to form a transparent solution . the solution is filtered and added with na 2 co 3 to ph 8 to form a precipitate . after the dissolving , filtering and precipitating procedure using hcl and na 2 co 3 is repeated once more , the precipitate is washed sufficiently with distilled water to a neutral ph and dried to obtain a raw product ( 11 . 45 g ) which is then recrystallized with ethanol , thereby to obtain a final product . this product is identified to be 3 , 4 &# 39 ;- diamino - 6 - carbamoyl benzanilide by the elemental analysis and nmr spectroscopy . 450 ml of dimethyl acetamide ( dmac ) is charged into a 1 liter reactor , and 7 . 5 g of licl is added and dissolved completely to prepare a solvent for polymerization . in the solvent , 20 . 25 g of 3 , 4 &# 39 ;- diamino - 6 - carbamoyl benzanilide is added and completely dissolved . then , 19 ml of pyridine is added and the solution is added with 15 . 3 g of terephthaloyl chloride at once with vigorous stirring while maintaining the temperature of the solution at 10 ° to 15 ° c . the viscosity of the polymerization solution is gradually increased immediately after the addition and the solution becomes a high viscous polymer solution after a few minutes . the recovered aromatic polyamide has a limiting viscosity of 6 . 1 ( in 98 % sulfuric acid at 30 ° c .). the polymer solution obtained in example 9 is spread as a film using a doctor blade on a glass plate and immersed in 40 % aqueous dmac solution at 10 ° c . during 10 minutes and washed with water . the obtained gel film is fixed in two axial directions to prevent shrinkage , dried in an oven at 100 ° c . during 30 minutes , and heat - treated in a vacuum oven during 30 minutes to obtain a film of 11 μm thickness . the film is tested by a tensile strength tester and determined to have a tensile strength of 30 kg / mm 2 a tensile modulus of 1 , 000 kg / mm 2 and an elongation of 25 %. the polymer solution obtained in example 9 is spread as a film using a doctor blade on a glass plate and immersed in 40 % aqueous dmac solution during 10 minutes and washed with water . the obtained gel film is drawn in one axial - direction by 1 . 7 times , washed with water . then the film is fixed in the two axial directions to prevent shrinkage , dried in an oven at 100 ° c . during 30 minutes , and heat - treated in a vacuum oven during 30 minutes to obtain a film of 11 μm thickness . the film is determined by a tensile strength tester ( autograph , manufactured by shimaju co . in japan ) to have a tensile strength of 35 kg / mm 2 , a tensile modulus of 1 , 800 kg / mm 2 and an elongation of 15 %. a film obtained by the same procedure as that of example 11 is subjected to a further heat treatment in a vacuum oven at 300 ° c . for 30 minutes to obtain a film of 7 μm thickness . the film is tested by a tensile strength tester and determined to have a tensile strength of 52 kg / mm 2 a tensile modulus of 2 , 300 kg / mm 2 and an elongation of 15 %. from the results of example 1 to 12 , it is evident that the aromatic polyamide films produced from the novel aromatic polyamide according to the present invention have high strength and high modulus .	8
referring now to the drawings , and in particular to fig1 a cross - sectional view of the basic form of the microencapsulated yield enhancer according to the present invention is shown and designated generally by reference numeral 11 . microcapsule 11 consists of a highly reactive oxidizer 12 that is completely encapsulated by a passivated inorganic fuel 13 . passivated inorganic fuel 13 may be a mixture , element , or compound and includes a passivated layer 13a separating a base inorganic fuel 13b from oxidizer 12 . highly reactive oxidizer 12 is generally selected from the group consisting of halogens , halides , interhalogens and their related compounds and may be solids , liquids , or gases . interhalogens are compounds composed of two halogens while halides are compounds formed with one halogen . the compounds can be metallic or non - metallic . however , the non - metallics are generally chosen because of their reactive nature . passivation is accomplished by exposing the base inorganic fuel 13b to the reactive oxidizer for a short time and then removing the fuel . a resulting oxide layer ( designated as passivated layer 13a ), and possibly a compound made up of the oxidizer and inorganic fuel , is formed on the exposed surface of the base inorganic fuel . the passivated layer 13a is part of the inorganic fuel , but is composed of a different compound . for instance , if the base inorganic fuel 13b were an element such as aluminum , the passivated layer 13a would be a compound such as aluminum oxide . base inorganic fuel 13b is chosen based upon its ability to be passivated with respect to oxidizer 12 . for example , if oxidizer 12 were chosen to be a halide such as sulphur hexafluoride or an interhalogen , base inorganic fuel 13b might be aluminum with a passivated layer 13a of aluminum oxide . however , it is to be understood that many other oxidizer / inorganic fuel scenarios are possible depending upon design constraints . it is only necessary that the oxidizer 12 and passivated inorganic fuel 13 : 1 ) remain in a non - reactive state whenever microcapsule 11 is experiencing non - explosive construction , handling , storage , etc ., conditions and 2 ) enter the reactive state only upon undergoing a threshold level of stress indicative of target impact or explosive combustion . accordingly , once a reaction begins , the inorganic fuel is completely and efficiently combusted . by making the &# 34 ; shell &# 34 ; of microcapsule of a passivated inorganic fuel 13 and filling it with the highly reactive oxidizer 12 , a safe , handleable , non - reacting microcapsule is formed . once the threshold level of stress has been achieved , microcapsule 11 is crushed , thereby breaking the passivated layer 13a of passivated inorganic fuel 13 . at this point , the oxidizer is free to react with the base inorganic fuel 13b . the resulting high temperature will also cause the passivated layer 13a to react . the microcapsules described above , as well as apparent variations of the described configurations , can be used to enhance the explosive yield or modify other explosive characteristics of a warhead in a variety of ways . microcapsules , when mixed with a standard explosive , can enhance free air or confined blast performance . the small size of the microcapsules , typically 1 - 6 microns , increases the reaction area and simultaneously decreases the mass transfer limitations thereby permitting dramatic increases in the rate of energy release yield . in the absence of very severe stresses ( such as target impact or explosive combustion ), the microcapsules maintain the separation of the reaction components . the microscopic separation and physical stability present in the microcapsules , maintained indefinitely under storage and handling conditions , allows production of enhanced yield warheads which are insensitive to fragment impact , cook - off , and sympathetic detonation . the present invention , by maintaining these characteristics , increases performance without sacrificing safety and permits production of enhanced explosives and warheads that can still be classified as insensitive munitions ( im ). through the selection of microcapsule sizing , geometry , composition , and mixture , this invention provides a means to customize the explosive performance . proper combinations can provide fuel rich , perfectly stoichiometric , or oxidizer rich mixtures , depending on the particular design requirements . the microcapsules described above , as well as apparent variations of the described configurations , can be used in a dry flowable state or combined in a matrix ( such as an epoxy , plastic or other composite ). when combined in a matrix , the microcapsules can be part of the fill or can also be a structural component of the warhead . alternatively , the microcapsules can be used to enhance the fragmentation characteristics of a warhead . hollow fragments filled with an appropriate form of microcapsules , subjected to the shock and heating of target impact , can increase the degree of fragmentation or reaction with the target material . the microcapsule of the present invention would also find extensive utility in the field of rocket motor propellants . the microcapsules would permit the use of liquid propellants not currently utilized because of safety concerns . also , by varying the thickness of the inorganic fuel &# 34 ; shell &# 34 ;, the burning rate of the propellants can be controlled . the present invention also provides the opportunity to use an organic fuel in conjunction with the embodiment described above . fig2 is a cross - sectional view of a variation of the microencapsulated yield enhancer shown in fig1 . microcapsule 14 consists of an organic fuel 15 -- in either gaseous , liquid , or solid state -- and a highly reactive oxidizer 12 that are both encapsulated by a base inorganic fuel 13b . for example , the base inorganic fuel 13b might be magnesium , oxidizer 12 might be an interhalogen and organic fuel 15 might be acetylene . in such a case , the hot reaction between magnesium and an interhalogen will cause the acetylene which is unstable under high pressure to liberate more energy than if burned in air where complete combustion is never achieved due to the formation of carbon compounds . the mechanism by which the additional energy is gained is a result of complex interactions that are temperature and pressure dependent . the acetylene series of hydrocarbons are highly unsaturated which means that they are highly reactive . this series readily adds molecules during reactions . for example , acetylene may combine with fluorine forming acetylene fluoride . acetylene fluoride so formed may thereafter decompose forming a mixture of acetylene fluoride , water , carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide . by containing the organic fuel 15 within microcapsule 14 , the fuel can be safely used in liquid , gaseous , or solid state . furthermore , a stoichiometric mixture is achieved with only one microcapsule . this eliminates any potential mixing problems that could result if the components needed to be separated . should an added measure of safety be desired , oxidizer 12 may be encapsulated within an inert shell ( not shown ) prior to encapsulation by organic fuel 15 . realizing that not all inorganic fuels may be passivated with respect to the highly reactive oxidizer of choice , the advantages of the present invention may be achieved in another embodiment shown in fig3 . fig3 is a cross - sectional view of a variation of the microencapsulated yield enhancer shown in fig1 microcapsule 16 consists of a highly reactive oxidizer 12 that is encapsulated by an inert material 17 . the highly reactive oxidizer 12 and the inert material 17 are encapsulated by a base inorganic fuel 13b . inert material 17 is typically a material , such as a polymer , that is inert with respect to the oxidizer 12 of choice . one example of such an inert material 17 is teflon ™. the advantage of teflon ™ is that it becomes reactive at very high temperatures and , therefore , would add energy to the reaction . in this embodiment greater flexibility is possible when choosing base inorganic fuel 13b since it need not be passivated with respect to oxidizer 12 . finally , fig4 is a cross - sectional view of a variation of the microencapsulated yield enhancer shown in fig2 . microcapsule 19 consists of an organic fuel 15 , in either gaseous , liquid , or solid state , and a highly reactive oxidizer 12 that are encapsulated and separated by an inert material 17 . the organic fuel 15 , the highly reactive oxidizer 12 , and the inert material 17 are encapsulated by a base inorganic fuel 13b . thus , this embodiment incorporates the advantages inherent to the embodiments of fig2 and 3 , namely , the additional heat of reaction generated by organic fuel 15 with a greater flexibility of choice of base inorganic fuel 13b . thus , although the invention has been described relative to a specific embodiment thereof , and several specific variations thereof , there are numerous variations and modifications that will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art in the light of the above teachings . it is therefore to be understood that , within the scope of the appended claims , the invention may be practiced other than as specifically described .	2
as shown in fig1 the base plate 11 is secured to the tie 10 by means of capped screws 14 and spring washers 15 . on the upper side of base plate 11 are formed two guide ribs 12 which run parallel with the rail 32 and are arranged at a distance from each other corresponding to the width of rail foot 33 . rail 32 rests upon tie 11 with resilient plate 16 therebetween . as can be seen from fig2 anchor openings 13 are provided centrally in guide ribs 12 on base plate 11 , with the cross - section of the opening 13 matching the hooks of known hook screws . however , instead of these hook screws , the foot 18 of the anchor 17 is inserted into the anchorage opening . the cross - section of foot 18 is designed to match that of the anchorage opening , so that inserted anchor 17 is held like a hook screw . anchor 17 may be formed hollow , i . e ., a hollow body 17a or it may be provided with lateral recesses in order to save material . formed onto the upper end of anchor 17 is an extension arm 20 extending towards the rail 32 . when anchor 17 has been pushed into its operative position , the extension arm projects above the rail foot 33 . as shown in the plan view according to fig3 with anchor 17 retracted in dotted lines , anchor 17 may also be inserted subsequently into the anchorage opening 13 in a base plate 11 connected to tie 10 . this makes it possible to retro - fit the new device , i . e ., to replace the old rigid hook connection . the upper side of the rail foot 33 and the lower side of extension arm 20 of anchor 17 form support points or a channel for a resilient clamping element 23 which is introduced in the longitudinal direction of the rail 32 , and when deformed bears under tension between the extension arm 20 and the rail foot 33 . if the upper side of rail foot 33 is at an acute angle to the lower side of rail 32 , then the lower side of extension arm 20 will also be inclined to the horizontal , and the side facing clamping element 23 of the vertical part 19 of anchor 17 will be inclined to the vertical by this angle , as shown in fig1 . this will again provide a cross - sectional rectangular channel for clamping element 23 which is in the form of a flexible spring made out of a section of flat spring material , such as spring steel . retaining web 23 formed onto the free end of extension arm 20 extends at least over a part of the thickness of the clamping element 23 and holds the latter in retaining web 21 . it can be seen from fig2 that clamping element 23 which in the form of a flexible spring comprises a central leg 24 arched convexly outward , and the ends 28 and 30 thereof are bent inwards to form loops . the convex outer side of the spring bears against the underside or in the cavity of extension arm 20 , whereas ends 28 and 30 rest symmetrically upon the upper surface of rail foot 33 . in the operative position the spring is retained immobilized , as shown in fig2 by the underside of the arm 20 which is formed with a transverse locking web 22 which engages in the locking cavity 25 located centrally in the outer surface of the center leg 24 of the spring and which runs at right angles to rail 32 . the spring 23 is thus preloaded to such an extent that the required clamping force of 1 . 25 mp , at each attachment point , is obtained . with ends 28 and 30 thus bent , the travel of the spring is sufficient for these clamping forces to be achieved with resilient bracing . additional cavities 26 and 27 are formed on the outside of central leg 24 of clamping element 23 , on both sides of locking cavity 25 , and extend parallel thereto . like locking cavity 25 , these cavities 26 and 27 are formed while the section of flat material is being bent . the distance between additional cavities 26 and 27 is such that locking web 22 can engage in them when clamping element 23 is almost relaxed . this allows the clamping element to adjust itself , outside the operative position to a position in which rail 32 may still be adjusted axially , and the clamping element is prevented from falling out of the anchor . the end sections of bent ends 28 and 30 of clamping element 23 are at right angles to the inside of center leg 24 and , in the operative position , they terminate at a predetermined distance from the inside of the center leg 24 . this configuration provides overload protection against transverse forces acting upon the rail head . it has been found that a distance of 2 mm is sufficient . fig1 shows only one attachment point on one side of rail 32 provided with a web 34 and a rail head 35 . a further similar attachment point , with an anchor 17 and a clamping element 23 is provided on the other side of the rail of each tie . fig4 to 7 show another example of a clamping element 40 in the form of a loop which may easily be fitted into the channel between the extension arm 20 of anchor 17 and the rail foot , and may also be easily removed therefrom . at the same time , this clamping element provides a large clamping force in its operative position . fig4 is a side elevation of clamping element 40 designed as a loop . the lower leg facing the rail foot 33 is provided with two concave support sections 41 and 42 between which , the clamping element is bent inwardly to form an abutment 43 , the convex side of which faces the upper divided leg of the loop . above this central abutment 43 , end portions 45 and 50 of the upper leg overlap . the outer end portion 50 is also provided on its outer side with a locking cavity 51 for locking into web 22 of the extension arm 20 . as shown in dotted lines in fig4 the inner end portion 45 can be deflected inwardly until it comes up against the abutment 43 . the positions of end portions 45 and 50 marked 45 &# 39 ; and 50 &# 39 ; correspond to the braced position from which overload protection is obtained , with an over - travel of about 2 mm , by the stop provided by abutment 43 . this over - travel is also needed to allow locking web 22 on extension arm 20 to engage in locking cavity 50 . semi - circular transition section 46 of the loop merges , through part portions 47 and 48 which run parallel with each other , into a support section 42 and outer end portion 50 . the part portions 47 and 48 are at an acute angle α to the line connecting support sections 41 and 42 . the outside dimension between part portions 47 and 48 is equal to , or slightly less than , the distance between locking web 22 and the upper side of the rail foot 33 . as shown in fig5 in introductory position 40 . 1 clamping element 40 may be pushed into the channel between the locking web 22 and the rail foot 33 . in this position , transition section 44 which connects support section 41 to inner end section 45 is raised as far as angle β , so that part portions 47 and 48 of transition section 46 , after adjustment by an angle α , run parallel with the upper side of the rail foot 33 . the introductory movement of clamping element 40 comes to an end when locking web 22 is introduced into intermediate locking cavity 49 which then forms the transition from part portion 48 to other end section 50 . as shown in fig6 clamping element 40 assumes its neutral position by its own weight , as shown at 40 . 2 , and wherein the clamping element 40 is held in the channel between extension arm 20 and rail foot 33 . if clamping element 40 is pushed still further into the channel , locking web 22 then slides along end portion 50 and deflects the inner end portion 45 thereunder , towards abutment 43 , until locking web 22 engages in locking cavity 51 . end portions 45 and 50 are displaced to a small over - travel and then return to bracing position 40 . 3 , as shown in fig7 . outer end portion 50 extends into end stop 52 which prevents clamping element 40 from being pushed further into the channel . the end portions assume the positions identified by numerals 45 &# 39 ; and 50 &# 39 ;. since high clamping forces must be applied , recesses 36 and 37 ( see fig5 ) are provided on both sides of extension arm 20 above locking web 22 . when clamping element 40 is pressed into or out of the channel , a tool can be supported immovably in the recesses 36 and 37 . when clamping element 40 is forced out , it firstly assumes its neutral position 40 . 2 according to fig6 . if transition section 44 is again raised to angle β , clamping element 40 may be withdrawn to its introductory position 40 . 1 . it is pointed out that achorage opening 13 for the foot 18 of anchor 17 may also be fitted on an intermediate plate of a different design and disposed between the tie 10 and rail foot 33 . however , anchorage opening 13 may also be provided directly into the tie 10 . it is within the ambit of the present invention to provide any obvious modifications of the examples of the preferred embodiment as described herein , provided such modifications fall within the scope of the appended claims .	4
the search engine system 10 of the present invention comprises a membership account module 12 , a query processing module 14 and a shopping and rewards module 16 , which are interconnected to operate a consumer incentive program . the features and operation of each module will be described in detail below . fig2 shows an exemplary embodiment of an interface for the search engine of the present invention . a visitor can access the host website on their computer 100 through an internet navigator application , such as netscape navigator ® or microsoft internet explorer ®. the exemplary internet website address for the host website of the present system is “ http :// www . isearchrewards . com ”. a visitor interested in searching internet listings for a particular topic on the host website of the system 10 may simply type a search query in the appropriate text box . the query processing module 14 will filter relevant terms in said search query and select , among the listings of enrolled advertiser merchants , any listings related to the selected relevant search query terms . the visitor may also use the “ shopping ” link on the host website to submit a product or service related query and make purchases through the system 10 . however , in order to participate in the consumer incentive program and accrue awards points for using the system , the visitor must become an enrolled member of the system 10 . the visitor may create a membership account using the “ create new account ” link on the host website and providing membership account information to the account information module 22 , including : i ) name of membership account holder ; ii ) mailing address ; iii ) contact telephone number ; and iv ) e - mail address of account holder . the membership account module 12 provides the flexibility for a membership account to be created by an advertiser merchant by simply activating merchant parameters in the membership account and payment of an enrollment fee based on said merchant parameters . in the case of an account held by an individual , merchant parameters remain inactive and the account is created fee of charge . the account holder of a membership account held by an advertiser merchant must be a person authorized to make transactions in the system on behalf of the merchant . transactions may include providing merchant parameters for the membership account , making business related purchases in the system 10 , redeeming awards points accrued by said membership account on behalf of the merchant and the like . merchant parameters are activating by providing to the merchant parameters module 24 , in addition to the above described membership account information , the following information : i ) company name ; ii ) billing address ; iii ) selected search query terms associated with the listing for this advertiser merchant ; iv ) a short text message containing advertiser information such as a general description of the products and / or services provided by the merchant , stored as the listing information ; v ) website address associated with said listing ; vi ) selected length of enrollment ; vii ) selected ranking on corresponding search listing ; viii ) payment information ; ix ) selected quantity of awards points to be issued for browsing on listing website address ; x ) inventory list of products and / or services to be stored and displayed in said shopping module ; xi ) selected quantity of awards points to be issued for a completed purchase transaction in said shopping module ; and xii ) featured deals to be stored and displayed in said shopping module . once a membership account is created , account is assigned an account identification and password by the membership account module 12 . the identification and password will be retrieved and validated by log - in module 28 to authorize access to the system 10 . an advertiser merchant may adjust the amount of awards points to be assigned for a purchase in their website at any time , to effectively compete with other merchants offering similar products or services . the operation of the query processing module 14 will be further described . as any visitor , an enrolled member interested in searching internet listings for a particular topic on the host website of the system 10 may simply type a search query in the appropriate text box . the internet listing module 32 will filter relevant terms in said search query and select , among the listings among enrolled advertiser merchants , any advertiser listings related to the selected relevant search query terms and determine the order in which the listings will be presented based on the selected ranking of said advertiser listings . the query processing module 14 retrieves and displays the search results list on the host website of the system 10 . an enrolled user earns awards points when selecting a search results listing to browse the advertiser merchant website , said points being assigned to the corresponding membership account by the awards points issuing module 44 . in addition to listing information pertaining to enrolled advertiser merchants , the system may include a general database including non - affiliated website listings i . e ., non - profit organizations , religious organizations , government agencies and emergency personnel . the system 10 will , by default , assign a higher priority to enrolled advertiser merchants when displaying a search results list . however , in the absence of registered advertisers to comply with a search query submitted by a user , the query processing module 14 will select relevant non - affiliated website listings to be presented in the search results list . the query processing module 14 may be further configured to sort listings by geographical location , and the search engine interface may be provided with an option for adding a geographical parameter to a search query in order to allow a search engine user to narrow down a search results list using this parameter , if so desired . this further allows an advertiser to customize their account to be classified in the search engine system as a local , national , and global listing . additional parameters may be used to sort listings and thereby allow a search engine user to narrow down a search results list . using the “ shopping ” link on the host website transfers the user to a site administered by the shopping and rewards module 16 . a user may type a product or service related query in the appropriate text box . the shopping query module 34 will then filter relevant terms in said query and select , among the products and services of enrolled advertiser merchants , any products or services related to the relevant query terms and determine the order in which the listings will be presented based on the selected ranking for each advertiser merchant . the query processing module 14 retrieves and displays the results list on the site . each item on the results list is accompanied by an indication of the number of points to be earned by purchasing that particular product or service , as designated by the corresponding advertiser merchant . the query processing module 14 may further select among featured deals of enrolled advertiser merchants , any deals related to the search query and display said deals along with said results lists . the enrolled member earns awards points when completing a purchase from the results lists , and said points are assigned to the corresponding membership account by the awards points issuing module 44 . the functions of billing a purchase and coordinating the delivery of a product , when appropriate , are performed by the purchase processing module 42 . the system 10 may feature a vast range of products depending on the advertiser merchants enrolled in the system including , but not limited to : clothing , furniture , electronics , books , videos , music , toys , cosmetics , and other items . moreover , the system may feature a range of services depending on the advertiser merchants enrolled in the system including , but not limited to : mortgages and loans , travel reservations , job placement services , moving services , etc . in this case , an enrolled member earns awards points by completing a request for a particular service , such as filling out a mortgage application or making a travel reservation through the system . awards points earned by each membership account are stored by the balance tracking module 26 of the membership account module 12 . the balance tracking module 26 will add points issued by the award points issuing module 44 to any previous balance and will subtract points when a reward is redeemed . an enrolled member may redeem accrued awards points in two different ways . using the “ rewards ” link on the host website will transfer the user to another site administered by the shopping and rewards module 16 . a user may then type a reward related query in the appropriate text box . the rewards query module 36 will then filter relevant terms in said query and select , among rewards established by the system 10 , any rewards related to the relevant query terms . the query processing module 14 retrieves and displays the results list on the site . for example , the user may type “ flowers ” in the text box and review the resulting list of rewards that involve floral arrangements or any item including the term “ flower ” in the description . each item on the results list is accompanied by an indication of the number of points required to request said reward , as designated by the system 10 . the reward redemption module 48 , similar to the purchase processing module 42 described above , will process the exchange of a corresponding amount of awards points for the selected reward and coordinating the delivery of said reward , when appropriate . the second way of redeeming awards points is to type the phrase “ shopping certificate ” in the text box . the rewards query module 38 will return a list of shopping certificates of different currency value , accompanied by the amount of awards points required to request each certificate as designated by the points - to - currency module 46 . upon selection of a certificate , the user is given a coupon code for use as form of payment in the “ shopping ” link . this allows the account holder to exchange award points for at least a portion of the purchase price of any product or service offered by an advertiser merchant . it is further noted that for a membership account held by an advertiser merchant , the exchange of awards points for currency to be used within the system allows further flexibility , such as the ability to use exchange awards points towards payment of the enrollment fee . the system of the present invention preferably uses a fixed - fee based advertising method to determine the enrollment fee as disclosed in related u . s . application ser . no . ______ , incorporated herein by reference . the selected ranking of the listing and length of enrollment must be selected for the advertiser merchant in order to determine the enrollment fee . in the preferred embodiment of the system of the present invention , the ranking is tiered into several levels ( l 1 , l 2 , l 3 , l 4 , and so on ), each level corresponding to at least one position in a search results list for a particular search query term . each ranking level is assigned a base fee for a given period of time , for example a week . for ranking levels consisting of multiple positions , all advertisers within the ranking level will have the same base fee . the total fee accorded to an account will be prorated if the length of registration is shorter than the given period for the base fee and , conversely , will be adjusted if the length of registration is longer than the given period for the base fee . the total enrollment fee of the account is based upon the selected ranking and total length of registration and includes a quota of awards points to be issued by the system to enrolled members for selecting the advertiser merchant &# 39 ; s listing in a search results list or completing a purchase of any product or service from said advertiser member through the system 10 . additional charges for an advertiser merchant correspond to a cost - per - awards point issued after depleting said quota . in the preferred embodiment , the total fixed fee for the selected registration period will be billed upon registration of the account , and upon renewal of registration . additional charges incurred by the advertiser merchant will be billed periodically . after setting up the account , the account holder for the advertiser merchant may sign in at any time using the account identification and password to review or alter the account information . however , changes in the selected search query terms , selected ranking and selected length of registration may result in an adjustment to the total fixed fee for the account and thus require additional funds being paid by the advertiser to the system in order to confirm the changes . alternately , the enrollment fee for an advertiser merchant may be set by use of a cost - per - click auctioning method of conventional search engine systems and a fixed cost - per - awards point charge for participating in the consumer incentive program of the system 10 . in order to avoid fraudulent use of the consumer incentive program , such as a merchant depleting the quota of awards points of a competitor by repeatedly visiting the competitors website while logged into the system 10 , membership accounts held by advertiser merchants may be precluded from earning awards points for browsing websites , and thereby only earning points when making purchases through the system . while the present invention has been shown and described herein in what are conceived to be the most practical and preferred embodiments , it is recognized that departures , modifications , adaptations , variations and alterations in the described methods and systems may be made and will be apparent to those skilled in the art of the foregoing description which does not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention which is therefore not to be limited to the details herein . for this reason , such changes are desired to be included within the scope of the appended claims . the descriptive manner which is employed for setting forth the embodiments should be interpreted as illustrative but not limitative of the full scope of the claims which embrace any and all equivalents thereto .	6
referring now to fig1 an injection molding machine 10 includes a hydraulic piston 12 having its front face connected to a ram 29 having a screw 22 . the piston 12 fits so as to slide within a cylinder 7 , dividing the cylinder 7 into a front and rear chamber each filled with hydraulic fluid 9 . each chamber communicates with a hydraulic system , to be described in more detail below , so as to controllably move the piston 12 within and along the cylinder 7 . a position transducer 14 provides an electrical signal indicative of the position of the piston 12 , and hence the position of the ram 29 , and a pressure transducer 16 providing an electrical signal indicative of the pressure acting on the rear face of the piston 12 . a spline shaft 21 connects the front face of the piston 12 to ram 29 fitting within the barrel 26 . the shaft 21 serves to move the ram 29 longitudinally within the length of the barrel 26 upon motion of the piston 12 . the screw 22 on ram 29 may also be rotated along its axis within the barrel 26 by means of a gear train 25 engaging the spline shaft 21 and rotating the shaft 21 and screw 22 by means of motor 20 . during the plastication stage of the injection molding cycle , the ram 29 and hence the screw 22 is rotated within barrel 26 to feed macerated plastic material 23 into the barrel 26 from a hopper 24 communicating with the inside of the barrel 26 by means of aperture 27 . the mechanical action of the screw 22 upon the plastic material 23 in conjunction with the heat supplied by barrel heaters 28 attached to the outer surface of the barrel 26 serves to melt or plasticize the plastic material . as the plastic material 23 fills the space between the barrel 26 and the ram 29 , the action of the screw 22 forces the ram 29 longitudinally rearward . this motion may be accompanied by a countervailing back pressure by piston 12 to prevent the formation of voids in the plasticized material 23 , as has been described . when sufficient material 23 has been plasticized ( a &# 34 ; shot &# 34 ;) to permit the molding of a part , the mold 30 is opened , the previous part ( if any ) is ejected , the mold 30 is closed and the back pressure on the piston 12 is increased driving the ram 29 longitudinally forward . the front of the barrel 26 has a nozzle 31 through which the plasticized material 23 is injected into the mold cavity 34 formed by the closed halves of the mold 30 . a mold cavity pressure transducer 32 may provide a process variable signal 33 corresponding to the pressure of the plasticized material 23 against the walls of the mold 30 . the pressure signal described below may be generally either the ram or cavity pressure signals . the hydraulic system controlling the piston 12 position , and hence the ram 29 position , includes a hydraulic pump 40 , electrically actuated flow and pressure valves 36 and 38 , and an electrically actuated &# 34 ; reversing &# 34 ; valve 37 . the pressure valve 38 shunts the hydraulic pump 40 to control the pressure seen by the flow valve 36 which connects the outlet of the pump 40 to the front or rear chamber of the ram cylinder 7 depending on the position of the reversing valve 37 . the remaining chamber is connected , via reversing valve 37 , to a hydraulic storage tank 42 which returns hydraulic fluid to the hydraulic pump 40 . as described , the reversing valve 37 controls which chamber of the ram cylinder 7 receives the flow from flow valve 36 and which chamber of the ram cylinder 7 returns to the storage tank 42 . hence the reversing valve 37 controls the direction of the piston 12 movement . as is understood in the art , the pressure valve and flow valve 38 and 36 are valves that have been designed to have improved performance , i . e ., linearity and response time , for the particular dimension , pressure or rate of flow being controlled . the flow and pressure valves 36 and 38 are driven by valve amplifiers 44 and 46 , respectively , such as are typically associated with commercially available valves of this type . during the operation of the injection molding machine , both valves may be controlled to receive control variable (&# 34 ; cv &# 34 ;) signals 18 and 19 from an i / o module 8 of an industrial controller 50d . the cv signal 18 is connected to valve amplifier 44 , and hence to flow valve 36 while the cv signal 19 is connected to valve amplifier 46 and hence to pressure valve 38 . the cv output signals 18 and 19 are generated by the controller according to a stored program and in response to process variable signals (&# 34 ; pv &# 34 ;) 15 , 17 and 33 from the position and pressure transducers 14 , 16 and 32 attached to the injection molding machine 10 . referring now to fig2 the i / o modules 8 provide for the receipt of analog process variable signals 15 , 17 and 33 via analog to digital converters 52 providing digital words to an internal bus 54 of the industrial controller 50 . digital words on the bus 54 , in contrast , may be provided to digital to analog converters 56 producing control variable signals 18 and 19 . latches 58 may receive digital words from the bus 54 to provide for binary or on / off outputs such as to the reversing valve 37 . the bus 54 also connects to a processor 60 , which may be a single chip microprocessor well known in the art , and to an electronic memory 62 . the memory 62 may store a control program 66 to be executed by the processor 60 . the memory 62 also provides a variable storage area 68 , and holds one or more profiles 70 as will also be described . a terminal interface 64 connects to bus 54 to provide a means for a programming terminal or the like ( not shown ) to be attached to the controller 50 for programming the controller 50 or for a user to enter profiles as will be described . generally during operation of the industrial controller 50 with the injection molding machine 10 , the processor 60 will execute the control program 66 and according to values stored in the profiles 70 and the process variables 33 , 17 and 14 , will determine control variables 18 and 19 to effect control of the injection molding machine 10 . referring now to fig2 and 3 , one profile 70 is a setpoint profile 78 providing an array of memory elements that hold values of setpoints 72 ( e . g ., ram pressure or ram velocity ) arranged by segments 74 . in the present invention , two setpoints 72 may be provided for each segment 74 , a pressure and velocity setpoint 72 . thus two profiles , a velocity and pressure profiles 76 and 78 are provided having corresponding segments 74 . during the control of the injection molding machine , a profile ( either pressure or velocity or both ) for each stage of the injection cycle will be read by the processor 60 to produce control variables 18 and 19 accordingly . referring now to fig4 and 6 , in the present invention , the control program 66 permits a test profile , stored for example in setpoint profile 78a the primary process variable block 95 implemented by program 66 , be run by the injection molding machine 10 , as indicated at a first process block 82 . this test profile may be a simple step function of one process variable and is used to determine the physical capabilities of the injection molding machine 10 . the test profile is run by reading its setpoints 72a in sequence and outputting an open loop control variable 84 based on these setpoints 72a to the injection molding machine 10 . thus for the process variable of pressure , pressure setpoint values 72a are mapped to percent valve openings according to gain values 81a based on a priori knowledge about the operation of the valves 36 and 38 and the pump 40 previously entered by the user . for the process variable of pressure , the test profile of process block 82 is ideally run with the piston 12 fully extended so that there is no motion of the ram 29 . eliminating motion of the ram 29 (&# 34 ; deadheading the ram &# 34 ;) provides superior pressure measurements as it eliminates the dynamic effects of flowing hydraulic fluid such as may create pressure drops and inhomogeneous pressure distributions in the cylinder 7 . for the process variable of velocity , the test profile of process block 82 is ideally done with a charge of plastic material in the barrel 26 as with a normal injection cycle . referring now momentarily to fig5 as mentioned , a test profile provides a step function control variable 84 during segment 74 . during the segment 74 , a process variable 15 , 17 , or 33 , fed back to the controller ( as signal 86 ) is monitored by the processor 60 . generally as depicted , the signal 86 will lag behind the control variable 84 by a dead time 88 and will have a measurable time constant 90 and will change according to a steady state gain 92 . from this data , as indicated by process block 83 of fig6 the physical capabilities of the injection molding machine 10 are delineated . a model is thus derived comprising three principal components : the dead time 88 which may be simply measured from the difference between the beginning of the segment 74 and a predetermined percent response by the signal 86 , a time constant value 90 determined as a function of the time from the end of the dead time 88 to a second predetermined percent response and a steady state gain 92 determined by total control variable change . as shown in fig4 the process of monitoring the process variables ( e . g . pressure or position ) and the control variables is performed by a modeler 94 in the primary process variable block 95 . 83 the process of the modeling is indicated in fig6 by process block 83 . the modeler 94 deduces the quantities described with respect to fig5 of deadtime 88 and time constant 90 and gain 92 and stores them in a model parameter profile 96 . for the test profile , a single model parameter profile will be generated . however , this model parameter profile 96 will be updated during actual operation of the controller 50 , during the injection molding of parts , so that a separate set of parameters may be obtained for each segment of the setpoint profile 78 . this is possible because the profile 78 will generally be comprised of a series of step functions , each of which will yield the parameters of fig5 . these model parameters 96 are operated on by any one of a number of tuning algorithm 98 well known in the art , to deduce a closed loop parameter 100 for each segment of the setpoint profile 78 . the tuning algorithms 98 may determine proportional , integral , or derivative control loop factors as are well known in the art , however , in the preferred embodiment , only the proportional factor is determined and stored in the closed loop parameter 100 . at process block 101 of fig6 the controller 50 may begin the process of controlling the injection molding machine 10 to fabricate a part per the setpoint profile 78a as has been previously entered by a user . each setpoint 72 for a segment 74 ( shown in fig3 ) in setpoint profile 78a is sent to multiplier 102 which multiplies it by a process gain from a process gain profile 81a having gain values originally entered by the user so as to convert each setpoint 72 to a control variable to be sent to the injection molding machine 10 . for example , for a pressure or velocity setpoint 72 in setpoint profile 78a , the effect of the multiplication of multiplier 102 will be to create a control variable 84 in units of percent valve opening typically manifest by a voltage value . the application of the process gain is indicated by process block 106 of fig6 . the control variable 84 from multiplier 102 is received by feedback error adder 103 which corrects the control variable 84 by a feedback amount 104 obtained by comparing the setpoint 72 to the returned process variable 86 subtracting the latter from the former and multiplying them by the previously determined closed loop parameter 100 in a conventional proportional feedback arrangement . the application of the closed loop error 104 is indicated by process 107 of fig6 . the thus produced corrected control variable 105 is then output to the valve 36 or 38 as has been previously described depending on the process variable being controlled . as mentioned above , the control variable 105 and process variable 86 are also provided to the modeler 94 for each segment 74 so as to update the model parameter profile 96 previously described . as the injection molding process continues , the user may store the corrected control variables 105 for a profile in a base line profile 108 indicating corrected control variables 105 for a desired operation of the system . for subsequent cycles of the injection molding process , the base line profile 108 and the control variable 84 will be compared by a cv alarm 109 as indicated by process block 110 of fig6 . the cv alarm 109 , holds a predefined range value entered by the user beyond which the magnitude of the difference between the base line control value and actual control value 84 should not pass . the cv alarm 109 thus provides a simple comparison process and produces an alarm 111 to the user such as may be displayed on an associated terminal connected to the interface 64 of fig2 . the alarm 111 indicates that the change in the control value 84 has exceeded the defined limits . the purpose of the cv alarm 109 is to indicate extraordinary compensation efforts by the industrial controller 50 such as may be an early warning of a failing part such as a valve 36 or 38 or the like . for example , if the orifice of the flow valve 36 were to become clogged , the corrective effects of feedback and of learning ( the latter to be described ) could effectively overcome the effect of the clog by increasing the valve opening in compensation . nevertheless , the cv alarm 109 will indicate this fact to the user so that maintenance may be undertaken such as cleaning the valve orifice . without the cv alarm 109 , the increased opening of the valve might adversely affect the accuracy of control at a next segment . at the conclusion of each segment , the process variable value 86 and control variable value 105 are provided to an evaluator 112 which also receives the model parameter profiles 96 and determines the manifest process gain during the segment 74 . the evaluator 112 monitors the process variable 86 excluding the deadtime 88 and time constant so as to not unduly bias the average of the process variable 86 during the segment 74 so as to result in underestimation of the gain . the gain value is stored in last cycle performance profile 113 . this gain value in the last cycle performance profile 113 will typically be used to correct the process gain value 81a during the next cycle in a process of learning . generally the process gain 81a for that segment 74 is a rolling average of deduced process gains from last cycle performance profile 113 during previous injection molding cycles , the averaging performed by learning element 117 . evaluator 112 also uses data from model parameter profile 96 to determine whether the setpoint value 72 for the particular segment was in fact physically realizable given the machine model . for example , the evaluator 112 may compare the length of the segment 74 to the deadtime 88 and time constant value 90 to see if the segment 74 was too short to allow the proper process variable value 72 to be reached . this evaluation is shown in fig6 as process block 114 . if the evaluator 112 determines that the setpoint value 72 could not physically be reached , then it produces a &# 34 ; no - hope &# 34 ; signal 116 as indicated by process block 115 in fig6 . simultaneously , this no - hope signal 116 is provided to a learning block 117 to suppress learning during that segment 74 . thus referring to fig6 if , as indicated by decision block 115 of fig6 there is no hope of the injection molding machine 10 realizing the indicated values of a setpoint 72 , the control process proceeds to the next setpoint 72 as indicated at process block 101 . if however , the modeling of the system indicates that the injection molding machine 10 could have attained the value of the setpoint 72 , then at process block 118 , learning is affected in which the process gain 81a is adjusted in proportion to the last cycle performance . as has been described , the primary process variable is controlled with close loop control provided by adder 103 on a individual segment basis and with learning provided on an intercycle basis through correction of the process gain 81a . the present industrial controller also allows control of a secondary process variable at a secondary process variable block 120 implemented by program 66 . so for example , velocity may be controlled by the primary process block 95 using velocity setpoints 72 in profile 78a and pressure may be controlled in a secondary process variable block 120 with pressure set points contained in profile 78b . alternatively , profile 78a may hold pressure setpoints 72 and profile 78b in secondary process variable block 120 may hold velocity setpoints 72 . the secondary process variable block 120 controls its process variable in an open loop manner employing a multiplier 122 similar to multiplier 102 converting setpoint values to control variable values 124 through a set of stored process gain values 81b as may be entered by the user or derived from a test shot , for example , the dead headed pressure test shot described above . open loop control of pressure in a secondary process variable block 120 may be desirable so that pressure may be increased during initial ram movement and then decreased to prevent overpacking once ram movement has commenced . in the case of pressure control , the use of process gain values 81b derived from a situation where the ram deadheaded provides the highest possible pressure for a given valve setting ensuring that the actual control pressure will be no higher than this amount . the profiles 78 and their associated parameters can be stored as a part recipe that may be loaded into the memory 62 or stored off - line when a new part is to be generated . the preferred embodiment of the invention has been described but it will occur to those who practice the art that many modifications may be made to the preferred embodiment without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . in order to apprise the public of the various embodiments that may fall within the scope of the invention the following claims are made .	1
the following described process is preferably carried out or followed by a child in the company of an adult . fig1 is a schematic diagram showing a system appropriate for carrying out the method of the present invention as well as the primary steps associated with the method . in general the system 10 comprises the use of a home based computer 12 having the typical display monitor 14 and keyboard input device 16 . with the software of the system of the present invention operating on computer 12 , two windows are presented on the monitor 14 . the first window is a storybook scene preview window 18 and the second is an adult prompt question window 20 . other windows , images , and text are displayed to the users during the operation of the system and method of the present invention . initially steps are followed to identify the appropriate size of the images to receive the child &# 39 ; s fingerprints , a process described in more detail below . once this sizing routine has been carried out then the process of the present invention proceeds as shown in fig1 . as the storybook scene previews 18 are presented on the display 14 the users step through each page ( selecting scenes as they go ) and then print each page using printer 22 connected to home computer 12 . this results in the collection of loose ( preferably numbered ) printed pages 24 for the various selected storybook scenes , each leaving space ( appropriately sized for the child &# 39 ; s fingerprint ) to allow the child to “ personalize ” and complete the scenes with their fingerprints . this personalizing step is carried out by having the child ink their finger 26 ( which is the thumb in the preferred embodiment , although this is not required ) using ink stamp pad 28 . after each page 24 has been personalized they are all bound together ( in order ) to create the bound storybook 30 . the binding into book form may be accomplished according to any of a number of know ways of binding ( tight or loose ) pages of paper together . reference is now made to fig2 for a more detailed description of the manner of identifying the size of the child &# 39 ; s fingerprint for the purpose of matching ( adjusting ) the template images created by the software to that child &# 39 ; s specific fingerprint size . using a computer printer , the adult and child print out the finger print measurement page 32 . using an ink pad , the adult and child test the child &# 39 ; s fingerprint size in several of the varied sized oval diagrams 36 on the page . from this process the adult and child are able to determine the correct oval size of the child &# 39 ; s personal fingerprint 38 . the adult and child will then select the corresponding letter ( or other indicator ) 34 to be input as the proper size for the child &# 39 ; s fingerprint when his / her storybook is created . the above described process for determining the size of the child &# 39 ; s fingerprint is also described in a step by step manner in fig4 . as indicated above , fig4 is a flowchart showing the steps in the process of determining the appropriate size for the fingerprint templates to be used in the creation of the specific child &# 39 ; s storybook . fingerprint sizing routine begins at step 102 when initiated by the users on the home computer . step 104 involves printing out the fingerprint measurement page ( as seen in fig2 ). the child &# 39 ; s finger is inked at step 106 followed by imprinting the child &# 39 ; s fingerprint on one or more of the test ovals on the measurement page at step 108 . the adult and child then determine , at step 110 , the oval size appropriate for that particular child &# 39 ; s fingerprint . finally at step 112 , the adult and child use the size reference indication ( a letter in the example shown in fig2 ) in the process of creating the storybook template pages at step 112 . in the process of completing the storybook , the adult and child select a storyline topic from the list of storylines that the child can use to tell a personal experience story about themselves ( i . e . nonfiction ), or that the child can relate to well enough to create a fictitious story . the computer will then bring up the screen for that selected storyline . the adult and child then select appropriate scenes from the scene options on the computer screen that support the creation of the storyline . for example , the storyline from the topic “ my first pet ” may have several scene choices on the page that tell where the child got their pet . the child may choose the scene from the humane society , or the pet store , or the breeder , or the back alley , etc . to match the story they are creating . there may be several scene options as the storyline progresses . the adult and child then place the pages in the correct sequence / order to match the child &# 39 ; s storyline . the adult will describe and discuss the story with the child as the pages are organized . the adult / child descriptions and discussions will be very helpful in “ modeling ” the language ( sentences ) for the child that he / she will soon be speaking to create the storybook . the adult and child , working together , use the scene on each page to facilitate and support the words that the child will speak as they tell the words / sentence ( s ) for that page . the parent / adult will use the “ prompt ” questions and comments provided by the software to assist with eliciting the child &# 39 ; s language for the words / sentences that will be typed on each page . the previous two steps will typically happen simultaneously as each page is created . the adult and child then select graphics using screen “ buttons ” to choose character features such as hair , facial expressions , glasses , and accessories appropriate to the specific characters and the words used in the story - line as each page is created . the characters will eventually have a generic body comprised of a fingerprint image . these generic fingerprint images will be absent once the storybook is printed . the void spaces left where the generic fingerprints were shown on the computer screen are to be filled in with the child &# 39 ; s personal fingerprint when the storybook is printed . the adult or child will use the text box to type the words / sentences spoken by the child for each page . the text will be entered in the child &# 39 ; s simple words / sentences ( or a close approximation , thereof ) so as to promote a cognitive comfort - level that will : ( a ) facilitate the child &# 39 ; s fluency of thought and ( b ) encourage literacy - building skills , once the child reads ( or follows the book to retell ) the story he / she has written . once graphics and text are completed in the storybook , the adult uses the computer printer to print the book . the “ prompt ” questions / comments provided on the screen previously will not appear on the pages of the book . the child then ( with the assistance of the adult ) uses an ink pad to “ ink ” the child &# 39 ; s finger tip and carefully place it within the open / void space inside each character image on the first page . the adult and child then continue through the pages of the storybook , being sure to “ ink ” the child &# 39 ; s finger for each fingerprint character on each page . the finished storybook pages may then be professionally bound , spiral bound at a local print shop , or simply placed in a ringed binder or similar home - binding device . the adult will want to encourage repeated sharing of the storybook by the child to further develop expressive language skills and to build literacy and cognitive skills . the above process is shown structurally by the images presented in fig3 and according to the method steps set forth in the flowchart of fig5 . fig3 shows a before and after image of a typical page from the storybook being created . page 40 a is the story scene template page that has been created according to the choices made by the adult and child working together as described above and page 40 b is the same page after the child has placed his / her fingerprint 38 on the appropriately sized “ body ” of the individual 42 in the scene . although the preferred image uses the child &# 39 ; s fingerprint to complete the “ body ” of the individual in the scene , other objects within the scene may also be constructed to be completed or “ personalized ” by the use of the child &# 39 ; s fingerprint . insertion of the fingerprint 38 substantially completes the image of a figure on a skateboard ( in this example ) comprising the fingerprint - ready image 42 and the fingerprint 38 . this image can be further enhanced by coloring ( after the book pages have been printed ) at least portions of the image , and / or adding additional lines to the image , and / or forming a scene which includes the image . various graphic art software routines may be utilized in some embodiments of the present invention to further embellish the scene although one objective of the present invention is to provide a method that does not require the child or adult to have any specific level of artistic talent or ability to create the scene pages . the overall method described above is shown in step by step manner in fig5 . the storybook creation process is initiated at step 122 . the adult and child review the story line list , at step 124 , and select a topic . the system then displays , at step 126 , a start / instruction screen , primarily for the benefit of the adult . at step 128 , the system then displays various scene option that are story line specific . the adult and child then choose , at step 130 , an individual scene to create . the system displays a skeletal framework for the selected scene at step 132 . the adult reviews and speaks the various prompts to the child at step 134 . the child then speaks a response and the child &# 39 ; s language is then entered as text for the scene at step 136 . the adult and child then select the graphics for the character and the scene features at step 138 . if the adult and child are not creating the final scene in the book ( query step 140 ) then the process returns to step 128 where creation of the next scene is initiated . if the final scene has been created then the process proceeds to step 142 where automated compilation of the storybook by the software of the system of the present invention is carried out . in the preferred embodiment of the present invention , the adult and child are presented with the created storybook pages at step 144 . the adult and child confirm each page ( and may preferably be given the opportunity to edit the works ). in providing this review presentation the system may insert a placeholder image of a darkened oval to allow for a preview of how the completed page will look . after the adult and child have confirmed each scene page at step 144 the process proceeds to step 146 wherein each of the pages is printed out . the child then ( with the help of the adult ) then inks his or her finger , at step 148 and places or stamps his or her fingerprint onto each oval area designated for the same on each of the various storybook scene pages . finally , at step 150 the pages of the storybook are bound and the adult and child ( or the child alone ) re - reads the storybook in its hardcopy form . all of the text is preferably developed by the child , that is , there is no pre - programmed text , thus allowing the child to be the sole author of the book . the child &# 39 ; s original fingerprint is used to finish the scenes , thus allowing for customized artwork of the scenes by the child . written prompts are provided ( on the computer screen ) by the software to the adult throughout the scenes . these prompts effectively elicit the verbalized storyline from the child , thus building expressive language skills and literacy skills as the child repeatedly speaks and reads his / her own familiar words . the adult and child together will select ( from a preprinted page ) the correct size of the fingerprint - ready space to be left open / blank / void for the child &# 39 ; s personal fingerprint , which will then be adjusted and placed on the finished pages of the storybook . the selection of the specific fingerprint measurement will automatically adjust the size of the graphic image surrounding the void fingerprint - ready space , allowing for an accurate fit between the image and the size of the child &# 39 ; s personal fingerprint . one objective is to provide a large enough image that the child will recognize the fingerprint as their own and see its consistency throughout the storybook . alternately , the child &# 39 ; s actual fingerprint can be downloaded from a biometric fingerprint reading device and placed within the storybook scenes prior to being printed . the foregoing describes exemplary embodiments of the invention . various modifications of these embodiments , as well as various alternative embodiments of the invention , will be suggested to those skilled in the art . thus , it is intended that the claims define the scope of the invention , and that the claims cover all structures and methods , and their equivalents , encompassed by the claims . various alternate embodiments may implement the basic processes described above . some of the alternate embodiments may include children &# 39 ; s interactive e - books , designed to advance literacy , expressive language , and creative writing skills using the child &# 39 ; s developmental level of imagination and cognition . the child would author their very own book and use their very own fingerprints to complete the pictures in their unique story . the parent or adult may print their child &# 39 ; s pages for a keepsake and create a treasured learning tool that &# 39 ; s filled with personalized memories for both the parent and child . ( a ) “ skeletal ” template pages which will combine to create a story as a finished children &# 39 ; s book . the book can be printed out from a home computer by the author / creator of the individualized / customized book . ( b ) technology which produces the book electronically ( as with an e - book ) or from software such as with the creation of a pdf file , or similar digital graphic imagery software . ( c ) pages in the book will allow for manipulation of images / graphics and the creation of text so that the finished story line and graphics are customized by the individual author . a selection of graphics “ buttons ” will be available to allow various images ( i . e . furniture , pets , etc .) and image features ( i . e . differing hair , faces , glasses , etc .) to be added to the scenery on each page . ( d ) a selection of pages will be available to fit multiple options to the story line ( for example , the child chooses getting his puppy from the pound rather than a pet store .) ( e ) the application will provide suggested “ prompting questions ” to aid an adult in helping the child to determine what to say on each page of the story . the adult may input on the computer keyboard ( if necessary ) the child &# 39 ; s text for each page . as an example , prompt : “ what did you tell dad ? what did dad say about your wish ?” the adult will say , “ let &# 39 ; s put that in your book . what do you want me to type ?” ( f ) scenery within the printed pages will leave empty spaces to allow for added customized finishing of the images with fingerprint ( s ) and / or graphic images that might be created by the child in a personalized manner . implementation of some of the features of the alternate preferred embodiments described generally above is demonstrated in fig6 - 10 . fig6 is a schematic diagram showing a system appropriate for carrying out a full digital implementation of the method of acquiring the child &# 39 ; s fingerprint and utilizing it in conjunction with the overall method of the invention . this alternate method still preferably uses a desk top computer 212 having the typical display , keyboard , and processor components . computer 212 may , however , comprise anything from a smart phone to a tablet computer to a full - sized home computer , each of which may run a version of the software of the present invention suitable for implementation on that type of device being used . the entire system of the present invention may , for example , be implemented in conjunction with a smart phone utilizing a smart phone app with somewhat limited functionality when compared with the full software system operable in conjunction with a desk top computer . the primary difference between the alternate embodiment shown in fig6 and the preferred embodiment described above , relates to the manner in which the fingerprint is incorporated into the storybook construction , as well as the manner in which the words of the child are incorporated into the process . the fingerprint image may be acquired in a manner similar to that described above by using the child &# 39 ; s finger and an ink pad 202 . the child may ink their finger and deposit their fingerprint on a template card 204 . a photograph , or scanned image , of the template card 204 may then be acquired by using smart phone 206 which creates a digital image file of the fingerprint . this file may then be transferred by known digital file transfer methods to the computer 212 for use in constructing the storybook . alternately , a biometric scanner 208 may be utilized to simply scan the child &# 39 ; s finger and create a digital image of the fingerprint directly . this process also produces an image file which is communicated to computer system 212 for use in the construction of the storybook . in addition to the alternate digital methods of acquiring the fingerprint , the alternate method of the present invention shown in fig6 incorporates speech recognition software that may utilize a microphone 210 connected directly into computer 212 or may upload an audio file created with the use of a smart phone having an audio record feature , or any other digital audio recording device . in any event , an audio file may then be input into the software system used to create the storybook , and by means of speech recognition software transcribe the child &# 39 ; s spoken words ( and / or the words of the assisting adult , as necessary ) into the text intended to be associated with particular scenes being constructed . as all of this information is accumulated digitally into computer 212 , the software associated with the operation of the system of the present invention constructs the storybook as described above ( and in more detail again in fig1 below ) by outputting the results to printer 214 which prints an accumulation of pages 216 which may then be bound into the final storybook 218 . one aspect of the digital image input features of this alternate embodiment of the present invention , is the ability to scale both the fingerprint acquired and the graphic elements in the scene being created . fig7 shows the manner in which the standard sized fingerprint 220 may be scaled down to a smaller image 222 so as to match the graphic design 224 and receive the scaled down image as a design component 226 . in a similar manner , an acquired fingerprint 228 may be retained in its digital image size 234 while the graphic design element 230 of the scene to be created may be scaled up or down to match the size of the fingerprint , as shown with graphic design element 232 . reference is next made to fig9 & amp ; 10 for a description of the modified methods associated with the alternate digital processes of the present invention . fig9 discloses the process for acquiring a digital image of the fingerprint and begins at step 240 where the fingerprint scanning routine is initiated . in one embodiment of the invention , at step 242 , a printout of the fingerprint image template is made . at step 244 , ink is placed on the child &# 39 ; s finger and the fingerprint is placed on the image template at step 246 . the user then photographs or scans the fingerprint at step 248 , thereby saving a digital image file of the fingerprint at step 250 . the resultant digital file of the fingerprint is , of course , scalable for use in conjunction with the construction of the storybook . fig1 generally describes the same process as previously shown in fig5 with the modified and / or additional elements associated with digitally acquiring the fingerprint image , scaling the image and the scene graphics , and recording the child &# 39 ; s voice for speech recognition software . in fig1 the storybook creation is initiated at step 260 . the users ( adult and child ) review the story line list and select a topic at step 262 . step 264 involves displaying the start / instruction screen that continues the process for a selected topic . the scene options are displayed at step 266 and the scene to be created is chosen at step 268 . the system then displays the scene skeletal framework at step 270 and the adult reviews and speaks prompts to the child at step 272 . in the alternate embodiment of the present invention shown in fig1 , at step 274 the child speaks a response and his or her voice is digitally recorded . the system then implements speech recognition software at step 276 to transcribe the child &# 39 ; s response into text . the process then proceeds at step 278 where graphics for character and scene features are selected . the system imports the digital image file of the child &# 39 ; s fingerprint at step 280 ( derived from the fingerprint scanning routine shown in fig9 ) and scales the fingerprint and / or the selected scene graphics to match each other at step 282 . query step 284 asks whether the final scene has just been generated . if not , the process returns to step 266 where additional scene options are presented . if the final scene has been created , then query step 284 proceeds to the automated compilation of the storybook at step 286 . the scene pages are displayed for review and confirmation by the child at step 288 , followed by the printing of the pages of the storybook at step 290 . finally , at step 292 the pages are bound into the storybook which may be read ( repeatedly , as desired ) with the child . although the present invention has been described in terms of the foregoing preferred embodiments , this description has been provided by way of explanation only and is not intended to be construed as a limitation of the invention . those skilled in the art will recognize modifications of various features and structures of the present invention that might accommodate specific computer hardware and software environments . as indicated above , the specific images and text that are utilized are not so important as the ability to personalize the images and text according to the child &# 39 ; s interests and desires . various forms of artwork may be used for the storybook such as public domain web art or clip art . the child should be able to choose from a variety of art , scenes , figures , and the like available on the web . the child may also choose to use a photo that they may have uploaded . a child might , for example , place his or her fingerprint image over the body of an animal in a photo taken while at the zoo . a compilation of these photos could be the scenes used to go with the story the child writes ( speaks ) to tell about the trip to the zoo . these variations and modifications do not necessarily depart from the spirit and scope of the invention .	1
the term and symbol v dd indicates the logic high voltage and logic and array signals swing between v dd and ground unless otherwise noted . the term and symbol v refx indicates reference cell precharge voltage , which , in one example , has a value equal to the value of v dd / 2 . the term storage capacitor may be read as storage node , since the present invention is not necessarily limited to capacitive storage devices . the terms precharge and restore are equivalent terms and the terms timing and clocking are equivalent terms . a timing phase or a clock phase refers to a portion of a whole clock cycle from a high to the next high or from a low to the next low being 360 °. for example , a phase of 90 ° is a quarter of a clock cycle , a phase of 180 ° is half a clock cycle and a phase of 270 ° is three - quarters of a clock cycle . a delay in a synchronous signal is a phase shift of that signal and the terms delay and phase shift may be used interchangeably . delay may be in units of time or degrees of phase . fig1 is an exemplary schematic circuit diagram of an edram array 100 . in fig1 , edram array 100 includes a data cell array 105 , a reference cell array 110 , a sense amplifier section 115 and column select ( cs ) circuits 120 . edram array 100 is a gnd restore edram , i . e . the bitlines ( bls ) are initialized to gnd . for simplicity , edram 100 includes only four wordlines wl 0 , wl 1 , wl 2 and wl 3 and two bitline pairs bt 0 and bc 0 ( true and complement of bitline 0 ) and bt 1 and bc 1 ( true and complement of bitline 1 ). in practice , the number of wordlines and bitlines may be any number . data cell array 105 includes a first data cell 121 coupled between wl 1 and bt 0 , a second data cell 122 coupled between wl 0 and bc 0 , a third data cell 123 coupled between wl 1 and bt 1 , a fourth data cell 124 coupled between wl 0 and bc 1 , a fifth data cell 125 coupled between wl 3 and bt 0 , a sixth data cell 126 coupled between wl 2 and bc 0 , a seventh data cell 127 coupled between wl 3 and bt 1 and an eighth data cell 128 coupled between wl 2 and bc 1 . each data cell 121 through 128 includes an nfet and a storage capacitor . the first source / drain of each nfet is coupled to that data cells respective bitline and the second source / drain of the nfet to a first plate of the capacitor . the second plate of each storage capacitor is coupled to ground and the gate of each nfet is coupled to that data cells respective wordline . reference cell array 110 includes a first reference cell 131 , a second reference cell 132 , a third reference cell 133 and a fourth reference cell 134 . the number of reference cells is equal to the number of bitlines in edram array 100 . reference cells 131 through 134 each include a first nfet , a second nfet and a storage capacitor . for each reference cell 131 through 134 , the first source drain of each nfet and the first plate of the storage capacitor share a common node and the second plate of the storage capacitor is coupled to ground . for second reference cell 132 , the second source / drain of the first nfet is coupled to bc 0 and the gate of the first nfet is coupled to a first reference wordline ( rwl 0 ). the second source / drain of the second nfet is coupled to v refx and the gate of the second nfet is coupled to a first reference equalize signal line ( req 0 ). for first reference cell 131 , the second source / drain of the first nfet is coupled to bt 0 and the gate of the first nfet is coupled to a second reference wordline ( rwl 1 ). the second source / drain of the second nfet is coupled to v refx and the gate of the second nfet is coupled to a second reference equalize signal line ( req 1 ). for fourth reference cell 134 , the second source / drain of the first nfet is coupled to bc 1 and the gate of the first nfet is coupled to rwl 0 . the second source / drain of the second nfet is coupled to v refx and the gate of the second nfet is coupled to req 0 . for third reference cell 133 , the second source / drain of the first nfet is coupled to bt 1 and the gate of the first nfet is coupled to rwl 1 . the second source / drain of the second nfet is coupled to v refx and the gate of the second nfet is coupled to req 1 . reference cells transfer charge to the bitline of each bitline pair that is not being actively written to or read out . for example , if bt 0 is being read , then bc 0 is coupled to reference cell 132 . the signal on req 0 is generated by inversion of a wl odd signal by inverter 135 . the signal on rwl 0 is generated by inversion of the inverted wl odd signal by inverter 136 . the signal on req 1 is generated by inversion of the a wl even signal by inverter 137 . the rwl 1 signal is generated by inversion the inverted wl even signal by inverter 138 . wl odd is active when any odd numbered wordline is active , in this example wl 1 or wl 3 . wl even is active when any even numbered wordline is active , in this example wl 0 or wl 2 . there are only two reference wordlines , rwl 1 representing odd numbered wordlines in data cell array 105 and rwl 0 representing even numbered wordlines in data cell array 105 . sense amplifier ( sa ) section 115 includes a first sense amplifier 141 , a second sense amplifier 142 , a first bitline restore circuit 151 and second bitline restore circuit 152 . the number of sense amplifiers and bitline restore circuits is equal to the number bitline pairs in edram array 100 . in the present example , sense amplifiers 141 and 142 are common cross - coupled amplifiers . each sense amplifier 141 and 142 includes two pfet / nfet stacks , each pfet / nfet stack having a common node ( where the drain of the nfet couples to the drain of the pfet ). the gates of the nfet and the pfet of the each stack are coupled to each other and cross - coupled to the common node of the other stack . for both first sense amplifier 141 and second sense amplifier 142 , the sources of the pfets are coupled to a sense amplifier enable line ( setp ) and the source of the nfets are coupled to ground . for first sense amplifier 141 , the common node of the first nfet / pfet stack is coupled to bt 0 and the common node of the second nfet / pfet stack is coupled to bc 0 . for second sense amplifier 142 , the common node of the first nfet / pfet stack is coupled to bt 1 and the common node of the second nfet / pfet stack is coupled to bc 1 . the signal on setp is generated by transistors 160 a and 160 b in response to a sense amplifier enable signal ( setn ) low which will bring setp high or an equalize signal ( eq ) high which will bring setp low . ( during equalization , the bt and bc lines of a bitline pair are shunted together .) with setp low , there is no amplification of the signals on any of the bitlines . first and second restore circuits 151 and 152 each include three nfets in series , the gates of each nfet coupled to a signal line carrying eq . for each restore circuit 151 and 152 , the source of the first nfet and source of the third nfet are coupled to ground . for first restore circuit 151 , a first source / drain of the second nfet is coupled to the drain of the first nfet and to bt 0 . a second source / drain of the second nfet is coupled to the drain of the third nfet and to bc 0 . for second restore circuit 152 , a first source / drain of the second nfet is coupled to the drain of the first nfet and to bt 1 . a second source / drain of the second nfet is coupled to the drain of the third nfet and to bc 1 . when eq is high bitlines bt 0 , bc 0 , bt 1 and bc 1 are pulled low and the second nfet equalizes the true and complement of each bitline . column select circuits 120 are comprised of one nfet for each bitline , each nfet acting to gate the output of that bitline . in the present example , there are four nfets 161 , 162 , 163 and 164 . a first source / drain of nfet 161 is coupled to bt 0 and a second source / drain of nfet 161 is coupled to an input / output node , data true ( dt ), of edram array 100 . a first source / drain of nfet 162 is coupled to bc 0 and a second source / drain of nfet 162 is coupled to an input / output node , data compliment ( dc ), of edram array 100 . the gates of nfets 161 and 162 are coupled to a column select zero signal line ( cs 0 ). a first source / drain of nfet 163 is coupled to bt 1 and a second source / drain of nfet 163 is coupled to dt . a first source / drain of nfet 164 is coupled to bc 1 and a second source / drain of nfet 164 is coupled to dc . the gates of nfets 163 and 164 are coupled to a column select zero signal line ( cs 1 ). there is one column select line for each bitline pair in edram array 100 . thus , nfets 161 , 162 , 163 and 164 act as bit switches , gating input and output through nodes dt and dc . an edram is written or read by bringing a selected wordline high to transfer the charge stored in all cells coupled to that wordline to the bitlines . the sense amplifiers amplify this small amount of charge and the column select connect the amplified signals to read / write data path devices corresponding to the activated column select devices . the restore circuit precharges the bitlines after the sense amplifiers are turned off . fig2 is a timing diagram for the edram of fig1 . the timings sequence in edram array 100 ( see fig1 ) during the active portion of the cycle are ( 1 ) transfer the charge from the cell onto the bitline ( s ), ( 2 ) amplify the charge on the bitline ( s ) and ( 3 ) write back charge to the cell . the timings sequence in edram array 100 ( see fig1 ) during the restore ( or precharge ) portion of the cycle are ( 1 ) deselect wordlines ; ( 2 ) turn off the sense amplifiers and ( 3 ) equalize the bitline ( s ) and precharge the bitlines ( s ) to gnd before the start of the next read cycle . since all timings are synchronized with the wl 0 / 2 or wl 1 / 3 signals , jitter ( indicated the dashed lines ) in wl 0 / 2 and wl 1 / 3 signals can shorten or lengthen the duration of the active period and the restore period . jitter is the uncertainty in the timing ( or clocking ) of a signal edge . referencing the cell signal , if the active period is too short , then not enough charge will be written back to the cell and if the active period is too long , the eq signal will not be long enough to bring both bc and bt to the same voltage value and a differential voltage will exist on the bitline pair that must be overcome by the sense amplifiers on the next cycle . fig3 is a block schematic diagram of a circuit for precise timing control of the start of the restore period of the edram of fig1 according to a first embodiment of the present invention . in fig3 , a tunable timing circuit 200 includes a delayed lock loop ( dll ) circuit 205 and a tunable delay circuit 210 . dll circuit 205 includes a dll controller 215 , a dll filter 220 , a 360 ° delay element 225 , a clock - plus - one generator 230 and a comparator 235 . dll controller 215 , delay element 225 and clock - plus - one generator 230 all receive a clk signal 240 from an external source . dll controller generates a control signal 245 , which is a word n - bits wide and is synchronous with clk signal 240 . control signal 245 is received by delay element 225 and ll filter 220 . dll element 225 includes , in the present example , 18 delay stages ( more or less stages may be used ), each delay stage responsive to control signal 245 . each stage is capable of adding to clk signal 240 a 20 ° delay ± an adjustable amount of delay responsive to control signal 245 . dll element 225 is described in more detail infra with reference to fig4 . the output of delay element 225 is coupled to a first input or comparator 235 and is a delayed clk signal 250 , whose exact phase relative to the phase of clk signal 240 is a function of control signal 245 . the output of clock - plus - one generator 230 is a shifted clk signal 255 , which is shifted from clk signal 240 by a whole phase or 360 ° and which is coupled to a second input of comparator 235 . comparator 235 determines which of the phase of shifted clk signal 255 or delayed clk signal 250 is greater and generates a single - bit add / subtract delay signal 260 . add / subtract delay signal 260 is coupled to dll controller 215 and is used by the dll controller to modify control signal 245 in order to add or remove adjustable delay from the delay stages of delay element 225 . dll filter 220 filters control signal 245 to remove / reduce jitter in control signal 245 and generates a filtered control signal 265 . tunable delay circuit 210 includes , in the present example , a 320 ° delay element 270 a having 16 delay stages , a 280 ° delay element 270 b having 14 delay stages , a 240 ° delay element 270 c having 12 delay stages , a 200 ° delay element 270 d having 10 delay stages , a multiplexer 275 and a fine - tune delay circuit 280 . except for the number of delay stages , delay elements 270 a to 270 d are similar to delay element 225 . the phase of a restore enable signal 285 generated by fine - tune delay circuit 280 and base delay on delay elements 270 a to 270 d . delay elements 270 a to 270 d are coupled to clk signal 240 and filtered control signal 265 and generate delayed clk signals 290 a to 290 d , which are coupled to multiplexer 275 . in response to fuse 1 control signals 295 a ( which in the present example is a 4 - bit word ), multiplexer 275 selects one of delayed clk signals 290 a to 290 d and couples the selected delayed clk signal , designated course enable signal 290 s , to fine - tune delay circuit 280 . fine - tune delay circuit 280 , in response to fuse 2 control signals 295 b further tunes delayed clk signal 290 s to generate restore enable signal 285 . the following example illustrates the effect of tunable timing circuit 200 . assume clk signal 240 is a 100mhz ( or 10 nano - seconds ( ns )) signal . if delay signal 290 d is selected by multiplexer 275 , the phase course enable 290 s will be 200 ° out of phase from clk signal 240 or lag behind by ( 200 / 360 )× 10 = 5 . 55 ns . if fine - tune delay circuit 280 adds a further 0 . 02 ns delay , then restore enable signal 285 will be delayed 5 . 57 ns relative to clk signal 240 . returning to fig2 , restore enable signal 285 may be used to accurately and precisely time ( gate ) the turning on / off of wordline signals wl 0 / 2 and wl 1 / 3 of fig2 . in other words , restore enable signal 285 can be used to very accurately time the start of the restore period of an edram cycle since all signals , cell , bt / bc eq , rwl 0 , rwl 1 , wl 0 / 2 and wl 1 / 3 are synchronous and derived from the same clk signal 240 ( see fig3 ). the present invention has the advantages that since dll phase generators do not vary with process , voltage or temperature , thus changes in active / restore periods of the edram cycle will also not vary with these parameters when driven by restore enable signal 285 . control of active / restore cycles is not a function of clk 240 duty cycle and further , jitter can be controlled to less than 50 pico - seconds ( ps ). fig4 is a schematic diagram of an exemplary delay element of the circuit of fig . 3 . in fig4 , delay element 225 includes delay stages 300 a to 300 q . in the present example , there are 18 delay stages . each delay stage 300 a to 300 q includes an inverter 305 , four capacitors 310 a to 310 d having respective capacitive values of c 1 , c 2 , c 3 and c 4 where c 1 & lt ; c 2 & lt ; c 3 & lt ; c 4 and four corresponding nfets 315 a to 315 d acting as pass gates . the drain of each nfet 315 a is coupled to a node 320 connecting the output of a previous inverter 305 to the input of a subsequent inverter . the source of nfet 315 a is coupled to gnd through capacitor 310 a , the source of nfet 315 b is coupled to gnd through capacitor 310 b , the source of nfet 315 c is coupled to gnd through capacitor 310 c , the source of nfet 315 d is coupled to gnd through capacitor 310 d . the gate of each nfet 315 a , 315 b , 315 c and 315 d is coupled to different respective bits n 0 , n 1 , n 2 and n 3 of control signal 245 . if a particular bit n 0 to n 3 is on ( high ), then the corresponding capacitor 310 a to 310 d is coupled to node 320 , increasing the delay through each stage 300 a to 300 q . the primary delay through each stage 300 a to 300 q is due to inverters 305 . in the present example , there are 2 4 possible delay settings possible . if delay element 225 is nominally designed as a 360 ° phase delay element , then both positive and negative adjustment is possible by designing the nominal delay with one or more bits n 0 to n 4 expected to be on ( high ). thus , some capacitive loading is included in the 20 ° phase shift of each stage 300 a to 300 q and by turning off ( bit low ) particular bits , less than 20 ° phase delay will be realized through each delay stage ( for the same clock cycle , voltage , process and temperature ) and by turning on particular bits ( bit high ) more less than 20 ° phase delay will be realized through each delay stage . it should be pointed out 18 delay stages and four nfet / capacitor pairs per stage is exemplary and that the more delay stages and the more nfet / capacitor pairs ( an bits in control signal 245 ) the more granularity of control will be realized . delay elements 290 a to 290 d of fig3 are similar to delay element 225 , only the number of delay stages and the total delay through the respective delay elements being different . because filtered control signal 265 ( derived from control signal 245 , see fig3 ) is also four - bits , then there are four nfet / capacitor pairs in each stage of each delay element 290 a to 290 d . fig5 is a schematic diagram of an exemplary fine - tuning circuit of the circuit of fig3 . in fig5 , fine - tune delay circuit 280 includes four inverter banks 325 a , 325 b , 325 c and 325 d , each inverter bank coupled between course enable signal 290 s and a de - multiplexer 330 . the output of multiplexer 330 is restore enable signal 285 . multiplexer 330 is responsive to fuse 2 control signals 295 b . inverter bank 325 a comprises two inverters i 1 and i 2 connected in series , inverter bank 325 b comprises four inverters i 3 , i 4 , i 5 and i 6 connected in series , inverter bank 325 c comprises six inverters i 7 , i 8 , i 9 , i 10 , i 11 and i 12 connected in series and inverter bank 325 d comprises eight inverters i 13 , i 14 , i 15 , i 16 , i 17 , i 18 , i 19 and i 20 connected in series . by selection of various combinations of inverter banks 325 a to 325 d , small increases or decreases to the phase of course enable signal 290 s are realized in restore enable signal 285 . there are four inverter banks 325 a , 325 b , 325 c and 325 d because fuse 2 control signal 295 b is a four - bit control word . more or less bits and a corresponding number of inverter banks may be used . fig6 is a schematic diagram of an exemplary fuse bank circuit 335 for generating control signals for the circuit of fig3 . in fig6 , fuse bank circuit 335 includes a four - bit shift register 340 having a first stage 345 a , a second stage 345 b , a third stage 345 c and a fourth stage 345 d , a first fuses 350 a , a second fuse 350 b , a third fuse 350 c and a fourth fuse 350 d and a first multiplexer 355 a , a second multiplexer 355 b , a third multiplexer 355 c and a fourth multiplexer 355 d . first stage 345 a of shift register 340 and first fuse 350 a are coupled to inputs of first multiplexer 355 a . the output of first multiplexer 355 a is an f0 bit of fuse 1 ( or fuse 2 ) control signal 295 a ( or 295 b ). second stage 345 b of shift register 340 and second fuse 350 b are coupled to inputs of second multiplexer 355 b . the output of the second multiplexer 355 b is an f1 bit of fuse 1 ( or fuse 2 ) control signal 295 a ( or 295 b ). third stage 345 c of shift register 340 and third fuse 350 c are coupled to inputs of third multiplexer 355 c . the output of third multiplexer 345 c is an f2 bit of fuse 1 ( or fuse 2 ) control signal 295 a ( or 295 b ). fourth stage 345 d of shift register 340 and fourth fuse 350 d are coupled to inputs of fourth multiplexer 355 d . the output of fourth multiplexer 355 d is an f3 bit of fuse 1 ( or fuse 2 ) control signal 295 a ( or 295 b ). shift register 340 is a typical level sensitive scan design ( lssd ) register . the pattern of fuses 350 a , 350 b , 350 c and 350 d to blow is determined during test of the edram 100 ( see fig1 ). a test pattern is scanned into shift register 340 to simulate a fuse blow pattern and the performance or other parameters of the edram are measured . for example , the tester could determine which pattern gives the highest yield or which pattern gives the fastest edram . the fuses are then blown to this pattern . each edram on a single chip on a wafer may be individually tested and appropriate fuses blown . alternatively , a representative number of edrams on several chips on a wafer may be tested , and an “ average ” pattern selected for blowing the same fuses on all edrams on all chips . or a representative number of edrams on several chips on several wafers may be tested , and an “ average ” pattern selected for blowing the same fuses on all edrams on all chips on all wafers in a lot ( group of wafers processed together ). fuses 350 a , 350 b , 350 c and 350 d may be laser blow fuses , electrical blow fuses or electrical blow antifuses . more or less than four fuses may be used depending upon the number of delay elements in tunable delay circuit 210 ( see fig3 ) and inverter banks in fine - tune delay circuit 280 ( see fig5 ). optionally , two separate fuse bank circuits 335 may be replaced with a single fuse bank circuit having an eight - bit shift register with two banks of four fuses each in order to share a scan chain . the present invention is extendable beyond control of just the restore ( precharge ) period of an edram to any or all of the synchronous control signals or functions of an edram describes supra . fig7 is a block schematic diagram of an edram 400 a according to a second embodiment of the present invention . in fig7 , edram 400 a includes a latch receiving an address signal 405 and clk signal 240 . address signal 405 is received by a latch 410 and decoded by a decoder 415 which generates a wordline select signal 420 received by a wordline driver 425 which generates a wordline signal 430 received by a memory array 440 . clk signal 240 is also received by dll circuit 205 , which generates a filtered control signal 265 a . filtered control signal 265 a is similar to filtered control signal 265 ( see fig3 ) except that filtered control signal 265 a is an n - bit word , where n is any positive whole number . filtered control signal 265 a is received by a first , a second , a third and a fourth delay elements 445 , 450 , 455 and 460 which generate a sa set enable signal 465 , a cs enable signal 470 , a bl restore enable signal 475 and an output enable signal 480 respectively . first , second , third and fourth delay elements 445 , 450 , 455 and 460 are similar to delay elements 290 a to 290 d illustrated in fig3 and described supra , except the phase shifts are different . in the present example , first delay element 445 has a 180 ° delay , second delay element 450 has a 190 ° delay , third delay element 455 has a 280 ° delay and fourth delay element 460 has a 340 ° delay . first delay element 445 has a lesser delay than second delay element 450 , which has a lesser delay than third delay element 455 , which has a lesser delay than fourth delay element 460 , otherwise edram 400 will not function properly . in the second embodiment of the present invention the delays of delay elements 445 , 450 , 455 and 460 are fixed and “ designed in ”. sa set enable signal 465 is received by sense amplifier control circuit 485 . cs enable signal 470 is received by cs control circuit 490 . bl restore enable signal 475 is received by wl driver circuit 425 , sa control circuit 485 and bl restore control circuit 495 . output enable signal 480 is received by and output latch 500 . sa control circuit 485 generates a sa set signal 505 received by memory array 440 . bl restore control circuit 495 generates a bl restore signal ( eq signal ) 510 received by memory array 440 . cs control circuit 490 generates a cs signal 515 received by memory array 440 . output latch 500 receives data 520 from memory array 440 and sends the data to ocd 525 . fig8 is a block schematic diagram of an edram 400 b according to a third embodiment of the present invention . in fig8 , edram 400 b is similar to edram 400 a of fig7 , except that first , second , third and fourth fixed delay elements 445 , 450 , 455 and 460 of edram 400 a are replaced respectively by first , second , third and fourth tunable delay circuits 530 , 535 , 540 and 545 respectively in edram 400 b . first , second , third and fourth tunable delay circuits 530 , 535 , 540 and 545 are similar to tunable delay circuit 210 illustrated in fig3 and described supra . the delay of first tunable delay circuit 530 is “ programmed ” via signals fusea and fuseb . the delay of second tunable delay circuit 535 is “ programmed ” via signals fusec and fused . the delay of third tunable delay circuit 540 is “ programmed ” via signals fusee and fusef . the delay of fourth tunable delay circuit 545 is “ programmed ” via signals fuseg and fuseh . the description of the embodiments of the present invention is given above for the understanding of the present invention . it will be understood that the invention is not limited to the particular embodiments described herein , but is capable of various modifications , rearrangements and substitutions as will now become apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention . therefore , it is intended that the following claims cover all such modifications and changes as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention .	6
while the making and using of various embodiments of the present invention are discussed in detail below , it should be appreciated that the present invention provides many applicable inventive concepts which can be embodied in a wide variety of specific contexts . the specific embodiments discussed herein are merely illustrative of specific ways to make and use the invention and are not to delimit the scope of the invention . referring now to fig1 and 2 a - 2 e , in one embodiment , a rod - gripping jaw 10 of the invention includes a generally rectangular block or jaw body 20 having a longitudinally extending , concave recess 12 in one rectangular side face 14 . recess 12 is curved in its widthwise direction and may have a circular ( arcuate ) or non - circular profile in cross section . a number of studs or teeth 16 are embedded in or set onto recess 12 . studs 16 which are set into holes in the jaw body are preferred over teeth which are merely welded or otherwise attached to the surface thereof . such studs 16 are arranged in one or more longitudinal rows 17 generally aligned with a longitudinal axis 18 of jaw 10 . each stud 16 has a tip 22 produced from a material harder than the material from which body 20 and / or the rod to be held is formed . in a preferred embodiment , each stud 16 is a unitary pellet made of a hard , wear resistant material which is not excessively brittle and has a hardness greater than a conventional 4140 steel alloy , for example , high carbon tool steel , diamond , or a ceramic such as tungsten carbide . if stud 16 includes a tip 22 as a separate insert , the stud also includes a cylindrical holder made from a conventional steel such as 4140 alloy , and only the tip is made of the hardened material as described . however , since each stud 16 is relatively small , use of a unitary pellet is most preferred . studs 16 may also comprise steel or ceramic inserts which have been surface coated on at least tip 22 , as by sintering and other methods known in the art , with a thin layer of hard material such as diamond . as illustrated in fig1 studs 16 are preferably of uniform size , and are distributed in a generally uniform manner on the surface of recess 12 . depending upon the application , studs of different sizes or shapes may be used in a single jaw , or the studs may be positioned in a non - uniform manner on the jaw . as illustrated , approximately fifty - six studs 16 ( seven rows of eight studs each ) are shown distributed over concave recess 12 . typically between three ( e . g ., 1 row of 3 ) to one hundred ( e . g ., 10 rows of 10 ) studs will be distributed in parallel rows 17 . studs 16 in adjoining rows 17 are staggered as shown so that spacing between studs 16 is uniform , or approximately so . rows 17 are located on the recess 22 to form an array or formation of studs 16 that can grip a circular rod evenly and leave a clearance between the surface of recess 12 and the rod surface . if the cross - sectional profile of recess 12 is circular or parabolic , it is preferred to have each row 17 of studs 16 substantially perpendicular to the adjoining surface in which it is mounted , so that lengthwise axes of studs 16 at the same cross section intersect at a common point or focus f , for example studs 16 a , 16 b and 16 c in fig1 and 3 . a greater or lesser number of studs can be used depending upon the diameter of the rods to be engaged , the torque required to unscrew them , and similar considerations . the usual minimum is at least one perpendicular bottom stud and at least two side studs inclined in opposite directions relative to the bottom stud , for example , from about 10 - 60 degrees , wherein the angle is most preferably the same for each pair of studs in the same longitudinal row 17 or in symmetrical positions on opposite sides of jaw axis 18 . for example , in a minimal configuration , three studs 16 could be used , including an upright bottom stud , a first side stud left of the bottom stud and inclined right by an angle in the range of 30 °- 60 °, 45 degrees as shown , and a second side stud right of the bottom stud inclined left by an angle in the range of 30 °- 60 °. in an expanded configuration with at least three rows 17 , all of the studs in the same row 17 ( e . g ., as studs 16 a , 16 b , 16 c respectively ) are preferably angled in the same direction . referring to fig3 stud 16 is bullet - shaped with a cylindrical bottom portion 30 and a conical upper portion 32 that tapers to point 22 . each stud 16 may be press - fitted into a blind hole 33 in jaw body 12 and / or secured therein by known processes such as copper brazing . conical portion 32 and tip 22 are exposed after the to stud is fully inserted into hole 30 . preferably , conical upper portion 32 is formed at an included angle a of from about 30 ° to 120 °, preferably 40 ° to 90 °, centered on the stud axis . tip 22 is preferably sufficiently small and pointed that it “ bites ” or penetrates a small distance into the outer surface of a rod or pipe section without excessive penetration that might deform or damage the rod or pipe section . carbides with hemispherical or substantially hemispherical heads as used on rock drills to protect the bit from abrasion are not preferred for applications of the present invention wherein a high torque must be exerted , such as when uncoupling directional drill rods . fig4 illustrates a modified jaw 40 of the invention wherein the concave profile of fig1 - 3 is replaced by an outwardly flaring , trough - shaped recess 42 having a flat bottom 43 and a pair of straight , angled side walls 44 , 46 that angle outwardly at angle generally from 30 °- 60 ° to approximate a concave curvature . fig5 shows a stepped embodiment of a jaw 50 wherein the studs 16 are mounted in parallel on a series of parallel , offset flat walls 52 . differences in stud lengths and / or the depth of stepped recess 54 could be used so that tips 22 approximate an arc comparable to the shape of the outer surface of the rod or pipe to be engaged . similarly , it is even possible ( though uneconomical ) to eliminate the recess altogether and use teeth or studs of varying lengths to define an arc with tips 22 . modifications of this sort are within the scope of the invention . fig6 illustrates a pair of rod - gripping jaws 10 of the invention clamped onto a rod section 60 . jaws 10 clamp pipe section 60 by means of any suitable actuator , such as a hydraulic cylinder , with sufficient force to enable the studs 16 to bite into the surface of the rod 60 . as illustrated studs , 16 are oriented radially inwardly toward a centrally disposed longitudinal axis 64 of pipe section 60 that is parallel to the axes 18 of each jaw 10 . although two jaws 10 are shown , more than two jaws could be used , for example , four jaws at 90 degree angles set in two pairs . fig7 illustrates a clamp assembly 69 according to the invention for use in a directional boring machine . clamp mechanism has a stem jaw 70 a and a vise jaw 70 b having studs 16 according to the invention . jaws 70 a , 70 b are configured for mounting in opposing positions on inner surfaces of arms 71 a , 71 b of a u - shaped lower or rear clamp 72 . rear clamp 72 is in turn mounted by bar slides 73 into a clamp frame 74 . an upper or front clamp 75 can pivot by means of a pair of pivot slides 76 mounted in grooves 77 of frame 74 . a hole 79 provided on arm 71 a permits connection of an annular flange 81 extending from a rear face of jaw 70 a to a conventional clamp cylinder assembly , not shown , which extends and retracts stem jaw 70 a . vise jaw 70 b is preferably removably held in a fixed position by any suitable means , such as a bolt assembly 80 which engages a central threaded hole 82 in jaw 70 b . a like mechanism is provided for front clamp 75 . front clamp 75 , which mounts another pair of jaws 70 a , 70 b ( not shown ), has an arm 78 which mounts an axle that is rotatably connected to a conventional hydraulic cylinder assembly which is engaged to pivot rear clamp 75 on slides 76 while front clamp 72 remains in place to unscrew one drill rod section from another . such a clamp assembly of the invention is suitable for use in gripping drill string rods used by a directional boring machine , such as one of the vermeer navigator line . in addition , jaws of the invention can also be used in non - steering pipe pulling and pushing machines which operate using drill strings . while certain embodiments of the invention have been illustrated for the purposes of this disclosure , numerous changes in the method and apparatus of the invention presented herein may be made by those skilled in the art , such changes being embodied within the scope and spirit of the present invention as defined in the appended claims .	4
fig1 shows a top view of an improved embodiment of an arm for use with the present invention . arm 200 includes a semicircular portion 202 and an extending portion 204 attached thereto . semicircular portion 202 includes two arc portions 230 and 232 and an inner bore 234 . the two arc portions 230 and 232 are both recessed or undercut near their ends , as shown by the phantom lines 236 and 238 . thus , the inner bore 234 is not perfectly circular in shape near the ends of arc portions 230 and 232 . ends 240 and 242 of the arc portions 230 and 232 , respectively , are well radiused to prevent binding of the arm on the airflow tube during pivoting . extending portion 204 includes two flange portions 206 and 208 on which generally oval depressions 210 and 212 are respectively positioned . bridge engagement pins 214 and 216 are positioned at far ends of flange portions 206 and 208 , respectively , and project , respectively , upwardly and downwardly from the arm 200 . a space 218 separates the flange portions 206 and 208 and in this embodiment , it can be seen that there is no vertical web between the respective flange portions and the space 218 . also , it can be seen that the space 218 extends along a greater portion of arm 200 than does the embodiment shown in fig1 . thus , the cantilever arm portions of the arm of fig1 are longer than the cantilever arm portions of the arm of fig2 . further , the cantilever arm portions of the arm of fig1 are tapered along their length , such that the thickness of these portions is less near the pins than the semicircular portion 202 . compare the thicker section of the arm of fig1 shown in fig1 with the thinner section of the arm taken nearer the pin 214 shown in fig2 . even though the thickness of the cantilever arm portions of the arm of fig1 have been reduced as compared to the arm of fig2 , the width of these portions has been increased with respect to the arm of fig2 . compare the widths of the arm of fig1 shown in fig1 and 20 with the width of the arm of fig1 shown in fig1 . the increased width of the improved arm of fig1 provides a stiffness in the lateral plane that is about 8 times greater than the stiffness of the arm of fig2 . this increased stiffness prevents most accidental lateral deflections of the pins and would likely require a determined intentional action to laterally deflect the cantilever arm portions and pins . a male locking portion 220 is positioned inboard of pin 214 and a female locking portion 222 is correspondingly positioned inboard of pin 216 . the male and female locking portions are configured so as to be able to fittingly mate with one another when the two flanges portions 206 and 208 are pressed together . as seen in fig1 , a section along line 16 — 16 in fig1 , the female locking portion can be configured as a chevron - shaped slot correspondingly , the male locking portion 220 would be configured as a chevron - shaped projection to mate with the chevron - shaped slot of female locking portion 222 . the male and female locking portions can also have different shapes , as long as they will lockingly mate together when the two flange portions are pressed together . as with the arm 34 above , the arm 200 can be flipped over to provide the second arm of the forehead support and thus , only one mold is needed to cast both required arms . the lengths of the pins 214 and 216 are provided such that when the pins are pressed together to the extent allowed by the locking portions , the pins will clear the slots in the bridge , contrary to the pins of the related art arms . in a preferred embodiment , these improved arms are constructed of a polycarbonate , specifically , makrolon 2858 manufactured by bayer . there are several advantages to this improved arm embodiment . first , because the space 218 extends farther along the arm 200 , the lack of a web between the flanges 206 and 208 and the tapering of the cantilever arm portions , it is as easy or easier to press the pins 214 and 216 together when adjusting the forehead support , even with the increased lateral strength of the improved arms . this is especially important because during the adjustment while the mask is on the wearer &# 39 ; s head , the wearer cannot easily see the forehead support as he or she is performing the adjustment . the increased lateral strength helps resist accidental lateral deflection of the cantilever arm portions and pins , as well as providing a stronger support to the airflow tube . the end result is that at the outer portion of the arm 200 near the pins , the extending portion 204 has a greater stiffness and resistance to bending in the lateral or horizontal direction ( i . e ., the pivoting direction ) than it does in the vertical direction ( the non - pivoting direction ). this is contrary to the embodiment shown in fig1 - 13 where the stiffness and resistance to bending is greater in the vertical direction than in the horizontal direction . of course , the taper , shape and / or the thickness of the cantilevered arm portions can be altered to vary the stiffness of the cantilevered arm portions in the horizontal or vertical directions , as circumstances warrant . further , under certain circumstances , it is contemplated that the stiffness of the cantilevered arm portions in the vertical direction can be less , similar to , or even greater than the comparable stiffness of the cantilevered arm portions of the related art design in the vertical direction . the use of the wider flanges also allows the use of broader oval depressions 210 and 212 . these broader depressions better accommodate the wearer &# 39 ; s fingers and thus , give the wearer a more positive and more comfortable grip on the arms during adjustment . the provision of the male and female locking portions assures that the two flange portions remained aligned with one another during the pressing together of the pins 214 and 216 . thus , the pins are also maintained in alignment during compression , making it easier for both pins to align with their respective slots in the bridge during adjustment of the bridge . without the locking mechanism , the pins can be twisted and splayed with respect to another during compression , making it more difficult to position the pins in the desired respective slots in the bridge during adjustment . further , the locking portions also prevent the user from laterally deflecting the pins with respect to one another when disassembling the arm from the bridge . since the pins are short enough to clear the slots in the bridge when pressed together , the arm need not be rotated or the pins laterally displaced from one another to allow the pins to clear the slots in the bridge . this reduces that the chance that a user can operate the arms contrary to instructions and thereby place undue stresses on the arms that could lead to premature failure of the arms . finally , the provision of the undercut or recessed portions 236 and 238 on arc portions 230 and 232 reduces the amount of material of the arm that comes into contact with the airflow tube 12 ( or other pivot point ). this helps prevent sticking or binding of the arm as it is pivoted about the airflow tube during adjustment of the forehead support , as compared to the related arm embodiment . the radiused ends 240 and 242 are also less likely to catch and hang up on imperfections in the airflow tube during pivoting , as compared to the sharper ends of the related arm embodiment . thus , the arm 200 more easily pivots about the airflow tube during adjustment of the forehead support . these improvements in arm 200 thus make it easier to adjust the forehead support , as well as make it easier to disassemble the arms from the bridge to allow thorough cleaning of the bridge and other support components . they also help prevent actions by the user contrary to instructions that could increase the risk of breakage of the forehead support . while several improvements have been discussed above , it is contemplated that an improved forehead support according to the present invention need not utilize all such improvements but can utilize one or more of such improvements in various combinations . it is to be understood that while the invention has been described above in conjunction with preferred specific embodiments , the description and examples are intended to illustrate and not limit the scope of the invention .	0
the following description is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use the invention and sets forth the best modes contemplated by the inventors of carrying out their invention . various modifications , however , will remain readily apparent to those skilled in the art , since the generic principles of the present invention have been defined herein specifically to provide a detachable footplate for scooters . the present invention can best be understood by initial consideration of fig1 . fig1 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the footplate 24 of the present invention as it attaches to a conventional scooter 10 . as depicted , the common lightweight collapsible scooter 10 comprises a telescoping stem 12 extending between a pair of collapsible handlebars 14 and a front wheel 16 of the type used in in - line skates . the stem 12 passes through , is held erect by , and is permitted to pivot by the stem bracket 18 . the stem bracket 18 is also collapsible , which permits the stem 12 and handlebars 14 to be folded down against the scooter deck ( not shown ). in the rear , the conventional scooter 10 has a second , rear wheel 20 of the same type as the front wheel 16 . the rear wheel 20 assembly typically includes a fender / brake assembly 22 ; when the rider steps onto the fender / brake assembly 22 , it acts as a friction brake on the rear wheel 20 . in the preferred form shown , the footplate 24 of the present invention attaches to the scooter deck ( not shown ) by a variety of conventional methods , including by the bolt - type fasteners 26 shown . in this depicted embodiment , the footplate 24 is constructed from a lightweight , aluminum material having a textured top surface 28 to inhibit the rider &# 39 ; s feet from slipping . as can be seen , the footplate 24 attaches directly to the scooter 10 with only minor modification for attachment means . once attached , the footplate 24 provides a wide deck upon which the rider can stand more comfortably than with the original scooter 10 . furthermore , the footplate 24 actually acts as a sort of “ kickstand ,” in that its edge will touch the ground before permitting the scooter 10 to fall over . if we now turn to fig2 we can examine other aspects of the present invention . [ 0022 ] fig2 is a perspective view of the footplate 24 of fig1 having a nontextured top surface 28 . in this version , the deck 30 is provided with a front wheel aperture 32 and a rear wheel aperture 34 . the front wheel aperture 32 is designed to include a rounded front portion sized to permit free rotation of the scooter front wheel ( see fig1 ), and a slotted rear portion to accommodate the support structure of the stem bracket ( see fig1 ). the rear wheel aperture 34 is preferably shaped in a slotted or rectangular form to permit the conventional rear wheel and fender / brake assembly to pass therethrough ( see fig1 ). it should be understood that the deck 30 can be constructed of aluminum , steel , wood , plastic or any other material that is sufficiently rigid and durable while still providing a light - weight product . now turning to fig3 we can examine additional features of the present invention . [ 0023 ] fig3 is a top view of the footplate 24 of fig1 and 2 . in this embodiment , the front end 38 and rear end 40 of the footplate 24 are rounded for maximum durability , safety and for a sleeker profile . in other embodiments , other shapes for the front and rear end 38 and 40 , respectively , may be provided , depending upon the particular application of the footplate 24 . also depicted in this figure is the pair of fastener apertures 36 formed in the deck of the footplate 24 ; bolts , screws and / or rivets can be inserted through these apertures 36 and into the scooter 10 such that the footplate 24 is detachably attachable to the conventional scooter 10 . now looking at fig4 we can discuss yet another benefit of the present invention . [ 0024 ] fig4 is a perspective view of the combination of fig1 wherein the scooter stem 12 has been folded down . as is shown here , the stem 12 will fold flat against the deck 30 of the footplate 24 , such that the scooter can be easily carried and stored , just as the scooter 10 was originally designed . a further benefit of the addition of the footplate 24 to the scooter 10 is that when the stem 12 is folded down as shown , the entire combination ( i . e . the scooter 10 and footplate 24 ) can be hung from a wall by the front wheel aperture 32 for storage . without the footplate 24 , this storage method would not be possible . as shown in fig5 ( a side view of a preferred footplate ), and as discussed above , the footplate 24 is manufactured from thin , rigid material , and may or may not have textured surface 44 ( see fig6 ) on its top surface 28 . in other embodiments , the top surface may have artwork , wording or other designs inscribed upon ( or embedded into ) the top surface 28 in order to improve the individuality of the footplate 24 , as well as improving the aesthetics . optional attachments are further available for the footplate 24 of the present invention , as shown in fig7 . fig7 is a partially exploded perspective view of the footplate 24 of fig1 - 6 , further including head and tail lights 46 and 48 , respectively . in this embodiment , the headlight is fixed to the front end of the deck 30 , and the tail light is fixed to the rear end of the deck 30 ; these lights provide aesthetic improvement to the conventional scooter , but also increased safety and utility for riding at night . furthermore , the footplate 24 attachments would include a battery means 52 , such as a rechargeable battery pack or a group of disposable batteries , which attaches to the bottom of the scooter ( see fig8 below ) to provide power to the headlight 46 and tail light 48 . still further , it might be desirable that the tail light 48 change it &# 39 ; s light configuration whenever the scooter brake ( see fig1 ) is depressed . to provide such functionality , the footplate 24 can include a brake position switch 50 wired between the battery means 52 and the tail light 48 that will cause the tail light 48 to become brighter whenever the rider depresses the scooter brake ( see fig1 ). if we turn to fig8 we can see an example of the wiring for the system of fig7 . [ 0026 ] fig8 is a bottom view of the footplate 24 assembly of fig7 . as can be seen , the battery means 52 is preferably detachably inserted within the channel 58 formed in the bottom side of the conventional scooter deck ; as such , it will be virtually invisible from the sides or top of the scooter when the battery means 52 is installed therein . as shown , the battery means 52 will preferably provide power to the headlight via a headlight power cable 54 . similarly , the battery means 52 will provide power to the tail light via the tail light power cable 56 . if a brake position switch 50 is installed , then it will be wired in between the battery means 52 and the tail light . although it is not shown here , it should be realized that there will be a main power shutoff switch that will permit the user to manually turn the power off and on to the headlight and tail light . those skilled in the art will appreciate that various adaptations and modifications of the just - described preferred embodiment can be configured without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention . therefore , it is to be understood that , within the scope of the appended claims , the invention may be practiced other than as specifically described herein .	1
for the purposes of this application , the terms listed below shall have the following meaning : a segment of a multifunctional protein having activity comprising at least one of a chymotrypsin , trypsin , collagenase , elastase or exo peptidase activity . an enzyme that degrades bonds formed by dehydration reactions such as amide , ester , or ether bonds . the term encompasses , but is not limited to , proteases such as trypsin and chymotrypsin . a naturally occurring sequence variant of a substantially homologous protein within the same organism . preferably , the isoform shares at least about 80 % identity , and more preferably , at least about 85 % identity with seq . id no : 4 . a multifunctional protein having the same sequence as a protein isolated from krill having the properties of the protein described in the section entitled &# 34 ; preferred characteristics of the multifunctional protein .&# 34 ; this protein is also referred to as the &# 34 ; krill - derived multifunctional hydrolase &# 34 ; and includes all isoforms of the protein . the amino acid sequence included in seq id no : 4 , seq id no : 5 , seq id no : 6 , seq id no : 8 or seq id no : 10 or other isoforms thereof or chimeric polypeptides thereof are examples of krill - derived multifunctional proteins . a protein having activity comprising at least one of a chymotrypsin , trypsin , collagenase , elastase or exo peptidase activity or asialo gm 1 ceramide binding activity , and substantial homology to at least a segment of a krill - derived multifunctional protein . the present invention provides dna and corresponding amino acid sequences of a krill - derived multifunctional protein that has been found to be useful in numerous medical and cosmetic contexts . crustaceans , including antarctic krill , are useful sources for the multifunctional protein of the invention . a protein having &# 34 ; multifunctional activity ,&# 34 ; is defined herein as including at least one of a chymotrypsin , trypsin , collagenase , elastase or exo peptidase activity , or asialo gm 1 ceramide binding activity . for purification of krill - derived multifunctional protein , see , for example , u . s . patent application ser . no . 08 / 600 , 273 ( filed feb . 8 , 1996 ), defaire et al ., inventors , entitled &# 34 ; multifunctional enzyme ,&# 34 ; relevant portions of which are hereby incorporated by reference . the present invention provides nucleic acids and polypeptides and analogs thereof , including nucleic acids that bind to a multifunctional protein encoding nucleic acid , as well as pharmaceutical compositions , gene therapy and antibodies and antisera against the multifunctional protein . some of the nucleic acids and polypeptides are naturally occurring variants ( isoforms ) whereas others are non - naturally occurring ( engineered ) variants . the nucleic acid embodiments of the invention are preferably deoxyribonucleic acids ( dnas ), both single - and double - stranded , and most preferably double - stranded deoxyribonucleic acids . however , they can also be ribonucleic acids ( rnas ), as well as hybrid rna : dna double - stranded molecules . nucleic acids encoding a multifunctional protein include all multifunctional protein - encoding nucleic acids , whether native or synthetic , rna , dna , or cdna , that encode a multifunctional protein , or the complementary strand thereof , including but not limited to nucleic acid found in a multifunctional protein - expressing organism . for recombinant expression purposes , codon usage preferences for the organism in which such a nucleic acid is to be expressed are advantageously considered in designing a synthetic multifunctional protein - encoding nucleic acid . the nucleic acid sequences of the invention can encode , for example , one of several isoforms of a krill - derived protein . seq id no : 4 , seq id no : 5 and seq id no : 8 represent three isoforms that share about 88 - 89 % identity with each other in overlapping amino acids . see , for example , fig1 which compares the dna sequence of the first isoform , seq id no : 1 , with the dna sequence of the second isoform , seq id no : 2 , which share about 88 % identical nucleotides . see also , for example , fig3 which provides a comparison of the dna sequence of the third isoform ( seq id no : 7 ) and the first isoform ( seq id no : 1 ), which share about 89 % identical nucleotides . these isoforms all lack the initiation codon methionine . further , two of these three isoforms contain a hydrophobic sequence which may function as a signal sequence , namely , lllalvaaasa , which is amino acid residues 1 - 11 in the first isoform , seq id no : 4 , and pgrsrialllalvaatasa , which is amino acid residues 1 - 19 in the third isoform , seq id no : 8 . these two isoforms additionally contain a pro - protein segment . the pro - protein segment is the segment of the protein , other than the hydrophobic segment , that is present in the precursor protein but absent in the mature protein . without being limited to a particular theory , it is possible that at least a part of the pro - protein segment may still be attached to the mature protein . further , it is believed that krill - derived multifunctional proteins may have two chains linked by a disulfide bond . for example , a cysteine in the pro - protein segment may participate in a disulfide bond in the mature protein . in the first isoform , the pro - protein segment has the following sequence , which corresponds to amino acid residues 12 - 63 in the first isoform , seq id no : 4 : aewrwqfrhptvtpnpraknpfrvtksspv qppavrgtkavencgpvaprnk . the third isoform has a pro - protein segment with the following sequence , which corresponds to amino acid residues 20 - 71 in seq id no : 8 : sewrwqfrhptvtpnprannpfr pskvapvqppavrgtkavencgpvapknk . the remaining amino acid sequences of these polypeptides ( other than the hydrophobic segment and the pro - protein segment ) represent the mature protein . see fig2 which provides a comparison of the amino acid sequence of the first isoform and the second isoform , which share about 89 % identical amino acids . additionally , see fig4 which provides a comparison of the amino acid sequences of all three isoforms . further embodiments of the invention include nucleic acid sequences that encode polypeptides that are preferably present in the protein . the following examples are derived from the pro - protein segment of seq id no : 4 , and are polypeptides that are preferably present in the mature protein . without being limited to a particular theory , these polypeptides may form at least part of a first amino acid chain that is linked via a disulfide bond to a second amino acid chain , which can be , for example , the mature protein . for instance , in certain preferred embodiments , the nucleic acid further encodes a polypeptide sequence such as avencgpvapr ( seq id no : 11 ), avencgpvaprnk ( seq id no : 12 ), gtkavencgpvapr ( seq id no : 13 ), gtkavencgpvaprnk ( seq id no : 14 ), sspvqppavrgtkavencgpvapr ( seq id no : 15 ), or sspvqppavrgtkavencgpvaprnk ( seq id no : 16 ). without being limited to a particular theory , the above - listed polypeptides ( seq id no : 11 - 16 ) may be linked to the remainder of the mature krill - derived multifunctional protein via a disulfide bond as follows . for example , the cysteine residue in one of these sequences ( seq id no : 11 - 16 ) may participate in a disulfide bond with , for example , a cysteine in the mature protein , such as a cysteine corresponding the cysteine at residue 171 of seq id no : 4 . at least one of these sequences ( seq id no : 11 - 16 ) are therefore present in preferred embodiments of the invention . see , for example , fig5 which shows the amino acid sequences of several proteins , namely , factor vii , thrombin , kallikrein , a limulus pro - clotting enzyme from the japanese horshoe crab ( tachypleus tridentatus ), plasmin , hepsin and factor xii , aligned with the amino acid sequence of seq id no : 4 . all of the proteins aligned with the krill - derived multifunctional protein , except for the limulus protein and hepsin , are involved in the human blood coagulation pathway . without being limited to any particular theory , it is believed that krill - derived multifunctional proteins include a larger n - terminus than that found in the first , second or the third isoform , seq id no : 4 , seq id no : 5 or seq id no : 8 , respectively . the nucleic acids of the invention can encode engineered multifunctional proteins based on forming chimeric polypeptides from the above isoforms , for example . the hydrophobic sequence or the pro - protein segment of one naturally occurring isoform can optionally be matched with the mature protein sequences of another naturally occurring isoform or isoforms . for example , the mature protein segment of seq id no : 4 is amino acids 64 - 300 . seq id no : 5 , for instance , is a partial sequence of the second isoform , which has a mature protein sequence of about 75 % of the length of the mature protein segment of seq id no : 4 . therefore , certain embodiments of the invention include a chimeric polypeptide in which the n - terminus of the polypeptide of seq id no : 5 is linked to the remaining 25 % of the length of the mature protein sequence found in seq id no : 4 , namely amino acids 64 - 116 . in another embodiment of the invention , a hypothetical chimeric sequence includes the first 63 amino acids of the protein of seq id no : 4 together with the amino acid sequence of seq id no : 5 . see seq id no : 6 , which is a composite of the proteins of seq id no : 4 and seq id no : 5 . see , for example , fig2 which aligns seq id no : 4 with seq id no : 5 . the nucleic acid sequence corresponding to the amino acid sequence of seq id no : 6 is provided in seq id no : 3 , which provides the first 344 nucleic acids of seq id no : 1 together with the nucleic acid sequence of seq id no : 2 . thus , the nucleic acids of the invention include nucleic acids that code for the mature protein , the protein including the pro - protein segment or the protein including the hydrophobic segment and the pro - protein segment , or portions thereof . for example , the nucleic acid of the first isoform , seq id no : 1 , or the chimeric molecule , seq id no : 3 , are nucleic acids encoding the pro - protein , including the hydrophobic sequence and the pro - protein segment . the chimeric molecule , seq id no : 3 , represents the first 344 nucleotides of seq id no : 1 , coding for the hydrophobic sequence and the pro - protein segment of the protein and the first 25 % of the mature protein , together with the 599 nucleotides of seq id no : 2 , coding for the remaining 75 % of the mature protein . further , for example , the n - terminus of seq id no : 8 can be attached to the mature protein sequences of seq id no : 5 , thereby forming a chimeric polypeptide , shown in seq id no : 10 . the corresponding dna sequence can be found in seq id no : 9 . alternatively , for example , amino acid sequence of isoforms can be used to create an engineered polypeptide . for example , the chimeric polypeptide of seq id no : 6 can be further modified by adding to the n - terminus of the protein the amino acid sequence pgrsria , which is amino acid residues 1 - 7 from the n - terminus of the third isoform , seq id no : 10 . without being bound to a particular theory , it is believed that there are at least about 4 isoforms , each having a different amino acid at the position corresponding to amino acid residue 68 of seq id no : 4 , including glutamine , methionine , lysine and asparagine . such isoforms and other homologous polypeptides can be isolated using the techniques described under section 5 below , entitled &# 34 ; means for identifying polypeptides with multifunctional activity .&# 34 ; to construct engineered variants of multifunctional protein - encoding nucleic acids , the native sequences of any of the isoforms can be used as a starting point and modified to suit particular needs . for example , in certain embodiments , the nucleic acid sequence need not include the sequences encoding the 5 &# 39 ; portion of the amino acid sequence that is absent in the mature protein , including amino acids 1 - 63 of seq id no : 4 . thus , in certain embodiments of the invention , the encoded polypeptide is homologous to or has the sequence of the mature protein only , and not the segments corresponding to the n - terminal portions that are removed during cellular processing , namely , the hydrophobic sequence and the pro - protein segment . nonetheless , in preferred embodiments of the nucleic acids of the invention , the sequences encoding the n - terminal portion of the amino acid sequence that is absent in the mature protein , including amino acids 1 - 63 of seq id no : 4 , are included in the nucleic acid sequences . the amino acid sequence forming a synthetic multifunctional protein preferably includes an enzymatically active segment of a krill - derived multifunctional protein , such as amino acids 64 - 300 of seq id no : 4 , particularly including the histidine at residue 104 , the aspartic acid at residue 151 and the serine at residue 246 , which are implicated in the catalytic mechanism of serine proteases . thus , the protein need not include the hydrophobic sequence or pro - protein segment that are present in a krill - derived protein before cellular processing occurs , although the hydrophobic sequence and the pro - protein segment are preferably present . preferably , the nucleic acids will encode polypeptides having at least about 70 % homology , more preferably , at least about 80 % homology , even more preferably , at least about 85 % homology , yet more preferably at least about 90 % homology , and most preferably at least about 95 % homology to a krill - derived multifunctional protein , such as the polypeptides of seq id no : 4 , seq id no : 5 , seq id no : 6 , seq id no : 8 or seq id no : 10 , or amino acid sequences 64 - 300 of seq id no : 4 , or other naturally occurring isoforms . even more preferably , the nucleic acids will encode polypeptides sharing at least about 70 % identity , more preferably , at least about 80 % identity , yet more preferably , at least about 85 % identity , still more preferably at least about 90 % identity , and most preferably at least about 95 % identity with a krill - derived multifunctional protein . additionally , the invention includes a substantially pure nucleic acid comprising a nucleic acid that binds to a nucleic acid encoding a polypeptide having at least about 70 % homology to a krill - derived multifunctional protein . even more preferably , the nucleic acid binds to a nucleic acid encoding a polypeptide having at least about 80 % homology , and more preferably , at least about 90 % homology to a krill - derived multifunctional protein . yet more preferably , the nucleic acid binds to a nucleic acid encoding a polypeptide sharing at least about 70 % amino acid identity , and more preferably , at least about 80 % amino acid identity , and yet more preferably , at least about 90 % amino acid identity with a krill - derived multifunctional protein , such as the polypeptide of seq id no : 4 , seq id no : 5 , seq id no : 6 , seq id no : 8 or seq id no : 10 and especially , seq id no : 4 , seq id no : 6 or seq id no : 10 . a nucleic acid that binds to a nucleic acid that encodes a polypeptide homologous to a krill - derived multifunction protein can be used as a probe , for example , to identify additional multifunctional proteins or to determine multifunctional protein expression . numerous methods for determining percent homology are known in the art . one preferred method is to use version 6 . 0 of the gap computer program for making sequence comparisons . the program is available from the university of wisconsin genetics computer group and utilizes the alignment method of needleman and wunsch , j . mol . biol . 48 , 443 , 1970 , as revised by smith and waterman adv . appl . math . 2 , 482 , 1981 . numerous methods for determining percent identity are also known in the art , and a preferred method is to use the fasta computer program , which is also available from the university of wisconsin genetics computer group . the mature protein of the polypeptide of seq id no : 4 is about 61 % identical to the chymotrypsin - like serine proteinase in the shrimp penaeus vannamei according to the sequence provided by genbank ( mountain view , calif . ), database acquisition no . x66415 , and about 60 % identical to the collagenolytic serine proteinase in the fiddler crab uca pugilator , according to the sequence provided by genbank , database acquisition no . u49931 . the amino acid sequence of the pro - protein of seq id no : 4 is about 53 % identical to the precursor of the chymotrypsin - like serine proteinase in the shrimp penaeus vannamei , and about 51 % identical to the precursor of the collagenolytic serine proteinase in the fiddler crab uca pugilator . preferably , the nucleic acids encoding polypeptides having multifunctional activity are less than about 70 % identical to the above - identified proteinases of penaeus vannamei or uca pugilator . in addition to nucleic acids encoding a multifunctional protein , the present invention includes nucleic acids encoding polypeptides that are homologous to a krill - derived multifunctional protein or that share a percentage identity with a krill - derived multifunctional protein . further , the present invention includes nucleic acids that encode a portion of a multifunctional protein or a variant thereof , such as the enzymatically active portion of the protein or the portion of the protein that provides asialo gm 1 ceramide binding activity . the invention also is directed to a nucleic acid encoding a krill - derived multifunctional protein that has at least one of the following activities : chymotrypsin , trypsin , collagenase , elastase and exopeptidase activity or asialo gm 1 ceramide binding activity . preferably , the encoded polypeptide will be effective to remove or inactivate a cell - surface adhesion molecule , and most preferably , the encoded polypeptide will be pharmaceutically effective . for identifying the active segment or segments of multifunctional protein , one approach is to take a multifunctional protein cdna and create deletional mutants lacking segments at either the 5 &# 39 ; or the 3 &# 39 ; end by , for instance , partial digestion with s1 nuclease , bal 31 or mung bean nuclease ( the latter approach described in literature available from stratagene , san diego , calif ., in connection with a commercial deletion cloning kit ). alternatively , the deletion mutants are constructed by subcloning restriction fragments of a multifunctional protein cdna . the deletional constructs are cloned into expression vectors and tested for their multifunctional activity . these structural genes can be altered by mutagenesis methods such as that described by adelman et al ., dna , 2 : 183 , 1983 or through the use of synthetic nucleic acid strands . the products of mutant genes can be readily tested for multifunctional activity . the nucleic acid sequences can be further mutated , for example , to incorporate useful restriction sites . see maniatis et al . molecular cloning , a laboratory manual ( cold spring harbor press , 1989 ). such restriction sites can be used to create &# 34 ; cassettes &# 34 ;, or regions of nucleic acid sequence that are facilely substituted using restriction enzymes and ligation reactions . the cassettes can be used to substitute synthetic sequences encoding mutated multifunctional protein amino acid sequences . the multifunctional protein - encoding sequence can be , for instance , substantially or fully synthetic . see , for example , goeddel et al ., proc . natl . acad . sci . usa , 76 , 106 - 110 , 1979 . for recombinant expression purposes , codon usage preferences for the organism in which such a nucleic acid is to be expressed are advantageously considered in designing a synthetic multifunctional protein - encoding nucleic acid . since the nucleic acid code is degenerate , numerous nucleic acid sequences can be used to create the same amino acid sequence . further , with an altered amino acid sequence , numerous methods are known to delete sequence from or mutate nucleic acid sequences that encode a polypeptide and to confirm the function of the polypeptides encoded by these deleted or mutated sequences . accordingly , the invention also relates to a mutated or deleted version of a multifunctional protein nucleic acid that encodes a polypeptide that retains multifunctional protein activity . conservative mutations of the naturally occurring isoforms are preferred for engineered variants . such conservative mutations include mutations that switch one amino acid for another within one of the following groups : 1 . small aliphatic , nonpolar or slightly polar residues : ala , ser , thr , pro and gly ; 2 . polar , negatively charged residues and their amides : asp , asn , glu and gln ; 4 . large aliphatic , nonpolar residues : met , leu , ile , val and cys ; and ______________________________________original residue substitution______________________________________ala gly , ser arg lys asn gln , his asp glu cys ser gln asn glu asp gly ala , pro his asn , gln ile leu , val leu ile , val lys arg , gln , glu met leu , tyr , ile phe met , leu , tyr ser thr thr ser trp tyr tyr trp , phe val ile , leu______________________________________ the types of substitutions selected may be based on the analysis of the frequencies of amino acid substitutions between homologous proteins of different species developed by schulz et al ., principles of protein structure , springer - verlag , 1978 , pp . 14 - 16 , on the analyses of structure - forming potentials developed by chou and fasman , biochemistry 13 , 211 , 1974 or other such methods reviewed by schulz et al , principles in protein structure , springer - verlag , 1978 , pp . 108 - 130 , and on the analysis of hydrophobicity patterns in proteins developed by kyte and doolittle , j . mol . biol . 157 : 105 - 132 , 1982 . polypeptides of the invention include all polypeptides having multifunctional activity , whether native or synthetic , including but not limited to polypeptides purified from a multifunctional protein - expressing organism . a preferred embodiment of the invention provides a polypeptide comprising a substantially pure isoform of a krill - derived multifunctional protein or engineered variant thereof , and more preferably , a polypeptide comprising seq id no : 4 , seq id no : 5 , seq id no : 6 , seq id no : 8 or seq id no : 10 and especially , seq id no : 4 , seq id no : 6 or seq id no : 10 . further , polypeptides of the invention preferably comprise at least one of the amino acid sequences of seq id no : 11 - 16 . in addition to the multifunctional protein and its isoforms and portions thereof , the present invention includes polypeptides that are homologous to a krill - derived multifunctional protein or that share a percentage identity with a krill - derived multifunctional protein . further , the present invention includes portions of the multifunctional protein or a variant thereof , such as the enzymatically active portion of the protein or the portion of the protein that provides asialo gm 1 ceramide binding activity . additionally , the present invention includes engineered variants of multifunctional proteins that retain multifunctional activity . in certain embodiments , these engineered variants lack , for example , no more than about 63 amino acid residues at the n - terminal end of seq id no : 4 . preferably , the variants will have at least about 70 % homology , more preferably , at least about 80 % homology , even more preferably , at least about 85 % homology , still more preferably at least about 90 % homology , and most preferably at least about 95 % homology to a krill - derived multifunctional protein , such as the polypeptides of seq id no : 4 , seq id no : 5 , seq id no : 6 , seq id no : 8 , seq id no : 10 , or other isoforms , or amino acid sequences 64 - 300 of seq id no : 4 . even more preferably , the analogs will share at least about 70 % identity , more preferably , at least about 80 % identity , yet more preferably , at least about 85 % identity , still more preferably at least about 90 % identity , and most preferably at least about 95 % identity with a krill - derived multifunctional protein . preferably , the polypeptide has the sequence of a contiguous stretch of at least about 237 amino acids of the following mature proteins : in seq id no : 4 , amino acid residues 64 - 300 ; in seq id no : 6 , amino acid residues 64 - 300 ; and in seq id no : 10 , amino acid residues 72 - 308 . amino acid analogs of the above - described polypeptides are also included in the present invention . additionally , the present invention provides a pharmaceutical composition for treating an animal comprising an effective amount of a polypeptide comprising a substantially pure isoform of a krill - derived multifunctional protein or engineered variant thereof and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier . more preferably , the polypeptide comprises seq id no : 4 , seq id no : 5 , seq id no : 6 , seq id no : 8 or seq id no : 10 , and even more preferably , seq id no : 4 , seq id no : 6 or seq id no : 10 , and the polypeptide preferably comprises at least one of the amino acid sequences of seq id no : 11 - 16 . in one embodiment , the polypeptides of the invention are made as follows , using a gene fusion . for example , fusion to maltose - binding protein (&# 34 ; mbp &# 34 ;) can be used to facilitate the expression and purification of a multifunctional protein in a prokaryote such as e . coli . the hybrid protein can be purified , for example , using affinity chromatography using the binding protein &# 39 ; s substrate . see , for example , gene 67 : 21 - 30 ( 1988 ). when using a fusion protein that includes maltose binding protein , a cross - linked amylose affinity chromatography column can be used to purify the protein . the cdna specific for a given multifunctional protein or analog thereof can also be linked using standard means to a cdna for glutathione s - transferase (&# 34 ; gst &# 34 ;), found on a commercial vector , for example . the fusion protein expressed by such a vector construct includes the multifunctional protein or analog and gst , and can be treated for purification . should the mbp or gst portion of the fusion protein interfere with function , it is removed by partial proteolytic digestion approaches that preferentially attack unstructured regions , such as the linkers between mbp or gst and the multifunctional protein . the linkers are designed to lack structure , for instance using the rules for secondary structure - forming potential developed by chou and fasman , biochemistry 13 , 211 , 1974 . the linker is also designed to incorporate protease target amino acids , such as trypsin , arginine and lysine residues . to create the linkers , standard synthetic approaches for making oligonucleotides are employed together with standard subcloning methodologies . other fusion partners other than gst or mbp can also be used . additionally , the multifunctional proteins can be directly synthesized from nucleic acid ( by the cellular machinery ) without use of fusion partners . for instance , nucleic acids having the sequence of seq id no : 1 , seq id no : 3 or seq id no : 9 are subcloned into an appropriate expression vector having an appropriate promoter and expressed in an appropriate organism . antibodies against multifunctional protein can be employed to facilitate purification . additional purifications techniques are applied as needed , including without limitation , preparative electrophoresis , fplc ( pharmacia , uppsala , sweden ), hplc ( e . g ., using gel filtration , reverse - phase or mildly hydrophobic columns ), gel filtration , differential precipitation ( for instance , &# 34 ; salting out &# 34 ; precipitations ), ion - exchange chromatography and affinity chromatography ( including affinity chromatography using the re1 duplex nucleotide sequence as the affinity ligand ). a polypeptide or nucleic acid is &# 34 ; isolated &# 34 ; in accordance with the invention in that the molecular cloning of the nucleic acid of interest , for example , involves taking a multifunctional protein nucleic acid from a cell , and isolating it from other nucleic acids . this isolated nucleic acid may then be inserted into a host cell , which may be yeast or bacteria , for example . a polypeptide or nucleic acid is &# 34 ; substantially pure &# 34 ; in accordance with the invention if it is predominantly free of other polypeptides or nucleic acids , respectively . a macromolecule , such as a nucleic acid or a polypeptide , is predominantly free of other polypeptides or nucleic acids if it constitutes at least about 50 % by weight of the given macromolecule in a composition . preferably , the polypeptide or nucleic acid of the present invention constitutes at least about 60 % by weight of the total polypeptides or nucleic acids , respectively , that are present in a given composition thereof , more preferably about 80 %, still more preferably about 90 %, yet more preferably about 95 %, and most preferably about 100 %. such compositions are referred to herein as being polypeptides or nucleic acids that are 60 % pure , 80 % pure , 90 % pure , 95 % pure , or 100 % pure , any of which are substantially pure . krill , including without limitation krill of the genuses euphasia ( such as superba , crystallorphias , frigida , triacantha , vellantini , lougirostris , lucens , similis , spinifera , recurva and the like ), meganyctiphanes ( such as norvegica and the like ) and tysanoessa ( such as macurura , vicina , gregaria and the like ), are a preferred source of krill - derived multifunctional proteins . preferably , the protein has a molecular weight between about 20 kd and about 40 kd , and more preferably from about 26 kd to about 32 kd , and most preferably about 29 kd , as determined by sodium dodecyl sulfate (&# 34 ; sds &# 34 ;) polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (&# 34 ; page &# 34 ;). further , the protein preferably has substantial homology to a krill - derived multifunctional protein . preferred proteins are hydrolases , and preferably , proteases . preferably , the protein is selectively reactive with cell - surface receptors such as polypeptides or glycolipids . protease activity can be determined by incubating a protein preparation with casein ( concentration 1 % w / v ) at 30 ° c . for 20 hours and measuring the release of amino acids or peptides ( which can be measured by the increase in colorometrically determinable amino groups ). isolated multifunctional protein of 95 % purity will typically have a specific activity of at least about 25 casein units per mg . casein units are defined in biochem . j ., 173 : 291 - 298 , 1978 ( using azocasein as the substrate ). alternatively , tryptic protease activity can be measured against tyrosine - arginine - methyl - ester (&# 34 ; tame &# 34 ;). the multifunctional protein ( of at least about 95 % purity ) will preferably have specific activity of at least about 60 tame units per mg . or , tryptic activity can be measured using benzoyl - val - gly - arg - p - no 2 - anilide as the substrate . using this substrate and the method of biochemical j ., 185 : 423 - 433 , 1980 , the multifunctional protein will preferably have specific activity of at least about 210 units per mg . chymotryptic activity can be measured using succinyl - ala - ala - pro - phe - p - no 2 - anilide as the substrate . using this substrate and the method of j . biol . chem ., 269 : 19565 - 19572 , 1994 , the multifunctional protein will preferably have specific activity at least about 260 units per mg . elastase activity can be measured using boc - ala - ala - pro - ala - p - no 2 - anilide as the substrate . using this substrate and the method of j . biol . chem ., 269 : 19565 - 19572 , 1994 , the multifunctional protein will preferably have specific activity of at least about 270 units per mg . generally , the multifunctional protein will be sufficiently stable so that at least about 50 % of the proteolytic activity is retained after incubation at 50 ° c . for 24 hours at ph 7 . 0 at a concentration of 5 mg / ml . preferably at least about 50 % of the proteolytic activity is retained after incubation at 60 ° c . for 5 hours at ph 7 . 0 at a concentration of 5 mg / ml . preferably , the ph optimum of the multifunctional protein is substrate dependent . for the substrate azocasein , the ph optimum is preferably from about 3 . 5 to about 6 . 5 , more preferably , from about 4 . 0 to about 6 . 0 . for the substrate benzoyl - val - gly - arg - p - nitroanilide , the ph optimum is preferably in excess of about 8 . 0 , more preferably in excess of about 9 . 0 . for the substrate boc - ala - ala - pro - ala - p - nitroanilide , the ph optimum is preferably between about 6 . 0 and about 7 . 0 , more preferably about 7 . 0 . using benzoyl - val - gly - arg - p - nitroanilide as the substrate , the k m at about ph 9 . 5 in the presence of 2 mm ca 2 + is preferably between about 200 and about 240 μm . using succinyl - ala - ala - pro - phe - p - nitroanilide as the substrate , the k m at ph 9 . 5 in the presence of 2 mm ca 2 + is preferably between about 250 and about 290 μm . preferably , the multifunctional protein has a temperature optimum for activity against casein of between about 45 ° c . and about 60 ° c . generally , the protein retains at least about 50 % of its activity when incubated at 5 mg / ml for 18 hours at a ph ranging from about 5 . 0 to about 9 . 5 at 25 ° c . when hl60 cells are pretreated with krill - derived multifunctional hydrolase , their binding to tnfα stimulated endothelial cells is inhibited by more than about 60 %. preferably , treatment of hl60 or endothelial cells with the multifunctional protein of the invention will inhibit hl60 cell binding to tnfα stimulated endothelial cells by at least about 20 %, more preferably at least about 40 %, still more preferably at least about 60 %, yet more preferably at least about 80 %. alternately , the multifunctional protein will preferably have at least about 30 % of the adhesion - inhibiting activity of the krill - derived multifunctional hydrolase . more preferably , the multifunctional protein shall have at least about 60 % of the adhesion inhibiting activity of the krill - derived multifunctional hydrolase , still more preferably at least about 80 %, yet more preferably at least about 100 %. the multifunctional protein of the invention effectively removes or inactivates certain cell - surface adhesion molecules , such as icam - 1 ( i . e ., cd 54 ), icam - 2 , vcam - 1 , cd4 , cd8 , cd28 , cd31 , cd44 and the asialo gm 1 ceramide , without affecting cell viability . this adhesion site removal or inactivation phenomenon is believed to provide at least a partial explanation for the protein &# 39 ; s effectiveness against many , though probably not all , of the indications against which the multifunctional protein is effective as a treatment or preventative agent . other cell surface receptors have been found to be substantially resistant to removal or inactivation by the multifunctional protein , such as the t - cell receptor , the class i major histocompatibility complex or the integrins cd11 and cd18 . in one aspect , the present invention provides methods for identifying polypeptides that are homologous to the multifunctional protein . such polypeptides may be found , for example , in fish and crustaceans . the method by which multifunctional protein cdna was isolated illustrates how readily multifunctional proteins are identified . for instance , see example 1 . the same methodology can be used to identify other sequences from other sources that have multifunctional activity . additionally , probes for multifunctional protein expression can be used , for example , to detect the presence of a multifunctional protein . such probes include antibodies directed against multifunctional protein or fragments thereof , nucleic acid probes that hybridize to multifunctional protein mrna under stringent conditions , and oligonucleotides that specifically prime a pcr amplification of multifunctional protein mrna . nucleic acid molecules that bind to a multifunctional protein - encoding nucleic acid under high stringency conditions are identified functionally , or by using the hybridization rules reviewed in sambrook et al ., molecular cloning : a laboratory manual , 2nd ed ., cold spring harbor press , 1989 . many deletional or mutational analogs of nucleic acid sequences for a multifunctional protein are effective hybridization probes for multifunctional protein - encoding nucleic acid . accordingly , the present invention relates to nucleic acids that hybridize with such multifunctional protein - encoding nucleic acids under stringent conditions . preferably , the nucleic acid of the present invention hybridizes with at least a segment of the nucleic acid described as seq id no : 1 seq id no : 2 , seq id no : 3 , seq id no : 7 or seq id no : 9 under stringent conditions . &# 34 ; stringent conditions &# 34 ; refers to conditions that allow for the hybridization of substantially related nucleic acids , where relatedness is a function of the sequence of nucleotides in the respective nucleic acids . for instance , for a nucleic acid of 100 nucleotides , such conditions will generally allow hybridization thereto of a second nucleic acid having at least about 85 % homology , and more preferably having at least about 90 % homology . such hybridization conditions are described by sambrook et al ., molecular cloning : a laboratory manual , 2nd ed ., cold spring harbor press , 1989 . hybridization can be conducted as follows : add the probe to the prehybridization solution . prehybridization solution includes 50 % formamide and 6 × ssc . virtually complete suppression of background hybridization is obtained by prehybridizing filters with a blocking agent consisting of 5 × denhardt &# 39 ; s reagent , 0 . 5 % sds , and 100 μg / ml denatured , fragmented , salmon sperm dna . thus , prehybridization solution can include 50 % formamide , 6 × ssc , 5 × denhardt &# 39 ; s reagent , 0 . 5 % sds , and 100 μg / ml denatured , fragmented , salmon sperm dna . if the experiment demands washing at high stringencies , wash by immersing in 0 . 2 × ssc and 0 . 1 % sds at 68 ° c . pcr ( polymerase chain reaction ) can be used to detect nucleic acids having multifunctional protein sequences through amplification of such sequences using multifunctional protein nucleic acid primers . pcr methods of amplifying nucleic acids utilize at least two primers . one of these primers is capable of hybridizing to a first strand of the nucleic acid to be amplified and of priming protein - driven nucleic acid synthesis in a first direction . the other is capable of hybridizing the reciprocal sequence of the first strand ( if the sequence to be amplified is single stranded , this sequence is initially hypothetical , but is synthesized in the first amplification cycle ) and of priming nucleic acid synthesis from that strand in the direction opposite the first direction and towards the site of hybridization for the first primer . conditions for conducting such amplifications , particularly under preferred high stringency conditions , are well known . see , for example , pcr protocols , cold spring harbor press , 1991 . antibodies against multifunctional proteins can also be used to identify polypeptides that are homologous to multifunctional protein . antigens for eliciting the production of antibodies against the multifunctional protein can be produced recombinantly by expressing all of or a part of the nucleic acid of a multifunctional protein in a prokaryote such as bacteria or a eukaryote such as yeast . in one embodiment , the recombinant protein is expressed as a fusion protein , with the non - multifunctional protein portion of the protein serving either to facilitate purification or to enhance the immunogenicity of the fusion protein . for instance , the non - multifunctional protein portion comprises a protein for which there is a readily - available binding partner that is utilized for affinity purification of the fusion protein . the antigen includes an &# 34 ; antigenic determinant ,&# 34 ; i . e ., a minimum portion of amino acids sufficient to bind specifically with an anti - multifunctional protein antibody . antisera to multifunctional protein can be made , for example , by creating a multifunctional protein antigen by linking a portion of the cdna for human multifunctional protein to a cdna for glutathione s - transferase (&# 34 ; gst &# 34 ;) found on a commercial vector . the resulting vector expresses a fusion protein containing an antigenic segment of multifunctional protein and gst that is readily purified from the expressing bacteria using a glutathione affinity column . the purified antigenic fusion protein is used to immunize rabbits . the same approach is used to make antigens based on other segments of the multifunctional protein . procedures for making antibodies and for identifying antigenic segments of proteins are well known . see , for instance , harlow , antibodies , cold spring harbor press , 1989 . the invention also encompasses the use of gene therapy approaches to insert a gene expressing a multifunctional protein or a polypeptide with multifunctional protein activity . for gene therapy , medical workers prefer to incorporate , into one or more cell types of an organism , a dna vector capable of directing the synthesis of a polypeptide missing from the cell or useful to the cell or organism when expressed in greater amounts . the methods for introducing dna to cause a cell to produce a new polypeptide or a greater amount of a polypeptide are called &# 34 ; transfection &# 34 ; methods . see , generally , sambrook et al ., molecular cloning : a laboratory manual , 2nd ed ., cold spring harbor press , 1989 . for viral gene therapy vectors , dosages are generally from about 1 μg to about 1 mg of nucleic acid per kg of body mass . for non - infective gene therapy vectors , dosages are generally from about 1 μg to about 100 mg of nucleic acid per kg of body mass . the multifunctional protein polypeptides and nucleic acid compositions of the invention can be administered orally , topically , rectally , vaginally , by instillation ( for instance into the urinary tract or into fistulas ), by pulmonary route by use of an aerosol , by application of drops to the eye , or systemically , such as parenterally , including , for example , intramuscularly , subcutaneously , intraperitoneally , intraarterially or intravenously . the multifunctional protein composition can be administered alone , or it can be combined with a pharmaceutically - acceptable carrier or excipient according to standard pharmaceutical practice . for the oral mode of administration , the multifunctional protein composition can be used in the form of tablets , capsules , lozenges , chewing gum , troches , powders , syrups , elixirs , aqueous solutions and suspensions , and the like . in the case of tablets , carriers that is used include lactose , sodium citrate and salts of phosphoric acid . various disintegrants such as starch , and lubricating agents such as magnesium stearate and talc , are commonly used in tablets . for oral administration in capsule form , useful diluents are lactose and high molecular weight polyethylene glycols . if desired , certain sweetening and / or flavoring agents are added . for parenteral administration , sterile solutions of the multifunctional protein are usually prepared , and the phs of the solutions are suitably adjusted and buffered . for intravenous use , the total concentration of solutes should be controlled to render the preparation isotonic . for ocular administration , ointments or droppable liquids may be delivered by ocular delivery systems known to the art such as applicators or eye droppers . such compositions can include mucomimetics such as hyaluronic acid , chondroitin sulfate , hydroxypropyl methylcellulose or polyvinyl alcohol , preservatives such as sorbic acid , edta or benzylchronium chloride , and the usual quantities of diluents and / or carriers . for pulmonary administration , diluents and / or carriers will be selected to be appropriate to allow the formation of an aerosol . for topical administrations , the multifunctional protein is typically administered in aqueous form or in a hydrogel . a preferred hydrogel comprises an aqueous suspension of from about 1 % ( w / v ) to about 10 % of low molecular weight hydrolyzed starch . suppository forms of the multifunctional protein are useful for vaginal , urethral and rectal administrations . such suppositories will generally be constructed of a mixture of substances that is solid at room temperature but melts at body temperature . the substances commonly used to create such vehicles include theobroma oil , glycerinated gelatin , hydrogenated vegetable oils , mixtures of polyethylene glycols of various molecular weighty and fatty acid esters of polyethylene glycol . see , remington &# 39 ; s pharmaceutical sciences , 16th ed ., mack publishing , easton , pa ., 1980 , pp . 1530 - 1533 for further discussion of suppository dosage forms . analogous gels or cremes can be used for vaginal , urethral and rectal administrations . numerous administration vehicles will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art , including without limitation slow release formulations , liposomal formulations and polymeric matrices . for topical treatments , a suitable dose of multifunctional protein per application ranges from about 0 . 1 μg / cm 2 to about 1 mg / cm 2 , preferably from about 1 μg / cm 2 ( for example , using about 10 μg / ml ) to about 1 mg / cm 2 ( for example , using about 10 mg / ml ), more preferably from about 5 μg / cm 2 ( for example , using about 50 μg / ml ) to about 100 μg / cm 2 ( for example , using about 1 mg / ml ), yet more preferably from about 10 μg / cm 2 to about 250 μg / cm 2 , still yet more preferably from about 10 μg / cm 2 ( for example , using about 100 μg / ml ) to about 50 μg / cm 2 ( for example , about 500 μg / ml ). for systemic treatments , dosages will generally be selected to maintain a serum level of multifunctional protein between about 0 . 1 μg / 100 cc and about 5 μg / 100 cc , preferably between about 0 . 5 μg / 100 cc and about 2 . 0 μg / 100 cc . in an alternative measure of preferred systemic administration amounts , preferably from about 0 . 1 mg / kg to about 10 mg / kg , more preferably about 1 mg / kg , will be administered ( although toxicology in animal models suggests that in excess of 25 mg / kg is acceptable ). for ocular treatments , a suitable dose of multifunctional protein per application ranges from about 0 . 01 mg per eye to about 5 mg per eye , preferably from about 0 . 1 mg per eye to about 2 . 0 mg per eye . for vaginal and urinary tract treatments , suitable flushing / instillation solutions of the multifunctional protein will generally have concentrations from about 1 μg / ml to about 15 mg / ml , preferably from about 100 μg / ml to about 3 mg / ml . for oral treatments , suitable mouthwash solutions will generally have concentration of multifunctional protein from about 1 mg / ml to about 15 mg / ml preferably from about 2 mg / ml to about 10 mg / ml . lozenges will typically contain from about 100 μg to about 10 mg of multifunctional protein . aerosols will generally be made from solutions having protein concentrations from about 0 . 1 mg / ml to about 15 mg / ml , preferably from about 1 mg / ml to about 10 mg / ml . generally , from about 0 . 1 ml to about 2 ml of aerosol will be applied to the airways of the patient , preferably from about 0 . 5 ml to about 1 . 0 ml . for scar and keloid treatments , generally between about 0 . 1 mg and about 5 mg of multifunctional protein will be injected into each cm 2 of the lesion , preferably from about 0 . 5 mg to about 3 mg . for treating adhered connective tissue or joints , generally between about 0 . 5 mg and about 10 mg of multifunctional protein will be injected interstitially at the adhesion , preferably between about 1 mg and about 5 mg . for all treatments , the protein composition will generally be applied from about 1 to about 10 times per day , preferably from about 2 to about 5 times per day . these values , of course , will vary with a number of factors including the type and severity of the disease , and the age , weight and medical condition of the patient , as will be recognized by those of ordinary skill in the medical arts . it is believed that substantially higher doses can be used without substantial adverse effect . for treating or preventing infection , the multifunctional protein can be administered systemically or in a manner adapted to target the affected tissue . for preventing cold or influenza transmission , the composition is preferably applied to the lungs or airways . for treating immune disorders , the composition may be applied systemically or in a manner adapted to target the affected tissue . for treating the primary and secondary infections of leprosy , the primary administration route will generally be the topical route . for treating scar or keloid tissue , generally the composition will be injected into the scar or keloid , except that for corneal scars the composition will generally be applied ocularly without injection . for cancer treatment , the composition will generally be administered systemically by a route or in a manner adopted to target the affected tissue . for treating atherosclerosis , the composition will generally be administered systemically , although the site of administration may be chosen to administer the highest dosages to the portion of the circulatory system most at risk . for asthma , the general route of administration will be pulmonary . for treating pseudomonas infections , the infection will typically be a lung infection and the administration route pulmonary . for reperfusion injury , the composition will generally be administered systemically , although the site of administration may be designed to administer the highest dosages to the portion of the body that suffered an ischemic event . for treating the painful symptoms of malaria , the administration mode will generally by systemic . for wound healing , the multifunctional protein is preferably be applied more often than simply the time at which the wound is first dressed . preferably , the multifunctional protein is applied at least about every time the wound dressing is changed . the multifunctional protein can also be applied at least about every other day , more preferably , every day . in one embodiment , the multifunctional protein is administered to a wound substantially free of necrotic tissue . the phrase &# 34 ; substantially free of necrotic tissue &# 34 ; shall mean sufficiently lacking in necrotic tissue so that an ordinarily - skilled pathologist would consider any residue of necrotic tissue to be irrelevant to determining a wound - healing prognosis . for organ transplants , the organ to be transplanted will preferably be bathed in a solution of the multifunctional protein for between about 10 minutes and about 5 hours . the protein solution will preferably contain between about 0 . 01 mg / ml and about 25 mg / ml of the multifunctional protein , more preferably , between about 0 . 5 mg / ml and about 5 mg / ml . after transplantation , the multifunctional protein will preferably be administered systemically using the conditions described above . for cleaning contact lenses in situ the solutions described above for ocular treatments are preferred ; for ex vivo treatments , higher concentrations of protein will generally be used . cleaning incubations of from about 5 to about 30 minutes at from about 20 ° c . to about 50 ° c . are also preferred . for ex vivo treatments , the higher end of the temperature range is preferred . for leprosy , many of the associated infections will be appropriately treated with a topical application of the multifunctional protein . for cf or copd , the multifunctional protein can be used to treat ( a ) the build up of viscous fluids in the lungs and ( b ) associated pulmonary infections . preferably , treatments of cf and copd patients include pulmonary treatments with an aerosol of the multifunctional protein , but can include other routes of administration including systemic administrations . particularly important among the diseases relevant to the transmission inhibitory embodiment of the invention are sexually - transmitted diseases , such as candida , gonorrhea , chlamydia , syphilis , trichomonas , chancroid , hiv , herpes or hepatitis infections . among these , viral diseases are particularly preferred targets for transmission prevention ; hiv is a still more preferred target . for this use , the body cavity involved in sexual activity is generally rinsed or flushed with a composition containing the multifunctional protein , or a creme , gel or suppository designed to localize the composition to the body cavity is used . the composition can be used soon before , in conjunction with , or soon after , sexual activity , although prior or concurrent use is preferred . for herpes infections , the viral targets include hsv - 1 , which primarily manifests as oral herpes , hsv - 2 , which primarily manifests as genital herpes , and herpes zoster . for autoimmune diseases or diseases with autoimmune components , treatment targets include without limitation rheumatoid arthritis , multiple sclerosis , primary biliary cirrhosis , active chronic hepatitis , ulcerative colitis , rheumatic arthritis , scleroderma , systemic lupus erythematosus , hashimoto &# 39 ; s thyroiditis , primary myxedema , thyroroxicosis , pernicious anemia , addison &# 39 ; s disease , premature onset of menopause , autoimmune male infertility , insulin - dependent diabetes , type b insulin resistance of acanthosis nigricans , alopic allergy , myasthenia gravis , lambert - eaton syndrome , goodpasture &# 39 ; s syndrome , pemphigus vulgaris , pemphigoid , phacogenic uveitis , sympathetic ophthalmia , autoimmune hemolytic anemia , idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura , sjogren &# 39 ; s syndrome , discoid lupus erythematosus , dermatomyositis and mixed connective tissue disease . for adhesion disorders , the cells or viruses involved can include , without limitation , endothelial cells , lymphocytes , including t - cells , tumor cells , microbial cells , viruses , including hiv and herpes . adhesion processes are believed to be involved in tissue invasion , for instance , by immune cells , microbes , and tumor cells . for many of diseases for which the multifunctional protein of the invention is useful as a prophylactic treatment , including those not caused by microbes , a patient &# 39 ; s medical history , lifestyle or genetic background will often indicate a predisposition to acquire the disease . this is true , for instance , of atherosclerosis . generally , the multifunctional protein will be administered in an effective amount . an effective amount is an amount effective to either ( 1 ) reduce the symptoms of the disease sought to be treated , ( 2 ) induce a pharmacological change relevant to treating the disease sought to be treated , ( 3 ) inhibit or prevent infection or re - infection by an infective agent , or ( 4 ) prevent the occurrence of a non - infectious disease ( for instance a disease treatable by blocking a cell adhesion phenomenon ). for cancer , an effective amount further includes an amount effective to : prevent or limit metastasis , for instance , to reduce the level of metastasis ; reduce the size of a tumor ; slow the growth of a tumor ; and increase the life expectancy of the affected animal . for wound treatment , in one aspect , an effective amount includes an amount which , if regularly applied , prevents the occurrence of infection . in another aspect , for wound healing , an effective amount includes an amount effective to reduce the average time it takes for a wound to heal . humans are the preferred subjects for treatment . however , the multifunctional protein can be used in many veterinary contexts to treat animals , preferably to treat mammals , as will be recognized by those of ordinary skill in light of the present disclosure . the present invention is further exemplified by the following non - limiting examples . the phim polypeptide was purified and the polypeptide was partially sequenced , as described in u . s . patent application ser . no . 08 / 600 , 273 ( filed feb . 8 , 1996 ), defaire et al ., inventors , entitled &# 34 ; multifunctional enzyme ,&# 34 ; relevant portions of which are hereby incorporated by reference . degenerate oligonucleotide primers were constructed based on the partial amino acid sequence . the primers had the following sequences : cacgcctacccitggca ( seq id no : 17 ) and gtgttggactcgatccagatc ( seq id no : 18 ). the primers were used to screen a krill cdna library that was constructed in lambda zap , using the lambda zap cdna synthesis kit ( stratagene , san diego , calif .). three positive clones were identified through screening with a pcr fragment as a probe . the pcr fragment used as a probe was sequences 217 to 881 of seq id no : 1 , with the following changes : at 219 , t to c ; at 222 , t to c ; at 228 , c to g ; at 270 , t to a ; at 330 , g to a ; at 417 , c to a ; at 534 , t to c ; at 741 , c to t ; and at 825 , c to g . the three positive clones were sequenced , the first clone resulting in seq id no : 1 , the second clone resulting in seq id no : 2 and the third clone resulting in seq id no : 7 . these isoforms all lack the initiation codon methionine . a recombinant multifunctional protein was expressed in an e . coli as follows , using the bamhi and xho i sites of a pet23c vector provided by novagen ( abingdon , oxford , u . k .). the pet23c vector includes a gene 10 tag for facilitating purification of the expressed recombinant protein . further , the pet vector places the recombinant multifunctional protein under the control of bacteriophage t7 transcription and translation signals . once established in a non - expression host , e . coli mc1061 , the plasmid was then transferred to an expression host , e . coli bl21 ( de3 ) plys s having a chromosomal copy of the t7 polymerase gene under lacuv5 control . expression was induced by the addition of 1 mm iptg at an optical density of 0 . 5 at wavelength 600 . the cells were harvested after 2 hours at an optical density of 1 . 0 . the recombinant protein was insoluble in the lysate and after harvesting , it was washed and dissolved in 6 m urea . refolding of the recombinant protein was carried out by 200 - fold dilution using a buffer containing 100 mm tris hcl ph 9 . 5 , 100 mm cacl 2 , 0 . 3 mm oxidized glutathione and 3 mm reduced glutathione , followed by stirring overnight at 4 ° c . __________________________________________________________________________ # sequence listing - - - - ( 1 ) general information : - - ( iii ) number of sequences : 19 - - - - ( 2 ) information for seq id no : 1 : - - ( i ) sequence characteristics : ( a ) length : 943 base - # pairs ( b ) type : nucleic acid ( c ) strandedness : double ( d ) topology : linear - - ( xi ) sequence description : seq id no : 1 : - - ctcttactcg cccttgtggc tgctgctagt gccgcagaat ggcgctggca - # gtttcgtcac 60 - - cctacagtga cccccaaccc tagggctaag aaccccttca gagtcaccaa - # aagctctcca 120 - - gtccaaccac cagcagtcag aggaacaaag gctgttgaga actgtggacc - # agtagcacca 180 - - aggaacaaga ttgtaggagg catggaggtg actccccatg cttacccctg - # gcaggtggga 240 - - cttttcattg atgatatgta cttctgtggt ggatcaatca tctccgacga - # atgggtcctt 300 - - acagctgctc actgtatgga tggtgctggg tttgttgagg ttgtgatggg - # tgctcacagt 360 - - atccatgacg aaactgaggc cacacaggtc cgtgccacat caactgattt - # cttcacccac 420 - - gagaactgga actccttcac cctctccaat gatcttgctc tcattaagat - # gccagcacca 480 - - attgaattca acgatgtgat ccagcctgtc tgcctaccaa cctatactga - # tgctagtgat 540 - - gattttgttg gtgaatcagt cactcttact ggatggggta aaccatctga - # ctctgctttt 600 - - ggcatcgctg aacaacttcg tgaggttgat gtgacaacaa tcactactgc - # tgactgccag 660 - - gcatactacg gcattgtcac tgacaaaatc ctctgcatcg actccgaagg - # aggccatggt 720 - - tcctgcaatg gtgattccgg cgggccaatg aactatgtaa ctggtggtgt - # tactcagacc 780 - - cgtggtatta cctctttcgg atcctctacc ggctgcgaga ctggctaccc - # tgatggttac 840 - - acacgagtca ccagctatct ggactggatt gaatctaaca ctggcattgc - # cattgatcca 900 - - taaatacaat tctagcaaaa atacaataaa ttatacttaa atg - # - # 943 - - - - ( 2 ) information for seq id no : 2 : - - ( i ) sequence characteristics : ( a ) length : 599 base - # pairs ( b ) type : nucleic acid ( c ) strandedness : double ( d ) topology : linear - - ( xi ) sequence description : seq id no : 2 : - - gatgggtgct cacagtatcc atgacgatac tgaggcctct cgcgtcagtg - # ccacatcaac 60 - - tgatttcttc acccacgaga actggaactc cttcaccctc accaatgatc - # ttgctctcat 120 - - taagatgcca gcaccaattg aattcacacc tgaaattcaa cctgtctgcc - # taccaagcta 180 - - cactgatgct gctgatgatt tcattggtga atctgttgtc cttactggat - # ggggccgtga 240 - - ttctgatgct gcttccggca tctctgaact actccgtgag gttcatgtga - # ccacaatctc 300 - - cactgccgac tgccaggcat actacggcat tgtcactgac aaaatcctct - # gcatttcctc 360 - - tgaagacgga catggttctt gtaatggtga ttccggtggg ccaatgaact - # atgtaactgg 420 - - tggtgttact cagacccgtg gtattacctc cttcggatcc tctaccgggt - # gtgagactgg 480 - - ctaccctgat ggttacacac gtgtcaccag ctatctggac tggattgaat - # ctaacactgg 540 - - cattgccatt gatgcttgaa tataatacta gatatgtaat caaataaatt - # tcatgaatt 599 - - - - ( 2 ) information for seq id no : 3 : - - ( i ) sequence characteristics : ( a ) length : 943 base - # pairs ( b ) type : nucleic acid ( c ) strandedness : double ( d ) topology : linear - - ( xi ) sequence description : seq id no : 3 : - - ctcttactcg cccttgtggc tgctgctagt gccgcagaat ggcgctggca - # gtttcgtcac 60 - - cctacagtga cccccaaccc tagggctaag aaccccttca gagtcaccaa - # aagctctcca 120 - - gtccaaccac cagcagtcag aggaacaaag gctgttgaga actgtggacc - # agtagcacca 180 - - aggaacaaga ttgtaggagg catggaggtg actccccatg cttacccctg - # gcaggtggga 240 - - cttttcattg atgatatgta cttctgtggt ggatcaatca tctccgacga - # atgggtcctt 300 - - acagctgctc actgtatgga tggtgctggg tttgttgagg ttgtgatggg - # tgctcacagt 360 - - atccatgacg atactgaggc ctctcgcgtc agtgccacat caactgattt - # cttcacccac 420 - - gagaactgga actccttcac cctcaccaat gatcttgctc tcattaagat - # gccagcacca 480 - - attgaattca cacctgaaat tcaacctgtc tgcctaccaa gctacactga - # tgctgctgat 540 - - gatttcattg gtgaatctgt tgtccttact ggatggggcc gtgattctga - # tgctgcttcc 600 - - ggcatctctg aactactccg tgaggttcat gtgaccacaa tctccactgc - # cgactgccag 660 - - gcatactacg gcattgtcac tgacaaaatc ctctgcattt cctctgaaga - # cggacatggt 720 - - tcttgtaatg gtgattccgg tgggccaatg aactatgtaa ctggtggtgt - # tactcagacc 780 - - cgtggtatta cctccttcgg atcctctacc gggtgtgaga ctggctaccc - # tgatggttac 840 - - acacgtgtca ccagctatct ggactggatt gaatctaaca ctggcattgc - # cattgatgct 900 - - tgaatataat actagatatg taatcaaata aatttcatga att - # - # 943 - - - - ( 2 ) information for seq id no : 4 : - - ( i ) sequence characteristics : ( a ) length : 300 amino - # acids ( b ) type : amino acid ( c ) strandedness : double ( d ) topology : linear - - ( xi ) sequence description : seq id no : 4 : - - leu leu leu ala leu val ala ala ala ser - # ala ala glu trp arg trp 1 5 - # 10 - # 15 - - gln phe arg his pro thr val thr pro asn - # pro arg ala lys asn pro 20 - # 25 - # 30 - - phe arg val thr lys ser ser pro val gln - # pro pro ala val arg gly 35 - # 40 - # 45 - - thr lys ala val glu asn cys gly pro val - # ala pro arg asn lys ile 50 - # 55 - # 60 - - val gly gly met glu val thr pro his ala - # tyr pro trp gln val gly 65 - # 70 - # 75 - # 80 - - leu phe ile asp asp met tyr phe cys gly - # gly ser ile ile ser asp 85 - # 90 - # 95 - - glu trp val leu thr ala ala his cys met - # asp gly ala gly phe val 100 - # 105 - # 110 - - glu val val met gly ala his ser ile his - # asp glu thr glu ala thr 115 - # 120 - # 125 - - gln val arg ala thr ser thr asp phe phe - # thr his glu asn trp asn 130 - # 135 - # 140 - - ser phe thr leu ser asn asp leu ala leu - # ile lys met pro ala pro 145 - # 150 - # 155 -# 160 - - ile glu phe asn asp val ile gln pro val - # cys leu pro thr tyrthr 165 - # 170 - # 175 - - asp ala ser asp asp phe val gly glu ser - # val thr leu thr gly trp 180 - # 185 - # 190 - - gly lys pro ser asp ser ala phe gly ile - # ala glu gln leu arg glu 195 - # 200 - # 205 - - val asp val thr thr ile thr thr ala asp - # cys gln ala tyr tyr gly 210 - # 215 - # 220 - - ile val thr asp lys ile leu cys ile asp - # ser glu gly gly his gly 225 - # 230 - # 235 -# 240 - - ser cys asn gly asp ser gly gly pro met - # asn tyr val thr glygly 245 - # 250 - # 255 - - val thr gln thr arg gly ile thr ser phe - # gly ser ser thr gly cys 260 - # 265 - # 270 - - glu thr gly tyr pro asp gly tyr thr arg - # val thr ser tyr leu asp 275 - # 280 - # 285 - - trp ile glu ser asn thr gly ile ala ile - # asp pro 290 - # 295 - # 300 - - - - ( 2 ) information for seq id no : 5 : - - ( i ) sequence characteristics : ( a ) length : 185 amino - # acids ( b ) type : amino acid ( c ) strandedness : single ( d ) topology : linear - - ( xi ) sequence description : seq id no : 5 : - - met gly ala his ser ile his asp asp thr - # glu ala ser arg val ser 1 5 - # 10 - # 15 - - ala thr ser thr asp phe phe thr his glu - # asn trp asn ser phe thr 20 - # 25 - # 30 - - leu thr asn asp leu ala leu ile lys met - # pro ala pro ile glu phe 35 - # 40 - # 45 - - thr pro glu ile gln pro val cys leu pro - # ser tyr thr asp ala ala 50 - # 55 - # 60 - - asp asp phe ile gly glu ser val val leu - # thr gly trp gly arg asp 65 - # 70 - # 75 - # 80 - - ser asp ala ala ser gly ile ser glu leu - # leu arg glu val his val 85 - # 90 - # 95 - - thr thr ile ser thr ala asp cys gln ala - # tyr tyr gly ile val thr 100 - # 105 - # 110 - - asp lys ile leu cys ile ser ser glu asp - # gly his gly ser cys asn 115 - # 120 - # 125 - - gly asp ser gly gly pro met asn tyr val - # thr gly gly val thr gln 130 - # 135 - # 140 - - thr arg gly ile thr ser phe gly ser ser - # thr gly cys glu thr gly 145 - # 150 - # 155 -# 160 - - tyr pro asp gly tyr thr arg val thr ser - # tyr leu asp trp ileglu 165 - # 170 - # 175 - - ser asn thr gly ile ala ile asp ala 180 - # 185 - - - - ( 2 ) information for seq id no : 6 : - - ( i ) sequence characteristics : ( a ) length : 300 amino - # acids ( b ) type : amino acid ( c ) strandedness : single ( d ) topology : linear - - ( xi ) sequence description : seq id no : 6 : - - leu leu leu ala leu val ala ala ala ser - # ala ala glu trp arg trp 1 5 - # 10 - # 15 - - gln phe arg his pro thr val thr pro asn - # pro arg ala lys asn pro 20 - # 25 - # 30 - - phe arg val thr lys ser ser pro val gln - # pro pro ala val arg gly 35 - # 40 - # 45 - - thr lys ala val glu asn cys gly pro val - # ala pro arg asn lys ile 50 - # 55 - # 60 - - val gly gly met glu val thr pro his ala - # tyr pro trp gln val gly 65 - # 70 - # 75 - # 80 - - leu phe ile asp asp met tyr phe cys gly - # gly ser ile ile ser asp 85 - # 90 - # 95 - - glu trp val leu thr ala ala his cys met - # asp gly ala gly phe val 100 - # 105 - # 110 - - glu val val met gly ala his ser ile his - # asp asp thr glu ala ser 115 - # 120 - # 125 - - arg val ser ala thr ser thr asp phe phe - # thr his glu asn trp asn 130 - # 135 - # 140 - - ser phe thr leu thr asn asp leu ala leu - # ile lys met pro ala pro 145 - # 150 - # 155 -# 160 - - ile glu phe thr pro glu ile gln pro val - # cys leu pro ser tyrthr 165 - # 170 - # 175 - - asp ala ala asp asp phe ile gly glu ser - # val val leu thr gly trp 180 - # 185 - # 190 - - gly arg asp ser asp ala ala ser gly ile - # ser glu leu leu arg glu 195 - # 200 - # 205 - - val his val thr thr ile ser thr ala asp - # cys gln ala tyr tyr gly 210 - # 215 - # 220 - - ile val thr asp lys ile leu cys ile ser - # ser glu asp gly his gly 225 - # 230 - # 235 -# 240 - - ser cys asn gly asp ser gly gly pro met - # asn tyr val thr glygly 245 - # 250 - # 255 - - val thr gln thr arg gly ile thr ser phe - # gly ser ser thr gly cys 260 - # 265 - # 270 - - glu thr gly tyr pro asp gly tyr thr arg - # val thr ser tyr leu asp 275 - # 280 - # 285 - - trp ile glu ser asn thr gly ile ala ile - # asp ala 290 - # 295 - # 300 - - - - ( 2 ) information for seq id no : 7 : - - ( i ) sequence characteristics : ( a ) length : 536 base - # pairs ( b ) type : nucleic acid ( c ) strandedness : double ( d ) topology : linear - - ( xi ) sequence description : seq id no : 7 : - - cccgggcagg tccaggatcg ccctcttact tgcccttgtg gctgctacag - # ctagtgcttc 60 - - agaatggcgc tggcagttcc gtcaccccac tgtgaccccc aaccccagag - # ctaacaaccc 120 - - cttcagaccc agtaaagtcg ctccagtcca accaccagca gtcagaggaa - # caaaggctgt 180 - - tgagaactgt ggaccagtag caccaaagaa caagattgta ggagggcaag - # aagtgactcc 240 - - ccatgcttac ccctggcagg tgggactctt catcgatgac atgtacttct - # gcggtggatc 300 - - catcatctca gaggactggg tgcttacagc tgctcactgt gtggatggtg - # ctggttttgt 360 - - cgaagttgtg atgggtgctc acagtatcca tgacgatact gaggcctctc - # gcatcagtgc 420 - - cacatcaact gatttcttca cccacgagaa ctggaactcc ttcaccctca - # ccaatgatct 480 - - tgctctcatt aagatgccag cacccattga gttcacacct gaaattcaac - # ctgtct 536 - - - - ( 2 ) information for seq id no : 8 : - - ( i ) sequence characteristics : ( a ) length : 178 amino - # acids ( b ) type : amino acid ( c ) strandedness : single ( d ) topology : linear - - ( xi ) sequence description : seq id no : 8 : - - pro gly arg ser arg ile ala leu leu leu - # ala leu val ala ala thr 1 5 - # 10 - # 15 - - ala ser ala ser glu trp arg trp gln phe - # arg his pro thr val thr 20 - # 25 - # 30 - - pro asn pro arg ala asn asn pro phe arg - # pro ser lys val ala pro 35 - # 40 - # 45 - - val gln pro pro ala val arg gly thr lys - # ala val glu asn cys gly 50 - # 55 - # 60 - - pro val ala pro lys asn lys ile val gly - # gly gln glu val thr pro 65 - # 70 - # 75 - # 80 - - his ala tyr pro trp gln val gly leu phe - # ile asp asp met tyr phe 85 - # 90 - # 95 - - cys gly gly ser ile ile ser glu asp trp - # val leu thr ala ala his 100 - # 105 - # 110 - - cys val asp gly ala gly phe val glu val - # val met gly ala his ser 115 - # 120 - # 125 - - ile his asp asp thr glu ala ser arg ile - # ser ala thr ser thr asp 130 - # 135 - # 140 - - phe phe thr his glu asn trp asn ser phe - # thr leu thr asn asp leu 145 - # 150 - # 155 -# 160 - - ala leu ile lys met pro ala pro ile glu - # phe thr pro glu ilegln 165 - # 170 - # 175 - - pro val - - - - ( 2 ) information for seq id no : 9 : - - ( i ) sequence characteristics : ( a ) length : 968 base - # pairs ( b ) type : nucleic acid ( c ) strandedness : double ( d ) topology : linear - - ( xi ) sequence description : seq id no : 9 : - - cccgggcagg tccaggatcg ccctcttact tgcccttgtg gctgctacag - # ctagtgcttc 60 - - agaatggcgc tggcagttcc gtcaccccac tgtgaccccc aaccccagag - # ctaacaaccc 120 - - cttcagaccc agtaaagtcg ctccagtcca accaccagca gtcagaggaa - # caaaggctgt 180 - - tgagaactgt ggaccagtag caccaaagaa caagattgta ggagggcaag - # aagtgactcc 240 - - ccatgcttac ccctggcagg tgggactctt catcgatgac atgtacttct - # gcggtggatc 300 - - catcatctca gaggactggg tgcttacagc tgctcactgt gtggatggtg - # ctggttttgt 360 - - cgaagttgtg atgggtgctc acagtatcca tgacgatact gaggcctctc - # gcgtcagtgc 420 - - cacatcaact gatttcttca cccacgagaa ctggaactcc ttcaccctca - # ccaatgatct 480 - - tgctctcatt aagatgccag caccaattga attcacacct gaaattcaac - # ctgtctgcct 540 - - accaagctac actgatgctg ctgatgattt cattggtgaa tctgttgtcc - # ttactggatg 600 - - gggccgtgat tctgatgctg cttccggcat ctctgaacta ctccgtgagg - # ttcatgtgac 660 - - cacaatctcc actgccgact gccaggcata ctacggcatt gtcactgaca - # aaatcctctg 720 - - catttcctct gaagacggac atggttcttg taatggtgat tccggtgggc - # caatgaacta 780 - - tgtaactggt ggtgttactc agacccgtgg tattacctcc ttcggatcct - # ctaccgggtg 840 - - tgagactggc taccctgatg gttacacacg tgtcaccagc tatctggact - # ggattgaatc 900 - - taacactggc attgccattg atgcttgaat ataatactag atatgtaatc - # aaataaattt 960 - - catgaatt - # - # -# 968 - - - - ( 2 ) information for seq id no : 10 : - - ( i ) sequence characteristics : ( a ) length : 308 amino - # acids ( b ) type : amino acid ( c ) strandedness : single ( d ) topology : linear - - ( xi ) sequence description : seq id no : 10 : - - pro gly arg ser arg ile ala leu leu leu - # ala leu val ala ala thr 1 5 - # 10 - # 15 - - ala ser ala ser glu trp arg trp gln phe - # arg his pro thr val thr 20 - # 25 - # 30 - - pro asn pro arg ala asn asn pro phe arg - # pro ser lys val ala pro 35 - # 40 - # 45 - - val gln pro pro ala val arg gly thr lys - # ala val glu asn cys gly 50 - # 55 - # 60 - - pro val ala pro lys asn lys ile val gly - # gly gln glu val thr pro 65 - # 70 - # 75 - # 80 - - his ala tyr pro trp gln val gly leu phe - # ile asp asp met tyr phe 85 - # 90 - # 95 - - cys gly gly ser ile ile ser glu asp trp - # val leu thr ala ala his 100 - # 105 - # 110 - - cys val asp gly ala gly phe val glu val - # val met gly ala his ser 115 - # 120 - # 125 - - ile his asp asp thr glu ala ser arg val - # ser ala thr ser thr asp 130 - # 135 - # 140 - - phe phe thr his glu asn trp asn ser phe - # thr leu thr asn asp leu 145 - # 150 - # 155 -# 160 - - ala leu ile lys met pro ala pro ile glu - # phe thr pro glu ilegln 165 - # 170 - # 175 - - pro val cys leu pro ser tyr thr asp ala - # ala asp asp phe ile gly 180 - # 185 - # 190 - - glu ser val val leu thr gly trp gly arg - # asp ser asp ala ala ser 195 - # 200 - # 205 - - gly ile ser glu leu leu arg glu val his - # val thr thr ile ser thr 210 - # 215 - # 220 - - ala asp cys gln ala tyr tyr gly ile val - # thr asp lys ile leu cys 225 - # 230 - # 235 -# 240 - - ile ser ser glu asp gly his gly ser cys - # asn gly asp ser glygly 245 - # 250 - # 255 - - pro met asn tyr val thr gly gly val thr - # gln thr arg gly ile thr 260 - # 265 - # 270 - - ser phe gly ser ser thr gly cys glu thr - # gly tyr pro asp gly tyr 275 - # 280 - # 285 - - thr arg val thr ser tyr leu asp trp ile - # glu ser asn thr gly ile 290 - # 295 - # 300 - - ala ile asp ala 305 - - - - ( 2 ) information for seq id no : 11 : - - ( i ) sequence characteristics : ( a ) length : 11 amino - # acids ( b ) type : amino acid ( c ) strandedness : single ( d ) topology : linear - - ( xi ) sequence description : seq id no : 11 : - - ala val glu asn cys gly pro val ala pro - # arg 1 5 - # 10 - - - - ( 2 ) information for seq id no : 12 : - - ( i ) sequence characteristics : ( a ) length : 13 amino - # acids ( b ) type : amino acid ( c ) strandedness : single ( d ) topology : linear - - ( xi ) sequence description : seq id no : 12 : - - ala val glu asn cys gly pro val ala pro - # arg asn lys 1 5 - # 10 - - - - ( 2 ) information for seq id no : 13 : - - ( i ) sequence characteristics : ( a ) length : 14 amino - # acids ( b ) type : amino acid ( c ) strandedness : single ( d ) topology : linear - - ( xi ) sequence description : seq id no : 13 : - - gly thr lys ala val glu asn cys gly pro - # val ala pro arg 1 5 - # 10 - - - - ( 2 ) information for seq id no : 14 : - - ( i ) sequence characteristics : ( a ) length : 16 amino - # acids ( b ) type : amino acid ( c ) strandedness : single ( d ) topology : linear - - ( xi ) sequence description : seq id no : 14 : - - gly thr lys ala val glu asn cys gly pro - # val ala pro arg asn lys 1 5 - # 10 - # 15 - - - - ( 2 ) information for seq id no : 15 : - - ( i ) sequence characteristics : ( a ) length : 24 amino - # acids ( b ) type : amino acid ( c ) strandedness : single ( d ) topology : linear - - ( xi ) sequence description : seq id no : 15 : - - ser ser pro val gln pro pro ala val arg - # gly thr lys ala val glu 1 5 - # 10 - # 15 - - asn cys gly pro val ala pro arg 20 - - - - ( 2 ) information for seq id no : 16 : - - ( i ) sequence characteristics : ( a ) length : 26 amino - # acids ( b ) type : amino acid ( c ) strandedness : single ( d ) topology : linear - - ( xi ) sequence description : seq id no : 16 : - - ser ser pro val gln pro pro ala val arg - # gly thr lys ala val glu 1 5 - # 10 - # 15 - - asn cys gly pro val ala pro arg asn lys 20 - # 25 - - - - ( 2 ) information for seq id no : 17 : - - ( i ) sequence characteristics : ( a ) length : 17 base - # pairs ( b ) type : nucleic acid ( c ) strandedness : single ( d ) topology : linear - - ( xi ) sequence description : seq id no : 17 : - - cacgcctacc cntggca - # - #- # 17 - - - - ( 2 ) information for seq id no : 18 : - - ( i ) sequence characteristics : ( a ) length : 21 base - # pairs ( b ) type : nucleic acid ( c ) strandedness : single ( d ) topology : linear - - ( xi ) sequence description : seq id no : 18 : - - gtgttggact cgatccagat c - # - # - # 21 - - - - ( 2 ) information for seq id no : 19 : - - ( i ) sequence characteristics : ( a ) length : 25 amino - # acids ( b ) type : amino acid ( c ) strandedness : single ( d ) topology : linear - - ( xi ) sequence description : seq id no : 19 : - - ile val gly gly xaa glu val thr pro his - # ala tyr pro trp gln val 1 5 - # 10 - # 15 - - gly leu phe ile asp asp met tyr phe 20 - # 25__________________________________________________________________________	0
the following description is provided to enable a person skilled in the relevant art to make and use the invention , and sets forth the best modes contemplated by the inventor of carrying out the invention . the present invention shall not be limited to the examples disclosed . rather , the scope of the invention shall be as broad as the claims will allow . various inventive features are described below that may each be used independently of one another or in combination with other features . however , any single inventive feature may not address any of the disadvantages or objects discussed above , or might address only one of the disadvantages or objects discussed above . further , one or more of the disadvantages or objects discussed above may not be fully addressed by any of the features described below . referring now to the drawings , fig1 presents a perspective view of a multi - purpose dental bib 10 in use by a patient 1 , according to one exemplary embodiment of the present invention . in this exemplary embodiment , the multi - purpose dental bib 10 may comprise a generally rectangular apron 20 , the apron 20 having a plurality of windows 26 and pockets 28 . as illustrated in fig1 , the multi - purpose dental bib 10 may be held in place over the chest of a patient 1 by means of a bib clip 12 . the bib clip 12 may be selected from the plurality of currently available designs , or a future design . fig2 presents a front view of the multi - purpose dental bib 10 of fig1 , according to one exemplary embodiment of the present invention . the apron 20 may comprise an absorbent layer 22 on the front side of the apron 20 , and an impermeable layer 24 on the back side of the apron 20 . the absorbent layer 22 may be designed to capture liquid and / or solid debris generated during a dental procedure . the absorbent layer 22 may comprise one or more sheets of an absorbent material . the one or more sheets of absorbent material may be constructed of any material that is appropriate to the intended function , such as a wood - pulp paper , cotton padding , or another natural or synthetic absorbent material , and may be similar in construction to a household paper towel or of a woven or quilted construction . an impermeable layer 24 may be disposed over the back side of the absorbent layer 22 . the impermeable layer 24 may be designed to protect the garments of a user 1 by preventing liquids from penetrating through the apron 20 . the impermeable layer 24 may be made of any material that is appropriate to the intended function , such as a flexible plastic sheet or ply . the impermeable layer 24 may be affixed to the back side of the absorbent layer 22 by any practical means , such as heat bonding , an adhesive , or stitching . a multi - purpose dental bib 10 may comprise one or more windows 26 and / or pockets 28 , of various shapes and sizes , that may be integrated into the apron 20 . the exemplary embodiment presented in fig2 incorporates three pockets 28 on the left edge of the apron 20 , three pockets 28 on the right side of the apron 20 , and four windows 26 near the bottom edge of the apron 20 . fig3 presents a perspective detail view illustrating the construction of a window 26 of the multi - purpose dental bib 10 of fig1 , according to one exemplary embodiment of the present invention . an aperture 30 may be cut or otherwise formed through the absorbent layer 22 in a position on the apron 20 where a window 26 is desired . a gauze pad 32 may be positioned between the absorbent layer 22 and the impermeable layer 24 such that the gauze pad 32 may be essentially centered beneath the aperture 30 . the impermeable layer 24 may then be attached to the back side of the absorbent layer 22 , thereby capturing the gauze 32 beneath the aperture 30 . typically , in medical and dental applications , gauze is a woven cotton material . however , the gauze pad 32 may be made of any material that is appropriate to the intended function , such as a wood - pulp paper , cotton padding , or another natural or synthetic absorbent material , and may be similar in construction to a household paper towel or of a quilted construction . fig4 a presents a perspective detail view illustrating the construction and use of a pocket 28 of the multi - purpose dental bid 10 of fig1 . an aperture 36 may be cut or otherwise formed through the absorbent layer 22 in a position on the apron 20 where a pocket 28 is desired . a gauze pocket 34 may be positioned between the absorbent layer 22 and the impermeable layer 24 such that the gauze pocket 34 may be essentially centered beneath the aperture 36 . the impermeable layer 24 may then be attached to the back side of the absorbent layer 22 , thereby capturing the gauze pocket 34 beneath the aperture 36 . the gauze pocket 34 may be constructed in a variety of alternative manners . in one exemplary embodiment , the gauze pocket 34 may be constructed of two gauze pads placed face - to - face against one another . in another alternative embodiment , the gauze pocket 34 may be made of a single gauze pad folded over upon itself . the pocket 28 may be designed and configured such that , as the gauze pocket 34 is captured beneath the aperture 36 , an opening 38 is formed into which a dental instrument may be inserted . fig4 a illustrates the pocket 28 being used to clean a dental instrument , in this example a dental mirror 50 . as will be apparent to one with skill in the related art , a pocket 28 may be constructed in a variety of manners , each of which is within the contemplated scope of the claims of this patent disclosure . fig4 b presents a front detail view illustrating one alternative construction of a pocket 28 of the multi - purpose dental bib 10 of fig1 , according to an alternative exemplary embodiment of the present invention . in this alternative embodiment , the pocket 28 may be constructed in the same manner as described and illustrated in fig4 a , except that the front - most gauze pad may be configured such that the outermost edge of the front - most gauze pad may be recessed from the edge of the apron 20 . this construction facilitates the easy insertion of a dental tool , in this view a dental mirror 50 , into the gauze pocket 40 . fig4 a and 4b illustrate pockets 28 located proximal to an edge of an apron 20 , according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention . in alternative embodiments , a pocket 28 may be located at any useful location on an apron 20 . in an additional alternative embodiment , a pocket 28 may be configured without an aperture 36 . in alternative embodiments of the present invention , the windows 26 and pockets 28 may be configured , in size , shape , construction , and location on the apron 20 , to accommodate a variety of tasks , including cleaning the face and / or mouth of a patient , capturing various types of debris , and cleaning dentistry tools of various shapes and sizes . alternative embodiments of the present invention may incorporate a means for holding the multi - purpose dental bid 10 in place , generally over a patient &# 39 ; s chest , during dental procedures . these means may include adhesives , hook - and - loop fasteners , neck bands , clips , springs , or other practical means either currently known or to be defined in the future . it is within the contemplated scope of the claims of this patent disclosure that the multi - purpose dental bib 10 may be useful in applications beyond dentistry , including medical applications , baby bibs , and adult bibs , among others . as will be appreciated by those with skill in the related arts , the elements of the present invention may be modified , interchanged , separated or combined , or additional elements added without departing from the spirit of the invention . the invention may be practiced in alternative embodiments other than those illustrated in the figures . such modifications , combinations , additions and alternatives are within the contemplation of the present invention . the exemplary embodiments disclosed herein are not intended to limit the scope of this invention . accordingly , the scope of the invention should be determined not by the embodiments illustrated , but by their legal equivalents , and shall be as broad as the claims will allow .	0
feeding teats in multiple shapes and sizes are well known and therefore require no further description . the same applies to aspirating bulbs , particularly used for nose cleaning of children . conventional feeding bottles , filled through one end and comprising a rigid body which holds the liquid or pasty product to be fed , are usually fitted with an intermediate membrane located between the container and the teat . other feeding bottles are filled through small holes and projections in a cup . the applicant is not aware of the existence of a combination teat and extraction bottle forming a medicine or food dosing device , and much less that said article is fitted with a container coupled onto the ring which keeps the teat wet , and neither that it is further capable of standing upright on both the base of the container and the base of the feeding bottle . the invention described in the present specification refers to a dosing feeding teat designed to provide the suckling , either human or animal , with small doses of nourishment or medicines , or mixtures thereof . a feeding bottle made of resilient material is attached to a conventional perforated nipple fitted with a protective ring , or else a large complete elastic element is fabricated to which the protective ring is subsequently incorporated . this invention is further characterized by the special construction of the ring , provided with a cutout on one side which lodges onto the mouth of a teat protecting and humidifying container . the container is provided with a flat base , and the feeding bottle being similarly provided with a flat base at the other end , so that the article can be placed is upright . the proposed invention , involving a dosing feeding teat , is composed of a single or double piece resilient body fitted with a nipple on one end and a small extraction bottle on the other , separated by a conventional separating ring inserted between corresponding projections on the narrower zone of the nipple . in use , the food or medicine ( or mixture ) to be administered to the infant or suckling is placed in a spoon or some similar adequate container . the infant or suckling is then fed in perfect compliance with minimum hygienic requirements , in a manner fully convenient and practical for the user . this invention is also characteristic in that the ring -- normally made of resilient plastic material and preferably having a circular shape , although other constructions may likewise be considered -- is of a special construction , being provided with a cutout on one of its sides . this cutout lodges on an external graded rim in the mouth of the container , also made of plastic material , said graded rim being dimensioned such that its height and diameter allows for a perfectly tight fit of the resilient material ring and container . the container is filled with a humidifying product , e . g . water or a mixture of water and feeding bottle or mouth disinfectant , and the nipple is thus kept wet when not in use . the container is built with a flat base ; the feeding bottle attached to the other side of the ring is likewise provided with a flat base . this inventive article can therefore be placed to stand upright in either position . in order to complement the description set forth and provide a better understanding of the characteristics of the invention , a drawing is attached to this specification , forming an integral part thereof , wherein the following is illustrated with a non - limiting character : fig1 is a longitudinal cross section of the dosing teat which reflects the improvements of this invention . in the light of the above figure , it can be seen that the proposed invention consists of a dosing feeding teat made of resilient material , comprising a feeding nipple ( 1 ) with a hole ( 2 ) in its front end , and with a lateral projection ( 5 ) in its inner rear end which has a corresponding outer recess ( 8 ), a small extraction feeding bottle ( 3 ) with a lateral narrow zone ( 9 ) in its front end , to which said lateral projection ( 5 ) of said feeding nipple ( 1 ) is attached , a protective container ( 6 ) made of plastic material that holds a product ( 7 ) for humidifying the feeding nipple ( 1 ), having an opening in its upper end with an internal grade rim ( 6 . 1 ), a protective ring ( 4 ) made of plastic material inserted into said corresponding outer recess of said nipple ( 1 ), having a lower cutout ( 4 . 1 ) on its periphery which lodges , in a tight fit , onto said internal graded rim ( 6 . 1 ) of said protective container ( 6 ). the said protective container ( 6 ) is provided with a flat base ( 6 . 2 ) enabling the dose feeding teat to be placed upright when said flat base ( 6 . 2 ) is on a resting position . the said feeding bottle ( 3 ) is provided with a flat base ( 3 . 1 ) enabling the dose feeding teat to be placed upright when said flat base ( 3 . 1 ) is on a resting position . it is likewise understood that , provided the essential nature of the invention is not altered , the materials , shape , size an arrangement of the elements may vary . the descriptive terms and their meaning must be taken in a non - limiting sense .	0
the invention will be described primarily as it relates to the reduction of human head lice infestations , although those skilled in the art will recognize its applicability to other ectoparasites and animal subjects , and the inventors intend that their invention will have such applicability . in the following description and the claims , it is intended that a reference to a percentage means percent by weight , unless the context clearly indicates otherwise . since the chemical names for certain composition ingredients are quite cumbersome , some ingredients are identified herein by their adopted names as given in standard reference works , including j . a . wenninger et al , eds ., international cosmetic ingredient dictionary and handbook , 8 th ed ., the cosmetic , toiletry and fragrance association , washington , d . c ., 1999 . the present invention extends the observed phenomenon of head lice mobility impairment when their environmental temperature deviates significantly from about 32 ° c . nearly complete mortality occurs from exposure to temperatures of about 46 ° c . for several minutes , and a decrease in mobility is seen when the environmental temperature is reduced below about 30 ° c . since such elevated or lowered skin temperatures are easily tolerated by humans and most animals , the inventors determined that ectoparasites can be readily removed from the body by simple mechanical means , such as combing with a fine - tooth comb , while the parasites are immobilized . it is generally preferred that the elevated or reduced temperatures be maintained during the combing process , to prevent individual parasites from simply evading the comb if they regain their mobility . the duration of combing will vary , depending upon a subject &# 39 ; s hair density , texture and length , and sometimes amounts to several hours . lice egg cases (“ nits ”) are thought to be attached to hair by means of mucopolysaccharide adhesive substances . removal of the nits therefore requires a very thorough combing operation , and is not appreciably facilitated by many of the usual pesticide treatments . however , one embodiment of the present invention provides both moisture and heat which tend to degrade the adhesive and facilitate nit removal by combing , as well as probably providing the effects of desiccation and an increased ph in the microenvironment of the nit , both of which are thought to alter the physical and chemical nature of the egg casing itself . providing lubricious agents in a composition also can facilitate lice and nit removal by combing . the presence of a desiccating microenvironment about the live lice can cause rapid mortality , as evidenced by physiologic changes in the organisms under microscopic observation . these changes include collapsing of the abdomen . another property of the self - heating compositions of the present invention which is postulated to affect lice mobility and mortality is an elevation of the microenvironmental ph . the active ingredients for heat generation should create high ph regions on their surfaces , during the hydration reaction ; it is likely that ectoparasites do not readily tolerate such conditions and are adversely impacted by the high ph . of course , it is not possible to measure the actual ph conditions at the particle surface , but this surface ph value is likely to be quite different from the bulk ph of the composition . elevated temperatures sufficient for inhibiting the mobility of ectoparasites on the human head can be generated and maintained using various means , such as heated combs and brushes , forced heated air , the application of heated liquids and cap - like devices having a relatively thin chamber over its surface for holding a heated substance , most conveniently hot water or a microwave - susceptible fluid . an appropriate device , for example , can structurally resemble a hot water bottle and be molded from a polymeric substance , in the shape of a shower cap . such devices will provide adequate temperatures for initially immobilizing the lice , but must be removed for the subsequent combing operation and therefore may not provide a sustained temperature condition . however , if the subject &# 39 ; s hair is sufficiently short , and therefore not requiring a prolonged combing , it is possible to adequately treat an ectoparasite infestation using such devices . the inventors prefer to generate elevated temperatures on hair - covered body surfaces , using compositions which contain substances that undergo hydration reactions in an exothermic manner . such compositions have an advantage , in that they can be formulated to generate heat , then remain in place while the mechanical removal of immobilized and killed parasites is effected . suitable self - heating compositions for use in the invention generally are non - aqueous in nature , or have only a very small water content , and contain as their active ingredient a substantially anhydrous inorganic component such as a silica , an aluminosilicate , an alkaline earth metal oxide or a combination of such components , which exhibits an exothermic reaction upon contact with water . to maximize heat evolution when the active ingredient contacts water , and to facilitate combing of hair with the composition in place , it is preferred to use particles of the active ingredients having average sizes in the range of about 3 μm to about 6 μm . however , particles having larger or smaller sizes will function adequately in the invention . particulate inorganic substances which are useful in the compositions of the invention include materials such as fumed silica , aluminosilicates , aluminum oxide , magnesium oxide and calcium oxide . typically , the inorganic particulate will be present in a composition in amounts about 1 percent to about 65 percent . the use of aluminosilicates is presently preferred and these include materials commonly known as “ zeolites .” zeolites suitable for use in the invention include both the naturally occurring materials and the synthetically produced materials . zeolites have typically been used as ion - exchange agents , adsorbents for gaseous and liquid chemical substances and as supports for catalysts , such as the catalysts used in petroleum refining . for use in the present invention , the zeolites are “ activated ” by removal of their crystalline water content ; this is accomplished by heating to relatively high temperatures until the desired water content is obtained , the temperature and duration of heating necessarily being individually determined for each type of zeolite . presently commercially available activated zeolites that are useful in the invention include , without limitation : molsiv ™ products sold by uop llc of des plaines , ill . usa and identified as type 3a ( potassium aluminosilicate ), type 4a ( sodium aluminosilicate ) and type 5a ( calcium aluminosilicate ). products being sold by w . r . grace & amp ; co . of columbia , md . u . s . a . under the trademark sylosiv are other examples of useful zeolites . some zeolites are aluminosilicates of mixed alkali metals and / or alkaline earth metals , and these are also well - suited for use in the present invention . suitable compositions can be in the forms of a dry powder , a lotion or cream , or a fluid pressurized aerosol . the most simple self - heating compositions frequently will be the dry powders , since the only essential component is the particulate active ingredient ; other components , such as dry surfactants , may be added to facilitate combing such as when the composition is applied to moistened hair . to prepare a preferred fluid form of a self - heating ectoparasite removal composition , including a lotion , cream or aerosol form , the heat - generating inorganic particulate may be suspended in a substantially anhydrous vehicle , such as : a light or heavy mineral oil ; a glycol such as polyethylene glycol , propylene glycol or triethylene glycol ; glycerol ; and the like . typical concentrations of the vehicle range from about 1 percent to about 60 percent . selection of the vehicle can affect the heat generation reaction , since a more water - impervious substance such as mineral oil can impede access of water to the particulate solid , and thereby slow the rate of temperature increase and / or the maximum temperature obtained . it is generally desired to achieve temperatures above about 37 ° c . to maximize efficacy , but to limit the maximum temperature attained by the formulation to about 55 ° c ., to avoid discomfort when applied to the body . optionally , a suspending agent may be present in the self - heating composition to maintain a more stable dispersion . useful agents include , without limitation , fumed silica and polyvinylpyrrolidone having molecular weights from about 25 , 000 to about 100 , 000 , in amounts about 0 . 1 to about 2 percent . the compositions may further include other components , such as surfactants , lubricants , texture modifiers , acidifiers , preservatives and other cosmetic - type ingredients used to create desired physical properties . useful optional surfactants include , without limitation , sodium lauryl sulfate , sorbitan laurate , mixtures of glyceryl stearate and peg - 100 stearate , methyl gluceth - 10 , methyl gluceth - 40 , sorbitan palmitate , polysorbate 20 , polysorbate 80 , steareth - 2 and many others . the surfactants will be present in amounts about 0 . 1 to about 16 percent , and can create shampoo - type products which are easily removed after the ectoparasite treatment is completed . the lubricants that can be incorporated are represented by dimethicone , simethicone and other silicone - type materials , and act to lubricate and condition the hair , as well as facilitate passage of a comb through the hair . useful concentrations , when this component is present , are about 0 . 1 to about 2 percent . optional texture modifiers that may be included are exemplified by stearic acid , cetyl alcohol , peg - 180 , polyethylene glycol 1450 and polyethylene glycol 3350 , in amounts about 0 . 1 percent to about 5 percent . it may be desired to incorporate an acidic ingredient in the composition , since the heat - generating active ingredients tend to produce alkaline suspensions in water . optional acidifiers that may be used include , without limitation , benzoic acid , citric acid and stearic acid . it is preferred to use anhydrous acidifiers . the acids will generally be present in amounts about 0 . 1 percent to about 2 percent , as needed to obtain a desired bulk ph condition when the compositions are used . products that are intended for application to the skin frequently are protected against microbial proliferation by the inclusion of a preservative component . suitable preservatives for use in the present compositions include , without limitation , methylparaben , propylparaben and benzethonium chloride . the preservative will typically be included in concentrations about 0 . 05 to about 0 . 2 percent . included within the scope of the present invention is a kit for treating an ectoparasite infestation , including a suitable container filled with a composition that can be applied to an area of the body to reduce or increase the temperature of the area , together with a mechanical device for removing ectoparasites after they are affected by the composition . for compositions that are in the form of a fluid , such as liquids , lotions and creams , the composition can be contained in a bottle or collapsible tube . aerosol compositions can be contained in the customary dispensing canisters , fitted with a suitable valve for dispensing the product . powdered compositions can be contained in one of the customary canisters having a perforated cap for shaking out a desired amount , or in a bottle . many delousing combs are commercially available , being fabricated from plastic substances or metals , and any of these are suitable for inclusion in the kit . it is preferred that the kit be made suitable for a single use , including sufficient composition for one application . the invention will be further described with reference to the following examples , which are not intended to limit the scope of the claimed invention in any manner . cream and lotion compositions for ectoparasite removal which generate heat upon contact with water are prepared by combining the following components : no . ingredient wt . percent 1 sodium aluminosilicate 35 triethylene glycol 48 sodium lauryl sulfate 16 peg - 180 1 2 sodium aluminosilicate 65 peg - 4 17 triethylene glycol 18 3 sodium aluminosilicate 40 fumed silica 0 . 5 cetyl alcohol 0 . 2 dimethicone 1 peg - 400 58 . 1 polyvinylpyrrolidone 0 . 1 stearic acid 0 . 1 4 potassium aluminosilicate 40 fumed silica 0 . 5 cetyl alcohol 0 . 2 dimethicone 1 peg - 400 58 . 1 polyvinylpyrrolidone 0 . 1 stearic acid 0 . 1 5 potassium aluminosilicate 45 heavy mineral oil 12 propylene glycol 12 glycerin 2 polysorbate 80 10 glyceryl stearate + peg - 100 stearate * 2 sorbitan laurate 10 methyl gluceth - 20 5 dimethicone 2 6 potassium aluminosilicate 40 peg - 400 25 . 3 peg - 600 25 . 6 polyvinylpyrrolidone 0 . 1 dimethicone 1 cetyl alcohol 0 . 3 stearic alcohol 0 . 3 polysorbate 20 5 fumed silica 0 . 2 benzoic acid 2 methylparaben 0 . 13 propylparaben 0 . 07 composition 6 is prepared as follows : ( 1 ) the peg - 400 is heated to about 60 ° c . and stirred while the polyvinylpyrollidone is slowly sprinkled onto the liquid surface , then stirring is continued until a solution has been formed ; ( 2 ) in a separate vessel , the peg - 600 , cetyl alcohol and stearic acid are stirred and heated to about 60 ° c . to form a solution ; ( 3 ) the solution of step 1 is added to the solution of step 2 with thoroughly stirring , while maintaining the temperature about 60 ° c . ; ( 4 ) the benzoic acid , methylparaben and propylparaben are sequentially added with continued stirring and maintenance of the 60 ° c . temperature condition , each component being completely dissolved before the next is added ; ( 5 ) with continued stirring and temperature maintenance , the dimethicone , polysorbate 20 and fumed silica are added ; and ( 6 ) the potassium aluminosilicate is added , heating is discontinued , and stirring is continued to assure a uniform dispersion as the mixture cools to ambient temperature . some compositions of the preceding example are tested to determine the increases in temperature that can be obtained by mixing them with water . a portion of a composition is placed in a foamed polystyrene cup , the desired amount of water is added and the temperature of the mixture is recorded as a function of time , while the mixture is being stirred . all materials used are initially equilibrated to a room temperature of about 24 ° c ., or are initially at a temperature about 32 ° c ., simulating that of the human scalp . the following results are obtained : composition composition water weight , time , temperature , number weight , grams grams seconds ° c . 3 25 1 0 32 30 55 60 53 90 49 120 47 150 50 180 48 4 30 1 0 32 10 50 20 55 30 56 40 56 50 54 60 52 90 50 120 53 180 45 6 25 5 0 24 15 50 30 63 45 65 60 64 75 61 90 60 105 59 120 57 180 52 240 49 300 46 [ 0042 ] ingredient wt . percent sodium aluminosilicate 47 propylene glycol 43 . 2 emulsifying wax nf * 1 . 9 oleth - 2 1 . 9 methyl gluceth - 20 1 . 9 isobutane 6 pressurized aerosol compositions for ectoparasite removal which can produce low temperatures when dispensed are prepared by combining the listed components . when dispensed through an aerosol valve into a foamed polystyrene cup , the indicated temperatures are observed . the compositions can be applied to ectoparasite - infested areas to immobilize the pests . no . ingredient wt . percent ° c . 1 n - butane 50 . 63 − 12 cocoa butter 1 . 5 peg - 1450 0 . 5 glycerin 12 . 5 propylene glycol + glyceryl oleate * 1 . 5 zinc oxide 1 . 5 white petrolatum 13 . 37 stearalkonium hectorite 1 water 17 . 5 * arlacel ™ 186 sold by uniqema , new castle , delaware u . s . a . ** bentone ™ 27cg sold by rheox , inc ., hightstown , new jersey u . s . a . 2 isopentane 35 − 8 alcohol sd - 40 - 2 12 cetearyl alcohol + ceteareth - 20 * 3 isobutane 35 water 15 * promulgen ™ d sold by amerchol corporation , edison , new jersey u . s . a . 3 dimethyl ether 30 . 88 0 dimethicone , 350 centistokes 1 glycerin 16 . 5 propylene glycol + glyceryl oleate * 5 sono jell ™ 4 . 5 zinc oxide 2 petrolatum 20 stearalkonium hectorite * 1 water 19 . 12 * arlacel ™ 186 sold by uniqema , new castle , delaware u . s . a . petrolatum , sold by crompton , greenwich , connecticut u . s . a . * bentone ™ 27cg sold by rheox , inc ., hightstown , new jersey u . s . a . composition 6 of preceding example 1 is tested with human subjects infested with pediculus humanus var capitis , to measure its efficacy as an agent for pest removal . in the test , 30 subjects are initially inspected to verify the presence of a head lice infestation and then are treated as follows : the hair is wetted thoroughly with warm water , the composition is applied in amounts of 100 grams ( for subjects having hair between about 10 to 20 cm in length ) or 200 grams ( for subjects having hair lengths between about 20 to 30 cm in length ) and massaged throughout the hair for a few minutes , then the composition is allowed to remain on the hair undisturbed for about ten minutes while lice mobility is evaluated . without removing the composition , the hair is combed , first with a wide - toothed comb to eliminate hair tangling and remove lice and then with a metal - toothed lice comb to remove lice and nits . the combs are wiped and rinsed as needed to eliminate comb tooth clogging by the composition . after the combing procedure , the subjects &# 39 ; hair is washed with a gentle shampoo and dried with a towel , then an inspection is performed to determine if any lice and nits remain on the subject . after 7 to 10 days , the subjects are again inspected to determine the presence of lice and nits , and then the entire treatment of the preceding paragraph is repeated . at 14 days following the first treatment ( the end of the study ), the subjects are inspected to detect any remaining lice or nits . no live lice are visually detected on any subject immediately following either of the two treatments . lice are partially to fully immobilized on 29 of the subjects ( 97 %) during the first treatment . during the treatment , lice are seen to cease movement and , under microscopic observation , have collapsed abdomens and an absence of noticeable peristalsis of the gut . viable nits appear to swell during the treatment ; this can facilitate their removal by combing . there are varying numbers of visible nits present on 23 subjects after the first treatment . before the second treatment , 20 subjects have live lice in their hair , possibly due at least in part to hatching of residual nits from the first treatment . at the end of the study ( 14 days following the first treatment ), 26 of the subjects ( 87 %) are determined to be completely free of lice and 27 of the subjects ( 90 %) are completely free of viable nits . from this description of specific embodiments of the invention , it will be appreciated that the present invention is not limited to those precise embodiments and that various changes and modifications can be effected therein by one of ordinary skill in the art , without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention as defined by the appended claims . in addition , certain theories have been proposed to enhance the understanding of the invention , but it is not intended to restrict the invention to any particular theory of operation .	8
fig1 shows a system 1 for making a dental restoration . the system 1 has a body 10 in which a machine unit 7 , and a control unit 5 are contained . the machine unit 7 and the control unit 5 are connected by an air channel ( shown in fig2 ). the machine unit 7 has a machining chamber 2 in which dental restorations can be machined . in the example the system 1 is a dental milling machine which is adapted to mill dental restorations from blanks of ceramic material . the dental workpieces are supplied to the system via an input magazine 3 in which multiple workpieces may be held and made available for successive machining in the machining chamber . finished dental workpieces are preferably automatically placed in an output magazine 4 which typically also provides capacity for multiple finished dental workpieces . the dental workpieces are fixed in support frames that are shaped appropriately for automatic handling in the machine and for precise positioning in the machining chamber . a support frame for holding a dental workpiece as it may be used with the present invention is for example disclosed in patent application wo2008 / 097874 . a ventilation device 6 ( shown in fig2 ) is used to evacuate the machining chamber 2 so that chips , dust or other particles or gases originating from machining of the dental workpieces are continuously discharged ( for example sucked away ) from the machining chamber 2 . this allows for example for continuous operation over a relatively long time because interruptions for manually disposing of process - originated waste may be prevented . the control unit 5 is preferably configured to control the operation of the system , particularly for controlling the operation of the machine unit 7 . the control unit 5 in the example has electronic circuitry to drive servo - motors of the machine . the servo - motors drive and position slides and / or pivots of the machine . such slides and pivots are adapted and arranged with respect to one another to position the workpiece and a machining tool ( in this case a milling tool ) three - dimensionally relative to one another during machining of a workpiece . a servo - motor may also be used to drive a spindle for rotating the milling tool . further the control unit 5 may be adapted to run computer software , like an operation system as well as a user specific program . such user specific program may , for example , comprise commands that are interpreted to control the machine operation to achieve a desired shape of the dental workpiece . fig2 is a block diagram of the system 1 illustrating the function of the system 1 in more detail . an air channel 19 provides air connection between the machine unit 7 and the control unit 5 , in particular the air channel 19 may provide an air connection from the machine unit 7 toward the control unit 5 . the air channel is illustrated as a pipe , but may be implemented in a variety of different forms , such as one or more pipes , hoses , openings , and combinations thereof . further the system 1 has a supply opening 11 allowing air to penetrate from outside into the system 1 via the machining chamber 2 , and an exit opening 12 allowing air to escape from the system 1 to the outside via the control unit 5 . thus an overall air flow path 20 is provided in the system between the supply opening 11 and the exit opening 12 . the openings 11 , 12 are indicated as discrete openings for better understanding only . such openings may however be implemented in various different forms , for example in the form of multiple openings in the body of the system . particularly the inlet opening 11 may be dispensable in case the machining chamber is not hermetically or tightly sealed . this may be the case for example if the machining chamber has a door which openably closes the machining chamber , but which does not have seals to hermetically seal the machining chamber . in the illustrated embodiment , the air channel 19 has an inlet 13 and an outlet 15 . the air channel 19 has a ventilation device 16 which forces air to flow along flow path 20 , in particular forces air to flow towards the outlet 15 so that further air is drawn into inlet 13 . the ventilation device 16 may also be arranged at other places , for example adjacent the exit opening 12 , adjacent the supply opening 11 or at any other suitable place that allows air to be forced along flow path 20 . exemplary alternative or additional areas for the ventilation device 16 are indicated by elements 16 ′ and 16 ″. the air channel 19 further has a filter 14 which air flowing from the inlet 13 to the outlet 15 is required to pass . air flowing along flow path 20 , and particularly flowing in the air channel 19 , thus is filtered . therefore process - originated material , such as chips and / or dust , eventually entrained in the air may be retained in the filter . the control unit 5 preferably encapsulates the electronic circuitry 17 within a housing 18 . the housing 18 , the outlet 15 and the exit opening 12 are preferably adapted and arranged with respect to one another such that the air which flows from the outlet 15 toward the exit opening 12 is guided over the electronic circuitry 17 . therefore a thermal exchange between the electronic circuitry 17 and the air may be provided , so that for example heat which is generated in the electronic circuitry 17 may be dissipated from the control unit . in the example the control unit 5 is only ventilated by the air flow 20 . therefore an additional ventilation of the control unit is not necessary as it is typically present in prior art . as an advantage in this way the control unit may only be passed through by filtered air . further a separate filter that may be required for separate ventilation can be saved . advantageously a ventilation device as it may be used with the present invention is adapted to generate an air flow that is strong enough to entrain the process - originated material ( chips or dust ). such a ventilation device further may provide relatively high air flow rates , for example in a range of 600 m 3 / h to 1000 m 3 / h , and preferably about 800 m 3 / h . the flow speed of the air in the vicinity of the inlet 13 or in the inlet 13 may be in a range of about 4 m / s to about 8 m / s , and preferably at about 5 . 5 m / s . the air flow rates may be sufficient to ventilate , for example to cool , powerful components of the electronic circuitry ( for example power amplifiers for controlling the servo - motors ). another advantage results from the fact that typically the filter retaining the process - originated material is frequently serviced for removing the material from the filter . therefore the filter is typically held in a good condition so that the flow resistance is kept low and consequently also the air flow rate can be maintained on a relatively high level . the cross - sectional area of different portions of the flow path 20 may vary between the supply opening 11 and the exit opening 12 ( larger or smaller ) so that the air velocity through those portions is increased or decreased . for example , the velocity in the vicinity of the workpiece may be relatively high to provide for entrainment of the process - originated material . also in the vicinity of the circuitry the velocity may be high to provide for a good heat transfer . however in the area of the supply openings and or exit openings a larger cross - sectional area may provide for a lower velocity , for example to avoid noise . with increasing air flow rates the flow resistance of the filter may cause increasing back pressure in the upstream flow path . therefore also in the area of the filter a lower velocity of the air may be preferred to prevent the filter from causing undesirably high back pressure . this can also be achieved by a widened cross - section of the flow path in the filter area . the filter 14 and the ventilation device 16 may be arranged in an external unit which is connected to the machine unit 7 and the control unit 5 . in one example the filter and the ventilation device may be parts of a commercially available industrial vacuum cleaner . dental materials as they may be used with the present invention are for example dental ceramic materials or a dental glass - ceramic material . such materials may be pre - sintered , or sintered . the raw breaking resistance of the pre - sintered material or the facing precursor as referred to in this specification is preferably in a range of 10 to 15 mpa , more preferably in a range of 11 to 13 mpa , and preferably about 12 mpa according to the “ punch on three ball test ” as specified in iso 6872 . the sintered material referred to in this specification preferably has a material density in a range of 2 g / cm 3 to 2 . 7 g / cm 3 , and the pre - sintered material preferably has a material density in a range of 30 % to 92 % of the material density of the sintered material . preferably the material density of the pre - sintered material is in a range of 40 % to 60 % of the material density of the sintered material , and more preferably in a range of 45 % to 55 %. the raw breaking resistance of the sintered material as referred to in this specification is preferably in a range of 50 to 120 mpa , more preferably in a range of 68 to 74 mpa , and preferably about 72 mpa according to the “ punch on three ball test ” as specified in iso 6872 . a ceramic material as referred to in this specification may be made of a pre - sintered or sintered material , for example a ceramic based on zirconium oxide . in particular the ceramic material may comprise between 90 % and 99 % by weight zirconium oxide , and preferably 91 % to 97 . 25 % by weight zirconium oxide . the ceramic material of the frame may further comprise 0 %- 1 % by weight aluminum oxide . the ceramic material of the frame may also be based on aluminum oxide , meaning the ceramic material may comprise 90 % to 99 % by weight aluminum oxide and 0 % to 1 % by weight zirconium oxide . further the ceramic material of the frame may comprise 0 %- 10 % by weight of at least one of hafnium oxide , yttrium oxide and oxides from gallium , germanium , and indium . the ceramic material of the frame may also comprise 0 . 0005 % to 1 . 5 % by weight of coloring additives , selected from the group consisting of the oxides fe 2 o 3 , er 2 o 3 and / or mno 2 . the ceramic material is preferably selected to be compatible for use in human bodies . the glass - ceramic material as referred to in this specification is preferably selected to be compatible for use in human bodies . typical glass ceramic materials are high - strength oxides of the elements of the main groups ii , iii and iv and the subgroups iii and iv as well as their mixtures , in particular aluminum oxide , zirconium oxide , both partly and also fully stabilized , magnesium oxide , titanium oxide and mixtures of aluminum oxide , zirconium oxide , magnesium oxide and titanium oxide . an exemplary formulation of a glass ceramic as it may be used with the present invention comprises 60 % to 70 % by weight of silica , 9 % to 13 % by weight of alumina , 5 % to 10 % by weight of potassium - oxide , 9 % to 13 % by weight of sodium - oxide , 0 % to 1 % by weight of lithium - oxide , 2 % to 5 % by weight of calcium , 1 % to 2 % by weight of barium - oxide , 0 % to 1 % by weight of zirconium oxide and 0 % to 1 % cerium - oxide or cerium - fluoride . other materials may also be used , such as dental metals or alloys , and / or dental composites , as appropriate to form at least part of a dental restoration . it will be appreciated that the embodiment shown in the figures is just one example of how a system in accordance with the invention can be employed . however other embodiments providing equivalent effects are possible . in particular the arrangement of components relative to each other may be changed , or equivalent components may be used instead or in addition to the components described . further , a single component may be implemented by two or more of the same or equivalent components . for example , it may be possible to implement an air connection between the machine unit and the control unit by two or more air channels which for example extend parallel , or two or more machine units may be connected to a single control unit , for example .	0
as stated , the josephson effect is the phenomenon of current flow across two weakly coupled superconductors , separated by a very thin insulating barrier . in this arrangement , the two superconductors linked by a non - conducting barrier define the josephson junction and the current that crosses the barrier is the josephson current . fig1 a is a circuit diagram for an inductive loop of a conventional superconducting jtl . the circuit of fig1 a comprises josephson junctions 110 and 120 connected through inductive line 130 . each of josephson junctions 110 and 120 is rated at a critical current of 100 μa and inductor 130 provides inductance of about 20 ph . the conventional jtls also include a shunt resistor is placed in parallel with each of josephson junctions 110 and 120 . finally , a bias current ( not shown ) must also be applied to the josephson junctions . the josephson junction circuits 180 and 190 of the jtl 100 are spaced apart at predetermined intervals along the jtl 100 to regenerate the sfq pulses at each stage . each josephson junction circuit 180 and 200 is shown as an equivalent circuit of a resistor and josephson junction in a parallel array . the equivalent elements of the jtl segment 110 and the josephson junction circuit 180 will be described with the understanding that all of the josephson junction circuits in the jtl 100 have substantially the same elements . the josephson junction circuit 180 includes a josephson junction 181 that is connected in series with a first parasitic inductor 182 . the josephson junction 181 and the first parasitic inductor 182 are connected in parallel with a damping resistor 183 and a second parasitic inductor 184 . the first and second parasitic inductors 182 and 184 are connected to a reference ground 130 opposite the josephson junction 181 and the damping resistor 183 . the damping resistor 183 shunts the josephson junction 181 and helps define its response to incoming signals . the damping resistor 183 is chosen such that the so - called stewart - mccumber parameter , which dictates how a josephson junction is damped , falls between 1 and 2 . when operated at very high clock frequencies , timing between clock pulses and data pulses is critical . for example , in a digital circuit is operated at a 100 ghz clock , any given data pulse must arrive at its destination logic gate within a time interval of less than ten picoseconds in order to be correctly processed by that gate . because of their high frequency , clock and data pulses arriving at any particular circuit element must be closely synchronized or errors will occur . the timing uncertainty of the sfq pulses discussed above increases the need for greater timing synchronization . therefore , superconductor circuits typically operate well below their potential speed so that the pulse timing uncertainty is less important . fig2 a is a circuit schematic for the inductive loop of a conventional superconducting josephson transmission line ( jtl ), using typical parameter values . more specifically , fig2 a shows a conventional sfq digital logic circuit element . the sfq logic circuit of fig2 a includes josephson junctions 210 and 220 separated by controlled inductance 230 . the sfq logic circuit of fig2 a can define a superconducting quantum interference device (“ squid ”). fig2 b shows physical layout ( magnified ) of the inductive loop of a conventional jtl . as shown in fig2 b , josephson junctions 210 and 220 have a critical current of about 100 μa . inductor 230 provides an inductance of about 20 ph , at about 4 . 2 ° k . as is known in the art , to obtain higher inductance values , the geometric shape of inductor 330 must be changed . thus , the so - called β l value can be estimated with equation ( 1 ): fig3 a is a circuit schematic for a conventional jtl loop with decreased josephson junction critical current and proportionate increased loop inductance for performance at lower operating temperature . as in fig3 a , josephson junctions 310 and 320 are connected by inductor 330 . to obtain the desired inductance , a significantly larger inductor 330 is used . the circuit of fig3 a is designed to operate at the milli - kelvin range . fig3 b is equivalent circuit representation for the sfq logic device of fig3 a . at 10 - 100 mk , loop inductance of logic circuit of fig3 a is about 700 ph . in fig3 b , josephson junctions 310 and 320 are coupled together through inductive circuit 330 . inductive circuit 330 provides about 700 ph of inductance which corresponds to about 700 geometric inductance squares . this is a rather large inductance footprint occupying a substantial area on the chip . as in the circuit of fig3 a and 3b , the β l value can be estimated as : it can be seen that the β l values from equations ( 1 ) and ( 2 ) are to be kept relatively close . however , the inductor size of the circuit of fig3 a is substantially larger than that of fig2 a . fig4 a is a circuit schematic for an improved jtl loop according to an embodiment of the disclosure . in the embodiment of fig4 a , the geometric inductance is replaced with one or more josephson inductance . replacing the geometric inductance with the josephson inductance provided the unexpected result of providing the same β l regardless of the designed operating temperature . in other words , the same physical layout applies to 4 . 2 ° k as in the 10 - 100 mk range . moreover , the geometric size and footprint is invariant with respect to temperature . fig4 b shows the jtl loop physical layout according to an embodiment of the disclosure . as stated with regard to fig4 a , this implementation is scale - invariant . that is , the design applies equally well to all operating temperatures . referring again to fig4 a , junction 410 represents a first josephson junction having a first critical current ( i c1 ). the critical current ( i c ) of a josephson junction is the current above which the josephson junctions ( and by extension , the sfq logic circuit ) fails to act as a superconductor , and becomes active , generating sfq pulse . junction 420 is the second josephson junction having a second critical current ( i c2 ). josephson junctions 410 and 420 are separated by intermediate connectors 430 - 490 . the intermediate josephson junction connectors 430 - 490 are arranged in series . in one embodiment , the intermediate josephson junction connectors are defined by larger junctions larger than the first josephson junction 410 and / or the second josephson junction 420 . thus , the critical current for the intermediate josephson junction 430 - 490 can be higher than the first critical current ( i c1 ) and / or the second critical current ( i c2 ). in this manner , even though current flows through each intermediate junction , it does not exceed the junction &# 39 ; s critical current thereby allowing the intermediate junction to operate as a superconductor . the intermediate junction connectors 430 - 490 may be equal to or smaller than josephson junctions 410 and 420 , so long as the signal current does not exceed the critical current of the intermediate junctions . this is possible because the current can be arranged such that junctions 410 and 420 get bias current , whereas the intermediate junctions do not . in another embodiment of the disclosure , at least one of the intermediate junctions 530 - 570 comprises a pair of josephson junctions . the josephson junction pair can be organized as a two junction squid , whose inductance is determined by means of a contral line . for example , intermediary junction 530 can comprise a pair of josephson junctions connected in parallel . according to one embodiment , the first josephson junction and the second josephson junction are connected by intermediary josephson junctions having the same relative size and critical current as the first and / or the second intermediary josephson junctions . in a preferred implementation , current is limited through the intermediary josephson junctions such that it remains below the first critical current and / or the second critical current . as stated , one advantage of the embodiments disclosed herein is the ability to limit the size of the geometric inductance using josephson junctions . that is , the circuit is scale - invariant with respect to junction critical current and operating temperature . the representative embodiment of fig5 provides this advantage by using a plurality of intermediary josephson junctions which require a substantially smaller footprint as compared to the traditional inductive circuits . the disclosed inductive circuits can be used as a component of a larger circuit . the disclosed inductive circuits is substantially smaller than the equivalent conventional circuits . the disclosed inductive circuits can be used in any temperature range . however , the superconductivity of josephson junctions require a temperature below the critical temperature of the device . in a preferred embodiment , the operating temperature is in the milli - kelvin range . fig5 - 7 show application of the disclosed embodiments to various circuits . specifically , fig5 a shows a circuit schematic for a prior art logic gate t - type flip flop and fig5 b shows the physical layout of the logic gate of fig5 a . a t - type flip flop changes its output for each clock edge , giving an output which is half of the frequency signal of the t input . referring to fig5 a , josephson junctions 510 and 520 are coupled through inductor 530 . josephson junction 520 has a critical current of about 100 μa and is coupled to inductor 530 which has 20 ph inductance . a bias is applied to junction 532 . josephson junctions 540 and 550 form the balance of the t - flip flop circuit . fig6 a is a circuit schematic for a conventional logic gate ( t - type flip flop ) with increased loop inductance for performance at lower operating temperature . fig6 b shows the physical layout of the logic gate of fig6 b . in fig6 a , josephson junctions 610 and 620 are connected via inductor 630 . josephson junction 620 has a critical current of about 3 μa and inductor 630 has an inductance of about 700 ph . the increased inductance value is calculated to allow operating at a much lower temperature . the physical dimensions of inductor 630 is represented in fig6 b . while the increased loop inductance 630 of fig6 b allows performance at lower operating temperature , the increased dimensions consume more chip area . fig7 a is a circuit schematic for the logic gate according to one embodiment of the disclosure . in the embodiment of fig7 a , josephson junctions 710 and 720 are coupled through josephson junctions 730 . josephson junctions 730 replace inductive circuit 630 in fig6 a . fig7 b shows the logic gate physical layout for the embodiment of fig7 a . in fig7 b , josephson junctions 710 and 720 are connected through a plurality of josephson junctions 730 . as can be seen from fig7 a and 7b , the circuit of fig7 b is substantially more compact and space efficient than that of fig6 b . thus , the inventive embodiments provided herein are advantageous in promoting chip efficiency . the disclosed principles are equally applicable to all other sfq gates , all of which typically have inductive loops . while the specification has been disclosed in relation to the exemplary embodiments provided herein , it is noted that the inventive principles are not limited to these embodiments and include other permutations and deviations without departing from the spirit of the disclosure .	7
the present invention will be discussed hereinafter in detail in terms of the preferred embodiment of security system according to the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings . in the following description , numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention . it will be obvious , however , to those skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details . in other instance , well - known structures are not shown in detail in order to avoid unnecessary obscurity of the present invention . hereafter , the present invention will be explained by referring to the preferred embodiments . as an embodiment of the present invention , a system which detects an intruder into a building and images the intruder will be explained . fig1 shows the configuration of the system according to this embodiment which installs a radar device 1 and an imaging device 2 in a building to detect and image an intruder or runaway . the radar device 1 radiates light or an electric wave to a prescribed area so as to detect an object and measure the speed and location of the object . when detecting an object , the device sends information concerning the object &# 39 ; s speed and location to a control device 4 . the imaging device 2 is a means for collecting image information of a certain area and this embodiment uses a camera . the imaging device 2 has an automatic focusing function and also has a zoom function to enlarge or reduce the size of the detected object by means of a lens moving device 11 for moving a lens 10 . in this system , because focusing and zooming operations are conducted by using information about distance to the object detected by the radar device 1 , the focusing and zooming speed is faster than the method that uses information about an image captured by an imaging device . the moving device 3 is a means for moving the imaging device 2 up , down , right and left . it can move the imaging device 2 toward the direction of the object detected by the radar dev ice by means of the control device 4 which will be described in the following paragraph . the control device 4 controls the moving device 3 and imaging device 2 according to the speed and location of the intruder detected by the radar device 1 , tracks and images the detected object . accordingly , it can image the object in a size larger than the prescribed value regardless of the distance to the detected object . to illuminate the object detected by the radar device 1 , the light moving device 15 which moves up , down , right and left operates the lighting device 5 to track the detected object . the lighting device 5 has a light - intensity adjusting device 14 which calculates intensity of light to be radiated according to the distance to the object detected by the radar device 1 and adjusts the intensity of light emitted from the luminous body 13 . consequently , it is possible to accurately image an intruder even at night . the light radiated herein is not limited to a visible ray , and other kinds of light and electric wave can be used according to the use environment and use purpose of the system and type of the imaging device . the recording device 6 records information concerning the speed , distance and direction of the object detected by the radar device 1 and also records images captured by the imaging device 2 . if this recording device 6 is designed to start recording when an object is detected by the radar device 1 instead of recording information all the time , recording capacity can be less . the transmitting device 7 transmits information concerning the speed , distance and direction of the object detected by the radar device together with the images captured by the imaging device 2 to the center . in the center 26 , a receiving device 25 receives radar information and image information and the display device 8 displays the information . accordingly , an operator can confirm whether the detected object is an intruder or not by watching the display device 8 in the center instead of rushing to the site . the center 26 also has an annunciation device 9 for notifying an operator who is standing by at the center 26 that an object has been detected when the receiving device 25 receives information transmitted by the transmitting device 7 . this enables the operator to become aware of the detected object without the operator constantly looking at the display device 8 , thereby reducing a burden on the operator . now , an embodiment of a method for the radar device 1 to calculate the distance , direction and speed of the object will be described . any means can be applied to a radar device 1 as long as the means can detect an object &# 39 ; s speed and location . however , a monopulse system in which an electric wave is sent by one transmission antenna and is received by two receiving antennas thereby detecting the azimuth of a target is most suitable because it makes it possible to monitor a wide area and detect a plurality of targets by means of one transmission antenna . this monopulse radar device enables a wide - angled area of 100 degrees to be monitored by one transmission antenna . with reference to fig3 an embodiment of the radar device 1 will be described . first , the antenna portion consists of a transmission antenna 16 and two receiving antennas 17 ( a ), 17 ( b ). the transmission antenna 16 transmits a millimeter - wave band high - frequency signal sent by a transmitter 18 at a frequency according to the modulation signal from the modulator 19 . two receiving antennas 17 ( a ), 17 ( b ) receive the electric wave signal which was reflected by an object located in the area where the electric wave was transmitted and a mixer circuit 20 converts the frequency . the mixer circuit 20 also receives a signal from the transmitter 18 , and therefore , a low - frequency signal generated as the result of the mixture of two signals is outputted to an analog circuit 21 . the signal is amplified by the analog circuit 21 and outputted , and is then converted into a digital signal by an a / d converter 22 . next , the signal is sent to the fft processing unit 23 . the fft processing unit 23 applies the fast fourier transform ( fft ) to measure the signal &# 39 ; s frequency spectrum as information of amplitude and phase and sends the data to a signal processing unit 24 . based on the data in the frequency area obtained by the fft processing unit 23 , the signal processing unit 24 calculates the distance and relative speed and outputs the data as a measured distance value and a measured relative speed value . herein , an example that uses the 2 - frequency cw ( continuous wave ) method will be described with reference to fig3 and 4 . in the method , an object &# 39 ; s relative speed is measured by applying the doppler shift , and switching two frequencies enables the measurement of the distance to the object based on the phase information of the received signal at each frequency . in the 2 - frequency cw type radar , a modulation signal is inputted into the transmitter 18 and two frequencies f1 , f2 are alternately transmitted with time intervals as shown in fig4 ( a ). an electric wave transmitted by the transmission antenna 16 is reflected by an object in front and the reflected signal is received by two receiving antennas 17 ( a ), 17 ( b ). the mixer circuit 20 mixes the received signal with a signal sent by the transmitter 18 and obtains a beat signal . in a homodyne method in which a signal is directly converted into a base band , the beat signal outputted from the mixer circuit 20 is the doppler frequency which is calculated by the following equation : fd = 2 · f c c  v ( equation   1 ) herein , f c denotes carrier frequency , v denotes relative speed , and c denotes light velocity . on the receiving side , a received signal at each transmitted frequency is separated and demodulated by the analog circuit 21 and then converted into a digital signal by the a / d converter 22 . then the fft processing unit 23 computes the fast fourier transform of the digital sample data obtained as the result of the a / d conversion to obtain the frequency spectrum in the entire frequency band of the received beat signal . concerning the peak signal obtained as the result of the fft processing , based on the principle of the 2 - frequency cw method , the power spectra of the peak signals corresponding to transmission frequency f1 and transmission frequency f2 , as shown in fig4 ( b ), are measured , and then the range is calculated from phase difference φ between two power spectra according to the following equation : range = c · φ 4  π · δ   f   δ   f = f2 - f1 ( equation   2 ) next , a method of measuring the direction is explained with reference to fig5 . fig5 shows the pattern of the power received by each receiving antenna corresponding to the angle . because both the power received by the receiving antenna 17 ( a ) and the power received by the receiving antenna 17 ( b ) become maximum when θ is zero degree , the pattern of the sum signal ( sum pattern ) of the signals inputted into the receiving antennas 17 ( a ), 17 ( b ) and the pattern of the difference signal ( diff pattern ) are constant as shown in fig5 . therefore , by calculating the sum signal ( psum ) and the difference signal ( pdif ) of the signals inputted into the receiving antennas 17 ( a ), 17 ( b ), azimuth θ can be specified according to the ratio of electric power of the received signals . next , fig2 is a block diagram that explains the operations of the control device 4 . herein , the range and angle of the object detected by the above - mentioned radar device 1 are denoted as ( r , α ) and the relative speed is denoted as v . furthermore , an explanation is provided about the situation where the radar device 1 and the imaging device 2 are installed in a building to monitor the area shown in fig6 . first , the intrusion determination unit 31 excludes an object 100 detected by the radar device 1 if its direction of travel is definitely away from the area in which no intrusion is permitted . that is , in this embodiment , an explanation is provided about the situation where an object 100 approaching a building should be alerted . in this example , a radar device is assumed to be installed in a building , and the relative speed of an object in a direction going away from the building is assumed to be positive . if relative speed v of the object is detected as being positive for a time period longer than the prescribed time t , it is determined that this object is moving away from the building and therefore , this object is excluded from intruder candidates . if the intrusion determination unit 31 determines that the detected object 100 is an intruder candidate , the location information converting unit 32 estimates the location on the screen image captured by the imaging device 2 according to the location information ( r , α ) detected by the radar device 1 . in fig7 the polar coordinate system with a radar device 1 as the origin is specified as a radar coordinate system , and location information ( r , α ) of the detected object 100 is defined . furthermore , the right - handed coordinate system in which the center of the lens 10 is the origin , the z - axis extends in the direction of the main axis of the lens 10 and the x - axis and y - axis extend in parallel to the imaging surface is defined as a camera coordinate system x - y - z , and the coordinates of the radar device 1 mounting position are expressed as ( xd , yd , zd ). herein , the object &# 39 ; s location p ( xp , yp , zp ) in the camera coordinate system is expressed by the following equation : { xp = xd + r  sinα yp = - yd zp = zd + r  cosα ( equation   3 ) according to the detected object &# 39 ; s location p in the camera coordinate system calculated by the location information converting unit 32 , a magnification of zoom is calculated so that the zoom function control unit 33 can control the lens moving device 11 to enlarge or reduce the size of the screen . furthermore , the direction is calculated to coincide the direction of the imaging device 2 with the direction of the object so that the moving device control unit 34 can control the moving device 3 to adjust the direction of the imaging device 2 . the procedure for calculating the magnification of zoom and the direction to move the imaging device 2 will be explained by referring to fig8 . first , in step 40 , rotation angle θ for rotating the imaging device 2 in the lateral direction is calculated . by defining θ 1 as shown in fig7 ( a ), θ 1 can be calculated by the following equation using the detected object &# 39 ; s location p . θ 1 = tan - 1  ( xp zp ) ( equation   4 ) next , in step 41 , rotation angle θ 2 for rotating the imaging device 2 in the vertical direction is calculated . by defining θ 2 as shown in fig7 ( b ), θ 2 can be calculated by the following equation using the detected object &# 39 ; s location p . θ 2 = tan - 1  ( yp zp ) ( equation   5 ) next , in step 42 , a magnification of zoom in the imaging device 2 is calculated . assuming that the distance from the imaging device 2 to the detected object 100 is r , r can be expressed by the following equation : r ={ square root }{ square root over ( xp 2 + yp 2 + zp 2 )} ( equation 6 ) let the magnification of the lens be p , and p is defined by the following equation : p = r k ( equation   7 ) herein , k is a parameter determined by the specifications of the lens 10 and is defined beforehand by the following procedure . as fig9 shows , the distance at which a picture of an object is recorded by the imaging device 2 installed in the building so that the picture shown on the monitor screen is large enough for the operator to identify the object as a person is calculated beforehand and the value is defined as k . for example , it is assumed that the display in fig9 indicates that a person is seen at a distance of 5 [ m ] from the imaging device and k = 5 is defined . in equation 7 , if the distance to the detected object 100 is calculated as r = 30 [ m ] in the camera coordinate system , p = 6 can be obtained , which means that the image shown on the monitor is magnified six times . next , if the intrusion determination unit 31 determines that the detected object 100 is an intruder candidate , the location information converting unit 32 estimates location p 1 of the object 100 using the lighting device 5 as reference according to the location information ( r , α ) detected by the radar device 1 . in fig1 , the right - handed coordinate system in which the center of the luminous body 13 is the origin , the z 1 - axis extends in the direction of the main axis of the luminous body 13 and the x 1 - axis and y 1 - axis extend in parallel to the illuminating surface is defined as a light coordinate system x 1 - y 1 - z 1 , and the coordinates of the radar device 1 mounting position are expressed as ( xd 1 , yd 1 , zd 1 ). herein , the object &# 39 ; s location p 1 ( xp 1 , yp 1 , zp 1 ) in the light coordinate system is expressed by the following equation : { xp 1 = xd 1 + r  sinα yp 1 = - yd 1 zp 1 = zd 1 + r  cosα ( equation   8 ) according to the detected object &# 39 ; s location p 1 in the light coordinate system calculated by the location information converting unit 32 , intensity of light that illuminates the object is calculated so that light intensity control unit 35 can control the light - intensity adjusting device 14 to adjust the intensity of light . furthermore , the direction is calculated to coincide the direction of the lighting device 5 with the direction of the object so that the direction control unit 36 can control the light moving device 15 to adjust the direction of the lighting device 5 . the procedure for calculating light intensity a nd the direction to move the lighting device 5 will be explained by referring to fig1 . first , in step 43 , rotation angle θ 1 ′ for rotating the lighting device 5 in the lateral direction is calculated . by defining θ 1 ′ as shown in fig1 ( a ), θ 1 ′ can be calculated by the following equation using the detected object &# 39 ; s location p 1 . θ 1 ′ = tan - 1  ( xp 1 zp 1 ) ( equation   9 ) next , in step 44 , rotation angle θ 2 ′ for rotating the lighting device 5 in the vertical direction is calculated . by defining θ 2 ′ as shown in fig1 ( b ), θ 2 ′ can be calculated by the following equation using the detected object &# 39 ; s location p 1 . θ 2 ′ = tan - 1  ( yp 1 zp 1 ) ( equation   10 ) next , in step 45 , light intensity in the lighting device 5 is calculated . assuming that the distance from the lighting device 5 to the detected object 100 is r 1 , r 1 can be expressed by the following equation : r 1 ={ square root }{ square root over ( xp 1 2 + yp 1 2 + zp 1 2 )} ( equation 11 ) let the electric power which is the light intensity of the luminous body 13 be p 1 , and p 1 is defined by the following equation : p 1 = r 1 2 t ( equation   12 ) herein , t is a parameter for controlling electric power to be supplied to the luminous body so that the function of the distance r 1 to the detected object can be established . next , operations of the data st oring unit 39 will be explained with reference to fig1 . if the intrusion determination unit 31 determines that the detected object 100 is an intruder candidate , it transmits a signal to the data storing unit 39 to notify that the object 100 has been detected . therefore , in step 46 , the signal indicating that the radar device 1 has detected an object 100 is received , and is stored in step 47 . in step 48 , location information ( r , α ) and the relative speed v of the object 100 detected by the radar device 1 and image information of the object 100 recorded by the imaging device 2 are received , and the information is then stored in step 49 . in step 50 , if the signal indicating that the radar device 1 had detected an object 100 has been received , the operation returns to step 48 , and receipt and storage of the information is repeated . in step 50 , when the signal indicating that the radar device 1 has detected an object 100 is not received , the operation proceeds to step 51 where the counter number cnt is set as : cnt = 0 . in step 52 , if the object detection signal has not been received , the counter number cnt is increased in step 53 , and in step 54 , while the cnt is smaller than time t , the operation returns to step 52 where the detection signal is repeatedly checked . furthermore , in step 52 , if the object detection signal is received , the operation returns to step 48 , and subsequently , information is received and stored . in step 54 , when the cnt becomes equal to time t , the operation proceeds to step 55 and data storage stops . next , operations of the data recording control unit 37 will be explained . when the data storing unit 39 receives object detection information , the data recording control unit 37 retrieves the above - mentioned image information and location information and transmits the information to the recording device 6 . the recording device 6 stores the image information in an image memory such as a vtr and also stores information about the distance , angle and speed in the memory . this enables data to be recorded only when an intruding object 100 must be recorded , resulting in reduction of necessary storage capacity when compared to storage capacity required for recording on a steady basis . now , operations of the send / receive control unit 38 will be explained . when the data storing unit 39 receives object detection information , the send / receive control unit 38 retrieves the above - mentioned image information and location information and sends the information to the center 26 via the transmitting device 7 . as image information , the picture of the detected object is stored by performing compression or non - compression . however , to quickly send and receive image information and monitor it online , it is desirable for the transmitting device 7 to compress the picture and send it as image information . the transmission means may be a standard means such as rs - 232c or isdn . standard image compression techniques such as jpeg or mpeg may be used to compress image information . furthermore , as long as it can be sent and received fast enough to be monitored online , image information does not have to be compressed or it may be compressed in a different technique . any technique is available as long as the image data can be displayed quickly and accurately in the center 26 . the image and other data sent by the transmitting device 7 is received in the same data configuration by the receiving device 25 located in the remote center 26 . herein , it is possible to store numerical data about the object &# 39 ; s 100 location and speed displayed on the screen as image information . furthermore , the above - mentioned data may be synthesized with a transmitted picture and stored as image information . transmission of the location and speed information ab out the object 100 enables the indication of what distance from the building the intruder is approaching . when the receiving device receives the signal in the center where an operator is standing by , the image information in chronological order is displayed on the display device 8 . simultaneously , the annunciation device 9 outputs an annunciation signal indicating that an object has been detected . a general annunciation signal uses sound to notify the operator ; however , other methods may be utilized . thus , the above - mentioned system eliminates the necessity for the operator to be constantly looking at the display device , resulting in a reduced burden on the operator . furthermore , the operator can determine whether the detected object is an intruder or not by watching the screen of the display device instead of rushing to the site . as a result , even if the radar device 1 has mistakenly detected an object other than an intruder and transmitted the signal to the center , the operator does not have to rush to the site thereby reducing a burden on the operator . a security system which monitors an area around a building can track a detected intruder and accurately takes a picture of it . furthermore , an operator can determine whether the detected object is an intruder or not without rushing to the site . moreover , by broadening the beam width of the radar device , it is possible to reduce the number of radar devices while obtaining information about the entire monitoring area instead of alternately switching the radar devices or making the radar device rotating back and forth . although the present invention has been illustrated and described with respect to exemplary embodiment thereof , it should be understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing and various other changes , omission and additions may be made therein and thereto , without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention . therefore , the present invention should not be understood as limited to the specific embodiment set out above but to include all possible embodiments which can be embodied within a scope encompassed and equivalent thereof with respect to the feature set out in the appended claims .	7
one embodiment of the present invention uses multi - protocol label switching ( mpls ) with explicit routing to establish an mpls layer protection cycle ( p - cycle ) that provides automatic protection switching to reroute data packets in the event of a network link failure . another embodiment of the invention establishes an ip - layer p - cycle through the use of tunneling of internet protocol ( ip ) datagrams with static routing . in the mpls embodiment , an mpls label switched path ( lsp ) tunnel passes through the end points of the link that will be protected . in the ip embodiment , an ip - in - ip tunnel passes through the end points of the link that will be protected . the tunnel established in either case way forms a p - cycle through which failed - link packets are directed . a given p - cycle may protect one or multiple links . in either case , the p - cycle may be configured by hand , or automatically established using network link state and topology information derived from a routing algorithm , such as open shortest path first ( ospf ). various algorithms may be used to automatically compute the specific structure of a given p - cycle . an embodiment of the invention uses a network management application for this purpose since the p - cycle will not follow an optimal path . when a p - cycle is bi - directional , a bandwidth protection mechanism may be implemented so that some of the p - cycle traffic goes one way , and the rest the other way . fig1 is an illustration of a computer network that uses an embodiment of the present invention employing mpls p - cycle automatic protection switching . in fig1 , network nodes p 10 through w 17 are normally linked via the dashed lines to route data packets from node to node . in the network segment shown , the normal network links between p and i , p and u , q and s , q and t and w and u are also protected by a p - cycle 18 . the p - cycle 18 forms a loop through the network so that a packet sent through the p - cycle will eventually come back to its origination node if not taken out of the p - cycle by one of the nodes it passes through . in fig1 , lsp p - cycle 18 traverses the network segment from node p 10 to q 11 to r 12 . . . to v 16 to w 17 and back to p 10 . only one p - cycle 18 is shown in fig1 . in practice , a p - cycle is established for every set of links to be protected . an embodiment of the invention can operate successfully in any arbitrary network topology . it should be noted , however , that to realize full link - level protection , for every two neighbours x and y connected by link l in the network , another network path between x and y must exist that does not include l . various options may be employed with respect to network - level encapsulation on the original link . for example , in one embodiment , mpls is used on the original link and thus the labeled packet may be tunneled on the backup link using mpls label stacking . in another embodiment of the invention described in more detail herein below , ip encapsulation is used . in any vent , multiple independent link failures may be tolerated using multiple layers of tunneling . with continued reference to fig1 , the router for each node monitors its own local links . when a link failure is detected , the router for an affected node quickly routes the data packet traffic over to the p - cycle 18 . then , the network routing algorithm advertises the link failure so that the network can be re - routed without the failed link , and a loop - prevention mechanism determines that the re - routed network is loop - free . packet traffic may then be switched to the re - routed network and new p - cycles recalculated as necessary . fig1 is an illustration of a network node router which supports p - cycles according to an embodiment of the invention . network node router 1220 is a part of a computer network 1222 of routers in mutual communication via a plurality of network node data links 1221 . router 1220 also serves to connect one or more local area networks ( lans ) 1223 having one or more workstations 1231 . data packets enter and exit the router 1220 as controlled by a data interface driver 1224 which is connected to the network node links 1221 . fig1 is a flow chart illustration of the logical steps in a corresponding method of providing automatic protection switching according to an embodiment of the invention . a protection cycle manager ( pcm ) 1225 includes a p - cycle packet identifier 1251 that , in step 1301 , identifies as p - cycle packets , data packets that have a p - cycle label stack , which , in a one embodiment , is a standard mpls label stack . in such an embodiment , the top label in the stack indicates the next node in the p - cycle , the next label on the stack is the identity of the destination node that ultimately receives the packet and the third label in the stack is the identity of the node creating the label stack . identified p - cycle packets are processed by p - cycle packet processor 1252 which , in step 1302 , pops the topmost label off the label stack and checks the next label to see if the router node &# 39 ; s own identity is in the destination node position in the label stack . if not , the label for the next p - cycle node is pushed onto the stack and the packet is sent by the data interface driver 1224 via the node link 1221 to the next node on the p - cycle , step 1303 . if , in step 1302 , the router node &# 39 ; s own identity is carried in the destination node position in the label stack , the source node label in the label stack is checked to determine which network link the packet normally would have used , step 1304 . the p - cycle label stack is then deleted , step 1305 , and thereafter , the packet is treated as if it had been received via the normal network link 1221 from the source node , step 1306 . in one embodiment , the network node router also includes a network link monitor 1226 in communication with the data interface driver 1224 . when the link monitor 1226 detects a failed link , step 1307 , protection cycle packeter 1253 attaches to affected data packets a p - cycle label stack having appropriate labels for source node , destination node , and p - cycle node , step 1308 , and the p - cycle packets are then sent to the p - cycle node for that router , step 1303 . a link failure also is advertised to the network using the routing algorithm , step 1309 . a new network route is then established to replace the failed link , step 1310 , and a loop prevention algorithm is used to determine that the new network routes have converged and are loop - free , step 1311 . a diffusion - based loop prevention algorithm as is known in the art may be used to detect when the network has converged so that it is safe to switch to the new routes . such diffusion algorithms are discussed , for example , in garcia - lunes - aceves , j . j ., “ loop - free routing using diffusing computations ,” ieee / acm transactions on networking , vol . 1 , no . 1 , 1993 , pp . 130 - 141 , which is hereby incorporated herein by reference . using p - cycles with a loop prevention algorithm allows for uninterrupted service in the event of a link failure without black holing of packets on the failed link . another embodiment of the invention is now described with reference to fig2 a , wherein is shown a network having a plurality of nodes 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 interconnected by links a , b , c , d , e , f , g , h , i . node 1 is connected to node 2 by link a , to node 4 by link b and to node 5 by link c ; node 2 is connected to node 3 by link d , to node 4 by link e and to node 5 by link f ; node 3 is connected to node 5 by link g and to node 4 by link h ; and node 4 is connected to node 5 by link i . the links a - i can be physical links ( e . g ., optical fibers , coaxial cables , twisted pairs , radio links ) or logical links ( e . g ., sonet sts paths or atm virtual channel connections ). the links a - i could be uni - directional or bi - directional . the network of fig2 a could be an internet protocol ( ip ) network , in which case the various nodes in the network are responsible for producing , forwarding and / or processing ip datagrams . however , the invention is not limited to ip networks and is applicable to any type of packet - switched network which involves the transmission of datagrams . each node is equipped with a memory as well as circuitry , control logic or software for routing produced or received datagrams in accordance with the contents of a routing table . the routing table used by a particular node can be stored in the node &# 39 ; s memory . the routing table is specific to that node and indicates the link across which that node should forward a datagram , for each combination of source and destination address . in simple cases , the routing table could be entered into memory in a manual fashion by an operator . alternatively , the routing table associated with a particular node could be downloaded from a network administration server , which could be connected to the network and may have its own address . in still other embodiments , the routing table used at each node is computed and updated by the node itself . for example , a distributed routing algorithm may be run by all nodes in parallel in order to determine the next link over which a produced or received datagram should be forwarded . a suitable routing algorithm is the open shortest path first ( ospf ) algorithm described in j . moy , “ network working group request for comments rfc1583 , ospf version 2 ”, march 1994 , which can be found on line at http :// www . cis . ohiostate . edu / htbin / rfc / rfcl583 . html and which is incorporated by reference herein . the ospf algorithm requires each node to collect and process network topology information , such as the identity of each node and that of its direct neighbours . a higher layer protocol may be used for gathering such information at each node and for distributing it throughout the network . with reference now to fig2 b , there is shown a master routing table which could be used by nodes 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 in order to route datagrams in the network of fig2 a . a single master routing table is illustrated in order to capture routing information pertaining to all 5 nodes in the network of fig2 a . however , the actual routing table stored within a particular one of the nodes 1 - 5 might consist of the source and destination node columns 210 , 220 and a single one of the “ next hop ” columns 201 - 205 . while the contents of the next hop columns 201 - 205 can be obtained by inspection , as in this case , those skilled in the art will appreciate that a similar set of tables could be obtained by running a routing algorithm at each of the nodes . thus , node 1 could be responsible for computing column 201 , node 2 could compute column 202 , etc . the entry in a given row in column 201 specifies the link on which node 1 is to forward a produced or received datagram having a source field which matches the corresponding entry in column 210 and having a destination field which matches the corresponding entry in column 220 . an identical rule applies to next hop columns 202 - 205 and nodes 2 through 5 , respectively . for instance , if node 4 produces or receives a datagram with node 1 as the source and node 2 as the destination , then node 4 would forward this datagram directly to node 2 across link e . it is noted that some entries in the next hop columns 201 - 205 are marked “ process ”. specifically , a “ process ” entry in next hop column 20x ( corresponding to node x ) appears whenever the destination node is node x , regardless of the source node . in other words , a node which receives a datagram destined for itself must “ process ” the datagram . as will be described in further detail herein below , the nature of the “ process ” operation depends on whether or not the received datagram is a so - called “ original ” datagram ( which does not encapsulate another datagram in its body ) or a so - called “ tunnel ” datagram ( which does encapsulate another datagram in its body ). an explanation of these two types of datagrams is now provided with reference to fig1 a and 11b . firstly , it is to be understood that both types of datagrams comprise a header and a body . the body contains data that is to be transferred from a source node to a destination node . the header contains information such as the identity of the source and destination nodes associated with the datagram . a common way of identifying a node is by means of an ip address associated with the node . the header also specifies the length of the body and contains information on the format of the data carried in the body . for example , the data carried in the body may be pure user data ( an “ original ” datagram ) or it may consist of another datagram with its own header and body ( a “ tunnel ” datagram ). fig1 a shows an “ original ” datagram 1110 having a header 1114 and a body 1115 , where the body 1115 contains pure user data . the header 1114 has a source field 1111 ( wherein the source node is specified as being node 1 ) and a destination field 1112 ( wherein the destination node is specified as being node 4 ). the header 1114 also contains a data_type field 1113 which contains a code ( shown as “ ori ”) indicative of the fact that the datagram 1110 is a “ original ” datagram with pure user data in its body 1115 . in an ip datagram , this code is referred to as the “ protocol type ” which indicates whether the packet in question is a original packet or a tunnel packet . fig1 b shows a “ tunnel ” datagram 1120 which also has a header 1124 and a body 1130 but in this case the body 1130 encapsulates another complete datagram . the header 1124 of the datagram 1120 has a source field 1121 and a destination field 1122 which contain the appropriate information with respect to datagram 1120 . the header 1124 has a data_type field 1123 which is marked “ tnl xyz ”, signifying that the body 1130 of the datagram 1120 contains an encapsulated datagram which is meant to travel along a logical “ tunnel ” with an identifier xyz . the concept of a tunnel will be described in further detail herein below . the ip datagram 1130 encapsulated within the body 1115 of datagram 1120 has its own header 1134 and body 1135 . the header 1134 has a source field 1131 and a destination field 1132 , as well as a data_type field 1133 . the source field 1131 and the destination field 1132 in datagram 1130 are exclusively related to datagram 1130 and are independent of the source field 1121 and the destination field 1122 in datagram 1120 . in the illustrated example , the body 1135 of datagram 1130 contains pure user data and therefore the data_type field 1133 contains the same code (“ ori ”) as the data_type field 1113 in datagram 1110 . it is to be understood , however , that the body 1135 of the encapsulated datagram 1130 could itself encapsulate another datagram , and so on , in a nested fashion . the present invention provides a way of protecting traffic that travels along a set of links in a mesh network such as the network of fig2 a . this is enabled by first defining a set of protection cycles ( p - cycles ) in the network . a p - cycle can be viewed as a closed loop around three or more connected nodes in the network and effectively presents an alternate path for a set of links requiring protection . the set of protected links is defined by the configuration of the p - cycle in the sense that it includes ( i ) all the links forming the p - cycle itself and ( ii ) all the links whose end nodes are part of the same p - cycle . fig3 shows a p - cycle 310 defined for the network of fig2 a . the p - cycle 310 consists of links a , d , h , i and c , as well as nodes 1 - 5 within that closed path which together form a closed ring . if each link is taken to be bi - directional , as is the case here , the p - cycle 310 effectively provides two alternate routes in the event of a failure on links b , e , f and g , as well as one alternate route in the event of a failure on links a , c , d , h and i . thus , all links a - i are protected to some degree by the p - cycle 310 . a particular link is said to be maximally protected when two or more paths can be found along a p - cycle between the end nodes of that link without including the link itself . a link is protected , but not maximally protected , when just one path can be found along some p - cycle between the end nodes of that link without including the link itself . in fig2 a , links b , e , f and g are maximally protected while links a , d , h , i and c are protected but not maximally protected . while maximal protection of all links is desirable , this condition is not required . all that is needed for protection of a link is that there be at least one alternate path along a p - cycle that connects the end nodes of the link . a network protection scheme designer can make decisions concerning the selection of the links requiring protection , the selection of the protection level of a link ( maximal or not maximal ), the selection of the number of p - cycles to be defined in a network and the selection of the route taken by each of the p - cycles themselves . with regard to selecting the number of p - cycles and defining their individual paths through the network , some designers may find it beneficial to rely on existing methods of defining p - cycles . one such method is described in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 850 , 505 to w . d . grover and m . h . macgregor , entitled “ method for preconfiguring a network to withstand anticipated failures ” and hereby incorporated by reference herein . the computation of p - cycles using the method of u . s . pat . no . 5 , 850 , 505 requires inputs such as the network topology as well as the loading of each link . based on these inputs , a computer or network server or router ( the “ p - cycle manager ”— pcm ) computes a set of p - cycles for protecting traffic along a desired set of routes in the event of a link failure . of course , it is to be understood that the method of u . s . pat . no . 5 , 850 , 505 need not be used and that it is within the scope of the invention to employ other methods of defining a group of one or more p - cycles used to protect a set of links in the network . each node connected to a link that is protected by a p - cycle is made aware of the identity of the neighbouring nodes in that p - cycle . for example , referring to fig3 , node 4 is seen to be connected to links b , e , h and i ( which are protected by p - cycle 310 ) and the nodes which are neighbours to node 4 within the p - cycle 310 are seen to be nodes 3 and 5 . thus , node 4 could receive a setup message 330 from the pcm identifying nodes 3 and 5 as the nodes to be used in case of failure of one of the protected links . the setup message 330 could be part of an ip datagram having a source address specifying the pcm and a destination address specifying node 4 . if there is more than one p - cycle in the network , the setup message 330 received from the pcm could identify the relevant p - cycle by an alphanumeric code . as the network topology evolves and link loading information changes , the pcm occasionally re - computes the path of each p - cycle and updates each node with any new and relevant information regarding the identity of the nodes to be used as neighbours in the event of a failure of a protected link . reference is now made to fig4 , which provides an overview of the steps followed by various elements of a mesh network ( such as the network in fig3 ) when the nodes are equipped with the ability to perform protection switching according to an embodiment of the invention . firstly , step 410 corresponds to normal operation of the protected network , whereby the various nodes follow the routing instructions contained in their respective routing tables . also , the pcm defines one or more p - cycles with the goal of protecting some or all of the links in the network . moreover , by virtue of setup messages received from the pcm , each node located at the end of a protected link will know the identity of the nodes with which it must communicate in the event of a failure of the protected link . at step 420 , a failure of the physical layer ( e . g ., electrical optical ) or logical layer ( e . g ., sonet sts or atm vpc / vcc ) protected link is detected and at step 430 , the nodes at either end of the failed but protected link establish a “ tunnel ” between each other along the p - cycle associated with the failed link . a “ tunnel ” is a physical , logical or virtual datagram conduit established along the p - cycle and having end points which correspond to the nodes located at either end of the failed link . for example , if the failed link is link b in fig3 , then a tunnel would be established between nodes 1 and 4 through the p - cycle 310 . it is recalled that link b is maximally protected because there are at least two alternate paths between nodes 1 and 4 , due to the links being bi - directional . thus , the tunnel through the p - cycle 310 could run either along the “ north ” side via links a - d - h or along the “ south ” side via links c - i . the tunnel could be an ip - in - ip tunnel , which involves the encapsulation of an entire original ip datagram within the body of a tunnel ip datagram . the header of the original datagram remains untouched and thus contains the original source and destination addresses , while the header of the tunnel datagram specifies the end nodes of the failed link in its source and destination fields . if the link failure is a permanent one , the result will be a change in the network topology . at step 440 , this topological change is advertised to other nodes in the network using a suitable protocol such as ospf . the updated network topology is used by the various nodes in calculating a new set of routes . the new set of routes will , of course , exclude the failed link . the change in topology caused by the failure of a link may also have an effect on the path of the p - cycles computed by the pcm . changes to the routes and p - cycles can be relegated to background tasks performed at step 450 . a diffusion - based loop prevention algorithm as is known in the art may be used to detect when the network has converged so that it is safe to switch to the new routes . such diffusion algorithms are discussed , for example , in garcia - lunes - aceves , j . j ., “ loop - free routing using diffusing computations ,” ieee / acm transactions on networking , vol . 1 , no . 1 , 1993 , pp . 130 - 141 , which is hereby incorporated herein by reference . using p - cycles with a loop prevention algorithm allows for uninterrupted service in the event of a link failure without black holing of packets on the failed link . by the time step 450 has been completed , the nodes will have finished re - computing the routing tables and , if applicable , the pcm will have finished re - computing the p - cycles . since the new routing tables do not include the failed link as a next hop link , the tunnel previously established at step 430 will no longer be required and can be viewed as having been “ removed ” by the nodes at either end of the failed link . thus , the tunnel can be viewed as a temporary measure which protects the failed link until that link no longer appears in any newly generated routing table . it is seen that the use of p - cycles in a mesh network reduces the delay after which traffic begins to be protected because the time between a link failure and protection of the traffic formerly travelling along that link is governed only by the time required to detect the failure . advantageously , this detection time may be as short as 50 milliseconds or less . moreover , by reserving a fixed amount of bandwidth just for the p - cycle , traffic exchanged between the nodes at either end of any link protected by that p - cycle will have a delay that can be predicted ahead of time . reference is now made to fig5 , which shows the operational flow of an individual node forming part of a p - cycle , such as any of the nodes 1 - 5 in the network of fig3 . as per step 410 in fig4 , the node is assumed to know its designated neighbours in case of a failure of any protected link to which it is connected . the node does not react until a datagram is received at the node or is generated by the node . for example , a datagram could be received from an adjacent node or it could be produced as the result of a packetization operation performed by circuitry or sofwtare within the node which accepts user data from customer premises equipment . if a datagram is indeed received or generated , then the node determines the destination node associated with the datagram . this can be done by extracting and checking the addresses contained in the source and destination fields of the received or generated datagram . the node verifies whether it is the destination node associated with the received or generated datagram . if so , the node proceeds to step 518 ; otherwise , the node proceeds to step 524 . the node then verifies whether the received or generated datagram destined for itself is a tunnel datagram . if not , then the node proceeds to step 520 ; otherwise , the node proceeds to step 522 . it is recalled that the data_type field in the header of a datagram contains information as to whether or not that datagram is a tunnel datagram . since the received or generated datagram is destined for the node in question and since the datagram is not a tunnel datagram ( i . e ., does not contain an encapsulated datagram in its body ), the node processes the received or generated datagram . this may involve extracting user data from the body of the datagram and forwarding the user data to customer premises equipment connected to the node . however , if the received or generated datagram is destined for the node in question and if the datagram is a tunnel datagram , then the node processes the tunnel datagram by retrieving the datagram encapsulated within its body . at this point , the node returns to step 514 , where the destination of the encapsulated datagram is checked . it is recalled that this step is entered when the received or generated datagram is not destined for the present node . a “ received ” datagram in this sense could be a datagram that is received in its present form from an adjacent node or it could be a datagram that was previously de - encapsulated by the node at step 522 . the question now becomes whether this received or generated datagram is a tunnel datagram or not . clearly , if the datagram has just been generated , it cannot yet be a tunnel datagram . on the other hand , if it is a received datagram , then it could possibly be a tunnel datagram . if it is not a tunnel datagram , then the node proceeds to step 526 ; otherwise , the node proceeds to step 528 . when the received or generated datagram is not a tunnel datagram , then the node locates the next hop link specified by its routing table . for this purpose , the node consults the row in the routing table which corresponds to the source - destination address pair extracted from the received datagram . when the received or generated datagram is a tunnel datagram , this means that it has arrived along a p - cycle and that this p - cycle should continue to be used for forwarding the tunnel packet . if there is more than one p - cycle in the network , the appropriate p - cycle can be found by reading the data_type field in the header of the tunnel datagram . the node finds the pair of neighbours corresponding to the p - cycle identified at step 528 . the node then identifies the neighbour node from which it received the tunnel datagram . in an ip scenario , this can be achieved by using standard route trace options . based on this information , the node in question locates a neighbour node from which it did not receive the tunnel datagram and chooses the associated link as the next hop link . it can thus be seen that the next hop link chosen in this fashion is the next link in the p - cycle along which the tunnel datagram has arrived . at this stage , the node has identified the desired link across which it intends to forward a datagram ( be it an ordinary datagram or a tunnel datagram ). the node now verifies the integrity of the desired link using any suitable technique . for example , a layer 1 or layer 2 fault detection mechanism could be used to monitor each link and to set an associated software flag when the link is failed . the software flag corresponding to the next hop link ( identified at step 526 or 530 ) could be read by the node when the algorithm reaches step 532 . if the desired link is up running , then the datagram is forwarded along this link without further delay . the node then returns to step 512 where it waits for a next datagram to be received or generated . however , if the desired link is in a failed state , then the node identifies a p - cycle that is capable of protecting the failed link . if the received or generated datagram is already a tunnel datagram arriving along one p - cycle , then a new p - cycle must be identified at this stage , resulting in “ nested ” encapsulation . the node then locates an initial link of the new p - cycle . in the case of a maximally protected link , there are two possibilities from which an initial link of the new p - cycle can be chosen . the received or generated datagram ( which could itself be a tunnel datagram in a nested scenario ) is then encapsulated into the body of a tunnel datagram which is forwarded across the initial link of the new p - cycle . the header of the tunnel datagram created in this manner identifies the current node as the source node and the node at the other end of the failed link as the destination node . the header also identifies the datagram created in this manner as a tunnel datagram and specifies the p - cycle along which it is being forwarded . reference is now made to fig6 , which shows the state of the network of fig3 during normal operation . it is seen that a single p - cycle 310 is defined as before and that links b , e , f and g are maximally protected by the p - cycle 310 . in this simple example , node 1 generates a datagram 610 and forwards it to node 4 . node 4 then forwards the datagram 610 to node 3 , which then processes the datagram 610 . the structure of datagram 610 is based on that of datagram 1110 in fig1 a and consists of a header 612 and a body 614 . the header 612 is seen to contain a “ 1 ” ( used to denote the source node of the datagram 610 ), a “ 3 ” ( used to denote the final destination node of the datagram 610 ) and an “ ori ” ( used to denote the absence of an encapsulated datagram from the body 614 ). with reference to fig7 a , there is shown the flow of node 1 upon generation of an original datagram . at step 512 , node 1 realizes that a datagram has been generated , checks its destination at step 514 and , at step 516 , determines that the destination is node 3 . upon determining , at step 524 , that the datagram is not a tunnel datagram , node 1 proceeds to step 526 , where it consults its routing table and finds the next link to which it is supposed to forward the datagram for the specified source - destination pair . using the routing table of fig2 b , column 201 shows that the next hop link for source = 1 and destination = 3 as viewed by node 1 is link b . next , at step 522 , node 1 determines that link b is functional and subsequently forwards the datagram 610 to node 4 along link b . operation of node 4 is identical to that of node 1 , except that step 512 is exited due to receipt of a datagram . also , since the routing table is different for each node , the next hop link determined by node 4 when executing step 526 will correspond to link h . fig7 b shows operation of node 3 upon receiving a datagram from node 4 in the scenario of fig6 . at step 514 , node 3 checks the destination of the received datagram and , at step 516 , realizes that node 3 is itself the destination node specified in the header of the received datagram . thus , node 3 executes step 518 , which consists of verifying whether the received datagram is a tunnel datagram . since the received datagram is not a tunnel datagram , node 3 proceeds to step 520 where the received datagram is suitably processed . examples of processing include extraction of the user data in the body of the datagram and forwarding of the user data to customer premises equipment . alternatively , the entire datagram could be forwarded to a higher level segmentation and reassembly module . the above description has dealt with operation of the nodes under normal conditions . operation of the nodes under failure conditions is now described with reference to fig8 , wherein is depicted the occurrence of a failure along link b . it is seen that datagram 610 travelling from node 1 to node 4 along link b will be lost (“ black holed ”) and that no datagram is forwarded by node 4 to node 5 along link h . according to an embodiment of the invention , nodes 1 and 4 respond to the failure by establishing a tunnel through the p - cycle 310 . fig9 shows the establishment of a tunnel involving nodes 1 and 4 . each datagram 910 issued by node 1 is a tunnel datagram and has a header 912 and a body 914 . the header 912 specifies node 1 as the source and node 4 as the destination . that is , the source and destination nodes are the nodes at the ends of the failed link which , in this case , is link b . the header 912 also specifies ( by the code “ tnl ”) that the datagram 910 is a tunnel datagram . the identity of the p - cycle to be used could also be specified in the header 912 . in this case , it is not necessary to explicitly identify a desired p - cycle because only one p - cycle 310 has been defined . the body 914 of the tunnel datagram 910 encapsulates a complete datagram having its own header 916 and its own body 918 . the header 916 of the encapsulated datagram 914 contains the exact same header information as datagram 610 . the body 918 of the encapsulated datagram 914 contains user data and therefore its contents will vary from one datagram to the next . clearly , the tunnel datagram 910 will be bigger than the encapsulated datagram 914 if the latter is encapsulated in its entirety . if desired , the body 918 of the encapsulated datagram 914 could be distributed among more than one tunnel datagram 910 . fig1 a shows operation of node 1 when establishing a tunnel according to an embodiment of the invention . node 1 generates an original datagram , such as datagram 610 , which causes step 512 to be exited through the “ y ” path , leading to step 514 . at steps 514 and 516 , the destination of the generated datagram is found to be node 4 , leading to step 524 . at step 524 , node 1 is not yet dealing with a tunnel datagram . thus , node 1 proceeds to step 526 where the next hop link is found from the routing table . column 201 in fig2 b indicates that the next hop link is node b . however , at step 528 , node 1 realizes that link b is down and executes step 536 . specifically , node 1 encapsulates the entire original datagram into the body of a tunnel datagram . the header of the tunnel datagram is given a source node of 1 and a destination node of 4 . also , node 1 determines that p - cycle 310 is to be used and selects one of the two possible directions across the p - cycle 310 . in this case , the “ south ” direction was chosen but it would be equally suitable to select the “ north ” direction . node 1 then fills the data_type field in the header of the tunnel datagram with a code that identifies the datagram as a tunnel datagram . node 1 may also add to the data_type field a code specifying the identity of the p - cycle used , although this action is not necessary when there is only one p - cycle defined as is the case here . node 1 then forwards the tunnel datagram created in this way to node 5 along link c . fig1 b shows operation of node 5 upon receipt of a tunnel datagram from node 1 , although node 5 does not know at the outset that it is the recipient of a tunnel datagram . firstly , receipt of the datagram triggers execution of step 514 followed by step 516 . at step 516 , node 5 determines that it is not the destination node of the received datagram . thus , node 5 proceeds to step 524 , where it reads the header of the received datagram and determines that it has received a tunnel datagram . receipt of a tunnel datagram signifies usage of a p - cycle . at step 528 , node 5 identifies the p - cycle associated with the tunnel datagram . in cases where the p - cycle in use is identified in the header of the tunnel datagram , this can be done by extracting the identity of the p - cycle from the header of the tunnel datagram . at step 530 , node 5 identifies the next hop link in the p - cycle . in this case , node 5 realizes that it has received the tunnel datagram from node 1 and therefore it concludes that the next hop link in the p - cycle 310 must be link i . at step 532 , node 5 confirms that link i is operational and forwards the received tunnel datagram , unchanged , to node 4 along link i . fig1 c and 10d show the operational flow of node 4 upon receipt of a tunnel datagram from node 5 . in fig1 c , receipt of a datagram triggers the execution of steps 514 and 516 in the usual way . at step 516 , node 4 determines that it is the destination node associated with the received datagram and therefore proceeds to step 518 , where node 4 determines that the received datagram is a tunnel datagram . this information , coupled with the fact that the received datagram is destined for node 4 itself , means that node 4 should execute step 522 , where it extracts the datagram encapsulated in the body of the received tunnel datagram . the encapsulated datagram has the original form of datagram 610 previously described with reference to fig7 . node 4 then returns to step 514 , where node 4 checks the destination of the encapsulated datagram . since the encapsulated datagram is actually destined for node 3 , the next step is step 524 , where node 4 further determines that the encapsulated datagram is in original form ( i . e ., is not a tunnel diagram ). thus , node 4 continues with step 526 , where it consults its routing table to determine the next hop link associated with the source - destination pair specified in the header of the encapsulated datagram . as seen in column 204 of fig2 b , the next hop link associated with source = 1 and destination = 3 is link h . thus , node 4 checks the integrity of link h at step 526 and , since link h is operable , node 4 forwards the original datagram to node 3 across link h . the behaviour of node 3 remains unchanged from that previously described with reference to fig7 b . thus , node 3 checks the destination of the received datagram and realizes that node 3 itself is the destination node as specified in the header . thus , it verifies whether the received datagram is a tunnel datagram . since the received datagram is not a tunnel datagram , node 3 processes the received datagram . the above description has shown how traffic normally destined to travel on link b is protected by establishing a tunnel within the p - cycle 310 . following the occurrence of the failure on link b , the delay with which packets or datagrams are re - routed via the p - cycle 310 is dependent only on the detection time , which is in the millisecond range when performed at the physical or virtual layer . advantageously , no hold - down time is required , resulting in fast protection switching of mission - critical traffic . another feature of the present invention is that if a certain amount of bandwidth on the p - cycle is reserved during normal operation , any traffic having up to and including that amount of bandwidth can be rerouted from one of the links protected by that p - cycle . consequently , it is possible to guarantee that mission - critical traffic will be supported through the network without having to reserve additional bandwidth on every single link . this has advantages in terms of reducing the required capacity of the network , resulting in reduced equipment costs . a further advantage of the invention stems from the simplicity with which the automatic protection switching algorithm is executed by the nodes . that is to say , only those nodes located at the ends of a failed link establish a tunnel . the nodes along the p - cycle between the two end nodes simply need to identify whether or not a received packet is a tunnel packet prior to making a routing decision . this small amount of overhead should not slow down the usual operation of the nodes in any significant way . those skilled in the art should also appreciate that the present invention applies not just to link failures per se , but also to failed ingress or egress ports at an interface card on a node . nodes can easily be programmed to detect such failures , which have an effect identical to that of a link failure . moreover , it is within the scope of the invention to handle multiple link failures . for example , a tunnel may be established through a link belonging to a first p - cycle . if that link fails but is protected by a second p - cycle , then another tunnel is established through the second p - cycle . this situation results in nested encapsulation of a datagram . any number of encapsulation layers is within the scope of the invention . in the case of a twice encapsulated datagram , upon its arrival at the end of the tunnel established along the second p - cycle , the datagram extracted from the first layer of encapsulation ( at step 522 of the algorithm in fig5 ) would itself be a tunnel datagram . of course , nothing prevents the node in question from simultaneously being ( 1 ) the destination of the received tunnel datagram , ( 2 ) the destination of the encapsulated tunnel datagram and ( 3 ) the destination of the original datagram itself . some embodiments of the invention , or portions thereof , may be implemented in any conventional computer programming language . for example , preferred embodiments may be implemented in a procedural programming language ( e . g ., “ c ”) or an object oriented programming language ( e . g ., “ c ++” or “ java ”). alternative embodiments of the invention may be implemented as pre - programmed hardware elements ( e . g ., application specific integrated circuits ), or other related components . other embodiments of the invention may be implemented as a computer program product for use with a computer system . such implementation may include a series of computer instructions fixed either on a tangible medium , such as a computer readable media ( e . g ., a diskette , cd - rom , rom , or fixed disk ), or transmittable to a computer system via a modem or other interface device , such as a communications adapter connected to a network over a medium . the medium may be either a tangible medium ( e . g ., optical or analog communications lines ) or a medium implemented with wireless techniques ( e . g ., microwave , infrared or other transmission techniques ). the series of computer instructions may embody all or part of the functionality previously described herein with respect to the system . those skilled in the art should appreciate that such computer instructions can be written in a number of programming languages for use with many computer architectures or operating systems . furthermore , such instructions may be stored in any memory device , such as semiconductor , magnetic , optical or other memory devices , and may be transmitted using any communications technology , such as optical , infrared , microwave , or other transmission technologies . it is expected that such a computer program product may be distributed as a removable medium with accompanying printed or electronic documentation ( e . g ., shrink wrapped software ), preloaded with a computer system ( e . g ., on system rom or fixed disk ), or distributed from a server or electronic bulletin board over the network ( e . g ., the internet or world wide web ). although various exemplary embodiments of the invention have been disclosed , it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made that will achieve some of the advantages of the invention without departing from the true scope of the invention . these and other obvious modifications are intended to be covered by the appended claims .	7
fig1 provides a basic diagram of a computer system having a host cpu 10 coupled to a bus system 11 , such as a pci bus . the bus 11 interconnects a plurality of pci clients , including client 12 and the network interface card 13 shown with expanded functional blocks . the network interface card 13 includes an application specific integrated circuit asic 14 . the asic 14 includes network interface functions for an ethernet interface in this embodiment . other embodiments provide interfaces to other types of the network media . in addition to the asic 14 , other components are interconnected by and supported by the circuit board of the network interface card 13 . for example , a bios rom ( not shown ), an eeprom ( not shown ) and an rj45 connector 17 are on the circuit board . the asic 14 includes a mac transmitter 20 x for the transmit path and a mac receiver 20 r for the receive path coupled to media interface circuitry 21 , which is coupled to the connector 17 . the mac transmitter 20 x is also coupled to a transmit packet buffer 22 ( usually a fifo ) which is driven by a download engine 23 on the asic 14 . the download engine 23 is coupled to a pci bus controller 24 . the pci bus controller 24 is also coupled to an upload engine 25 . the upload engine 25 is coupled to a receive packet buffer 26 ( usually a fifo ) which is connected to the mac receiver 20 r for the receive path . pci slave circuitry 37 is coupled to the bus 11 , and performs logic functions associated with operation of the network interface card 13 . thus , the illustration of the asic 14 includes basic elements of a network interface controller chip . in addition , the asic 14 includes clock control circuitry 35 , 36 which controls enabling of clock signals to the receive path circuitry , the transmit path circuitry , the pci master circuitry 24 and the pci slave circuitry 37 . network activity monitoring resources 30 coupled to the receive path clock control circuitry 36 are used for control of the enablement of the receive clock or clocks . pci bus monitoring resources 31 which control enabling of the transmit clock or clocks are coupled to the pci / transmit clock control circuits 35 . the pci bus monitoring resources 31 also control enabling the clocks for circuitry in the pci bus controller , including the pci slave circuits and master circuits . in this example , the asic receives a raw pci clock 40 from the host bus used for circuits synchronized with the host bus , a raw asic clock 41 from on chip clock circuits used for internal asic circuits like the receive fifo input and the transmit fifo output , a raw transmit clock 42 from on chip clock circuits used for clocking packets transmitted to the network from the transmit fifo , and a raw receive clock 43 which is recovered from incoming frames at the network interface circuitry 21 . the clock control circuitry 35 , 36 produces enabled clock signals ms en for the master pci related circuits , slv en for the slave pci related circuits , asic en for the internal circuits , tx en for the transmit related circuits , and rx en for the receive related circuits . these clocks are distributed to the resources in the chip on an as needed basis , in response to the monitoring of bus and network activity . in this manner , resources on the chip which are not needed , do not consume power in idle states due to clock transitions . other embodiments of the present invention will provide for more or fewer enabled clock signals , and receive more or fewer raw clock signals , depending the particular implementations and the level of granularity of control desired . fig2 illustrates a more detailed diagram of one preferred embodiment of the present invention . in fig2 a network interface card 100 is coupled to a network medium 101 , such as an ethernet network operating at 100 mbits , or 1 giga - bits for example . a host processor 103 is coupled to a host bus 102 , which in this example comprise a pci host and a pci bus . the network interface card 100 includes a pci master interface 104 , a pci slave interface 105 , and a pci slave clock control unit 106 , all of which are coupled to the pci bus 102 . the pci master interface 104 receives all of the signals on the pci bus relevant to bus master operations . the pci slave interface 105 receives the address signals , byte enable signals and other control signals such as idsel from the pci bus 102 . the pci slave clock control unit 106 , receives the pci bus clock as well as other signals from the pci bus 102 . the network interface card 100 includes a physical layer interface 107 for the particular network medium 101 in use . the physical layer interface 107 recovers a receive clock from the incoming data packets which is distributed within the chip as discussed in more detail below . a transmit clock generated on chip is used for transmitting network packets . the functional blocks of the network interface card 100 can be characterized as receive path circuitry , transmit path circuitry , pci slave circuitry , and pci master circuitry . the pci master circuitry is closely integrated with the receive path circuitry and transmit path circuitry . the pci slave circuitry includes the pci slave interface 105 , pci slave clock control 106 , a variety of on chip registers 108 , and download control logic 109 . receive path circuitry includes the physical interface 107 , the mac receiver circuitry 110 , the receive packet buffer 111 , and the pci master interface 104 . transmit path circuitry includes the pci master interface 104 , transmit packet buffer 112 , mac transmitter circuitry 113 , and the physical layer interface 107 . the pci master circuitry includes the pci master interface 104 , and the pci master clock control circuit 114 , which is coupled to the download control logic 109 , and a mac receiver monitor 115 . the network interface card 100 is used to connect various host devices to a network , providing communication paths for message passing or information access . on the transmit side , packets are downloaded from the bus to a transmit packet buffer 112 . the packets are forwarded to the mac transmitter 113 , which converts in the packets to conform with the data link layer protocol ( e . g . ieee 802 . 3 ) of the particular network . these packets finally go through the physical layer interface 107 to be transmitted onto the wire or other medium . on the receive side , the packets being received from the wire , or other medium , go through the physical interface 107 and the mac receiver 110 before being written into the receive packet buffer 111 . the pci interface in this example consists of a pci slave 105 and a pci master 104 . the pci slave 105 operates to determine whether to accept a transaction initiated from the pci host 103 . these transactions are used for initializing registers 108 in the network interface card , checking status , handling interrupts and controlling data movement . the function of the pci master 104 is to download packets from the pci bus to be transmitted on the network , and upload packets to the pci bus from the network . in this embodiment , each packet can consist of multiple fragments which can reside in different chunks of host memory . data downloading is initiated by fetching address and length information for each fragment , followed by downloading the fragments of packet data from the host memory to the transmit packet buffer 112 . this process repeats until all the fragments within a packet and all the packets in the queue are downloaded . the data flow direction for uploading is reversed . after the packet has been received into the receive packet buffer 111 , fragment address and length information is provided , and the data is uploaded into the allocated memory locations . the clocks in the embodiment shown in fig2 which are provided to the network interface card include the following : pciclkraw : this is the host bus clock which is provided to the pci slave clock control 106 , and the pci master clock control 114 . in this embodiment , the host bus clock is a 33 mhz constantly running clock . asicclkraw : this is an internal clock generated on the integrated circuit . in this embodiment , the internal clock is a 25 mhz constantly running clock . txclkraw : this is a 25 mhz constantly running transmit clock generated on the integrated circuit . rxclkraw : this is the receive clock recovered at the physical interface 107 , and constitutes a 25 mhz recovered network clock for a 100 mb ethernet interface . the pci slave clock control unit 106 is responsive to signals on the pci bus 102 to produce a slave pci clock slvpciclk on the pci slave interface 105 and related circuitry . this is described in more detail with respect the fig3 - 6 . the pci master clock control block 114 is responsive to a variety of signals indicating transmit and receive activity , including logic signal dpdnotempty from the download control logic 109 indicating that a download packet descriptor is not empty , a signal tpbempty from the transmit packet buffer 112 indicating that the transmit packet buffer is empty , a signal rpbempty from the receive packet buffer 111 indicating that the receive packet buffer is empty , a signal xmitdone from the mac transmitter circuitry 113 indicating that the transmit of a particular packet is done , and signals startframe , framereceiving from the mac receiver monitor 115 indicating a start frame sequence and a frame receiving sequence are occurring on the physical interface 107 . the pci master clock control block 114 is described in more detail below with reference to fig7 - 10 , and operates to enable the host bus clock , the internal clock and the network clocks to circuitry within the transmit path circuitry , receive path circuitry and pci master interface . the clocks enabled by the pci master clock control unit 114 on an as needed basis include the following : mspciclk : this is the pci clock for the pci master interface 104 . rcvpciclk : this is the pci clock for the receive packet buffer 111 . rcvasicclk : this is the internal clock for the receive packet buffer 111 and the mac receiver 110 . rcvrxclk : this is the network receive clock for the mac receiver 110 . xmitpciclk : this is the pci clock for the transmit packet buffer 112 . xmitasicclk : this is the internal clock for the transmit packet buffer 112 and mac transmitter 113 . xmittxclk : this is the network transmit clock for the mac transmitter 113 . fig3 illustrates the pci slave clock control block of fig2 . the pci slave clock control block consists of circuitry including a pci slave pipeline 200 , a pci slave decoder 201 , and a pci slave monitor 202 . this circuitry is used to control enabling the clocks to pci slave function blocks in the network interface card upon detecting an access to the network interface card requiring slave functions . the clocks remain enabled until access is completed . if no new access is detected at that time , clocks are disabled to save power . inputs to the circuitry of fig3 include the frame signal , the address signals , the byte enable signals and the control signal idsel from the pci bus 102 in this embodiment . also , the bus clock is received by the circuit . the pci slave pipeline 200 latches the address , byte enable and idsel signals , and provides them as input to the pci slave decoder 201 . the pci slave decoder 201 determines whether an event has occurred on the bus which is relevant to the slave circuitry , and asserts a control signal to the pci slave monitor 202 . the pci slave monitor 202 receives the frame signal as well as the output of the pci slave decoder 201 , and in response generates a clock enable signal for the pci slave circuitry . the clock enable signal is supplied to a clock enable circuit , such as and - gate 204 , which also receives the bus clock has input . the output of the clock enable circuit is supplied as the pci clock for the slave interface circuitry 105 . the slave interface circuitry 105 asserts a signal indicating the end of the slave cycle , for use by the pci slave monitor 202 . also , the pci slave interface supplies register values which are used by the pci slave decoder 201 . the values which are supplied to the pci slave decoder 201 in this example include the following : cfgromen : this is a parameter indicating access to the bios rom is enabled . cfgmemen : this is a parameter indicating access to memory space registers in the network interface card is enabled . cfgioen : this is a parameter indicating that i / o register space access is enabled . cfgrombase [ 31 : 17 ]: this is the base address for the bios rom . cfgmembase [ 31 : 7 ]: this is the base address for the accessible memory space registers on the network interface card . cfgiobase [ 31 : 7 ]: this is the base address for the i / o space registers on the network interaface card . fig4 illustrates the pci slave pipeline 200 . it includes a plurality of registers , including a first register set 210 for the address bits ad [ 31 : 0 ], a second register set 211 for the byte enable signals cbe [ 3 : 0 ], and a third register set 212 for the control signal idsel . the registers in the plurality of registers are clocked by the raw host bus clock pciclkraw , and are therefore always running . the outputs of the registers are supplied as inputs to the pci slave decoder 201 . fig5 illustrates the logic of the pci slave decoder . basically , the cycles are identified as i / o cycles , memory cycles or configuration cycles in response to the byte enable signals . the memory cycles are classified as rom memory cycles or register memory cycles , as i / o cycles or as configuration cycles addressed to the particular network interface card in response to matching of the base addresses , and the parameters enabling access to the respective memory areas , with the incoming address and other control signals on the bus . in response to recognition of any of these types of cycles addressed to the particular network interface card on which the decoder is found , a “ my cycle ” signal is issued for use by the pci slave monitor 202 . fig6 illustrates the function of the pci slave monitor 202 . the slave monitor includes an idle state 220 in which the pci slave clock enable signal is set at logic 0 . when a frame is detected on the pci bus , the logic transitions to a check access state 221 . in the check access state 221 , the pci clock enable is set to value of a flag which is it set as described below . in the check access state 221 , the presence of the “ my cycle ” signal is tested at block 222 . if the “ my cycle ” signal is not detected , then the circuitry loops back to the idle state 220 . if a “ my cycle ” signal is detected at block 222 , then the logic transitions to an enable slave clock state 223 . in this state , the pci slave clock enable signal is set to logic 1 . the circuitry remains in the enable slave clock state 223 until a slave cycle done signal is asserted by the pci slave circuitry . on assertion of the slave cycle done signal , the circuitry transitions to a parity check state 224 . the parity check state 224 keeps the clock enabled to allow parity checking to complete . in this state , the slave clock enable signal remains at logic 1 , and the flag is set to logic 1 . if during this state , a frame is detected , then the algorithm loops to the check access state 221 . if a new frame is not detected in state 224 , the algorithm proceeds to a parity error state 225 in which the pci slave clock enable signal remains logic 1 allowing for the pci slave circuitry to remain enabled for parity error detection . if the frame signal remains asserted that point , then the algorithm them loops to block 221 . if at that point no frame signal is asserted , then the logic proceeds to the disable slave clock state 226 . in this state , the pci slave clock enable signal is set to logic 0 , and a signal to clear the flag is set to logic 1 in order to clear the flag to a logic 0 state . at that point , the algorithm loops back to the idle state 220 . the pci master clock control 114 of fig2 consists of three blocks in this example . a first block is for data transmit path circuitry as illustrated in fig7 - 8 . a second block is for the data receive path circuitry as illustrated in fig9 - 10 . the third block is for pci bus arbitration and data transfer control . the clocks for each of the transmit path circuitry and the receive path circuitry are enabled if the corresponding block is active . the clocks for the pci bus arbitration and data transfer control block are enabled if either of the first two blocks is active . accordingly , no separate clock control logic is required for the pci bus arbitration and data transfer control block . fig7 illustrates the clock control for the transmit path circuitry in the network interface card . the components shown in fig7 include a pci download engine 250 , the transmit packet buffer 251 , a mac transmitter 252 , and the physical layer interface 107 . the pci download engine 250 is coupled to the pci bus 102 . the physical layer interface 107 is coupled to the network medium 101 . the download transmit clock control block 253 receives the raw pci clock , the internal clock , and the raw transmit clock as inputs and supplies clocks to the download engine 250 , the transmit buffer 251 , and a mac transmitter 252 in response to a signal dpdnot empty on line 254 indicating that the download packet descriptor is not empty , indicating that there remain packets to be transmitted in a queue managed by the host , and in response to a signal tpbempty indicating that the transmit packet buffer 251 is empty . the clock signal names have been described above with respect fig2 . fig8 illustrates the operation of the download / transmit clock control unit . the control unit operation begins in an idle state 260 . in this state , the download transmit clock enable signal is set to a logic 0 . upon reception of a dpdnotempty signal , the circuitry transitions to a download transmit enable state 261 . in this state , the download transmit clock enable signal is set to a logic 1 . the control signal dpdnotempty indicating whether the download packet descriptor is present is tested a block 262 . if the signal is asserted indicating that a descriptor remains available , then the algorithm loops back to state 261 . if in state 262 , the control signal indicating presence of the download packet descriptor is not asserted , then the process proceeds to a wait until transmit packet buffer is empty state 263 . in this state , the download transmit clock enable signal remains a logic 1 . in this state , if the logic indicates that another download packet descriptor has been stored on the chip , then the process loops back to state 261 . if the download packet descriptor signal indicates that no descriptors are available , then the signal tpdempty from the transmit packet buffer indicating that it is empty is tested . if the transmit packet buffer is not empty , then the process loops back to state 263 . if the download packet buffer is empty , then the process proceeds to a wait until mac done state 265 . the download transmit clock enable signal remains a logic 1 in this state . if a new download packet descriptor is to available during this state , the process loops back to state 261 . if not , then the process awaits assertion of the transmit done signal xmitdone by the mac transmitter circuit as indicated by block 266 . if the transmit done signal is not asserted , then the process loops back to state 265 . if the transmit done signal is asserted before another download packet descriptor has been made available , then the process loops back to the idle state 260 . thus , the transmit circuitry which includes the download from the host and transmit out on the network medium , operates in response to a download descriptor structure in host memory . the host driver sets up the download descriptor structure , and a control signal dpdnotempty is loaded into a dma control register on the chip . upon detecting his condition , the clocks for the pci bus master download and transmit blocks are enabled . this path stays enabled until the signal dpdnotempty becomes false , indicating that all packets have been downloaded to the transmit packet buffer , and until the last byte is transmitted out of the mac transmitter onto the network . at that point , clocks to the pci master download block , transmit packet buffer and other circuitry associated with the transmit path are disabled . fig9 illustrates functional blocks of the receive path circuitry , including a pci upload engine 280 coupled to the pci bus 102 , the receive packet buffer 281 coupled to the pci upload engine 280 , a mac receiver 282 coupled to the receive packet buffer 281 , and a destination address pipeline 283 coupled to the mac receiver 282 and to the physical interface 107 . a mac receiver monitor and address filter block 284 is coupled to the physical interface 107 . an address filter register 285 and a station address register 286 are coupled to the mac receiver monitor and address filter 284 . the receive upload clock control block 287 receives control signals from the mac receiver monitor / address filter 284 and the raw receive clock which is recovered from the incoming packet data at the physical interface 107 . the receive upload clock control block 287 also receives a control signal rpbempty from the receive packet buffer indicating whether it is empty . the receive upload clock control block 287 takes the host bus clock , the internal asic clock and the raw receive clock as inputs and provides internal clocks to various units of the receive path circuitry . the signals illustrated in fig9 are discussed above with respect to fig2 . exceptions include the destination address pipeline which receives the raw receive clock rxclkraw and receive data rxdata [ 7 / 3 : 0 ] from the physical interface 107 , and the address filter components of the mac receiver monitor which receive the raw receive clock rxclkraw , the receive data valid signal rxdatavalid and the receive packet data rxdata [ 7 / 3 : 0 ] from the physical interface 107 . fig1 illustrates the operation the receive / upload clock control block 287 and the mac receiver monitor / address filter 284 of fig9 . the receive / upload clock control block logic begins in an idle state 290 . in this state , it waits until a start frame delimiter is detected as indicated by the startframe signal received from the mac receiver monitor . upon detection of the beginning of a frame , the process transitions to the address filter state 291 . the address filter compares the incoming six bytes of the destination address with the station address filter 286 and receive address filter 285 . an address match signal is asserted if a match is detected . if during this process the framereceiving signal becomes logic 0 , indicating a runt packet , the algorithm loops back to the idle state 290 . otherwise , an address match is awaited as indicated at block 292 . if no match is detected , the process loops to the wait end of frame state 293 , and remains in state 293 until the framereceiving signal is de - asserted . if at block 292 , an address match is detected , the process transitions to the enable receive and upload clock state 294 . in this state , the receive and upload clocks are enabled and stay enabled until the receive packet buffer is empty and the framereceiving signal is inactive . thus , at block 292 , the receive packet buffer signal and the frame receiving signals are monitored . as long as either the receive packet buffer is not empty or the frame receiving signal remains active , the process loops back to block 294 . if the receive packet buffer is empty , and the frame receiving signal is not active , then the process either loops to the idle state 290 or to the address filter state 291 , depending on the presence or not of a startframe signal . in operation , for control of the receive and upload clocks , receive packet data is constantly monitored , and a frame start signal is generated as soon as the start frame delimiter is detected . the signal is used to invoke address filter logic . if an end of frame condition signal is detected during an address comparison , a collision may have occurred . control transfers back to the idle state in this case , to wait for the next start frame delimiter . upon the completion of the destination address cycle , a total of six bytes , if there is no address match , clocks to the receive and upload path are not enabled . instead , control goes back to the idle state to begin waiting for the next start frame delimiter . if an address match is detected indicating that the incoming frame should be received and uploaded , clocks for the receive and upload functional blocks in the receive path circuitry are enabled . at this point , the destination address pipeline register already has the destination address for the incoming packet , and the remainder of the packet including the source address , the type / length fields , and the frame data are loaded into the receive packet buffer and then uploaded to pci memory . clocks for the receive and upload circuitry stay enabled as long as the receive packet buffer is not empty , or the frame receiving signal is true . when the receive packet buffer becomes empty , and there is no active incoming frame , the clocks are disabled . in this event , control is transferred to the idle state so long as there is no start frame delimiter being detected . if the start frame delimiter is being detected at this time , the idle state is skipped , and the address filter state is entered directly . in conclusion , the present invention provides a method and system that minimizes power consumption by network interface cards . clocks are kept running on a very small amount of logic enabling the monitoring of activity on the network and on the host bus . clocks for the functional blocks are enabled on an as needed basis depending on the type of activity detected . when the detected activity goes away , clocks are turned off . using the advanced power management techniques of the present invention , overall quality is improved , and power budgets can be more easily met in advanced personal computer systems and other systems coupled to networks . while the present invention is disclosed by reference to the preferred embodiments and examples detailed above , it is to be understood that these examples are intended in an illustrative rather than in a limiting sense . it is contemplated that modifications and combinations will readily occur to those skilled in the art , which modifications and combinations will be within the spirit of the invention and the scope of the following claims .	6
in the following , a detailed description of preferred embodiments of an antenna device according to the invention will be given . in the description , for purposes of explanation and not limitation , specific details are set forth , such as particular hardware , applications , techniques etc . in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention . however , it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be utilized in other embodiments that depart from these specific details . in other instances , detailed descriptions of well - known methods , apparatuses , and circuits are omitted so as not to obscure the description of the present invention with unnecessary details . fig1 has been described in the background section and will not be dealt with further . in fig2 , there is shown an antenna device , generally designated 1 . the antenna device comprises a first generally planar rectangular radiating element 10 made of an electrically conductive material , such as a sheet metal or a flex film , as is conventional . a source rf of radio frequency signals , such as electronic circuits of a portable radio communication device , is connected to a feeding portion 12 of the first radiating element . the antenna device also comprises a second generally planar rectangular radiating element 20 . a switch element 30 is provided between the two radiating elements 10 , 20 . this switch element is preferably a pin diode , i . e ., a silicon junction diode having a lightly doped intrinsic layer serving as a dielectric barrier between p and n layers . ideally , a pin diode switch is characterized as an open circuit with infinite isolation in open mode and as an short circuit without resistive losses in closed mode , making it suitable as an electronic switch . in reality the pin diode switch is not ideal . in open mode the pin diode switch has capacitive characteristic ( 0 . 1 - 0 . 4 pf ) which results in finite isolation ( 15 - 25 db @ 1 ghz ) and in closed mode the switch has resistive characteristic ( 0 . 5 - 3 ohm ) which results in resistive losses ( 0 . 05 - 0 . 2 db ). the first and second radiating elements 10 , 20 are also capacitively interconnected by means of a high pass filter , shown as a capacitor 32 in the figures . the high pass filter allows rf signals to pass and this means that the two radiating elements from an rf point of view is one single element , as will be described further with reference to fig2 a - c . the first and second radiating elements 10 , 20 are arranged at a predetermined distance above a ground plane , such as a printed circuit board described below under reference to fig3 . a dc control input , designated v switch in the figures , for controlling the operation of the pin diode is connected to the first radiating element 10 via a filter block 16 to not affect the rf characteristics of the antenna device . this means that the filter characteristics of the filter block 16 is designed so as to block rf signals . in the preferred embodiment , the filter block 16 comprises a low pass filter . finally , the second radiating element is connected directly to ground at a grounding portion 22 . this grounding portion functions for both rf signals emanating from the rf input and dc signals emanating from the control input . the switching of the antenna device functions as follows . the rf source and other electronic circuits of the communication device operate at a given voltage level , such as 1 . 5 volts . the criterion is that the voltage level is high enough to create the necessary voltage drop across the pin diode , i . e . about 1 volt . this means that the control voltage v switch is switched between the two voltages “ high ” and “ low ”, such as 1 . 5 and 0 volts , respectively . when v switch is high , there is a voltage drop across the pin diode 30 and a corresponding current there through of about 5 - 15 ma . this voltage drop makes the diode conductive , effectively electrically interconnecting the two radiating elements 10 , 20 at the diode 30 . with the control voltage v switch “ low ”, there is an insufficient voltage drop across the pin diode 30 to make it conductive , i . e ., it is “ open ”. the second radiating element is then effectively connected to the first radiating element only through the capacitor 32 . the size and configuration of the two radiating elements are chosen so as to obtain the desired resonance frequencies , such as the 850 and 1800 mhz bands with the switch open and the 900 and 1900 mhz bands with the switch closed . now turning to fig2 a , it is shown therein how the two radiating elements 10 , 20 from an rf point of view operate as one single radiating element having a general c - shape . this is because the capacitor 32 , operating as a high pass filter , functions as an “ rf bridge ” between the two radiating elements . switch 30 in the form of a pin diode is open , i . e ., non - conductive in fig2 a because the control voltage v switch is low , i . e . zero volts . no dc current flows through the diode . the c - shape of the combined radiating elements in combination with the position of the feeding portion 12 makes the arrangement resonate at two frequencies , effectively making it suitable for dual band operation . in fig2 b , switch 30 is closed , i . e ., the diode is conductive . this effect is achieved when a high control voltage v switch is applied to the control input , see fig2 . this voltage creates a dc current that flows through the lp filter 16 , across the first radiating element 10 , through the diode 30 , across the second radiating element 20 and to ground via the grounding portion 22 . with the switch 30 closed , i . e ., with the diode conductive , the rf bridge between the two radiating elements is broadened . this is clearly seen in fig2 b when compared to fig2 a . this change of geometry of the effective radiating elements adjusts the resonance frequencies of antenna device . this is seen in fig2 c , wherein the dashed curves correspond to the operating mode shown in fig2 a and the solid curves correspond to the operating mode shown in fig2 b . the means that an antenna device which can operate in four different frequency bands is obtained , such as the above mentioned 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 mhz bands . the adjustment of the resonance frequencies shown in fig2 c can be used to an advantage in so - called fold phones . in this kind of communication devices , the resonance frequency of an internal antenna element tends to move downwards in frequency when the position of the phone is changed from folded to unfolded mode . with the inventive antenna device , when the phone is unfolded , the movement of the resonance frequencies can be counteracted by closing the switch 30 . thus , with the phone folded , the control voltage v switch2 is low and with the phone unfolded , the control voltage is high . the antenna device then operates as a dual band antenna with essentially constant resonance frequency irrespective of the operating mode of the communication device ( folded / unfolded ). the adjustment of the resonance frequencies shown in fig2 c can also be used to an advantage in dual band bar phones . in the frequency bands used for mobile communication , the transmit ( tx ) and receive ( rx ) frequencies are separated by approximately 45 - 90 mhz . by using frequency adjustment , near optimum efficiency can be obtained by adjusting the frequencies to the tx and rx frequencies instead of the broader frequency band incorporating the tx and rx frequencies . in fig3 the two radiating elements 10 , 20 are shown arranged generally parallel to and spaced apart from a printed circuit board ( pcb ) 70 adapted for mounting in a portable communication device 80 , such as a mobile phone . the pcb functions as a ground plane for the antenna device . the general outlines of the communication device is shown in dashed lines in fig3 . typical dimensions for the antenna device 1 is a height of approximately 4 millimetres and a total volume of about 3 cm 3 . it will be appreciated that all components except for the two radiating elements 10 , 20 , the switch element 30 , and the capacitor 32 can be provided on the pcb , thus facilitating easy assembly of the antenna device . this is further facilitated by the fact that there is no separate feeding of the switch element . a conventional production method of antenna devices is to provide an electrically conductive layer forming the radiating portions of the antenna on a carrier made of a non - conductive material , such as a polymer or other plastic material . the carrier is thus made of a heat - sensitive material and a small heating area is desired to keep the temperature as low as possible when soldering components to the antenna device . in fig4 , there is shown how the capacitive bridge can be provided by means of a conductive sheet 34 provided under part of the two radiating elements 10 , 20 at the rf bridge location . if a multi - layer flex film is used to provide the radiating elements , the radiating elements 10 , 20 can be provided on one side of the flex film and the conductive sheet 34 on the other . in this way , discrete components are avoided to provide the capacitive coupling between the radiating elements . in fig5 , there is shown how the capacitive bridge can be provided by means of a meandering interface between the two radiating elements 10 , 20 . also in this way , discrete components are avoided to provide the capacitive coupling between the radiating elements . in fig6 there is shown an alternative configuration of the radiating elements . in all aspects , this antenna device operates as the one described above with reference to fig2 and 2 a - c . in an alternative embodiment shown in fig7 , generally designated 100 , an additional third radiating element 140 is provided together with a second control input , designated v switch2 connected to the third radiating element via a low pass filter 142 . the third radiating element is connected to the second radiating element 120 by means of a second switch 144 in the form of a pin diode . also , in the embodiment shown in fig7 , the first radiating element 110 is connected to ground at a grounding portion 114 via a high pass filter 118 blocking dc signals . finally , the second radiating element 120 is connected to ground at a grounding portion 122 via a low pass filter 124 blocking rf signals . thus , in this embodiment , there are separate grounding portions for rf signals and dc ( i . e ., control ) signals . the antenna device of fig7 operates as follows . the first control voltage v switch functions as in the first embodiment shown in fig2 . thus , high voltage creates a current flowing through the first switch 130 and to ground through the low pass filter 124 . with the second control voltage v switch2 low , the second switch 144 is non - conductive . this means that the third radiating element 140 is effectively disconnected from the second radiating element , see fig7 a and 7 b . with the position of the feeding portion 112 and the first switch 130 open as in fig7 a , the first and second radiating elements 110 , 120 interconnected by means of the capacitor 132 resonates at a first frequency . with the first switch closed as in fig7 b , the combination of the first and second radiating elements resonates at a second frequency . with the second switch 144 closed as in fig7 c , 7 d , i . e ., with the second control voltage high , the combination of the first , second , and third radiating elements 110 , 120 , 140 resonates at a third or fourth frequency , depending on whether the first switch 130 is open or closed . thus , quad band operation is provided with this configuration . preferred embodiments of an antenna device according to the invention have been described . however , it will be appreciated that these can be varied within the scope of the appended claims . thus , a pin diode has been described as the switch element . it will be appreciated that other kinds of switch elements can be used as well . the radiating elements in fig2 , 3 , and 7 have been described as being essentially planar and generally rectangular . it will be appreciated that the radiating elements can take any suitable shape , such as being bent to conform with the casing of the portable radio communication device in which the antenna device is mounted . one switch has been shown to interconnect two radiating elements . it will be appreciated that more than one switch , such as several parallel pin diodes can be used without deviating from the inventive idea .	7
fig1 illustrates the paper feeder of the present invention and referred to by the general reference numeral 10 . the paper feeder 10 is shown above a printer 20 with which it is adapted for engaging . the printer 20 includes a square drive shaft 22 about which is secured a pair of friction feed roller assemblies 24 . the drive shaft 22 , friction feed roller assemblies 24 and printer 20 , in general , are disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 417 , 825 issued to cushman et al . and assigned to the same assignee as the present invention and incorporated herein by reference . the operation of the drive shaft 22 , friction feed roller assemblies 24 and the lower friction feed roller ( not shown ) are fully described therein . the printer 20 further includes a guide rod 26 and an index bar 28 . the printer 20 is generally enclosed by a rigid plastic or metal housing 32 . attached to each friction feed roller assembly 24 , about the inside surfaces thereof , is a friction feed gear 34 which is coaxial with the friction feed roller assemblies 24 about the square drive shaft 22 . the friction feed gears 34 are slightly smaller in diameter than the friction feed rollers 24 to ensure unimpaired functioning of a driving surface 35 thereof . the friction feed gears 34 are formed of a plastic material and are unitary with the friction feed rollers 24 . the paper feeder 10 slidably fits over the friction feed roller assemblies 24 of the printer 20 and is powered by the printer drive shaft 22 via the friction feed gears 34 . the paper feeder 10 includes a pair of mirror image side plates 40 illustrated in fig2 a - 2c which are secured to opposite lateral ends of a main deflector 42 . the side plates 40 may additionally be secured by a tie rod ( not shown ) extending therebetween . also secured to and between the side plates 40 is an input paper support 44 , illustrated also in fig3 . the input paper support 44 is l - shaped , having a lower projecting lip 45 as shown in fig2 a - 2c and extends the full width of the feeder 10 . pivotably mounted between the side plates 40 and partially resting within the input paper support 44 is a pair of mirror image paper guides 46a and 46b . the paper guides 46a and 46b are flat , generally rectangular plates and include flanges 48 formed on each back side surface for inserting a pivot bar 50 therethrough . the paper guides 46a and 46b further include at each outside edge an integral side flange 52 extending forward from the paper guides 46a and 46b . both flanges 48 and 52 extend perpendicularly to the plane of the paper guides 46a and 46b . the pivot bar 50 extends between each side plate 40 near the top portions thereof and through apertures in the flanges 48 . a lock nut assembly 54 is secured to the flange 48 of the paper guide 46b and over the pivot bar 50 . this lock nut assembly 54 allows for lateral positioning of the paper guide 46b on the shaft 50 to accommodate varying paper sizes . for example , customarily used european letter size paper is approximately one - quarter of an inch narrower than that customarily used in the united states , and can be accommodated thereby . if lateral adjustability is not desired , the paper guides 46a and 46b may be a single unitary piece , and the lock nut assembly 54 omitted . as shown in fig2 a - 2c and 3 , each paper guide 46a and 46b is biased outwardly , away from the input paper support 44 by means of a pair of springs 56 , interposed between the paper support 44 and each paper guide 46a and 46b . each spring 56 rests in a cup 57 , affixed to the input paper support 44 . it may be noted that while spring tension in the feeder 10 is fixed , it may be adjusted by simply moving the spring 56 or cup 57 relative to the paper guides 46a and 46b . for example , the lip of the cup may be shimmed to bring it closer to the paper guide , thus increasing spring tension . the paper guides 46a and 46b are thus urged forward away from the input paper tray 44 about the pivot bar 50 . the forward position is the operational position for feeding paper into a printer , and the backward position is employed to load sheets of paper into the feeder 10 . these positions are illustrated by fig2 a and 2b , respectively . to simplify loading , a keeper rod 58 extends across the width of the feeder 10 , parallel to the pivot bar 50 , and fits into an l - shaped slot 60 formed into each side plate 40 . when the keeper rod 58 is pushed back , it contacts the flanges 52 of the paper guides 46a and 46b and urges the paper guides 46a and 46b back with it . when the keeper bar 58 is pushed into the lower lip of the l - shaped slot 60 the paper guides 46a and 46b are locked in their rearmost position ( see fig2 b ). when the keeper rod 58 is freed from the lower lip of the l - shaped slots 60 , the paper guides 46a and 46b are allowed to come fully forward ( see fig2 a ) to ensure that all paper carried thereon is fed into the printer 20 . just below and parallel to the keeper bar 58 is a first drive shaft 62 , rotatably mounted between the side plates 40 . affixed to and coaxial with the first drive shaft is a pair of drive rollers 64 . each drive roller 64 is laterally aligned about a midpoint of the width of each paper guide 46a and 46b . the drive roller 64 associated with the paper guide 46b may be slightly off center towards the paper guide 46a , to accommodate both customary sized american and european letter paper . the first drive shaft 62 and hence drive rollers 64 are rotatably driven by the friction feed gear 34 . located near the bottom of the main deflector 42 , rotatably mounted and parallel with the pressure bail 62 is a second drive shaft 66 . a first drive gear 68 is secured to the second drive shaft 66 near a left side thereof . the drive gear 68 is aligned to mesh with the friction feed gear 34 of the printer 20 . a second drive gear 69 , illustrated in fig2 c and 3 is affixed to the end of and coaxial with the second drive shaft 66 , and rests against the left side plate 40 . gears 68 and 69 are of the same diameter and teeth number . mounted on the side plate 40 and engaged with the second drive gear 69 is a gear train 70 , comprising a first idler gear 71 , a second idler gear 72 and a roller drive gear 74 . the gears 68 , 69 , 71 , 72 and 74 may be fabricated of any suitably rigid strong material . for example , in the feeder 10 they are made of nylon . rotation is supplied to the first drive shaft 62 from the roller drive gear 74 through a pin 76 and key 78 , illustrated in fig4 . the pin 76 is a circular projection secured to , and perpendicular with the plane of the roller drive gear 74 , and rotates therewith around the axis of the first drive shaft 62 . a first end of the drive shaft 62 extends through the side plate 40 on which the gear train 70 is mounted and is formed with a d - shaped cross - section . the key 78 includes a similarly d - shaped central aperture to snugly lock onto the first drive shaft 62 . as the roller drive gear 74 rotates , the pin 76 contacts the key 78 , thus transmitting the rotary motion of the gear 74 to the first drive shaft 62 and drive rollers 64 . the pin 76 occupies only about twenty degrees of arc of the circular gear 74 . over the remaining approximate three hundred and forty degrees of travel , the pin 76 does not contact the key 78 , thus no motion is supplied to the first drive shaft 62 . this feature serves to automatically regulate the feed spacing between individual sheets of paper during feeding . other methods , for example a one - way clutch , may also be utilized of transferring motion from the roller drive gear 74 to the first drive shaft 62 . in the feeder 10 the pin 76 is fabricated as a unitary molded piece with the roller drive gear 74 . the gear train 70 is enclosed by a cover 80 which is secured to the side plate 40 and is generally congruent in dimensions therewith . a cover 80 is also placed about the right side plate 40 for symmetry of appearance . referring again to fig1 a main deflector 42 includes a generally flat , horizontally oriented upper surface 82 , a pair of generally flat , vertically oriented front surfaces 83 , a curved lower surface 85 , deflector 42 is positioned so that a slot 87 exists between the back extension 86 and the paper guides 46a and 46b when in their forward position . paper is driven - by the drive rollers 64 through the slot 87 into the printer 20 . when the paper emerges from the printer 20 it will be directed upwards by the action of the printer friction feed rollers 24 . the curved lower surface 85 of the deflector 42 is designed to deflect the paper horizontally outward from the feeder 10 . the angle of the deflector surface 85 in the feeder 10 is about thirty - five degrees , although this angle is not critical . deflection and proper outfeed of the paper is aided by an upper deflector 88 which is an angled bracket , attached to the front deflector surface 83 and angled slightly downwardly from the vertical . each side plate 40 terminates in its lower end in a tapered mounting guide 89 , which includes a slot 90 and a mounting notch 92 formed therein , as illustrated in fig2 a - 2c . the large slot 90 is adapted for clearing the square drive shaft 22 of the printer 20 . the mounting notch 92 locks the feeder 10 to the guide rod 26 of the printer 20 . the feeder 10 thus rests on the printer 20 , with the tapered mounting guides 89 in contact with the guide rod 26 and the covers 80 resting atop the printer housing 32 . as illustrated in fig1 the deflector assembly 42 includes in the lower curved surface 85 a pair of steps 94 . these steps 94 are spaced to fit over the friction feed roller assemblies 35 when the feeder is placed about the printer 20 . the first drive gear 68 extends slightly into the left step 94 so that it may contact the friction feed gear 34 . the curved , tapered rear extension 86 of the main deflector 42 extends downward , and slightly backwards , and terminates at a point just below the lower ends of the tapered mounting guides 89 . a printer of the type described in cushman et al ., having the capability of advancing both individual cut sheets or a continuous web of print medium , includes a paper tensioner ( not shown ) within the printer to supply tension to a continuous web of print medium . when the feeder 10 is utilized with such a printer , the rear extension 86 is adapted to contact and cam back the paper tensioner to ensure smooth infeeding of the individual sheets . as illustrated in fig2 c and 5 , an output paper tray 98 is provided which may be inserted under a pair of steps 100 formed into the front portions of the tapered mounting guides 89 of the side plates 40 . the output paper tray 98 is formed of any suitable lightweight material and in the apparatus 10 is plastic . the tray 98 includes a notch 101 at each lateral end thereof for engaging the steps 100 and simply rests on top of the printer 20 , shown in phantom in fig2 c aided by a pair of feet 102 attached to the underside of the tray 98 . pivotably attached to the paper guides 46a and 46b are a pair of paper strippers 103 . these are generally l - shaped , as illustrated in fig1 a and 2b and extend downward on the outside of , and to a point just below each paper guide 46a and 46b . the strippers 103 are pivotably mounted at a flange 104 on the side of each paper guide 46a and 46b and extend downward to a point which is coplanar with the lip 45 of the paper tray 44 . at this point , the strippers 103 bend ninty degrees inwards to form a flat surface 105 which is about half of an inch long . projecting vertically upward from the flat surface 105 about the front side thereof is a triangular flag 106 . at each side of the l - shaped lip 45 of the input paper support 44 , there is formed a step 108 . these steps 108 are illustrated in fig2 a and 2b and allow the flat surfaces 105 of the paper strippers 103 to rest against the lip 45 when the paper guides 46a and 46b are in the retracted position . the strippers 103 further include flanges 110 which are formed to be coplanar with a v - shaped first drive shaft cutout 111 formed into each side flange 52 of the paper guides 46a and 46b . the feeder 10 may be formed of any strong , rigid , lightweight material and in the preferred embodiment is formed generally of steel , with the covers 80 formed of plastic . various parts may be nickle plated for durability and in the feeder 10 the paper guides 46a and 46b are so plated . any suitable , low friction material , such as plastic may be used as bearings to reduce frictional engagement of the drive shafts with their metal supports . the feeder 10 is designed to hold approximatly one hundred and eighty sheets of twenty pound paper , which may be standard or legal length . the feeder 10 is about five inches high , twelve inches wide and fourteen inches long , but it may be constructed in any configuration to suit the desired paper size . operation of the feeder 10 is as follows . the feeder 10 is placed about a printer 20 , with the slots 90 of the tapered mounting guides 89 clearing the drive shaft 22 , and the notches 92 secured to the guide rod 26 . the drive gear 68 is meshed with the friction feed gear 34 . the output paper tray 98 is inserted under the steps 100 of the side plates 40 , and rests atop the printer 20 . the keeper bar 58 is manually pushed back , locking the paper trays 46a and 46b for loading . paper is loaded into the feeder 10 . the paper tray 46b may be adjusted , using the lock nut assembly 54 , to the desired width . the keeper bar 58 is released , allowing the springs 56 to urge the paper guides 46a and 46b into contact with the drive rollers 64 . when the printer 20 begins its paper feed sequence , rotary motion is supplied to the roller drive gear 74 from the friction feed gear 34 through the gear train 70 . when the pin 76 hits the key 78 , the drive rollers will begin driving a sheet of paper out of the paper trays 46a and 46b , through the paper strippers 103 , and slot 87 and into the printer 20 . until picked up by the printer friction feed rollers 24 the paper is driven solely by the drive rollers 64 . the friction feed rollers 24 drive the paper at a slightly faster rate than the drive rollers 64 . when the paper engages the friction feed rollers 24 , the key 78 will rotate slightly ahead of the pin 76 and will no longer be driven thereby . the pin 76 continues to circle , however , driven by the gear train 70 . when the paper becomes fully disengaged from the pressure rollers 64 the key 78 stops . this automatically spaces the next sheet as no motion will be supplied to it until the pin 76 again catches up to the key 76 . for an eleven inch sheet , this results in a spacing gap of about two inches . note that the pin 76 and key 78 allow an operator to maintain this spacing even after reverse feeding the sheet . because the pin 76 must contact the key 78 , the spacing will be maintained following reverse feeding since the drive rollers 64 will not be driven until the pin 76 again contacts the key 78 . this feature allows for reverse feeding at least two or more lines without interrupting the spacing sequence . upon emerging from the printer 20 the sheet of paper contacts the lower curved deflector surface 85 and the upper deflector 88 and falls partially into the output paper tray 98 . the trailing edge of the sheet is still within the main deflector 42 however . the leading edge of the next sheet to emerge from the printer 20 will contact the trailing edge of the former sheet and bump it fully out onto the output paper tray 98 . the process is repeated by each succeeding sheet until the output is completed . each sheet emerging from the printer falls face down onto the output paper tray , and on top of the preceeding sheet . the papers are thus automatically collated as they emerge . although the present invention has been described in terms of the presently preferred embodiment , it is to be understood that such disclosure is not to be interpreted as limiting . various alterations and modifications will no doubt become apparent to those skilled in the art after having read the above disclosure . accordingly , it is intended that the appended claims be interpreted as covering all alterations and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention .	1
the nitrile containing elastomers contemplated for use by the present invention may be any such elastomer which is compatible with the vinylidene chloride polymer used . exemplary of such materials are the rubbery copolymers of between about 80 to 50 weight percent 1 , 3 - butadiene and about 20 to 50 weight percent acrylonitrile or methacrylonitrile . especially preferred are those rubbery copolymers containing from about 70 to 74 weight percent 1 , 3 - butadiene and about 30 to 26 weight percent acrylonitrile . the normally crystalline vinylidene chloride polymers applicable for the purposes of the present invention include any such polymer capable of being present in a substantially dry , powdered form while having crystalline melting peaks of at least about 175 ° c ., as determined by differential thermal analysis . exemplary of an especially preferred material is the homopolymer of vinylidene chloride . also useful , however , are those polymers containing at least about 70 weight percent of vinylidene chloride in the polymer molecule with the remainder of such molecule consisting of one or more ethylenically unsaturated comonomers . exemplary of such comonomers are vinyl chloride , vinyl acetate , vinyl propionate , acrylonitrile , acrylic acid , maleic acid , fumaric acid , itaconic acid , anhydrides of these acids , alkyl and aralkyl esters , having 8 or fewer atoms of carbon , of these acids , acrylamide , vinyl alkyl ethers , vinyl alkyl ketones , acrylein , allyl esters and ethers , butadiene , chloroprene , and 2 , 3 - dichlorobutadiene . the volatile solvent used may be any material which dissolves the nitrile containing elastomer and which is a nonsolvent for the normally crystalline vinylidene chloride polymer . an especially preferred material is methylene chloride . the polymer blends of the present invention may further include , if desired , plasticizers such as dioctyl phthalate or dibutyl sebacate and the like , generally in the range of about 2 to 10 percent by weight of the blend . such blends may also include usual amounts of antioxidants , light stabilizers and small amounts of other modifying polymers such as copolymers of vinylidene chloride with acrylonitrile , vinyl chloride or acrylates , while maintaining significantly enhanced clarity , continuity , flexibility and barrier properties over similar blends prepared by prior known methods . in the process of the present invention , it is critical that a solution of the nitrile containing elastomer be substantially homogeneously admixed with dry , powdered vinylidene chloride polymer . this may be accomplished by admixing a solution of such elastomer with powdered preformed vinylidene chloride polymer or by mass polymerizing vinylidene chloride monomer in the presence of the prescribed solution of nitrile containing elastomer . the following examples , in which all percentages and parts are by weight , illustrate the present invention : a polyvinylidene chloride polymer was prepared by polymerizing 800 ml . of vinylidene chloride monomer in the presence of 2 ml . of isopropylpercarbonate at a temperature of about 20 ° c . while under nitrogen gas . after about 16 hours of reaction time , 1600 ml . of benzene was added and the polymerization reaction was continued for a total reaction time of about 48 hours . the polymer was then washed with pentane , filtered and dried . such polymer was characterized by having crystalline melting peaks at about 200 ° c . as determined by differential thermal analysis , and having a surface area , as determined by nitrogen adsorption , of 98 . 9 meters 2 / gram . a rubbery copolymer of about 70 to 84 percent by weight 1 , 3 - butadiene and about 30 to 26 percent by weight acrylonitrile having a mooney viscosity , ml - 4 at 212 ° f . of about 50 was then dissolved in methylene chloride to form a solution containing 0 . 074 gram of rubber per gram of solution . thereafter , 12 . 34 grams of the above solution was added to 10 grams of the above described dry polyvinylidene chloride powder and blended therewith in a high speed stirrer for a period of 3 to 5 minutes . the methylene chloride was removed by vacuum drying at a temperature of between about 45 ° to 50 ° c . over a period of about 16 hours . the resulting blend contained 8 . 4 percent by weight rubber . in several additional experiments , using the above - described techniques , blends containing 3 . 8 percent by weight rubber and 19 . 6 percent by weight rubber were also prepared . individual samples of each blend were then separately formed into individual compression moldings by placing the powder between opposed platens preheated to 205 ° c . for a period of about 25 seconds , without significant pressure , then increasing the pressure to about 20 , 000 p . s . i . over a period of from about 5 to 7 seconds . the resulting molded articles comprised a continuous phase of pure polyvinylidene chloride having crystalline melting peaks at about 200 ° c . as evidenced by the starting polymer , and containing randomly dispersed islands of polymeric modifier . table i______________________________________physical properties ofpolyvinylidene chloride polymers rubber modified unmod - (% rubber ) ified 3 . 8 8 . 4 19 . 6______________________________________clarity clear clear clear clearhand flex breaks no no no13 mil break break breaksheets ( 25 ° c .) tensile 2 , 432 4 , 254 4 , 130 3 , 137strength ( p . s . i ., 25 ° c .) modulus 231 , 846 88 , 756 70 , 318 49 , 074 ( 25 ° c . )% elong - 3 . 2 7 . 7 15 . 1 17 . 2ation ( 25 ° c . )% elong - -- 1 . 7 7 . 2 10 . 26ation (- 12 ° c .) barrier . 030 . 14 . 80 4 . 0to oxy - gen gasat 25 ° c .. sup . ( 1 ) melting 200 200 200 200pt . ( d . t . a . )° c .. sup . ( 2 ) tg ° c .. sup . ( 3 ) - 4 - 14 - 25 - 28______________________________________ . sup . ( 1 ) barrier constant permeability to o . sub . 2 in cc . of gas / 100 in .. sup . 2 / atm ./ day / mil . . sup . ( 2 ) d . t . a . - differential thermal analysis . . sup . ( 3 ) tg - glass transition temperature as determined by differential thermal analysis . the tg value for the elastomer used was - 40 ° c . the procedure of example 1 was repeated but using a copolymer of 85 weight percent vinylidene chloride and 15 weight percent vinyl chloride said copolymer having a crystalline melting point of 176 ° c . and a tg of - 1 ° c . admixed with a methylene chloride solution containing , in one instance , 0 . 125 gram and , in another instance , 0 . 138 gram of 1 , 3 - butadiene / acrylonitrile copolymer per gram of solution ; to form blends containing 5 . 6 weight percent and 12 . 7 weight percent of 1 , 3 - butadiene / acrylonitrile copolymer , respectively . these materials each formed clear molded sheets having significantly greater flexibility than the starting vinylidene chloride copolymer . the blend containing 12 . 7 weight percent rubber was characterized by a crystalline melting point ( tm ) of 167 ° c . and a glass transition temperature ( tg ) of - 6 ° c . the above data illustrate the remarkable combination of excellent clarity , barrier properties , flexibility and physical strength of the shaped articles obtained according to the process of the present invention . such properties are believed to result from the hereinbefore described unique structure of such polymeric compositions , wherein there exists a continuous phase of vinylidene chloride polymer , having crystalline melting peaks which are substantially identical to those observed in the starting vinylidene chloride polymer , and wherein the rubbery copolymer is randomly dispersed therein , i . e ., where the rubbery copolymer is imbibed into the porous vinylidene chloride polymer without solvation of the crystalline polymer . the data of the above examples further illustrates the large degree of improvement in physical properties imparted to the normally brittle , unmodified normally crystalline vinylidene chloride polymer when using even small amounts of nitrile containing elastomer . further , the permanence of such improvements with time and heat treatment is an important attribute of the present invention . by way of illustration , the molded sheets prepared as described in examples 1 and 2 herein retain their excellent clarity and flexibility even after being heated at a temperature of about 100 ° c . for a 5 - hour period , as well as after being stored at normal room conditions for a period exceeding about four months . by way of comparison , molded sheets prepared as described in examples 1 and 2 but using either conventional chlorinated polyethylene or polyurethanes as the modifying copolymer , did not provide the sheet structures having the same continuity and were characterized by significantly reduced clarity . further , by way of comparison , sheet structures prepared by admixing the specified vinylidene chloride polymer and 1 , 3 - butadiene / acrylonitrile copolymer of examples 1 and 2 , but wherein such materials were both in powder form when admixed , were also characterized by significantly reduced continuity and clarity . the shaped articles produced by the present invention have been specifically illustrated as compression molded film materials . it is to be understood that such articles may be in various configurations , e . g ., as injection molded or extruded articles , providing the required method of blending and subsequent heating and pressure conditions are adhered to . the articles obtained by the present invention find wide usage in the packaging industry , e . g ., as meat wrapping materials for low temperature storage as well as for the bottling of carbonated beverages .	2
currently , most manufacturers use the micro - cup with polarization rays alignment technology of the lcd mode ( as va , tn or homogeneous ) to produce flexible lcds . fig1 shows a process flow for embossed micro - grooves and spacing wall of the present invention comprising a thermoplastic material 10 , a conductive film 12 and a mold 14 . fig1 a shows a detail of part a of the fig1 . the surface of the mold includes a plurality of micro - grooves 16 . the thermoplastic material 10 is embossed and heated to form said plurality of micro - grooves and wall of the mold 14 simultaneously . fig1 b shows a detail of part b of the fig1 . fig1 b is said plurality of micro - grooves after being embossed . fig1 c shows a detail of another part b of the fig1 . fig1 c shows another plurality of micro - grooves 36 after being embossed . another plurality of micro - grooves is a plurality of protrusions . fig2 shows a flowchart of a method of aligning the embossed micro - grooves and wall of the present invention , comprising : coating a thermoplastic material on a conductive film ( s 100 ); heat embossing a plurality of micro - grooves and wall formed by a mold ( s 102 ); wherein the surface of said mold with said plurality of micro - grooves is formed and located inside a plurality of display locations and forming said plurality of spacing wall for supporting cell gap and micro - groove for aligning lc ( s 104 ). fig3 shows a process flow of embossing micro - grooves and wall with ultraviolet light according to the present invention , comprising an ultraviolet seal material 18 , a conductive film 12 , a mold 14 and ultraviolet light 20 . wherein the surface of the mold is a plurality of micro - grooves 16 . the ultraviolet seal material is embossed and the ultraviolet light and the mold 14 simultaneously forms said plurality of spacing wall for supporting cell gap and micro - groove for aligning lc . fig4 shows a flowchart of a method aligning the embossed micro - grooves and wall with ultraviolet light according to the present invention , comprising : coating an photo - curable polymer material on a conductive film ( s 200 ); embossing a plurality of micro - grooves and wall formed by mold ( s 202 ), wherein the surface of said mold and said plurality of micro - grooves is formed and located inside a plurality of display locations ; sealing said plurality of micro - grooves and wall exposures by a plurality of ultraviolet light ( s 204 ); forming said plurality of spacing wall for supporting cell gap and micro - groove for aligning lc ( s 206 ). fig5 shows a process flow of making micro - grooves and wall with a gray scale mask of the present invention , comprising a photo resistant layer 38 , a conductive film 12 , a light source 20 and a gray scale mask 22 . the photo resistant layer 38 through said light source 20 and said gray scale mask 22 makes said plurality of micro - grooves 16 . fig5 a shows a detail of part a of the fig5 . fig5 b shows another detail of part a of the fig5 . fig5 b shows another plurality of micro - grooves 36 after being embossed . in this embodiment they are a plurality of protrusions . the photo resistant layer develops said plurality of micro - grooves by a development process 24 . finally , after being developed , said plurality of micro - grooves is sealed by a baking process 26 . fig6 shows a flowchart of a method of making the micro - grooves and wall with a gray scale mask according to the present invention , comprising : coating a photo resistant layer on a conductive film ( s 300 ); exposing said photo resistant layer and using a gray mask to form a plurality of micro - grooves and wall ( s 302 ); developing said plurality of micro - grooves and wall formed after said exposure processed ( s 304 ), wherein said exposure rays are photolithographic ; baking said plurality of micro - grooves to seal a plurality of micro - grooves and wall ( s 306 ), wherein said plurality of micro - grooves is located inside a plurality of display locations ; forming said plurality of spacing wall for supporting cell gap and micro - groove for aligning lc ( s 308 ). fig7 shows a process flow of making micro - grooves with a rubber roller of the present invention , comprising a thermoplastic material 10 , a conductive film 12 , gravure 28 and a roller aligner 30 . wherein the surface of the roller structure of the gravure 28 is a hollowed out pit and sets an alignment solvent injection apparatus 280 inside said pit . fig7 a shows a detail of part a of the fig7 . the pits of the roller structure are injected with an alignment material 282 . the thermoplastic material 10 thermal embosses micro - cell walls and applies pressure to said gravure 28 simultaneously . the pit of the roller structure injects said alignment material inside said micro - cell . wherein the surface of the pit of the roller structure includes a porous film . fig7 b shows a top - view chart of the bottom of the fig7 a . the plurality of micro - cells with the aligned alignment material is formed by the process of roller rubbing alignment . fig8 shows a flowchart of a method of alignment when making micro - grooves with the rubber roller of the present invention , comprising : coating a thermoplastic material on a conductive film ( s 400 ); thermal embossing a wall structure by a mold ( the mold is a hollow structure filled with an alignment material ( s 402 ); applying pressure to squeeze the alignment material out from the mold while thermal embossing the wall structure ( s 404 ), wherein said surfaces of the pits of the roller structure include a porous film ; printing the photo - alignment solvent onto the display locations of the micro - grooves ( s 406 ); aligning the alignment material in the display locations by friction ( s 408 ); and completing the micro - grooves having an alignment function ( s 410 ). fig9 shows a process flow of making micro - grooves with the rubber roller of the present invention , comprising thermoplastic material 10 , conductive film 12 , a gravure 28 , ultraviolet light 32 and a polarization mask 34 . the surface of the roller structure of the gravure 28 is a hollowed out pit and an alignment material injection apparatus 280 injects a plurality of photo - alignment material 282 inside the space of said pit . the thermoplastic material 10 thermal embosses the micro - cell walls and applies pressure to said gravure 28 simultaneous . the pit of the roller structure injects said photo - alignment material inside said micro - cells . the polarized ultraviolet light exposure said plurality of photo - alignment material inside said micro - cells and forms said plurality of aligned micro - cells . fig1 shows a flowchart of a method of alignment when making aligned micro - cell with the rubber roller of the present invention , comprising : coating a thermoplastic material onto a conductive film ( s 500 ); thermal embossing a wall structure by a mold ( the mold is a hollow structure filled with an alignment material ( s 502 ); applying pressure to squeeze the alignment material out from the mold while thermal embossing the wall structure ( s 504 ), wherein said photo - alignment solvent is a photo - alignment material , and the surface of the pit of the roller structure includes a porous film ; printing the photo - alignment solvent onto the display locations of the micro - grooves ( s 506 ); completing the photo - aligning by using ultraviolet light and linear polarization mask . ( s 508 ); and completing the micro - cells having an alignment function ( s 510 ). fig1 shows a process flow of making aligned micro - cells with polarization ultraviolet light according to the present invention , comprising ultraviolet seal material 18 , conductive film 12 , a mold 14 , polarized ultraviolet light 32 and a polarization mask 34 . the photo curable material 18 is embossed by said mold 14 . at this stage the surface ultraviolet seal material 18 that is aligned with the polarization ultraviolet light 32 becomes solid . the sections of the photo curable material 18 that were aligned with the polarization ultraviolet light 32 , and therefore protected by the polarization mask 34 , remain flexible . in this way , a plurality of aligned micro - cell is formed . fig1 shows a flowchart of a method of making aligned micro - cell with polarized ultraviolet light according to the present invention , comprising : coating a photo - curable polymer onto a conductive film ( s 600 ); producing a micro - cell structure by a mold , and completing the solidification and alignment by uv light and linear polarization mask ( s 602 ), wherein the surface of said mold forms said plurality of micro - cells ; and completing the micro - cells having an alignment function . ( s 604 ). to sum up , the alignment technology and micro - cells are integrated into the roll - to - roll process . thus , a flexible lcd is made for a lower cost and with a better display quality . although the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments 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 others will occur to those of ordinary skill in the art . therefore , all such substitutions and modifications are intended to be embraced within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims .	6
the present invention is a method of compacting eps by bringing the eps in contact with a liquid composed of at least one component with solving power in respect of polystyrene and at least one component without solving power in respect of polystyrene . the following definitions apply to the invention : the phrase &# 34 ; component with solving power in respect of a polymer &# 34 ; means that a component has solving power if , in the liquid state , it weakens the bonds between the molecules of a submerged polymer in such a way that these molecules lose their mutual coherence and as a final consequence a one - phase system arises with fluid or semi - fluid properties , in which the molecules are , more or less , homogeneously distributed over the entire system volume . things to be considered include the temperature range in which the method is applied . in the examples &# 34 ; a component with solving power in respect of polystyrene &# 34 ; is simply referred to as &# 34 ; a solver &# 34 ;. the solver of polystyrene may be ( i ) an aromatic hydrocarbon constituted of 1 , 2 , 3 or 4 benzene rings with or without substitution in a nucleus or side chain thereof and homologues thereof ; ( ii ) an aromatic compound with keto -, ether - or ester structure ; ( iii ) a heterocyclic compound with one or more oxygen atoms in the ring ; ( iv ) an acyclic compound ; ( v ) an aliphatic ketone , ether or ester ;( vi ) an aliphatic unsaturated compound or ( vii ) a halogenated hydrocarbon . the phrase &# 34 ; component without solving power in respect of a polymer &# 34 ; means that component has no solving power if , in the liquid state , it is not capable of weakening the bonds between the molecules of a submerged polymer in such a way that these molecules lose their mutual coherence . what remains after prolonged time is a 2 - phase system comprised of an inactive liquid phase and an unaltered solid phase that may be somewhat swollen at the most due to the imbibition of liquid molecules in the polymer matrix . in the examples &# 34 ; a component without solving power in respect to polystyrene &# 34 ; is simply referred to as &# 34 ; a non - solver &# 34 ;. the non - solver of polystyrene may be ( i ) water , ( ii ) an aliphatic saturated monohydric alcohol or ( iii ) an aliphatic saturated hydrocarbon . it is the embodiment of the invention that by a convenient choice of the composing components and their mutual ratios the liquid obtains the following properties . eps , contacted with it , shrivels up but does not solve , on the contrary , what arises is a 2 - phase system characterized by the existence of a polymer phase that is very strongly reduced in volume which phase exits in a semifluid pasty or doughy state and that does not take up more liquid than necessary for the existence of said phase and by the existence of a polymer free liquid phase that , more or less , keeps the full power of absorbing freshly added eps in an unaltered fast rate . this is in contradistinction to real solvents in which the rate of take - up is fast in the beginning but which rate slows down gradually as the polymer concentration of the solution increases . there is a triangular interaction between polymer , solver component ( s ) and non - solver component ( s ). the solver molecules , on one hand , exhibit strong interaction with the polymer molecules , on the other hand , they show interactions with the non - solver molecules . the non - solver molecules , however , avoid interaction with the polymer molecules . the stable situation is not the homogeneous molecular distribution over the entire system volume but a limitation of the triangular interactions to a part of the system &# 39 ; s volume that is as small as possible and that , therefore , has maximum polymer concentration . in this situation the solver molecules are able to abolish the matrix structure of the polymer enabling said polymer to pass into the liquid state , but the presence of the non - solver molecules prevents a homogeneous distribution over the entire system volume . the properties of the semifluid polymer phase are adjustable by variation of the ratios of the composing components . at maximum percentage of a solver component the polymer phase has the lowest viscosity and to some extent exhibits sticky properties . the quantity of this percentage depends upon the choice of the components that compose the system . in this situation the compacting rate is at a maximum related to the chosen system . at maximum percentage of a non - solver component the polymer phase has the highest viscosity but no tendency to stickiness . the quantity of this percentage depends upon the choice of the components that compose the system . in this situation the compacting rate is at a minimum related to the chosen system . it is always possible to find a working range within those limits in which the polymer phase is optimal in respect of compacting rate , pumpability and tendency for the equipment to become filthy . the position of working range and limits are dependent on the temperature at which the method is carried out . in general , at higher temperatures there is a shift towards a higher share of non - solver component ( s ). 1 . the asorbtion of eps proceeds in an unaltered fast rate from the first up to the last addition . 2 . a location for compacting can always be disposed of the compact polymer phase at its maximum concentration without the need for total consumption of the liquid first . 3 . a tank - vehicle can , by pushing aside of phases , with the use of only one tank compartment withdraw the polymer phase and add back the make - up of compacting liquid at the same time and vice versa . 4 . a compacting unit is preferably provided with a sieve on which the eps is dumped . the compacted polymer phase sinks through the mesh while the coarse contaminations remain on top of the sieve without degenerating to a sticky mass . 5 . the polymer concentration being at a maximum ensures that in the connected processing the amount of liquid to be recovered is at a minimum . 6 . the stickiness of the compacted mass being at a minimum is advantageous in the performing of the method , the connected transport and the further processing of the said mass . 7 . the compacted polymer phase has good pumpability and can be withdrawn from solid contaminations by filtering . 8 . blowing agents , whenever present , can be solved in the polymer phase and thus be kept out of the environment . 9 . the invention makes possible a wide choice of the composing components , depending upon the market situation in respect of availability of components , the scale of performing the compacting method , the level of fire risk , operative environmental and safety requirements and the kind of the further processing of the compacted mass . 10 . the compacted mass is suitable for physical processing to ps as well as for chemical processing to styrene monomer and other chemical materials . 11 . by a suitable choice of the composing components of the liquid phase , these components can be recovered simply and nearly completely in the processing as stated above . the purpose of the invention shall be illustrated in the following examples , and it will be clear that the scope of the invention includes more than what is made explicit in the examples . to 100 gr methylethylketone , eps is added . at first the eps is absorbed by the liquid at a very fast rate , but , as the concentration of eps in the solution rises the rate of absorbtion slows down progressively . in the end the process stops at 50 - 55 gr eps absorbed . the highly viscous fluid mass exhibits very sticky properties . yet from the first addition of eps there is the origin of only one homogeneous phase in which the viscosity increases as more eps is added . comparable effects appear when use is made of , e . g ., styrene , toluene , ethylacetate , methylisobutylketone , 1 , 1 , 1 - trichloroethane , etc . concerns the effect of a liquid comprised of one solver and one non - solver . acetone , as it is sold in technical quality , contains about 0 . 3 % water . in this case there is the question of a system comprised of acetone being a solver and water being a non - solver . to 100 gr acetone of technical quality , eps is added . the eps is absorbed at a very fast rate , but , at present no homogeneous solution is obtained . a 2 - phase system is produced including in one phase , a compact semifluid polymer phase which is highly viscous but nevertheless has good fluid properties and a second polymer - free liquid phase that is capable for absorbing eps undiminished as fast as before . since part of the liquid is needed to bring about the fluid polymer phase , the available polymer - free liquid diminishes as the addition of eps continues . as soon as all the liquid is used up , a paste is obtained that contains 85 to 90 gr ps . this amount of ps has not been approached by whatever pure solvent system . the influence of water as a non - solver is extremely strong in this system as will be demonstrated in a later example . concerns the effect of other liquid systems , also again comprised of only one solver and one non - solver . 1 . to 90 gr methylethylketone , 10 gr water is added . eps is added to the thus obtained liquid . also in this case eps is absorbed in the liquid at a fast rate and a 2 - phase system is obtained comprised of a semifluid polymer phase and a polymer - free liquid phase , completely analogous with example 2 . the total amount of eps added , 80 to 85 gr , is comparable to the amount as with example 2 . 2 . liquid comprised of 25 % methanol ( non - solver ) and 75 % methylethylketone ( solver ): a 2 - phase system is obtained having a semifluid polymer phase and a polymer - free liquid phase . 3 . liquid comprised of 25 % methanol ( non - solver ) and 75 % ethylacetate ( solver ): a 2 - phase system is obtained having a semifluid polymer phase and a polymer - free liquid phase . 4 . liquid comprised of 85 % dioxane ( solver ) and 15 % water ( non - solver ): a 2 - phase system is obtained having a semifluid polymer phase and a polymer - free liquid phase . concerns liquid systems comprised of one solver and more than one non - solver . in all cases a 2 - phase system is obtained characterized by a highly concentrated semifluid polymer phase and a polymer - free liquid phase to which eps can be added until all liquid is used up . 1 . liquid comprised of 20 % toluene ( solver ) and 80 % refined spirit ( mixture of saturated aliphatic hydrocarbons with boiling range 107 ° c . to 138 ° c . all of which are non - solvers ). 2 . liquid comprised of 20 % 1 , 1 , 1 - trichloroethane ( solver ) and 80 % refined spirit ( mixture of saturated aliphatic hydrocarbons , all of which are non - solvers ). 3 . concerned is an example that shows that a system component in the pure state that does not necessarily have to be a liquid . to 80 gr refined spirit ( mixture of non - solvers ) is added 20 gr naphthalene ( solver ) that has been solved in the refined spirit by heating to 50 ° c . after cooling to ambient temperature the liquid behaves according to the invention . 4 . liquid comprised of 85 % refined spirit ( non - solvers ) and styrene ( solver ). concerned are liquid systems that are composed of one non - solver and more than one solver . in all cases a 2 - phase system is obtained characterized by a highly concentrated polymer phase and a polymer - free liquid phase to which eps can be added continuously until all liquid has been used up . 1 . liquid comprised of 50 % isopropanol ( non - solver ), 20 % toluene ( solver ) and 30 % acetone ( solver ). 2 . liquid comprised of 10 % water ( non - solver ), 30 % styrene ( solver ) and 60 % acetone ( solver ). this example clearly shows how the extremely strong influence of water to the solving power of acetone , as will be shown in example 7 , can be forced back by the addition of a second solver with very high affinity towards ps . 100 gr of this liquid absorbs some 70 to 75 gr eps . concerned are systems comprised of more than one non - solver and more than one solver . all systems are characterized in that 2 - phase systems are obtained according to the invention . 1 . liquid comprised of 50 % refined spirit ( non - solvers ), 30 % acetone ( solver ) and 20 % toluene ( solver ). 2 . liquid comprised of 80 % refined spirit ( non - solvers ) and 20 % shellsol a ( a mixture of hydrocarbons that includes 98 % aromatics and which aromatics all belong to the solvers ). shellsol a has a boiling range of 166 ° c . to 185 ° c . liquid comprised of 40 % shellsol a ( 98 % aromatics , all solvers ) and 60 % white spirit d ( comprised of high boiling aliphatic hydrocarbons , all non - solvers ). white spirit d has a boiling range from 162 ° c . to 197 ° c . concerns the extreme influence of water ( non - solver ) in respect of acetone ( solver ) to the compacting power of this system . 1 . technical acetone contains 0 . 3 % water . this system has been examined in example 2 and it behaves completely according the invention . 2 . acetone whose water content is raised to 1 . 5 %. this system behaves completely according to the invention , hardly slower and 100 gr liquid absorbs some 80 to 85 gr eps . 3 . acetone whose water content is raised to 5 %. this system still behaves according to the invention but its activity has been diminished to a large extent . its activity is very slow and the obtained semifluid polymer phase has the consistency of dough that is hardly pumpable . 4 . acetone whose water content is raised to 15 %. this system behaves completely inactive . 5 . an example , at last , in which the water content of technical acetone has been lowered to less than 0 . 1 % by drying over silica gel . in this case a borderline case has been obtained in which a 2 - phase system still appears but the polymer phase has relatively low viscosity now and it also exhibits strong adhesive properties . the polymer phase is relatively transparent as compared to all other systems . concerns the influence of ratios and temperature in respect of certain systems that are completely composed of hydrocarbons . 1 . shellsol a ( mainly solvers ) and white spirit d ( totally non - solvers ), at which only the ratio is examined . in all cases 100 gr liquid absorbs some 90 gr eps . 35 % solvers and 65 % non - solvers . the process proceeds relatively slowly and the obtained polymer phase exists as a hardly pumpable dough that does not stick . 40 % solvers and 60 % non - solvers . the process proceeds faster and the polymer phase is more pumpable but still exhibits some tendency of stickiness . 45 % solvers and 65 % non - solvers . the system is optimal with respect of compacting rate , pumpability of polymer phase and acceptability of stickiness . 50 % solvers and 50 % non - solvers . the system behaves no longer in accordance with the invention . a homogeneous 1 - phase system is obtained with strong adhesive properties . 20 % styrene in refined spirit . the process is extremely fast and the obtained polymer phase has a relatively low viscosity . 10 % styrene in refined spirit . the process proceeds more slowly and the obtained polymer phase is highly viscous . 5 % styrene in refined spirit . the process is very slow and the obtained polymer phase has the consistency of a tough dough . 5 % styrene but the liquid is heated to 50 ° c . the process is as fast as in the case of 10 % styrene and the obtained polymer phase has a viscosity comparable to that case . a . 20 % naphthalene and 50 ° c . : very fast with polymer phase of very low viscosity and highly adhesive . b . same as a . but at ambient temperature : less fast and strong , yet good pumpable dough with less stickiness . c . 10 % naphthalene and 50 ° c . : very fast and better quality paste as with a . d . same as c . but at ambient temperature : slow process and tough dough . e . 5 % naphthalene and 50 ° c . : fast process and sturdy paste with low stickiness . f . same as e . but at ambient temperature : very slow process and very tough dough , less useful system to perform the method . in this case a variant of the method is concerned in which a liquid according to the invention and comprised of hydrocarbons is emulgated in water . to a liquid according to the invention , comprised of 20 gr shellsol a and 80 gr refined spirit , 20 gr oleic acid is added . while stirring , this mixture is added to 300 gr water in which sufficient spirit of ammonia is present to build a stable yet non - foaming emulsion . the thus obtained emulsion is more fire - safe than the use of pure hydrocarbon mixtures and also absorbs eps in that a milky - white homogeneous emulsion is obtained comprised of a countless number of microscopic systems that act according to the invention . the milky - white emulsion can be charged with eps to saturation and nevertheless remains of low viscosity . after charge , the emulsion is broken by neutralizing the system with diluted hydrochloric acid . after a first coalescence that leads to a separation in a water phase and an organic phase , the latter again shows a phenomenon of coacervation in that the highly concentrated polymer phase separates from the polymer - free organic phase . this organic phase does not absorb any additional eps and again can be emulgated with water containing ammonia . apparently the oleic acid molecules with the saturated aliphatics have created a phase that is widely disposed of aromatics . when the aromatic content of this phase is adjusted , the emulsion again behaves in accordance with the invention . concerned is the transport of paste and compacting liquid in one and the same tank component . in general the polymer phases obtained according the invention have higher densities than the compacting liquid itself , causing the semifluid polymer phase to collect at the bottom of a tank compartment . this fact offers the opportunity to use only one tank compartment to transport both compacting liquid and polymer phase . a transport vessel , total volume 30 ltrs , is filled with 15 ltrs compacting liquid . next a collecting tank , having a storage of paste on its bottom , is connected to this vessel and well in such a way that both bottoms are communicating . the transport vessel is provided with a so called &# 34 ; floating inlet &# 34 ; that enables the compacting liquid to be transferred by pumping to the collecting tank in that the level of the suction inlet is automatically adapted to the liquid level in the transport vessel . then the paste in the collecting tank is transferred by pumping to the transport vessel while at the same time a fresh supply of compacting liquid is transferred from transport vessel to collecting tank in an amount that compensates for the liquid withdrawn with the paste . 20 kg of the polymer paste obtained in example 4 , sub 1 is sucked in by a screw pump and pressed through a filtering unit . next the mass is transferred to a vacuum chamber by a conveyor screw during which passage the temperature of the mass is raised to over the melting temperature of ps , in order to degas the mass . the sucked off gases are condensed to recover the liquid . next the degassed polymer is withdrawn from the degassing chamber by an extrusion screw and processed to granules for injection molding via pressing through a strandforming die . concerns the processing of the obtained compacted mass to monomer styrene and other chemical materials . to 400 gr technical acetone , 0 . 5 % water being present in it , is added 360 gr eps , being the maximum amount the liquid can absorb . 760 gr paste is obtained . from this , 570 gr is submitted to pyrolysis , from which 550 gr pyrolysis oil is obtained . by separation of this oil in a distillation column is obtained : 0 . 53 mass % acetone , fit for reuse in accordance with the invention , 10 mass % other distillates with boiling points up to 155 ° c . and the thus obtained monomer styrene can be polymerized to clear ps conveniently .	2
the compounds of the invention can exist in the form of geometric isomers , depending upon the relative positions of the substituents on the cyclohexane ring and the present invention contemplates the individual isolated isomers , as well as mixtures thereof , specifically , the cis - isomer , which may be represented by the formula ( ii ): ## str3 ## and the trans - isomer , which may be represented by the formula ( iii ): ## str4 ## ( wherein r is a defined above ), as well as pharmaceutically acceptable salts and esters thereof . each of these geometric isomers also exists in the form of two optical isomers , which may be separated from each other by conventional resolution techniques or may be left unresolved . additionally , the presence of an asymmetric carbon atom adjacent the carboxyl group in the compounds of the invention means that each of the compounds represented by the above formulae can exist in the form of optical isomers , and the present invention contemplates the use of mixtures of these optical isomers , as well as the individual optical isomers . individual optical isomers can be isolated by conventional optical resolution techniques . in the compounds of the invention , r represents an alkyl group having from 1 to 3 carbon atoms , and these groups may be straight or branched chain groups , specifically the methyl , ethyl , propyl and isopropyl groups . those compounds of formulae ( i ), ( ii ) and ( iii ) in which r represents a methyl group are most preferred . the compounds of the invention may also exist in the form of salts of the compounds represented by formulae ( i ), ( ii ) and ( iii ). the nature of the salts is not critical to the invention although , of course , since they are intended for therapeutic administration , the salts should be pharmaceutically acceptable salts . examples of such salts include the alkali and alkaline earth metal salts ( such as the sodium or calcium salts ), the aluminium salt , the ammonium salt , salts with organic amines ( such as triethylamine , dicyclohexylamine , dibenzylamine , morpholine , piperidine or n - ethylpiperidine ) and salts with basic amino acids ( such as lysine or arginine ). the salts may be prepared from the free carboxylic acids of the above formulae by conventional salification processes . the compounds of the present invention also include the esters of compounds of formulae ( i ), ( ii ) and ( iii ). examples of such esters include c 1 - c 6 alkyl esters , aralkyl esters and pyridylmethyl esters . examples of alkyl esters include the methyl , ethyl , propyl , isopropyl , butyl , isobutyl , pentyl , isopentyl , hexyl and isohexyl esters ; of these , c 1 - c 4 alkyl esters are preferred , particularly the ethyl , methyl , propyl , isopropyl and butyl esters . examples of aralkyl esters include the benzyl and phenethyl esters , in which the aromatic ring may be substituted or unsubstituted . where it is substituted , the substituents may be one or more of the following : c 1 - c 6 groups , e . g . methyl , ethyl , propyl or isopropyl groups ; c 1 - c 6 alkoxy groups , e . g . methoxy , ethoxy , propoxy or isopropoxy groups ; halogen atoms , e . g . fluorine , chlorine or bromine atoms ; or trifluoromethyl groups . in the case of pyridylmethyl esters , these may be the 2 -, 3 - or 4 - pyridylmethyl esters . in this , a compound of formula ( iv ) is reduced to give the compound of formula ( i ), which may then , if desired , be separated into the cis - and trans - isomers ( ii ) and ( iii ); alternatively , the cis - isomer can be prepared directly from the compound of formula ( iv ) by appropriate choice of reducing agent . the reduction reaction is preferably carried out in the presence of an organic solvent , the nature of which is not critical , provided that it does not interfere with the reaction . examples include ethers ( such as tetrahydrofuran or diethyl ether ) and aromatic hydrocarbons ( such as benzene or toluene ). there is also no particular limitation as to the nature of the reducing agent employed , provided that it only reduces the keto group of the keto - carboxylic acid compound of formula ( iv ). suitable reducing agents include alkali metal borohydrides , such as sodium borohydride , sodium cyanoborohydride , potassium tri - sec - butylborohydride and lithium tri - sec - butylborohydride . the potassium tri - sec - butylborohydride or lithium tri - sec - butylborohydride is preferably employed as the tetrahydrofuran solution thereof sold by aldrich chemical co ., inc ., under the respective registered trade marks k - selectride or l - selectride . when the reducing agent is sodium cyanoborohydride , the reaction is preferably effected at a ph value of about 3 . the reaction temperature is not particularly critical and the reaction can be effected at temperatures ranging from that achieved by ice - cooling to the reflux temperature of the solvent employed . the time required for the reaction will depend upon various factors , mainly the reaction temperature and the nature of the reducing agent used . it is usually from 10 minutes to 3 hours . after completion of the reaction , the compound of formula ( i ), in the form of a mixture of the cis - and trans - isomers , can be separated from the reaction mixture by conventional means . the cis - and trans - isomers can be separated from each other by conventional techniques , most especially by high pressure liquid chromatography . if a tri - sec - butylborohydride such as k - selectride or l - selectride is used as the reducing agent , a relatively low temperature is preferably employed , e . g . from - 78 ° c . to the temperature of ice - cooling . the time required for the reaction will depend mainly upon the reaction temperature and the nature of the reducing agent , being generally from 10 minutes to 5 hours . this reduction selectively gives the cis - isomer ( ii ), which can be separated from the reaction mixture by conventional means after completion of the reaction . in this reaction , the keto compound of formula ( v ) is first reduced to the corresponding hydroxy compound , using the same reagents and under the same conditions as described in method a . the resulting hydroxy compound of formula ( vi ) is then subjected to catalytic reduction , using hydrogen and a catalyst such as palladium chloride or platinum chloride . this reaction is preferably effected in the presence of a solvent , the nature of which is not critical , provided that it has no adverse effect upon the reaction . suitable solvents include esters ( such as ethyl acetate ), aromatic hydrocarbons ( such as benzene or toluene ) and alcohols ( such as methanol or ethanol ). after completion of the reaction , the desired compound of formula ( i ), in the form of a mixture of its cis - and trans - isomers , may be separated from the reaction mixture by conventional means . as in method a , the cis - and trans - isomers may be separated from each other by conventional techniques , especially high pressure liquid chromatography . the compounds of the invention have been tested for pharmacological activity and found to exhibit anti - inflammatory , analgesic and immuno - regulatory activities . details of the pharmacological tests are as follows : male wistar rats weighing 120 - 150 g were fasted overnight and then received a test compound per os as an aqueous tragacanth suspension . 30 minutes later , inflammation was induced by the subcutaneous injection of 0 . 05 ml of a 1 % w / v carrageenin suspension into the plantar tissue of a hind paw of each rat [ winter et al ., proc . soc . exp . biol . med ., 111 , 544 ( 1962 )]. the anti - oedema activity was measured volumetrically , by assessing the response , as calculated from the following equation : where v o and v represent , respectively , the paw volume immediately before and 3 hours after the carrageenin injection . the test compounds were administered at various doses and the results are reported in the following table as the id 50 , that is the inhibitory does required to inhibit the response by 50 %. this test was conducted according to a modification of the method reported by l . o . randall and j . j . selitto in arch . int . pharmacodyn ., 11 , 409 ( 1959 ), proposed by winter and flatake ( 1957 ). male wistar - imamichi rats of 4 weeks of age and weighing 60 - 90 g were injected with 0 . 1 ml of a 20 % by weight suspension of brewers &# 39 ; yeast in the right hind paw . 4 hours later , rats which had a pain threshold to pressure - induced pain less than 10 × 30 g were selected . each of these was given orally a test compound as an aqueous tragacanth suspension . 1 and 2 hours after administration of the test compound , the pain threshold was determined by observing pain responses ( such as struggling or squeaking ) when the inflamed or normal paw was subjected to pressure by a machine ( ugo - basile ). an &# 34 ; effective &# 34 ; animal was defined , in accordance with blane &# 39 ; s method ( 1968 ), as an animal which showed at least twice the mean pain threshold of control animals . the ed 50 was calculated by the method of litchfield and wilcoxon ( 1949 ). compounds 1 and 2 being compounds of the invention and compound 3 being a well known mild analgesic and anti - inflammatory agent . table______________________________________ anti - inflammatory analgesiccompound activity , id . sub . 50 activity , ed . sub . 50______________________________________1 3 . 3 mg / kg 0 . 86 mg / kg2 0 . 96 mg / kg 0 . 76 mg / kg3 2 . 2 mg / kg 1 . 6 mg / kg______________________________________ from the table , it can be seen that the compounds of the invention have analgesic and anti - inflammatory activities comparable with or better than the activity of indomethacin . the immuno - regulatory activity of (±)- 2 -[ 4 -( cis - 2 - hydroxycyclohexylmethyl ) phenyl ] propionic acid was tested by cunningham &# 39 ; s method [ a . j . cunningham and a . szenberg , immunology 14 , 599 ( 1968 )]. the test compound was administered orally to female mice of the balb / c strain and simultaneously sheep erythrocytes were administered intraperitonially , in order to sensitise the animal to these erythrocytes as an antigen . after 5 days , the spleen of the experimental animal was extracted and the number of igm antibody - producing cells in the spleen cells was calculated . the percent inhibition of antibody production was found to be 50 % or more when the dose of compound administered was from 1 to 10 mg per kg . these results demonstrate that the compounds of the invention have valuable analgesic , anti - inflammatory and immuno - regulatory activites . the compounds of the invention are preferably administered in admixture with a carrier or diluent in the form of a conventional pharmaceutical composition , preferably formulated for oral , rectal or topical administration . compositions for oral administration may be formulated as , for example , tablets , capsules , granules , powders or syrups , compositions for rectal administration may be in the form of suppositories and compositions for topical administration may be in the form of an ointment or a cream . the dosage employed will vary depending upon the condition , age and body weight of the patient as well as the chosen route of administration , but usually the dose for oral administration to an adult human being would be from 50 to 300 mg per day , which may be administered in a single dose or in divided doses . the preparation of the compounds of the invention is further illustrated by the following examples . 720 mg of (±)- 2 -[ 4 -( 2 - oxocyclohexylmethyl ) phenyl ]- propionic acid were dissolved in 15 ml of tetrahydrofuran , and then 400 mg of sodium cyanoborohydride were added to the solution . the resulting mixture was stirred for 40 minutes under ice - cooling , while maintaining the ph at a value of 3 by the addition of 3n methanolic hydrochloric acid . ice - water was then added to the reaction mixture , which was extracted with diethyl ether . the extract was dried over anhydrous sodium sulphate and the solvent was distilled off to give 690 mg of a mixture of the trans - and cis - isomers . this mixture was subjected to high pressure liquid chromatography through silica gel deactivated with acetic acid , using a 1 : 1 by volume mixture of ethyl acetate and hexane as eluent . the cis - isomer was eluted first , followed by the trans - isomer . each isomer was recrystallised from a mixture of diethyl ether and hexane and obtained in the form of crystals . elemental analysis : calculated for c 16 h 22 o 3 : c , 73 . 25 %; h , 8 . 45 %. found : c , 73 . 24 %; h , 8 . 40 %. elemental analysis : calculated for c 16 h 22 o 3 : c , 73 . 25 %; h , 8 . 45 %. found : c , 73 . 20 %; h , 8 . 43 %. 2 . 0 g of (+)- 2 -[ 4 -( 2 - oxocyclohexylidenemethyl ) phenyl ]- propionic acid and 0 . 6 g of sodium cyanoborohydride were dissolved in 50 ml of methanol . the ph of the mixture was adjusted to a value of 3 with 6n hydrochloric acid , whilst ice - cooling . the mixture was then stirred , with heating , for 40 minutes . ice - water was added to the reaction mixture , which was then extracted with diethyl ether . the extract was washed with water and dried over anhydrous sodium sulphate , and the solvent was distilled off , to give 350 mg of (±)- 2 -[ 4 -( 2 - hydroxycyclohexylidenemethyl ) phenyl ] propionic acid as crystals [ compound of formula ( vi )]. these crystals were dissolved in 10 ml of ethyl acetate , 50 mg of palladium chloride were added , and the mixture was subjected to catalytic reduction whilst bubbling hydrogen through the mixture . after the theoretical amount of hydrogen had been absorbed , the catalyst was removed by filtration and the solvent was distilled off , to give 330 mg of a mixture of the cis - and trans - isomers . this mixture was treated in the same manner as in example 1 , affording crystals of the cis - and trans - isomers of the title compound , having the same properties as the product of example 1 . 10 . 0 g of (±)- 2 -[ 4 -( 2 - oxocyclohexylmethyl ) phenyl ]- propionic acid were dissolved in 150 ml of tetrahydrofuran . the solution was cooled to - 78 ° c . and , whilst maintaining the solution at this temperature and under a stream of nitrogen , 200 ml of k - selectride ( as a 0 . 5 molar tetrahydrofuran solution ) were added dropwise . when the whole of the k - selectride had been added , the reaction mixture was stirred for 1 hour at 0 ° c ., after which it was cooled to - 10 ° c . and 400 ml of a 0 . 5n solution of hydrochloric acid was added through a dropping funnel . the reaction mixture was stirred for 1 hour , after which it was extracted with diethyl ether . the extract was washed with water and dried over anhydrous sodium sulphate . the solvent was distilled off , giving 10 . 5 g of the title compound in the form of crystals . these were recrystallised from a mixture of diethyl ether and hexane , giving the title compound as pure crystals melting at 130 °- 133 ° c . elemental analysis : calculated for c 16 h 22 o 3 : c , 73 . 25 %; h , 8 . 45 %. found : c , 73 . 22 %; h , 8 . 45 %.	2
fig1 shows a rotary cutter which includes a support for one or more plate - like blades 6 ( only one shown ). the support comprises a rotary cylindrical , conical or hyperboloidal carrier 1 whose axis of rotation is normal to the plane of fig1 and whose peripheral surface 1a is formed with one or more recesses 2 , one for each blade 6 . the support further comprises a discrete holder or holding means 3 and a discrete plate - or strip - like abutment 7 for each blade 6 . the holder 3 which is shown in fig1 is provided with a separable dovetailed projection or tongue 4 which is secured thereto by one or more screws 4a ( one indicated by a phantom line ). the tongue 4 is received in a complementary dovetailed groove 1b which is machined into carrier 1 and extends in parallelism with the axis of rotation of the support . the carrier 1 is driven by a motor ( not shown ) to rotate in a clockwise direction ( see the arrow a ), i . e ., the blade 6 and the holder 3 are located in the trailing portion of the recess 2 , as considered in the direction of arrow a . the left - hand side of the blade 6 lies flush against the adjacent side of the holder 3 , and the right - hand side of the blade 6 is engaged by the adjacent portion of a wedge 13 forming part of a means for biasing the blade 6 against the holder 3 . the wedge 13 is received in the recess 2 and is biased outwardly by centrifugal force as well as by resilient means including a package of dished springs 14 which surround a stub 13a forming part of the wedge and extending radially inwardly toward the axis of the support . the innermost spring 14 reacts against a shoulder 1c in the innermost portion of the recess 2 . the blade 6 is inclined inwardly and rearwardly , as considered in the direction of rotation of the carrier 1 , and its cutting edge 6a protrudes beyond the peripheral surface 1a so that it removes fragments from a piece of wood which is to be comminuted by the cutter . the second or inner edge 6b of the blade 6 bears against the plate - or strip - shaped abutment 7 which in turn abuts against the inner portion of the right - hand side of the holder 3 and whose inner edge bears against an adjustable and / or removable anvil or stop 8 forming part of the support and being separably secured to the carrier 1 by a screw 8a or by an analogous fastener . the holder 3 is a permanent magnet and the blade 6 consists of magnetic material ( e . g ., steel ) or vice versa so that the blade is attracted to the holder even if the wedge 13 is retracted against the opposition of the springs 14 . the abutment 7 also consists of magnetic material so that it adheres to the holder 3 . if desired , a diamagnetic insert ( e . g ., a sheet consisting of brass ) may be placed between the tongue 4 and the left - hand side of the holder 3 , as viewed in fig1 . the insert 5 can extend all the way to the peripheral surface 1a and preferably overlies the right - hand side as well as the inner side of the holder , i . e ., this insert can extend all the way to the abutment 7 . the blade 6 is assumed to be expendable , i . e ., it is not intended to be sharpened but is simply discarded as soon as its cutting edge 6a is sufficiently dull to warrant replacement with a new blade . when the carrier 1 rotates clockwise and the cutting edge 6a removes material from a workpiece , the inner edge 6b of the blade bears against the abutment 7 and the latter bears against the stop 8 . the position of the abutment 7 , as considered in the radial direction of the carrier 1 , can be adjusted by placing one or more shims between the stop 8 and the adjacent surface of the carrier or by replacing this stop with a differently dimensioned stop . the blade 6 is held against movement in the axial direction of the carrier 1 . to this end , the blade is formed with one or more elongated slots 11 ( see fig2 ) which extend substantially radially of the carrier 1 and each of which receives a preferably cylindrical stud 9 or an analogous projection of the holder 3 . the diameter of the stud 9 equals the width of the slot 11 so that the blade 6 is held against movement at right angles to the plane of fig1 ; however , the stud 11 allows the blade 6 to move ( within limits ) substantially radially of the carrier . a similar elongated slot 12 is provided in the abutment 7 to receive a cylindrical stud 10 of the holder 3 ; the stud 10 holds the abutment 7 against movement in the axial direction of the carrier 1 but allows the abutment to move ( within limits ) in the longitudinal direction of the slot 12 . the studs 9 and 10 constitute a simple but reliable safety device in that they prevent the blade 6 and abutment 7 from being propelled from the recess 2 when the carrier 1 is driven to rotate at a high speed . when the cutting edge 6a is sufficiently dull to warrant replacement of the blade 6 with a new blade , the carrier 1 is arrested , the wedge 13 is depressed into the recess 2 against the opposition of the springs 14 , and the blade 6 is simply lifted off the projection 9 . thus , the holder 3 need not be detached at all , and the abutment 7 also continues to adhere to the holder while the blade 6 is being discarded to be replaced with a fresh blade . consequently , the removal of a previously used blade and the insertion of a fresh blade take up a very short interval of time . the operator &# 39 ; s hand can readily overcome the magnetic force with which the blade 6 is attracted to the holder 3 . on the other hand , such force is sufficient to insure that the blade 6 cannot fall deeper into or escape from the recess 2 when the wedge 13 is moved away from its right - hand side , as viewed in fig1 . if necessary , a freshly inserted new blade can be shifted relative to the holder 3 so that its rear or inner edge 6b is in full fact - to - face contact with the abutment 7 before the wedge 13 is released to engage the new blade and to urge it against the holder 3 in such position that the stud 9 extends into the slot 11 . it has been found that the omission of screws which serve to attach blades to the holders of conventional rotary cutters brings about a substantial reduction of the length of interval which is needed to replace a damaged or dull blade with a new blade . instead of disposing the holder and blade means at the trailing end of the recess , in another embodiment of the invention it may also be disposed at the leading end of the recess . without further analysis , the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist of the present invention that others can by applying current knowledge , readily adapt it for various applications without omitting features which fairly constitute essential characteristics of the generic and specific aspects of my contribution to the art and , therefore , such adaptations should and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalence of the claims .	8
referring now to fig1 there is shown a plan view of the present invention as it would appear in its patient - ready state . the viewing apparatus , generally designated 11 , consists of an opaque background screen 7 preferably dark in color and having a low light reflectance . appearing on the face of background screen 7 are a plurality of transparent disks . in the preferred embodiment , four transparent disks 5a , b , c and d are used . the disks are arranged both in number and pattern to be as user friendly as possible . by using a pattern of four disks , as shown in fig1 the patient can identify the disk which appears different in color as top , bottom , left or right . in addition , by using four color disks as opposed to two or three , the probability of a patient guessing the appropriate disk is reduced ; this becomes particularly important when working with small children in that they : ( 1 ) have an inability to identify letters or numerals and ( 2 ) will often guess in the hope of providing the tester with an appropriate answer . the cover 13 generally conceals the electronics and light sources for providing the red - green , blue - yellow , and blue - green light mixtures shown to the patient through disks 5a , b , c and d . viewing apparatus 11 in the preferred embodiment is mounted on a conventional platform 15 such that the viewing apparatus can be tilted on axis 14 to provide the best viewing angle to the patient . in operation , a patient is seated in front of the viewing apparatus such that he can readily observe the four colored disks 5a , b , c and d . the tester selects a disk ( top , bottom , left or right ) to display a different combination of colors than the three remaining disks and then asks the patient to identify the disk that is different in color and / or intensity . to control the color intensity of the transparent disks 5a , b , c and d , there is a separate key pad generally designated 1 . in the preferred embodiment , key pad 1 is connected to viewing apparatus 11 via conventional cable 9 . however , the key pad could be mounted directly on platform 15 or cover 13 . it should be emphasized that the circuitry in both the key pad 1 and the viewing apparatus 11 are conventionally made from parts which are readily available . the tester , during operation , uses one of four keys 3 ( top , bottom , left , right ) located on the key pad 1 to identify a particular disk 5a , b , c or d , which he wishes to have identified as a different color and / or intensity from the other three disks . for example , a tester , while evaluating a red - green or blue - yellow test , may select to have the bottom disk 5c appear different in color and / or intensity to a normal patient . accordingly , he would select disk 5c from the key pad 1 and would subsequently use a second series of keys 3 to select the color and / or intensity of the red - green or blue - yellow mixtures he wishes to present to the patient . presumably , the test will be performed in a dimly lit room whereby the color disks 5a , b , c and d , can readily be seen and not interfered with by conventional lighting sources , or alternatively a viewing shield may be utilized , such that the subject places his / her head against a gasket to exclude external light . the shield is of the length to place the subject &# 39 ; s eyes at the correct viewing distance from the disks 5a , b , c , and d . referring now to fig2 there is shown a side view partially in cross section of viewing apparatus 11 . shown are three of the four spheres 15a , b and c used to mix the colors presented to the patient through patient viewing ports 5 ( fig3 ). the key pad 1 , as mentioned above , is connected to the viewing apparatus 11 via cable 9 . conventional power control unit 10 is connected to a voltage source via cable 8 and provides the necessary control circuitry to interface with key pad 1 whereby the tester can select which disk 5a , b , c , or d is to be the test disk and adjust the color and intensity accordingly . as shown in fig3 each of the spheres 15a , b , c and d , comprises a plurality of small apertures 16 and a viewing port 5 . a particular color combination , whether red - green , blue - yellow or blue - green , can be created by mixing the light from the red , green , blue , white and yellow lamps inserted into the sphere . it is not necessary that six different lamps be used in that some light sources combine different color lamps into a single bulb ; again , it should be emphasized that such light sources are conventional and readily available . alternatively , depending on the particular use of the color vision testing apparatus , it may only be necessary to have one or two lamp apertures wherein , for example , a single unit is used to test red - green , blue - green , or blue - yellow . in the preferred embodiment , it is considered important to use a sphere as opposed to alternate shape configurations . the use of other shapes is conceivable , for example a square ; however , such shapes could increase the probability of light becoming trapped in corners or cavities thereby interfering with the intensity and thus the color observed by the patient . in addition , improperly shaped mixing cavities can create hot spots which might enable an abnormal patient to identify the different colored light disk . as shown in fig5 lamps 27a , b , c , d , e and f , are inserted through lamp apertures 16 . these lamps can be red , green , blue , white and / or yellow lamps . each sphere should be capable of mixing colors to test red - green and / or blue - yellow color deficiencies . further , it is important that the lamps 27a , b , c , d , e and f , be out of the field of vision as seen through transparent disks 5a , b , c and d . if the lamps are within the field of view , hot spots can again be created thereby cuing the patient as to the different colored disk . alternatively , as can be seen in fig4 lamp access apertures should be configured such that the highest intensity portions of the lamps 27a , b , c , d , and e are directed away from transparent disks 5a , b , c and d . this is best accomplished by placing the lamp apertures on the same hemisphere as viewing port 5 . in a preferred embodiment of the invention , the spheres 15a , b , c and d are created by using a clamshell plate configuration wherein each plate contains 1 / 2 of the sphere 15a , b , c and d ; this is shown in fig4 . when the two plates 21 , 23 are combined they complete four spheres . this is beneficial in that a divided sphere is easier to work with when installing the individual light sources 27a , b , c , d , e and f . as shown in fig2 plates 21 and 23 are secured to opaque background screen using dowels 24 and screws 25 . fig6 shows a second embodiment of the present invention wherein the spheres 15a , b and c are located at distance x away from opaque background screen 7 . this embodiment enhances light mixing characteristics and therefore reduces hot spots as compared to the embodiment of fig2 . the light mixing spheres 15a , b , c and d as shown in fig2 are very close to background screen 7 which in turn places lamps 27a , b , c , d , e and f close to background screen 7 as well . by placing the sphere a distance x from background screen 7 , lamps 27a , b , c , d , e and f are also moved away from background screen 7 , thereby reducing the probability that the patient will notice hot spots created by lamps 27a , b , c , d , e and f in close proximity to the patient . it should be understood that the invention is not limited to the exact details of construction shown and described herein for obvious modifications will occur to persons skilled in the art .	0
the mounting system 10 of the present invention is formed by a platform or floater 12 supported from a stator 14 by pairs of opposed pneumatic bellows elements 16 or 16a ( see fig2 or 2a ) which are represented in the various drawings by arrows with the arrows of each pair being designated by the same reference numeral with the subscript a and b thus in fig1 the first pair of opposed bellows 18a and 18b act along a first axis 20 , the second pair 22a and 22b act along an axis 24 substantially perpendicular to the axis 20 and the third pair of bellows 26a and 26b act along an axis 28 substantially perpendicular to the other two axes , i . e . the axis 20 , 24 and 28 are mutually perpendicular . the bellows 16a shown in fig2 a is contained within a sealed chamber 15 into which pressurized air may be applied e . g . via line 17 to adjust ( or measure ) the forces applied by or to the platform by the bellows 16a . the bellows 16a is connected to one of the platform 12 or stator 14 by the housing or chamber 15 and to the other of the platform 12 or stator 14 via the connecting rod or shaft 19 . each of the bellows 18a , 18b , 22a , 22b , 26a and 26b will be similar bellows 16 or 16a illustrated in fig2 and 2a respectively . these bellows are shown as corrugated and thus flexible so that they can be bent relative to their axis 30 in any direction as indicated by the mutually perpendicular arcs 32 and 34 , for example to form a simulated s or z shape in substantially any direction and may be expanded and contracted axially as indicated by the arrow 36 by the application of gas , e . g . air under pressure into the interior of the bellow as indicated by the lines 38 and 17 . internally pressurized bellows 16 is sealed throughout its length and at each axial end as indicated at 40 and 42 so that the pressure within the bellows changes the flexibility of the bellows and also tends to expand or contract it relative to a neutral position . similarly the pressure outside the externally pressurized bellows 16a of fig2 a manipulates the bellows 16a , i . e . the pressure difference between the inside and outside of the bellows 16 or 16a changes the size of the bellows 16 or 16a . it will be apparent that in a passive bellows system as will be described more fully hereinbelow with respect to fig1 the bellows ( 400 , 402 and 404 ) need not be sealed since there need be no pressure differential between the inside and outside of these bellows . the description to follow describing systems incorporating pneumatic bellows ( active as opposed to the passive system of fig1 ) will refer primarily to the internally pressurized bellows 16 to simplify the description , however it is to be understood that this description is to be read as including as an alternative the externally pressurized bellows 16a and that , in some cases , it will be preferred to employ an externally pressurized type of bellows 16a in place of the internally pressurized type of bellows 16 as the externally pressurized type of bellows 16a may not buckle as easily . in some embodiments it is preferred to provide a bearing such as the bearing 44 as indicated schematically in fig2 and fig4 between the bellows 16 and the platform or floater 12 or between the bellows 16 and the stator 14 or both . it is also possible to provide a bellows with discreet axially extending segments and to interpose bearings between these segments to permit relative rotation of an adjacent pair of segments about the longitudinal axis of the bellows 16 . obviously care must be taken to ensure the desired pressure may be maintained in the segmented bellows . the illustration of fig4 shows how the bellows 16 may expand and contract as indicated by the arrow 36 and rotate or be deflected as indicated at 32 and 34 to permit movement of the platform 12 in the directions indicated by the arrows 36 , 46 and 48 . the bellows 16 may also rotate relative to the platform portion 12 substantially around the longitudinal axis 30 of the bellows 16 ( i . e . about the axis 30 at its intersection with the platform portion 12 ) on bearings 44 as indicated by the arrows 50 . referring back to fig1 and bearing in mind that each of the bellows 16 of the pairs of bellows 18 , 22 and 26 are constructed to incorporate the movement described hereinabove . it will be apparent that the platform or floater 12 can be moved to the left , to the right , and up and down or any combination of such directions . it will further be apparent that by controlling the pressure in each of the bellows 16 the bellows can impart the desired movement to the platform 12 adjusting its position and orientation relative to the stator 14 . the fig3 arrangement as will be described below also permits or may impart movement around the axis 20 as indicated by the arrows 52 . it will further be apparent that if only one pair of bellows is used , say the pair of bellows 18 ( bellows 18a and 18b ) then movement of a single degree of freedom is obtainable or if two perpendicular pairs of bellows such as 18 and 22 are used , movement of two degrees of freedom of platform or floater 12 along the axis 20 and 24 is obtainable . referring to fig3 like parts have been indicated with like reference numerals , however in this embodiment the bellows 18a and 18b are provided with bearings 44 to permit the platform or floater 12 to rotate around the axis 20 as indicated by arrow 52 ( it being apparent that the axis 20 may have a jog in it due to deflection of the bellows 18a and 18b ). to control ( or monitor ) this rotational movement of the platform 12 around the axis 20 as indicated by the arrow 52 the single pair of bellows 26a and 26b have been replaced by two pairs of bellows which in this case are spaced on either side of the axis 20 and are indicated by the arrows 26a1 , 26b1 , 26a2 , 26b2 . fig5 shows a preferred arrangement of the present invention offering six degrees of freedom for the platform or floater 100 which may take the form of a wrist joint or the like of a robot and to which other components may be fixed for example via the bolts 102 . the stator 104 provides the other side of the wrist joint . in this arrangement the floater or platform 100 is mounted on the stator 104 by the pneumatic bellows acting on a first set of lugs 106 , 108 and 110 and a second set of lugs 124 , 126 and 128 . the first set of lugs 106 , 108 and 110 are symmetrically positioned around the z axis i . e . spaced at 120 degree intervals around the z axis and the second set of lugs 124 , 126 and 128 are symmetrically positioned between the lugs 106 , 108 and 110 i . e . also at 120 degree intervals around the z axis and each equally spaced from its respective adjacent lugs of the first set of lugs . the lugs 106 , 108 , and 110 are acted upon by opposed pairs of bellows 112a , 112b , 114a , 114b , and 116a and 116b respectively to apply forces along axes 118 , 120 and 122 respectively all of which are substantially perpendicular to , i . e . they are in a plane substantially perpendicular to , the z axis . the lugs 124 , 126 and 128 are acted on by pairs of opposed bellows 130a and 130b , 132a and 132b and 134a and 134b respectively to apply forces along axis 136 , 138 and 140 all of which are substantially parallel to the z axis . each of the bellows of the pairs of bellows 112 , 114 , 116 and 130 , 132 and 134 are provided with bearings equivalent to the bearings 44 so that rotation around each of the axes 118 , 120 , 122 , 136 , 138 and 140 can also be obtained . this arrangement permits movement of the base 100 with 6 degrees of freedom , i . e . movement in the x , y , z axes and in the pitch and yaw directions can be accommodated through the bellows mountings . this action or motion can be controlled by controlling the pressure in each of the pneumatic bellows in each of the pairs of bellows as will be described hereinbelow . the embodiment shown in fig6 is essentially the same as that shown in fig5 however instead of the bolts 102 there is provided a hand grip 150 . the corresponding elements have been indicated by like reference numerals in fig5 and 6 . it will be apparent with the fig6 embodiment , movement of the joystick or hand controller 150 has the same six degrees of freedom as in the fig5 embodiment and may be used as a control by sensing the position of the hand controller and as another example to provide force feedback by controlling pressures in the opposing pairs of bellows . fig7 shows one system for monitoring and controlling the pressure ( and flow ) in each bellows of a pair of opposed bellows . the bellows a and b apply pressure along the axis d against opposite sides of the plate or platform 200 which is used to represent the opposed sides of the platform 12 of the fig1 and 2 embodiments or the various flanges or lugs 106 , 108 , 110 and 124 , 126 and 128 of the fig5 and 6 embodiments . as shown in fig7 bellows a and b provide or apply pressure between the stator or fixed element 206 and the opposed faces 202 and 204 respectively of the platform 200 . the bellows a and b are both supplied with pneumatic pressure from the pressure source ps via essentially the same circuit elements of which have been numbered with the same number followed by the a for bellows a and the b for bellows b . as indicated , pressure from the source ps passes via line 208 through a fixed orifice 210 into the bellows a or b . the pressure in the line 208 between the fixed orifice 210 and the respective bellows a ( or b ) is sensed by the pressure sensor 212 . a branch or bleed line 214 extends from the section of line 208 between the bellows a ( or b ) and the orifice 210 to an orifice 216 the outflow from which is controlled by a moving coil actuator 218 that is controllably oscillated or positioned relative to its respective nozzle 216 to define the pressure in the line 208 ( a or b respectively ). in a pneumatic control system of the type described it will be apparent that other pressure control systems may be used , for example a jet pipe valve could easily be applied . it will be apparent that with this system the pressure in the bellows a and b may be set as desired depending on the bleed through the nozzles 216a or 216b respectively which is in turn controlled by the moving coil actuator 218a or 218b . it will be apparent that other means for controlling the pressures in the bellows a and b may be used . a variety of different techniques for sensing the position of the platform 12 , 100 or 200 may be used however a preferred system is shown in fig8 . in this arrangement a light source 300 is fixed to the platform or floater 12 , 100 or 200 . in the illustrated arrangement , 3 light emitting diodes 302 , 304 and 306 are provided each directing a beam of light along its respective axis 302a , 304a and 306a onto its respective positioning sensor 302b , 304b , 306b which may take the form of position sensing photo diodes or close coupled devices ( ccd arrays ) that are attached to the stator 14 , 104 or 206 and are adapted to sense the location at which the beam projected along the axis 302a , 304a and 306a intersect the photo diodes so that position of the floater or platform 12 , 100 or 200 can be determined via the cartesian coordinates of the point of contact of the light beams 302a , 304a and 306a with their respective position sensing photo diodes . the simplest manner in which this may be done is to project the beams 302a , 306a as orthogonal beams of light engaging two dimensional position sensing diodes and utilizing simple kinematic calculations ( intersection of 3 spheres ) to generate the position and orientation of the platform or floater 12 , 100 or 200 with respect to the stator 14 , 104 or 206 . one technique for operating the system illustrated in fig9 incorporates a processor 350 that receives input from the pressure sensing electronics 352 ( which senses the pressure from the pressure sensors 212a and 212b for each of the pairs of bellows used in the system , i . e . depending on the number of degrees of freedom to provide feedback of the actual pressures in each of the bellows a and b of each of the pairs bellows used in the particular mounting system being controlled , i . e . for the six degrees of freedom device shown in fig5 and 6 the various pairs of bellows 112 , 114 , 116 , 130 , 132 and 134 a and b would be sensed and this information delivered to the processor or computer 350 ). it will be apparent that by controlling the pressure in the respective bellows force control may be achieved . it is possible to , for example , sense the pressures applied to an arm being controlled and to develop corresponding pressures resisting movement of a control joystick in these respective directions to provide a feed back to the joystick of the pressures or forces being encountered by the arm being controlled . if an optical sensor such as the optical sensor 300 ( 302a , 304a , 306a , 302b , 304b , 306b ) shown in fig8 were also incorporated in the device , then the output or the optical sensed position and orientation would be determined as indicated at 354 and this information fed to the computer 350 . the processor 350 could also be programmed to obtain a selected movement of the floater 12 , 100 or 200 ( assuming the floater movement is intended to be controlled and manipulated as a wrist of a robot for example ). referring now to fig1 it will be apparent that the position sensing system employed in this arrangement is essentially the same as that shown in fig8 however in this system the light beams 302a , 304a and 306a extend substantially axially of their respective bellow 400 , 402 , 404 onto their respective detectors 302b , 304b and 306b . the system shown in fig1 is a passive system wherein the construction of the bellows generates forces or stresses when the joystick and bellows are moved from their natural rest positions neutral and these stresses are absorbed by the bellows structure and function to urge the joystick and bellows back to their neutral positions whenever they have been moved therefrom and then released . the passive mounting system of fig1 differs from the above described active systems in the construction of each of the bellows 400 , 402 and 404 which is such that when the joystick 406 is in neutral position all of the bellows are also in a stable or neutral position . movement of the joystick 406 in the 3 degrees of freedom provided by the three bellows 400 , 402 and 404 ( one for each degree of freedom ) causes expansion and / or contraction of each of the bellows and / or deflection relative to its longitudinal axis ( as represented by the beams 302a , 304a and 306a respectively as described above . pneumatic pressure is not required nor is it necessary to employ pairs or opposing bellows as described hereinabove since each of the bellows 400 , 402 , 404 has a stable position from which it may be either extended or contracted or bowed , but to which it always tends to return . the bellows 400 , 402 , 404 are constructed to prevent rotation about their respective longitudinal axis 302a , 304a and 306a so movement of the joystick is confined to the x , y and z directions ( or combinations thereof ) without pivoting motion of the joystick . having described the invention , modifications will be evident to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims .	1
the embodiment of the present invention will hereinafter be described with reference to the accompanying drawings . fig2 is a schematic configurational view showing the first embodiment of a fluorescence detecting apparatus according to the present invention . in this drawing , a fluorescence detecting apparatus 1 is comprised of an excitation light pattern generating illuminator 42 , a fluorescence image detector 43 and an information processor 41 . in excitation light pattern generating illuminator 42 , light from a light source 10 is irradiated on a micromirror array device 11 , the light reflected off micromirror array device 11 passing through a projection lens 16 to be projected on a surface of detection 44 of a sample . micromirror array device 11 is composed of a plurality of angle - variable micro mirrors as many number as the pixels of the projection image pattern , and the angle switching actions of individual micromirrors can be controlled by pwm ( pulse width modulation ) control to determine grayscales . light source 10 is composed of a light source mirror 14 arranged at the rear of lamp 13 and a light source lens 12 for irradiating light onto micromirror array device 11 . micromirror array device 11 is pwm controlled by a control circuit in accordance with the excitation light pattern generating information , described hereinbelow , so that the directions of reflection of light from light source 10 are controlled by individual micromirrors , to thereby form a 2 - dimensional excitation light pattern on the surface of detection 44 of the sample . when lamp 13 of light source 10 is a white - light source or the like , emitting light over a wide range of wavelengths , an optical filter 15 such as a band - pass filter , color filter , etc ., is arranged in the course of the optical path in order to limit the excitation light to be illuminated on the sample within a predetermined wavelength range . here , optical filter 15 can be disposed before or behind optical lens 12 , or before or behind projection lens 16 . lamp 13 of light source 10 may use a lamp such as a high - pressure mercury lamp , metal halide lamp , xenon lamp or the like , or may use a high - brightness led , high - brightness fluorescent tube etc . further , the configurations and shapes of light source mirror 14 and light source lens 12 or whether they should be used or not can be made choice of , considering the characteristics of light source devices such as luminescence anisotropy etc . for micromirror array device 11 , for example dmd ( digital micro - mirror device ), a product of texas instrument incorporated , can be used . further , components of dlp ( digital light processing ) system , a projection type projector system using that dmd may be used to configure excitation light pattern generating illuminator 42 . in fluorescence image detector 43 , the fluorescence image of a sample on the surface of detection 44 is focused on a ccd ( charge coupled devices ) area image sensor 24 by an image taking lens 21 . an optical filter 22 such as a band - pass filter , notch filter , etc ., is arranged in the course of the optical path in order to block light of excitation light wavelengths incident on ccd area image sensor 24 and selectively allow light of fluorescent wavelengths incident thereon for detection . optical filter 22 may be arranged before or behind lens 21 . it is also possible to layout in the course of the optical path a shutter 23 for blocking the light path in order to control the incident timing of light onto ccd area image sensor 24 . this ccd area image sensor 24 is cooled using a cooling unit 25 made up of a thermoelectric transducer such as a peltier device etc ., to reduce dark current noise and thereby enhance its sensitivity . to achieve a further high sensitive detection , a ccd area image sensor 24 having an electron multiplying function may be used . when component parts are so selected that the projection pixels as the minimum units of the projection pattern of excitation light pattern generating illuminator 42 and the imaging pixels as the minimum units of ccd area image sensor 24 will be made one - to - one correspondent to each other on the surface of detection 44 of a sample , both with respect to the pitch and positional relationship , this makes it possible to make the maximum use of the resolutions of both components , which is the most preferable configuration . pickup image information output from ccd area image sensor 24 is transferred to information processor 41 including a computer etc ., byway of a control circuit ( not illustrated ) for driving ccd area image sensor 24 , data acquisition , etc . information processor 41 records numerical information of the 2 - dimensional area for the surface of detection 44 of a sample , including pickup image information collected by fluorescence image detector 43 , excitation light pattern generating information set up by performing operations based on the pickup image information etc ., fluorescence information of the sample , calculated based on the excitation light pattern generating information , the pickup image information corresponding to it and the like , and processes fluorescence detection of the sample and the like , based on the numerical information , and also controls individual components . the hardware configuration of information processor 41 may be given as a general - purpose computer , a board computer , or an entity that is accessed through a network . next , the operation of fluorescence detection of fluorescence detecting apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment will be described . fig3 is a chart of partial images for illustrating the operation of fluorescence detecting apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment . here , for simplicity , description is particularly simplified referring to partially extracted model areas of 5 × 5 pixels . fig3 a is a chart showing fluorescence spots on the surface of detection . in the drawing , fluorescence spots on the surface of detection 44 are denoted with hatched circles . a coordinate point [ 3 , c ] represents a strong fluorescence spot , coordinate points [ 2 , b ], [ 3 , e ] and [ 5 , e ] represent weak fluorescent spots . a broken - line circle 2 designates a spreading of fluorescence of the fluorescent spot at coordinate point [ 3 , c ] when strong excitation light is irradiated . fig3 b is a chart showing a fluorescence detection image when strong excitation light is irradiated . fig3 c is a chart showing a fluorescence detection image when weak excitation light is irradiated . fig3 d is a chart showing a fluorescence detection image when strong excitation light is irradiated on the area other than coordinate point [ 3 , c ]. fig3 e is a chart showing a fluorescence detection information that is obtained through the information processor by the fluorescence detecting apparatus of the present embodiment . upon fluorescence detection , the presumed subject to be studied by fluorescence detection is a process in which multiple fluorescent spots having markedly great differences in fluorescent intensity gradually vary in their intensity and position over time , as in a case where a previously fluorescence - labeled sample held in a gel plate or the like becomes fractionated over a 2 - dimensional region by 2 - dimensional electrophoresis . to begin with , at the first step , while excitation light pattern generating illuminator 42 irradiates the whole detection area with excitation light of uniform intensity , fluorescence image detector 43 captures the fluorescence image at that time , so that information processor 41 recognizes fluorescence intensity at individual positions . since this step is aimed at detecting fluorescent spots having intensity higher than a certain level , the intensity of excitation light illumination from excitation light pattern generating illuminator 42 is set at a weak level . further , the imaging exposure time of area image sensor 24 by fluorescence image detector 43 may be set at a short period , or the aperture of the imaging lens optical system may be set at a high value . in this way , the above step is able to provide a fluorescence detected image , as shown in fig3 c , by irradiating with weak excitation light , strong fluorescent spots on the surface of detection 44 . specifically , in this case only the strong fluorescent spot located at a coordinate point of [ 3 , c ] can be obtained . next , in the second step , information processor 41 generates an excitation light pattern generating information such as not to illuminate with excitation light the point and therearound in which a fluorescent spot has been detected at the previous step , and excitation light pattern generating illuminator 42 illuminates with the patterned excitation light . since this step is aimed at detecting fluorescent spots that were hard to detect at the previous step because of their low intensity , a fluorescence image is taken by fluorescence image detector 43 while excitation light having a higher intensity than the previous step is being illuminated , and the fluorescence intensity at each position is recognized by information processor 41 . further , the imaging exposure time of area image sensor 24 by fluorescence image detector 43 may be set longer than that in the previous step , or the aperture of the imaging lens optical system may be set at a value lower than that of the previous step . this step is able to provide a fluorescence detected image , as shown in fig3 d , by irradiating weak fluorescent spots on the surface of detection in fig3 a , in the area other than the spot at coordinates [ 3 , c ] where a strong fluorescent spot was observed , with strong excitation light . further , at the third step , information processor 41 provides a fluorescence - detected image of information in which individual fluorescent spots are separated from one another as shown in fig3 e , based on the fluorescence - detected images of information obtained at the above first and second steps . thus , it is possible by this step to obtain fluorescence - detected image information of separated spots even when strong and weak fluorescent spots are mixed together . referring next to fig4 , the fluorescence detecting operation of the conventional fluorescence detecting apparatus and that of the fluorescence detecting apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment will be described supplementally . fig4 is an illustration for supplementally explaining the fluorescence - detecting operation of the conventional fluorescence detecting apparatus and that of the fluorescence detecting apparatus 1 of the present embodiment . in the conventional fluorescence detecting apparatus shown in fig4 a , it is necessary to emit strong uniform excitation light in order to detect fluorescence from a weak fluorescent spot 6 , but because of influence of the spreading of fluorescence from a strong fluorescent spot 7 when strong excitation light is illuminated , the brightness in a background area 3 ( the area enclosed by a broken - line circle 2 in fig3 a ) increases , so that it is difficult to detect weak fluorescent spots . specifically , the fluorescence - detected image results in the one shown in fig3 b in which individual fluorescent spots are joined . it is hence impossible to separate fluorescent spots having different fluorescence brightness , hence difficult to achieve detection of fluorescence brightness . in contrast , in the fluorescence detecting operation of fluorescence detecting apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment , it is possible as stated above to separate the areas by use of dmd and illuminate different areas with excitation light of different intensities . it is therefore possible to separate fluorescent spots having different fluorescence brightness from one another as shown in fig3 c and 3d and detect fluorescence intensity ( by separating areas into a surrounding area 4 of weak fluorescent spot 6 and a surrounding area 5 of strong fluorescent spot 7 ). in fluorescence detecting apparatus 1 of the present embodiment , it is possible to implement multiple steps similar to the second step , one to another , including the n steps ( n = 3 , 4 , . . . ), aiming at executing multiple classes of the second step , whereby it becomes possible to realize an operation of a fluorescence detecting apparatus having a high sensitivity over a wide dynamic range , by effectively making use of the features of apparatus components , such as the selectable range of excitation light intensity , the sensitive range of the ccd area image sensor , the selectable range of imaging exposure time , etc . the excitation light illumination intensity , the imaging exposure time of the area image sensor and the like at the first step , as well as the excitation light illumination intensity pattern , the imaging exposure time of the area image sensor and the like at and after the second step , may be set up taking into account the characteristics of the fluorescence intensity etc . of the subject to be detected and the optical component configuration of the fluorescence image detector and the sensitivity characteristics of the ccd area image sensor etc . information processor 41 basically calculates the effective fluorescence intensity at every detected point on the surface of detection of the sample , based on the intensity of the irradiated excitation light and the fluorescence intensity detected correspondingly . the fluorescence intensity may be comprehensively calculated from multiple times of detection results under different detecting conditions . further , when , for example some area at which an extremely high fluorescence is emitted is located adjacent to a detected point , in other words , when the surrounding condition exerts some influence on the detection result of the detected spot , a correction may be made taking into account the degree of that influence . when , due to variation in the characteristics of a component such as micromirror array device 11 or the like of excitation light pattern generating illuminator 42 , some irregular distribution of the intensity excitation light occurs over the surface of detection of the sample despite that the intensity of the excitation light is set uniform , when some fluctuation that is different from the designated setup occurs on the surface of detection 44 of the sample despite that a predetermined projection pattern is selected , or in any other cases , it is possible to keep the necessary uniformity by correcting the light intensity every projection pixel , which is the minimum unit of the projection pattern of excitation light pattern generating illuminator 42 . the above correction is preferably made to the excitation light pattern generating information at information processor 41 so as to correct the illumination intensity of the actual excitation light to be irradiated . alternatively , it is also possible to make correction numerically upon the fluorescence intensity calculation at the information processor after actual detection has been made . when variation due to a component such as the ccd area image sensor or the like of fluorescence image detector 43 affects the detection result , it is also possible to make correction numerically upon fluorescence intensity calculation at information processor 41 . when the projection pixels as the minimum units of the projection pattern in excitation light pattern generating illuminator 42 and the imaging pixels as the minimum unit of imaging of the ccd area image sensor are made exactly in alignment with each other on the surface of detection 44 of a sample without any deviation in a one - to - one correspondent manner with respect to their pitch and positional relationship , it is most preferable to make the best use of both the resolutions . however , it is not so easy to exactly match these conditions especially when devices such as the micromirror array device , ccd area image sensor etc ., need to be selected from the existing devices to construct the apparatus , taking into account their cost , performances , etc . in the fluorescence detecting apparatus 1 of the present embodiment , where the optical system is constructed so that the optical axis of excitation light pattern generating illuminator 42 to the surface of detection 44 of a sample and the optical axis of fluorescence image detector 43 are not coaxial , the correspondence between the projection pixels of the excitation light pattern generating illuminator and the imaging pixels of fluorescence image detector 43 cannot hold any more and will change if the distance to the surface of detection of a sample greatly changes . the correspondence relationship between the projection pixels of excitation light pattern generating illuminator 42 and the imaging pixels of fluorescence image detector 43 , which is depends on various factors such as a discrepancy caused by the specifications of these devices , discrepancy due to variations etc ., in manufacturing the apparatus , discrepancy caused by the apparatus configuration , the shape of the object to be detected and the positional relationship between these , may and should be recorded as previous information in the information processor and used to make correction . shown in the present embodiment is detection of fluorescence information of 2 - dimensional area using 2 - dimensional imaging device 24 and 2 - dimensional excitation light pattern generating illuminator 42 , but the present invention should not be limited to this . similarly to the above means , detection of linear photo - sensing device such as a ccd line image sensor etc ., and a linear excitation light pattern generating illuminator 42 may be used in combination so as to detect linear fluorescence information . further , addition of a synchronized scan mechanism makes it possible to detect fluorescence information of 2 - dimensional area ; only one of excitation light pattern generating illuminator 42 and fluorescence image detector 43 is given as a linear device and can be used in combination with a scan mechanism . however , a scan - wise detecting operation of 2 - dimensional area needs a certain period of time , so it is not suitable for continuous detection in a short cycle time . choice of a configuration can be made taking into account the needed cycle of dynamic observation , detection performance , manufacturing cost of the apparatus and other factors . further , the present embodiment has been described referring to an example using micromirror array device 11 as an excitation light pattern means , but the excitation light pattern means may employ a reflection - type liquid crystal device . that is , it is possible to configure an excitation light pattern generating illuminator using constituents of an lcd projector using a reflection - type liquid crystal panel lcos ( liquid crystal on silicon ). other basic configuration and operation conform to the first embodiment , hence detailed description is omitted . the device used for the excitation light pattern means may and should be selected taking into consideration the excitation light wavelength range , device specifications , optical characteristics , cost and other factors . fig5 is a schematic configurational view showing a fluorescence detecting apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention . the fluorescence detecting apparatus of the second embodiment is comprised of an excitation light pattern generating illuminator 42 a and a fluorescence image detector 43 a , which are arranged so as to partly share a coaxial optical system , and an information processor 41 . in excitation light pattern generating illuminator 42 a , light from a light source 10 is irradiated on a micromirror array device 11 , the light is further reflected off micromirrors is reflected on a dichroic mirror 32 , then passes through a main lens 31 to be projected on the surface of detection 44 of a sample . micromirror array device 11 is composed of a plurality of angle - variable micro mirrors as many number as the pixels of the projection image pattern , and the angle switching actions of individual micromirrors can be controlled by pwm ( pulse width modulation ) control to determine grayscales . light source 10 is composed of a lamp 13 , a light source mirror 14 arranged at the rear of lamp 13 and a light source lens 12 for irradiating light onto micromirror array device 11 . micromirror array device 11 is pwm controlled by the aforementioned control circuit in accordance with the excitation light pattern generating information , described hereinbelow , so that the directions of reflection of light from light source 10 are controlled by individual micromirrors , to thereby form a 2 - dimensional excitation light pattern on the surface of detection 44 of the sample . lamp 13 of the light source is a white - light source or the like , emitting light over a wide range of wavelengths , it is necessary to limit the excitation light to be illuminated on the surface of detection 44 of the sample to a predetermined wavelength range . because dichroic mirror 32 has a property that reflects light of a specific wavelength range and transmits light of wavelengths other than that range , the wavelength characteristics of dichroic mirror 32 can be designated in conformity with the desired wavelengths of excitation light . further , in order to limit the wavelengths of excitation light to be illuminated on the surface of detection 44 of the sample , an optical filter 15 such as a band - pass filter , color filter , etc ., can be added in the course of the optical path . optical filter 15 can be disposed before or behind optical lens 12 , or before dichroic mirror 32 . lamp 13 of light source 10 may use a lamp such as a high - pressure mercury lamp , metal halide lamp , xenon lamp or the like , or may use a high - brightness led , high - brightness fluorescent tube etc . further , the configurations and shapes of light source mirror 14 and light source lens 12 or whether they should be used or not can be made choice of , considering luminescence anisotropy etc . for micromirror array device 11 , dmd ( digital micro - mirror device ), a product of texas instrument incorporated , can be used as already mentioned above . further , components of dlp ( digital light processing ) system , a projection type projector system using that dmd may be used to configure excitation light pattern generating illuminator 42 a . in fluorescence image detector 43 a , the fluorescence image of a sample on the surface of detection 44 is focused on a ccd ( charge coupled devices ) area image sensor 24 by main lens 31 and dichroic mirror 32 . because dichroic mirror 32 has a property that reflects light of a specific wavelength range and transmits light of wavelengths other than that range , the wavelength characteristics of dichroic mirror 32 is selected so as to permits fluorescence wavelengths to transmit therethrough . in sum , the wavelength characteristics of dichroic mirror 32 is so set up as to reflect excitation light wavelengths and transmit fluorescence wavelengths . further , in order to block light of unnecessary wavelengths from entering ccd area image sensor 24 and selectively permit light of fluorescence wavelengths to enter thereon for detection , it is possible to add an optical filter 22 such as a band - pass filter , notch filter , etc ., in the course of the optical path . in this case , optical filter 22 can be arranged behind dichroic mirror 32 . it is also possible to lay out in the course of the optical path a shutter 23 for blocking the light path in order to control the incident timing of light onto ccd area image sensor 24 . this ccd area image sensor 24 is cooled using with a cooling unit 25 made up of a thermoelectric transducer such as a peltier device etc ., to reduce dark current noise and thereby enhance its sensitivity . to achieve a further high sensitive detection , a ccd area image sensor 24 having an electron multiplying function may be used . if component parts are so selected that the projection pixels on the surface of detection 44 of a sample , as the minimum units of the projection pattern of excitation light pattern generating illuminator 42 a will be made one - to - one correspondent , both with respect to the pitch and positional relationship , to the imaging pixels as the minimum units of ccd area image sensor 24 , this configuration is most preferable in order to make the best use of the resolutions of both components . pickup image information from ccd area image sensor 24 is transferred to information processor 41 including a computer etc ., by way of a control circuit . information processor 41 records numerical information of the 2 - dimensional area for surface of detection 44 of a sample , including pickup image information collected by fluorescence image detector 43 a , excitation light pattern generating information set up by performing operations based on the pickup image information etc ., fluorescence information of the sample , calculated based on the excitation light pattern generating information , the pickup image information corresponding to it and the like , and processes these pieces of information and controls individual connected devices . the hardware configuration of information processor 41 may be given as a general - purpose computer , a board computer , or an entity that is accessed through a network . next , the operation of the fluorescence detecting apparatus according to the second embodiment will be described . the presumed sample to be the studied by fluorescence detection is a process in which multiple fluorescent spots having significantly great differences in fluorescent intensity gradually vary in their intensity and position over time , as in a case where a sample held in a gel plate or the like becomes fractionated over a 2 - dimensional region by 2 - dimensional electrophoresis . to begin with , at the first step , while excitation light pattern generating illuminator 42 a irradiates the whole detection area with excitation light of uniform intensity , fluorescence image detector 43 a captures the fluorescence image at that time , so that information processor 41 recognizes fluorescence intensity at individual positions . since this step is aimed at detecting fluorescent spots having intensity higher than a certain level , the intensity of excitation light illumination from excitation light pattern generating illuminator 42 a is set at a weak level . further , the imaging exposure time of area image sensor 24 by fluorescence image detector 43 a may be set at a short period , or the aperture of the imaging lens optical system may be set at a high value . next , in the second step , the information processor generates an excitation light pattern generating information such as not to illuminate with excitation light the point and therearound in which a fluorescent spot has been detected at the previous step , and excitation light pattern generating illuminator 42 a illuminates with the patterned excitation light . since this step is aimed at detecting fluorescent spots that were hard to detect at the previous step because of their low intensity , a fluorescence image is taken by fluorescence image detector 43 a while excitation light having a higher intensity than the previous step is being illuminated , and the fluorescence intensity at each position is recognized by information processor 41 . further , the imaging exposure time of area image sensor 24 by fluorescence image detector 43 a may be set longer than that in the previous step , or the aperture of the imaging lens optical system may be set at a value lower than that of the previous step . in fluorescence detecting apparatus of the present embodiment , similarly to the case of the first embodiment it is possible to implement multiple steps similar to the second step , one to another , including the n steps ( n = 3 , 4 , . . . ), aiming at executing multiple classes of the second step . with this arrangement , it becomes possible to realize an operation of a fluorescence detecting apparatus having a high sensitivity over a wide dynamic range , by effectively making use of the features of apparatus components , such as the selectable range of excitation light intensity , the sensitive range of the ccd area image sensor , the selectable range of imaging exposure time , etc . the excitation light illumination intensity , the imaging exposure time of ccd area image sensor 24 and the like at the first step , as well as the excitation light illumination intensity pattern , the imaging exposure time of ccd area image sensor 24 and the like at and after the second step , may be set up taking into account the characteristics of the fluorescence intensity etc . of the subject to be detected and the optical component configuration of fluorescence image detector 43 a and the sensitivity characteristics of ccd area image sensor 24 , etc . information processor 41 basically calculates the effective fluorescence intensity at every detected point on the surface of detection 44 of the sample , based on the intensity of the irradiated excitation light and the fluorescence intensity detected correspondingly . the fluorescence intensity may be comprehensively calculated from multiple times of detection results under different detecting conditions . further , when , for example some area at which an extremely high fluorescence is emitted is located adjacent to a detected point , in other words , when the surrounding condition exerts some influence on the detection result of the detected spot , a correction may be made taking into account the degree of that influence . when , due to variation in the characteristics of a component such as micromirror array device 11 or the like of excitation light pattern generating illuminator 42 a , some irregular distribution of the intensity excitation light occurs over the surface of detection 44 of the sample despite that the intensity of the excitation light is set uniform , when some fluctuation that is different from the designated setup occurs on the surface of detection 44 of the sample despite that a predetermined projection pattern is selected , or in any other cases , it is possible to keep the necessary uniformity by correcting the light intensity every projection pixel , which is the minimum unit of the projection pattern of excitation light pattern generating illuminator 42 a . the above correction is preferably made to the excitation light pattern generating information at information processor 41 so as to correct the illumination intensity of the actual excitation light to be irradiated . alternatively , it is also possible to make correction numerically upon the fluorescence intensity calculation at information processor 41 after actual detection has been made . when variation due to a component such as ccd area image sensor 24 or the like of fluorescence image detector 43 a affects the detection result , it is also possible to make correction numerically upon fluorescence intensity calculation at information processor 41 . when the projection pixels as the minimum units of the projection pattern in excitation light pattern generating illuminator 42 a and the imaging pixels as the minimum unit of imaging of ccd area image sensor 24 are made exactly in alignment with each other without any deviation in a one - to - one correspondent manner with respect to their pitch and positional relationship , it is most preferable to make the best use of both the resolutions . however , it is not so easy to exactly match these conditions especially when devices such as micromirror array device 11 , ccd area image sensor 24 etc ., are selected from the existing devices to construct the apparatus , taking into account their cost , performances , etc . the correspondence relationship between the projection pixels of excitation light pattern generating illuminator 42 a and the imaging pixels of fluorescence image detector 43 a , which is depends on various factors such as a discrepancy caused by the specifications of these devices , discrepancy due to variations etc ., in manufacturing the apparatus , discrepancy caused by the apparatus configuration , the shape of the object to be detected and the positional relationship between these , may and should be recorded as previous information in the information processor and used to make correction . as in the present embodiment , in an optical configuration in which the optical axis of excitation light pattern generating illuminator 42 a to the surface of detection 44 of a sample and the optical axis of fluorescence image detector 43 a are arranged coaxially on the surface of detection , it is possible to provide a configuration in which the correspondence between the projection pixels of excitation light pattern generating illuminator 42 a and the imaging pixels of fluorescence image detector 43 a will never change even if the distance from the main lens to the surface of detection 44 is varied . accordingly , this configuration is suitable especially when the size of the surface of detection area or the distance to the surface of detection 44 need to be significantly changed on purpose . yet , it is necessary to consider the occurrence of some loss of light intensity due to additional insertion of optical parts into the light paths for illumination and detection . further , the present embodiment has been described referring to an example using micromirror array device 11 as an excitation light pattern means , but the excitation light pattern means may employ a reflection - type liquid crystal device . as this example , it is possible to configure an excitation light pattern generating illuminator 42 using constituents of an lcd projector using a reflection - type liquid crystal panel lcos ( liquid crystal on silicon ). other basic configuration and operation conform to the first embodiment , hence detailed description is omitted . the device used for the excitation light pattern means may and should be selected taking into consideration the excitation light wavelength range , device specifications , optical characteristics , cost and other factors . fig6 is a schematic configurational view showing a fluorescence detecting apparatus according to the third embodiment of the present invention . the fluorescence detecting apparatus of the third embodiment is comprised of an excitation light pattern generating illuminator 42 b , a fluorescence image detector 43 and an information processor 41 . in excitation light pattern generating illuminator 42 b , light emitted from a light source 10 passes through a transmission - type liquid crystal device 17 and to be projected to the surface of detection 44 of a sample via a projection lens 16 . light source 10 is composed of a lamp 13 , a light source mirror 14 arranged at the rear of the lamp and a light source lens 12 for irradiating light onto transmission - type liquid crystal device 17 . transmission - type liquid crystal device 17 is controlled by a control circuit in accordance with the excitation light pattern generating information so that the transmittance of light from the light source 10 is controlled for every liquid crystal pixel , to thereby form a 2 - dimensional excitation light pattern on the surface of detection 44 of a sample . when lamp 13 of light source 10 is a white - light source or the like , emitting light over a wide range of wavelengths , an optical filter 15 such as a band - pass filter , color filter , etc ., is arranged in the course of the optical path in order to limit the excitation light to be illuminated on the sample to a predetermined wavelength range . optical filter 15 can be disposed before or behind optical lens 12 , or before or behind projection lens 16 . light source 10 may use a lamp such as a high - pressure mercury lamp , metal halide lamp , xenon lamp or the like , or may use a high - brightness led , high - brightness fluorescent tube etc . further , the configurations and shapes of light source mirror 14 and light source lens 12 or whether they should be used or not can be made choice of , considering the characteristics of light source devices such as luminescence anisotropy etc . the constituents of a liquid crystal projector system using a transmission - type liquid crystal device may be used to constitute an excitation light pattern generating illuminator 42 b . since fluorescence image detector 43 and information processor 41 as well as the operation etc ., of the fluorescence detecting apparatus substantially conforms to the fluorescence detecting apparatus of the aforementioned first embodiment , detailed description is omitted . the fluorescence detecting apparatus of this embodiment ( not shown ) is comprised of an excitation light pattern generating illuminator and a fluorescence image detector , which are arranged so as to partly share a coaxial optical system , and an information processor , and the excitation light pattern generating illuminator is composed of a transmission - type liquid crystal device . that is , this embodiment is a configuration that employs part of the above second and third embodiments in combination . here , since the fluorescence image detector and information processor as well as the operation etc ., of the fluorescence detecting apparatus substantially conforms to the fluorescence detecting apparatus of the aforementioned second embodiment , detailed description is omitted . other than above , any device as long as it includes a mechanism capable of projecting motion pictures , such as crt projectors etc ., can be used as an excitation light pattern generating illuminator . hence it is possible to select one as a constituent of the excitation light pattern generating illuminator , taking into consideration the excitation light wavelength range , device specifications , optical characteristics , cost and other factors . fig7 is a schematic configuration of a fluorescence detecting apparatus according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention . the fluorescence detecting apparatus of this embodiment is comprised of an excitation light pattern generating illuminator 42 c , a fluorescence image detector 43 and an information processor 41 , and excitation light pattern generating illuminator 42 c is arranged on the rear side of the fluorescence image surface of detection 44 . excitation light pattern generating illuminator 42 c includes a liquid crystal panel 45 arranged on a backlight 46 . with this arrangement , the surface of detection 44 of a sample is illuminated with excitation light from the rear side . it is possible to arrange an optical filter etc ., for limiting the excitation light wavelengths , on the top of or underside transmission - type liquid crystal panel 45 . it is also possible to arrange a micromirror array etc ., taking into account the use efficiency of light and the illumination area of the sample surface . since fluorescence image detector 43 and information processor 41 as well as the operation etc ., of the fluorescence detecting apparatus basically conforms to the fluorescence detecting apparatus of the above embodiment , detailed description is omitted . this embodiment shows an example of using a flat - type light - emitting display device for excitation light pattern generating illuminator 42 c , and is configured by a combination of backlight 46 and liquid crystal panel 45 . however , the present invention should not be limited to this as long as the desired wavelengths , light intensity , number of pixels and the like can be obtained . for example , organic el ( electro luminescence ) panels , inorganic el panels , led displays , pdps ( plasma display panels ), crts ( cathode ray tubes ) and others can be applied .	6
a first embodiment of a semiconductor module in accordance with the present invention will be described below with reference to fig1 to 4 . fig1 is a perspective view of a semiconductor module in accordance with the first embodiment , fig2 is a sectional view along a line ii - ii in fig1 and fig3 and 4 are views which explain a method of producing the semiconductor module in accordance with the first embodiment . as shown in fig1 to 3 , a semiconductor module 1 a in accordance with the first embodiment is constituted by a bare ic chip 2 , a lead terminal 3 as the claimed electrically conductive member directly connected to a pad portion 2 a as the claimed electrically conductive terminal surface area of the ic chip 2 and a sealing resin 4 for sealing a periphery of the ic chip 2 with a part of the lead terminal 3 , a thin resin film 4 a is formed only at a peripheral portion including an edge portion 2 b on a back surface side of the ic chip 2 , and a center portion is formed as a chip exposing portion 5 having no sealing resin 4 . as the bare ic chip 2 , an ic chip in which a gold bump or a nickel bump 7 is applied to the pad portion 2 a corresponding to an input and output terminal is employed . as the bare ic chip 2 , in the case of applying to a thin semiconductor apparatus , an ic chip obtained by applying an abrasion process to a silicon wafer by mechanical or chemical means or a combination thereof so as to be made thin to a desired thickness can be employed . an end of the lead terminal 3 made of an electrically conductive material having a relatively high rigidity is directly connected to the pad portion 2 a of the bare ic chip 2 via a bump 7 made of gold , nickel , solder or the like , as shown in fig2 . as the lead terminal 3 , a lead terminal formed by a lead frame made of an electrically conductive metal material may be employed , or a lead terminal formed by a connecting tab structured such that an electric conducting pattern is provided on an insulative resin substrate may be employed , and a connection between the bump 7 and the lead terminal 3 can be performed by a thermal pressure connection , a solder connection , a welding , an electrically conductive paste connection , an anisotropic electrically conductive binding material or adhesive ( acf ) connection , an ultrasonic welding or the like . the sealing resin 4 is constituted by a high bridging thermosetting resin material excellent in mechanical and chemical characteristics such as an epoxy resin or the like , and is formed in the periphery of the ic chip 2 with the connecting portion of the lead terminal 3 . a thin resin film 4 a formed on the back surface side of the bare ic chip 2 is formed such that a film thickness is thickest at a portion corresponding to the edge portion 2 b of the bare ic chip 2 as shown in fig2 and becomes sequentially thin toward a center portion side of the bare ic chip 2 . a maximum film thickness h of the resin film 4 a can be optionally adjusted in accordance with a total thickness of the semiconductor apparatus which will apply this , and in the case of applying to a thin semiconductor apparatus , it is preferably set to a value equal to or more than 10 μm and equal to or less than the thickness of the ic chip 2 . the resin layers formed on the surface side and the side surface side of the bare ic chips 2 can be made thicker than the thickness mentioned above , however , it is preferable that the total thickness of the semiconductor module 1 a is set to be equal to or less than 0 . 5 mm in order to correspond to a thinning of the semiconductor apparatus . in this case , the resin sealing of the bare ic chip 2 in which the lead terminal 3 is connected to the pad portion 2 a can be performed by pouring a resin into a metal mold cavity to which the bare ic chip 2 and the lead terminal 3 are received and fixed , as shown in fig3 and 4 . fig3 shows a case of forming the sealing resin 4 onto opposing surfaces of an upper mold 11 and a lower mold 12 by using a metal mold on which a cavity 13 having a shape corresponding to the sealing resin 4 to be formed is formed , and fig4 shows a case of forming the sealing resin 4 onto the opposing surfaces of the upper mold 11 and the lower mold 12 by using a metal mold on which a cavity 13 having no portion corresponding to the resin film 4 a to be formed is formed . in the case of using the metal mold shown in fig3 a center of a flat portion 12 a formed in the lower mold 12 and a center of the bare ic chip 2 are aligned , a peripheral portion of the bare ic chip 2 is overhung over an inclined portion 12 b formed in the lower mold 12 , the flat portion 12 a and the back surface of the bare ic chip 2 closely contact each other , a front end side of the lead terminal 3 protruding from the cavity 13 is gripped between the upper mold 11 and the lower mold 12 , and the bare ic chip 2 is fixed within the cavity 13 . in this state , when charging the resin into the cavity 13 from a gate portion 14 , it is possible to obtain the sealing resin 4 formed in a desired shape having a wafer exposing portion 5 corresponding to the flat portion 12 a of the cavity 13 and the resin film 4 a corresponding to the inclined portion 12 b . in the case of using the metal mold shown in fig4 the front end side of the lead terminal 3 protruding from the cavity 13 is gripped between the upper mold 11 and the lower mold 12 in a state of bringing the back surface of the bare ic chip 2 into contact with the cavity surface of the lower mold 12 , whereby the bare ic chip 2 is fixed within the cavity 13 . in this state , when charging the resin into the cavity 13 from the gate portion 14 , the resin enters between the cavity surface of the lower mold 12 and the back surface of the bare ic chip 2 as a burr at a little amount , so that the wafer exposing portion 5 having no resin film is formed at the center portion on the back surface side of the bare ic chip 2 , and the thin resin film 4 a is formed in the peripheral portion on the back side of the bare ic chip 2 . a second embodiment of the semiconductor module in accordance with the present invention will be described below with reference to fig5 and 6 . fig5 is a cross sectional view of the semiconductor module in accordance with the second embodiment , and fig6 is a view explaining a method of producing the semiconductor module in accordance with the second embodiment . as shown in fig5 and 6 , a semiconductor module 1 b in accordance with the second embodiment is structured such that a whole of an outer surface of a bare ic chip 2 with a connecting portion of the lead terminal 3 is covered by the sealing resin 4 . a film thickness t of a resin layer formed on a back surface side of the bare ic chip 2 is adjusted to a thickness equal to or more than 10 μm and equal to or less than a thickness of the bare ic chip 2 in order to make it possible to apply to a thin type semiconductor apparatus . with respect to a structure of the other portions , since the structure is the same as that of the semiconductor module in accordance with the first embodiment , an explanation thereof will be omitted so as to avoid repetition . the semiconductor module 1 b in accordance with the present embodiment can be produced by using a metal mold shown in fig6 . as is apparent from fig6 the metal mold of the present embodiment is formed such that a cavity 13 formed in opposing surfaces between an upper mold 11 and a lower mold 12 is formed is formed in a shape corresponding to the sealing resin 4 to be formed and a desired distance equal to or more than 10 μm and equal to or less than the thickness of the bare ic chip 2 is formed between the back surface of the bare ic chip 2 and the cavity surface of the lower mold 12 when gripping a front end side of the lead terminal 3 protruding from the cavity 13 between the upper mold 11 and the lower mold 12 . the semiconductor module 1 b in accordance with the present embodiment can be formed by gripping the front end side of the lead terminal 3 protruding from the cavity 13 between the - upper mold 11 and the lower mold 12 and charging the resin from the gate portion 14 into the cavity 13 in a state of adjusting the distance between the back surface of the bare ic chip 2 and the cavity surface of the lower mold 12 to a value equal to or more than 10 μm and equal to or less than the thickness of the bare ic chip 2 . a third embodiment of the semiconductor module in accordance with the present invention will be described below with reference to fig7 to 9 . fig7 is a perspective view of a semiconductor module in accordance with the third embodiment , fig8 is a cross sectional , and fig9 is a view explaining a method of producing the semiconductor module in accordance with the third embodiment . as shown in fig7 to 9 , a semiconductor module 1 c in accordance with the third embodiment is structured such as to employ an antenna coil installing type bare ic chip 20 having no pad portion and no lead terminal directly connected to the pad portion and seal an outer periphery of the antenna coil installing type ic chip 20 except a part of a back surface thereof by the sealing resin 4 . on the back surface side of the ic chip 20 , a thin resin film 4 a is formed only at a peripheral portion including an edge portion 20 b , and a center portion thereof forms a wafer - exposing portion 5 having no sealing resin 4 . with respect to a structure of the other portions , since the structure is the same as that of the semiconductor module 1 a in accordance with the first embodiment , an explanation thereof will be omitted so as to avoid repetition . the semiconductor module 1 c in accordance with the present embodiment can be produced by using a metal mold shown in fig9 a and 9b . the metal mold shown in fig9 a is formed such that a cavity 13 formed in opposing surfaces between an upper mold 11 and a lower mold 12 is formed is formed in a shape corresponding to the sealing resin 4 to be formed , and the metal mold shown in fig9 b is formed such that the cavity 13 having no portion corresponding to the resin film 4 a mentioned above is formed in the opposing surfaces between an upper mold 11 and a lower mold 12 . since both of the metal molds are different from the metal molds shown in fig3 and 4 and have no gripping portion for the lead terminal on the opposing surface between the upper mold 11 and the lower mold 12 , in order to fix the antenna coil installing type ic chip 20 to a desired position within the cavity 13 , the structure is made such that a pin 15 provided in the upper mold 11 is protruded into the cavity 13 . in the case of using the metal mold shown in fig9 a , a flat portion 12 a and the back surface of the bare ic chip 20 are closely contacted with each other by the pin 15 protruded into the cavity 13 in a state of aligning a center of the flat portion 12 a formed in the lower mold 12 with a center of the bare ic chip 20 so as to overhang a peripheral portion of the bare ic chip 20 over an inclined portion 12 b formed in the lower mold 12 . in this state , when charging the resin into the cavity 13 from the gate portion 14 , it is possible to obtain the sealing resin 4 formed in a desired shape having a wafer exposing portion 5 corresponding to the flat portion 12 a of the cavity 13 and the resin film 4 a corresponding to the inclined portion 12 b . on the contrary , in the case of using the metal mold shown in fig9 b , the back surface of the bare ic chip 20 is slightly brought into contact with the cavity surface of the lower mold 12 by the pin 15 protruded into the cavity 13 . in this state , when charging the resin into the cavity 13 from the gate portion 14 , the resin enters between the cavity surface of the lower mold 12 and the back surface of the bare ic chip 20 as a burr at a little amount , so that the wafer exposing portion 5 having no resin film is formed at the center portion on the back surface side of the bare ic chip 20 , and the thin resin film 4 a is formed in the peripheral portion on the back side of the bare ic chip 20 . a fourth embodiment of the semiconductor module in accordance with the present invention will be described below with reference to fig1 and 11 . fig1 is a cross sectional view of the semiconductor module in accordance with the fourth embodiment , and fig1 is a view explaining a method of producing the semiconductor module in accordance with the fourth embodiment . as shown in fig1 and 11 , a semiconductor module 1 d in accordance with the fourth embodiment is structured such that a whole of an outer surface of an antenna coil installing type bare ic chip 20 is structured such as to be covered by the sealing resin 4 . a film thickness t of a resin layer formed on a back surface side of the bare ic chip 20 is adjusted to a thickness equal to or more than 10 μm and equal to or less than a thickness of the bare ic chip 20 in order to make it possible to apply to a thin type semiconductor apparatus . with respect to a structure of the other portions , since the structure is the same as that of the semiconductor module in accordance with the third embodiment , an explanation thereof will be omitted so as to avoid repetition . the semiconductor module 1 d in accordance with the present embodiment can be produced by using a metal mold shown in fig1 . the metal mold shown in fig1 is structured such that the cavity 13 formed in opposing surfaces between the upper mold 11 and the lower mold 12 is formed is formed in a shape corresponding to the sealing resin 4 to be formed and in order to fix the antenna coil installing type ic chip 20 to a desired position within the cavity 13 , pins 15 a and 15 b provided in the upper mold 11 and the lower mold 12 are protruded into the cavity 13 . a protruding amount of the pin 15 b provided in the lower mold 12 is adjusted to a thickness of the resin layer to be formed on the back surface of the antenna coil installing type ic chip 20 . the semiconductor module 1 d in accordance with the present embodiment can be formed by placing the antenna coil installing type bare ic chip 20 on the pin 15 b provided in the lower mold 12 and charging the resin from the gate portion 14 into the cavity 13 in a state of pressing the upper surface of the bare ic chip 20 by the pin 15 a provided in the upper mold 11 . [ 0098 ] fig1 shows a point or spot pressure strength of the semiconductor modules 1 a , 1 b , 1 c and 1 d in accordance with the present invention in comparison with a point or spot pressure strength of a bare ic chip to which a wet process is not applied at a final stage for dicing in accordance with a conventional embodiment and a point or spot pressure strength of a bare ic chip to which a wet process is applied at a final stage for dicing . a test for measuring the point pressure strength is performed with respect to both of a pad forming surface side ( a front surface side ) and a back surface side of a test piece 32 in accordance with a method of placing the test piece 32 on an upper surface of a silicone rubber 31 placed on a surface plate 30 , vertically pressing a pressing jig 33 having a front end formed in a spherical shape to a center portion of the test piece 32 and applying a pressure until the test piece 32 is broken , as shown in fig1 . values in fig1 respectively express average values of data obtained with respect to twenty test pieces . as is apparent from fig1 , in the normal bare ic chip to which the wet process is not applied at the final stage for dicing , the point pressure strength in the front surface side is 1213 gram and the point pressure strength in the back surface side is 662 gram . the point pressure strength on the back surface side is significantly lower than that in the front surface side because a chipping and a crack are easily generated in the back surface side of the ic chip at the producing stage and a stress is concentrated into these defects . on the contrary , in the bare ic chip to which the wet process is applied at the final stage for dicing , the point pressure strength in the front surface side is 2443 gram and the point pressure strength in the back surface side is 597 gram . accordingly , it is understood that a great effect can be obtained for improving the point pressure strength in the front surface side . however , with respect to the back surface side , the point pressure strength is rather lower than the normal bare ic chip to which the wet process is not applied at the final stage for dicing ( the reason therefor is not clear ), and it is understood that the effect of the wet process is hardly obtained . on the contrary , in the semiconductor module in accordance with the present invention , the point pressure strength in the front surface side and the point pressure strength in the back surface side are respectively increased to 2838 gram and 2455 gram , and it is understood that a great effect can be obtained for improving the point pressure strength with respect to both of the front surface side and the back surface side . in particular , since the point pressure strength in the back surface side is increased to a value corresponding to the point pressure strength in the front surface side of the bare ic chip to which the wet process is applied at the final stage for dicing , in the case of being mounted to a semiconductor apparatus in which a bending stress is repeatedly operated to the front surface side and the back surface side , it is possible to improve a durability thereof . hereinafter , a semiconductor apparatus in accordance with a first embodiment will be described with reference to fig1 to 18 . the semiconductor apparatus in accordance with the first embodiment is characterized by mounting the semiconductor modules 1 a or 1 b shown in fig2 and 5 . fig1 is a plan view which shows a non - contact ic card in accordance with the first embodiment in a partly cutting off manner , fig1 is a cross sectional view of a non - contact ic card to which the semiconductor module 1 a shown in fig2 is mounted , fig1 is a cross sectional view of a non - contact ic card to which the semiconductor module 1 b shown in fig5 is mounted , fig1 is a cross sectional view of a wire constituting an antenna coil , and fig1 is a view explaining a method of connecting the antenna coil to a lead terminal . as is apparent from fig1 to 16 , a non - contact ic card 40 a in accordance with the present embodiment is constituted by the semiconductor module 1 a or 1 b , an antenna coil 41 electrically connected to the semiconductor module 1 a or 1 b and a base body 42 installing each of the mounted parts . the antenna coil 41 is connected to a front end portion of the lead terminal 3 protruding from the sealing resin 4 of the semiconductor module 1 a or 1 b in accordance with a connecting method , for example , a wedge bonding , a solder bonding , a welding , an electrically conductive paste bonding or the like . as a wire constituting the antenna coil 41 , it is possible to employ a wire structured such that an insulating layer 41 b such as a resin or the like is coated around a core wire 41 a made of or including a good electrically conductive metal material such as a copper , an aluminum or the like as shown in fig1 a , or a wire structured such that a bonding metal layer 41 c such as a gold , a solder or the like is coated around the core wire 41 a and the insulating layer 41 b is coated around the bonding metal layer 41 c as shown in fig1 b . a diameter of the wire is 20 am to 100 μm , and the antenna coil 41 is formed by turning the wire at some to some tens times in correspondence to a characteristic of the ic chip 2 . in the case of connecting the antenna coil 41 to the lead terminal 3 by the wedge bonding method , it is possible to employ a structure having no bonding metal layer 41 c as the antenna coil 41 , however , in order to more easily and securely perform the bonding , it is particularly preferable to employ a structure in which the metal is coated around the core wire 41 a . the wedge bonding between the antenna coil 41 and the lead terminal 3 is performed by overlapping the antenna coil 41 on the lead terminal 3 , pressing a bonding tool 50 from the antenna coil 41 side , applying an ultrasonic , sublimating the insulating layer 41 b by the energy and melting the metal , as shown in fig1 a . the antenna coil 41 connected by the wedge bonding is structured such that the insulating layer 41 b near the pressurizing portion is broken away and the core wire 41 a crushed into a flat shape is crimped to the lead terminal 3 , as shown in fig1 b . a base body 42 is constituted by a binding material layer 43 which may include non - woven fabric and a cover sheet 44 as the claimed casing bonded to a surface of the binding material layer 43 , as shown in fig1 and 16 . as a binding material constituting the binding material layer 43 , it is possible to employ a known optional binding material as far as it has a desired strength after hardening , however , it is particularly preferable to employ a thermoplastic elastomer or a mixed body between a thermoplastic elastomer and a resin since it can be bonded by a roll press or a hydrostatic press and a warp is hardly generated after hardening . the cover sheet 44 can be constituted by an optional insulative resin sheet , however , it is particularly preferable to employ a polyethylene terephthalate ( pet ), a polyvinyl chloride ( pvc ) or the like since it has a high strength and is excellent in a bonding characteristic and a printing characteristic . since the non - contact ic card 40 a in accordance with the present embodiment is structured such that the semiconductor module 1 a or 1 b in which the ic chip 2 is sealed by the resin is mounted , the ic chip is hard to be broken even when the repeating bending stress is applied and the durability of the non - contact ic cart 40 a is excellent in durability . further , since the semiconductor module 1 a or 1 b excellent in the point pressure strength and an impact resisting strength is mounted , it is possible to reduce a total thickness of the base body 42 , and it is possible to further thin this kind of semiconductor apparatus . next , a semiconductor apparatus in accordance with a second embodiment will be described below with reference to fig1 to 21 . the semiconductor apparatus in accordance with the second embodiment is characterized by mounting the semiconductor modules 1 c or 1 d shown in fig8 and 10 . fig1 is a plan view which shows a non - contact ic card in accordance with the second embodiment in a partly cutting off manner , fig2 is a cross sectional view of a non - contact ic card to which the semiconductor module 1 c shown in fig8 is mounted , and fig2 is a cross sectional view of a non - contact ic card to which the semiconductor module 1 d shown in fig1 is mounted . as is apparent from these drawings , a non - contact ic card 40 b in accordance with the present embodiment is structured such as to simply case the semiconductor module 1 c or 1 d in which the antenna coil installing ic chip 20 is sealed by the resin by the base body 42 . since the structure of the base body 42 is the same as that of the non - contact ic card 40 a in accordance with the first embodiment , the same reference numerals are attached to the corresponding elements and an explanation thereof will be omitted . the binding material or adhesive layer 43 may include non - woven fabric or may be a non - woven fabric including binding material or adhesive layer 43 , that is , the binding material or adhesive layer 43 may be non - woven fabric 45 impregnated with the binding material or adhesive as described below . since the non - contact ic card 40 b in accordance with the present embodiment is structured such that the semiconductor module 1 c or 1 d in which the ic chip 20 is sealed by the resin is mounted , in addition to the same effects as those of the non - contact ic card 40 a in accordance with the first embodiment , it is possible to further thin this kind of semiconductor apparatus and reduce cost thereof since the lead terminal 3 and the antenna coil 41 are not required by employing the antenna coil installing ic chip 20 . next , a semiconductor apparatus in accordance with a third embodiment will be describe below with reference to fig2 . the semiconductor apparatus in accordance with the third embodiment is characterized by interposing a non - woven fabric in a binding material layer or adhesive 43 or impregnating the non - woven fabric with the adhesive to constitute the base body 42 . fig2 is a cross sectional view of a non - contact ic card in accordance with the third embodiment . in this drawing , reference numeral 45 denotes a non - woven fabric , and the non - woven fabric 45 is impregnated with a binding material or adhesive to constitute the binding material or adhesive layer 43 as the second embodiment of semiconductor apparatus . it is possible to employ a known optional non - woven fabric as the non - woven fabric 45 to the non - contact ic card 40 c in accordance with the third embodiment . since the structure of the other elements is the same as that of the non - contact ic card 40 a in accordance with the first embodiment , an explanation thereof will be omitted so as to avoid repetition . since the non - contact ic card 40 c in accordance with the present embodiment is structured such that the semiconductor module 1 c or 1 d in which the ic chip 2 is sealed by the resin is mounted , in addition to the same effects as those of the non - contact ic card 40 a in accordance with the first embodiment , a strength and a rigidity of the base body 42 are increased and it is possible to further thin this kind of semiconductor apparatus and increase a reliability thereof since the non - woven fabric 45 is interposed in or impregnated with the binding material layer 43 . here , fig2 only shows the case that the semiconductor module 1 a in accordance with the first embodiment is mounted , however , the same structure can be realized in the case that the semiconductor module 1 b in accordance with the second embodiment is mounted , in the case that the semiconductor module 1 c in accordance with the third embodiment is mounted , and in the case that the semiconductor module 1 d in accordance with the fourth embodiment is mounted . hereinafter , a description will be given of a method of producing the non - contact ic card 40 c in accordance with the third embodiment with reference to fig2 to 29 . fig2 is a flow chart showing a first embodiment of the producing method , fig2 is a plan view showing a part of the lead frame or the connecting tab , fig2 is a plan view of the lead frame or the connecting tab to which the bare ic chip is connected , fig2 is a cross sectional view of the non - woven fabric to which a circuit module is temporarily mounted , and fig2 is a schematic view showing casing means for a flexible ic module . at first , as shown in fig2 , there is prepared a ribbon - like lead frame or connecting tab 61 in which a multiplicity of lead terminals 3 as the claimed electrically conductive member ) are formed at a fixed interval ( a step s 1 in fig2 ). in this case , reference numeral 62 in fig2 denotes a through hole used for transferring the lead frame or the connecting tab 61 and the through holes are pierced out of the portion forming the lead terminal 6 at a fixed pitch . next , as shown in fig2 , the bare ic chip 2 is connected to each of the lead terminals 3 formed in the lead frame or the connecting tab 61 ( a step s 2 in fig2 ). a connection between the lead terminal 3 and the bare ic chip 2 is performed by previously placing the gold bump 7 on the pad portion 2 a of the bare ic chip 2 and soldering , welding , connecting by the conductive paste or ultrasonic welding the gold bump 7 and the lead terminal 3 . the lead frame or the connecting tab 61 to which the bare ic chip 2 is connected is successively fed into the mold metal mold shown in fig3 from the front end portion by using the through hole 62 mentioned above and the periphery of the bare ic chip 2 including the connecting portion of the lead terminal 3 is molded , by the resin ( a step s 3 in fig2 ). the bare ic chip 2 and the lead frame or the connecting tab 61 after being molded by the resin are placed within a cure furnace and a secondary cure is performed ( a step s 4 in fig2 ). the lead terminal 3 is cut along a line c - c in fig2 , and the semiconductor module 1 a structured such that the bare ic chip 2 and the lead terminal 3 are integrally molded by the resin is taken out ( a step s 5 in fig2 ). the independently produced antenna coil 41 is connected to the lead terminal 3 of the semiconductor module 1 a so as to obtain a circuit module 63 structured such that the semiconductor module 1 a and the antenna coil 41 are integrally molded ( a step s 6 in fig2 ). as a method of connecting the antenna coil 41 and the lead terminal 3 , it is possible to select any one of the solder connection , the welding , the electrically conductive paste or adhesive connection and the crimping connection . the circuit module 63 obtained in this manner is temporarily attached to one surface of the non - woven fabric 45 having a compressibility and a self - crimping characteristic one by one as shown in fig2 ( a step s 7 in fig2 ). here , the compressibility in the non - woven fabric 45 means a nature capable of installing all or a part of the circuit module 63 within the non - woven fabric 45 when pressing the circuit module 63 to the non - woven fabric 45 under heating , and the self - crimping characteristic means a nature capable of bonding fibers constituting the non - woven fabric 45 to each other and bonding the other member , for example , the circuit module 63 or the other non - woven fabric to the non - woven fabric 45 so as to keep a fixed shape when compressing under heating . the temporary attachment of the circuit module 63 to the non - woven fabric 45 is performed by pressing the circuit module 2 to one surface of the non - woven fabric 45 formed in a tape shape or a ribbon shape and arranging it at a fixed pitch . the same kind of non - woven fabric 45 or a different kind of non - woven fabric 45 is overlapped on the circuit module mounting surface of the non - woven fabric 45 to which the circuit module 63 is temporarily attached and these two non - woven fabrics 45 are crimped under heating ( a step s 8 in fig2 ). accordingly , there is obtained a flexible ic module 64 in which a multiplicity of circuit modules 63 are gripped between the tape - like or ribbon - like non - woven fabrics 45 at a fixed pitch . next , the cover sheets 44 as the claimed casing are stuck onto both of the front and back surfaces of the flexible ic module 64 produced in the manner mentioned above via the binding material or layer or adhesive 43 so as to case the circuit module 63 ( a step s 9 in fig2 ). the casing of the circuit module 63 is performed by preparing the flexible ic module 64 wound like a roll and the cover sheet 44 formed in a tape shape or a ribbon shape , wound like a roll and having the binding material layer 43 on one surface and sticking the cover sheet 44 drawn out from the rollers 72 and 73 to both of the front and back surfaces of the flexible ic module 64 drawn out from the roller 71 via the binding material layer 43 , as shown in fig2 . in fig2 , reference numeral 74 denotes a drawing roller , reference numeral 75 denotes a transfer roller , reference numeral 76 denotes a sticking roller for temporarily attaching the flexible ic module 64 to the cover sheet 44 , and reference numeral 77 denotes a thermal crimping roller for thermally crimping the temporarily attached body between the flexible ic module 64 and the cover sheet 44 so as to produce a card pattern 65 having a predetermined thickness . the binding material or adhesive layer 43 provided on one surface of the cover sheet 44 is melted in the process of passing through the thermal crimping roller 77 , impregnating into the non - woven fabric 45 , and integrally connecting the flexible ic module 64 to two cover sheets 44 . here , in the embodiment shown in fig2 , the card pattern 65 is produced by using the thermal crimping roller 77 , however , in place of this structure , it is possible to produce the card pattern 65 by using a static pressure press apparatus . finally , the card pattern 65 is cut so as to obtain the non - contact ic card 40 c having a predetermined shape and size ( a step s 10 in fig2 ). in accordance with the producing method of the present embodiment , since it is possible to form all of the lead frame or the connecting tab 61 , the flexible ic module 64 and the cover sheet 44 in a tape shape or a ribbon shape , and it is possible to automatically and continuously perform a process and a treatment in each of the steps , it is possible to increase a productivity of the desired non - contact ic card 40 c . hereinafter , a method of producing the non - contact ic card 40 a in accordance with the first embodiment will be described with reference to fig2 to 30 . fig2 is a flow chart showing a procedure of a method of producing a semiconductor apparatus in accordance with a second embodiment , fig2 is a cross sectional view of the cover sheet to which the circuit module is temporarily attached , and fig3 is a schematic view showing the casing means of the circuit module . as is apparent from fig2 , steps from a step s 11 of producing the lead frame or the connecting tab to a step s 16 of connecting the coil are respectively the same as the steps s 1 to s 6 in the method of producing the semiconductor apparatus in accordance with the first embodiment shown in fig2 . further , since processes in the respective steps are the same as those in the case of the first embodiment , an explanation thereof will be omitted so as to avoid repetition . the circuit modules 63 produced in the process to the step s 6 are temporarily attached to the binding material layer forming surface of the cover sheet 44 as the claimed casing having one surface on which the binding material or adhesive layer 43 is formed , one by one as shown in fig2 ( a step s 17 in fig2 ). the temporary attachment of the circuit module 63 with respect to the binding material layer 43 is performed by pressing the circuit module 63 onto the binding material layer forming surface of the cover sheet 44 formed in a tape shape or a ribbon shape under heating and arranging at a fixed pitch . next , the cover sheet 44 as the claimed casing of the same kind as or of the different kind from the cover sheet 44 is bonded onto the circuit module mounting surface of the cover sheet 44 on which the circuit module 63 is temporarily attached , thereby casing the circuit module 63 ( a step s 18 in fig2 ). the casing of the circuit module 63 is performed by previously winding both of the cover sheet 44 to which the circuit module 63 is temporarily attached and the cover sheet 44 having no circuit module 63 in a roll shape , and bonding both of the cover sheets 44 drawn out from the respective rollers 81 and 82 in a state of setting the binding material layer 43 inside , as shown in fig3 . in fig3 , reference numeral 74 denotes a drawing roller , reference numeral 75 denotes a transfer roller , reference numeral 76 denotes a sticking roller for temporarily attaching the flexible ic module 64 to the cover sheet 44 , and reference numeral 77 denotes a thermal crimping roller for thermally crimping the temporarily attached body between the flexible ic module 64 and the cover sheet 44 so as to produce a card pattern 65 having a predetermined thickness . the binding material layer 43 provided on one surface of each of the cover sheets 44 is melted in the process of passing through the thermally crimping roller 77 , installing the circuit module 63 within the binding material layer 43 , and integrally connecting two cover sheets 44 to each other . accordingly , the card pattern 65 is produced . in this case , in the embodiment shown in fig3 , the card pattern 65 is produced by using the thermal crimping roller 77 , however , it is possible to produce the card pattern 65 by using the static pressure press apparatus in place of the structure mentioned above . finally , the card pattern 65 is cut so as to obtain the non - contact ic card 1 a having a predetermined shape and size ( a step s 19 in fig2 ). in accordance with the producing method of the present embodiment , in addition to the same effects as those of the first producing method , since the non - woven fabric is not used , it is possible to further increase a productivity of the non - contact ic card . here , in the step s 17 shown in fig2 , if the antenna coil installing type bare ic chips 20 shown in fig8 and 10 are temporarily attached to the binding material layer forming surface of the cover sheet 44 having one surface on which the binding material layer 43 is formed one by one , it is possible to produce the semiconductor apparatus 40 b in accordance with the second embodiment . further , in each of the embodiments mentioned above , the non - contact ic card and the producing method thereof are exemplified , however , it is possible to produce semiconductor apparatuses other than the card type , for example , a tag type or a coin type semiconductor apparatus by the same method .	7
reference is made in detail to the embodiments of the present invention , examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings . while the invention is described in conjunction with the embodiments below , it is understood that they are not intended to limit the invention to these embodiments and examples . on the contrary , the invention is intended to cover alternatives , modifications and equivalents , which can be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims . furthermore , in the following detailed description of the present invention , numerous specific details are set forth in order to more fully illustrate the present invention . however , it is apparent to one of ordinary skill in the prior art having the benefit of this disclosure that the present invention can be practiced without these specific details . in other instances , well - known methods and procedures , components and processes have not been described in detail so as not to unnecessarily obscure aspects of the present invention . it is , of course , appreciated that in the development of any such actual implementation , numerous implementation - specific decisions must be made in order to achieve the developer &# 39 ; s specific goals , such as compliance with application and business related constraints , and that these specific goals vary from one implementation to another and from one developer to another . moreover , it is appreciated that such a development effort can be complex and time - consuming , but is nevertheless a routine undertaking of engineering for those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of this disclosure . fig1 illustrates a perspective view of a wearable electronic accessory device 100 in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention . in some embodiments , the device 100 comprises a body 102 having a first side 104 , a second side 106 , and a connecting unit 108 connecting the first side 104 and the second side 106 . each of the first side 104 and the second side 106 contains a container . the container of the first side 104 is configured to have a structure to contain one or more earbuds . in some embodiments , the container of the first side 104 contains one or more cavities having a shape that is able to be snug - fit and immobilize the earbuds , so that the earbuds are retained and do not fall out when the cavities are facing toward the force of gravity . a cover 104 a covers the cavities of the container at the first side 104 . the cover 104 a is able to be an earbuds housing cover . in some embodiments , the container of the second side 106 comprises a control unit 106 a . the device 100 comprises an elastic body 102 , which can be pulled to open as in a wearing open state 110 . in some embodiments , the elastic body 102 has a spring like function , allowing the elastic body 102 to spring back to a closed wearing state 112 . in some embodiments , one or more magnets or materials that attract to a magnetic force are on the two sides 103 a and 103 b of the body to keep a loop shape of the body 102 . in some embodiments , the device 100 comprises a headphone including the earbuds , a cable , and the control unit 106 a . the headphone is able to be a bluetooth headphone . in some embodiments , the device is formed as a bracelet having the body 102 in a loop structure . two housing spaces 104 b and 106 b on the loop , one for storing the earbuds at the first side 104 and the other one for storing the control unit of the headphone at the second side 106 . a slit 108 a at the middle of the bracelet at the connecting unit 108 to store the cable of the headphone . in some embodiments , electronic chips and batteries are embedded inside the loop structure of the body 102 . the electronic chips are able to be used to track location , monitor movement , perform a bluetooth connection , store music and data , and other functions by using gps , memory storage unit , cpu , and other electronic hardware . in some embodiments , the loop structure of the body 102 is able to have different designs . a person of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate that various appearances , shapes , colors , and materials can be used . for example , the body 102 can be made of materials such as rubber , metal , aluminum , gold , leather , and plastic . the device 100 is able to have various colors such as silver , black , red , blue , pink , and gold . the device 100 is able to have various shapes and designs such as , round , flat , thin , slim , rectangular , and other shapes . similarly , the two housing spaces 104 b and 106 b for storing the earbuds and the control unit are able to be made using the above mentioned materials and made into a shape and color as mentioned above . in some embodiments , the two housing spaces 104 b and 106 b are located at the top of the loop . in other embodiments , one or both of the two housing spaces 104 b and 106 b are located at different positions of the loop , for example , the bottom , the left side , or the right side . in some embodiments , the housing cover 104 a covers the housing space 104 b for storing the earbuds . the housing cover 104 a functions as a gate to store the earbuds inside the bracelet . the earbuds housing cover is able to be made into different designs , appearances , shapes , colors , and materials . fig2 illustrates several views of the wearable electronic accessory device 100 in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention . item 114 shows a top view of the device 100 , which shows that the two ends of the device 100 are coupled to each other and immobilized by its material property . alternatively , the two ends of the device 100 are coupled to each other and immobilized by using a magnetic force . item 116 shows a bottom view of the device 100 . item 118 shows a right side view of the device 100 . the sections 118 a and 120 a comprise a thinness section or a reduced thickness of the loop to enhance the comfort to the user when wearing the device 100 . in some embodiments , the sections 118 a and 120 a are substantially flat on a plane 118 b and 120 b such that the user is able to rest his / her wrist against a surface . item 118 shows a right side view of the device 100 . item 120 shows a left side view of the device 100 . item 122 shows a front view of the device 100 . fig3 illustrates constructions 300 of the device 100 in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention . item 302 shows that a headphone 304 couples with a cuff 314 , which is the same or similar construction of the body 102 in fig1 . the headphone 304 comprises a control unit 308 and one or more earbuds 306 , which are coupled / connected via a cable 310 . when the headphone 304 is stored in the cuff 314 , two apertures 306 a and 308 a serve as housings for the earbuds 306 and the control unit 308 , which are configured to be snug - fit inside the apertures 306 a and 308 a . the cable 310 is stored inside the slit 312 . in some embodiments , the cable 310 is completely inside the slit 312 , so that the cable 310 is invisible from outside . in some embodiments , the cable 310 comprises two parallel cables , which has one for a left channel volume and the other is for a right channel volume . a cover 308 e conceals and covers the aperture 308 a , which can be made of metal or metallic color . the cover 308 e can comprise a bolt structure to be clipped on a hole on the cuff 314 . in some embodiments , two cables 310 a are extending out from a same side of the control unit 308 . in some other embodiments , two cables 310 b are extending out from opposite sides of the control unit 308 , such that the earbuds 306 c are extending out at different directions , which can serve as a cable tangling prevention structure . a person of ordinary skilled in the art would appreciate that the cables 310 can be manufactured to come out of the control unit 308 in various directions . in some embodiments , the headphone 304 , which can be a bluetooth headphone , has one control unit 308 and two earbuds 306 . the two earbuds 306 are connected to the control unit 308 by two cables 310 . the control unit 308 has electronic chips and batteries inside , such that the headphone 304 wirelessly connects to a music source device ( such as a iphone or a mp3 player ) via bluetooth . a person of ordinary skilled in the art would appreciate that the headphone 304 is able to connect with a music source device wirelessly or via another cable . in some embodiments , the headphone 304 is able to have different structures and be made of different materials . a person of ordinary skilled in the art would appreciate that various appearances , shapes , colors , and materials can be used . for example , the headphone 304 can be made of materials such as rubber , metal , aluminum , gold , leather , and plastic . the headphone 304 is able to have various colors such as silver , black , red , blue , pink , and gold . the headphone 304 is able to have various shapes and designs such as , round , flat , thin , slim , rectangular , and other shapes . in some embodiments , the control unit 308 comprises one or more buttons . in some embodiments , a button 308 b is used to turn on / off the power and / or the volume of the headphone 304 . in some embodiments , the same button 308 b is used to accept / reject phone call and pause / play music . in some embodiments , a button 308 c is used to increase the volume . in some embodiments , the same button 308 c is used to fast forward to the next song . similarly , a button 308 d is used to decrease the volume . in some embodiments , the same button 308 d is used to fast rewind to the beginning of the current song and / or the previous song . in some embodiments , each of the earbuds 306 has a speaker unit inside . in some embodiments , the earbuds 306 are able to have different structures and materials . a person of ordinary skilled in the art would appreciate that various appearances , shapes , colors , and materials can be used . for example , the earbuds 306 can be made of materials such as rubber , metal , aluminum , gold , leather , and plastic . the earbuds 306 are able to have various colors such as silver , black , red , blue , pink , and gold . the earbuds 306 are able to have various shapes and designs such as , round , flat , thin , slim , rectangular , and other shapes . fig4 illustrates a control unit 400 in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention . in some embodiments , the control unit 400 comprises a set of volume buttons 404 and 406 for volume control , a power control 408 , and a biometrics identification device 410 such as a fingerprint scanner . fig5 illustrates a cross sectional view of a headphone storage 500 inside a body of a cuff in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention . in some embodiments , the headphone 501 comprises a control unit 502 and earbuds 510 connected to the control unit 502 via a cable 504 . the body of the cuff 503 comprises a first space 506 for storing the control unit 503 , a second space 512 for storing the earbuds 510 , and a channel 508 for storing the cable 504 . fig6 illustrates a method 600 for using the wearable electronic accessory device 100 in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention . a headphone 601 is able to be stored in the cuff 606 to be worn on a wrist 603 . similar to the device 100 ( fig1 and 2 ) described above , the headphone 601 comprises a control unit 604 a , a cable 604 , and the earbuds 604 b . the cable 604 has a length 602 long enough to hang under the chin and short enough to be stored in the cuff 606 ( e . g ., a bracelet ). the control unit 604 a can be stored in the first end 606 a and the earbuds 604 b can be stored in the second end 606 b . in some embodiments , the length 602 is between 10 cm and 20 cm . in some embodiments , the length 602 is between 15 cm and 30 cm . fig7 illustrates a method 700 of making a wireless headphone bracelet in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention . the method starts at a step 702 . at a step 704 , a bracelet is formed with one or more cavities having a shape configured to store a headphone . in some embodiments , the headphone comprises a wireless headphone . the headphone is able to contain a control unit , earbuds , and a cable connecting the control unit and the earbuds . the forming of the bracelet is able to be done by molding , cnc cutting and drilling , and other typical manufacturing methods and devices to make the bracelet . one or more covers for the cavities are formed . the cover is able to contain a ball joint structure to clip on a socket structure on or around the cavities , such that the cover is able to be fixed on the bracelet . at a step 706 , a headphone is formed . in some embodiments , the headphone is structured to have a cable length long enough to be wore from one side of the ear under the chin to the other side of the ear and short enough to be stored inside the bracelet . in some embodiments , the length of the cable does not form a repeating loop when the headphone is stored inside the bracelet . at a step 708 , the headphone is stored in the bracelet . in some embodiments , the control unit of the headphone is stored in a proximal side of the one of the cavities of the bracelet and the earbuds are stored at a distal side of the cavities of the bracelet . in some embodiments , the cavities for storing the earbuds are connected and form a number eight shape , such that each of the earbuds is able to be separately stored together . the method is able to stop at a step 710 . in utilization , the bracelet , cuff , or a wrist wearable is able to be used as a container for the wireless headphone . in operation , the headphone is placed into the bracelet , the control unit is placed in the associated housing space of the loop structure , the cables are placed into the channel and wrap around the bracelet , the earbuds are placed into the associated housing space on the loop structure of the bracelet , and the earbuds housing cover is closed . in use , the earbuds housing cover is opened , the earbuds are taken out of the loop structure of the bracelet and the cables are taken out from the channel and unwrap around the bracelet , and the control unit is taken out of the loop structure of the bracelet . the present invention has been described in terms of specific embodiments incorporating details to facilitate the understanding of principles of construction and operation of the invention . such reference herein to specific embodiments and details thereof is not intended to limit the scope of the claims appended hereto . it is readily apparent to one skilled in the art that other various modifications can be made in the embodiment chosen for illustration without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the claims .	7
fig1 illustrates a present invention air freshener dispenser device 10 which has a design imprinted on the upper surface of each cartridge . a fig1 type of air freshener dispenser device has a semi - rigid structure , and its typical dimensions are about nine inches in length , about one half to one inch in width , and about one sixteenth to one half inch in thickness . a fig1 type of air freshener dispenser device can be utilized by peeling the outer impermeable membrane partially or completely from one cartridge , or peeling the outer impermeable membrane from each of the twin cartridges . fig2 is a cross - sectional end view of a fig1 type of air freshener dispenser cartridge which has tray 12 and air freshener ingredient 14 , and a flange 15 which is seal - bonded with inner thin film vapor - permeable membrane 16 and coextensive outer thin film vapor - impermeable membrane 18 . fig3 is a cross - sectional end view similar to fig2 in which centrally disposed structural reinforcing rib 19 extends along the bottom surface of tray 12 . fig4 is a cross - sectional end view similar to fig3 in which two spaced structural reinforcing ribs 19 extend along the bottom surface of tray 12 . rib 19 can have a configuration which is adapted to key tray 12 into a conformational slotted space in a dispensing housing structure . fig5 is a cross - sectional end view of an alternative reservoir configuration with a stepped structure . fig6 is a side view of a fig1 air freshener device , which has cartridges 20 folded 90 ° c . with trays 12 in a bottom - to - bottom configuration . cartridges 20 are folded along seams 21 . fig6 also illustrates the partial removal of membrane 18 from the surface of membrane 16 of the upper positioned cartridge 20 . tray 12 of each cartridge 20 can be constructed by either injection or thermoform molding of a thermoplastic polymer such as polyethylene , polypropylene , polyvinyl chloride , and the like . in a preferred embodiment , end - to - end attached trays 12 , and interconnecting flexible hinge band 23 , are thermoformed as a unitary structure , and optionally include folding seams 21 to facilitate a 90 ° c . folding of cartridges 20 . thin film vapor - impermeable membrane 18 is bonded to thin film vapor - permeable membrane 16 in the form of a laminate . vapor - impermeable membrane 18 is peelable , so that its removal allows air freshener ingredient 14 to migrate through vapor - permeable membrane 16 and volatilize into the atmosphere . peelable membrane 18 can be adapted for removal from both cartridge units at the same time , or from each cartridge unit at different times . vapor - permeable membrane 16 can be in the form of a flexible thin film of a thermoplastic polymer such as polyethylene , isotactic polypropylene , cellulose acetate , and the like . membrane 16 permits migration of the enclosed volatile air freshener ingredient 14 , either as a liquid or a vapor , depending on the type of membrane 16 being employed . membrane 16 can be a microporous type ( submicron pores ), such as isotactic hydrophobic polypropylene film sold under the celgard tradename ( celanese ). microporous thermoplastic polymer films are described in u . s . pat . no . 3 , 055 , 297 ; incorporated by reference . vapor - impermeable membrane 18 can be in the form of a flexible thin film such as aluminum foil or nylon film , which is peelable from its adhering bond to vapor - permeable membrane 16 . in a preferred embodiment a laminate of membrane 16 and membrane 18 is preformed , and then applied to tray 12 to cover the open interior , and heat - sealed along periphery flange 15 to enclose the reservoir content of air freshener ingredient 14 . production of a laminate of permeable and impermeable membranes is illustrated in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 145 , 001 ; incorporated by reference . in another preferred embodiment the membrane laminate is not heat - sealed to periphery flange 15 at the respective ends of twin cartridges 20 . in fig1 the heat - sealing of the membrane laminate end sections is shown as chevron - shaped heat - seal 22 . this facilitates manual gripping and peeling of membrane 18 from membrane 16 . air freshener ingredient 14 can be any air treating material which can migrate through membrane 16 and disperse into the atmosphere in vapor form . typically air freshener ingredient 14 is a fragrance or a deodorant in liquid or gel form . preferably , air freshener ingredient 14 is a liquid fragrance comprising one or more volatile organic compounds which are available from perfumery suppliers such as firmenich inc ., takasago inc ., noville inc ., quest co ., and givaudan - roure corp . most conventional fragrance materials are volatile essential oils . the fragrance can be a synthetically formed material , or a naturally derived oil such as oil of bergamot , bitter orange , lemon , mandarin , caraway , cedar leaf , clove leaf , cedar wood , geranium , lavender , orange , origanum , petitgrain , white cedar , patchouli , lavandin , neroli , rose absolute , and the like . a wide variety of chemicals are known for perfumery , such as aldehydes , ketones , esters , alcohols , terpenes , and the like . a fragrance can be relatively simple in composition , or can be a complex mixture of natural and synthetic chemical components . a typical scented oil can comprise woody / earthy bases containing exotic constituents such as sandalwood oil , civet , patchouli oil , and the like . a scented oil can have a light floral fragrance , such as rose extract or violet extract . scented oil also can be formulated to provide desirable fruity odors , such as lime , lemon or orange . synthetic types of fragrance compositions either alone or in combination with natural oils are described in u . s . pat . nos . 4 , 314 , 915 ; 4 , 411 , 829 ; and 4 , 434 , 306 ; incorporated herein by reference . other artificial liquid fragrances include geraniol , geranyl acetate , eugenol , isoeugenol , linalool , linalyl acetate , phenethyl alcohol , methyl ethyl ketone , methylionone , isobomyl acetate , and the like . a liquid fragrance also can be formed into a thixotropic gel by the addition of a thickening agent , such as fumed silica of the type marketed under the cabosil trademark ( cabot corporation ). a fragrance ingredient also can be in the form of a crystalline solid , which have the ability to sublime into the vapor phase at ambient temperatures . a crystalline fragrance starting material can be selected from organic compounds which include vanillin , ethyl vanillin , coumarin , tonalid , calone , heliotropene , musk xylol , cedrol , musk ketone benzophenone , raspberry ketone , methyl naphthyl ketone beta , phenyl ethyl salicylate , veltol , maltol , maple lactone , proeugenol acetate , evemyl , and the like . this type of fragrance can contribute a long term air - treating capability to an air freshener dispenser device . a present invention air freshener dispenser device can be produced in a continuous process by providing a moving band of thermoformed end - to - end hinged trays in repeating unitary sections , in combination with an air freshener filling station , and a moving band of flexible membrane laminate in contacting and sealing proximity with the flanges of the filled trays . the unitary sections are cut and trimmed from the moving band at the terminal end of the production line . a present invention air freshener device can be produced in high volume from relatively inexpensive plastic materials . after usage , the device qualifies for disposal as a non - hazardous solid waste . the present invention also contemplates an integrated combination of a fig1 type air freshener device and a dispensing holder structure . the fig1 device then functions as a replaceable assembly having a dual refill cartridge capacity .	0
referring now to fig1 through 3 , an orthotic device 10 includes an upper member 12 , intermediate member 14 and lower member 16 , each member preferably being of aluminum or another structural material having density , strength and endurance comparable to those of aluminum . the lower end of the upper member 12 is formed with a circular arc 18 having a center 20 . the upper end of intermediate member 14 is formed with a circular arc 22 , which is centered at 20 and whose outer surface nests within the inner surface of arc 18 . members 12 and 14 are connected mutually at an adjustable connection 23 . an outer block 24 is formed with a flat outer surface 26 , engaged by the head of threaded attachment 28 , e . g ., a screw or bolt 28 , and a circular cylindrical inner surface 30 centered at 20 . an inner block 32 is formed with a circular cylindrical outer surface 34 centered at 20 , and a flat inner surface 36 contacted by self - locking nuts 38 , each nut engaging a respective attachment 28 . the upper member 12 is formed with two parallel slotted holes 40 . the intermediate member 14 is formed with two slotted holes 42 , each hole 42 being aligned with a respective hole 40 . each attachment 28 extends through a hole in the outer block 24 , a pair of holes 40 , 42 in members 12 and 14 , and a hole in the inner block 32 . the lower portion of intermediate member 14 and the upper portion of lower member 16 are formed with arcuate surfaces , which together form an arc that is continuous across a lower connection 44 . a first hinge plate 46 is secured to member 14 by rivets 48 , and a second hinge plate 50 is secured to member 16 by rivets 52 . the lugs 54 of hinge plate 46 straddle the center lug of hinge plate 50 . those lugs and the hinge pin 56 that connects them are located between the ends of members 14 and 16 . therefore , lower member 16 must pivot counterclockwise about the axis 57 of the hinge pin 56 from the fully extended position shown in fig2 and 3 , but it can pivot in either direction other than from the fully extended position . in operation , the angular disposition of the first or upper connection 23 is adjusted by loosing the engagement of nuts 38 with screws 28 sufficiently to permit the arcuate surfaces 18 , 22 of members 12 , 14 to rotate about center 20 as the slotted holes 40 , 42 slide relative the attachments . when the desired angular position is established , the nuts 38 and screws 28 are tightened , which draws blocks 24 , 32 and the arcuate surfaces 18 , 22 of members 12 , 14 into friction contact and secures the desired angular setting of the upper connection 23 . one leg 58 of an angle bracket 60 is secured by rivets 52 to the lower member 16 . another leg 62 of bracket 60 is located near and facing a bracket 64 , which is secured to the intermediate member 14 by rivets 48 having a head counterbored in bracket 64 . the inner surface 66 of bracket 64 conforms to the contour of intermediate member 14 . preferably , angle bracket 60 and bracket 64 are formed of plastic material . bracket 64 supports an adjustment screw 68 having screw threads 70 that extend along the screw shank and are aligned with axis 78 . the threads 70 of screw 68 engage internal screw threads , which are tapped along a length 72 of bracket 64 . a compression helical spring 74 is located in a bore 76 , aligned with axis 78 and formed in bracket 64 . spring 74 is secured in its position in the bore 76 by a set screw 80 , which is threaded into bracket 64 and engages consecutive loops of the spring 74 . bracket 60 pivots about axis 57 when screw 68 is inserted in bracket 64 with its head at the upper end of bracket 64 and its screw threads engaged with the internal screw threads in bracket 64 , as shown in fig2 and 3 . in this configuration , screw 68 is held in place by the engaged screw threads , and its shank acts as a guide to maintain the spring aligned with bore 76 when spring 74 extends past the end face 82 of bracket 64 , and the spring elastically opposes and prevents contact between bracket 60 and bracket 64 . the diameter of bore 79 in bracket 62 is larger than the diameter of the shank of screw 68 , so that the screw has no contact with the bore 79 or bracket 60 when the device 10 is assembled to permit bracket 60 to pivot . notably , bracket 60 can pivot freely ( without resistance ) about axis 57 , except to the point of contact with spring 74 , and ultimately comes to a stop when bracket 60 finally contacts the end face 82 of bracket 64 . pivoting of bracket 60 about axis 57 is locked out or prevented when the device 10 is assembled such that the head of screw 68 is seated in a counterbore 81 in the leg 62 of bracket 60 . specifically , the screw shank extends through bore 79 in bracket 60 and bore 76 in bracket 64 , and its screw threads engaged the internal screw threads in bracket 64 along length 72 . when assembled in this way , bracket 60 contacts the end face 82 of bracket 64 and screw 68 holds bracket 60 closed and unable to pivot . fig4 illustrates an alternative lower connection 90 of an orthotic , which is included with the upper member 12 , intermediate member 14 , lower member 16 , and upper connection 23 , substantially as described with reference to fig1 through 3 . the lower portion of intermediate member 14 and the upper portion of lower member 16 are formed with arcuate surfaces , which together form an arc that is continuous across the lower connection 90 . a first hinge plate 96 is secured to intermediate member 14 by rivets 98 , and a second hinge plate 100 is secured to lower member 16 by rivets 102 . two lugs 104 of hinge plate 100 straddle the center lug of hinge plate 96 . those lugs and the hinge pin 106 that connects them are located eccentric of the ends of members 14 and 16 and concentric with an axis 107 , about which the lower connection 90 pivots . a bracket 110 is secured to the lower member 16 by rivets 102 , each rivet having a head 112 that is counterbored from the outer surface in bracket 110 . bracket 110 is located near and facing a bracket 114 , which is secured to the intermediate member 14 by rivets 98 , each rivet having a head 116 that is counterbored from the outer surface in bracket 114 . the inner surface 118 of bracket 114 conforms to the contour of intermediate member 14 . preferably , bracket 110 and bracket 114 are formed of plastic material . when the lower member 16 pivots clockwise about axis 107 to the fully extended position , the adjacent end faces 120 , 122 of brackets 110 and 114 , respectively , become engaged by mutually contact , such that the contact provides a resistance stop to prevent further clockwise pivoting of the lower member 16 about axis 107 , thereby limiting plantar flexion , i . e . movement that increases the angle between the foot and the leg , for treatment of drop foot especially in a stroke patient . the lower member 16 must pivot about the axis 107 of hinge pin 106 counterclockwise from the fully extended position , but it can pivot in either direction other than from the fully extended position . in a third embodiment , brackets 110 and 114 can be deleted from the lower connection 90 illustrated in fig4 . the first hinge plate 96 is secured to lower member 14 by the rivets 98 and the second hinge plate 100 is directly secured to intermediate member 16 by the rivets 102 . two lugs 104 of hinge plate 100 straddle the center lug of hinge plate 96 , and those lugs and the hinge pin 106 that connects them are located eccentric with the ends of members 14 and 16 . therefore , in this third embodiment , when the lower member 16 pivots clockwise to the fully extended position , the adjacent end faces 124 , 126 of members 16 and 14 , respectively , become engaged by mutually contact , which provides a resistance stop to prevent further clockwise pivoting of the lower member 16 about axis 107 . the lower member 16 must pivot about the axis 107 of hinge pin 106 counterclockwise from the fully extended position shown in fig4 , but it can pivot in either direction other than from the fully extended position . fig5 and 6 show a brace or support 150 , which includes a front or inner surface that conforms to the contour of the calf of the human leg , and an outer surface 152 , which is substantially parallel to its inner surface . the outer surface 152 is formed with a hollow pocket 154 enclosed by a wall 156 and having an opening 158 , into which the upper end 160 of the upper member 12 is inserted . the outer surface 162 of the pocket 154 has a series of holes 164 , which extend through the pocket and the inner and outer surfaces of the support 150 . threaded attachments 166 , 168 , inserted through at least some of the holes 164 and through a slotted hole 170 in the upper member 12 , secure the support 150 and upper member 12 in a desired position . a rotating bar 172 , in the form of a thin elongated plate , is secured at one end by an attachment 174 to a boss 176 formed on the outer surface 162 of pocket 154 . the opposite end 180 of the rotating bar 172 bears against the outer surface 152 when the rotating bar is not in use . the rotating bar 172 can be rotated in either direction about attachment 174 from the position shown in fig5 , such that the area of the rotating bar near its end 180 contacts a surface , e . g ., the surface of a bed in which the user is lying , to prop the foot against rotation from a desired position , usually in the vertical plane . in a fourth embodiment of the lower connection 130 illustrated in fig7 and 8 , a first hinge plate 132 , secured by rivets 98 to intermediate member 14 and bracket 134 , terminates in a lug 136 , which surrounds a hinge pin 138 centered at a pivot axis 140 . a second hinge plate 142 , secured by rivets 102 to lower member 16 and bracket 144 , terminates at mutually spaced lugs , which straddle lug 136 and surround hinge pin 138 . as best seen in fig8 , bracket 134 terminates in a central lug 146 , located between two lugs 148 , 190 , which are formed on bracket 144 and straddle lug 146 . a lateral hole in lug 148 is formed with screw threads 192 , which extend across the width of lug 148 . a lateral hole in lug 190 is formed with screw threads 194 , which are aligned with threads 192 and extend across the width of lug 190 . when the lower member 16 pivots clockwise to the fully extended position , a set screw 196 engaged with screw threads 192 can be threaded from one lateral direction into lug 148 such that the set screw enters a hole 198 in lug 146 , and a set screw 200 engaged with screw threads 194 can be threaded in the opposite lateral direction into lug 190 such that the set screw enters a hole 202 in lug 146 , which is preferably aligned with the hole in lug 148 . engagement of the set screws 196 , 200 with lugs 146 , 148 , 190 secures members 16 , 14 mutually and provides a resistance stop that locks out any pivoting of the lower member 16 about axis 140 . otherwise , the lower member 16 pivots about the axis 140 counterclockwise from the fully extended position shown in fig7 and 8 , and can pivot in either direction other than from the fully extended position . notably , by locking out the free motion of the ankle at axis 57 or 140 , as the case may be , the brace will transfers a floor reaction moment to the knee , which will cause the knee to go into extension , i . e . movement that increases the angle across the knee between the upper leg and lower leg . this will naturally occur during gait , i . e ., while the person using the brace is walking . notably , the lock out mechanism of the free motion hinge gives the brace additional versatility in therapy . by contrast , when the lock out mechanism is not engaged , the patient has more natural walking freedom at the ankle . as a result , this invention assists the ankle to progress through different stages of therapy as the mobility of the ankle increases . it should be noted that the present invention can be practiced otherwise than as specifically illustrated and described , without departing from its spirit or scope . it is intended that all such modifications and alterations be included insofar as they are consistent with the objectives and spirit of the invention .	0
reference is now made to fig3 for showing a simplified schematic diagram of an embodiment of the mixer 5 and an improved low pass filter 5 a in accordance with the teachings of this invention . the output currents from the mixer core 4 are connected to the virtual ground node of the operational amplifier ( op amp ) 5 b . because of feedback both inputs to the op amp 5 b are at the same dc potential , and differential currents are forced to go through the feedback circuitry . however , common mode dc currents can also be supplied by r 1 and r 3 . this is preferred , as it means that the comer frequency of the low pass pole is not affected by the values of r 1 and r 3 . as such , their values can be made small , thereby producing a low dc voltage drop from the supply voltage vcc . in this embodiment the low pass pole of the lpf is implemented not by the passive lp filter comprised of r 1 , r 3 and c 1 , but instead by an active lp filter comprised of the operational amplifier 5 b in combination with the paralleled feedback components r 2 / c 2 and r 4 / c 3 . the values of r 2 and r 4 are thus not limited by the dc voltage drop caused by dc currents , and they can therefore be made larger in value . consequently , the value of c 2 and c 3 can be less than the capacitance value of c 1 . note that in this embodiment , and contrasting same with the prior art shown in fig2 b , the normal input port ( left sides of r 1 and r 3 ) is connected to vcc ( thereby providing common mode current i dc ), and the input signal ( current mode i diff ) is applied to the inputs of the operational amplifier 5 b . note as well that this embodiment enables to the values of r 1 / r 3 and r 2 / r 4 to be optimized . fig4 is a more detailed schematic diagram of the embodiment of the mixer 4 and the improved first lpf 5 a in accordance with the embodiment shown in fig3 , and shows in greater detail the construction of the mixer 4 and its coupling to the lpf 5 a . the mixer 4 is based on bipolar transistors , having in rf input transconductors formed by transistors t 1 , t 2 and emitter resistors r 10 , r 11 , and a mixer 4 core comprised of transistors t 3 , t 4 , t 5 and t 6 . the differential outputs from the lna 3 ( rf +, rf −) are coupled to the bases of npn transistors t 1 and t 2 , respectively , which are connected through their emitters to ground through resistances r 10 and r 11 , respectively . the details of the biasing of t 1 and t 2 are not shown to simplify the drawing . the collectors of t 1 and t 2 are connected to the emitters of differential transistor pairs t 3 , t 4 and t 5 , t 6 , respectively , having their base terminals connected to the differential lo input signals lo + and lo − as shown . load resistances r 1 and r 3 are connected between the collectors of t 3 , t 5 and t 4 , t 6 , respectively , and the positive voltage supply vcc . the inputs to the op amp 5 b are connected between r 1 and r 3 and the collectors of t 3 , t 5 and t 4 , t 6 , respectively . an additional capacitance , c 4 , is connected between the inputs to op amp 5 b to serve as a filter for removing high frequency mixing components . the value of c 4 can be small , as filtering is provided for only very high frequencies . c 4 may also be implemented as two capacitances , shown in dashed outline as c 4 a and c 4 b , placed in parallel with r 1 and r 3 , respectively . the combination of c 4 , c 4 a and c 4 b can be used together if desired , or c 4 may be eliminated . if present , the combination of c 4 and the op amp 5 b functions beneficially to attenuate higher frequency signals at the output of the mixer 4 , as the op amp 5 b has a finite frequency response and may not itself adequately attenuate the higher frequency signals . in any case , the amplified and filtered mixer output signal is provided at the output of op amp 5 b . in the improved active lpf 5 a shown in fig3 and 4 the low pass corner frequency is inversely proportional to the product of r 2 and c 2 , assuming that r 4 = r 2 and c 3 = c 2 . however , since r 2 is not in series with the positive voltage supply , as is r 1 in fig1 , it can be made large in value , enabling the value of c 2 to be made small , thereby conserving integrated circuit area when fabricating c 2 on - chip . representative and non - limiting values for the components shown in fig3 and 4 are as follows : r 1 = r 3 = 500 ohms , c 4 = 20 pf , r 2 = r 4 = 20 kohms and c 2 = c 3 = 50 pf . by contrast , representative component values for the prior art circuit solution shown in fig2 a are as follows : r 1 = r 2 = 500 ohms , and c 1 = 1 nf . the significant reduction in the total capacitance value , 120 pf vs . 1000 pf , results in the realization of the benefits discussed above , such as the decrease in required circuit area to implement the dcr 1 in an integrated circuit embodiment . relatedly , since the capacitance values are in the range of tens of picofarads , the capacitors can be implemented on - chip , and additional pins are not required to be provided for connecting to an external discrete capacitance . note as well that the operation of the mixer 4 and the lpf is improved through the use all integrated components , as better matching and reproducibility is achieved as compared to the use of discrete components , and parasitics related to the presence of external integrated circuit pins can be eliminated . in addition , the signal level at the mixer 4 output ( input to op amp 5 b ) is attenuated , enabling a reduction in the power supply voltage and / or a more linear signal range at the input to the mixer 4 . reference was previously made to the publication entitled : “ a 1 . 5 ghz highly linear cmos down conversion mixer ”, ieee journal of solid state circuits , j . crols et al ., vol . 30 , no . 7 , july 1995 , for describing a cmos mixer topology that uses two additional capacitors added to the conventional cmos lowpass filter structure and a low frequency operational amplifier as an output amplifier . as can be appreciated in light of the foregoing description of this invention , the mixer of crols et al . differs significantly from the mixer 4 , as the mixer of crols et al . operates in the mosfet triode region as opposed to the mixer 4 which employs a mixing core that switches the input currents introduced by the transconductance stage . that is , the prior art mixing transistors of crols et al . operate with the rf and lo signals both in the voltage mode , whereas the mixing core of mixer 4 operates with the rf signal in the current mode and the lo signal in voltage mode . the mixer of crols et al . also does not employ the resistors r 1 and r 3 , which provide a relatively high dc current through the transistors of the mixer core ( t 3 , t 4 , t 5 , t 6 ) and the transconductance stage ( t 1 and t 2 ). an example of the use of the improved dcr 1 is shown in fig5 , which illustrates a simplified block diagram of an embodiment of a wireless communications system that is suitable for practicing this invention . the wireless communications system includes at least one mobile station ( ms ) 100 . fig5 also shows an exemplary network operator 20 having , for example , a network node 30 for connecting to a telecommunications network , such as a public packet data network or pdn , at least one base station controller ( bsc ) 40 , and a plurality of base transceiver stations ( bts ) 50 that transmit in a forward or downlink direction both physical and logical channels to the mobile station 100 in accordance with a predetermined air interface standard . a reverse or uplink communication path also exists from the mobile station 100 to the network operator , which conveys mobile originated access requests and traffic . communications may occur in macrocells or in microcells , depending on the nature of the network operator 20 . the air interface standard can conform to any suitable standard or protocol , and may enable both voice and data traffic , such as data traffic enabling internet 70 access and web page downloads . the mobile station 100 typically includes a microcontrol unit ( mcu ) 120 having an output coupled to an input of a display 140 and an input coupled to an output of a keyboard or keypad 160 . the mobile station 100 may be a handheld radiotelephone , such as a cellular telephone or a personal communicator . the mobile station 100 could also be contained within a card or module that is connected during use to another device . for example , the mobile station 10 could be contained within a pcmcia or similar type of card or module that is installed during use within a portable data processor , such as a laptop or notebook computer , or even a computer that is wearable by the user . the mcu 120 is assumed to include or be coupled to some type of a memory 130 , including a read - only memory ( rom ) for storing an operating program , as well as a random access memory ( ram ) for temporarily storing required data , scratchpad memory , received packet data , packet data to be transmitted , and the like . the rom may store a program enabling the mcu 120 to provide a suitable user interface ( ut ), via display 140 and keypad 160 , with a user . although not shown , a microphone and speaker may be provided for enabling the user to conduct voice calls in a conventional manner . the mobile station 100 also contains a wireless section that includes a digital signal processor ( dsp ) 180 , or equivalent high speed processor or logic , as well as a wireless transceiver that includes a transmitter 200 and a receiver 220 , both of which are coupled to at least one antenna 240 for communication with the network operator 20 . in the presently preferred embodiment the receiver 220 is constructed to contain a dcr of a type generally shown in fig1 , but modified to include the improved lpf 5 a shown in fig3 and 4 . at least one local oscillator ( lo ) 9 , as shown in fig1 , is provided for tuning the transceiver , in particular the dcr 1 . data , such as digitized voice , and packet data , is transmitted and received through the antenna 240 . while these teachings have been particularly shown and described with respect to preferred embodiments thereof , it will be understood by those skilled in the art that changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the scope of this invention . for example , while described above in the context of a dcr that employs differential signals , single ended signal embodiments are also within the scope of these teachings . also , these teachings can be employed in dcr embodiments that do not provide in - phase and quadrature channels , but only a single channel . this invention can be employed in dcr embodiments that generate a zero hz ( dc ) down - converted signal , as well as in dcr embodiments known as low if architectures where the down - converted signal is not a dc signal ( e . g ., one having a frequency a few hundred hertz or more ). furthermore , this invention is not to be construed to be limited to the specific component values that were given above by way of illustration . in addition , all of the components ( resistors and capacitors ) can be made adjustable or trimmable in order to enable the corner frequency to be adjusted to the required tolerances . furthermore , this invention can be realized with a transconductance stage and a switching mixer that are implemented with any of a number of device technologies including , but not limited to , bipolar , mosfet and mesfet . thus , this invention should be construed as having a scope commensurate with the scope of the appended claims , and equivalents thereof .	7
according to a preferred embodiment of the invention , the four active components of the decontaminating composition : eugenol , eugenol acetate , vanillin and carvacrol are contained in plant elements . the eugenol and the eugenol acetate of the decontaminating composition are advantageously contained in clove . the vanillin of the decontaminating composition is preferably contained in vanilla . the carvacrol of the decontaminating composition is , for example , contained in oregano . the carvacrol of the decontaminating composition can also be contained in savory . although not preferred , the decontaminating compositions in which at least one of the active components is not contained in a plant element are , however , within the context of the invention . it should be noted that , for some applications , problems of toxicity may be encountered if the proportions of eugenol and / or of eugenol acetate and / or of carvacrol are too great . in each case , those skilled in the art will readily determine , by means of routine tests , the proportions of eugenol , of eugenol acetate and of carvacrol which should not be exceeded . according to another characteristic of the invention , the decontaminating composition also comprises thymol as active component . when thymol is present , the decontaminating composition of the invention preferably comprises at least approximately 0 . 5 % by weight thereof . according to one embodiment of the invention , the decontaminating composition also comprises at least one mineral salt as active component . this mineral salt is , for example , chosen from chlorides , carbonates , silicates and sulphates of alkali metals , of ammonium , of alkaline earth metals , of aluminium or of magnesium , and alums . according to one arrangement of the invention , the mineral salt is chosen from sodium chloride and sodium bicarbonate . the sodium chloride is preferably contained in grey salt , i . e . when it is present , the sodium chloride is advantageously added in the form of grey salt . the mineral salt , when it is present , represents in general at least approximately 0 . 5 % by weight of the decontaminating composition . a particularly preferred decontaminating composition according to the present invention comprises , as active components , eugenol , eugenol acetate , vanillin , carvacrol and thymol , with the following percentages by weight : eugenol : 15 - 25 eugenol acetate : 3 - 5 vanillin : 0 . 25 - 0 . 35 carvacrol : 0 . 7 - 1 . 2 thymol : 0 . 7 - 1 . 2 the composition also comprises inert material , the nature of which depends on the form in which the composition is used and on the intended use . according to an advantageous arrangement of the invention , the eugenol , the eugenol acetate , the vanillin , the carvacrol and the thymol of this preferred decontaminating composition are contained in plant elements . the decontaminating composition of the invention can also comprise at least one trace element , for example copper , gold , silver , magnesium . it can also comprise at least one monoterpene , advantageously a monoterpene derived from a plant chosen , for example , from the group consisting of pine and fir . the decontaminating composition of the invention may also contain at least one monoterpene alcohol , advantageously a monoterpene alcohol derived from a plant chosen , for example , from the group consisting of rosewood , peppermint and lemon grass . the decontaminating composition of the invention can also contain at least one aromatic aldehyde such as an aromatic aldehyde derived , advantageously , from a plant chosen , for example , from the group consisting of cinnamon , cumin , lavender , etc . it can also contain at least one sulphur - containing compound derived , advantageously , from a plant chosen , for example , from the group consisting of garlic and onion . it can also comprise at least one nitrogenous compound derived , advantageously , from a plant element , for example , from citrus reticulata or citrus paradisi . it is particularly advantageous for the phenols and the aldehydes present in the decontaminating composition of the invention to be of plant origin . it is also desirable to take phenols from several extracts of different plants . in an advantageous embodiment of the invention , the decontaminating composition of the invention contains extracts of plants below : eugenia caryophylatta at least one origanum chosen from origanum heracleoticum and origanum majorana vanilla planifolia andrews . better still , for the latter embodiment , the decontaminating composition contains , in addition to the above plant extracts , one or more extracts of plants chosen from the following : artemisia dracunculus l . carum carvi chamaemelum nobile cinnamomum zeylanicum cinnamomum camphora citrus paradisi coriandrum sativum cuminum cyminum eucalyptus radiata hyssopus officinalis juniperus communis lavandula officinalis lippia citriodora melissa officinalis mentha piperita myristica fragrans ocimum gratissimum urtica dioica pimpinella anisum pinus pinaster rosmarinus officinalis salvia officinalis satureja montana sesamum indicum thymus vulgaris zingiber officinalis and also elements chosen from sodium bicarbonate , sodium chloride and hydrophilic colloids such as clays . the amounts of the various extracts and elements present in the decontaminating composition will be adjusted by those skilled in the art so that the percentages by weight of eugenol , of eugenol acetate , of vanillin and of carvacrol of the decontaminating composition are those specified above , i . e . at least approximately 12 % by weight for eugenol , at least approximately 3 % by weight for eugenol acetate , at least approximately 0 . 1 % by weight for vanillin and at least approximately 0 . 5 % by weight for carvacrol . when the active components of the decontaminating composition of the invention are synthetic elements ,— not preferred — said composition can be prepared by simple mixing of said components at ambient temperature . the invention also provides a method for producing the decontaminating composition described , when the four active components : eugenol , eugenol acetate , vanillin and carvacrol , are contained in plant elements ,— preferred — for example the eugenol and the eugenol acetate in clove , the vanillin in vanilla and the carvacrol in oregano or in savory . the method for producing a decontaminating composition of the invention in which the four active components are contained in plant elements is characterized in that it comprises : ( a ) a first step consisting in grinding said pre - dried plant elements , said grinding step producing a powder having a mean particle size ranging from approximately 0 . 5 mm to approximately 1 . 2 mm , ( b ) a second step consisting in macerating said powder , at ambient temperature , in a solution for at least 12 hours , preferably for approximately 24 hours , resulting in a maceration solution or juice and residual inert plant material . in step ( a ) above , the particle size will be adjusted by those skilled in the art according to the diffusibility of the active ingredients targeted . the decontaminating compositions containing , in plant form , additional active components in relation to the four “ basic active components ” ( eugenol , eugenol acetate , vanillin and carvacrol ) can be prepared in the same manner as that described above . for certain forms of the decontaminating composition , such as , for example , the production of a biodecontaminating liquid , maceration under cold conditions is appropriate so as not to destroy or weaken the active elements . a maceration of typically 72 hours is effective . the maceration step at ambient temperature is carried out in an aqueous , oily or alcoholic solution . if the solution is an aqueous solution , it is used to isolate the water - soluble elements . the maceration solution is then usually separated from the residual inert plant material . the maceration solution can be used to form a solid product , by impregnating , by deposition or absorption , a plant or mineral support . consequently , after the second step , referred to as maceration step , the method can comprise a third step consisting in impregnating , by deposition or absorption , the maceration solution onto a support chosen from inert , usually porous , plant supports and mineral supports . the mineral support is , for example , chosen from the group consisting of talc , of active charcoal and of mineral salts , such as , for example , sodium chloride and sodium bicarbonate . the support may also be chosen from hydrophilic colloids such as clays . the support can also consist of dried inert plant material , for example the residual inert plant material , but another inert plant material can also be used . the resulting product can then be dried , for example in a dehumidifying oven , or else stored in wet form , according to the applications . the inert residual plant material used as support according to the invention will usually be dried . for certain applications , in particular for pressure cleaning of floors , the residual inert plant material will advantageously be left as it is , without drying , and the decontaminating composition will be in the form of a liquid suspension . the choice of the form and of the nature of the inert support is made according to the application envisaged . for example , the inert support will advantageously be in the form of large - diameter beads for filtrations , in the form of cloth in order to obtain a biodecontaminating cloth , etc . when the decontaminating composition comprises thymol contained in thyme , this can be added , once it has been dried , during the first grinding step , at the same time as the plant elements containing the eugenol , the eugenol acetate , the vanillin and the carvacrol . in the clove , it is advantageous to use only the head , but it is possible to use the whole flower . when the decontaminating composition comprises a mineral salt , this is ground , to a particle size of approximately 0 . 1 to 0 . 5 mm , and it is then added to the solution containing the ground plant elements before , during or after the maceration . when the decontaminating composition comprises one or more trace elements , these can be added to the maceration solution . it is also possible , although it is not the preferred embodiment , to prepare a decontaminating composition according to the invention , in which the active components are contained in plant elements , by grinding , intimate mechanical mixing and sieving of said pre - dried plant elements , without carrying out the maceration step . a decontaminating composition obtained according to this latter procedure remains effective but generally less so than that prepared according to the preferred method using a maceration step ; it is also less homogeneous and it may thus be more difficult to ensure constant characteristics . the decontaminating composition of the invention in liquid form is produced from the decontaminating composition in solid form , for example by : soaking said decontaminating composition in solid form in water , which may or may not be sterile according to the applications , another liquid such as an alcohol or an oil , etc ., passing warm or hot water , which may or may not be sterile according to the applications , through the decontaminating composition in solid form , for example in grains , passing other liquids through the decontaminating composition in solid form . in the latter two methods , the liquid collected after passage through the decontaminating composition in solid form constitutes the decontaminating composition in liquid form . the decontaminating composition of the present invention simultaneously exhibits bactericidal , fungicidal and virucidal properties which can make it possible to decontaminate a very large number of media and supports . the decontaminating composition of the invention can , for example , be used in the form of liquid or solid soaps , or of powder sachets intended to be placed in household appliances such as in the bag of a vacuum cleaner , or in the compartment intended for the cleaning product of a dishwasher or of a washing machine . it can also be placed in domestic animal litter in order to disinfect it and to reduce odours therefrom . it can also be contained in paints , in particular water - based paints , adhesives , tapestries , wallpapers , floorings , insoles , chipboard , etc . it can also impregnate , in liquid form , fabrics or non - wovens such as clothing for medical use , sheets , covers , operative fields , dressings , gauzes which can be used , for example , for application to the skin of victims of third - degree burns , towelettes , etc . the fabrics and the non - wovens treated with the decontaminating composition according to the invention are not only sterile but also biodecontaminant . in a particularly advantageous embodiment of the present invention , the decontaminating composition is integrated , in the production process , into a material , resulting in a biodecontaminant material . the material is , for example , a plastic material , a paper , a non - woven . it is thus possible to obtain , for example , biodecontaminant toys , keys on a keyboard , lift buttons . the decontaminating composition of the invention can also be integrated into the process for producing swimming pool floors . several methods of integrating the decontaminating composition of the invention exist for the production of biodecontaminating materials : method by granular deposit maintained mechanically in a filter , with a prefilter which acts as a mechanical retainer of the granular decontaminating composition ( this prefilter can also be treated with the decontaminating composition ). method of integration into a fibrous medium . this method of integrating a decontaminating composition in granular form into a filtering medium allows the biodecontaminating particles to be retained by the very fibres of the substrate . method of integration into the filtering medium at the moment it is produced : the decontaminating composition in granular form is deposited onto the fibres ( for example , glass fibres ) at the moment the medium is produced , while the latter is not yet dry . removal of liquids and drying are subsequently carried out . method by integration into the binder in liquid form at the moment the filtering medium is produced . the decontaminating composition in liquid form is mixed with the binder . removal of liquids and drying are subsequently carried out . method by deposition of a decontaminating composition in liquid form by soaking : the filtering medium ( fibre , fabric , paper ) is passed through the decontaminating composition in liquid form and is subsequently dried . the support thus treated becomes biodecontaminating . it can be used to produce filtering media ( masks , filters , etc . ), and biodecontaminating clothing which can be used in hospital environments , but also by firefighters or for domestic use . the decontaminating composition of the invention can also be mixed in granular form in soaps . the decontaminating composition in grains is mixed with soap paste which is subsequently sent on to the usual moulding process for producing soap . the decontaminating composition of the invention can also be mixed into liquid soaps and other household products or toiletries . the mixing is carried out between two liquids at ambient temperature for the amount of time necessary to obtain a paste or a liquid which has a uniform colour demonstrating the homogeneity of the mixture . the treatment of water or of liquids is carried out either by passage through a filter containing the decontaminating composition of the invention in a solid form with a given particle size according to the application , or directly with the decontaminating composition in the form of a liquid mixed with the liquid to be treated . when its active components are contained in plants , the decontaminating composition of the invention can also , for certain concentrations of the active elements , be ingested , in particular as a food supplement , for example in the form of a powder , of cachets or of tablets . the invention will now be described in greater detail with reference to the non - limiting examples hereinafter . eugenol 20 % by weight eugenol acetate 4 . 0 % by weight vanillin 0 . 3 % by weight carvacrol 1 . 0 % by weight thymol 1 . 0 % by weight inert plant material qs 100 oregano , thyme ( flowers and leaves ) and vanilla were dried at approximately 30 ° c . the dried plants , namely 80 g of clove heads , 15 g of thyme ( flowers and leaves ), 1 . 5 g of vanilla and 3 . 5 g of savory , were mixed . the dried plant mixture was ground and sieved until a mean particle size of 0 . 5 mm was obtained . the ground and sieved mixture was macerated at ambient temperature for 24 hours in solution in 100 ml of deionized water . the maceration juice was extracted and the pre - dried inert residual plant material was impregnated therewith . the impregnated inert residual plant material was dried in a dehumidifying oven so as to obtain 100 g of composition in the form of a brown powder with a mean particle size of 0 . 5 mm . in solution in 10 ml of distilled deionized water , its ph is approximately 4 . a suspension of the bacterium mycobacterium tuberculosis was prepared , incorporating , under a vertical laminar flow hood , 10 5 cfu / ml ( cfu signifies the number of colony - forming units per ml ) into an agar . the suspension was then poured into three petri dishes , where it solidified . 0 . 1 g , 0 . 25 g and 0 . 5 g , respectively , of the decontaminating composition prepared above were added to each of the three petri dishes . after incubation for four weeks at 37 ° c ., the three petri dishes exhibited a halo of inhibition around the cupules containing the decontaminating powder , which demonstrates the antibactericidal activity of the decontaminating composition tested for the three amounts indicated , even with an amount as low as 0 . 1 g . three millilitres of a suspension containing approximately 10 6 cfu / ml of the bacterium pseudomonas aeroginosa were deposited , with three millilitres of nutrient broth , in five test tubes . 0 . 1 g , 0 . 25 g , 0 . 5 g , 0 . 75 g and 1 g , respectively , of the decontaminating composition of example 1 were added to each of the five test tubes . the five test tubes were incubated for 24 hours at 37 ° c . it was noted that the minimum inhibitory concentration for the decontaminating composition tested was 0 . 25 g per 6 ml . three millilitres of a suspension containing approximately 10 6 cfu / ml of the bacterium staphylococcus aureus were deposited , with three millilitres of nutrient broth , in five test tubes . 0 . 1 g , 0 . 25 g , 0 . 5 g , 0 . 75 g and 1 g , respectively , of the decontaminating composition of example 1 were added to each of the five test tubes . the five test tubes were incubated for 24 hours at 37 ° c . it was noted that the minimum inhibitory concentration for the decontaminating composition tested was 0 . 1 g per 6 ml . three millilitres of a suspension containing approximately 10 6 cfu / ml of the fungus candida albicans were deposited , with three millilitres of nutrient broth , in five test tubes . 0 . 1 g , 0 . 25 g , 0 . 5 g , 0 . 75 g and 1 g , respectively , of the decontaminating composition of example 1 were added to each of the five test tubes . the five test tubes were incubated for 24 hours at 30 ° c . it was noted that the minimum inhibitory concentration for the decontaminating composition tested was 0 . 1 g per 6 ml . three millilitres of a suspension containing approximately 10 6 cfu / ml of the fungus aspergillus niger were deposited , with three millilitres of nutrient broth , in five test tubes . 0 . 1 g , 0 . 25 g , 0 . 5 g , 0 . 75 g and 1 g , respectively , of the decontaminating composition of example 1 were added to each of the five test tubes . the five test tubes were incubated for 24 hours at 30 ° c . it was noted that the minimum inhibitory concentration for the decontaminating composition tested was 0 . 75 g per 6 ml . three millilitres of a suspension containing approximately 10 6 cfu / ml of the bacterium legionella pneumophila were deposited , with three millilitres of nutrient broth , in five test tubes . 0 . 1 g , 0 . 25 g , 0 . 5 g , 0 . 75 g and 1 g , respectively , of the decontaminating composition of example 1 were added to each of the five test tubes . the five test tubes were incubated for 24 hours at 37 ° c . it was noted that the minimum inhibitory concentration for the decontaminating composition tested was 0 . 1 g per 6 ml , i . e . a product diluted to 1 . 7 %. the aim of this example is to determine the evolution of the bacterium pseudomonas aeroginosa as a function of exposure time with the decontaminating composition of example 1 . the bacterium pseudomonas aeroginosa is a bacterium which is present in soil and in water and which is capable of infecting the human body via the respiratory pathways . the bacterial strain was reconstituted in a nutritive bath , it was incubated at 35 ° c . for 24 hours and was centrifuged at 2500 rpm for 10 minutes . the supernatant was removed and the remaining microbial pellet was then washed three times with sterile buffered deionized water . the pellet was then resuspended in 50 ml of sterile buffered deionized water . 100 ml of sterile buffered deionized water containing 1 × 10 6 cfu / ml of the bacterium pseudomonas aeroginosa and , respectively , 0 g , 1 g , 5 g , 10 g and 25 g of the decontaminating composition of example 1 were added to five 250 ml erlenmeyer flasks . the five flasks were placed in a vibrating rotary device at 50 rpm at 25 ° c . 1 ml was removed from each flask after 0 hour , 4 hours and 24 hours , and was transferred into 1 ml of a neutralizing solution . table i below indicates the cfu / ml concentration of the bacterium pseudomonas aeroginosa contained in the samples taken . as indicated in table i , after 4 hours , it can be considered that the decontaminating composition has eliminated the bacterium pseudomonas aeroginosa since it has caused its concentration to drop substantially by a factor of 10 5 . table ii below indicates the cfu / ml concentration of the bacterium staphylococcus aureus contained in the samples taken . as indicated in table ii , after 4 hours , the decontaminating composition has eliminated most of the bacterium staphylococcus aureus and has caused the concentration to drop substantially by a factor of 10 5 . the staphylococcus aureus bacterial strain was reconstituted in a nutritive bath , it was incubated at 35 ° c . for 24 hours and was centrifuged at 2400 rpm for 10 minutes . the supernatant was removed and the remaining microbial pellet was then washed three times with sterile buffered deionized water . the pellet was then resuspended in 50 ml of sterile buffered deionized water . 100 ml of sterile buffered deionized water containing 1 × 10 6 cfu of the bacterium staphylococcus aureus and 25 g of the decontaminating composition of example 1 were added to a 250 ml erlenmeyer flask . the flask was placed in a vibrating rotary device at 50 rpm at 25 ° c . 1 ml was removed from the flask after 1 minute and was transferred into 1 ml of a neutralizing solution . it was noted that the bacterium staphylococcus aureus had been completely eliminated . the decontaminating composition of example 1 was tested against human coronavirus type attc vr - 740 , strain 229 e , similar to the coronavirus responsible for sars or severe acute respiratory syndrome . it was noted that the decontaminating composition , in a proportion of 1 : 10 in a buffered suspension , deactivates 99 . 97 %, i . e . at least 3 . 6 log 10 of the virus , in 10 minutes . those skilled in the art will understand that , although the invention has been described and illustrated for particular embodiments , many variants can be envisaged while at the same time remaining within the context of the invention as defined in the attached claims .	0
the principles and use of the methods according to the present invention may be better understood with reference to the drawings and the accompanying description . before turning to details of the present invention , it should be appreciated that the present invention provides two sets of features , which when combined provide a particularly useful method . the first feature relates to a method whereby a slave of a bluetooth piconet performs a masterless role - switch after disappearance of the master . the first feature will be described with particular reference to fig2 and 3 . the second feature relates to a method that allows a point - to - multipoint application running on a bluetooth piconet to continue functioning after disappearance of the piconet master . the second features will be described with reference to fig4 through 6 . recovery from the loss of the piconet master consists of the steps of designating one of the slaves as the new master followed by imposition of this new designation on the other slaves . as described above , each device in a piconet has a time out parameter ( t_supervision ) which is the time used to decide if a master - slave link is lost . according to the first feature of the present invention , t_supervision is identical for all slaves in the piconet . additionally , each slave device of the piconet is equipped with at least two timers , t1 and t2 , and a t1_flag . t1 is a timer used to count t_supervision and is reset each time the slave receives a transmission addressed to it from the master . t1 overflows when t_supervision is reached . once t1 has overflowed it is reset to zero and begins counting anew . the t1_flag is set to true . the t1_flag is set to false any time the slave receives a packet sent by the master to any one of the slaves of the piconet , including itself . t2 begins counting when t1 overflows . t2 is reset any time the slave receives a packet sent by the master to any one of the slaves of the piconet , including itself . t2 overflows when a predetermined number of n slots is reached . all slaves in the piconet have the same value of n . when the t2 counter of a slave overflows , that slave initiates the masterless role - switching procedure . this arrangement of two counters ensures that a reasonable delay is maintained before a masterless role - switching procedure is initiated and that no two t2 counters of one piconet can overflow at the same time . the counting of the t1 and t2 timers in a piconet composed of one master m0 and three slaves , s1 , s2 and s3 is schematically depicted in fig2 . all timers t1 and t2 are set to overflow after counting ten slots ( t_supervision = n = 10 ). at slots 0 , 2 and 4 s1 , s2 and s3 are respectively polled by the master , m0 , resetting t1 ( s1 ), t1 ( s2 ) and t1 ( s3 ). at slot 10 t1 ( s1 ) overflows and t1_flag ( s1 )= true . t1 ( s1 ) is reset and t2 ( s1 ) begins counting . at slot 12 t1 ( s2 ) overflows and t1_flag ( s2 )= true . t1 ( s2 ) is reset and t2 ( s2 ) begins counting . at slot 14 m0 polls s3 . t1 ( s3 ) is reset . t1_flag ( s1 )= false and t1_flag ( s2 )= false . t2 ( s1 ) and t2 ( s2 ) are reset . at slot 16 , m0 disappears and no longer transmits information . at slot 20 , t1 ( s1 ) overflows and t1_flag ( s1 )= true . t1 ( s1 ) is reset and t2 ( s1 ) begins counting . at slot 22 , t1 ( s2 ) overflows and t1_flag ( s2 )= true . t1 ( s2 ) is reset and t2 ( s2 ) begins counting . at slot 24 , t1 ( s3 ) overflows and t1_flag ( s3 )= true . t1 ( s3 ) is reset and t2 ( s3 ) begins counting . at slot 30 , t2 ( s1 ) overflows . since t1_flag ( s1 )= true , s1 initiates the masterless role - switching procedure according to the first feature of the present invention . the slave initiating the masterless role - switching , procedure , s1 , first performs a time - division switch and begins to transmit starting at even - numbered slots , being the slots reserved exclusively for use by the piconet master using the original piconet slot boundaries and original piconet frequency hopping scheme . the first packet transmitted by the slave initiating the masterless role - switch will reset the t2 timer of all the slaves of the piconet and thus will avoid a situation where another slave will also attempt to initiate a masterless role switch . the slave s1 attempts to switch all the potential slaves of the former piconet using each one of the six available am_addrs , the seventh being its own original am_addr . in the present example , the piconet switch will be acknowledged only for am_addrs 2 and 3 , corresponding to slaves s2 and s3 , respectively . just as in a standard master - slave role switch , each fhs packet is addressed to a slave using its original am_addr . in the packet payload , the new slot alignment offset , the new am_addr and other information is sent to each slave using the original piconet parameters . in principle , the new master can allocate new am_addrs to each one of the slaves that joins the new piconet . it is however preferable that the slaves retain the same am_addr in the new piconet as in the original piconet . in a first embodiment of the first feature of the present invention the addressed slave acknowledges receipt of the fhs packet immediately and switches to the new piconet parameters as dictated by the new master . in a second embodiment of the first feature of the present invention the addressed slave checks its own t1_flag . if the t1_flag is false it means that as far as that unit is concerned , the original master is still functioning and piconet integrity is not compromised . in such a case it does not accept the piconet switch . if the t1_flag is true the slave acknowledges receipt of the fhs packet , and switches to the new piconet parameters , as dictated by the new master . in this embodiment an unnecessary master / slave switch is prevented , for example , in a situation when a slave moves out of the transmission range of the master and tries to switch the other slaves to its piconet . in this embodiment it is necessary that t2 is greater than or equal to t1 . this is necessary to ensure that when the old master truly disappears there is enough time for the t1 flags of all slaves to be set to true before an fhs packet from the slave that has initiated the forced master / slave switch is transmitted . once an acknowledgment packet is sent from a second unit to a first unit initiating the masterless role switching , then the second unit is part of the new piconet . if no acknowledgment is received then the first unit assumes that that specific am_addr is unassigned in the original piconet and the first unit continues querying the succeeding am_addr until all six am_addrs have been queried . the second embodiment of the first feature of the present invention can be better understood by reference to fig3 depicting a masterless role - switch of a piconet composed of three slaves s1 , s3 , and s5 with am_addrs 1 , 3 and 5 respectively . after t2 ( s1 ) overflows , s1 initiates the masterless role switching procedure , step 20 . s1 sends an fhs_packet to am_addr = 2 , step 22 . since s3 and s5 receive the transmission , t2 ( s3 ) and t2 ( s5 ) are reset . since no slave has am_addr = 2 , no response is transmitted . s1 sends an fhs packet to am_addr = 3 , step 24 . t2 ( s5 ) is reset . s3 responds to the fhs packet and begins the process of joining the new piconet , step 26 . t2 ( s5 ) is reset as a result of the last transmission associated with the joining of s3 to the piconet , step 28 . s1 sends an fhs_packet to am_addr = 4 , step 30 . t2 ( s5 ) is reset . since no slave has am_addr = 4 , no response is transmitted . s5 responds to the fhs_packet and begins the process of joining the new piconet , step 34 . at the end of the process described above and depicted in fig3 a new piconet is formed , where the former slave s1 is the master and the slaves s3 and s5 are slaves . since the procedure described above is performed entirely at the baseband layer , it is transparent to the higher layers of the bluetooth protocol stack and , most importantly , to the application . in principle , the bluetooth protocol is designed with point - to - point communications in mind where one unit , the master , acts as the hub for all communications . multi - user applications such as multiplayer games require point - to - multipoint communications with no apparent hierarchy . in such applications , a number of equivalent devices send messages addressed to each other , and from the point of view of the application , messages do not need to pass through the master of the piconet . there are many possible methods to implement point - to - multipoint communications under the bluetooth protocol . the second feature of the present invention relates to a method whereby point - to - multipoint communications are supported in a way that is transparent to the application and the application can continue running despite the unexpected loss of the piconet master . the first aspect of the second feature of the present invention is the division of the application layer into two parts , the application itself and the application adaptation layer . the application adaptation layer is provided by , for example , the vendor of the bluetooth device and provides an application programming interface ( api ) as an interface with simple - to - use services . the api allows the application itself to consider the bluetooth system as any output device and obviates the need for bluetooth protocol expertise amongst application developers . the application is configured to maintain a list of simple names that identify the participants of the application . further , the application is configured to append a header with the simple name of the source and the simple name of the destination , for example , an ascii header of the form “ unit x calling unit y ” to every packet generated . bluetooth devices configured according to the second feature of the present invention maintain an addressing list . the addressing list is accessible to all relevant layers of the bluetooth protocol stack . hereinbelow , the addressing lists will be described as being implemented as tables , although it is clear to one skilled in the art that the addressing list can be implemented in many ways . each record of the addressing lists corresponds to one of the other participants of the application and includes at least four fields : a unit name of the other participant , the lcid used by the l2cap layer to identify the logical link to the other participant , the ch used by the l2cap and lm layer to identify the other participant , and the am_addr of the other participant , as assigned by the master of the piconet . in fig4 the addressing lists of master m0 and three slaves s1 , s3 and s5 of a piconet are depicted . the four units , m0 , s1 , s3 , and s5 are known to the application as max , olly , therese and fay , respectively . fig4 a designates the table containing the piconet link information stored by m0 ; fig4 b designates the table containing the piconet link information stored by s1 ; fig4 c designates the table containing the piconet link information stored by s3 ; and , fig4 d designates the table containing the piconet link information stored by s5 . the unit name in the addressing list is the same as the simple name that is available to the application . when the piconet is formed and the application initialized , the master fills its addressing list with the necessary communication information . the master also informs each slave in the piconet what the am_addr and unit name of every other participant is . the name of the other participants is necessary for use by the application of the slave . slave devices do not use the am_addr field of the addressing list . throughout normal operation of the application , the layers of the master consult the addressing list to transmit packets to the slaves and to relay packets addresses to one slave from another slave . an application of one slave generates a packet to which a header containing the unit name of the destination unit is appended . the packet is sent to the application layer of the master . there , the application layer forwards the packet to the correct slave by consulting the addressing list . this process is schematically depicted in fig5 for a piconet made up of a master m0 and three slaves s1 , s3 and s5 , using the addressing lists as appear in fig4 . in fig5 narrow arrows signify transmission over the bluetooth piconet whereas wide arrows signify transmission within a bluetooth protocol stack of one device . the application of s1 generates a packet and appends a header “ olly to therese ”. the packet is sent to the application adaptation layer of s1 , 58 . since the only communication channel possible for a packet from the application layer of a slave is to the application layer of the master , the application adaptation layer of s1 sends the packet to the application layer of m0 , 60 . the application adaptation layer of m0 reads the header , consults the addressing list , retrieves the lcid parameter associated with s3 , appends the lcid to the packet and forwards the packet to the l2cap layer of m0 , 62 . the l2cap layer consults the addressing list , retrieves the ch parameter associated with s3 , appends the ch to the packet and forwards the packet to the lm layer of m0 , 64 . the lm layer consults the addressing list , retrieves the am_addr of s3 , appends the am_addr to the packet and forwards the packet to the baseband layer of m0 , 66 . the packet is then transmitted to the application adaptation layer of s3 in the usual way , 68 , 70 , 72 , and 74 successively . the application adaptation layer of s3 checks the header . since the packet is intended for the application of s3 , the application adaptation layer of s3 forwards the packet to the application of s3 , 76 . to the application , the existence of the piconet is not apparent at any stage . if during the life of the piconet a standard master / slave role switch is performed , then during the transfer of information to the new master , the old master will transfer whatever information is necessary for the new master to fill out the addressing list . if the master of the piconet unexpectedly disappears , the first step is the reconstitution of the piconet on the baseband layer according to the first method the present invention , as described above . once the new piconet is formed , it is necessary to update the addressing list stored by each member of the piconet . this updating process is schematically depicted in fig6 for a piconet originally made up of a master m0 and three slaves s1 , s3 and s5 using addressing lists as depicted in fig4 in fig6 . in fig6 s1 becomes the master of a new piconet upon disappearance of m0 . although s1 can allocate any new am_addr to the slaves of the piconet , the most preferable embodiment of the invention is depicted , where the slaves retain the am_addr of the old piconet in the new piconet . after m0 disappears , s1 initiates the masterless role - switch process as described above . once the role - switch has been completed , the higher layers of the bluetooth stack join the new piconet as depicted in fig6 . first , the basebands of s1 , s3 and s5 in step 82 , 84 and 86 , respectively , each informs its application adaptation layer that max is no longer participating . the application adaptation layer of each unit informs its respective application that max is no longer participating . further , the baseband layer of s1 , s3 and s5 each informs its respective lm layer of the switch . although not defined in the standard bluetooth protocol , for the present invention an lci protocol is defined , being a communication protocol from the baseband layer to the link manager layer . within the lci protocol is defined a lci_switchcompleteevent ( ) message . the lci_switchcompleteevent ( ) message is the message that the baseband uses to inform its lm layer of a switch . as is clear to one skilled in the art , it is simple to implement such an lci protocol . the addressing lists of s3 and s5 are updated to indicate that olly henceforth has am_addr = 0 . the entry corresponding to max is deleted from the addressing list of all piconet participants , 88 . as described , the process of adding the slaves to the new bluetooth piconet proceeds serially . that is that the process is sequentially completed slave by slave , as is described hereinbelow . first , the lm layer of s1 connects to the lm layer of s3 . s1 and s3 both designate a new ch parameter to represent this connection , 90 . the lm layer of s1 and the lm layer of s3 both send a hci_switchcompleteevent ( ) message ( see below ) to the l2cap layer of s1 and the l2cap layer of s3 , respectively , 92 . the addressing lists of s1 and of s3 are accordingly amended 94 . as is clear to one skilled in the art , the hci_switchcompleteevent ( ) message is not a message defined in the standard bluetooth protocol but is a simple - to - implement command to allow performance of the teachings of the present invention . thereafter , the l2cap layer of s1 connects to the l2cap layer of s3 . s1 and s3 both designate a new lcid parameter to represent this connection 96 . the addressing lists of s1 and of s3 are accordingly amended 98 . following completion of connection to the upper layers of s3 , s1 continues to reestablish contact with the other slaves of the piconet . in the example discussed , the procedure of reestablishing higher layer connections and updating the addressing lists of s1 and s5 is done in a manner analogous to that described above for s3 , and is depicted in fig6 steps 100 , 102 , 104 , 106 and 108 . each time a slave is added to the new piconet at the baseband layer as a result of the masterless role switch according to the invention , the baseband layer of the new master sends the lm of the new master a notification packet , lci_switchcompleteevent ( ), returning the am_addr of the slave which has been added to the piconet . the baseband layer of the slave sends the lm of the slave a notification packet , lci_switchcompleteevent ( ), returning am_addr = 0 . the lm of the new master connects to the lm of the slave . this produces a new ch at each device , the ch being associated with the notified am_addr . the lm of each device sends a notification event to the respective device manager , hci_switchcompleteevent ( ). the addressing list of each device is then updated with the new ch . the device manager of the new master then initiates an l2cap connection with the slave l2cap layer identified by the new ch . this action forms a new link ( new master and slave ) with a new lcid associated with the ch reported by the local lm . the addressing list of each device is then updated with the new lcid . in the embodiment of the invention described above , where the slaves retain the am_addr of the old piconet in the new piconet , then upon completion of the last step 108 , the piconet is fully recovered despite the loss of the participant who was the master of the piconet . it is clear to one skilled in the art that in an embodiment where the new master allocates different am_addr to the slaves , then the addressing lists of the slaves must be amended to include the new am_addrs . recovery of the piconet is performed in a way that is completely transparent to the application . in a piconet where both features of the present invention are supported then when the original master unexpectedly disappears all of the slaves have an addressing list containing the am_addr of each participant . in an additional embodiment of the present invention where both features of the present invention are supported , the slave performing the masterless master / slave role switching only attempts to contact other units with the am_addrs appearing in the addressing list . establishment of the new piconet as described above occurs serially , as communication between all layers of the bluetooth protocol stack for one slave is established before establishing higher layer communications with another slave . it is clear to one skilled in the art that , alternatively , communications may be reestablished in parallel , where the master first completes establishing communications with one layer of all slaves before moving on to other layers . in fig7 the protocol stack of a bluetooth enabled device that is enabled to implement the second feature of the present invention is pictorially represented by depicting its modified protocol stack . just as in every bluetooth enabled device , there is found a rf transceiver 10 , a baseband layer 12 , a link manager layer 14 , a l2cap layer 16 and an application layer 18 . interposed between l2cap layer 16 and application layer 18 is an application adaptation layer 20 , which operates as described hereinabove . furthermore , there is an addressing list 22 , accessible to baseband layer 12 link manager layer 14 , l2cap layer 16 and application adaptation layer 20 . in accordance with the bluetooth standard , there exists an hci protocol 24 allowing link manager layer 14 to send messages to l2cap layer 16 . in addition , there exists a lci protocol 26 allowing baseband layer 12 to send messages to link manager layer 14 . the operation of application adaptation layer 20 , addressing list 22 and lci protocol 26 are as described hereinabove . just as with a standard bluetooth protocol stack , each layer of the stack is implemented as hardware , software or a combination thereof . while the invention has been described with respect to a limited number of embodiments , it will be appreciated that many variations , modifications and other applications of the invention may be made .	7
embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings . although embodiments described herein are specific to aircraft display systems , it should be recognized that principles of the present invention may be applied to other vehicle display systems . fig1 illustrates a vehicle display system 100 according to a first embodiment of the present invention . as illustrated in fig1 , the vehicle display system 100 includes : a synthetic vision ( sv ) system 120 ; an enhanced vision ( ev ) system 110 ; an sv database 170 ; flight management systems 180 ; enhanced vision ( ev ) image sensor ( s ) 130 ; a display 190 ; an indexing / registration unit 160 ; and an ev image sensor control unit 150 . although various block diagram elements shown in fig1 are illustrated as discrete elements , this illustration is for use and explanation , and it should be recognized that certain elements may be combined in one or more physical devices , e . g ., one or more microprocessor ( s ) with associated software . the enhanced vision system 110 generates an image for display on the display 190 based on the output of one or more of the ev image sensors 130 , e . g ., ir and / or mmw video cameras . in one embodiment of the present invention , at least one ev image sensor 130 is a steerable ev camera with a narrow field of view . for example , the ev image sensor 130 in one implementation of this embodiment is a zoomed camera with a viewing angle of several degrees , allowing a closer look at a specific object of interest . the synthetic vision system 120 renders an image based on pre - stored terrain , objects of interest , obstructions , etc . and navigation information stored in the sv database 170 for output to the display 190 . the synthetic vision system 120 also generates the sv images based on information from flight management systems 180 , such as vehicle positioning , heading , attitude , flight plan , etc . fig2 illustrates an exemplary display output 191 on the display 190 , including an ev sensor image 192 and an sv image 194 . the images may be indexed at the time of camera installation , e . g ., by aligning the ev image sensor 130 to ensure that the sensor and the sv view are indexed . such a process may be periodically repeated to assure proper alignment during normal course of maintenance . in the exemplary display of fig2 , the ev image 192 is an ir image and the sv image 194 includes flight management data ( heading , altitude , speed , etc .) superimposed on the synthetic rendering of terrain and an object of interest ( runway ). fig3 is a block diagram illustrating elements of the image sensor control unit 150 according to the first embodiment of the present invention . as illustrated in fig3 , the image sensor control unit 150 includes a priority unit 152 ; integrity unit 154 ; and a sensor area optimizing unit 156 . the priority unit 152 determines the priority of certain objects of interest based on information from the sv system 120 . since the ev image sensor 130 in this embodiment has a small field of view , it may be unlikely that multiple objects of interest can be viewed in the same image . therefore , the priority level determines which object of interest will be viewed first by steering the ev image sensor 130 toward that object of interest . the object of interest may be within the sv display area or may be outside the sv display area . for example , this may become necessary in instances where the pilot must fly the aircraft and maintain proper control , using the sv display , while searching for an object of interest using the ev image sensor 130 . the integrity levels are assigned to object of interest data , for example using either an on - board database or uploaded data associated with a real - time datalink . the integrity level represents the confidence level for the object of interest data . for example , for an object of interest with high integrity , the area to zoom in on and search for the object of interest can be very limited , allowing quicker recognition of objects of interest . the integrity unit 154 determines the integrity level of objects of interest based on information from the sv system 120 . next , operation of the vehicle display system 100 according to the first embodiment illustrated in fig1 and fig3 will be described with reference to the flow diagram of fig4 . initially , the synthetic vision system 120 inputs flight and flight management system ( fms ) information , including for example aircraft position , heading , attitude , flight plan , etc . from the flight management systems 180 ( step s 202 ). in general , flight information refers to the state of the aircraft , such as present altitude , speed , pitch , roll and position , while the fms information concerns more strategic flight information , such as planning , routing , etc . based on this information , the priority unit 152 of the image sensor control unit 150 determines object priority . ( step s 204 ). such a priority will be application dependent and dynamic . for example , a threat such as impending terrain , obstruction , traffic , or enemy weapon location will be assigned high priority levels . for a task of landing an aircraft onto a runway , the runway will receive high priority when no immediate safety threat is present . the integrity unit 154 of the ev image sensor control unit 150 assigns integrity levels to objects of interest . ( step s 206 ). based on the assigned integrity , the sensor area optimizing unit 156 of the image sensor control unit 150 assigns a imaging area within the field of view of the synthetic vision system 120 ( step s 208 ). the level of zooming is controlled by data integrity with human operator override . the ev image sensor control unit 150 outputs steering control signals to at least one ev image sensor 130 based on the assigned search area ( step s 10 ). in this way , the ev image sensor 130 can be selectively controlled to effectively image an object or area of interest based on information from the sv system 120 . the size of the area for camera steering is a function of object integrity as determined by the integrity unit 154 of the ev image sensor control unit 150 , thereby providing a more useful display to the operator . the indexing / registration unit 160 indexes and aligns the images generated by the ev system 110 and the sv system 120 for output to the display 190 ( steps s 212 , s 214 ). fig5 a and 5b illustrate exemplary images output to the display 190 in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention . in the display image 291 , an ev display image 292 ( e . g ., video display ) has a field of view that has been controlled as a function of the integrity level assigned to objects of interest of the sv system 120 . the ev display image 292 is indexed and registered with the sv image 292 to provide a useful interface for an aircraft operator . in fig5 a , the object of interest has been assigned a lower integrity level , such that the focus area for the ev image is larger . in fig5 b , the object of interest has been assigned a higher integrity level , such that the focus area for the ev image is smaller . fig6 illustrates a vehicle display system according to a second embodiment of the present invention . as illustrated in fig6 , the vehicle display system 300 includes : a synthetic vision ( sv ) system 320 ; an enhanced vision ( ev ) system 310 ; an sv database 370 ; flight management systems 380 ; enhanced vision ( ev ) image sensor ( s ) 330 ; a display 390 ; an indexing / registration unit 360 ; and an ev image enhancement control unit 350 . although various block diagram elements shown in fig6 are illustrated as discrete elements , this illustration is for use and explanation , and it should be recognized that certain elements may be combined in one or more physical devices , e . g ., one or more microprocessor ( s ) with associated software . fig7 is a block diagram illustrating elements of the ev image enhancement control unit 350 according to the second embodiment of the present invention . as illustrated in fig7 , the ev image enhancement control unit 350 includes : a priority unit 352 ; an integrity unit 354 ; and an enhancement area determining unit 356 . the priority unit 352 determines the priority of certain objects of interest based on information from the sv system 120 . for example , for ev image sensor 130 having a wide field of view ( e . g ., 30 degrees ), the field of view may contain multiple objects of interest . according to this embodiment of the present invention , priority levels assigned to such objects of interest determine which area of the image generated by the ev image sensor 130 is to be enhanced first to bring out detailed features of the object of interest . the integrity unit 354 determines the integrity level of objects of interest based on information from the sv system 120 . next , operation of the vehicle display system 300 of the second embodiment illustrated in fig6 and 7 will be described with reference to the flow diagram of fig8 . initially , the synthetic vision system 320 inputs flight and flight management system ( fms ) information , including for example vehicle position , heading , attitude , flight plan , from the flight management systems 380 ( step s 402 ). based on this information , the priority unit 352 of the ev image enhancement control unit 450 determines object priority ( step s 404 ). the integrity unit 354 of the ev image enhancement control unit 350 assigns integrity levels to objects of interest ( e . g ., targets ) ( step s 406 ). based on the assigned integrity , the enhancement area determining unit 356 of the ev image enhancement control unit 350 assigns an enhancement area within the field of view of the an ev image sensor 330 ( step s 408 ). the ev image enhancement control unit 350 outputs enhancement control signals to the ev system 310 so that image areas of the ev image can be selectively enhanced based on information from the synthetic vision system 320 . ( step s 410 ). the size of the area for ev image enhancement is a function of object integrity as determined by the integrity unit 354 of the ev image enhancement control unit 350 , such that a relatively smaller area can be enhanced / emphasized / highlighted for high integrity objects of interest . the indexing / registration unit 360 aligns the images generated by the ev system 310 and the synthetic vision system 320 for output to the display 390 ( step s 412 ) so that an enhanced ev images and sv images are output to the display 390 ( step s 414 ). fig9 a and 9b illustrate exemplary display outputs to display 391 according to the second embodiment of the present invention . when applied to an aircraft environment , this embodiment of the present invention provides sv images 394 and ev images 392 that are specifically highlighted / enhanced around the area of the object of interest , whereby such ev image enhancement is performed as a function of object integrity so that a relatively smaller area is enhanced for high integrity objects thereby allowing flight crews to extract object / target information quicker and with improved certainty . in fig9 a , the object of interest has been assigned a lower integrity level , such that the enhancement area for the object of interest in the ev view is larger . the enhancement may be a highlighted area ( e . g ., a color border around the object of interest ) or digital image processing to improve the clarity / appearance of the image region containing the object of interest . in fig9 b , the object of interest has been assigned a higher integrity level , such that the enhancement area for the object of interest is smaller . although detailed embodiments and limitations to the present invention have been described above , it should be apparent that various modifications are possible without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention .	6
the following is a detailed description of the new ‘ zentmyer ’ variety , which was taken from an approximately nine - year - old mature tree , with the exception as a rootstock for a specific scion when reference is made to root rot resistance and salinity tolerance . the tree is located in an experimental orchard in irvine , calif . and is grafted on a persea americana seedling used as a rootstock . the royal horticultural society ( r . h . s .) color chart is used herein for the color description of the rind , seed , bark , leaf , flower , flesh color and other interest of the ‘ zentmyer ’ avocado tree . growth habit .— vigorous , upright and spreading when compared to the rootstock ‘ thomas ’. vigor .— below are data on the vigor of ‘ hass ’ grafted onto the rootstock of ‘ zentmyer ’, as determined by trunk diameter measurements from trees planted in an orchard with phytophthora cinnamomi in escondido calif . size .— medium . the typical canopy size of a three year old top - worked ‘ thomas ’ is 388 cu . ft . by comparison the canopy size of a three year old top - worked ‘ zentmyer ’ is 397 cu . ft . the tree is 610 - 915 cm in height when fully grown at the orchard site in irvine , calif . color .— the color of the one year old branch is green ( rhs 144d ). smoothness .— the bark of a one year old branch is smooth . lenticels .— the lenticels of a one year old branch are conspicuous . color .— grayed - green ( rhs 197a and rhs 197d ). texture of bark .— corky . intensity of anthocyanin coloration .— weak . anthocyanin coloration .— grayed - orange ( rhs 166a ). color .— grayed - orange ( rhs 166a ). conspicuousness of lenticels .— medium . color of lenticels .— purple ( rhs 185b ). size of lenticels .— 1 . 0 mm long . concentration of lenticels .— +/− 26 lenticels per square cm . color of upper side .— grayed - orange ( rhs 174a ). glossiness of upper side .— medium . color of lower surface .— grayed - orange ( rhs 177a ). length .— 15 . 0 cm . width .— 6 . 0 cm . ratio length / width .— 2 . 5 . shape .— lanceolate . color of upper side .— green ( rhs 137a ). color of lower side .— green ( rhs 138b ). glossiness of upper side .— medium . prominence of veins on lower side .— prominent and in relief . color of veins .— yellow - green ( rhs 151a ). general shape and cross - section .— concave . reflexing of apex .— absent . color of petiole .— yellow - green ( rhs 144a ). anise aroma .— absent . margin .— undulation of margin is absent or very weak , and the leaf margin is entire . leaf apex shape .— acuminate . leaf base shape .— lanceolate . length of leaf petiole .— approximately 3 . 0 cm . diameter of leaf petiole .— approximately 3 . 5 mm . leaf arrangement .— upright . bud size .— approximately 5 mm in length and approximately 4 mm in diameter . bud shape .— ovoid . bud color .— yellow - green ( rhs 153a ). opening .— belongs to group “ a ”, male opening ( i . e . with mature stamens ) occurs in the afternoon , the flower closes over night , and female opening ( i . e . with mature pistil ) occurs the next morning ; the flower &# 39 ; s opening cycle lasts 20 - 24 hours . petals .— borne in two whorls of three perianth lobes . the petals possess entire margins and petal coloration is near yellow - green ( rhs n144b ). both the upper and lower petal surfaces are near yellow - green ( rhs n144b ). stamen .— there are commonly nine fertile stamens with each having two basal nectar glands that are greyed - oranged ( rhs 174a ) in color and three staminodia . the anthers are tetrathecal . pistil .— the single pistil with a slender style and small stigmatic surface has one carpel with one ovule . the ovary is superior . sepals .— there are 6 sepals which are approximately 7 mm in length and approximately 4 mm in width , and the color of both sepal surfaces is yellow - green ( rhs 151a ). pedicel .— commonly approximately 7 mm in length and approximately 1 . 9 mm in diameter . the coloration is near yellow - green ( rhs n144a ). peduncles .— approximately 2 . 0 cm in length and approximately 5 . 0 mm in diameter . the coloration is yellow - green ( rhs 151a ). number of flowers on inflorescence .— approximately 170 - 200 flowers per inflorescence . fragrance .— absent . bloom .— bloom period at riverside , calif . experiment station varies with cultural conditions . on average ‘ zentmyer ’ has been found to bloom from 1st of february through 20th of march . length .— 9 . 5 cm . width .— 5 . 5 cm . ratio length / width .— 1 . 7 . weight .— 146 . 1 grams . shape .— obovate , with an apex and base diameter of approximately 3 . 5 cm and a center diameter of approximately 5 . 5 cm . color of skin ( when ripe ).— yellow - green ( rhs 144a ) with some patches of purple ( rhs n79 ). texture of skin .— smooth . presence of longitudinal ridges .— absent . thickness of skin .— thin . adherence of skin to flesh .— strong . main color of flesh .— yellow - green ( rhs 154c ). color of intensely colored area of flesh next to skin .— green ( rhs 140a ). width of intensely colored area next to skin .— 3 . 0 mm . conspicuousness of fibers in flesh .— inconspicuous . length .— 5 . 6 cm . width .— 3 . 4 cm . weight .— 20 . 8 grams . shape ( in longitudinal section ).— elliptical . shape ( in cross section ).— circular . color of seed coat ( fresh ).— grayed - orange ( rhs 166b ). cotyledon color .— orange - white ( rhs 159b ). time of harvesting .— ‘ zentmyer ’ fruit ripen in september ( in riverside calif .). resistance to pests .— strong resistance to phytophthora cinnamomi . tolerance to salinity .— sensitive to salinity . market use .— the fruit of ‘ zentmyer ’ are not intended for market use , but rather the variety is used as a rootstock onto which commercial varieties , such as ‘ hass ’ are grafted .	0
the field in which the invention is applied is generally that of web - fed rotary printing presses with a dryer arrayed in a position immediately downstream . the basic construction and the method of functioning of such arrays are already known . the following description is therefore restricted substantially to the area of the dryer affected by invention . the dryer 1 illustrated in the drawing , which is arrayed between a web - fed rotary printing process not illustrated here in any detail and a chilling roller stand , also not illustrated here in any detail , has three zones arrayed one after the other in the direction in which the paper web 2 moves , namely a heating zone 3 , a temperature maintenance zone 4 and a cooling zone 5 . a section inside the housing of the dryer 1 is devoted to each zone . partition bulkheads 6 are provided between the contiguous sections . in the heating zone 3 and the temperature maintenance zone 4 , the paper web is sprayed with hot air , as indicated through jets 7 . the section devoted to the cooling zone contains a moisturising device indicated in its entirety with the number 8 , whose purpose is to cool and remoisten the paper web 2 , which loses moisture in the preceding zones because of the heat treatment situated there . a moisturising agent , preferably in the form of water , is admitted to the paper web 2 with the aid of the moisturising device 8 . the amount of moisturising agent applied to the paper web 2 during this process is great enough to cool the paper web 2 down to the desired temperature and at the same time to increase the moisture content of the paper web 2 to the desired level . the cooling is brought about by vaporising liquid , while the vaporisation heat is withdrawn from the paper web 2 . however , the vaporising liquid does not produce any remoisturising . the total quantity of the liquid channelled to the paper web 2 thus consists of a remoisturising share and an additional amount for cooling purposes . the total amount of liquid is adjusted correspondingly as a function of the need of the paper web 2 for moisture and of the desired difference in cooling temperature . in simple cases , provision can be made for a control system that depends on the temperature of the paper web 2 before the moisturising device 8 , i . e . practically at the exit of the temperature maintenance zone 4 , as well as on the velocity of the web and the type of paper . another form of control is also feasible , however , in which , in addition or as an alternative , the moisture and / or the temperature of the paper web 2 after the moisturising device 8 and / or the temperature in the cooling zone 5 are fed in as nominal values . the moisturising device 8 is equipped with roof - or v - shaped spray chambers 9 above and below the transport surface of the paper web 2 , each of which contains a row of spray jets 10 covering the entire width of the said paper web 2 . provision could of course be made for several rows of jets . the row of spray jets stretches practically across the entire width of the dryer and can be adjusted to the width of the paper web by switching off the outer jets . in the example illustrated , a moisturising agent , preferably in the form of water , and compressed air are admitted through the spray jets 10 , for the purpose of blowing the moisturising agent out and dedusting it , as indicated by the supply conduits 11 , 12 . these are fitted with switching mechanisms in the shape of valves etc ., which in this case can be regulated by means of an adjustment device 15 , which exhibits the nominal value inputs for the temperature of the paper web 2 before moisturising , the temperature of the cooling zone 5 and the moisture and temperature of the paper web 2 after moisturising . these nominal value inputs are connected via signalling lines to dedicated sensors , here the temperature probes 16 , 17 and a combined temperature and moisture probe 30 . the temperature probe 16 dedicated to the web temperature before moisturising is arrayed in the exit area of the temperature maintenance zone 4 , in the vicinity of the paper web 2 . the temperature probe 17 dedicated to the temperature in the cooling zone 5 is arrayed in the cooling zone 5 , outside the moisturising device 8 . the combined temperature and moisture probe 30 is arrayed in the area of the exit of the dryer 1 . in addition , the control device 15 is also equipped with a further entrance 31 for the web velocity , preferably coupled with the printing press , and with an input station 32 for inputting fixed parameters , such as the type of paper . each of the spray chambers 9 is overlapped above or below by a dedicated roof - or v - shaped suction chamber 18 , in such a way that extraction shafts 19 result on the entry and the exit sides . these are sucked out individually or together . for this purpose , in the example illustrated , an extraction fan 20 is provided , arrayed in the area of the corner of each suction chamber 18 situated furthest away from the paper web , whose function is to suck out the dedicated suction chamber 18 in question and blow into the section of the dryer 1 dedicated to the cooling zone 5 . in this way , tempered air is channelled to the dryer 1 , so that the amount of fresh air sucked in from outside and indicated with arrow 21 can be reduced accordingly , which has a positive effect on overall energy consumption . a cooler 22 is arrayed upstream of each extraction fan 20 . this cooler functions practically as a condenser for separating out liquids in the form of moisture and oil from the extracted air . relatively unloaded air is thence channelled through the extraction fan 20 to the dryer 1 . the condensation separated out by means of the cooler 22 is siphoned off by means of a condensation drainage conduit 23 . this leads via a water separator 24 , where water is separated out , to an oil vaporiser 25 situated preferably in the dryer 1 , but illustrated here in the temperature maintenance zone 4 , where oil is evaporated , so that it can be disposed of by means of the dryer &# 39 ; s own post - combustion plants . in order to avoid the need for disposal , the separated water can be channelled back to the jets 10 . for this purpose , the water outlet 33 of the water separator 24 can be conducted back into the supply conduit 11 . the inlet is situated suitably upstream from the switching mechanism 13 . air squeegees 26 through which compressed air can be admitted can be provided at the entrance and the exit of the suction chambers 18 , with the function of avoiding any air loaded with moisture escaping from the suction chambers 18 . this guarantees that no condensation can collect outside the moisturising device 8 inside and outside the dryer , which might otherwise drip onto the paper web 2 and dirty it . condensation collects on the internal sides of the spray chambers 9 and the suction chambers 18 and then drains off downwards . in the lower chambers , this condensation drains into the cooler 22 and is channelled away through the drainage conduits that are certainly already provided there . in order to avoid condensation dripping from the lower edges of the bulkheads , the upper spray chamber 9 and the suction chamber 18 are equipped with drop catchers 27 , which can be affixed functionally to the condensation drainage conduit 23 in a way not illustrated here in any detail . the consequence of the liquid cooling of the paper web 2 that can be achieved by integrating the moisturising device 8 in the cooling zone 5 , as can be seen clearly from the drawing , is a construction of the cooling zone 5 that is very compact compared to the zones 3 and 4 . the liquid streams 28 that can be generated by means of the spray jets 10 have a high penetrating force , whereby the laminate air layers flanking the paper web 2 , which are loaded with solvents , can be relied on to be broken down . this is also supported by the increase in volume resulting from the vaporisation . the solvent is sucked out together with the air and can be relied on to be disposed of together with it .	1
referring to fig1 a vehicle 12 is depicted with lateral extension arm 28 , automated arm 18 , waste container latching mechanism 16 , with a waste container 14 . many different types of vehicles 12 can be utilized , including large and small diesel - powered trucks . likewise , the container 14 can come in a variety of sizes and shapes resulting in loads on the automated arm exceeding 1 , 200 lbs . the lateral extension arm 28 moves in a general horizontal direction because it is slideably mounted on lateral extension arm housing 30 ( not shown ). the lateral extension arm 28 is slideably mounted through the use of rollers 36 located on both the lateral extension arm 28 and the lateral extension arm housing 30 . other arrangements for slideably mounting the lateral extension arm 28 to the lateral extension arm housing 30 are well known to those with skill in the art . the lateral extension arm 28 can move outward from the vehicle 12 so that the automated arm 18 and waste container latching mechanism 16 can be extended to reach the waste container 14 . the lateral extension arm 28 is mechanically actuated typically with one or more well known hydraulic cylinders ( not shown ). other well known actuators can be utilized . the automated side loader 10 operation can be demonstrated by reference to fig1 . the vehicle 12 can be moved until the vehicle 12 is along side the waste container 14 . thereafter , the operator of the vehicle can move control switches ( not shown ) that result in the lateral extension arm 28 slideably moving away from the vehicle 12 via rollers 36 and toward the waste container 14 . thereafter , the waste container latching mechanism 16 can secure the waste container 14 through the use of any well known actuator , for example , hydraulic cylinders ( not shown ). once secured , the operator of the vehicle can move control switches ( not shown ) that cause the hydraulic cylinder 26 to retract . by virtue of the fact that the central plate 22 and swing arm 20 are secured , retraction of the hydraulic cylinder 26 results in the swing arm 20 , the central plate 22 and the waste container latching mechanism 14 being rotated about the axis of the spindle 24 . the waste container 14 can be rotated about the spindle 24 until the swing arm 22 makes contact with the stop block 34 . as a result , the waste container 14 is lifted up and rotated more than 90 degrees until the contents therein fall into the hopper section ( not shown ) of the vehicle 12 . referring to fig2 the automated arm 18 includes lateral extension arm 28 , hydraulic cylinder 26 , central plate 22 , spindle 24 and swing arm 20 . swing arm 20 is pivotally attached to lateral extension arm 28 by spindle 24 . the spindle 24 must be able to withstand heavy loads and smoothly and efficiently rotate the swing arm 20 about the lateral extension arm 28 . those with skill in the art will appreciate many ways to implement the spindle 24 , including the use of a hub and wheel often used in conjunction in the presence of heavy radial and thrust loads . the hub and wheel arrangement can include tapered - roller bearings and associated well known components for withstanding the radial and thrust loading conditions present when the swing arm 20 rapidly moves about the spindle 24 with the load associated with waste container 14 . the spindle 24 can rotate and is attached to the central plate 22 by use of a series of bolts 38 . other means can be used to attach the central plate 22 to the spindle 24 . for example , the central plate 22 can be welded to the spindle 24 so that the central plate 22 rotates freely about the lateral extension arm 28 by use of bearings ( not shown ) in the spindle 24 . the central plate 22 is fixed to the swing arm 20 in such a manner as to reduce the stress associated with the hydraulic cylinder 26 . as depicted in fig3 the central plate 22 has an upper portion 38 , a leading edge 40 for engaging the swing arm 20 , and a lower portion 42 . as depicted in fig4 and 5 , the upper portion 38 protrudes through an opening in the swing arm 20 for attaching to a hydraulic cylinder or other similar actuator device . referring again to fig3 the leading edge 40 has a contour that preferably matches the contour of the swing arm 20 . in this way , the leading edge 40 can engage the swing arm 20 . for example , as depicted in fig2 the central plate 22 is fixed to the swing arm 20 so that when the hydraulic cylinder 26 is actuated and the waste container 14 is moved , the central plate 22 and swing arm 20 will rotate together about the spindle 24 . the leading edge 40 is substantially flat and long and therefore the leading edge 40 can distribute the stress associated with lifting the waste receptacle 14 throughout the longitudinal length of the swing arm 20 . the leading edge 40 can have a number of shapes and sizes , as long as it is in contact with the swing arm 20 in such a manner so stress is substantially distributed across the swing arm 20 . this helps prevent structural wear that would otherwise occur if the hydraulic cylinder 26 were directly connected to the swing arm 20 . the dimensions of the central plate 22 must be sufficient to withstand the stress associated with the lifting of the waste receptacle 14 , which can exceed 500 pounds . additionally , the dimensions of the central plate must be sufficient to distribute the stress through the swing arm 20 . the dimensions can be accounted for by accurately estimating the design load associated with the waste receptacle 14 and the size and shape of the automated arm 18 . the lower portion 42 of the central plate 22 is fixed to the spindle 24 . the lower portion 42 of the central plate 22 must be large enough to withstand the stresses associated with lifting waste receptacle 14 . although a variety of shapes and sizes can be utilized , the distance between the upper portion 40 and the lower portion 42 preferably should have a length , nearest to the spindle 24 , roughly twice the diameter of the opening for the spindle 24 or greater . likewise , those of skill in the art will appreciate that the leading edge 40 of the central plate 22 can have a variety of sizes and shapes . the longitudinal length of the leading edge 40 preferably can be greater than thirty percent of the longitudinal length of the central plate 22 . thus , the central plate 22 thoroughly distributes stress through the swing arm 20 . these dimensions and the shapes , however , can vary greatly depending on weight of the design load associated with the waste receptacle 14 as well as the dimension of the automated arm 18 without departing from the spirit and letter of the invention . as shown in fig3 the upper portion 38 of the central plate 22 is preferably disposed above the leading edge 40 . likewise , the upper portion 38 is also preferably disposed above the spindle 24 as depicted in fig5 . as depicted in fig2 this arrangement advantageously results in an incline from horizontal of the hydraulic cylinder 26 . when the waste receptacle 14 is lifted , the stress is more thoroughly distributed in the central plate 22 because the initial stress is distributed in both a vertical and horizontal direction through the central plate 22 and swing arm 20 . in contrast , if the hydraulic cylinder 26 is not inclined , stress is undesirably maximized in a horizontal direction on the central plate 22 . this can result in stress cracks and undesirable wear . whip occurs when the lift per inch of the beginning of the stroke of the hydraulic cylinder 26 is too low . this condition creates a jerking motion that decreases stability and increases stress in the automated side loader 10 when the waste container 14 is lifted . likewise , whip can occur when the lift per inch of the end of the stroke of the hydraulic cylinder 26 is too low . as a result , a jerking motion is created when the waste is dumped from the waste container 14 into the hopper section of the vehicle 12 . whip increases stress and decreases stability and is undesirable . [ 0026 ] fig6 is an example of the anti - whip feature of the invention , which improves both stress and stability conditions in the automated side loader 10 . the anti - whip feature is achieved by the geometric relationship of the central plate 22 , the spindle 24 and the hydraulic cylinder 26 . this relationship , as depicted by way of the example in fig1 means that the beginning stroke and ending stroke of the hydraulic cylinder 26 has a cushioned zone , i . e ., the waste container 14 will experience a high degree of lift per inch stroke of the hydraulic cylinder 26 . in other words , the hydraulic cylinder 26 will be experiencing greater degree of vertical translation at the beginning and ending of the stroke of the hydraulic cylinder 26 thereby minimizing whip affects associated with curvilinear movement of the waste container 26 . in contrast , as depicted in fig6 during the middle of the hydraulic cylinder 26 stroke , there is a substantially lesser degrees of lift . this means that the waste container 26 is experiencing a larger degree of horizontal translation . a smoother motion results from the anti - whip geometry of the invention . other geometries are contemplated where the cushioned zones are achieved during the translation of the waste container 14 . a number of embodiments of the invention have been described . nevertheless , it will be understood that various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . for example , several central plates 22 can be utilized within the swing arm 20 . likewise , several hydraulic cylinders 26 or other well known actuators can be utilized . moreover , the shape of the central plate 22 can vary . the leading edge 40 , for example , can have a shape that maximizes contact with the swing arm 20 . additionally , the central plate can have several upper portions 38 . accordingly , other embodiments are within the scope of the following claims .	1
referring to fig1 , 2 a and 2 b , fig1 shows a perspective view of a structure and fig2 a and 2b show alternate sectional views of an outer wall 25 of a structure , and fig2 b shows an alternative sectional view of an outer wall of a structure according to certain embodiments of the present invention . the structure 30 comprises a foundation slab 20 having a dual section outer wall 25 attached thereto . the dual section outer wall 25 has an un - insulated internal wall section 26 and an insulated external wall section 27 displaced a distance away from internal wall section 26 such that an air flow passage 17 is established between them . conditioned air 16 is forced out through the air passage 17 by the air circulation system 45 shown in fig2 and described below , thereby inhibiting the accumulation of moisture and mold on the internal wall section 26 . the external wall section 27 is constructed with an exterior insulation and finish system , commonly referred to as eifs , which comprises a weather resistant outer surface 2 , typically of synthetic stucco , attached to a thermal insulating layer 21 . alternatively , any suitable weather resistant material may be used , including , but not limited to , brick tile , stone tile , wood siding , pressed board siding , and cementicious siding . the thermal insulating layer 21 is typically formed from an expanded polystyrene foam , but may alternatively be made from a polycyanurate or polyurethane foam , or from any suitable insulation material . the insulating layer 21 is , in turn , attached to a sheathing layer 4 , typically a cementicious material known in the art . the external wall section 27 is attached to furring strips 6 which are in turn attached to the internal wall section 26 using attachment techniques known in the art . the furring strips 6 serve to establish the size of the flow passage 17 and to secure the outer wall section 27 to the inner wall section 26 . furring strips 6 can also be positioned to direct the flow of air 16 in the passage 17 . the furring strips can be any suitable furring strips known in the art , with a “ z ” shaped galvanized steel strip being preferred . drain channel 18 is located near the bottom of passage 17 and is sloped to provide a drainage for any condensation or water which may need to be expelled from passage 17 . channel 18 may be solid and thereby used to direct the air flow 16 exiting from the passage 17 at a base of the outerwall to the outside environment , as shown by arrow 16 . alternatively , channel 18 may have multiple holes allowing moisture and air flow 16 to exit at the base of the exterior wall 25 . the inner wall section 26 comprises a commercially available liquid barrier 8 attached to an external sheathing 10 which is typically a commercially available plywood or oriented stranding board ( osb ). the liquid barrier 8 prevents the passage of liquid water but allows for the passage of gases and water vapor and is well known in the art . the external sheathing 10 is attached to and supported by the framing studs 12 . any suitable framing stud material can be used including wood and metal materials . an interior sheathing 14 such as paneling , drywall board , or other suitable interior surface is attached to the interior side of the framing studs 12 . the inner wall section 26 , contrary to common construction , has minimal , or no insulation in its internal cavities . the lack of insulation minimizes the temperature gradient between the interior sheathing 14 and the external sheathing 10 in order to inhibit any condensation in the internal spaces of the inner wall section 26 . the flow of appropriately conditioned air 16 through the flow passage 17 bordered by external sheathing 10 provides an air temperature at the external sheathing essentially the same as the air temperature inside the structure 30 thereby inhibiting condensation on the liquid barrier 8 or the sheathing 10 . as shown in fig2 , in a preferred embodiment , the circulation system 45 is located in an attic space 36 of structure 30 . the attic 36 is bounded by roof 22 and ceiling 29 . roof 22 is connected to and essentially sealed with external wall section 27 by flashing 28 which extends around the periphery of structure 30 . conditioned air 16 from the circulation system 45 is forced through duct 33 into the interior 50 of structure 30 . the air 16 exits the interior space 50 through a plurality of ceiling vents 34 which exhaust into the attic space 36 . the attic space acts as a plenum for circulation system 45 . air enters the circulation system 45 through inlet damper 43 in attic 36 and outside makeup air 44 enters through makeup damper 46 and the combined intake air flows through blower 42 and into heating and cooling elements in conditioner 40 , through duct 32 into humidifier 38 for maintaining a predetermined relative humidity . the heater elements ( not shown ), in conditioner 40 may be electric or gas type elements common in the art , or any other suitable heating elements . the cooling system ( not shown ) in conditioner 40 may be a conventional compresser / condenser type system . alternatively , a heat pump system may be used for heating and cooling the air . guidelines for selecting the predetermined relative humidity are available in published documents of the american society of heating , refrigeration , and air - conditioning engineers ( ashrae ), standard 62 - 1999 , ventilation for acceptable indoor air quality , which indicates that the relative humidity should be maintained below about 70 % to inhibit fungal contamination including , but not limited to , molds and mildew . the actual relative humidity and air flow requirements will be structure specific and are determined using procedures and standards known in the art . the conditioned air flows through duct 33 and into interior space 50 and as previously described , exhausts through vents 34 into attic 36 . the addition of the outside makeup air 44 to the air volume existing in the essentially sealed structure creates a suitable positive pressure in the structure 30 and attic 36 relative to the outside environment , and causes conditioned air to flow 16 through the air flow passage 17 in the outer wall 25 . in a preferred embodiment , the blower 42 operates continuously forcing an essentially continuous flow of conditioned air 16 through the passage 17 , thereby inhibiting the buildup of moisture and mold on the inner wall section 26 . the dampers 43 and 46 may be manually set to provide the appropriate flows . alternatively , the dampers 43 and 46 may have actuators ( not shown ) which may be controlled remotely . in one preferred embodiment , see fig3 , temperature and relative humidity sensors 62 and 63 are disposed in passage 17 to measure the temperature and relative humidity of conditioned air flow 16 . signals from the sensors are received by a control system 60 , which may contain sensor interface circuits , a processor , and output control circuits for actuating devices in the circulation system 45 . as shown in fig3 , control system 60 receives signals from sensors 62 and 63 and acts according to programmed instructions to actuate makeup air damper 46 , intake damper 43 , blower 42 , conditioner 40 , and humidity controller 38 to maintain a predetermined temperature and relative humidity in conditioned air flow 16 . in another preferred embodiment , see fig4 , conditioned air is split from duct 33 and travels in header 52 around the periphery of the attic space 36 . multiple discharge ducts 54 direct conditioned air 16 from the header towards the opening of passage 17 . the air flow is controlled by multiple dampers 56 on multiple discharge ducts 54 . the dampers 56 may be manually set or , alternatively , may be fitted with actuators ( not shown ) which may be remotely controlled by control system 60 . in another preferred embodiment , a plurality of blowers ( not shown ) may be mounted so as to intake the conditioned attic air and discharge the air directly into the passage 17 at a plurality of predetermined locations around the perimeter of the structure . the passage of the discharged air passing between the furring strips 6 act to create a venturi effect to induce flow from between adjacent furring strips 6 . it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art , that the circulation system 45 may be wholly located external to the structure 30 with air flow to and from the structure 30 through suitable conduit or ducting ( not shown ). alternatively , the circulation system 45 may be partially located in the structure 30 and partially located external to the structure 30 as is common in home systems . it is also to be understood that local environmental conditions and local building codes will , to some extent dictate the individual components used . the foregoing description is directed to particular embodiments of the present invention for the purpose of illustration and explanation . it will be apparent , however , to one skilled in the art that many modifications and changes to the embodiment set forth above are possible without departing from the scope and the spirit of the invention . it is intended that the following claims be interpreted to embrace all such modifications and changes .	4
definitions of remediation and degradation , terms often used interchangeably in connection with rdx , but having slightly different definitions , follow : remediation — the action of remedying something , especially the reversal or stopping of damage to the environment . degradation — the breakdown of an organic compound such as rdx and other explosives . fig4 shows the chemical structure of rdx . the degradation of rdx occurs by transfer of electron ( s ) to the molecule . this is true for all types of degradation , i . e ., abiotic ( chemical ), zero valent iron ( zvi ), reduced iron , microbial degradation , bioremediation , biodegradation , etc . fig5 describes and depicts biodegradation of rdx . it is important to note that for rdx to be broken down by microbes ( bugs ), all other electron acceptors ( other than rdx ) that give the microbes more energy than rdx will be “ used ” or contacted first . often this occurs by contact with other bugs in the environment . one process known to occur in the bioremediation of rdx is that by the point in time at which the microbes intended to reduce rdx are doing so ( other higher energy reactions having been completed ) the necessary carbon source has been depleted . so , as a consequence , more carbon source must be added . this means that such a process requires constant monitoring and carbon source addition . moreover , this can also cause over growth and biofouling , and the reactor plugs . alternatively , the ( i ) ambient temperature in the cold months , ( ii ) the normal ground temperature , and / or ( iii ) the temperature of cold weather ground runoff can kill off the specific microbes needed when the system design has been to use non - indigenous microbes , i . e ., “ augmented ” or “ bio - augmented ” microbes not in accordance with the invention . fig6 describes and depicts abiotic degradation of rdx . this is a common method of breaking down organics . however , in this method the electrons on the iron are consumed , and once those electrons are transferred from the iron , the iron has no more degradation capacity . in order for the abiotic degradation of rdx to continue in this method constant monitoring is required as well as iron addition . additionally , once iron is rusted ( iron oxide ), the iron oxide has greater volume and it begins to swell and stick to neighboring oxidized iron , which often forms a mass of rusted iron which can ( i ) clog the reactor and ( ii ) must be removed for the reaction to be restored . for these reasons and others , this is not a desirable remediation process for rdx . fig7 depicts the coupled process in accordance with the invention wherein abiotic degradation of rdx ( or other organics or contaminants ) occurs , coupled with a biotic restoration of the oxidized iron to the reduced state via microbial transfer of electrons to the iron which in turn provides energy to the microbes . in other words , in embodiments of the invention , iron reduces the contaminant , and then the indigenous microbes in accordance with the invention will re - reduce the iron . so , the indigenous microbes in accordance with the invention do not reduce the rdx ( as in other proposed biotic process schemes ), they reduce the iron so that the iron in turn can reduce the rdx . one of the drivers of this inventive process is the discovery that , in the method and reactor in accordance with embodiments of the invention , the microbes or bugs get much more energy from passing an electron to iron as compared to rdx . it is often true that custom bio - augmented microbes which are capable of reducing rdx do not get as much energy from that reaction , so they are out competed by other microbes and die . fig8 is a cut - away rendering of a field design of a packed bed iron bioreactor in accordance with embodiments of the invention , and is quite similar to the design of the prototype packed bed iron - bioreactor used at a military installation grenade range and described below . fig9 is an isometric rendering of a fixed bed iron bioreactor or tank iron bioreactor in accordance with embodiments of the invention , envisioned for applications which may have a higher volume flow stream . proof - of - concept testing was performed using bioreactors utilizing iron and inoculated with soil as well as sand filled columns with and without iron amendments . the results of the bioreactor proof of concept demonstrations can be seen in fig1 . fig1 results represent the concentrations measured in liquid media byrum vials containing 50 ml of minimal media . additional sodium acetate and rdx was added on day 60 and additional rdx was added on day 88 . it can be seen that the rdx in the soil inoculated vials was degraded in approximately 10 - 20 days . fig1 also shows that although an abiotic system ( iron only ) may work initially regardless of the concentration of iron or the temperature ( all four controls ), eventually the iron reaches its capacity and rdx breakthrough will occur if additional rdx is added to the system . in contrast , the four different systems in accordance with the invention ( soil + iron ) all retain rdx degrading capacity after both day 60 and day 88 events wherein rdx is added to the system . this is true regardless of the temperature or the iron concentration , and it is anticipated that the lower 0 . 005 g iron samples at both temperatures would have eventually degraded the rdx at time periods in excess of 110 or 120 days had the experiment been continued . as also can be seen , the 0 . 02 g iron samples in accordance with the invention quickly degraded the rdx even after the second additional rdx dosing ( i . e ., three total doses ) at 88 days . the proof - of - concept testing demonstrated rdx and its intermediates break down rapidly when in the presence of reduced iron . in embodiments of the invention directed to liquid reactors , maintenance of the reduced environment within the vessel as well as maintenance of the iron fluidized bed within the vessel are both important design considerations . in embodiments of the invention directed to fixed bed reactors , concentration of iron in the low - density iron bed ( i . e ., within the packing of the reactor ) is an important design consideration . an iron concentration too high is costly , and also could create blocking of the reactor . the resulting channeling of flow will decrease the effectiveness of the treatment system , even if large amounts of iron are used . experiments in accordance with embodiment of the invention were conducted at ground water temperatures utilizing soil as an inoculant , i . e ., the source of microbe mixed population . iron in the form of iron filings was found to be an excellent reductant for the rdx . this is due to the toxicity of iron citrate to many iron reducers . in addition , the addition of a carbon source , for example , sodium acetate , was important for effective consortia development from the starter soil and degradation of the rdx . it was found that the inoculated cultures were able to degrade the rdx through 3 rounds of addition while the controls only degraded the rdx in the first round of rdx addition . in certain embodiments of the invention , reactors may be designed that degrade the rdx in a flow through configuration . tests involving certain embodiments of the invention demonstrate that flow through soil columns containing sand , iron , soil and acetate are effective to treat high levels of rdx contamination . as discussed above , when an iron source , e . g ., iron filings , are added to a biologically active iron reducing culture , rdx degrades at a faster rate and at a higher oxidation - reduction potential than biologically or chemically poised cultures . in the reactor and method in accordance with the invention iron reduces and degrades the rdx or other organic such as perchlorate by transferring an electron to the molecule making it unstable enough to breakdown . once the iron has transferred its available electrons it is oxidized and can no longer reduce the rdx , until an iron reducing microbe re - reduces the iron . the re - reduction of the iron can occur during water treatment . however , it is believed that most of the reduction occurs after the flow event especially when additional nutrient is added through feed tubes to feed the microbial population . a mesoscale test was run in the laboratory and a prototype installation was constructed to capture runoff from a 40 mm grenade range at a military installation . the packed bed design of the bioreactor ( s ) included : packing : gravel ( or other support media ), iron metal , and mulch . the lined flow chamber was a clear plastic tank in the mesoscale lab tests and an impermeable fabric lined ditch in the prototype installation . flow baffles were used in both instances . the mesoscale packed bed iron - bioreactor had dimensions of ( 20 ″ wide by 20 ″ height by 50 ″ length ) and volume was 280 liters with a total void volume of 100 liters or 36 %. the mesoscale packed bed iron - bioreactor utilized baffles oriented normal to the direction of flow to force the flow through the depth of the reactor . there were three baffles in the mesoscale reactor , two high baffles 20 ″ wide by 17 ″ height placed 3 . 5 ″ above the reactor bottom , and one low baffle 20 ″ wide × 16 ″ height placed on the bottom . this created 4 cells measuring 20 ″ wide by 18 ″ height by 12 ″ length , each with a sample tube placed in the horizontal center of the cell with its opening 8 inches below the reactor packing surface . the flow distances at each sample cell ( 1 - 4 ) port and waste collection tubes were 8 ″, 24 ″, 40 ″, 56 ″ and 64 ″ respectively . the residence time at each site was dependent on the flowrate . the packing of the mesoscale packed bed iron - bioreactor was 5 . 5 cu ft of pea gravel , 5 . 5 cu ft of cypress mulch , and 13 . 75 kg of iron filings . results of one run of the mesoscale packed bed iron - bioreactor are shown in fig2 . the feed into the reactor was approximately 0 . 85 ppm rdx at a flow rate of 2 liters per minute . rdx was detected at flow distance of 8 ″ ( approximately 6 . 6 minutes residence time ) after 20 minutes of flow time . no rdx was detected past this point for the entire run . results of another run of the mesoscale packed bed iron - bioreactor are shown in fig3 a and 3 b . the feed into the reactor was approximately 5 ppm rdx and 10 to 11 ppm bromide at a flow rate of 2 . 2 liters per minute for 45 minutes . in fig3 a it is seen that rdx was detected at flow distance of 8 ″ ( approximately 6 minutes residence time ) after 10 minutes of flow time . no rdx was detected past this point for the entire run . in fig3 b it is seen that detection of bromide at cells downstream of flow distance of 8 ″ ( the only port where rdx was detected ) demonstrates that the decline of rdx was due to degradation . a prototype packed bed iron - bioreactor was installed at a grenade range located at iowa army ammunition plant ( iaaap ) 30 nov . 2012 . the reactor installed at a military installation . the prototype packed bed iron - bioreactor measured 5 feet wide by 30 feet long with a minimum depth of 2 . 5 feet from grade . a duraskrim ® liner ( www . usfabrics . com ) was placed and then the baffles were placed . some of the reactor packing was placed and then the feeding tubes were installed behind the lower baffles . additional packing was added followed by the high level baffles . after all packing had been mixed ( 15 cu yards of rock mixed with mulch and iron ) a capping layer of rock was placed with a minimum depth of 6 inches . the total amount of packing added to the reactor consisted of 15 cu yards of 2 . 5 cm river rock , 3 cu yards of cypress mulch , and 500 kg of fine iron metal . for in - situ iron - bioreactors such as the prototype packed bed iron - bioreactor installed at a grenade range , depending on weather conditions and runoff volume , the reactor bed is not at steady state . in terms of what portion of the reactor bed is anaerobic , that is largely determined by several factors . it is generally considered that at any given time , some portions of the in - situ iron - bioreactors packed bed are anaerobic , and some are not . it is generally accepted that water flowing through a portion of the in - situ iron - bioreactor is needed to create an anaerobic portion . so , it is a possibility that in periods of no moisture , the reactor bed will dry out . however , when the packed bed is tasked with new contaminated runoff , it will convert back to an anaerobic state in such portions of the reactor . regarding the particular carbon source used , although many are possible within the scope of the invention , acetate is an expedient to the process in accordance with the invention because it ( i ) works well at the lower ground water temperatures , ( ii ) functions well at high rdx input concentrations , and ( iii ) functions to complete breakdown of the rdx , i . e ., reduces and / or eliminates any possible rdx intermediate concentration in the iron bioreactor effluent . as described above , the invention is not intended to be limited to the remediation and / or degradation of rdx . other contaminants such as organics , perchlorate which is widely found in many waste water and runoff compositions , all may have applicability to treatment by ( i ) the methods and / or ( ii ) in the iron bioreactor in accordance with embodiments of the invention . fully incorporated by reference herein , and originally filed as an appendix to the specification , is an application data sheet entitled “ fundamentals of orp measurement ” ( ads 43 - 014 / rev . b may 2008 ) from rosemount ® analytical and emerson process management fully describing the theory , instrumentation , measurement techniques , and measured values of oxidation - reduction potential , such measured values being a feature of the appended claims herein .	2
[ 0056 ] fig1 illustrates an electrical connector 20 according to one embodiment of the invention . a connector 10 located above the electrical connector 20 viewed in the drawing is in this case first mating electrical means to be inspected for its performance and includes a plurality of electric contacts 14 of solder or the like in the form of hemispherical protrusions provided on one surface of a connector plate 12 of a ceramic or hard resin substrate having a rigidity . the solder of the electric contacts is superior for use in electric contacts , including silver , antimony and the like in addition to lead and tin as solder elements . the electrical connector 20 according to the invention comprises a substrate or support member 21 having a first circuit 22 on its one surface facing to the connector 10 . in forming the first circuit 22 , for example , a metal layer such as a copper foil is previously provided on the surface of the support member 21 and then treated as by the printed circuit forming method which is one of the printed circuit board producing techniques to form the first circuit 22 having required conductors . lead lines 24 to be connected to the first circuit 22 can also be formed by the printed circuit forming method . the material from which to form the first circuit 22 may be any material , insofar as it is highly conductive , preferably , brass , beryllium copper , phosphor bronze or the like . provided on the first circuit 22 are a plurality of electric contact elements 26 which are made of a material having a high conductivity and to be brought into contact with the electric contacts 14 of the connector 10 . the electrical connector 10 is to be subjected to the inspection for its performance . the electric contact elements 26 are provided on the first circuit 22 as by plating , whose construction will be explained later with reference to fig3 and 4 . a protection covering layer 28 of a synthetic resin is provided on the surface of the support member 21 with the exception of the electric contact elements 26 for protecting the first circuit 22 and the lead lines 24 . provided on the surface of the support member on the side opposite to the first circuit 22 is a second circuit 30 of required conductors , whose material and the forming method are substantially similar to those of the first circuit 22 . the second circuit 30 is provided with a plurality of hemispherical electric contact elements 32 which are brought into contact with pads 42 provided on a substrate 40 . the electric contact elements 32 are made of an alloy of gold , nickel , copper or the like . as can be seen from the drawing , there are differences in shape between the electric contact elements 26 to contact the electric contacts 14 of the connector 10 and the electric contact elements 32 to contact the pads 42 on the substrate 40 , depending upon the applications . conductors 34 are provided for connecting the first and second circuits 22 and 30 . usual lead wires , metal foils or the like may be used for the conductors 34 . according to the invention a continuity distance between the electric contact elements 26 and 32 of the electrical connector 20 is less than 5 mm . the term “ continuity distance ” used herein means an electrically connecting length through a conductor between one electric contact element 26 of the first circuit 22 on one surface of the support member 21 and the corresponding electric contact element 32 of the second circuit 30 on the other surface of the support member 21 . provided on the substrate 40 mating with the electrical connector 20 as second mating electrical means and located therebelow viewed in the drawing are the pads 42 plated with gold which the electric contact elements 32 contact . when the electric contact elements 26 contact the electric contacts 14 of the connector 10 as first mating electrical means , a small amount of solder of the electric contacts 14 tends to adhere to the electric contact elements 26 . in order to remove the adhered solder therefrom , each of the electric contact elements is formed on its surface with at least one ridge 36 having a triangular cross - section , whose crest is preferably somewhat sharp ( fig4 ). the height of the ridges 36 is of the order of 0 . 1 mm to 0 . 2 mm which will sufficient to remove the adhered solder . the number of the ridges 36 is preferably plural in consideration of a positional deviation between the electric contact 14 of the connector 10 and the electric contact element 26 of the electrical connector 20 . with a plurality of ridges 36 , they form a wave - shaped surface . when the connector 10 or first mating electrical means to be inspected is urged against the electrical connector 20 to bring the electric contacts 14 into contact with the electric contact elements 26 of the electrical connector 20 , the support member 21 , or at least parts individually supporting the electric contact elements 26 are elastically deformed downward viewed in fig1 . such a deformation causes the electric contact 14 of the connector 10 to move slidably on the electric contact element 26 of the electrical connector 20 , thereby enabling the adhered solder to be removed from the surface of the electric contact element 26 . the principle of removal of the adhered solder with the deformation will be explained with reference to fig2 . when the electric contact 14 of the connector 10 is urged with a constant force against the electric contact element 26 of the electrical connector 20 , the electric contact 14 contacts the electric contact element 26 at the position x in fig2 . the electric contact 14 is further urged with the constant force against the electric contact element 26 so that the electric contact element 26 is displaced about a fulcrum shown by o in fig2 with the result that the contact point x on the electric contact element 26 moves to the point x . however , as the connector 10 is guided by a socket construction , the electric contact 14 could not move in the horizontal direction , so that the electric contact 14 moves only in the vertical direction . as a result , the electric contact 14 of the connector 10 contacts the electric contact element 26 of the electrical connector 20 at the point y . therefore , the electric contact 14 slidably moves on the electric contact element 26 from the point x to the point y with the constant force so that the adhered solder on the electric contact element 26 can be removed . a method for forming the electric contact element 26 having the elongated ridges 36 each having a triangular cross - section of the electrical connector 20 will be explained with reference to fig3 and 4 . first , the protection covering layer 28 is provided all over the first circuit 22 . as shown in fig3 at each of locations where the electric contact elements are to be formed , the protection covering layer 28 is formed with at least one slit 50 , preferably a plurality of slits 50 extending in parallel with the sliding movement of the electric contact 14 of the connector 10 . the slits 50 may be formed by , for example , the laser machining . thereafter , the formed slits 50 are progressively plated with the same material as that of the electric contact element 26 to an extent that the slits 50 are filled with the plating metal to form the electric contact element 26 . the plating with the plating metal is further carried out to form a plurality of ridges 36 which project higher than the surface of the protection covering layer 28 as shown in fig4 . fig4 is a sectional view taken along a plane perpendicular to the plane along which the sectional view of fig1 is taken . the substrate or support member 21 of the electrical connector 20 will be explained . in order to cause the electric contacts 14 of the connector 10 to slide on the electric contact elements 26 of the electrical connector 20 , there is a need for the support member 21 of the electrical connector 20 to be elastically deformed . therefore , the support member 21 is preferably made of a non - rigid plastic material having an appropriate rigidity such as an elastomeric resin material having a sufficient elasticity . however , without being limited to the resins , a composite body comprising an elastomeric resin material and a metal spring ( s ) may be used . in another embodiment of the invention , as shown in fig1 and 5 the substrate or support member 21 is formed with inverted u - shaped slits 52 closely around the electric contact elements 26 so that the electric contact elements 26 are supported by the respective u - shaped cantilevers . therefore , when the electric contacts 14 of the connector 10 urge the electric contact elements 26 , they deform to cause the sliding movement of the electric contacts 14 on the electric contact elements 26 . in a further embodiment of the invention shown in fig6 a support member 21 may be composed of support element members 53 , 54 and 55 of , for example , a resin to provide spaces 56 therebetween , thereby increasing the elasticity of the support member 21 . as an alternative , a unitary support member 21 may be formed with at least one aperture 56 to increase the elasticity of the support member 21 , or the upper and lower support element members 53 and 55 may be formed with at least one aperture 58 substantially perpendicular to the surfaces of the support member 21 to facilitate the deformation of the support member 21 . a preferred method for providing the conductors 34 shown in fig1 will be explained . first , a required number of conductors are extended spaced apart from each other with a predetermined distance and a liquid silicone is poured into the space in which the conductors are extended and is allowed to solidify . the solidified silicone is then sliced in the direction perpendicular to the conductors , and the sliced surface of the silicone is etched by laser so as to permit ends of the conductors to extend from the sliced surface . the ends of the conductors are fitted in apertures provided in metal conductors extending from the electric contact elements of the first and second circuits . after pasty solder is applied to the metal conductors , the conductors extending from the silicon and the metal conductors are firmly connected and fixed to one another by reflow soldering . fig7 to 9 illustrate an electrical connector 120 according to another embodiment of the invention . for the sake of convenience , the connector 120 is referred herein as a second connector and a mating connector 110 is a first connector . in the drawings , a first connector 110 includes a connector plate 111 made of a ceramic or hard resin and a plurality of electric contacts 112 of solder or the like in the form of a hemispherical protrusion provided on one surface of the connector plate 111 . a second connector 120 includes a connector plate or substrate or board 122 made of a soft resin or non - rigid plastic material having an appropriate rigidity , a plurality of electric conductors 126 of disc - shaped metal layers on one surface of the board 122 facing to the electric contacts 112 of the first connector 110 , electric contact elements 130 provided on the electric conductors 126 , and a protection covering layer 128 of an insulating material on the board 122 on the side of the conductors 126 . the board 122 together with the protection covering layer 128 is formed with inverted u - shaped slits 124 closely around the electric conductors 126 . the first and second connectors 110 and 120 can be detachably fitted with each other with the aid of a plug and socket mechanism in the conventional manner . needless to say , on the connector plate 122 on the opposite side of the electric contacts 112 there are provided required wiring such as printed circuits electrically connected to the electric contacts 112 of the first connector 110 . the construction of the second connector 120 will be explained . with the second connector according to this embodiment , the required electric conductors 126 are provided on the one surface of the board 122 , for example , by treating a metal layer such as a copper foil previously provided thereon by means of the printed circuit forming method which is one of the board producing techniques as shown in fig8 . the electric contact elements 130 made of a conductive material superior in electric conductivity are provided at locations where the electric conductors 126 electrically contact the electric contacts 112 of the first connector 110 . the electric conductors 126 are plated with such a conductive material to form the electric contact elements 130 of the conductive material on the electric conductors 126 . the material from which to form the electric conductors 126 may be any material , insofar as it is highly conductive , preferably , brass , beryllium copper , phosphor bronze and the like which have an elasticity . flexible copper or copper foils may be used for this purpose . in forming the electric contact element 130 by plating , which is to be in contact with the electric contact 112 of the first connector 110 , the electric conductor 126 is first plated with copper , then with nickel , and last with gold . as described above the substrate 122 of the second connector 120 is formed with the u - shaped slits 124 to support the conductors 126 and the electric contact elements 130 elastically as shown in fig7 and 8 . when the first connector 110 is brought into abutment against the second connector 120 so that the electric contacts 112 of the first connector 110 abut against the electric contact elements 130 of the second connector 120 , the electric contact elements 130 compliant in the direction toward and away from the first connector 110 will elastically contact them to keep the stable electrical connection therebetween even if there are some differences of the electric contacts 112 in height . in this manner , the electrical connection between the first and second connectors 110 and 120 is accomplished with high reliability . in this case , as the elasticity for the electric conductors 126 and the electric contact elements 130 depends upon the elasticity of the small tongue - shaped movable pieces 136 formed by the u - shaped slits 124 in the substrate 122 , it is required for the substrate 122 of the soft resin or non - rigid plastic material to have a rigidity to an extent such that a sufficient elasticity is given to the small tongue - shaped movable pieces 136 . the arrangement of the slits 124 formed in the substrate 122 will be explained , which is the subject matter of the embodiment . as shown in fig7 the slits 124 are arranged at random to be directed substantially in different directions . in other words , the slits 124 are arranged in a manner such that all the slits 124 are not directed in the same direction . preferably , more than 70 % of the slits 124 are not directed in the same direction . as an alternative , the slits 124 are alternately arranged in a manner that two adjacent slits are alternately directed in opposite directions , or in a manner that two adjacent slits are directed in the same direction and next two adjacent slits in the opposite direction . with the arrangement of the slits 124 directed in different directions , when the first and second connectors 110 and 120 are being connected to each other , these connectors increase the contacting depths , maintaining the contact starting positions , thereby limiting the sliding distance of the electric contacts 112 of the first connector 110 to a certain distance . such an effect will be explained in more detail by referring to fig9 a to 9 e . [ 0080 ] fig9 a illustrates part of the first connector 110 including four electric contacts , and fig9 b shows part of the second connector 120 in opposition to the part of the first connector 110 , whose two electric contact elements 130 are directed in the same direction and the remaining two electric contact elements 130 are directed in the opposite direction . fig9 c is a cross - sectional view of the part of the second connector 120 shown in fig9 b . fig9 d schematically illustrates the electric contact elements 130 supported in the cantilevered manner before being urged . fig9 e schematically illustrates the electric contact elements 130 urged downward by the electric contacts 112 . with the arrangement of the slits 124 directed in the different directions in addition to the guidance of the plug and socket mechanism , horizontal components of the urging forces of the electric contacts 112 of the first connector 110 are canceled out each other so that the center lines of the first and second connectors 110 and 120 are maintained in coincidence with each other without any unstable movement . accordingly , the sliding distance of the electric contacts 112 on the electric contact elements 130 is limited only to that corresponding to the urged distance of the electric contact elements 130 . while the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to preferred embodiments thereof , it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing and other changes in form and details can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention .	7
with reference to fig1 , shoulder sling device 100 is shown as worn by a user in accordance with the present invention . device 100 consists of shoulder sling portion 200 from which emerges a plurality of straps , namely strap 1 , strap 2 and strap 3 . referring to fig1 - 3 , strap 1 is shown to emerge from the most superior portion of shoulder sling portion 200 , extend across the patient &# 39 ; s dorsum , return anteriorly by crossing the patient over the left trapezius muscle , pass through length adjusting mechanism 1 a and loop into in attachment element 1 b to return into the length adjusting mechanism . attachment element 1 b will be inserted into attachment retaining element 1 c located on the anterior area of the device 100 . the length of strap 1 may be adjusted via length adjusting mechanism 1 a by pulling on strap 1 . similarly , strap 2 begins from a more posteriolateral location on the device , crosses the patients back , emerges anterior after crossing the patient &# 39 ; s left axillary region to pass through length adjusting mechanism 2 a , loop into attaching element 2 b and return to the length adjusting mechanism . attaching element 2 b will be inserted into attachment retaining element 2 c located on the anteriomedial of the shoulder sling portion 200 . the length of strap 2 may be adjusted via length adjusting mechanism 2 a by pulling on strap 2 . referring to fig1 - 5 , strap 3 emerges from the lateral surface of the sling 200 and descends to length adjusting mechanism 3 a , after which it descends to the lateral surface of elbow elevating support 300 where it passes through elbow strap guiding element 3 b . elbow strap guiding element 3 b may run through the partial or entire length of the elbow elevating support 300 . strap 3 then emerges medially , ascends towards the medial surface of sling 200 and loops through strap looping element 3 c ( shown in fig3 , 5 ) on the shoulder sling portion 200 , after which it descends to reenter elbow strap guiding element 3 b . from here it emerges laterally and enters length adjusting 3 a once again . this orientation allows for length adjustment of strap 3 which will symmetrically raise elbow elevating support 300 . straps 1 , 2 , 3 may be constructed from a variety of different materials , including but not limited to leather , cotton , nylon , elastic / non - elastic cord , shock cord , web , woven elastic , elastic lace , polyester , polymers , denim , braid , and / or combinations and / or mixes of these materials , or any other material obvious to one in the art . similarly , elbow strap guiding element may be constructed and / or coated with similar materials that allow for reduced friction against strap 3 . attachment elements 1 b , 2 b , 3 b , attachment retaining elements 1 c , 2 c , 3 c , and length adjusting mechanisms 1 a , 2 a , 3 a may be assembled from a variety of devices for attachment . this includes , but is not limited to a conventional prong belt buckle , web strap buckle , snap hooks , cam buckles , hook clips , adjusters , web strap slides , carabiners , luggage clips , hook and loops mechanisms ( trademark velcro ) or any other material obvious to one in the art . the straps , attachment and length adjustment mechanisms serve merely to initially mount the device 100 on the patient . an initial gross adjustment of the strap length will adjust the device to the patients overall size but will not provide any fine adjustment specific to an individual &# 39 ; s body contours . such fine adjustment will be discussed later . with regard to the initial mounting of the device on the patient , refer to fig5 . shoulder sling portion 200 is shown to be continuous through its circumference . the figure depicts a region that is drawn transparent to allow the viewing of open region 400 . in this orientation , the shoulder sling portion will be initially mounted on a user by inserting the user &# 39 ; s arm into the open region and sliding the device up the desired arm . subsequent securing of the device will be achieved via the attachment of straps 1 , 2 , and 3 into their respective attachment retaining elements . referring now to fig4 , elbow elevating support 300 is depicted in an anterior view , as well as in coronal section to illustrate its various components . beginning from its exterior , elbow strap retaining mechanism 3 b is shown to allow passage of strap 3 throughout its entire length . interior to the elbow strap retaining mechanism 3 b is the cushioning element housing wall 4 which retains cushioning element 4 a . cushioning element 4 a may be constructed of a variety of different malleable materials , including but not limited to different varieties of foam such as flexible soft polyurethane foam , as well as highly viscoelastic pliable polymer gel materials as found in gel seats and / or mouse pads . cushioning element 4 a will provide a comfortable cushion to the user &# 39 ; s elbow . exterior to the more interior cushioning element housing wall is an interior textile layer 5 , which will contact the skin of the user &# 39 ; s elbow region . this interior textile layer 5 can be constructed from a variety of different materials , including but not limited to cotton , polyester blends , neoprene , fleece , satin , suede , any other fabric or cloth , blends thereof as well as any other material obvious to one in the art . the equivalent of the interior textile layer 5 of the exterior surface of the elbow elevating support 300 is the exterior textile layer 6 , which will be constructed of a less pliable material including but not limited to leather , cotton , nylon , wool , denim , polyester , polymers , blends and / or combinations thereof , as well as any other material obvious to one in the art . referring now to fig5 , an anteriolateral perspective view of the shoulder sling as worn of the left arm is shown with component layers exposed in a zoomed in section . these layers can be better visualized in fig6 and 7 . fig6 depicts a cross sectional view of the shoulder sling portion 200 depicting its internal structures , which can be seen better in the zoomed in portion of the figure . the exterior surface of the sling is lined by an exterior textile layer 7 that is similar in construction to exterior textile layer 6 of the elbow elevating support 300 . the interior surface of the sling is lined by an interior textile layer 13 that is similar in construction to interior textile layer 5 of the elbow elevating support 300 . external to the internal textile layer is a cushioning element housing wall 12 which contains cushioning element 12 a . the cushioning element 12 a is similar to the cushioning element 4 a of the elbow elevating support 300 . in a preferred embodiment , the cushioning element 12 a consists of a highly viscoelastic pliable polymer gel material . this gel material is preferentially elastomeric with the consistency of fatty tissue , such as t - gel , a trademark of alimed . external to the cushioning element housing wall is a unique air bladder 8 . air bladder 8 is shown to comprise a continuous air chamber space 9 and air bubbles 10 . these elements are better shown in an exploded view as depicted in fig7 . the air bladder is depicted in zoomed section which allows a better visualization of air bubble inlet 10 a . referring to fig5 - 7 , note that ventilation holes 11 extend from the interior aspect of the device to its exterior . these ventilation holes are not continuous with the air bladder 8 . they pass through the air bladder between the aforementioned air bubbles . these ventilation holes prevent the buildup of heat and sweat on the user &# 39 ; s skin by allowing the escape of warm air and the subsequent physiological cooling . this aspect of the invention allows for greater comfort of use which will translate into greater compliance . referring back to fig1 - 3 , an inflation mechanism 14 is depicted on the anterior surface of the shoulder sling portion . details of the inflation mechanism are depicted in fig8 . inflation mechanism 14 is shown to comprise collapsible inflation mechanism housing 14 a , as well as one way valves 16 and 17 , and is continuous with air chamber 8 . the inflation mechanism is depressed with a user &# 39 ; s finger , a process which will cover one way valve 15 to prevent air in inflation mechanism chamber area 15 from escaping into the atmosphere . the depression of the inflation mechanism 14 will force the opening of one way valve 17 and allow entry of air into the continuous air bladder space 9 of air bladder 8 . the inflation mechanism 14 is held in place via inflation mechanism retaining element 15 a . this component passes through all layers exterior to the air bladder 8 and terminates at the air bladder . it will not only maintain the integrity of the inflation mechanism 14 , but will allow the passage of air into the air bladder without fail . once the air enters the air bladder , it will travel to areas with a negative pressure gradient , with greater distribution to areas with a larger pressure gradient . during inflation , the air will enter air bubbles 10 via air bubble inlet 10 a as shown in fig7 . these bubbles will inflate until a point where they provide adequate and comfortable support to the patient &# 39 ; s shoulder . in a preferred embodiment , the inflation of the bubbles will distribute and deform the cushioning element 12 a and allow for a snug , comfortable fit . when the air bubbles are optimally inflated to adjust to an individual body contour , the pressure gradient will dissipate in this area and the inflated air will preferentially distribute to more distal air bubbles in need of inflation . note that the dashed lines of fig8 represent the ventilation hole 11 that passes through the air chamber 8 and is not continuous with air chamber 8 . referring back to fig1 - 3 , a pressure releasing mechanism 18 is shown on the anterior surface of the shoulder sling portion . details of the pressure releasing mechanism are depicted in fig9 , which depicts it in coronal section . pressure releasing mechanism 18 comprises a semi - rigid collapsible pressure releasing mechanism housing 19 which is penetrated with a plurality of symmetric spaced pressure releasing air outlets 20 . the pressure releasing mechanism housing 19 contains a pressure releasing valve 21 which penetrates air chamber 8 . the pressure releasing valve 21 is maintained in an upright position via resilient buoyant pressure retaining mechanism 22 , which prevents air from escaping from the air chamber 8 . similar to the inflation mechanism retaining element 15 a , the integrity of the pressure releasing mechanism is maintained by pressure releasing mechanism retaining element 19 a , which also passes through all layers exterior to the air bladder 8 and terminates at the air bladder . when a user depresses the pressure releasing mechanism 18 with his / her finger , the pressure releasing mechanism housing 19 will collapse and allow the depression of pressure releasing valve 21 . the depression of the pressure releasing valve will compress the buoyant pressure retaining mechanism 22 which will depress the tail of the pressure releasing valve and allow the escape of air up , through a plurality of air passage mechanism 21 a in the head of the pressure releasing valve 21 and out through the pressure releasing air outlets 20 . when depression of the pressure releasing mechanism is released , the buoyant pressure retaining mechanism 22 will cause the aforementioned pressure releasing valve to rise again . in this orientation , further escape of air from the air bladder 8 into the atmosphere is prevented , for the contact interface between the pressure releasing valve 21 and pressure releasing mechanism retaining element 19 a is inherently airtight . the collapsible inflation mechanism housing 14 a , collapsible pressure releasing mechanism housing 19 , as well as buoyant pressure retaining mechanism 22 may be constructed from any resilient , buoyant material such as rubber , polymers , and / or any other material obvious to one in the art . one way valves and pressure releasing valve 21 may be constructed of a metal , rubber , polymer or any other material obvious to one in the art . moreover , pressure releasing valve 21 may further comprise airtight lining element 21 b , which may be constructed of similar materials to perform the desired function . the air chamber and air bubbles may be made of an airtight polymer , rubber , and / or any other material obvious to one in the art . inflation mechanism retaining element 15 a , and pressure releasing mechanism retaining element 19 a may be constructed of rubber or any other material capable of performing the stated function that is apparent to one in the art , such that the inflation mechanism and pressure releasing mechanism , respectively , are maintained in position , and that interface between the pressure releasing valve 21 is airtight . in summary , referring to fig1 , 3 , or 5 , upon donning the device 100 via straps 1 and 2 , the user will insert his / her elbow into the elbow elevating support 300 and adjust its height via tugging on strap 3 . after this gross adjustment of the shoulder sling device 100 is completed , the user will inflate the air bladder 8 within the shoulder sling portion 200 via multiple depressions of inflation mechanism 14 which will preferentially distribute air to desired air bubble 10 areas due to a differential negative pressure gradient . when the desired snug fit is achieved , the user will cease to depress the inflation mechanism 14 and pressure will be retained via one way valve 18 , and a small amount of air will be retained in the inflation mechanism chamber . the fit will thus remain snug throughout the use of the apparatus . comfort of use is granted via a comfortable inner textile layer at both the elbow elevating support 300 and shoulder sling 200 , as well as ventilation holes 11 at the shoulder sling 200 that will allow the escape of warm air , prevent sweat buildup , and allow physiologic cooling . if the inflated pressure if too high , or if the user desires to remove the device , he / she will depress the pressure releasing mechanism 18 which will allow the escape of air from the air bladder and decrease the pressure . having thus described details of preferred embodiments in accordance with the scope of the present invention it is apparent that it provides numerous benefits over , and addresses inadequacies of the prior art . it should be apparent to one skilled in the art that various adaptations of modifications of the present invention can be made and will still fall within its scope , which is limited only by the appended claims :	0
[ 0025 ] fig1 shows a switch 100 having a replication server 104 operating in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention . switch 100 comprises ingress ports 101 ( 1 )- 101 ( m ), input switch fabric interface 102 , memory ( packet buffers ) 110 , unicast traffic server 103 , replication server 104 , output switch fabric interface 105 , and egress ports 106 ( 1 )- 106 ( n ) ( m and n positive integers ). switch 100 may be an edge switch or edge router processing , for example , packetized data of one or more connections ( or “ traffic ”) through switch 100 . packets are received at ingress ports 101 ( 1 )- 101 ( m ) and are routed to either unicast traffic server 103 or replication server 104 by input switch fabric interface 102 . a packet is routed to unicast traffic server 103 if the packet is to be routed to one egress port , and a packet is routed to replication server 104 if the packet is part of a multicast session and is to be copied to two or more egress ports . as shown in fig1 packets of multicast sessions ( or “ multicast packets ”) routed to replication server 104 are received in memory ( packet buffers ) 110 . unicast packets may similarly be received in a memory ( either memory 110 if it is a common memory or a separate unicast memory not shown in fig1 ) for processing by unicast server 103 . as would be apparent to one skilled in the art , either queues implemented as buffers or virtual queues implemented with link - lists may be employed for queuing . packets from unicast traffic server 103 and replication server 104 are provided to output switch fabric interface 105 and distributed to egress ports 106 ( 1 )- 106 ( n ). in general , ingress ports 101 ( 1 )- 101 ( m ) and egress ports 106 ( 1 )- 106 ( n ) might be included in line cards of switch 100 , and those line cards might provide connectivity to external networks ( e . g ., backbone packet networks and access networks ). while the present invention is described for , for example , a switch as employed in asynchronous transfer mode ( atm ) networks , the present invention is not so limited and may be extended to other types of switches or routers of a packet network . replication server 104 comprises packet arrival processor 111 , packet replication processor 112 , and per - interface transmission processor 113 . replication server 104 further comprises session queues 120 , list - of - sessions queue 121 , and interface descriptor queues 122 ( 1 )- 122 ( p ) ( p a positive integer ). replication server 104 implements a method of batch multicasting as described subsequently with respect to fig2 - 5 . for batch multicasting , the replication server ( either as replication server 104 in fig1 or a processor implementing the state diagram of fig2 described subsequently ) employs a staging queue structure in which multicast packets are queued on a per - session basis . in other words , each session is assigned a specific session queue to which packets of the session are enqueued , and the session is identified with a session descriptor placed in the list - of - sessions queue . session queues are desirably virtual queues implemented with linked - lists . for each multicast session , the replication server maintains a list of interfaces , or egress ports , to which packets of a given multicast session are to be copied . in addition , the replication server maintains , for each session in the session queue , two pointers : one pointer pointing to the head and the other pointer pointing to the tail of the packets for the multicast session that is in switch memory and waiting to be copied to the corresponding egress ports . consequently , replication server 104 ( fig1 ) includes session queues 120 , list - of - sessions queue 121 , and per - interface descriptor queues 122 ( 1 )- 122 ( p ). session queue 120 stores packet pointers of each session received at the switch , thereby “ queuing ” packets of the session . list - of - sessions queue 121 stores identifiers for each multicast session received at the switch and waiting to be replicated . the entries of list - of - sessions queue 121 comprise a “ replication set ”, and the replication set in list - of - sessions queue 121 is arranged in a specific order ( e . g ., first - in , first - out ). one or more per - interface descriptor queues 122 ( 1 )- 122 ( p ) store identifiers , termed descriptors , for packets for replication at the corresponding egress port ( e . g ., corresponding one of egress ports 106 ( 1 )- 106 ( n )), thereby queuing packets on a per - output port basis . [ 0031 ] fig2 shows an exemplary state diagram 200 for batch multicasting as may be employed when a processor implements the functions of replication server 104 shown in fig1 . state diagram 200 shows packet arrival processing state 201 ( similar to processing by packet arrival processor 111 ), packet replication processing state 202 ( similar to processing by packet replication processor 112 ), and per - interface transmission processing state 203 ( similar to processing by per - interface transmission processor 113 ). for fig2 each of the states 210 , 202 , and 203 corresponds to a particular state of processing by the replication server , and each arrow into or out of a state represents the event that may trigger the processing of a given state . depending on the implementation , the state diagram of fig2 may illustrate the sharing of processing resources for a single processor , or the state diagram may illustrate processing by separate processors . packet arrival processing state 201 is entered upon receiving a packet . when a packet of a multicast session arrives at , for example , the ingress port of a switch , the packet is placed at the end of a session queue that corresponds to the multicast session . if the packet is the first packet of the multicast session , then the multicast session is added to the replication set ( such as the session descriptor added to list - of - sessions queue 121 of fig1 ). a variable reference count associated with the packet is set to the fan - out of the multicast session , which fan - out corresponds to the number of interfaces ( egress ports ) to which the packet is to be copied . packet replication processing state 202 is entered each new “ packet - time .” packet - time may be defined as the time interval that , for example , the replication server takes to copy a minimum - sized packet from the switching fabric of the switch . however , other time interval definitions may be employed for packet time . in general , packet time may be a time interval set for a predefined amount of processing by the replication server . during packet replication processing state 202 , replication server 104 processes a multicast session of the replication set one at a time in , for example , round - robin order . one skilled in the art may extend the packet replication processing state 202 to other forms of service , such as weighted round - robin order , weighted fair queuing , or priority scheduling . for the described embodiment , one “ copy ” operation is performed each packet - time , but each copy may include one or more copied packets from the session queue . to copy packets to each interface , a virtual descriptor is created for packet ( s ) of a selected session in the session queue and in the replication set . this descriptor points to the packets for this selected session that have arrived at the switch up to the present packet - time . the descriptor is added , one at a time , to each per - interface descriptor queue to which the packets of the session are to be copied . since packets may arrive at any time during processing by the batch multicasting method , packet replication processing state 202 treats newly arrived packets of a session that is currently being processed as packets of a new multicast session . when the operation of packet replication processing state 202 starts , complete replication of the first session in the replication set may take several packet - times ( as determined by the fan - out of the session ). during this period , multiple multicast packets of this or other multicast sessions may arrive , which are enqueued in corresponding session queues . when packet replication processing state 202 starts processing the next multicast session in the replication set , the processing typically replicates multiple packets , instead of just a single packet . per - interface transmission processing state 203 is entered for processing each one of the interface descriptor queues , and this state 203 is entered every packet time if at least one interface descriptor queue is not empty . each descriptor in the interface descriptor queue is examined and the packets pointed to by the descriptor are copied out to the egress port , one at a time . note that descriptors of the descriptor queue may be examined , or serviced , using round - robin , weighted round - robin , or other similar methods of service known in the art . per - interface transmission processing state 203 decrements the corresponding reference count of a session &# 39 ; s descriptor as each packet of the session is copied to an egress port . when the reference count reaches zero , the replication server has finished copying the packet to all egress ports . at that time , the corresponding packet in memory is released . [ 0037 ] fig3 shows an exemplary method of packet arrival processing as may be employed for packet arrival processor 111 of fig1 or state 201 of fig2 . at step 301 , a packet of a multicast session is received at an ingress port of the switch . at step 302 , the value of the reference count associated with the packet is set to the fan - out value of the multicast session . the fan - out value may be generated , for example , by the replication server through an examination of the destination addresses for the packet . alternatively , the fan - out value may be a provisioned value entered along with the provisioning for the multicast connection . at step 303 , the packet is enqueued at the end of the session queue corresponding to the multicast session that the packet belongs to . at step 304 , a test determines whether the packet in the corresponding session queue is the first packet of the session . if the test of step 304 determines that the packet is the first packet of the session , then the method advances to step 305 to add the new session to the replication set in the list - of - sessions queue . the new session is added to the replication set by creating a session descriptor ( an identification value for the particular session ) and adding the session descriptor to the tail of the list - of - sessions queue . from step 305 , the method advances to step 306 to wait for the next packet , which might not necessarily be from the same session . if the test of step 304 determines that the packet is not the first packet of the session , the method advances to step 306 to wait for the next packet . [ 0040 ] fig4 shows an exemplary method of packet replication as may be employed by packet replication processor 112 of fig1 or state 202 of fig2 . the exemplary method processes one session of the session queue at a time in round - robin order . at step 401 , the current “ packet - time ” starts , starting the batch multicasting replication process . at step 402 , a test determines whether the algorithm variable “ current_session ” is equivalent to the null set , indicating that no sessions are currently identified for copying . if the test of step 402 determines that current_session is equivalent to the null set , the method advances to step 403 . at step 403 , a test determines whether the list - of - sessions queue ( i . e ., the replication set ) is empty , indicating that no multicast sessions are currently queued in the session queues by the replication server . if the test of step 403 determines that the list - of - sessions queue is empty , the method advances to step 410 to wait for the next packet - time . if the test of step 403 determines that the list - of - sessions queue is not empty , then , at step 404 , the method sets current_session to the first session in the list - of - sessions queue , in effect selecting the next session in the list of sessions queue for replication processing . in addition , at step 404 , the head pointer is set to point to the first packet of current_session ( i . e ., the first packet of the next session in the list - of - sessions queue ). then the session queue of current_session ( i . e ., the queue corresponding to the first session in the list - of - sessions queue ) is cleared . such clearing does not “ clear ” packets from the packet buffers , but rather frees up the pointer that corresponds to this session currently used by the session at the head of the list - of - sessions queue for another multicast session . from step 404 , the method advances to step 410 to wait for the next packet - time . if the test of step 402 determines that current_session is not equivalent to the null set , then the method advances to step 405 . at step 405 , the method prepares to copy the packet to an interface ( e . g ., egress port ), and the method maintains a list of interfaces ( egress ports identified by interface number ) to which the packets of each multicast session are copied . first , the variable current_interface is set to the next interface number ( i . e ., next egress port identifier ) for current_session . second , a new descriptor is allocated to the current_session for current_interface , which new descriptor identifies a set of packets in memory for current_session . third , the new descriptor &# 39 ; s value is adjusted to point to the head of the queue for current_session ( i . e ., adjusted to point to the first packet in the queue of current_session ). fourth , the new descriptor is added to the interface descriptor queue of the egress port corresponding to current_interface . from step 405 , the method advances to step 406 . at step 406 , a test determines whether the value of current_interface corresponds to the last interface number for current_session . if the test of step 406 determines that the value of current_interface does not correspond to the last interface number for current_session , then the method advances to step 410 since there are more egress ports left to which the packets of current_session must be copied . if the test of step 406 determines that the value of current_interface does correspond to the last interface number for current_session , then the method advances to step 407 . at step 407 , a test determines if new packets have arrived for current_session . if the test of step 407 determines that no new packets have arrived for current_session , then the method advances to step 409 to clear current_session ( to null set ), current interface , and any other variables or pointers employed for generating descriptors for current_session . if new packets were to arrive subsequently , then the method of fig3 for example , may create allocate a new session queue and add the multicast session back as a new session to the tail of the list - of - sessions queue . from step 409 , the method advances to step 410 . if the test of step 407 determines that new packets have arrived for current_session , then the method advances to step 408 . since new packets may arrive at any time during the process , new packets may have arrived for the multicast session corresponding to current_session while the method of fig4 is executing various steps . as described above , when step 404 sets current_session , this multicast session is then removed from the list - of - sessions queue and the corresponding session queue released . however , the method of fig3 might not have identified these packets as the beginning of a “ new ” session and added them to a new session queue ( with a new session descriptor added to the list - of - sessions queue ). consequently , at step 408 , the session corresponding to current_session is enqueued at the tail of the list - of - sessions queue ( and the packets held in a corresponding session queue ). from step 408 , the method advances to step 409 . [ 0047 ] fig5 shows an exemplary method of per - interface transmission processing employed by per - interface transmission processor 113 of fig1 or state 203 shown in fig2 . the method of fig5 may be employed for each egress port to process the corresponding interface descriptor queue to transmit packets of each multicast session to the egress port . at step 501 , a test determines whether the current interface descriptor queue is empty . if the test of step 501 determines that the current interface descriptor queue is empty , then the method waits until the interface descriptor queue is non - empty . if the test of step 501 determines that the interface descriptor queue is not empty , then , at step 502 , the first descriptor in the interface descriptor queue is retrieved . at step 503 , a test determines whether a current value of pointer points to a packet corresponding to the retrieved descriptor , in effect , seeing whether any queued packets remain to transmit for the retrieved descriptor . if the test of step 503 determines that no packet remains for the retrieved descriptor , the method advances to step 508 . at step 508 the retrieved descriptor is released ( i . e ., the descriptor is dropped from the interface descriptor queue ) since all packets corresponding to the retrieved descriptor have been copied . from step 508 , the method returns to step 501 . if the test of step 503 determines that a packet remains for the retrieved descriptor , then the method advances to step 504 . at step 504 , a copy of the packet currently identified by the pointer is sent to , for example , the egress port , and the reference count of the packet ( originally set , e . g ., to the multicast session fan - out in step 302 of fig3 ) is decremented . at step 505 , a test determines whether the reference count is equal to zero . if the test of step 505 determines that the reference count is not zero , then additional copies of the packet are still to be sent to other egress ports . consequently , the method advances to step 506 to adjust the current value of the pointer to point to the next packet ( if present ) of the retrieved descriptor . if the test of step 505 determines that the reference count is zero , indicating that all copies of the packet for the corresponding multicast session have been transmitted , then the method advances to step 507 . at step 507 , the packet buffer storing the packet ( i . e ., the actual memory location storing the data of the packet ) is released , along with any linked - list information related to the packet . from step 507 , the method advances to step 506 . exemplary embodiments of the present invention may provide for enhanced stability . a session may be considered “ backlogged ” if the corresponding session queue is non - empty or the packets of the session are being replicated . if ƒ i is the fan - out of session i , where 0 ≦ i ≦ k and k is the ( integer ) number of multicast sessions , then the bounded time interval θ i between the time session i is added to the tail of the replication server session queue and the time that the replication for session i is complete might be as given in equation ( 1 ): θ i = ∑ i = 1 k   f i . ( 1 ) where equation ( 1 ) is normalized to account for fan - out copies per unit processing time . if the replication server guarantees any session i may be visited within θ i time after it is added to the end of the list of sessions of the replication set , the delay of any packet during replication is bounded by θ i + ƒ i . since the replication server services a session within a bounded delay period , the batch multicast method exhibits stable operation . the replication server may process sessions with a rate lower than once every packet - time and still exhibit stable operation . in addition , the replication server may be modified to visit eligible sessions with different frequency , offering varying delays at the replication server , and still exhibit stable operation . the exemplary embodiment previously described employs a round - robin service method to service each session in the replication set , but , for some embodiments , such as those where some sessions have a much greater fan - out than other sessions , the round - robin service method might not provide fair service . however , the present invention is not limited to a round - robin service method and may be extended to a “ general ” replication server that maintains stable operation . the replication server may be modeled as a general queuing server offering service to a set of queues ( similar to a per - flow packet scheduler ). the general queuing server services the set of queues based on the number of copies per unit time , with the normalized time needed to complete replication equal to the fan - out of the session . the capacity rc of the general replication server is defined as the number of copies per - unit time , where a copy is the function of attaching a session queue to a single interface . again , complete replication of the session requires a number of copies equal to the fan - out of the session . a multicast packet is served once it has been copied to all interfaces , and s i ( t 1 , t 2 ) denotes the service offered to multicast packets of session i during the time interval ( t 1 , t 2 ]. this service s i ( t 1 , t 2 ) is equal to the number of copies for session i during the time interval ( t 1 , t 2 ], which copies may correspond to one or more complete replications . as before , ƒ i denotes the fan - out of session i and w i j ( t 1 , t 2 ) denotes the actual number of packets that have been replicated during the time interval ( t 1 , t 2 ] from session i to interface j . the number of packets that arrive for session i during the time interval ( t 1 , t 2 ] is denoted a i ( t 1 , t 2 ). session i may be guaranteed a rate of copies ρ i , and the rate of complete replication is ( ρ i / ƒ i ). for the general replication server , the server is termed worst - case fair if , and only if , for any time interval ( t 1 , t 2 ] during which a session i is continuously backlogged , the server may guarantee a service s i ( t 1 , t 2 ) as bounded in equation ( 2 ): [ 0054 ] s i ( t 1 , t 2 )≧ max (( t 2 − t 1 ) ρ i − θ i , 0 ), ( 2 ) where “ max ” is the mathematical operator returning the maximum value of the two arguments . the sum of the rates allocated to all sessions is desirably less than the capacity rc of the server . any worst - case fair replication server that maintains stability and provides a maximum delay l i to any multicast packet of session i , irrespective of the arrival traffic , as given in equation ( 3 ): l i = f i + θ i ρ i + f i . ( 3 ) since batch multicast processing is employed , the burstiness properties of the multicast sessions may be affected , which may be characterized with respect to burstiness as experienced by the transmission queues of the interfaces ( egress ports ). such characterization is dependent upon the burstiness bound b ( t ) of the arrival traffic which , for any time interval ( t 1 , t 2 ], the relation of equation ( 4 ) holds : a ( t 1 , t 2 )≦ b ( t 1 − t 2 ) ( 4 ) for leaky - bucket constrained traffic , b ( t 1 − t 2 )≦ σ + r i ( t 1 − t 2 ), where r i is the rate of session i and σ is the maximum burst size ( in , e . g ., bytes ). consequently , if the session arrival traffic is burstiness constrained , then the output of the replication server is also burstiness constrained as in equation ( 5 ): w i j ( t 1 , t 2 )≦ b ( t 1 − t 2 + l i + ƒ i ). ( 5 ) for leaky - bucket constrained traffic , the output of the replication server is bounded as given in equation ( 6 ): w i j ( t 1 , t 2 )≦ σ + r i ( t 1 − t 2 )+ r i ( l 1 + ƒ i ). ( 6 ) as described above , using a worst - case fair scheduling method for the general replication server , the various multicast sessions may experience a range of latencies , irrespective of the arrival traffic . this range of latencies may be bounded to the capacity rc of the replication server , as given in equation ( 7 ): ∑ i = 1 k  θ i + f i d i - f i ≤ rc , ( 7 ) where d i is the latency requirement of multicast session i , which may be set at the time of provisioning of the multicast connection . the method of batch multicasting packets in accordance with one or more exemplary embodiments of the present invention may provide one or more of the following advantages when implemented in , for example , an edge switch or edge router . first , the method of batch multicasting simplifies the process of replicating packets , while allowing for an arbitrary fan - out without memory speed - up . second , the method provides for finite bounds on memory requirements . third , the method provides for deterministic bounds on the latency of multicast connections during the process of replicating packets . fourth , the method supports layered multicasting , where different ingress ports receive a different number of layers of a multicast application , depending on the available bandwidth , without using multiple multicast groups ( i . e ., without defining multiple multicast sessions for the same application . as would be apparent to one skilled in the art , the various functions of switching may be implemented with circuit elements or may also be implemented in the digital domain as processing steps in a software program . such software may be employed in , for example , a digital signal processor , micro - controller , or general - purpose computer . the present invention can be embodied in the form of methods and apparatuses for practicing those methods . the present invention can also be embodied in the form of program code embodied in tangible media , such as floppy diskettes , cd - roms , hard drives , or any other machine - readable storage medium , wherein , when the program code is loaded into and executed by a machine , such as a computer , the machine becomes an apparatus for practicing the invention . the present invention can also be embodied in the form of program code , for example , whether stored in a storage medium , loaded into and / or executed by a machine , or transmitted over some transmission medium , such as over electrical wiring or cabling , through fiber optics , or via electromagnetic radiation , wherein , when the program code is loaded into and executed by a machine , such as a computer , the machine becomes an apparatus for practicing the invention . when implemented on a general - purpose processor , the program code segments combine with the processor to provide a unique device that operates analogously to specific logic circuits . it will be further understood that various changes in the details , materials , and arrangements of the parts which have been described and illustrated in order to explain the nature of this invention may be made by those skilled in the - art without departing from the principle and scope of the invention as expressed in the following claims .	7
hereinafter , the constitution and the manner of operation of the first embodiment of the present invention are explained sequentially in conjunction with fig1 to fig5 . fig1 is a system constitutional view of an image display device 100 according to the first embodiment of the present invention . a system control circuit 105 is connected to a display control circuit 103 and a light emission control circuit 104 , the system control circuit 105 is connected to a display panel 101 through a panel control line 106 , and the light emission control circuit 104 is connected to a backlight light source 102 . the system control circuit 105 transmits both image data corresponding to a display image and drive timings of the display panel 101 to the display control circuit 103 , and transmits timings at which the backlight light source 102 emits light of any one of three colors consisting of r , g and b in synchronization with driving of the display panel 101 to the light emission control circuit 104 . upon receiving these signals , the display control circuit 103 and the light emission control circuit 104 respectively transmit signals necessary for driving the display panel 101 and the backlight light source 102 to the display panel 101 and the backlight light source 102 . fig2 is a constitutional view of the display panel 101 . pixels 111 are arranged in a display region of the display panel 101 in a matrix array , scanning lines 112 are connected to the pixels 111 in the row direction , and signal lines 113 are connected to the pixels 111 in the columnar direction . a scanning line scanning circuit ( sel ) 115 is connected to one end of each scanning line 112 , and one end of each signal line 113 is connected to a digital data driver 114 . the scanning line scanning circuit 115 is controlled by a digital data driver 114 , and a signal is inputted to the digital data driver 114 through the panel control line 106 . when image data and drive timings are inputted to the display panel 101 through the panel control line 106 , the digital data driver 114 inputs digital image data to the signal lines 113 while controlling the scanning line scanning circuit 115 at a predetermined timing . an operation of each pixel 111 is controlled in response to a signal from the scanning line scanning circuit 115 through the scanning line 112 , and the digital image data is fetched or displayed through the signal line 113 at predetermined timing . fig3 shows the constitution of the pixel 111 . the pixel 111 is constituted of a tft switch 121 which has a gate thereof connected to the scanning line 112 and has one end of drain / source terminals thereof connected to the signal line 113 , a signal holding capacitance 122 which is provided between the other end of the drain / source terminals of the tft switch 121 and a common electrode 124 , and an elastic light modulator 123 which is connected to both ends of the signal holding capacitance 122 . when the tft switch 121 of the pixel 111 which the scanning line 112 selects is brought into an on state , a high voltage or a low voltage which is digital image data written in the signal line 113 is written in the signal holding capacitance 122 , and this signal voltage is held even after the scanning line 112 brings the tft switch 121 into an off state . the high voltage or the low voltage written in the signal holding capacitance 122 is inputted to the elastic light modulator 123 , and the elastic light modulator 123 controls the presence or the non - presence of blocking of light with respect to the backlight light source 102 based on the signal voltage . here , the elastic light modulator 123 is binary controlled between on and off . by performing the pwm ( pulse width modulation ) of digital image data by bit weighting during a light emission period for every bit so that a gray level display of 8 bits can be performed . the elastic light modulator 123 is formed of an optical shutter using an mems ( micro electro mechanical system ) technique , and the detailed structure and a gray level display operation of the optical shutter is described in detail in u . s . pat . no . 7 , 304 , 785 , japanese patent application publication jp2008 - 197668 and the like . here , each pixel 111 does not have a color decomposition means such as a color filter and , in this embodiment , coloring of the image display device 100 is controlled by a so - called field sequential display method where light emission colors of the backlight light source 102 are sequentially changed . fig4 a is a lighting timing chart of only the r ( red ) light source in the first embodiment . the lighting of each light source in the first embodiment is substantially equal to the timing in the first prior art explained in conjunction with fig3 or fig3 in terms of timing . the lighting of lights of g ( green ) and b ( blue ) described in fig3 is omitted . the pixel in the first embodiment is digitally driven as described previously and hence , a rectangular sub frame described in fig4 a is , in the actual constitution , constituted of eight independent light emission periods where the light emission period is weighted for every bit of eight bits . however , the light emission periods corresponding to 8 bits are expressed as one sub frame for facilitating the understanding of the explanation . also in fig4 a , to allow the light emission period to complete one turn for every three frames , for the sake of convenience , a frame which starts with r ( red ) is set as a first frame , and frames which start with g ( green ) and b ( blue ) are set as a second frame and a third frame respectively . here , a time for calculation used for calculating a weighting coefficient described later is defined based on a time interval between the light emission centers , and the time interval between the light emission centers of the r ( red ) light emission in the first frame and the r ( red ) light emission in the second frame is set to 5 / 3 ( f ). here , 1 ( f ) expresses one frame period . in the same manner , a time interval between the light emission centers of the r ( red ) light emission in the second frame and the r ( red ) light emission in the third frame is set to 2 / 3 ( f ), and a time interval between the light emission centers of the r ( red ) light emission in the third frame and the r ( red ) light emission in the first frame is set to 2 / 3 ( f ). the subsequent time intervals are also substantially equal to the above - mentioned time intervals . fig4 b is a light emission brightness timing chart relating to an r ( red ) light source in the first embodiment . although time is taken on an axis of abscissas in the same manner as fig4 a , the light emission brightness is taken on an axis of ordinates in fig4 b . in the light emission brightness timing chart shown in fig4 b , the sub frame individually expressed in a rectangular shape is , in the actual constitution , constituted of eight independent light emission periods where the light emission period is weighted for every bit by the display panel 101 . however , this expression of the sub frame means that , in the light emission of the backlight light source 102 , all light emission in eight independent light emission periods are adjusted to the same brightness taken on the axis of brightness . here , the light emission brightness of each color is weighted based on the time for calculation defined by a sum of time intervals between the light emission center of the sub frame and the light emission centers of sub frames before and after the sub frame in which light of the same color as the sub frame is emitted such that the total light emission amount within the continuous 3 ( f ) is not changed . to be more specific , with respect to light emission intervals before and after the r ( red ) light emission in the second frame , the time interval between the light emission centers before the r ( red ) light emission is 5 / 3 ( f ), and the time interval between the light emission centers after the r ( red ) light emission is 2 / 3 ( f ) and hence , the time for calculation is 7 / 3 ( f ) which is a sum of both light emission intervals , and 7 / 6 ( f ) which is 1 / 2 ( average ) of 7 / 3 is used as a weighting coefficient . in the same manner , light emission intervals before and after the r ( red ) light emission in the third frame are 2 / 3 ( f ) and 2 / 3 ( f ) respectively and hence , the time for calculation is obtained as 4 / 3 ( f ) which is a sum of both light emission intervals , and 2 / 3 which is 1 / 2 ( average ) of 4 / 3 ( f ) is set as a weighting coefficient . the light emission brightnesses in fig4 b are obtained by setting the light emission intervals obtained in this manner as the weighting coefficients with respect to the respective light emissions . fig5 is a light emission brightness timing chart relating to light sources of three colors of r ( red ), g ( green ) and b ( blue ) obtained in this manner . although the light emission brightness of each color in each frame differs for every frame , an object which a viewer visually recognizes is not an image in accordance with a frame unit but a series of continuous light emissions and hence , no problem arises particularly . in this embodiment , by applying weighting to the brightness as described above , a light emission component having frequency equal to or below frame frequency can be cancelled so that low frequency flicker noises generated in each light emission color of r ( red ), g ( green ) or b ( blue ) can be lowered to a value equal to or below a perception limit . in this embodiment , the light emission order of r ( red ), g ( green ) and b ( blue ) is changed for every frame and hence , it is also possible to acquire an advantageous effect of suppressing the color decomposition with respect to a moving image . in this embodiment , the pixel 111 which is constituted of a tft circuit mounted on a glass substrate is driven by the digital data driver 114 and the scanning line scanning circuit 115 which are respectively constituted of silicon lsi . however , the application of the present invention is not limited to such a constitution , and is also applicable to a case where all these circuit elements are constituted of a tft on a single insulating transparent substrate , a case where these circuit elements are realized by a single crystal si element including a pixel on an soi ( silicon on insulator ) substrate or the like without departing from the gist of the present invention . further , although the 8 bit display is adopted in this embodiment , the present invention is also easily applicable to a 6 bit display or a display of other bits without departing from the gist of the present invention . in this embodiment , a time for calculation used for calculating a weighting coefficient is defined based on a time interval between light emission centers . however , provided that the light emission periods are equal , the time for calculation may be defined as a period between a light emission start position and a light emission start position or a period between a light emission finish position and a light emission finish position . in this embodiment , the elastic light modulator 123 is formed of the optical shutter which adopts an mems ( micro electro mechanical system ) technique . however , the present invention does not depend on the constitution and the manner of operation of the elastic light modulator 123 particularly and hence , the elastic light modulator 123 may adopt a dmd ( digital mirror device ) or other elastic light modulator structures . in this embodiment , the adjustment of light emission amounts in the respective light emission periods of r ( red ), g ( green ) and b ( blue ) is performed by directly controlling brightnesses . however , the adjustment of light emission amounts can be performed in the substantially same manner by modulating light emission periods . for example , an led ( light emitting diode ) is used as a backlight light source , and light emission amounts ( brightnesses ) can be controlled by performing only a timing control where the led is turned on or off at a high speed without changing a light emission current supplied to the led . in this case , although an led light emission timing control program becomes complicated , an led drive circuit can be more simplified . here , the light emission amount control which is performed by turning on or off the led at a high speed by the light emission control circuit 104 is also included in the context that “ brightnesses ” are controlled . in this embodiment , the explanation has been made with respect to three kinds of light emission of r ( red ), g ( green ) and b ( blue ). however , even when the light emission colors include other colors such as w ( white ) or y ( yellow ), the technical concept of this embodiment is applicable to such a case . the above - mentioned modifications are not limited to this embodiment , and are also applicable to embodiments described hereinafter . the system constitution of an image display device , the constitution of a display panel and the constitution of a pixel according to the second embodiment are substantially equal to the corresponding constitutions according to the above - mentioned first embodiment and hence , the explanation of these constitutions is omitted . fig6 a is a lighting timing chart of only an r ( red ) light source in the second embodiment . the lighting timing of each light source in the second embodiment is substantially equal to the corresponding lighting timing in the first embodiment . in the second embodiment , a time for calculation used for calculating a weighting coefficient is defined based on a time interval of a non - light emission period . the time interval of the non - light emission period between the r ( red ) light emission in a first frame and the r ( red ) light emission in a second frame is 4 / 3 ( f ). in the same manner , a time interval of the non - light emission period between the r ( red ) light emission in the second frame and the r ( red ) light emission in a third frame is 1 / 3 ( f ), and the time interval of the non - light emission period between the r ( red ) light emission in the third frame and the r ( red ) light emission in the next first frame is 1 / 3 ( f ). the subsequent time intervals are also substantially equal to the above - mentioned time intervals . fig6 b is a light emission brightness timing chart relating to the r ( red ) light source in the second embodiment . although time is taken on an axis of abscissas in the same manner as fig6 a , the light emission brightness is taken on an axis of ordinates in fig6 b . here , the light emission brightness of each color is weighted based on a time for calculation defined by a sum of time intervals of the non - light emission periods between the sub frame and sub frames before and after the sub frame in which light of the same color of the sub frame is emitted such that the total light emission amount within the continuous 3 ( f ) is not changed . to be more specific , with respect to the light emission intervals before and after the r ( red ) light emission in the second frame , the time interval of the non - light emission period before the r ( red ) light emission is 4 / 3 ( f ), and the time interval of the non - light emission period after the r ( red ) light emission is 1 / 3 ( f ) and hence , the time for calculation is 5 / 3 ( f ) which is a sum of both time intervals of the non - light emission periods . in the same manner , light emission intervals before and after the r ( red ) light emission in the third frame are 1 / 3 ( f ) and 1 / 3 ( f ) respectively and hence , the time for calculation is obtained as 2 / 3 ( f ) which is a sum of both time intervals of the non - light emission periods . weighting coefficients are set to 5 / 4 and 1 / 2 which are obtained by multiplying these times for calculation by 3 / 4 such that the total light emission amount within the continuous 3 ( f ) is not changed . the light emission brightnesses in fig6 b are obtained by setting the light emission intervals obtained in this manner as the weighting coefficients with respect to the respective light emissions . fig7 is a light emission brightness timing chart relating to light sources of three colors of r ( red ), g ( green ) and b ( blue ) obtained in this manner . although the light emission brightness of each color in each frame differs for every frame , an object which a viewer visually recognizes is not an image in accordance with a frame unit but a series of continuous light emissions and hence , no problem arises particularly . in this embodiment , by applying weighting to the brightness as described above , a light emission component having frequency equal to or below frame frequency can be cancelled so that low frequency flicker noises generated in each light emission color of r ( red ), g ( green ) or b ( blue ) can be lowered to a value equal to or below a perception limit . in this embodiment , the light emission order of r ( red ), g ( green ) and b ( blue ) is changed for every frame and hence , it is also possible to acquire an advantageous effect of suppressing the color decomposition with respect to a moving image . the difference between the weighting used in the first embodiment and the weighting used in the second embodiment is explained hereinafter . as described previously , the period during which the light emission is continued is also taken into the calculation in the former , while the period during which the light emission is continued is not taken into the calculation in the latter . that is , in the former , the light emission almost approximates the light emission which is instantaneously performed . according to a visual characteristic of a man , the image retention is extremely small with respect to a high brightness portion . accordingly , it is understood that the weighting used in the first embodiment is the approximation suitable for a high brightness display gray level region particularly . on the other hand , the calculation is made by excluding the light emission period in the latter . according to a visual characteristic of a man , the image retention is increased with respect to a low brightness portion and hence , it is understood that the weighting used in the second embodiment is the approximation suitable for a low - brightness display gray level region particularly . in this manner , it is preferable to properly use the weighting coefficient used in the first embodiment and the weighting coefficient used in the second embodiment separately between the high brightness portion and the low brightness portion in an image . however , from a viewpoint of simplifying the system practically , it is desirable to select either one of these weighting coefficients or to fix the weighting coefficient to a proper value between both weighting coefficients by taking into account a display image quality in general . the time interval between the light emission centers of the neighboring sub frames in which the light of the same color is emitted is used in the first embodiment , while the time interval of the non - light emission period between the neighboring sub frames in which the light of the same color is emitted is used in the second embodiment . however , a time interval which falls within a range between these time intervals may be also used . also in this case , the light emission control substantially equal to the light emission control in the first embodiment or the second embodiment can be performed . the system constitution of an image display device , the constitution of a display panel and the constitution of a pixel according to the third embodiment are substantially equal to the corresponding constitutions according to the above - mentioned first embodiment and hence , the explanation of these constitutions is omitted . fig8 a is a lighting timing chart of only an r ( red ) light source in the third embodiment . the lighting timing of each light source in the third embodiment is substantially equal to the corresponding lighting timing in the first embodiment . as shown in fig8 a , in the third embodiment , in the same manner as the first embodiment , a time for calculation used for calculating a weighting coefficient is defined based on a time interval between light emission centers . the time interval between respective light emission centers of the r ( red ) light emission in a first frame and the r ( red ) light emission in a second frame is 5 / 3 ( f ). in the same manner , the time interval between respective light emission centers of the r ( red ) light emission in the second frame and the r ( red ) light emission in a third frame is 2 / 3 ( f ), and the time interval between respective light emission centers of the r ( red ) light emission in the third frame and the r ( red ) light emission in the next first frame is 2 / 3 ( f ). the subsequent time intervals are also substantially equal to the above - mentioned time intervals . fig8 b is a light emission brightness timing chart relating to an r ( red ) light source in the third embodiment . although time is taken on an axis of abscissas in the same manner as fig8 a , the light emission brightness is taken on an axis of ordinates in fig8 b . here , the light emission brightness of each color is weighted based on a time for calculation defined by time interval between the light emission center of the sub frame and the light emission center of sub frame after the sub frame in which light of the same color of the sub frame is emitted such that a total light emission amount within continuous 3 ( f ) is not changed . to be more specific , with respect to a weighting coefficient in each light emission , the interval between the light emission center and the next light emission center obtained in fig8 a is the time for calculation , and the weighting coefficients for the r ( red ) light emissions in the first frame , the second frame and the third frame are 5 / 3 , 2 / 3 and 2 / 3 respectively in this order . fig9 is a light emission brightness timing chart relating to light sources of three colors of r ( red ), g ( green ) and b ( blue ) obtained in this manner . although the light emission brightness of each color in each frame differs for every frame , an object which a viewer visually recognizes is not an image in accordance with a frame unit but a series of continuous light emissions and hence , no problem arises particularly . in this embodiment , by applying weighting to the brightness as described above , a light emission component having frequency equal to or below frame frequency can be cancelled so that low frequency flicker noises generated in each light emission color of r ( red ), g ( green ) or b ( blue ) can be lowered to a value equal to or below a perception limit . in this embodiment , the light emission order of r ( red ), g ( green ) and b ( blue ) is changed for every frame and hence , it is also possible to acquire an advantageous effect of suppressing the color decomposition with respect to a moving image . the difference between the weighting coefficient used in the first and second embodiments and the weighting coefficient used in the third embodiment in the acquisition of these weighting coefficients by calculation is explained hereinafter . as described previously , the periods before and after the light emission are taken into the calculation in the first and second embodiments , while only the period after the light emission is taken into the calculation in the third embodiment . that is , in the former , the time - average light emission is approximated . according to a visual characteristic of a man , the image retention is extremely small under a high illuminance environment . accordingly , it is understood that the weighting coefficient used in the first and second embodiments is the approximation suitable for a case where an image is visually recognized under a particularly bright environment . on the other hand , in the latter , the weighting coefficient is calculated based on the period during which the light emission visually remains as the image retention . according to a visual characteristic of a man , the image retention is remarkably increased under a low illuminance environment . accordingly , it is understood that the weighting coefficient used in the third embodiment is the approximation suitable for a case where an image is visually recognized in a particularly dark environment . in this manner , it is preferable that the method of calculating the weighting coefficient used in the first and second embodiments and the method of calculating the weighting coefficient used in the third embodiment be variable , and can be suitably separately used depending on the brightness of the environment . alternatively , when it is necessary to fix the weighting coefficient in terms of the system , it is desirable to select either one of both weighting coefficients or to fix the weighting coefficient to a proper value between both weighting coefficients by taking into account a use method and a use environment of a display image . the system constitution of an image display device , the constitution of a display panel and the constitution of a pixel according to the fourth embodiment are substantially equal to the corresponding constitutions according to the above - mentioned first embodiment and hence , the explanation of these constitutions is omitted . fig1 a is a light emission brightness timing chart relating to an r ( red ) light source in the fourth embodiment , and the definition of a first frame , a second frame and a third frame is substantially equal to the definition used in the second prior art shown in fig3 . as shown in fig1 a , in the fourth embodiment , a time for calculation used for calculating a weighting coefficient is defined based on a time interval between light emission centers . the time interval between the light emission center of the r ( red ) light emission in a latter half of the first frame and the light emission center of the r ( red ) light emission in the second frame is 1 / 2 ( f ). in the same manner , the time interval between the light emission center of the r ( red ) light emission in the second frame and the light emission center of the r ( red ) light emission in the third frame is 1 ( f ), the time interval between the light emission center of the r ( red ) light emission in the third frame and the light emission center of the r ( red ) light emission in a front half of the next first frame is 1 ( f ), and the time interval between the light emission center of the r ( red ) light emission in the front half of the first frame and the light emission center of the r ( red ) light emission in the latter half of the next first frame is 1 / 2 ( f ). the subsequent time intervals are also substantially equal to the above - mentioned time intervals . fig1 b is a light emission brightness timing chart relating to the r ( red ) light source in the fourth embodiment . in the fourth embodiment , the light of the same color is emitted plural times within the same frame . as explained previously in conjunction with the first embodiment , light emission periods individually expressed in a rectangular shape are , in the actual constitution , constituted of eight independent light emission periods where the light emission period is weighted for every bit by a display panel 101 . this expression of the light emission period means that , in the light emission formed of two sets of light emission periods set in the same frame in fig1 b where each set of light emission period is constituted of eight independent light emission periods , the respective brightness of the light emissions are adjusted to values expressed on an axis of ordinates . here , the light emission brightness of each color is weighted based on a time for calculation defined by a sum of time intervals between the light emission center of the sub frame and the light emission centers of sub frames before and after the sub frame in which light of the same color as the sub frame is emitted such that the total light emission amount within the continuous 3 ( f ) is not changed . for example , with respect to light emission intervals before and after the r ( red ) light emission in the third frame , the time interval between the light emission centers before the r ( red ) light emission is 1 ( f ), and the time interval between the light emission centers after the r ( red ) light emission is 1 ( f ) and hence , the time for calculation is 2 which is a sum of both light emission intervals , and a weighting coefficient becomes 1 which is 1 / 2 ( average ) of the time for calculation . in the same manner , light emission intervals before and after the r ( red ) light emission in the front half of the first frame are 1 ( f ) and 1 / 2 ( f ) respectively and hence , the time for calculation is 3 / 2 ( f ) which is a sum of both light emission intervals , and a weighting coefficient is 3 / 4 which is 1 / 2 ( average ) of the time for calculation . the light emission intervals before and after the r ( red ) light emission in the latter half of the first frame are 1 / 2 ( f ) and 1 / 2 ( f ) respectively and hence , the time for calculation is 1 ( f ) which is a sum of both light emission intervals , and a weighting coefficient is 1 / 2 which is 1 / 2 ( average ) of the time for calculation . the light emission brightnesses in fig1 b are obtained by setting the light emission intervals obtained in this manner as the weighting coefficients with respect to the respective light emissions . due to such processing , with respect to the light emission brightness of the r ( red ) light emission in each light emission period , the light emission brightness in the front half of the first frame is weighted by 3 / 4 , the light emission brightness in the latter half of the first frame is weighted by 1 / 2 , the light emission brightness in the second frame is weighted by 3 / 4 , and the light emission brightness in the third frame is weighted by 1 . 0 . fig1 a is a light emission brightness timing chart relating to a g ( green ) light source in the fourth embodiment , and the definition of the first frame , the second frame and the third frame is substantially equal to the definition used in the second prior art shown in fig3 . as shown in fig1 a , the time interval between the light emission center of the g ( green ) light emission in the first frame and the light emission center of the g ( green ) light emission in the second frame is 1 ( f ). in the same manner , the time interval between the light emission center of the g ( green ) light emission in a front half of the second frame and the light emission center of the g ( green ) light emission in a latter half of the second frame is 1 / 2 ( f ), the time interval between the light emission center of the g ( green ) light emission in a latter half of the second frame and the light emission center of the g ( green ) light emission in the next third frame is 3 / 4 ( f ), and the time interval between the light emission center of the g ( green ) light emission in the third frame and the light emission center of the g ( green ) light emission in the next first frame is 3 / 4 ( f ). the subsequent time intervals are also substantially equal to the above - mentioned time intervals . fig1 b is a light emission brightness timing chart relating to the g ( green ) light source in the fourth embodiment . for example , with respect to light emission intervals before and after the g ( green ) light emission in the first frame , the time interval between the light emission centers before the g ( green ) light emission is 3 / 4 ( f ), and the time interval between the light emission centers after the g ( green ) light emission is 1 ( f ) and hence , a weighting coefficient is obtained as 7 / 8 which is 1 / 2 ( average ) of a sum of both time intervals . in the same manner , light emission intervals before and after the g ( green ) light emission in the front half of the second frame are 1 ( f ) and 1 / 2 ( f ) respectively and hence , a weighting coefficient is obtained as 3 / 4 ( f ) which is 1 / 2 ( average ) of a sum of both light emission intervals and the light emission intervals before and after the g ( green ) light emission in the latter half of the second frame are 1 / 2 ( f ) and 3 / 4 ( f ) respectively so that a weighting coefficient is obtained as 5 / 8 which is 1 / 2 ( average ) of a sum of both light emission intervals . the light emission brightnesses in fig1 b are obtained by setting the light emission intervals obtained in this manner as the weighting coefficients with respect to the respective light emissions . due to such processing , with respect to the light emission brightness of the g ( green ) light emission in each light emission period , the light emission brightness in the first frame is weighted by 7 / 8 , the light emission brightness in the front half of the second frame is weighted by 3 / 4 , the light emission brightness in the latter half of the second frame is weighted by 5 / 8 , and the light emission brightness in the third frame is weighted by 3 / 4 . fig1 a is a light emission brightness timing chart relating to a b ( blue ) light source in the fourth embodiment , and the definition of the first frame , the second frame and the third frame is substantially equal to the definition used in the second prior art shown in fig3 . as shown in fig1 a , the time interval between the light emission center of the b ( blue ) light emission in the first frame and the light emission center of the b ( blue ) light emission in the second frame is 3 / 4 ( f ). in the same manner , the time interval between the light emission center of the b ( blue ) light emission in the second frame and the light emission center of the b ( blue ) light emission in a front half of the third frame is 3 / 4 ( f ), the time interval between the light emission center of the b ( blue ) light emission in a front half of the third frame and the light emission center of the b ( blue ) light emission in a latter half of the third frame is 1 / 2 ( f ), and the time interval between the light emission center of the b ( blue ) light emission in a latter half of the third frame and the light emission center of the b ( blue ) light emission in the next first frame is 1 ( f ). the subsequent time intervals are also substantially equal to the above - mentioned time intervals . fig1 b is a light emission brightness timing chart relating to the b ( blue ) light source in the fourth embodiment . for example , with respect to light emission intervals before and after the b ( blue ) light emission in the second frame , the time interval between the light emission centers before the b ( blue ) light emission is 3 / 4 ( f ), and the time interval between the light emission centers after the b ( blue ) light emission is 3 / 4 ( f ) and hence , a weighting coefficient is obtained as 3 / 4 which is 1 / 2 ( average ) of a sum of both time intervals . in the same manner , light emission intervals before and after the b ( blue ) light emission in the front half of the third frame are 3 / 4 ( f ) and 1 / 2 ( f ) respectively and hence , a weighting coefficient is obtained as 5 / 8 which is 1 / 2 ( average ) of a sum of both light emission intervals , and the light emission intervals before and after the b ( blue ) light emission in the latter half of the third frame are 1 / 2 ( f ) and 1 ( f ) respectively and hence , a weighting coefficient is obtained as 3 / 4 which is 1 / 2 ( average ) of a sum of both light emission intervals . the light emission brightnesses in fig1 b are obtained by setting the light emission intervals obtained in this manner as the weighting coefficients with respect to the respective light emissions . due to such processing , with respect to the light emission brightness of the b ( blue ) light emission in each light emission period , the light emission brightness in the first frame is weighted by 7 / 8 , the light emission brightness in the front half of the second frame is weighted by 3 / 4 , the light emission brightness in the front half of the third frame is weighted by 5 / 8 , and the light emission brightness in the latter half of the third frame is weighted by 3 / 4 . fig1 is a light emission brightness timing chart relating to light sources of three colors of r ( red ), g ( green ) and b ( blue ) obtained as described above . although the light emission brightness of each color in each frame differs for every frame , an object which a viewer visually recognizes is not an image in accordance with a frame unit but a series of continuous light emissions and hence , no problem arises particularly . in this embodiment , by applying weighting to the brightness as described above , a light emission component having frequency equal to or below frame frequency can be cancelled so that low frequency flicker noises generated in each light emission color of r ( red ), g ( green ) or b ( blue ) can be lowered to a value equal to or below a perception limit . in this embodiment , the light emission order of r ( red ), g ( green ) and b ( blue ) is changed for every frame and hence , it is also possible to acquire an advantageous effect of suppressing the color decomposition with respect to a moving image . further , this embodiment has the technical feature that a weighting value of light emission amount is made different from each other among the r ( red ) light emission , the g ( green ) light emission and the b ( blue ) light emission . this technical feature is provided to cope with the constitution of the second prior art shown in fig3 where the light emission order of r ( red ), g ( green ) and b ( blue ) is not equal . particularly , when the light emission order is not equal with respect to each color , a weighting value of light emission amount may be made different with respect to the light emission in each color as in the case of this embodiment . the system constitution of an image display device , the constitution of a display panel and the constitution of a pixel according to a fifth embodiment are substantially equal to the corresponding constitutions according to the above - mentioned first embodiment and hence , the explanation of these constitutions is omitted . fig1 shows the light emission order devised this time to cope with the color decomposition in a field sequential display . each frame is constituted of six sub frames in total consisting of the sub frames of r ( red ) light emission , the sub frames of g ( green ) light emission and the sub frames of b ( blue ) light emission , and the light emission order of the sub frames is made different between the odd - numbered first frame and the even - numbered second frame . to be more specific , the first frame is constituted of six sub frames of “ r ( red ), g ( green ), r ( red ), b ( blue ), g ( green ) and r ( red )”, and the second frame is constituted of six sub frames of “ b ( blue ), g ( green ), b ( blue ), r ( red ), g ( green ) and b ( blue )”. also in the fifth embodiment , the light of the same color is emitted plural times within the same frame . as explained previously in conjunction with the embodiment 1 , the light emission period individually expressed in a rectangular shape is constituted of eight independent light emission periods where the light emission period is weighted for every bit in an actual operation . such sub frame constitution is devised based on the following observations . 1 . one frame is constituted of six sub frames in total consisting of the sub frames of r ( red ) light emission , the sub frames of g ( green ) light emission and the sub frames of b ( blue ) light emission . this is because when the number of sub frames is excessively increased , writing frequency of signal data becomes large so that signal writing power consumption is excessively increased . 2 . with respect to the sub frame of g ( green ), the light emission order is made same in the respective frames . this is because g ( green ) largely influences a sense of vision as a brightness signal and hence , when the light emission order of the sub frame of g ( green ) changes among the frames , the motion of an object displayed on a screen is not smooth . 3 . with respect to the first sub frame , the r ( red ) light emission and the b ( blue ) light emission are generated in the first frame and the second frame respectively and alternately , and with respect to the second sub frame , the g ( green ) light emission is generated in the first frame and the second frame . this is because , due to such a light emission order , the r ( red ) light emission and the b ( blue ) light emission generated in the first sub frame are suitably mixed with the next g ( green ) light emission also in a moving image so that the light emission can be made approximately achromatic . 4 . with respect to the sixth sub frame , the r ( red ) light emission and the b ( blue ) light emission are generated in the first frame and the second frame respectively and alternately , and with respect to the fifth sub frame , the g ( green ) light emission is generated in the first frame and the second frame . this is because , due to such a light emission order , the r ( red ) light emission and the b ( blue ) light emission generated in the sixth sub frame are suitably mixed with the next g ( green ) light emission also in a moving image so that the light emission can be made approximately achromatic . further , the color decomposition generated in the moving image in the first sub frame and the color decomposition generated in the moving image in the sixth sub frame become the substantially same color and hence , a viewer perceives no discomfort . 5 . when the frames are continuously arranged , two sub frames of colors other than the g ( green ) are interposed between the sub frames of g ( green ). with respect to two sub frames , one sub frame is formed of the sub frame of r ( red ) and the other sub frame is formed of the sub frame of b ( blue ). this is because when two sub frames of same color are arranged continuously , color flickers are extremely increased . as the sub frame placement which satisfies the above - mentioned five conditions , four arrangements shown in following table are considered . here , the order of the combination of sub frames in the placement 1 and the order of the combination of sub frames in the placement 4 are set opposite to each other with respect to time , and the order of the combination of sub frames in the placement 2 and the order of the combination of sub frames in the placement 3 are set opposite to each other with respect to time . the light emission order in the fifth embodiment uses the case of the placement 1 in table 1 . fig1 a is a lighting timing chart relating to an r ( red ) light source in the fifth embodiment . as shown in fig1 a , a time interval between a light emission center of the first r ( red ) light emission in the first frame and a light emission center of the second r ( red ) light emission in the first frame is 1 / 3 ( f ). in the same manner , a time interval between the light emission center of the second r ( red ) light emission in the first frame and a light emission center of the third r ( red ) light emission in the first frame is 1 / 2 ( f ), a time interval between the light emission center of the third r ( red ) light emission in the first frame and a light emission center of the r ( red ) light emission in a second frame is 2 / 3 ( f ), and a time interval between the light emission center of the r ( red ) light emission in the second frame and a light emission center of the first r ( red ) light emission in the next first frame is 1 / 2 ( f ). the subsequent time intervals are also substantially equal to the above - mentioned time intervals . fig1 b is a light emission brightness timing chart relating to the r ( red ) light source in the fifth embodiment . for example , with respect to light emission intervals before and after the second r ( red ) light emission in the first frame , the time interval between the light emission centers before the r ( red ) light emission is 1 / 3 ( f ), and the time interval between the light emission centers after the r ( red ) light emission is 1 / 2 ( f ) and hence , a weighting coefficient is obtained as 5 / 12 which is 1 / 2 ( average ) of a sum of both time intervals . in the same manner , light emission intervals before and after the third r ( red ) light emission in the first frame are 1 / 2 ( f ) and 2 / 3 ( f ) respectively and hence , a weighting coefficient is obtained as 7 / 12 which is 1 / 2 ( average ) of a sum of both light emission intervals . the light emission brightnesses in fig1 b are obtained by setting the light emission intervals obtained in this manner hereinafter as the weighting coefficients with respect to the respective light emissions . due to such processing , with respect to the light emission brightness of the r ( red ) light emission in each light emission period , the light emission brightness of the first r ( red ) light emission in the first frame is weighted by 5 / 12 , the light emission brightness of the second r ( red ) light emission in the first frame is weighted by 5 / 12 , the light emission brightness of the third r ( red ) light emission in the first frame is weighted by 7 / 12 , and the light emission brightness of the r ( red ) light emission in the second frame is weighted by 7 / 12 . fig1 a is a lighting timing chart relating to a b ( blue ) light source in the fifth embodiment . as shown in fig1 a , a time interval between a light emission center of the b ( blue ) light emission in the first frame and a light emission center of the first b ( blue ) light emission in the second frame is 1 / 2 ( f ). in the same manner , a time interval between the light emission center of the first b ( blue ) light emission in the second frame and a light emission center of the second b ( blue ) light emission in the second frame is 1 / 3 ( f ), a time interval between the light emission center of the second b ( blue ) light emission in the second frame and a light emission center of the third b ( blue ) light emission in the second frame is 1 / 2 ( f ), and a time interval between the light emission center of the third b ( blue ) light emission in the second frame and a light emission center of the b ( blue ) light emission in the next first frame is 2 / 3 ( f ). the subsequent time intervals are also substantially equal to the above - mentioned time intervals . fig1 b is a light emission brightness timing chart relating to the b ( blue ) light source in the fifth embodiment . for example , with respect to light emission intervals before and after the first b ( blue ) light emission in the second frame , the time interval between the light emission centers before the b ( blue ) light emission is 1 / 2 ( f ), and the time interval between the light emission centers after the b ( blue ) light emission is 1 / 3 ( f ) and hence , a weighting coefficient is obtained as 5 / 12 which is 1 / 2 ( average ) of a sum of both time intervals . in the same manner , light emission intervals before and after the third b ( blue ) light emission in the second frame are 1 / 2 ( f ) and 2 / 3 ( f ) respectively and hence , a weighting coefficient is obtained as 7 / 12 which is 1 / 2 ( average ) of a sum of both light emission intervals . the light emission brightnesses in fig1 b are obtained by setting the light emission intervals obtained in this manner hereinafter as the weighting coefficients with respect to the respective light emissions . due to such processing , with respect to the light emission brightness of the b ( blue ) light emission in each light emission period , the light emission brightness of the b ( blue ) light emission in the first frame is weighted by 7 / 12 , the light emission brightness of the first b ( blue ) light emission in the second frame is weighted by 5 / 12 , the light emission brightness of the second b ( blue ) light emission in the second frame is weighted by 5 / 12 , and the light emission brightness of the third b ( blue ) light emission in the second frame is weighted by 7 / 12 . fig1 is a light emission brightness timing chart relating to light sources of three colors of r ( red ), g ( green ) and b ( blue ) obtained in this manner . the g ( green ) light source emits light at the same timing among respective frames and hence , it is unnecessary to weight the light emission brightness of the g ( green ) light emission particularly . although the light emission brightness of each color in each frame differs for every frame , an object which a viewer visually recognizes is not an image in accordance with a frame unit but a series of continuous light emissions and hence , no problem arises particularly . in this embodiment , by applying weighting to the brightness as described above , a light emission component having frequency equal to or below frame frequency can be cancelled so that low frequency flicker noises generated in each light emission color of r ( red ), g ( green ) or b ( blue ) can be lowered to a value equal to or below a perception limit . in this embodiment , it is possible to acquire advantageous effects described in the conditions 1 to 5 described previously including an advantageous effect of suppressing the color decomposition with respect to a moving image . this embodiment is characterized in that with respect to the g ( green ) light emission which is generated in respective frames always at the same timing , the time intervals between the light emission centers are all equal and hence , weighting is not applied to the light emission amounts . as described previously , the light emission order in this embodiment is the case of the placement 1 among four sub frame arrangements in above - mentioned table 1 . here , the case of the placement 4 is symmetrical with the case of the placement 1 with time . accordingly , even when the case of the placement 4 is selected , the weighting substantially equal to the weighting of this embodiment is applicable to the case of the placement 4 . the system constitution of an image display device , the constitution of a display panel and the constitution of a pixel according to the sixth embodiment are substantially equal to the corresponding constitutions according to the above - mentioned first embodiment and hence , the explanation of these constitutions is omitted . fig1 is a light emission brightness timing chart relating to light sources of three colors of r ( red ), g ( green ) and b ( blue ) in the sixth embodiment . the basic light emission order , the weighting of the light emission brightnesses of light sources of r ( red ) and b ( blue ) and advantageous effects obtained by such light emission order and the weighting are substantially equal to those of the above - mentioned fifth embodiment explained in conjunction with fig1 and hence , the explanation of these matters is omitted here . the constitution which makes the sixth embodiment different from the fifth embodiment when compared lies in that the weighting of the light emission brightness is made with respect to the g ( green ) light emission particularly in view of a novel purpose . as explained in conjunction with the fifth embodiment , the g ( green ) light emission is performed at the same timing in respective frames and hence , the weighting is not performed particularly . however , in fig1 , as a byproduct which is caused by the suppression of color flickers to achieve the purpose of the present invention , in a front half of each frame , the relative brightness of the g ( green ) light emission is increased relative to the r ( red ) light emission and the b ( blue ) light emission , and in a latter half of each frame , the relative brightness of the g ( green ) light emission is lowered relative to the r ( red ) light emission and the b ( blue ) light emission . accordingly , there exists a possibility that a color decomposition component is slightly generated such that the color decomposition component is generated slightly close to mg ( magenta ) in a front portion of a moving image and slightly close to g ( green ) in a rear portion of the moving image . although the generation of a slight amount of g ( green ) flicker component is allowable , depending on a use purpose , there may be a case where it is necessary to avoid such color decomposition with priority . the sixth embodiment is directed to an image display device where the improvement is made for satisfying such a usage . in the sixth embodiment , the relative brightness of the g ( green ) light emission is adjusted in the front half and the latter half of each frame such that the g ( green ) light emission becomes equal to the r ( red ) light emission and the b ( blue ) light emission . that is , brightness weighting values of three sub frames in the front half of each frame are unified to 5 / 12 , and brightness weighting values of three sub frames in the latter half of each frame are unified to 7 / 12 . due to such weighting , in this embodiment , an extremely slight amount of a g ( green ) flicker component is generated rather than decreasing such a component . however , instead , it is possible to eliminate the color decomposition component which is the byproduct generated in the fifth embodiment and is generated slightly close to mg ( magenta ) in a front portion of a moving image and slightly close to g ( green ) in a rear portion of the moving image . the selection of either one of the fifth embodiment and the sixth embodiment or the selection of a value between both embodiments may be performed or adjusted depending on a usage . the system constitution of an image display device , the constitution of a display panel and the constitution of a pixel according to the seventh embodiment are substantially equal to the corresponding constitutions according to the above - mentioned first embodiment and hence , the explanation of these constitutions is omitted . further , the light emission order in the seventh embodiment is equal to the case of the placement 1 shown in table 1 where the light emission order in the fifth embodiment is described and hence , the explanation with respect to the light emission order is omitted here . fig1 a is a lighting timing chart relating to an r ( red ) light source in the seventh embodiment . as shown in fig1 a , a time interval of a non - light emission period between the third r ( red ) light emission in a first frame and the r ( red ) light emission in a second frame is 1 / 2 ( f ). in the same manner , a time interval of the non - light emission period between the r ( red ) light emission in the second frame and the first r ( red ) light emission in the first frame is 1 / 3 ( f ), and the time interval of the non - light emission period between the first r ( red ) light emission in the first frame and the second r ( red ) light emission in the first frame is 1 / 6 ( f ). the subsequent time intervals are also substantially equal to the above - mentioned time intervals . fig1 b is a light emission brightness timing chart relating to the r ( red ) light source in the seventh embodiment . here , the light emission brightness of each color is weighted based on a time for calculation defined by a sum of the time intervals of the non - light emission period between the sub frame and sub frames before and after the sub frame in which light of the same color as the sub frame is emitted such that the total light emission amount within the continuous 2 ( f ) is not changed . to be more specific , with respect to light emission intervals before and after the r ( red ) light emission in the second frame , the time interval of the non - light emission period before the r ( red ) light emission is 1 / 2 ( f ), and the time interval of the non - light emission period after the r ( red ) light emission is 1 / 3 ( f ) and hence , a weighting coefficient is 5 / 8 which is obtained by multiplying a sum of both time intervals of the non - light emission periods by 3 / 4 . in the same manner , light emission intervals before and after the first r ( red ) light emission in the first frame are 4 / 12 ( f ) and 2 / 12 ( f ) respectively and hence , a weighting coefficient is 3 / 8 which is obtained by multiplying a sum of both light emission intervals by 3 / 4 . the light emission brightnesses in fig1 b are obtained by setting the light emission intervals obtained in this manner as the weighting coefficients with respect to the respective light emissions . due to such processing , with respect to the light emission brightness of r ( red ) in each light emission period , the light emission brightness of the first r ( red ) light emission in the first frame is weighted by 3 / 8 , the light emission brightness of the second r ( red ) light emission in the first frame is weighted by 3 / 8 , the light emission brightness of the third r ( red ) light emission in the first frame is weighted by 5 / 8 , and the light emission brightness of the r ( red ) light emission in the second frame is weighted by 5 / 8 . fig2 a is a lighting timing chart relating to a b ( blue ) light source in the seventh embodiment . as shown in fig2 a , a time interval of a non - light emission period between the third b ( blue ) light emission in the second frame and the b ( blue ) light emission in the first frame is 1 / 2 ( f ). in the same manner , a time interval of a non - light emission period between the b ( blue ) light emission in the first frame and the first b ( blue ) light emission in the second frame is 1 / 3 ( f ), and a time interval of a non - light emission period between the first b ( blue ) light emission in the second frame and the second b ( blue ) light emission in the second frame is 1 / 6 ( f ). the subsequent time intervals are also substantially equal to the above - mentioned time intervals . fig2 b is a light emission brightness timing chart relating to the b ( blue ) light source in the seventh embodiment . for example , with respect to light emission intervals before and after the b ( blue ) light emission in the first frame , the time interval of the non - light emission period before the b ( blue ) light emission is 1 / 2 ( f ), and the time interval of the non - light emission period after the b ( blue ) light emission is 1 / 3 ( f ) and hence , a weighting coefficient is 5 / 8 which is obtained by multiplying a sum of both time intervals of the non - light emission periods by 3 / 4 . in the same manner , light emission intervals before and after the first b ( blue ) light emission in the second frame are 1 / 3 ( f ) and 1 / 6 ( f ) respectively and hence , a weighting coefficient is 3 / 8 which is obtained by multiplying a sum of both light emission intervals by 3 / 4 . the light emission brightnesses in fig2 b are obtained by setting the light emission intervals obtained in this manner as the weighting coefficients with respect to the respective light emissions . due to such processing , with respect to the light emission brightness of b ( blue ) in each light emission period , the light emission brightness of the b ( blue ) light emission in the first frame is weighted by 5 / 8 , the light emission brightness of the first b ( blue ) light emission in the second frame is weighted by 3 / 8 , the light emission brightness of the second b ( blue ) light emission in the second frame is weighted by 3 / 8 , and the light emission brightness of the third b ( blue ) light emission in the second frame is weighted by 5 / 8 . fig2 is a light emission brightness timing chart relating to light sources of three colors of r ( red ), g ( green ) and b ( blue ) obtained in this manner . the g ( green ) light source emits light at the same timing among respective frames and hence , it is unnecessary to weight the light emission brightness of the g ( green ) light emission . although the light emission brightness of each color in each frame differs for every frame , an object which a viewer visually recognizes is not an image in accordance with a frame unit but a series of continuous light emissions and hence , no problem arises particularly . in this embodiment , by applying weighting to the brightness as described above , a light emission component having frequency equal to or below frame frequency can be cancelled so that low frequency flicker noises generated in each light emission color of r ( red ), g ( green ) or b ( blue ) can be lowered to a value equal to or below a perception limit . this embodiment can acquire the advantageous effects described in the conditions 1 to 5 described previously including an advantageous effect of suppressing the color decomposition with respect to a moving image . this embodiment is characterized in that with respect to the g ( green ) light emission which is generated in respective frames always at the same timing , the time intervals between the light emission centers are all equal and hence , weighting is not applied to the light emission amounts . the difference between the weighting coefficient used in the fifth embodiment and the weighting coefficient used in the seventh embodiment is substantially equal to the difference previously described in the explanation in conjunction with the second embodiment . that is , the former is a technique suitable for a high brightness display gray level region particularly while the latter is a technique suitable for a low - brightness display gray level region particularly . accordingly , it is preferable to properly use the weighting coefficient used in the fifth embodiment and the weighting coefficient used in the seventh embodiment separately between a high brightness portion and a low brightness portion in an image . however , from a viewpoint of simplifying the system practically , it is desirable to select either one of these weighting coefficients or to fix the weighting coefficient to a proper value between both weighting coefficients by taking into account a display image quality in general . as described previously , the light emission order in this seventh embodiment is the case of the placement 1 among four sub frame arrangements in above - mentioned table 1 . here , the case of the placement 4 is symmetrical with the case of the placement 1 with time . accordingly , even when the case of the placement 4 is selected , the weighting substantially equal to the weighting of this embodiment is applicable to the case of the placement 4 . the system constitution of an image display device , the constitution of a display panel and the constitution of a pixel according to the eighth embodiment are substantially equal to the corresponding constitutions according to the above - mentioned first embodiment and hence , the explanation of these constitutions is omitted . fig2 is a light emission brightness timing chart relating to light sources of three colors of r ( red ), g ( green ) and b ( blue ) in the sixth embodiment . the basic light emission order , the weighting of the light emission brightnesses of light sources of r ( red ) and b ( blue ) and advantageous effects obtained by such light emission order and the weighting are substantially equal to those of the above - mentioned seventh embodiment explained in conjunction with fig2 and hence , the explanation of these matters is omitted here . the constitution which makes the eighth embodiment differ from the seventh embodiment when compared lies in that the weighting of the light emission brightness is made with respect to the g ( green ) light emission particularly in view of a novel purpose . as explained in conjunction with the seventh embodiment , the g ( green ) light emission is performed at the same timing in respective frames and hence , the weighting is not performed particularly . however , in fig2 , as a byproduct which is caused by the suppression of color flickers to achieve the purpose of the present invention , in a front half of each frame , the relative brightness of the g ( green ) light emission is increased relative to the r ( red ) light emission and the b ( blue ) light emission , and in a latter half of each frame , the relative brightness of the g ( green ) light emission is lowered relative to the r ( red ) light emission and the b ( blue ) light emission . accordingly , there exists a possibility that a color decomposition component is slightly generated such that the color decomposition component is generated slightly close to mg ( magenta ) in a front portion of a moving image and slightly close to g ( green ) in a rear portion of the moving image . although the generation of a slight amount of g ( green ) flicker component is allowable , depending on a use purpose , there may be a case where it is necessary to avoid such color decomposition with priority . the eighth embodiment is directed to an image display device where the improvement is made for satisfying such a usage . in the eighth embodiment , the relative brightness of the g ( green ) light emission is adjusted in the front half and the latter half of each frame such that the g ( green ) light emission becomes equal to the r ( red ) light emission and the b ( blue ) light emission . that is , brightness weighting values of three sub frames in the front half of each frame are unified to 3 / 8 , and brightness weighting values of three sub frames in the latter half of each frame are unified to 5 / 8 . due to such weighting , in this eighth embodiment , an extremely slight amount of a g ( green ) flicker component is generated rather than decreasing such a component . however , instead , it is possible to eliminate the color decomposition component which is the byproduct generated in the seventh embodiment and is generated slightly close to mg ( magenta ) in a front portion of a moving image and slightly close to g ( green ) in a rear portion of the moving image . the selection of either one of the seventh embodiment and the eighth embodiment or the selection of a value between both embodiments may be performed or adjusted depending on a usage . the system constitution of an image display device , the constitution of a display panel and the constitution of a pixel according to the ninth embodiment are substantially equal to the corresponding constitutions according to the above - mentioned first embodiment and hence , the explanation of these constitutions is omitted . fig2 shows a lighting timing chart according to the ninth embodiment which is devised this time to cope with the color decomposition in a field sequential display . to be more specific , a first frame is constituted of six sub frames of “ r ( red ), g ( green ), r ( red ), b ( blue ), g ( green ) and r ( red )”, and a second frame is constituted of six sub frames of “ b ( blue ), g ( green ), r ( red ), b ( blue ), g ( green ) and b ( blue )”. this constitution order of the sub frames corresponds to the case of the placement 2 previously explained in conjunction with the fifth embodiment . fig2 a is a lighting timing chart relating to an r ( red ) light source in the ninth embodiment . as shown in fig2 a , a time interval between a light emission center of the first r ( red ) light emission in the first frame and a light emission center of the second r ( red ) light emission in the first frame is 1 / 3 ( f ). in the same manner , a time interval between the light emission center of the second r ( red ) light emission in the first frame and a light emission center of the third r ( red ) light emission in the first frame is 1 / 2 ( f ), a time interval between the light emission center of the third r ( red ) light emission in the first frame and a light emission center of the r ( red ) light emission in a second frame is 1 / 2 ( f ), and a time interval between the light emission center of the r ( red ) light emission in the second frame and a light emission center of the first r ( red ) light emission in the next first frame is 2 / 3 ( f ). the subsequent time intervals are also substantially equal to the above - mentioned time intervals . fig2 b is a light emission brightness timing chart relating to the r ( red ) light source in the ninth embodiment . for example , with respect to light emission intervals before and after the second r ( red ) light emission in the first frame , the time interval between the light emission centers before the second r ( red ) light emission is 1 / 3 ( f ), and the time interval between the light emission centers after the second r ( red ) light emission is 1 / 2 ( f ) and hence , a weighting coefficient is 5 / 12 which is obtained by multiplying a sum of both time intervals by 1 / 2 . in the same manner , light emission intervals before and after the third r ( red ) light emission in the first frame are 1 / 2 ( f ) and 1 / 2 ( f ) respectively and hence , a weighting coefficient is 1 / 2 which is obtained by multiplying a sum of both light emission intervals by 1 / 2 . the light emission brightnesses in fig2 b are obtained by setting the light emission intervals obtained in this manner as the weighting coefficients with respect to the respective light emissions . due to such processing , with respect to the light emission brightness of the r ( red ) light emission in each light emission period , the light emission brightness of the first r ( red ) light emission in the first frame is weighted by 1 / 2 , the light emission brightness of the second r ( red ) light emission in the first frame is weighted by 5 / 12 , the light emission brightness of the third r ( red ) light emission in the first frame is weighted by 1 / 2 , and the light emission brightness of the r ( red ) light emission in the second frame is weighted by 7 / 12 . fig2 a is a lighting timing chart relating to a b ( blue ) light source in the ninth embodiment . as shown in fig2 a , a time interval between a light emission center of the b ( blue ) light emission in the first frame and a light emission center of the first b ( blue ) light emission in the second frame is 1 / 2 ( f ). in the same manner , a time interval between the light emission center of the first b ( blue ) light emission in the second frame and a light emission center of the second b ( blue ) light emission in the second frame is 1 / 2 ( f ), a time interval between the light emission center of the second b ( blue ) light emission in the second frame and a light emission center of the third b ( blue ) light emission in the second frame is 1 / 3 ( f ), and a time interval between the light emission center of the third b ( blue ) light emission in the second frame and a light emission center of the b ( blue ) light emission in the next first frame is 2 / 3 ( f ). the subsequent time intervals are also substantially equal to the above - mentioned time intervals . fig2 b is a light emission brightness timing chart relating to the b ( blue ) light source in the ninth embodiment . for example , with respect to light emission intervals before and after the first b ( blue ) light emission in the second frame , the time interval between the light emission centers before the first b ( blue ) light emission is 1 / 2 ( f ), and the time interval between the light emission centers after the first b ( blue ) light emission is 1 / 2 ( f ) and hence , a weighting coefficient is 1 / 2 which is obtained by multiplying a sum of both time intervals by 1 / 2 . in the same manner , light emission intervals before and after the second b ( blue ) light emission in the second frame are 1 / 2 ( f ) and 1 / 3 ( f ) respectively and hence , a weighting coefficient is 5 / 12 which is obtained by multiplying a sum of both light emission intervals by 1 / 2 . the light emission brightnesses in fig2 b are obtained by setting the light emission intervals obtained in this manner as the weighting coefficients with respect to the respective light emissions . due to such processing , with respect to the light emission brightness of the b ( blue ) light emission in each light emission period , the light emission brightness of the b ( blue ) light emission in the first frame is weighted by 7 / 12 , the light emission brightness of the first b ( blue ) light emission in the second frame is weighted by 1 / 2 , the light emission brightness of the second b ( blue ) light emission in the second frame is weighted by 5 / 12 , and the light emission brightness of the third b ( blue ) light emission in the second frame is weighted by 1 / 2 . fig2 is a light emission brightness timing chart relating to light sources of three colors of r ( red ), g ( green ) and b ( blue ) obtained in this manner . the g ( green ) light source emits light at the same timing among respective frames and hence , it is unnecessary to weight the light emission brightness of the g ( green ) light emission particularly . although the light emission brightness of each color in each frame differs for every frame , an object which a viewer visually recognizes is not an image in accordance with a frame unit but a series of continuous light emissions and hence , no problem arises particularly . in this embodiment , by applying weighting to the brightness as described above , a light emission component having frequency equal to or below frame frequency can be cancelled so that low frequency flicker noises generated in each light emission color of r ( red ), g ( green ) or b ( blue ) can be lowered to a value equal to or below a perception limit . this embodiment can acquire advantageous effects described in the conditions 1 to 5 explained in conjunction with the fifth embodiment including the advantageous effect of suppressing the color decomposition with respect to a moving image . this ninth embodiment is characterized in that with respect to the g ( green ) light emission which is generated in respective frames always at the same timing , the time intervals between the light emission centers are all equal and hence , weighting is not applied to the light emission amounts . further , in the ninth embodiment , the distribution of light emission brightness of three colors of r ( red ), g ( green ) and b ( blue ) is small thus giving rise to an advantageous effect that the ninth embodiment is advantageous for the suppression of color flicker noises compared to the fifth embodiment . as described previously , the light emission order in this fifth embodiment is the case of the placement 2 among four sub frame arrangements in above - mentioned table 1 . here , the case of the placement 2 is symmetrical with the case of the placement 3 with time . accordingly , even when the case of the placement 3 is selected , the weighting substantially equal to the weighting of the ninth embodiment is applicable to the case of the placement 3 . as a modification of the ninth embodiment , a period between the respective light emissions can be used as time interval of a non - light emission period in place of time intervals between the respective light emission centers . which one of these two time intervals is used is decided in the same manner as the difference in weighting coefficient explained previously in conjunction with the seventh embodiment . that is , the former is a technique suitable for a high brightness display gray level region particularly while the latter is a technique suitable for a low - brightness display gray level region particularly . accordingly , it is preferable to properly use the former and the latter separately between a high brightness portion and a low brightness portion in an image . however , from a viewpoint of simplifying the system practically , it is desirable to select either one of these time intervals or to fix the time interval to a proper value between both time intervals by taking into account a display image quality in general . the system constitution of an image display device , the constitution of a display panel and the constitution of a pixel according to the tenth embodiment are substantially equal to the corresponding constitutions according to the above - mentioned first embodiment and hence , the explanation of these constitutions is omitted . further , a color control method adopted by the tenth embodiment is as same as the color control method adopted by the sixth embodiment and hence , the explanation of the color control method is also omitted . the technical feature of the tenth embodiment , compared with the sixth embodiment , lies in a display operation using digital signals and hence , the explanation is made hereinafter by focusing on this display operation . fig2 a is a light emission brightness timing chart relating to light sources of three colors of r ( red ), g ( green ) and b ( blue ) in the tenth embodiment . this timing chart is substantially equal to the timing chart shown in fig1 explained in conjunction with the above - mentioned sixth embodiment and hence , the explanation of the timing chart is omitted . fig2 b is a view showing a bit allocation period in an r ( red ) light emission period 701 which is an r ( red ) light emission period in a front half of a first frame in fig2 a , and fig2 c is a view showing a bit allocation period in an r ( red ) light emission period 702 which is an r ( red ) light emission period in a latter half of the first frame and a latter half of a second frame . a light emission period of individual color described in fig2 a is , in the actual constitution , constituted of eight independent light emission periods where the light emission period is weighted for every bit . in this embodiment , the r ( red ) light emission period 701 is , as shown in fig2 b , constituted of three independent light emission periods of 5 - bit , 6 - bit and 7 - bit where the light emission period is weighted for every bit , while the r ( red ) light emission period 702 is constituted of eight independent light emission periods of 0 - bit , 1 - bit , 2 - bit , 3 - bit , 4 - bit , 5 - bit , 6 - bit and 7 - bit where the light emission period is weighted for every bit . while the tenth embodiment can expect advantageous effects substantially equal to the advantageous effects explained in conjunction with the sixth embodiment , the tenth embodiment also possesses a novel advantage that a rectangular light emission waveform in a front half of the frame does not contain 0 - bit , 1 - bit , 2 - bit , 3 - bit and 4 - bit and hence , the number of times of writing signals to pixels per frame can be reduced . however , it is necessary to pay attention to a fact that weighting is 1 . 0 with respect to the respective light emission brightnesses of 0 - bit , 1 - bit , 2 - bit , 3 - bit and 4 - bit which are included in a rectangular light emission waveform in a latter half of the frame at this point of time . further , with respect to the respective light emission brightnesses of 5 - bit , 6 - bit and 7 - bit included in both front - half and latter - half light emission periods of the frame , aiming at the reduction of the brightness difference between these light emission brightnesses of 5 - bit , 6 - bit and 7 - bit and light emission brightnesses of 0 - bit , 1 - bit , 2 - bit , 3 - bit and 4 - bit , while maintaining an average value of brightness at 1 . 0 , the light emission period is split in two to a front half of the frame and the latter half of the frame in place of brightness . this is because to ensure a large control range of a light emission current value of an led which constitutes a backlight light source is a factor which pushes up a cost of control parts . in fig2 c , a timewise length of 4 - bit and a timewise length of 5 - bit are set equal for this reason . accordingly , although the brightness in the front half of the frame is described as 5 / 12 and the brightness in the latter half of the frame is described as 7 / 12 in fig2 a , the actual brightnesses of the individual 5 - bit , 6 - bit and 7 - bit described in fig2 b and fig2 c are set to 5 / 6 and 7 / 6 which are values twice as large as the above - mentioned values . by adopting the concept of weighting of a light emission amount as in the case of the tenth embodiment , it is possible to acquire a novel advantageous effect that the number of times of writing signals to pixels per frame can be reduced . although the brightness is mainly used for weighting of a light emission amount also in the tenth embodiment , a light emission period can be also used for weighting of the light emission amount in place of the brightness . a system constitutional view of an image display device according to the eleventh embodiment is substantially equal to the system constitutional view of the above - mentioned first embodiment and hence , the explanation of the system constitution of the image display device according to this embodiment is omitted . fig2 is a system constitutional view of an image display device 200 according to the eleventh embodiment of the present invention . a system control circuit 205 is connected to a display control circuit 203 and a light emission control circuit 204 , the system control circuit 205 is connected to a display panel 201 through a panel control line 206 , and the light emission control circuit 204 is connected to a backlight light source 202 . the system control circuit 205 transmits image data corresponding to a display image and drive timing of the display panel 201 to the display control circuit 203 , and transmits timing at which the backlight light source 202 is made to emit light of any one of three colors consisting of r , g and b in synchronism with driving of the display panel 201 to the light emission control circuit 204 . upon receiving these signals , the display control circuit 203 and the light emission control circuit 204 respectively transmit signals necessary for driving the display panel 201 and the backlight light source 202 to the display panel 201 and the backlight light source 202 . fig2 is a constitutional view of the display panel 201 according to the eleventh embodiment . pixels 231 are arranged in a display region of the display panel 201 in a matrix array , scanning lines 212 are connected to the pixels 231 in the row direction , and signal lines 213 are connected to the pixels 231 in the columnar direction . a scanning line scanning circuit 215 is connected to one end of each scanning line 212 , and one end of each signal line 213 is connected to an analogue signal input circuit 232 . the analogue signal input circuit 232 controls the scanning line scanning circuit 215 , and a signal is inputted to the analogue signal input circuit 232 through the panel control line 206 . when image data and drive timing are inputted to the display panel 201 through the panel control line 206 , the analogue signal input circuit 232 inputs an analogue image signal voltage to the signal lines 213 while controlling the scanning line scanning circuit 215 at predetermined timing . an operation of each pixel 231 is controlled in response to a signal from the scanning line scanning circuit 215 through the scanning line 212 , and the analogue image signal voltage is fetched or displayed through the signal line 213 at predetermined timing . fig3 is a constitutional view of the pixel 231 . the pixel 231 is constituted of a tft switch 241 which has a gate thereof connected to the scanning line 212 and has one end of drain / source terminals thereof connected to the signal line 213 , and a liquid crystal capacitance element 243 which is provided between the other end of the drain / source terminals of the tft switch 241 and a common electrode 244 . when the tft switch 241 of the pixel 231 which the scanning line 212 selects is brought into an on state , a signal voltage which is analogue image data written in the signal line 213 is written in the liquid crystal capacitance element 243 , and this signal voltage is held even after the scanning line 212 brings the tft switch 241 into an off state . the liquid crystal capacitance element 243 controls a light blocking amount with respect to the backlight light source 202 based on an analogue signal voltage written in the liquid crystal capacitance element 243 in an analogue manner . an analogue control of light blocking amount with respect to a backlight light source 202 using the liquid crystal capacitance element 243 is performed by an operational principle substantially equal to an operational principle of a known liquid crystal display and hence , the detailed explanation of the analogue control is omitted . here , each pixel 231 does not have a color decomposition means such as a color filter and , in the eleventh embodiment , coloring of the image display device 200 is controlled by a so - called field sequential display method where light emission colors of the backlight light source 202 are sequentially changed . further , a color control method adopted by the eleventh embodiment is as same as the color control method adopted by the first embodiment explained in conjunction with fig4 and fig5 . however , this embodiment differs from the first embodiment such that while each light emission period is constituted of eight independent light emission periods which are weighted for every gray level bit in the actual constitution in the first embodiment , the optical transmissivity is controlled in an analogue manner corresponding to a gray level value by a liquid crystal shutter in the eleventh embodiment . also in this embodiment , in the same manner as the first embodiment , by applying weighting to the brightness , a light emission component having frequency equal to or below frame frequency can be cancelled so that low frequency flicker noises generated in each light emission color of r ( red ), g ( green ) or b ( blue ) can be lowered to a value equal to or below a perception limit . in this embodiment , the light emission order of r ( red ), g ( green ) and b ( blue ) is changed for every frame and hence , it is also possible to acquire an advantageous effect of suppressing the color decomposition with respect to a moving image . fig3 is a constitutional view of an internet image display device 350 according to a twelfth embodiment . compressed image data or the like is inputted to a wireless interface ( i / f ) circuit 352 from the outside as wireless data , and an output of the wireless i / f circuit 352 is connected to a data bus 358 through an i / o ( input / output ) circuit 353 . besides the wireless i / f circuit 352 , a micro processor ( mpu ) 354 , a display panel controller 356 , a frame memory 357 and the like are connected to the data bus 358 . further , an output of the display panel controller 356 is inputted to an image display device 351 which uses optical shutters . the internet image display device 350 is further provided with a power source 359 . here , the image display device 351 provided with the optical shutters has the same constitution and the same manner of operation as the display panel of the first embodiment described previously and hence , the description of the internal constitution and the manner of operation of the image display device 351 is omitted . next , the manner of operation of the image display device 351 according to the twelfth embodiment is explained . first , the wireless i / f circuit 352 fetches compressed image data from the outside in response to a command , and transfers the image data to the microprocessor 354 and the frame memory 357 through the i / o circuit 353 . upon receiving a command operation from a user , the microprocessor 354 drives the whole internet image display device 350 when necessary thus performing decoding , signal processing or information display of the compressed image data . the image data subjected to signal processing can be temporarily stored in the frame memory 357 . when the microprocessor 354 outputs a display command , image data is inputted to the image display device 351 from the frame memory 357 through the display panel controller 356 in accordance with the instruction , and the image display device 351 displays the inputted image data in real time . at this point of time , the display panel controller 356 simultaneously performs an output control of a predetermined timing pulse necessary for displaying an image . the display of the inputted image data in real time by the image display device 351 using these signals is exactly as same as the display explained in conjunction with the first embodiment . a secondary cell is included in the power supply 359 in the definition thereof , and the secondary cell supplies electricity for driving the whole internet image display device 350 . according to this embodiment , it is possible to provide the internet image display device 350 which can perform a high image quality display and can reduce power consumption at a low cost . although the image display device 351 which has the substantially same constitution as the image display device 100 explained in conjunction with the first embodiment is used as the image display device in this embodiment , various kinds of display devices described in other embodiments of the present invention can be used besides the image display device 351 . while there have been described what are at present considered to be certain embodiments of the invention , it will be understood that various modifications may be made thereto , and it is intended that the appended claim cover all such modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention .	6
[ 0030 ] fig1 provides by way of example an overview of an emergency call as originated in a private network ( via mlts 10 ) on customer premise equipment ( cpe ) 12 . according to the invention in the context of the aforementioned example , the call may be routed directly to the public network 14 or first transit over the private network ( via one or more other mlts 16 ) to a far end “ hop off ” to the public network 14 . the private network route may include isdn ( e . g ., qsig / pss1 ) or analog tie trunks . furthermore , according to the invention , the elin / callback number is sent with the emergency call over the private network 7 then to the public gateway mlts 16 . the encoding of the dtmf tones over analog tie and facility ie apdu are implementation dependent private extensions on a private network . the mlts 10 or 16 may send the emergency call and elin / callback number via an isdn pri or analog cama ( centralized automatic message accounting ) trunk to the public network 14 . in either case , the central office 18 receives the information and routes the call to the proper 911 tandem office 20 which routes the call to the appropriate psap 22 , 24 . a special automatic location identification database ( ali db ) 26 is maintained to match the received elin and / or callback number and display associated information at the psap . it is the mlts administrator &# 39 ; s responsibility that the caller information be correctly listed in the ali db . referring now to fig2 an mlts 10 according to the invention includes a database 30 , a database administration module 32 , a call processing module 34 , a device handler 36 , an emergency services ( es ) module 38 , and a dependability module 40 . the dependability module 40 provides call recovery functions in the event of an equipment failure . according to the presently preferred embodiment , the trunk side of the mlts 10 includes an isdn primary rate interface 42 , a private isdn interface 44 for coupling to other customer equipment , and an analog interface 46 for coupling to either the public network or the private network . as mentioned hereinbefore , on the user / line side of the mlts 10 , each user equipment is coupled to a unique port and each port is assigned a unique port equipment number ( pen ) 48 . as described in more detail below with reference to fig5 when an emergency call is dialed , call processing fig2 recognizes the digits and invokes emergency services 38 which , using the pen 48 retrieves the appropriate information from the database 30 . the device handler 36 provides necessary signaling / outpulsing depending on the type of trunk used . the invention doe not preclude the ability to assign incoming trunks ( that are emergency calls ) with pens to the elin database . referring to fig3 the call processing module 34 includes a least cost routing ( lcr ) module 34 a , an invoke es module 34 b , and a basic call processing module 34 c . the device handler 36 includes a private signaling module 36 a ( e . g ., analog tie dtmf , qsig ), a public signaling module ( e . g ., cama , primary rate interface ( pri )) 36 b through which calls are setup and elin / callback number data is transmitted via link 36 c or 36 d . when the emergency caller 48 dials ( e . g ., 911 ), a connect request internal message is sent to the call processing module 34 . the emergency digits are recognized by least cost routing ( lcr ) 34 a and emergency services ( es ) 38 is invoked for this call . according to the invention , the emergency digits are recognized at 34 b depending on how the unit has been programmed . for example , an indicator on one or more digit patterns in the dial plan flags this as an emergency call when the digits match . this mechanism “ triggers ” es processing 38 . es 38 performs all the necessary functions to deliver this call as a priority emergency call with correct elin and callback number to the basic call processor 34 c . normal processing resumes for trunk selection , basic call establishment sending an internal message with the elin and callback number to device handler 36 . dh 36 formats the call information appropriately for the trunk which has been awarded . when the trunk is a private trunk 36 d , the elin and / or callback number ( calling party number cpn ) are formatted in a proprietary encoding . when the trunk is a public trunk 36 c , the elin and callback number are formatted according to the trunk protocol required ( e . g ., cama , pri ). the trunk facilities may be non - isdn with dtmf signaling or isdn where the elin and callback number are encoded in the setup message ( generic information ie ) sent on the signaling channel . [ 0042 ] fig4 is an example of the internal tables associated with the database of the invention . table 1 50 is a pen - to - elin index table and table 2 52 is a elin index - to - elin and callback number table . referring now to table 1 50 , the first column 54 is a list of all pens which have a device / trunk that can originate an emergency call . the second column 56 identifies all of the devices sharing the same pen ( e . g ., multi - drop configuration ) and the third column 58 provides an index number to it &# 39 ; s assigned elin / callback entry for each device / trunk . the invention does not preclude or limit the usage of device or trunk types ( e . g ., analog pots , ip phone , workstation ). typically , each pen is associated with only one end device and therefore associated with only one elin index value shown in the third column . therefore , the device column 56 is optional / not used . the elin index value is a pointer into table 2 . the system administrator assigns an index to each pen or device within a pen ( i . e ., multi - drop ). the optional device column 56 may consist of several entries , each associated with that same pen value . this allows for multiple end devices to be configured and connected to one jack and therefore , one pen . each device specified has it &# 39 ; s own associated elin index value which may be different from another device on that same pen . when es retrieves an emergency call &# 39 ; s pen , when there is more than one end device , it must be able to identify which logical ( or physical ) device initiated the call ( i . e ., 1 − n ) and use both the pen and device number to select the associated elin index . table 1 may be any length . the pen field may optionally be set up to represent a range of pens rather than a single pen . the format of the pen is implementation - dependent . optional fields may further identify the pen / device . table 2 52 is , for example , an indexed table where a list of the elin index numbers is represented in the first column 60 , and the table includes a list of the associated elins in the second column 62 , a elin type indicator in the third column 64 , the callback number associated with the elin in the fourth column 66 at other optional fields such as , a text description of the elin in the fifth column 68 , and a population field in the sixth column 70 . in this table example the elin index number obtained from table 1 is used to access the corresponding index value table entry in the first column of table 2 . this table entry provides the actual 10 - digit nanp ( north american numbering plan ) elin assignment as seen in the second column . the invention does not preclude the usage of another type of table access nor is limited with it &# 39 ; s contents ( e . g ., other identification information ). the assignment of elin values are the responsibility of the cpe administrator . the elin values are reported to the psap who should have a matching elin value in their ali database with associated location information . the elin type indicator is applicable when a pri connection to the psap is used . the elin type value correlates to the generic information information element ( ie ) octet 3 ( bits 5 - 1 ) type of information as defined in the american national standard t1 . 628 - 2000 . the two current defined values represent whether the information administered in the elin field is geodetic or non - geodetic information . the callback # field 66 is a 10 - digit nanp public network number which can be used by the psap to dial the caller back should the connection be broken . the cpe administrator designates which phone number is to be used as the callback number associated with this elin , typically it &# 39 ; s did number if available or a phone relatively close to the physical location of the calling location or possibly a receptionist . optional fields , such as the description field 68 is a comments field used by the local administrator to help identify the elin . the pop ( for population ) field 70 is an internal register which is incremented and decremented each time a pen is assigned / deassigned this table entry index in the pen - to - elin table via an administrative action . therefore , it represents the number of pens that are currently assigned to this particular elin and callback number . the content of table 2 is completely flexible . elins and callback numbers can appear multiple times in the table . the size of the table is implementation - dependent . tables 1 and 2 reside in each mlts in a network . the es processing and elin / callback number retrieval occurs at the originating mlts . the resulting call information is transmitted either to the public network or first over the private network for far end hop off to the public network . this does not preclude the destination of an emergency call being on - site with delivery of elin and callback number to a local emergency call operator . this may be desired when the organization responsible for the mlts screens all emergency calls at a designated central location or when the organization has its own emergency personnel such as security guards and medical personnel . [ 0054 ] fig5 is an example of a high level flow chart illustrating the logic of the processing of an emergency call according to the invention . starting at 72 , a station user dials an emergency number ( e . g ., 911 ). the lcr processes the digits at 74 and recognized the digits as representing an emergency call at 76 . lcr invokes es at 78 . es ( 80 - 86 ) assigns the call priority at 80 , retrieves the pen / device number at 82 , obtains elin index from table 1 at 84 , and obtains elin , type and callback number from table 2 . es turns over the information to the device handler which formats the information at 88 and proceeds with normal call processing at 90 . though not illustrated in fig5 if a matching pen cannot be found , the invention may optionally report the missing pen , exit es , and continue with regular call processing . if a matching pen was found and no device number applies , es retrieves the elin index associated with this pen . if a matching index is not found in table 2 , the invention may optionally report the missing index and pen , exit es , and continue with regular call processing . there have been described and illustrated herein methods and apparatus for precise reporting to a psap of an accurate elin / callback number from an emergency caller calling from behind a pbx / mlts . while particular embodiments of the invention have been described , it is not intended that the invention be limited thereto , as it is intended that the invention be as broad in scope as the art will allow and that the specification be read likewise . it will therefore be appreciated by those skilled in the art that yet other modifications could be made to the provided invention without deviating from its spirit and scope as so claimed .	7
the specification and drawings of u . s . patent application ser . no . 453 , 225 , upon which the issue fee has been paid , are incorporated herein by reference and , particularly , the first paragraph of &# 34 ; summary of the invention ,&# 34 ; pages 5 - 10 , page 11 down to the last paragraph , and all of the drawings . the specification and drawings of u . s . patent application ser . no . 453 , 234 , upon which the issue fee has been paid , are incorporated herein by reference , and particularly , pages 4 - 8 and the drawings . in the process of the referenced patent applications , potassium sulfate from the first leaching step may be recovered by crystallization while the mother liquor returns to leaching step . impurities , such as sodium , eventually build up in the mother liquor to a prohibitive concentration so that some of the mother liquor must be bled off in a bleed stream . this bleed stream is ordinarily discarded and this may create an environmental hazard problem . in the digestion step potassium from the ore not removed in prior steps is picked up in the sodium hydroxide liquor which is sent to desilication and aluminum hydroxide precipitation . the mother liquor from the aluminum precipitation step is recycled to the digestion step . its potassium content gradually builds up from the digestion step so that some of the mother liquor must be bled off to prevent potassium contamination of the aluminum product . this bleed stream of contaminated sodium hydroxide is ordinarily discarded , this also creating an environmental hazard problem . following the flow diagram of the drawing illustrating the present invention , it will be seen that the potassium sulfate bleed stream from the sulfate crystallization step and contaminated sodium hydroxide from the aluminum digestion step are sent to ion exchange where potassium hydroxide is regenerated and recycled to the first leaching step . it has been found that the desilication product ( dsp ) from the desilication step can be used as a cation exchange agent in the process ; however , the invention is not limited to the use of this agent , as conventional ion exchange agents may also be used . when it is used as the ion exchange agent the economy of the process is further improved . desilication of the aluminate solution from the digestion step of the basic process may be accomplished by precipitating the silica either by heating or seed crystallization as sodium aluminum silicate which , along with impurities , constitutes the desilication product . when the desilication product is used as a cation exchange agent in an ion exchange column , flowing potassium sulfate bleed stream through the column results in the exchange of potassium ions with the sulfate for sodium ions with the silicate . subsequent passage of waste sodium hydroxide through the potassium loaded dsp agent results in regeneration of the agent with sodium ions and the formation of potassium hydroxide substantially free of sodium for use in the first leaching step . the sodium sulfate formed is discarded . an analagous phenomenon occurs , of course , when commercial solid cation exchange agents are used . in the case of solid anion exchange agents used in an ion exchange column , the agent is loaded with hydroxyl anion by flowing contaminated sodium hydroxide bleed stream through the column to exchange hydroxyl ion for anion on the agent . flowing potassium sulfate bleed stream through the agent loaded with hydroxyl ions results in regeneration of the agent by exchange of sulfate ions with the sulfate for hydroxyl ions on the agent with the formation of substantially sodium - free potassium hydroxide which is recycled to the first leaching step . the leaching agent for leaching the roasted ore may be ammonium hydroxide or an alkali metal hydroxide . the digestion agent for solubilizing aluminum values in the residue may be an alkali metal hydroxide or a mixture of these ; however , sodium hydroxide is the preferred agent . the operation of the invention is illustrated by the following examples which are not limiting of the invention . in this example , a desilication product having an analysis of the following components in weight percent was used : the solid dsp agent in an ion exchange column was loaded with potassium ions by flowing potassium sulfate through the column with the formation of sodium sulfate followed by stripping the agent with sodium hydroxide to exchange sodium ions for potassium ions on the agent and form potassium hydroxide . the dsp used was first dried at 100 ° c . for 24 hours although this heating step is not critical . a wet volume of 48 mls of the dsp having an average particle size of about +- 100 mesh u . s . sieve was used in a vertical column which was about one inch in diameter and four feet in length . the potassium sulfate solution used , which was contaminated with about 0 . 02 gpl of sodium , analyzed 45 gpl of potassium sulfate and the sodium hydroxide solution used , which was contaminated with about 0 . 02 gpl of potassium , analyzed 21 . 7 gpl of sodium . a flow rate of about 0 . 3 - 0 . 4 mls / min for both the potassium sulfate and the sodium hydroxide was used . consecutive 10 ml samples of the effluent were taken and analyzed for sodium and potassium . results of the test are set forth in the following table i . table i______________________________________k . sub . 2 so . sub . 4 addition ( load k . sup .+) sample gpl k gpl na vol . ______________________________________1 0 . 01 0 . 21 10 ml2 0 . 02 0 . 24 10 ml3 0 . 39 2 . 24 10 ml4 5 . 4 8 . 0 10 ml5 15 . 4 10 . 0 10 ml6 22 . 0 9 . 3 10 ml7 29 . 3 7 . 2 10 ml ( k . sup .+ strip with naoh ) sample gpl k gpl na vol . ______________________________________1 0 . 63 2 . 71 10 ml2 0 . 42 0 . 13 10 ml3 0 . 42 0 . 14 10 ml4 1 . 80 0 . 62 10 ml5 9 . 0 3 . 0 10 ml6 11 . 0 5 . 0 10 ml7 20 . 0 5 . 70 10 ml______________________________________ the results show that substantially good potassium loading rates were achieved rather rapidly , i . e ., by the time the fourth or fifth sample was taken , as significant amounts of potassium do not appear in the effluent until then . in the stripping operation it is noted that as large percentages of potassium are recovered only small percentages of sodium are picked up . the results show that the agent holds the sodium well as potassium is being replaced to form substantially sodium - free potassium hydroxide up to a point . the percentage recovery of the potassium as potassium hydroxide from the waste potassium sulfate is reasonably good while the regeneration of the agent with waste sodium hydroxide was satisfactory . the commercial solid cation exchange agent used was a strongly acidic sulfonated polystyrene resin with divinyl benzene cross linkage of about 10 %, the functional group being a sulfonic group . it is sold commercially by many chemical supply agencies , for example , under the tradename of &# 34 ; baker c - 249 .&# 34 ; a wet volume of 48 mls of the solid resin were used in a vertical column one inch in diameter and four feet in length . it had a particle mesh size of 15 - 50 u . s . sieve . the potassium sulfate used had a concentration of 50 gpl of potassium sulfate and a concentration of about 0 . 02 gpl of sodium . the sodium hydroxide solution used had a concentration of 26 . 9 gpl and a concentration of about 0 . 02 gpl of potassium . a flow rate of solutions through the agent of about 0 . 3 - 0 . 5 ml / min . was used . consecutive 10 ml samples of the effluent were taken and analyzed for sodium and potassium . results of the tests are set forth in the following table ii . table ii______________________________________k . sub . 2 so . sub . 4 addition ( column is being loaded with k . sup .+ ions ) gpl na gpl ksample in effluent in effluent vol______________________________________1 5 . 8 0 . 5 10 ml . 2 18 . 5 1 . 4 10 ml . 3 20 . 0 1 . 1 10 ml . 4 18 . 0 0 . 93 10 ml . 5 20 . 3 0 . 78 10 ml . 6 22 . 5 0 . 69 10 ml . 7 23 . 0 0 . 60 10 ml . 8 23 . 5 0 . 41 10 ml . 9 24 . 6 0 . 45 10 ml . 10 22 . 5 5 . 0 10 ml . 11 18 . 5 11 . 0 10 ml . 12 16 . 3 15 . 8 10 ml . 13 14 . 5 20 . 0 10 ml . 14 11 . 8 22 . 6 10 ml . 15 8 . 4 30 . 5 10 ml . 16 8 . 4 30 . 4 10 ml . 17 5 . 8 34 . 6 10 ml . 18 3 . 05 40 . 0 10 ml . 19 1 . 06 44 . 7 10 ml . 20 k . sub . 2 so . sub . 4 wash -- 6 . 0 10 ml . naoh addition ( column is being loaded with na . sup .+ ions ) gpl naoh gpl kohsam - gpl na gpl k based on based onple vol . ( in effluent ) ( in effluent ) na content k content______________________________________1 10 ml 0 . 03 0 . 5 0 . 5 0 . 72 10 ml 0 . 034 0 . 024 0 . 04 0 . 033 10 ml 0 . 07 21 . 5 0 . 12 30 . 874 10 ml 0 . 06 25 . 5 0 . 10 36 . 595 10 ml 0 . 09 31 . 7 0 . 16 45 . 496 10 ml 0 . 04 23 . 5 0 . 07 33 . 727 10 ml 0 . 03 31 . 7 0 . 05 45 . 488 10 ml 0 . 03 30 . 8 0 . 05 44 . 209 10 ml 0 . 02 30 . 8 0 . 03 44 . 2010 10 ml 0 . 04 31 . 7 0 . 07 45 . 4911 10 ml 0 . 12 29 . 0 0 . 21 41 . 6112 10 ml 0 . 04 30 . 8 0 . 07 44 . 1913 10 ml 1 . 05 29 . 0 1 . 83 41 . 6114 10 ml 2 . 17 28 . 0 3 . 77 40 . 1815 10 ml 3 . 50 24 . 6 6 . 09 35 . 3016 10 ml 4 . 72 20 . 0 8 . 21 28 . 717 10 ml 6 . 20 18 . 0 10 . 78 25 . 8318 10 ml 7 . 60 15 . 2 13 . 22 21 . 819 10 ml 8 . 70 13 . 7 15 . 13 19 . 6620 10 ml 10 . 5 17 . 5 18 . 26 25 . 1121 10 ml 11 . 2 10 . 0 19 . 48 14 . 3522 10 ml 13 . 0 7 . 5 22 . 61 10 . 7623 10 ml 14 . 8 6 . 0 25 . 74 8 . 6124 10 ml 14 . 8 4 . 39 25 . 74 6 . 30______________________________________ the potassium loading results show that a rather rapid potassium loading rate is achieved immediately and that maximum loading rate is achieved by about the time the ninth and tenth samples are taken , as substantial percentages of potassium appear in the effluent after that point . this is further verified by the fact that major percentages of displaced sodium appear in the effluent at and slightly before this point . the stripping results show that fairly rapid stripping of potassium is achieved with substantially good stripping rates obtained until the agent is about depleted of potassium . these results conform with the sodium loading results . what is particularly significant about the results is that minimum amounts of sodium occur in the effluent until a substantial period after the agent is first contacted with sodium hydroxide . this is important in that it indicates that the ion exchange procedure can be regulated to provide suitable potassium hydroxide for recycle to the first leaching step . in this example a solid anion exchange agent was used which is sold under the tradename of &# 34 ; dow sar &# 34 ; by the dow chemical company of midland , mich . its functional group is an alkanol quaternary amine in a styrene divinylbenzene copolymer matrix having about 8 % cross - linkage , the amine group having the formula : ## str1 ## a vertical column one inch in diameter and 48 inches long was used . it was loaded with 68 mls of the solid anion exchange resin in the wet form . the composition of the potassium sulfate and sodium hydroxide solutions used was about the same as that used in the other examples . a flow rate through the column of about 0 . 3 - 0 . 4 ml / min was used . the total volume of liquid was 200 mls . the sodium hydroxide solution , was first flowed through the resin to load it with hydroxyl ion . the hydroxyl ion loaded resin was then stripped with potassium sulfate solution to replace the hydroxyl ion on the agent with sulfate ion to form potassium hydroxide which was substantially sodium - free . a sample of effluent analyzed 25 . 3 gpl of potassium hydroxide and 0 . 05 gpl of sodium indicating that a significant yield of potassium hydroxide can be obtained from the waste potassium sulfate which is substantially sodium - free . the invention is not limited to the particular ion exchange agents used in the examples to illustrate its operation . other agents may be used , such as , strongly basic type ii anion agents and strongly acid type ii cation agents . the ion exchange process described in peculiarly adapted to the recovery of potassium hydroxide from formerly waste products because neither the contamination of potassium sulfate with sodium ions nor the contamination of sodium hydroxide with potassium ions substantially affects the chemistry involved , so that no purification of the waste products is necessary prior to ion exchange . the process can be tied into the overall process and made continuous with alternate loading and stripping of the agent . of course , the ion exchange procedure can be regulated by known techniques as to flow rates , potassium and sodium content of the recovered effluent , and other process parameters as required for commercial application . the concentration of recovered potassium hydroxide effluent can be adjusted as required for the leaching step of the basic process . while the invention is intended for use of sodium hydroxide bleed solution from the basic process , it is not limited to this source for the sodium hydroxide as it can come from other sources . likewise , the waste sodium hydroxide can be used in the described ion exchange process with potassium sulfate from other sources than the bleed stream from the sulfate crystallization step of the basic process . obviously , the invention is not limited to the basic process as it can be used in any process in which potassium sulfate or sodium hydroxide , or both , are produced as by - products . it is seen from the above description that improvements to the basic process are provided by this invention in which dsp can be profitably used and potassium hydroxide , a necessary reagent for the first leaching step of the basic process , is produced from the by - products , potassium sulfate and sodium hydroxide , the improvements contributing significantly to the economy of the basic process for producing aluminum from alunite ore .	2
while the invention will be described with several embodiments , it is understood that one of ordinary skill in the relevant art will appreciate that many examples , variations and alterations to the apparatus and methods described herein are within the scope and spirit of the invention . accordingly , the exemplary embodiments of the invention described herein are set forth without any loss of generality , and without imposing limitations , on the claimed invention . fig1 provides an embodiment of microbiological treatment unit 1 . microbiological treatment unit 1 removes the fouling constituent present in fouled process stream 10 to produce clean stream 40 . microbiological treatment unit 1 treats a process stream on an industrial scale . in at least one embodiment of the present invention , microbiological treatment unit 1 is a continuous process . in an alternate embodiment of the present invention , microbiological treatment unit 1 is a batch process . in an alternate embodiment of the present invention , microbiological treatment unit 1 is in the absence of a batch process . fouled process stream 10 is any process stream containing hydrocarbons , water , and combinations thereof . in at least one embodiment of the present invention , fouled process stream 10 is a multi - phase stream of hydrocarbons and water . in at least one embodiment of the present invention , fouled process stream 10 is in the absence of potable water . in at least one embodiment of the present invention , fouled process stream 10 is crude oil . in at least one embodiment of the present invention , fouled process stream 10 is part of a waste water treatment process . in at least one embodiment of the present invention , fouled process stream 10 is part of a water purification process . in at least one embodiment of the present invention , fouled process stream 10 is a waste stream from a mining operation . in at least one embodiment of the present invention , fouled process stream 10 is a stream from a process involving ferromagnetic materials . in at least one embodiment of the present invention , fouled process stream 10 is a stream from a hydro - metallurgical process involving magnetic materials . in at least one embodiment of the present invention , fouled process stream 10 is from a pipeline transportation process . the fouling constituent is any element that can cause structural changes to the inside of a pipe or vessel . exemplary structural changes include corrosion and deposits on the surface . in at least one embodiment , the corrosion is due to bio - corrosion . in at least one embodiment of the present invention , the deposits are due to scale . exemplary fouling constituents include micro - organisms , paramagnetic scale , ferromagnetic scale , and combinations thereof . as used herein “ micro - organisms ” encompasses biological micro - organisms , indigenous micro - organisms , micro - flora , and other minute biological organisms occurring in fluids that can cause bio - fouling and / or bio - corrosion . exemplary micro - organisms include arachea , bacteria , and fungi . in one embodiment of the present invention , the fouling constituent is picked up by the process stream along the flow path of the process stream . fouled process stream 10 feeds into separation vessel 105 of magnetic separation unit 100 . magnetic separation unit 100 reduces the concentration of the fouling constituent in fouled process stream 10 to create effluent stream 18 . separation vessel 105 is any vessel having an external surface and a body with an interior cavity that is capable of receiving fouled process stream 10 . exemplary separation vessels 105 include separators , horizontal separators , multi - phase separators , and vessels with a settling area for solids collection . in a preferred embodiment of the present invention , separation vessel 105 is a horizontal separator . mounted magnet 130 generates the magnetic field in separation vessel 105 . mounted magnet 130 includes magnet motor 132 , shaft 134 , and magnet 136 . the number of mounted magnets 130 mounted partially adjacent to separation vessel 105 depends on the fluid capacity of separation vessel 105 and the volume of fouled process stream 10 to be cleaned . separation vessel 105 can have one mounted magnet , alternately more than one , alternately one or two , alternately between one and three , alternately between one and four , alternately between one and five , alternately two or three , alternately between two and four , alternately between two and five , alternately three or four , alternately between three and five , alternately four or five , alternately five or more . in a preferred embodiment of the present invention , separation vessel 105 has three mounted magnets 130 . magnet motor 132 rotates shaft 134 . magnet motor 132 is adjacent to the external surface of separation vessel 105 . magnet motor 132 can be any type of motor capable of rotating a shaft . in at least one embodiment of the present invention , magnet motor 132 is an electric motor . in at least one embodiment of the present invention , magnet motor 132 is a variable speed electric motor . shaft 134 rotates magnet 136 . shaft 134 is connected to magnet motor 132 and extends into the interior cavity of the body of separation vessel 105 . in at least one embodiment of the present invention , shaft 134 is anchored to separation vessel 105 at a point opposite magnet motor 132 . in at least one embodiment of the present invention , shaft 134 is vertically oriented . in at least one embodiment of the present invention , shaft 124 extends vertically into the interior cavity of separation vessel 105 and is anchored at a point opposite magnet motor 132 , such that the anchor allows shaft 134 to rotate around the vertical axis , but does not allow shaft 134 to shift in a plane perpendicular to the vertical axis . the rotation of magnet 136 generates the magnetic field . magnet 136 is affixed to shaft 134 . in at least one embodiment of the present invention , magnet 136 is permanently affixed to shaft 134 . in at least one embodiment of the present invention , magnet 136 is removably affixed to shaft 134 . in one embodiment of the present invention , shaft 134 runs through magnet 136 . in an alternate embodiment of the present invention , shaft 134 is equipped with magnet 136 without shaft 134 passing through a plane of magnet 136 . magnet 136 can have any shape capable of generating the magnetic field . exemplary shapes include a sphere , a ring , a cylinder , a cube , a rectangular prism , and other polyhedrons . in at least one embodiment , the shape of magnet 136 is a ring . in at least one embodiment of the present invention , magnet 136 is a cylinder with shaft 134 running through the center of the cylinder , such that magnet 136 is affixed around shaft 134 . in an alternate embodiment of the present invention , magnet 136 is a rectangular prism . magnet 136 can be of any material capable of generating a magnetic field . exemplary materials include neodymium , samarium , cobalt , boron , iron , ceramics , and combinations thereof . in a preferred embodiment of the present invention , magnet 136 is neodymium . in at least one embodiment of the present invention , shaft 134 has additional magnets 136 attached . the total number of magnets 136 affixed to a single shaft 134 is dictated by the length and size of shaft 134 , the size of magnets 136 , the size of separation vessel 105 , and the density of the magnetic field desired . additional magnets 136 are affixed to shaft 134 in arrangements along shaft 134 . exemplary arrangements include a continuous line , rows , and patterns . exemplary patterns include alternating sides of shaft 134 and alternating shapes of magnets 136 . the arrangement of magnets 136 is determined by the size and shape of the magnetic field needed , the size of shaft 134 , and the size of separation vessel 105 . in at least one embodiment of the present invention , the size , shape , material , and arrangement of magnets 136 are determined in consideration of the flow rate of fouled process stream 10 and clean stream 40 , along with the coagulation efficiency of magnetic separation unit 100 required . in a preferred embodiment , shaft 134 includes multiple rectangular prism shaped magnets 136 affixed surrounding shaft 134 , with each magnet 136 connected by a dismantling joint to another magnet 136 . circulation feed 12 exits separation vessel 105 and is returned through circulation pump 120 as circulation return 14 . circulation pump 120 recycles fluid from and to separation vessel 105 . the circulation creates a circulating fluid within separation vessel 105 . the circulating fluid has a flow profile to ensure the fluid interacts with the magnetic field . exemplary flow profiles include laminar flow and turbulent flow . the magnetic field removes the fouling constituent from the circulating fluid inside separation vessel 105 . the magnetic field has a magnetic field strength or magnetic flux density . the magnetic field strength can be between greater than about 1 militesla ( mt ), alternately between about 1 mt and about 0 . 1 t , alternately between about 0 . 1 t and about 1 t , alternately between 0 . 1 t and about 0 . 5 t , alternately between about 0 . 5 t and about 1 t , alternately greater than 1 t , alternately greater than 5 t , alternately greater than 10 t . in at least one embodiment of the present invention , the magnetic field strength is 0 . 5 t . the magnetic field reduces the concentration of the fouling constituent in the circulating fluid . the magnetic field attracts scale to the magnets , causing the scale to remain adjacent to the magnet and leave the circulating fluid . the magnetic field kills micro - organisms causing them to drop out of the circulating fluid . the dead micro - organisms that drop out of the circulating fluid form a solid . the solid collects in separation vessel 105 and is periodically removed by chemicals or by cleaning . in at least one embodiment of the present invention , effluent stream 18 passes through a filter ( not shown ) before exiting separation vessel 105 . the filter prevents solids from leaving the separation vessel in stream 18 . in at least one embodiment of the present invention , stream 18 passes through a filtration system ( not shown ) after exiting separation vessel 105 . the fouling constituent is present in the circulating fluid at a concentration . as the fouling constituent is removed from the circulating fluid by the magnetic field , the concentration of fouling constituents is reduced . in at least one embodiment , the removal of fouling constituents is dependent on the exposure time of the circulating fluid to the magnetic field . coagulation efficiency is a measure of the concentration of fouling constituents before treatment and after treatment . in at least one embodiment of the present invention , the magnetic separation unit 100 is run in batch mode , where effluent stream 18 is not continuously withdrawn and circulation pump 120 ensures that the fluid moves through and contacts the magnetic field , so that the fouling constituent in the fluid comes into contact with the magnetic field . in at least one embodiment of the present invention , magnetic separation unit 100 includes sampling point 110 . sampling point 110 allows removal of sample 16 . sampling point 110 can be located in any part of magnetic separation unit 100 where sample 16 can be collected . sample 16 contains fluid from magnetic separation unit 100 where sampling point 110 is located . the fluid in sample 16 has a concentration of the fouling constituent . in at least one embodiment of the present invention , sampling point 110 is located between separation vessel 105 and circulation pump 120 , so that sampling point 110 allows removal of sample 16 from circulation feed 12 . in an alternate embodiment of the present invention , sampling point 110 allows sample 16 to be removed from the interior cavity of the body of separation vessel 110 . in at least one embodiment of the present invention , sampling point 110 includes a valve that is opened only when sample 16 is removed . in at least one embodiment of the present invention , magnetic separation unit 100 contains more than one sampling point 110 , with at least one located on fouled process stream 10 . having more than one sampling point 110 provides means for determining efficiency of the separation process . efficiency of the separation process is measured using the most probable number ( mpn ) method . the mpn method is a serial dilution method where 1 ml from the original sample is subdivided into 10 test tubes ( or other container ). each subdivision is then diluted by a known factor . a separation process of the present invention is considered efficient when micro - organism count is less than or equal to 10 3 cells / ml . sample 16 can be subjected to lab tests to obtain information about the fluid and the fouling constituent in the fluid . in at least one embodiment of the present invention , a measure of the concentration of the fouling constituent in sample 16 is obtained . in at least one embodiment of the present invention , sampling point 110 includes an analyzer system capable of measuring the concentration of fouling constituents in sample 16 . effluent stream 18 exits separation vessel 105 . effluent stream 18 contains a reduced concentration of the fouling constituent as compared to fouled process stream 10 . in at least one embodiment of the present invention , effluent stream 18 is withdrawn when a target concentration is measured in sample 16 . in at least one embodiment of the present invention , effluent stream 18 feeds clean collection vessel 400 . clean collection vessel 400 receives effluent stream 18 and discharges clean stream 40 . clean stream 40 can be incorporated into other processes as needed . in at least one embodiment of the present invention , clean stream 40 is fed into a water distribution system . the target concentration is the acceptable level of the fouling constituent in sample 16 . in at least one embodiment of the present invention , the target concentration is a target microorganism concentration . the target concentration can be set by the efficiency of microbiological treatment unit 1 , by the design parameters of magnetic separation unit 100 , or by the use to be made of clean stream 40 . for micro - organisms , the target concentration is less than about 10 , 000 cells / ml of sample 16 , alternately less than about 1000 cells / ml of sample 16 , alternately less than about 500 cells / ml of sample 16 , alternately less than about 100 cells / ml of sample 16 , alternately less than about 50 cells / ml of sample 16 , alternately less than about 10 cells / ml of sample 16 , alternately less than about 5 cells / ml , and alternately less than about 1 cell / ml of sample 16 . in at least one embodiment of the present invention , the target concentration is less than about 100 cells / ml of sample 16 . in at least one embodiment of the present invention , the target microorganism concentration is 100 cells / ml of sample 16 . in at least one embodiment of the present invention , microbiological treatment unit 1 includes a holding vessel upstream of magnetic separation unit 100 . fouled process stream 10 feeds the holding vessel and a separation unit feed stream exits the holding vessel to magnetic separation unit 100 . the holding vessel enables magnetic separation unit 100 to be operated as a batch process , while microbiological treatment unit 1 is a continuous process . in at least one embodiment of the present invention , microbiological treatment unit 1 includes additional magnetic separation units 100 . microbiological treatment unit 1 can include one magnetic separation unit , alternately two magnetic separation units , alternately three magnetic separation units , alternately four magnetic separation units , alternately five magnetic separation units , and alternately more than five magnetic separation units . the number of additional magnetic separation units depends on the composition of fouled process stream 10 , the types of fouling constituent present in fouled process stream 10 , the target concentration of fouling constituent , and the process in which clean stream 40 will used . in at least one embodiment of the present invention , the additional magnetic separation units are arranged in series with the effluent stream from one magnetic separation unit feeding the next separation vessel in the series and the effluent stream from the last magnetic separation unit fed to clean collection vessel 400 . fig2 provides a flow diagram of an embodiment of the present invention containing additional magnetic separation units arranged in series . with reference to the elements previously described with reference to fig1 , fouled process stream 10 feeds separation vessel 105 of magnetic separation unit 100 . effluent 18 feeds separation vessel 205 of magnetic separation unit 200 , magnetic separation unit 200 being the next magnetic separation unit in the series . circulation pump 220 receives circulation feed 22 and recycles the fluid as circulation return 24 . sampling point 210 allows removal of sample 26 . effluent 28 feeds separation vessel 305 of magnetic separation unit 300 , magnetic separation unit 300 being the next magnetic separation unit in the series . circulation pump 320 receives circulation feed 32 and recycles the fluid as circulation return 34 . sampling point 310 allows removal of sample 36 . effluent 38 feeds collection vessel 400 , magnetic separation unit 300 being the last magnetic separation unit in the series . in at least one embodiment of the present invention , effluents 18 , 28 , and 38 exit separation vessels 105 , 205 , and 305 , respectively , only when the concentration of fouling constituent as measured in samples 16 , 26 , and 36 are at or below the target concentration , with each magnetic separation vessel having a distinct target concentration . in at least one embodiment of the present invention , each separation vessel 105 , 205 , 305 , has a bypass line ( not shown ) that allows effluents 18 , 28 , or 38 to feed collection vessel 400 and by - pass the next magnetic separation unit in the series . in at least one embodiment of the present invention , the additional magnetic separation units are arranged in parallel with a portion of fouled process stream 10 feeding each individual magnetic separation unit and the effluent stream from each individual magnetic separation unit being collected in collection vessel 400 . in at least one embodiment of the present invention , each effluent from each magnetic separation unit feeds an individual collection vessel . in at least one embodiment of the present invention , multiple samples 16 are taken during the process to reduce the concentration of the fouling constituent . in at least one embodiment of the present invention , magnetic separation unit 100 operates for an exposure time and then sample 16 is removed . the exposure time is determined based on the nature of fouled process stream 10 , the nature and concentration of fouling constituents in the circulating fluid , and the total number of magnetic separation units 100 . in at least one embodiment of the present invention , the exposure time is greater than 1 hour . in at least one embodiment of the present invention , microbiological treatment unit 1 reduces the concentration of fouling constituent in clean stream 40 as compared to fouled process stream 10 in the absence of biocide . in at least one embodiment of the present invention , microbiological treatment unit 1 is in the absence of biocide or other chemical means for treating process streams containing micro - organisms . in at least one embodiment of the present invention , a standby magnetic separator unit aids in maintenance and cleaning of the operation magnetic separation unit . when the solids of dead microbes build - up in magnetic separation unit 100 , fouled process stream 10 is redirected to the standby magnetic separator unit . the standby magnetic separator unit then operates as described with reference to magnetic separation unit 100 , while cleaning operations are conducted on magnetic separation unit 100 . in at least one embodiment of the present invention , microbiological treatment unit 1 is in the absence of any protective covering over shaft 134 and magnets 136 . fluid in separation vessel 105 is in direct contact with magnets 136 in example 1 , mixed cultures of sulfate reducing bacteria ( srb ) of desulfovibrio africanus sp . and desulfovibrio alaskensis were used . freeze - dried samples of both cultures were obtained from the american type culture collection ( atcc ). the srb cultures were cultivated in a modified baar &# 39 ; s medium ( atcc medium 1250 ). one ( 1 ) l of growth medium was used according to the composition of table 1 . the ph of the growth medium was adjusted to 7 . 5 using 5 m sodium hydroxide . the medium was then sterilized in an autoclave at 121 ° c . for 20 minutes . a filter - sterilized 5 % ferrous ammonium sulfate was added to the medium before inoculation at a ratio of 0 . 1 ml ferrous ammonium sulfate to 5 . 0 ml of the growth medium . the srb were incubated for 72 hours at 37 ° c . under an oxygen - free nitrogen headspace . iron oxide , in nano - particle form , was introduced to the growth medium at different concentrations up to a maximum value of 0 . 6 mg / ml growth medium . to prepare the test samples , serum vial glass bottles were autoclaved at 121 ° c . for 20 minutes and dried . in a sterilized laminar flow hood , 50 ml of sterilized modified baar &# 39 ; s growth medium was added to each bottle . the bottles were sealed with fitted rubber caps , purged for 30 minutes with pure nitrogen gas to establish an anaerobic environment , then inoculated with 1 ml of the srb at 10 8 cells / ml . temperatures were maintained at 32 ° c . throughout the experiments . fig3 is an image of the srb at maximum growth . the microbial density was measured using optical density measurements via a digital spectrophotometer , see fig4 . the srb zeta potential along with sizes were measured at a ph of 7 and a temperature of 37 ° c . using a microelectrophoretic apparatus zeta meter ( powereach model js94g ), see fig5 . the conditions of a separation vessel and magnets were approximated using magnetic tower assemblies . six different magnetic tower assemblies were used . in each assembly , rectangular neodymium magnetic blocks measuring 50 . 8 mm × 50 . 8 mm × 25 . 4 mm were stacked on a base support facing each other . the stacks were fixed on the base support with a 50 mm exposure gap in between each stack . the mounted stacks produced a 500 mt static magnetic field at the center of the assembly ( between the stacks ). see fig6 a and 6 b . when the srb growth in the bottles reached a concentration of 10 10 cells / ml , the bottles were positioned in middle of a magnetic tower assembly for testing . each different bottle was tested in a magnetic tower assemblies for a different exposure time to the magnetic field . fig8 a and 8 b relate the coagulation efficiency to exposure time and iron oxide nano - particle concentration . fig7 shows the attraction between the srb and the magnet . without being bound to a specific theory , it is believed that the ferromagnetic iron oxide nano - particles added to the growth medium coat the srb , and cause the srb to be attracted to the magnetic tower assembly . in addition , it is believed that the srb themselves have negative surface charges that cause the srb to be attracted to the magnetic field of the magnetic tower assembly . although the present invention has been described in detail , it should be understood that various changes , substitutions , and alterations can be made hereupon without departing from the principle and scope of the invention . accordingly , the scope of the present invention should be determined by the following claims and their appropriate legal equivalents . the singular forms “ a ,” “ an ,” and “ the ” include plural referents , unless the context clearly dictates otherwise . optional or optionally means that the subsequently described event or circumstances can or may not occur . the description includes instances where the event or circumstance occurs and instances where it does not occur . ranges may be expressed herein as from about one particular value , and / or to about another particular value . when such a range is expressed , it is to be understood that another embodiment is from the one particular value and / or to the other particular value , along with all combinations within said range . throughout this application , where patents or publications are referenced , the disclosures of these references in their entireties are intended to be incorporated by reference into this application , in order to more fully describe the state of the art to which the invention pertains , except when these references contradict the statements made herein . as used herein and in the appended claims , the words “ comprise ,” “ has ,” and “ include ” and all grammatical variations thereof are each intended to have an open , non - limiting meaning that does not exclude additional elements or steps . as used herein , terms such as “ first ” and “ second ” are arbitrarily assigned and are merely intended to differentiate between two or more components of an apparatus . it is to be understood that the words “ first ” and “ second ” serve no other purpose and are not part of the name or description of the component , nor do they necessarily define a relative location or position of the component . furthermore , it is to be understood that that the mere use of the term “ first ” and “ second ” does not require that there be any “ third ” component , although that possibility is contemplated under the scope of the present invention .	2
according to the prior art , in a phase - sensitive flow measurement a volume segment 17 to be measured is arranged in the isocenter of a magnetic resonance system , as is shown in fig1 . since the subsequently implemented flow measurement is implemented without a table feed , the outer layers of the volume segment 17 exhibit too large a distance from the isocenter in the z - direction 16 , which leads to negative consequences due to eddy current effects and gradient non - linearity . a magnetic resonance system 5 according to the invention is schematically shown in fig2 . the magnetic resonance system 5 has a scanner 3 with which the magnetic field necessary for the mr examination is generated in a measurement space ; a table 2 ; a control device 6 according to the invention with which the scanner 3 is controlled and mr data are received from the scanner 3 ; and a terminal 7 connected to the control device 6 . the control device 6 includes an activation unit 11 , a receiver device 12 and an evaluation device 13 . during a phase - sensitive flow measurement , mr data are acquired by the receiver device 12 by the scanner 3 , with the scanner 3 and the table 2 activated by the activation unit 11 such that mr data are acquired in a measurement volume which is located inside the body of a patient o situated on the table 2 . the evaluation device 13 then prepares the mr data such that they can be graphically presented on a monitor 8 of the terminal 7 , and such that images created according to the invention can be displayed . in addition to the graphical depiction of the mr data , with the terminal 7 ( which has a keyboard 9 and a mouse 10 in addition to the monitor 8 ) a three - dimensional volume segment to be measured can be predetermined by a user and additional parameters for implementation of the method according to the invention can be defined , for example . the software for the control device 6 can also be loaded into said control device 6 ( in particular into the evaluation device 13 ) via the terminal 7 . this software of the control device 6 can thereby also comprise the method according to the invention . it is also possible for a method according to the invention to be embedded in software that runs in the terminal 7 . independently of the software in which the method according to the invention is embodied , the software can be stored on a dvd 14 so that this software can then be read from the dvd 14 by the terminal 7 and be copied either into the control device 6 or into a computer of the terminal 7 itself . a flow plan of a method according to the invention is shown in fig3 . the method begins at step s 1 , in which a volume segment is determined in which a flow measurement is to be implemented . in the following step s 2 this volume segment is divided up into multiple partial volume segments which respectively have the same volume . each of these partial volume segments thereby comprises multiple slices since the flow measurement is implemented in the form of a two - dimensional measurement . in the third step s 3 the first partial volume segment ( which is reasonably located at the start of the volume segment ) is determined as a first partial volume segment that is currently to be measured . in the fourth step s 4 , the table 2 is moved such that the center of the current partial volume segment to be measured is located in the isocenter of the magnetic resonance system 5 . in the fifth step s 5 , the phase - sensitive flow measurement is implemented for each slice within the current partial volume segment to be measured . the table 2 is thereby not moved . the size of the partial volume segments is thereby dimensioned such that the mr measurement of each slice is implemented with sufficient density at the isocenter 1 so that background phase effects and other locally varying influences such as gradient distortions are minimal . in the sixth step s 6 it is checked whether all partial volume segments of the volume segment have been measured . if not all partial volume segments of the volume segment have been measured yet , the method according to the invention branches to step s 7 , and in this step s 7 the next partial volume segment to be measured ( which next partial volume segment is arranged next to the presently measured partial volume segment ) is determined . the method is subsequently continued again in step s 4 . if the query implemented in step s 6 yields that all partial volume segments of the volume segment have already been measured , the method according to the invention branches to step s 8 . in this step s 8 the results of the flow measurement of the individual partial volume segments are merged and a graphical representation of these combined results is prepared and ultimately generated . the method according to the invention then ends . a basis of the method according to the invention for phase - sensitive flow measurement is shown with fig4 . after the last slice of a partial volume segment has been measured , the table is displaced along the z - direction such that the center of the partial volume segment that is to be measured next lies in the isocenter . the arrow marked with the reference character 15 ′ in fig4 reflects the direction and ( with its length ) the magnitude of the movement of the table . this movement of the table leads to a corresponding variation of the slice positions which is represented by the arrow marked with the reference character 15 in fig4 . expressed in another way , the movement of the table between the measurement of the last slice of a partial volume segment and the measurement of the first slice of the next partial volume segment must be compensated by a corresponding displacement of the current slice to be measured , which displacement is represented with the arrow 15 . the method according to the invention is compared with a method according to the prior art in fig5 . for this a phase contrast of a homogeneous bottle filled with water is measured given axial slice direction for various slice positions ( different positions in the z - direction ). if no eddy current effects and no gradient non - linearity at all were to occur , the region representing the water in the mr images would have to be medium grey in all slices . it is apparent that the mr images designed ( b ) in fig5 , which have been created with the method according to the invention ( thus with a table movement during the complete measurement ), come significantly closer to the optimal medium grey color tone than the mr images designated ( a ) in fig5 , which have been acquired with a method according to the prior art without table movement . the method according to the invention is compared with a method according to the prior art in fig6 . for this purpose , given axial slice direction an angiography contrast image of a thorax including a heart in the image center of three images with a method according to the prior art ( without table movement ) 20 is shown for three different slice positions ( the corresponding slice offset in the z - direction is respectively indicated with the reference character 18 ), and three corresponding images with a method according to the invention ( with table movement 21 ) is shown . in the images the upper and lower regions of the respective image show an immobile tissue ( in comparison to a tissue in the image center that moves due to the cardiac activity ). a strong background signal which varies depending on the slice position is apparent at the points ( indicated with the reference character 22 ) in the three upper images which have been generated with a method according to the prior art . in contrast to this , only a weak background signal which is independent of the slice position — i . e . does not vary with the slice position — is apparent at the corresponding points 23 in the images generated with the method according to the invention . in fig7 a phase - sensitive flow measurement is conducted at four points which are indicated in the image designated ( c ) in fig7 using circles 25 . it is taken into account that no flow occurs at the points 25 , such that a flow velocity of 0 cm / s should be measured for all four points or regions 25 given a correct flow measurement . the flow measurement is implemented with a method according to the prior art , and with a method according to the invention , for three slices , i . e . for three different slice positions . the results are shown in the table designated ( d ) in fig7 and in graphical form in the graph designated ( a ) in fig7 for the method according to the invention and in the graph designated ( b ) in fig7 for the method according to the prior art . the flow velocity ( more precisely the flow velocity errors , since the flow velocity should optimally amount to 0 cm / s ) is thereby shown on the y - axis in graphs ( a ) and ( b ) and the slice positions in the z - direction are shown on the x - axis 19 . it is apparent that the flow velocities detected according to the invention are on the one hand lower in comparison to the results according to the prior art ( see graph ( b ). the flow velocities in the method according to the invention are nearly independent of the slice position ( i . e . they hardly vary with the slice position ), such that the corresponding errors can be corrected more simply via downstream methods . the cause of the different results in the method according to the invention ( and also in the method according to the prior art ) for the different regions 25 is to be sought in the different offset of the four regions 25 from the isocenter relative to the x - direction and relative to the y - direction . if the mr data of a partial volume segment are acquired via a three - dimensional measurement method ( three - dimensional k - space ), the partial volume segment possesses a single slice whose measurements correspond to the partial volume segment itself . the method according to the invention given a three - dimensional measurement of the volume segment 17 to be measured is shown in fig8 . the volume segment 17 is divided into five equally large partial volume segments v 1 - v 5 . the volume segment 17 is thereby divided into the partial volume segments such that the boundary surface between two adjacent partial volume segments respectively exhibits a surface perpendicular which is parallel to the z - direction of the magnetic resonance system . in the division of the volume segment 17 , an extent of each partial volume segment v 1 - v 5 is selected such that this extent is less than a predetermined threshold ( 10 cm , for example , better 5 cm ). to acquire the mr data of one of the partial volume segments v 1 - v 5 , the corresponding partial volume segment v i is arranged such that a center point of the partial volume segment v i optimally exhibits no distance from the isocenter in the z - direction . it would be particularly advantageous if the center point of the partial volume segment v i corresponds to the isocenter . since the extent of each partial volume segment v i in the z - direction is not greater than the predetermined threshold , it is ensured that no measurement point within the partial volume segment v i is further removed in the z - direction from the isocenter than half of the predetermined threshold . it is thereby advantageously ensured that the consequences of eddy currents and a gradient non - linearity are slight . results of implementation of a method according to the invention are shown in fig9 , wherein a selective excitation is worked with in order to reduce the measurement time for the individual slice and therefore to reduce the measurement time for the individual slice and with this the total measurement duration for phase - sensitive flow measurement according to the invention . a phase coding direction 26 in the anterior - posterior direction ( see fig9 a ) is necessary in order to avoid aliasing in the right - left direction . given a phase coding direction 26 in the right - left direction , a limited excitation based on two - dimensional , selective radio - frequency pulses or a transmit array technique . although modifications and changes may be suggested by those skilled in the art , it is the intention of the inventors to embody within the patent warranted hereon all changes and modifications as reasonably and properly come within the scope of their contribution to the art .	6
in the preferred embodiment of the present invention , a standard deck of fifty - two playing cards is used . the cards have the conventional four suits ( spades , hearts , diamonds and clubs ) and rank in order from deuce through ace . an electronic gaming machine , shown at 10 in fig1 is programmed to shuffle the standard deck of playing cards and randomly deal a single , initial hand to a player of seven cards . the initial hand is displayed on the video screen 30 and the player can select which of these initial seven cards he wishes to hold and which he wishes to discard . this selection is accomplished by using hold / discard buttons ( not shown but conventional ) provided on the gaming machine 30 . after the player selects which cards from the initial hand he wishes to hold and discard , the player activates the deal button ( not shown but conventional ). the gaming machine 30 displays replacement cards for the discarded cards on the video screen 30 . this final seven card hand is then used to determine whether the player has achieved a winning combination . in the preferred embodiment of the present invention , nine winning hand combinations are used . the highest payoff for a winning combination is a seven card run : a sequence of seven cards in a row in the same suit . for example , the video screen 30 in fig1 shows a player having achieved a seven card run , i . e . the 4 ♡, 5 ♡, 6 ♡, 7 ♡, 8 ♡, 9 ♡ and 10 ♡. the order that the cards appear on the video screen 30 does not matter ; the hand is determined solely by the highest ranking combination that can be achieved by the seven cards on the video screen 30 . the next highest ranking hand is a six card run . this is followed in ranking by the five card run . the fourth highest ranking hand is two sets of any three and any four card combination . there are four possible card arrangements that can achieve this combination : 1 ) a three card run and four - of - a - kind ; 2 ) a four card run and three - of - a - kind ; 3 ) a three card run and a four card run ; and 4 ) a three - of - a - kind and a four - of - a - kind . the fifth highest ranking hand is two sets of any three card combination . there are three possible card arrangements that can achieve this combination : 1 ) two three card runs ; 2 ) two three - of - a - kinds ; and 3 ) a three card run and three - of - a kind . the four lowest ranking hands are four - of - a - kind , a four card run , three - of - a - kind and a three card run . the winning combinations are posted to the player in the payout schedule 50 , typically displayed on the gaming machine above the video screen 30 . as explained below , the payout schedule is a matrix based on various winning combinations and the number of coins or the amount of the wager made by the player at the beginning of the round of play of the game . table 1 shows a typical payout schedule 50 that is used in the method of the present invention and displayed to the player on the electronic gaming machine 10 . any hand combination that is not shown on the payout schedule is a losing combination . table 1______________________________________coins played 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th______________________________________seven card run 10000 20000 30000 40000 50000six card run 500 1000 1500 2000 2500five card run 25 50 75 100 250sets of 3 & amp ; 4 16 32 48 64 80four of a kind 9 18 27 36 45four card run 5 10 15 20 25sets of 3 & amp ; 3 3 6 9 12 15three of a kind 1 2 3 4 5three card run 1 2 3 4 5______________________________________ based on theoretical probabilities , the payout table shown in table 1 has a payback percentage of approximately 99 . 12 %, which means that the gaming machine holds approximately 0 . 88 % of the money wagered . this payout schedule is shown for a &# 34 ; break - even &# 34 ; game and would not generate much revenue to the gaming establishment . this payout schedule is used as the starting point for determining other payout schedules . the payback percentage can be adjusted up or down based on the profitability that the operator of the gaming machine desires and whatever regulations are imposed upon the operator by the gaming authority that regulates the use of the gaming machine . following are examples of payout schedules that can be used with or without progressive jackpots , where the progressive jackpots are funded from the money wagered into the gaming machine . table 2 shows one type of payout schedule that is suggested to be used when a progressive jackpot feature is used . the player can win the progressive jackpot when he achieves a seven card run with five coins wagered . this payout schedule maintains higher payouts for a four card run while reducing the size of the payouts for a seven card run . table 2______________________________________coins played 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th______________________________________seven card run 1000 2000 3000 4000 prog . six card run 250 500 750 1000 1250five card run 20 40 60 80 100sets of 3 & amp ; 4 13 26 39 52 65four of a kind 9 18 27 36 45four card run 5 10 15 20 25sets of 3 & amp ; 3 3 6 9 12 15three of a kind 1 2 3 4 5three card run 1 2 3 4 5______________________________________ this payout schedule yields a payback percentage of approximately 89 . 8 % which means that the gaming machine holds approximately 10 . 2 % of the money wagered . in the preferred embodiment of the present invention , between 2 % and 4 % of this money can be added to the progressive jackpot , which allows the progressive jackpot to increase . such a result would yield approximately 6 . 2 % to 8 . 2 % as the return to the gaming establishment from the play of this machine . table 3 shows another different payout schedule that is suggested to be used when a progressive jackpot feature is used . the player can win the progressive jackpot when he achieves a seven card run with five coins wagered . this payout schedule maintains higher payouts for the seven card run while reducing the payouts for a four card run . table 3______________________________________coins played 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th______________________________________seven card run 10000 20000 30000 40000 prog . six card run 250 500 750 1000 1250five card run 20 40 60 80 100sets of 3 & amp ; 4 13 26 39 52 65four of a kind 9 18 27 36 45four card run 4 8 12 16 20sets of 3 & amp ; 3 3 6 9 12 15three of a kind 1 2 3 4 5three card run 1 2 3 4 5______________________________________ this payout schedule also yields a payback percentage of approximately 90 % which means that the gaming machine holds approximately 10 % of the money wagered . in the preferred embodiment of the present invention , between 2 % and 4 % of this money can be added to the progressive jackpot , which allows the progressive jackpot to increase . such a result would yield approximately 6 % to 8 % as the return to the gaming establishment from the play of this machine . table 4 shows another different payout schedule that is suggested to be used when the method of the present invention is practiced without a progressive jackpot feature . this payout schedule maintains higher payouts for the seven card run while reducing the payouts for a four card run . table 4______________________________________coins played 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th______________________________________seven card run 10000 20000 30000 40000 50000six card run 500 1000 1500 2000 2500five card run 20 40 60 80 100sets of 3 & amp ; 4 13 26 39 52 65four of a kind 9 18 27 36 45four card run 4 8 12 16 20sets of 3 & amp ; 3 3 6 9 12 15three of a kind 1 2 3 4 5three card run 1 2 3 4 5______________________________________ this payout schedule also yields a payback percentage of approximately 94 . 6 % which means that the gaming machine holds approximately 5 . 4 % of the money wagered . this payout schedule results in a gaming machine that competes quite favorably with standard video draw poker . table 5 shows another different payout schedule that is suggested to be used when the method of the present invention is practiced without a progressive jackpot feature . this payout schedule maintains higher payouts for the five card run , the sets of 3 & amp ; 4 , and the four card run while reducing the payouts for a six card run . table 5______________________________________coins played 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th______________________________________seven card run 10000 20000 30000 40000 prog . six card run 250 500 750 1000 1250five card run 25 50 75 100 125sets of 3 & amp ; 4 16 32 48 64 80four of a kind 9 18 27 36 45four card run 5 10 15 20 25sets of 3 & amp ; 3 3 6 9 12 15three of a kind 1 2 3 4 5three card run 1 2 3 4 5______________________________________ this payout schedule yields a payback percentage of approximately 94 . 6 % which means that the gaming machine holds approximately 5 . 4 % of the money wagered . this payout schedule will compete quite favorably with standard video draw poker and will be popular in gaming establishments that provide players with higher intermediate payouts . finally table 6 shows one type of payout schedule that is suggested to be used when two progressive jackpots are used . the player can win the higher progressive jackpot when he achieves a seven card run with five coins wagered and the player can win the lower progressive jackpot when he achieves a six card run with five coins wagered . this payout schedule maintains lower payouts in the intermediate categories while providing for a large progressive jackpot in two hand combinations . table 6______________________________________coins played 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th______________________________________seven card run 10000 20000 30000 40000 prog . six card run 250 500 750 1000 prog . five card run 20 40 60 80 100sets of 3 & amp ; 4 12 24 26 48 60four of a kind 8 16 24 32 40four card run 4 8 12 16 20sets of 3 & amp ; 3 3 6 9 12 15three of a kind 1 2 3 4 5three card run 1 2 3 4 5______________________________________ this payout schedule yields a payback percentage of approximately 88 . 2 % which means that the gaming machine holds approximately 11 . 8 % of the money wagered . in the preferred embodiment of the present invention , approximately 6 % of this money can be added to the progressive jackpots ( for example 4 % to the large jackpot and 2 % to the small jackpot ), which allows the progressive jackpots to increase . such a result would yield approximately 6 % as the return to the gaming establishment from the play of this machine . while the invention has been illustrated with respect to several specific embodiments thereof , these embodiments should be considered as illustrative rather than limiting . various modifications and additions may be made and will be apparent to those skilled in the art . accordingly , the invention should not be limited by the foregoing description , but rather should be defined only by the following claims .	6
fig1 - 4 and fig8 - 12 show various views of the first embodiment of multi - task - tool 1 consisting of an elongated cylindrical body 3 which defines a bore diameter that accommodates slide ably receiving the eye of an eye bolt or winged fastener . an aperture cap 2 defining a centrally located radius end 9 elongated aperture 8 with two parallel long edges 10 further defining central opposing shank radiuses 11 is attached across one end of the body . the device also includes a mounting base 4 attached or unitary to the body 3 at the opposite end from the aperture cap 2 . the body 3 contains internally opposing long rail 12 and a short rail 15 within its bore having long rail first flat surface 13 and short rail first flat surface 16 together defining a plane having a first end aligned with and proximal to one long edge 10 of aperture cap 2 . the rails central edges define rail slot 18 and respectively have long rail second flat surface 14 and short rail second flat surface 17 behind their first surfaces giving them a truncated triangle cross section . long rail 12 extends the full internal length of the body . opposing short rail 15 has a length that is about equal to one half the outermost diameter of the eye of eye bolt 22 . the body 3 is of sufficient length to accommodate the eye being rotated inside the body below short rail 15 . the first end of base 4 is attached to the body 3 opposite the aperture cap 2 . the opposite end of the base 4 defines a mounting flange which is complementary to tool mounting flanges commonly found on extension sticks including , but not limited to , radial splines 5 and a tool mounting slot 6 . an external secondary tool boss 7 is provided on body 3 proximal to the aperture cap 2 to accommodate mounting secondary tools . the secondary tool boss 7 may define internal or external threads or other complimentary attachment configuration or it may be a tool itself including but , not limited to , a finger . also referring to fig2 showing multi - task - tool 1 mounted to extension stick 35 and is used by passing the body 3 over the eye and a portion of the shank of the eye bolt 22 of a clamp - action - mounted power distribution device 34 by way of the elongated aperture 8 . the first flat surfaces of the rails engage the major diameter of the eye and guide the eye bolt 22 through the body 3 toward the mounting base 4 . after the eye is seated against the mounting base 4 the multi - task - tool 1 may be rotated around the eye as one side of the eye passes under the short rail 15 . the long rail second flat surface 14 engages a side of the eye and prevents the body 3 from spinning completely around the eye bolt 22 . in that position with one side of eye bolt 22 against the long rail second flat surface , body 3 is then pulled back down the eye bolt 22 shank until the eye seats against the aperture cap 2 . the eye becomes captured between the rails in the rail slot 18 . the short rail 15 may also be beveled opposite aperture cap 2 to urge the eye into the rail slot 18 . the body 3 will now be able to transmit rotational force on the eye bolt 22 in either direction while maintaining control of the position of the clamp - action - mounted power distribution device 34 by contact in body 3 and elongated aperture 8 . now referring to fig5 - 7 and showing alternate embodiments , aperture cap 2 may be of sufficient thickness to define a bevel around the elongated aperture to provide an eye funnel 19 to help guide the eye bolt 22 through elongated aperture 8 . second short rail 20 and third short rail 21 cross sections and positions mirror image each other and as a pair mirror image long rail 12 and short rail 15 as a pair . they engage the opposite side of eye bolt 22 &# 39 ; s eye the same as long rail 12 and short rail 15 engage the first side when body 3 is pulled down eye bolt 22 &# 39 ; s shank . fig8 is a cross section ( fig3 ) of multi - task - tool 1 showing aperture cap 2 , elongated aperture 8 , body 3 , base 4 with tool mount flange splines 5 , tool mounting slot 6 and secondary tool boss 7 also showing first rail long rail first surface 13 and short rail first surface 16 . fig9 is a partial cross section view ( fig3 ) of multi - task - tool 1 showing aperture cap 2 , body 3 , base 4 , secondary tool boss 7 , elongated aperture 8 , also showing long first surface 13 and short rail first surface 16 with eye bolt 22 resting on base 4 . fig1 is a cross section top view ( fig2 ) of multi - task - tool 1 showing body 3 , secondary tool boss 7 , long rail 12 with long rail first surface 13 , long rail second surface 14 , short rail 15 , short rail first surface 16 and short rail second surface 17 . also shown is eye bolt 22 in the position shown in fig6 against long rail first surface 13 . eye bolt 22 is below sort rail 15 in that position and therefore not touching first short rail 16 . fig1 is a cross section top view ( fig2 ) of multi - task - tool 1 showing body 3 , secondary tool boss 7 , long rail 12 with long rail first surface 13 , long rail second surface 14 , short rail 15 , short rail first surface 16 and short rail second surface 17 . also shown is eye bolt 22 against aperture cap 2 ( in the position shown in fig1 ) against long rail second surface 14 . fig1 is a partial cross section front view ( fig3 ) of multi - task - tool 1 showing aperture cap 2 , body 3 , base 4 , secondary tool boss 7 , elongated aperture 8 , also showing long rail first surface 13 and short rail first surface 16 with eye bolt 22 against aperture cap 2 and long rail second surface 14 ( not shown ). referring to fig1 - 17 , often the need for electrical power 24 / 7 mandates that maintenance is preformed in low light or total darkness . to help facilitate working in the dark , a light source 25 which has a housing 26 which contains a power source , lens holder 27 , lens 30 , switch 28 and spring base 29 is mounted in light pocket 23 provided in the base 4 which shines through a light aperture 24 through body 3 and out the elongated aperture 8 . the light source 25 may be integral or removable . if removable the spring base 29 urges the housing against the opposite end of the light pocket 23 to hold it in place . referring to fig1 - 21 yet another embodiment provides a light source piston 31 which can float in the bore of the body 3 with a spring 33 underneath the piston 31 acting on the base 4 to urge the piston 31 toward the aperture cap 2 . light source piston 31 also has rail cutouts 32 to conform to the bore of body 3 . the spring pressure is easily overcome by the weight of an electrical power distribution device 34 . the focused light gives general illumination and tends to serve as aiming device . as a fastener enters the body 3 through the aperture cap 2 the piston 31 is pushed downward and out of the way . the length of the body 3 for this embodiment is extended to provide room for light source piston 31 in its compressed position against the base 4 while retaining all other features . the switch 28 would extend into and be accessed through elongated aperture 8 while the piston 31 is at rest against aperture cap 2 . the switch 28 would be off - sided in the elongated aperture 8 which places it outside the sweep of the eye bolt 22 eye &# 39 ; s major diameter . in this embodiment the aperture cap 2 is removable for access to the light source piston 31 . referring to fig2 often other power distribution devices must be lifted or removed from elevated positions especially those energized by hot lines using hot line clamps including , but not limited to ; fuse barrels . the above embodiments of multi - task - tool 1 are useful to attach and remove hot lines and open and close fuse barrel holders and with skillful use of the fixed tool boss 7 a lineman can lift a fuse barrel . however , a more convenient fixed , removable or foldable finger / hook is added . fixed finger / hook 36 has a stand - out section 37 which is affixed or unitary to base 4 . midsection 38 has a reduced height compared to the stand - out section 37 and distal end 39 is at least equal height to stand - out section 36 together forming an elongated hook . referring to fig2 - 27 another embodiment of the finger / hook with a removable finger / hook is provided . an alternate tool boss 42 is formed into base 4 generally , a threaded aperture with a surrounding counter sink . removable finger / hook 40 has a threaded end 41 proximal to stand - off section 37 , a reduced height midsection 38 and distal end 39 which together form an elongated hook . referring to fig2 - 39 another embodiment of the finger / hook with a folding finger / hook is provided . in fig2 base 4 has stop - pin aperture 43 proximal to alternate tool boss 42 . folding finger / hook 44 stand - off end 37 defines mounting aperture 45 , lifting stop surface 46 and folding stop surface 47 . midsection 38 has a reduced height and distal end 39 is at least the height of stand - off end 37 together forming an elongated hook . distal end 39 is further formed perpendicular to the finger &# 39 ; s length to form snap - tip 48 . folding finger / hook 44 is mounted to the multi - task - tool 1 by way of mounting bolt 51 passed through elastic washer 50 , the finger and spacer washer 49 and threaded into alternate tool boss 42 on base 4 . stop - pin 52 is threaded into stop - pin aperture 43 . elastic washer 50 acts on mounting bolt 51 and the finger and tends to resist movement of the finger . as folding finger / hook 44 is rotated into its extended lifting position , lifting stop surface 46 engages stop - pin 52 . as folding finger / hook 44 is rotated into its retracted position , snap - tip 48 engages the side of body 3 and elastic washer 50 allows the finger to flex as the snap - tip latches over body 3 and folding stop 47 engages stop - pin 52 . the embodiments disclosed in the description and drawings are intended to illuminate rather than limit the equivalent devices that may be envisioned by those skilled in the art .	1
fig1 is a circuit diagram of an internal intercom system of the present invention , and referred to by the general reference character 10 . in the drawings , fig1 is included on three sheets . the interconnections between the various sheets are designated numerically . the system 10 includes an interface network 12 to tie into a telephone jack and terminals within a building or location . a radio frequency ( rf ) circuit 14 for converting the audio signal to radio frequency signal is connected to the interface network 12 . a compander ( compression / expander ) network 16 is tied to the interface network 12 for compressing and expanding transmitted and received intercom signals . the rf circuit 14 is also tied to a 28 - pin integrated circuit network 18 . the integrated circuit 18 is tied to a dc battery power supply network 20 and an oscillator frequency adjust network 22 which is adapted to adjust for an answer frequency of 375 khz and an originate frequency of 320 khz . a hands - free audio transmit network 24 is connected to the compander network 16 and the integrated circuit 18 . the compander 16 performs the functions of compressing the dynamic range of signals modulating the transmitter and expanding the detected signals back to the normal range on receiving . the hands - free network 24 is adapted to receive , amplify and activate the transmitter response from the intended recipient of the broadcast signal without the need of the recipient making any physical contact to the system 10 . the network 24 monitors the ambient background noise and if the volume level of the recipient exceeds such background noise level , the network 24 distinguishes it and activates the transmitter for receipt by the calling station . a light emitting diode control circuit 26 is connected to the integrated circuit 18 at its led terminal 4 . the circuit 26 controls the on - off duty cycle of the leds on the panel of the intercom system 10 . the led duty cycle indicates if the intercom system 10 is in use ; is in the page mode ; or is in the busy mode . for example , if the intercom system 10 is connected and in use , the duty cycle provides a continuous signal to the led so that the led is on continuously . if a page has been transmitted over the intercom 10 , but not been answered , the led duty cycle circuit 26 provides a one second flash rate to indicate that the page has not been answered . on the other hand , if the page has been answered , the led duty cycle circuit 26 will provide a one - quarter second flash rate so as to indicate that the intercom is busy . connected to the speaker driver terminal of the integrated circuit 18 is a speaker driver circuit 28 . thus , the message from the calling station is broadcast at the location of the speaker . also , the intercom system 10 has the capabilities of dialing while the receiver is on - hook . accordingly , an on - hook dial network 30 interfaces with the hook on and off terminals and to the speaker connect ( spk con ) terminal of the integrated circuit 18 . the output of the on - hook dial circuit 30 is further tied to an interface circuit 32 to the hook switch and dialer power . the network 10 further includes a momentary intercom button and hook transition logic circuit 34 to activate the intercom system 10 for communication . referring more specifically to the individual circuits , the interface circuit 12 has a dual tone multiple frequency terminal ( dtmf ) 50 ; a microphone audio terminal 52 ; a headphone terminal 56 ; a headphone return terminal 58 ; a tip ring terminal 62 and a ring terminal 64 . the headphone return terminal 58 is tied to a switch plus potential 66 . the switch plus potential indicates that the system 10 is on audio . the switch plus 66 is not on during the on - hook dialing function of the system . the headphone return 58 and the switch plus 66 is tied to a semiconductor 70 . as previously mentioned , the intercom network 10 is also adapted to work with a two - line , twisted - pair telephone system . in a two - line version , the fcc requires that the two lines be isolated from each other by at least fifteen hundred volts . accordingly , in utilizing a two - line system , the ring terminal 64 is tied to an isolation capacitor which is positioned within a block 78 . the compander network 16 includes an expander 80 . the expander 80 provides a one - to - two expansion , i . e . for each db rise in audio level in the input , the output rises two db . the expander 80 has an input terminal 81 tied to a capacitor 84 which extends to the headphone terminal 56 . also , the expander 80 has an input terminal 86 tied to the capacitor 84 . the expander 80 has a further input terminal 88 tied to a resister 90 which is also tied to a terminal 92 . the terminal 92 is tied to a capacitor 94 extending to the mike audio terminal 52 . the expander 80 has an output terminal 96 tied to a capacitor 98 . the expander 80 has a further output terminal 100 tied to the terminal 96 and capacitor 98 , and an output terminal 102 tied to a grounded capacitor 104 . also tied to the mike audio terminal 52 is a microphone bias resistor 106 which is tied to the capacitor 94 . also , a resistor 108 is tied to the junction of terminal 88 and resistor 90 . the combination of the resistors 90 and 108 provide for a page tone / side tone level . also tied to the resistor 108 is the dual - tone multiple frequency terminal 50 . terminal 50 is also tied to a page tone transmit level resistor 110 which in turn is tied to a terminal 112 of a compressor network 114 . the compressor network 114 provides for two - to - one compression , i . e . for each db rise in audio level of the input and output only rises one - half as much . an input terminal 116 of the compressor 114 is tied to the junction terminal 92 , and an input terminal 118 of the compressor 114 is tied to a junction 120 . an output terminal 122 of the compressor 114 is tied to a resistor 123 which is tied to the terminal 120 through a capacitor 124 . also , resistor 123 and an output terminal 126 are tied to the network 24 . an output terminal 130 of the compressor 114 is tied to a grounded capacitor 132 . the combination of the expander 80 and compressor 14 improves the signal - to - noise ratio of the audio , e . g . by fifteen to forty decibels , and thus the quality of the audio signal . also tied between the input terminal 112 and the terminal 120 is an rc network of a resistor 136 , a capacitor 138 and a resistor 140 . the radio frequency circuitry 14 is adapted to convert the audio signals to radio frequency signals . the radio frequency signals , which contain the intercom information , are then multiplexed on top of one of the existing telephone lines . circuitry 14 includes a front - end bandpass filter network 141 wherein the center frequency is 350 khz . input to the filter 141 is tied to the tip and ring terminals 62 and 64 . the filter 141 includes a capacitor 142 tied in series with the primary winding of a transformer 143 which is also tied to the ring terminal 64 . the secondary of transformer 143 is tied to ground and to an lc circuit of an inductor 144 and a capacitor 146 . the lc circuit is tied to ground . the center tap of the output winding of the transformer 148 is tied to a terminal 152 which in turn is tied to a series rc network of a resistor 154 and a capacitor 156 to ground . terminal 152 is also tied to a resistor 158 which in turn is tied to a capacitor 160 to ground . the filter 141 , at the junction of the resistor 158 and capacitor 160 , is tied to a pair of switches 162 and 164 with one terminal of the switch 162 tied to one terminal of the switch 164 . a switch 168 is tied to the common terminals of the switches 162 and 164 . switch 162 has a terminal tied to a cmos plus potential 170 and to ground through a capacitor 172 . the switch 162 is also tied to a battery potential 174 through a resistor 176 . a switch 178 is tied to the switch 168 and to the junction of the resistor 154 and capacitor 156 . switch 178 is further tied to a bandpass filter 179 comprising a grounded capacitor 180 , an inductor 182 , which in turn is tied to a grounded capacitor 184 and to a capacitor 186 . the bandpass filter 179 has a center frequency of 55 khz . the capacitor 186 is tied to a resistor 188 which in turn is tied to the automatic gain control / intermediate frequency gain ( agc / ifg ) terminal of the integrated circuit 18 . the capacitor 186 is tied in series to an inductor 190 tied in series with a resistor 192 to the intermediate frequency one output terminal ( if1 out ) of integrated circuit 18 . inductor 190 is also tied to the agc / ifg terminal . a bypass capacitor 194 is tied between ground and the if1 out terminal . also , the resistor 188 is tied to a grounded bypass capacitor 196 and , through a capacitor 198 , to the speaker decouple ( spk dec ) terminal of the integrated circuit 18 . the capacitor 186 is also tied to the intermediate frequency one input terminal ( if1 in ) of the integrated circuit 18 . the resistor 192 and capacitor 194 are tied to a capacitor 200 which in turn is tied to the if2 in terminal of the integrated circuit 18 . a resistor 202 is tied to the if2 in and to a capacitor 204 which in turn is tied to the if1 in detector in ( det in ) terminal . the if2 in terminal of the integrated circuit 18 is tied to the junction of the resistor 202 and capacitor 204 . an rc circuit of a resistor 206 and two capacitors 208 and 210 are tied between the cr sens terminal and detect output ( det out ) terminals of the integrated circuit 18 . also the detect audio ( det aud ) terminal of the integrated circuit 18 is tied to a grounded bypass capacitor 212 and to the expander network 80 . the oscillator frequency adjust circuit 22 includes a variable inductor 214 tied across a pair of grounded capacitors 216 and 218 . a capacitor 220 is tied to the capacitors 216 and inductor 214 and to the integrated circuit 18 at the originate (- orig ) terminal of the integrated circuit 18 . the capacitor 218 and inductor 214 are tied to the oscillator in ( osc in ) terminal of the integrated circuit 18 . the inductor 214 and capacitors 216 are tied through a capacitor 222 to the oscillator output ( osc out ) terminal of the integrated circuit 18 . also the transmit ( tx ) terminal of the integrated circuit 18 is tied to the switch 164 so as to provide a transmit enable signal to the integrated circuit 18 . the led control circuit 26 is tied to the led terminal of the integrated circuit 18 , and includes a bypass capacitor 226 and a resistor 228 which in turn is tied to a darlington network 230 . the output of the darlington is tied to a resistor 232 and in turn tied to a light emitting diode 234 the anode of which is tied to a zener diode 236 which is in turn tied to the battery potential 174 . the darlington network 230 controls the time constant of the signal to the led such that when the led is solid and a continuous signal is provided , it may indicate that the intercom is connected . a long time cycle , for example one second , may indicate that someone is being paged . a shorter time cycle , for example one quarter second flash rate , can indicate that the intercom is currently busy . the speaker driver circuit 28 is tied to the speaker driver ( spk drv ) terminal of the circuit 18 and includes an emitter follower network 238 of which one side is grounded and the other side is tied to a bypass capacitor 240 and through a resistor 242 to the battery source 174 . the emitter follower 238 in turn is tied through a capacitor 244 to a speaker 246 . the emitter followers serve as high current drivers . in some instances , it is necessary to suppress very high frequency ocillations , in which case a grounded rc network of a resistor 248 and capacitor 250 may be tied to the emitter followers . the speaker volume to the speaker 246 may be controlled by a potentiometer 252 which extends through a series resistor 254 and capacitor 256 to the headphone jack 56 through the capacitor 84 . the battery indicator circuitry 20 includes a nine - volt battery 260 which is tied to a connector 262 , one terminal of which is tied to ground . the other terminal of switch 262 is tied to the battery voltage terminal 174 , the vcc terminal of the integrated circuit 18 and to a capacitor 264 which extends to ground . the vcc terminal is also tied through a transistor 266 to capacitor 268 to ground and to the sw plus terminal 66 . the transistor 266 is tied through resistor 270 to the - sw terminal of the integrated circuit 18 . the on - hook dial network 30 includes a pair of hook terminals 280 and 282 which are tied to the emitter and collector of a transistor 284 , the base of which is tied to a resistor 286 . the resistor 286 is tied to a transistor 287 , the emitter of which in turn is tied to ground . the base of transistor 287 is tied to the emitter of a transistor 288 and ground through a resistor 289 . the base of transistor 288 is connected to a disconnect terminal 290 and through a field effect transistor 290 to a microphone terminal and through a diode 291 to the hook switch . the collector of the transistor 288 is tied to a resistor 292 and a switch 293 to the spk con terminal . the collector of transistor 288 is tied to a led 294 tied to the vbat 174 . also , a filter capacitor 295 extends to ground from the switch 293 . the network 30 allows a person to dial while the handset is on hook . once the caller indicates receipt of the call , this can be detected through a speaker though the caller must then pick up the handset in order to transmit a message . the interface circuitry 32 includes a diode 300 which in turn is tied to the sw + potential 66 and to a dialer power interface terminal 306 and to a resistor 308 extending to the battery power 174 . the hands - free circuitry 24 includes a grounded crystal microphone 310 which is tied to a low level audio amplifier having a transistor 312 , the collector of which is tied through a resistor 314 to the vbat source 174 . the microphone 310 is also tied to a field effect transistor ( fet ) 318 through an rc network of a capacitor 319 and a pair of resistors 320 and 321 . the fet is also tied to the cmos potential 76 and to the collector of the transistor 312 . the fet 318 is also tied to a transistor 322 , the emitter of which is tied to a resistor 323 . a transistor 324 is connected to the mike hook ( mike / hk ) terminal of the circuit 18 through a resistor 326 and blocking capacitor 327 . resistor 326 is tied to a grounded resistor 328 and to a resistor 330 which is tied to the fet 318 . the resistor 326 is also tied to a blocking capacitor 332 which in turn is tied to the microphone terminal ( mike / hk ) of the integrated circuit 18 . the transistor 312 is also tied to a diode 334 which in turn is tied to the interface network 332 . the mike / hk terminal is tied to a transistor 336 which is tied to the hook switch . the hands - free circuitry 24 further includes the signal processing component for determining the level of the background ambient noise and which comprises a capture threshold circuitry tied to the capture sensing ( cp sens ) terminal of the integrated circuit 18 . the cp sens terminal is tied to a resistor 340 extending to fet 318 , to a grounded capacitor 342 and to a transistor 346 which extends through a transistor 347 to the sl bias terminal of circuit 18 . the emitter of transistor 346 is grounded and the collector is tied to the resistor 340 and capacitor 342 . the ambient level is controlled by an ambient level network comprising a resistor 358 tied to the ambient terminal of the integrated circuit 18 and to a diode 360 to the sw + potential 66 . the ambient level terminal is also tied to a grounded capacitor 362 . accordingly , the hands - free network 24 provides for means whereby the background noise is sensed when the intercom system 10 is activated by a message being transmitted . then , once the intended recipient announces his or her presence at a level above the noise level at the closest receive set 10 , the intercom automatically enables the transmitter and transmits the announcement . thus , the intended recipient is able to respond to the intercom message without personally activating any circuitry . intercom activated circuit 34 includes a momentary intercom switch 366 which is tied to a transmit enable line 368 . four field effect transistors 370 , 372 , 374 and 376 are connected to the switch 366 . transistor 370 is tied to the switch 366 through a capacitor 378 and to transistor 372 through a capacitor 380 . transistors 370 and 372 are tied to the hands - free circuitry 24 . transistors 370 and 374 are tied to the voltage source 66 through a diode 382 and transistors 370 and 372 are tied to the vbat potential source 174 . fig3 illustrates the panel of the internal intercom of system 10 of the current invention . as evident , the console may be a standard type console with the addition of the led 234 , the intercom switch 366 and on - hook dial switch 293 . the system may have one or two incoming lines in which case the buttons for each line are designated &# 34 ; line 1 &# 34 ;, &# 34 ; line 2 &# 34 ;. the led 234 reflects the mode of the intercom . also , the on - hook dial switch 293 is provided to activate dialing capability when the handset is in the cradle . thus , to incorporate the internal intercom system of the present invention , a standard type of telephone console may be incorporated with the addition of system 10 . in operation , when it is desired to broadcast a message to someone within range of the intercom system , the momentary intercom button 366 is pushed . then the message is announced over the intercom system 10 . this is broadcast at each of the consoles tied into the system . the paged person may then respond hands - free and as long as the volume of the response exceeds the background noise at the console 10 closest to the recipient , or by pushing the intercom button 366 , the response is relayed to all consoles including the originating console . if the message is that the paged person has a telephone call on hold , then the paged person can take the call at the closest console . if persons desire to communicate over the intercom , they can readily do so without any handling of the physical equipment , i . e . hands free . if the paged person is to take a telephone call on hold , the paged person merely activates the line button at the closest console and takes the telephone call . the intercom system 10 operates with the d . c . power source 260 , i . e . a nine - volt battery . thus , there is no need for an a . c . power source or any special wiring . the intercom signal is multiplexed on top of the audio signal . the intercom signal is above the audio range at 270 khz , but typically below 500 khz and meets federal communications commission ( fcc ) regulations regarding out - of - band energy on telephone lines . the intercom system 10 is merely added in combination with a standard telephone console . there is no need for any wiring outside of the console . fig2 is a schematic of the integrated circuit 18 . each of the twenty - eight terminals on the circuit 18 shown in fig1 are also shown in fig2 with the corresponding numbers . at terminal 2 is the vcc voltage which is equivalent to the potential terminal 174 of the system in fig1 . this provides the vcc potential to the circuit 18 . also , fig2 is included on four sheets . the interconnections between the various sheets are designated by letters . at terminal 3 is the sw control terminal (- sw ) which is tied to a light emitting diode flashing oscillator network 500 . terminal 4 , which is the led / flash terminal is also tied into the led flashing oscillator circuit 500 . as illustrated , circuit 500 includes a relaxation oscillator which produces a semi - saw tooth type waveform to flash the leds and a constant level signal to maintain the led at a solid on position . within the block 500 is illustrated a waveform 502 to illustrate such conditions . as previously mentioned , when the intercom system 10 is on and the message has not been returned , the led flashes . this is a result of the waveform 502 . when the answer is made over the intercom , then the led takes a constant &# 34 ; on &# 34 ; indication which is also indicated by the waveform 502 . the circuit 500 includes a latching circuit transistor 504 of which the base is tied to the collector of a transistor 506 and to the collector of a transistor 508 . the emitter of the transistor 504 is tied to the line on terminal 4 and to the base of a transistor 510 . the collector of the transistor 504 is tied to the collector of transistor 512 , to the base of the transistor 506 and to a resistance network which in turn is tied to the emitter of the transistor 510 and to the collector of transistor 514 . a solid led signal is fed to the collector on the transistor 512 and the alert flashing signal is generated at the emitter of the transistor 504 . the originate terminals 5 is tied to a network which includes a transistor 522 of which the collector is tied to the originate terminal 5 . the base of the transistor 522 is tied to an input resistor 524 . the wake and sleep terminal 13 ( wk / sl ) has a &# 34 ; wake - sleep &# 34 ; signal of a waveform as illustrated by the waveform 525 , varying between a &# 34 ; sleep &# 34 ; position to a &# 34 ; wake &# 34 ; position . the terminal 13 is tied to a sleep bias network 526 which includes a transistor 527 and a transistor 528 tied between the base and collector . the collector is further tied to a wake / sleep latch circuit 529 having a pair of transistors 530 and 532 and to the sleep bias ( sl bias ) terminal 14 . the wake and sleep terminal 13 ( wk / sl ) is also tied to collector of a transistor 527 so as to control its conductance and thus the wake / sleep latch 529 . the wake / sleep latch circuit 529 further includes a transistor 534 of which the collector is tied to the base of a transistor 536 which receives trigger signals . the emitter of the transistor 536 is tied to the base of a transistor 538 with the collectors of the transistors 536 and 538 tied together and in turn tied to a resistance 540 which extends to the emitter of a transistor 542 . the emitter of the transistor 542 is tied to the base of a transistor 544 . the emitter of the transistor 544 is tied to the wake bias terminal 6 . the collector of the transistor 544 is tied to the wake bias ( wk bias ) terminal 7 such that power is applied to the page tone circuit when the wake / sleep latch is enabled . the original tone terminal ( or tone ) 8 is tied to an originate tone oscillator circuit 550 which includes a transistor 552 , a transistor 554 and a transistor 556 . the base of the transistor 552 is tied to the terminal 8 and the emitter is tied through a voltage divider network of resistors 558 , 560 and through a resistor 562 to the base of the transistor 556 and to the controller of the transistor 554 . a collector and base of the transistor 554 are tied together and in turn to the collector 556 . accordingly , the originate tone oscillator 550 generates a tone at the or tone terminal 8 . the tone signal is illustrated by the waveform 562 . thus , the oscillator network 550 provides a page tone pulse which also appears at the emitter of the transmitter 554 . thus , as previously described , the system constantly vacilates between the wake and sleep condition and then when a page transmission is generated at any of the terminals , all of the terminals 10 are then placed into a wake mode so as to receive the message from the originating terminal . once the system is in the wake position and the message is toned , then the flashing signal is also generated at the led flash terminal 4 so as to provide a visual indication at all terminals . a transmitter control ( tx ctrl ) terminal 6 is tied to a transmitter control latch circuit 570 which includes a transistor 572 of which the gate is tied to the transmitter control terminal 6 . the base and collector of the transistor 572 are tied together and in turn to a resistance 574 and to an originate latch circuitry 576 at the base of a transistor 578 . the transmitter control latch circuit 570 further includes a transistor 580 of which the base is tied to the collector of the transistor 578 and the base is tied to a logic network 582 . the capture sense terminal ( cp sens ) 9 , ambient terminal 10 and crystal mic hook terminal ( mike hk ) 15 are all tied to a hands - free threshold logic network 600 . the purpose of the hands - free threshold logic network 600 is to constantly analyze the background noise at the terminal and to average it for the most recent five seconds . thus , after the page transmission is received the ambient level is frozen and the intended recipient of the message speaks up , the hands - free threshold logic at each of the terminals knows the previous ambient background level . then when the intended recipient announces an acknowledgment , the crystal microphone receives such signal and if it exceeds the background noise by a preset amount , a signal responsive to the acknowledgement is generated without the page recipient even touching the apparatus . the ambient terminal 10 is tied to a capture comparator including a pair of transistors 602 and 606 of which the collectors are tied together . the base of the transistor 602 is tied to the capture sense terminal 9 as is the emitter of a zener diode 608 . this circuitry , referred to by the broken line 609 , provides a means for triggering a latching means . the base of transistor 602 is tied to the collector of a transistor 610 of a hands - free rectifier network . the base and collector of the transistor 610 are tied together and in common to the collector of a transistor 612 . the emitter of the transistor 612 is tied to the collector of a transistor 614 of which the base is tied to the crystal mic / hook terminal ( mike / hk ) 15 . the emitter of the transistor 614 is tied to the base and collector of a transistor 616 . also , the emitter of the transistor 614 is tied to the emitter of a transmitter 617 of which the collector is tied to the collector of a transistor 618 . the base of the transistor 612 is also tied to the collector of a transistor 620 and to the collector of a transistor 622 . the emitter of the transistor 620 is tied to the crystal mic / hook terminal 15 and the emitter of the transistor 622 is tied to the base of a transistor 624 . the emitter of the transistor 624 is tied to the base of the transistor 617 and the collector of the transistors 617 and 624 are tied together in common to the collector of the transistor 618 . also , the collector of the transistor 618 is tied to the emitter of the transistor 612 . this circuitry , referred to by the broken line 625 , with the transistor 602 , provide sensing means for sensing the ambient background noise level . accordingly , the ambient background noise is stored in the external capacitor and when the intended recipient of the message speaks out through the crystal microphone , it causes the capture sense level to rise above the previously stored frozen ambient level which causes the recipient terminal to capture and enable its transmitter . the speaker / connect ( spk con ) terminal 27 , speaker drive ( spk drv ) terminal 1 , speaker in ( spk in ) terminal 26 , speaker decouple ( spk dec ) terminal 25 and ground ( gnd ) terminal 28 are all tied to a speaker drive circuit 630 . the spk in terminal 26 is tied to an input of a transconductance amplifier including a transistor 632 , the emitter of which is tied to the emitter of a transistor 634 . the collector of the transistor 632 extends to the vcc potential and is tied to the base of a transistor 636 . the base of the transistor 634 is tied to the emitter of a transistor 640 . the base of the transistor 640 is tied to the gate of a transistor 642 . the collector and base of the transistor 642 are tied in common . the collector of the transistor 636 is tied to the base and collector of a transistor 643 . the base of the transistor 643 is tied to the base of a transistor 644 and the emitters of the transistor 643 and 644 are tied together . the collector of the transistor 644 is tied to the emitters of a transistor 645 and of a transistor 646 . the bases of the transistors 645 and 646 are tied in common to the collectors of transistors 643 and 645 . the collector of the transistor 646 is tied to vcc source , the emitters of the transistors 636 and 643 are tied to the vcc source and the emitters of the transistors 645 and 646 are tied to the spk drive terminal 1 . the spk dec terminal 25 is tied to the base of the transistor 634 . the emitters of the transistors 643 and 644 are tied to gnd terminal 28 . the speaker drive circuit 630 is connected to a speaker / connect flip - flop gating circuit 650 . the circuit 650 includes an emitter follower of two transistors 652 and 654 with the collectors tied to the emitters of the transistors 632 and 634 of the speaker drive circuit 630 . the emitter followers 652 and 654 are in turn tied to an emitter follower of a pair of transistors 656 and 658 with the emitters tied to the emitter followers 652 and 654 . the collectors of the transistors 656 and 658 are tied to the transistor 642 . the speaker / connect terminal 27 is tied to the gate of a transistor 660 and to the base of a transistor 662 . the collector and base of the transistor 660 are tied together and to the collector of the transistor 662 . the integrated circuit 18 further includes a page - wink - off latch network 668 including a transistor 670 of which the base and collectors are tied together and the emitter is tied to the emitter of a transistor 672 . the collector of the transistor 670 is tied to the base of a transistor 674 and the emitter of the transistor 674 is tied to a resistor extending to the base . an off - hook detector network 680 includes a transistor 682 of which the collector is tied to the emitter of a transistor 684 which in turn is tied to the speaker / connect flip - flip negating network 650 . the emitter of the transistor 682 is tied to a work bias generator network 690 which provides the wake - up bias for the network . the circuitry 690 includes a pair of transistors 692 and 694 . the base and collector of the transistor 692 is tied to the emitter of the transistor 682 of the off - hook detector 680 . the collector of the transistor 694 is tied to the base of a transistor 696 with the collector of the transistor 696 tied to the base of a transistor 698 . an automatic gain control detector including a transistor 699 has an emitter tied to a transistor 700 . the collector of the transistor 699 is tied to a transistor 701 . the gate of the silicon controlled rectifier 699 is adapted to receive a stay - awake signal . also , a transistor 702 has the collector tied to the collector of the transistor 699 . the circuitry , referred to by the broken line 699a provides a means for disabling all of the answering transmitting and receiving audio signals when the originating transmitting audio signal is transmitted . the collector of the transistor 702 is tied to receive the page pulse from a logic circuit of a transistor 703 of which the collector is tied to the collector of a transistor 704 . the collector of the transistor 703 is also tied to the collector of the transistors 674 and 704 . the base of the transistor 702 is tied to the detect out ( det out ) terminal 17 . the emitter of the transistor 702 is also tied to the base of a transistor 710 . the transistor 710 is also tied to a transistor 712 . an oscillator detect circuit 720 includes an oscillator current source having a transistor 722 and a transistor 724 . the base of the transistor 722 is tied to the wake / sleep latch circuit 529 and the collector is tied to the collector of the transistor 542 . the collector of the transistor 722 is common to the oscillator output ( osc out ) terminal 12 . also , the collector of the transistor 724 is common to the osc out terminal 12 and the base of the transistor 724 is common to the base of the transistor 722 . the oscillator in ( osc in ) terminal 11 is tied to the base of a transistor 726 of which the collector is tied to the osc out terminal 12 . the osc out terminal 12 is also tied to a transistor 728 of which the base and collector are tied together and extend to the bases of a pair of transistors 730 and 732 . the emitters of the transistors 730 and 732 are tied in common and extend to the base and collector of a transistor 734 . the emitter of the transistor 734 is tied to the base of a transistor 736 of which the collector is tied to the collector of the transistor 734 . the base of transistor 734 , through a resistive network , is tied to the base of a transistor 738 of which the collector is tied to the base of a transistor 740 . the emitter of transistor 740 is tied to the wake / sleep ( wk / sl ) terminal 13 . the circuitry 720 further includes a transistor 742 of which the base is tied to transistor 544 and the emitter is tied to the wake bias ( wk bias ) terminal 7 . the collector of transistor 742 extends to the base of a transistor 744 , the emitter of which extends to the collector of the transistor 534 and the collector is tied to the base of the transistor 710 . the collector of the transistor 744 is tied to the base and emitter of a transistor 746 . the collector of the transistor 746 is tied to the wake / sleep terminal 13 . the collector of the transistor 744 is also tied to the base of a pair of transistors 748 and 750 . the emitter of the transistor 750 is tied to the detect out ( det out ) terminal 17 . the emitter of the transistor 748 is tied to the emitter of the transistor 712 . the emitter of the transistor 748 is also tied to the collector of a transistor 750 . the emitter of the transistor 750 is tied to the det out terminal 17 and the base is tied to the work bias generator circuitry 690 . also , the emitter of transistor 748 is tied to the base and collector of a transistor 752 and to the base of a transistor 754 . the emitter of the transistor 754 is tied to the emitter of the transistor 752 and to the wake bias generator circuitry 690 . the collector of the transistor 754 is tied to an originate transmitter wink line 756 which extends to the circuitry 570 . the detect in ( det in ) terminal 19 is also tied to a detector circuitry 758 including a transistor 760 and a transistor 762 with the terminal 19 tied to the emitter of the transistor 760 and to the collector and base of the transistor 762 . the collector of the transistor 760 is tied to the det out terminal 17 . a transistor 764 has a collector tied to the det out terminal 17 and a base tied to the base of the transistor 762 . an audio buffer circuit 766 is tied to the det out terminal 17 and includes a transistor 768 with the base tied to the terminal 17 and the emitter extending through a resistor 770 to the det aud terminal 18 . the transistors 748 , 752 and 754 are all tied to the cr sens terminal 16 . the circuit 771 provides for disabling the transmitting audio enabling . a first intermediate frequency amplifier circuit 780 is tied to the automatic gain control ( agc / ifg ) terminal 23 , to the intermediate frequency one output ( if1 out ) terminal 20 and to the intermediate frequency one input ( if1 in ) terminal 21 . the terminal 21 is tied to the base of a transistor 782 of which the collector is tied to the terminal 20 . the emitter of the transistor 782 is tied to the emitter of a transistor 784 and to the collector of a transistor 786 . the emitter of the transistor 786 is tied to the collector of a transistor 788 , the emitter of which is grounded and the base of which is tied to the wake bias generator 690 . the base of the transistor 784 is tied to the agc terminal 23 . the collector of the transistor 784 is tied to the base and collector of a transistor 790 . the gate of the transistor 790 is tied to the collector of the transistor 782 and to the if1 out terminal 20 . a second intermediate frequency amplifier circuit 800 is tied between the if2 in terminal 22 and if2 out terminal 24 . the circuit 800 includes a pair of transistors 802 and 804 with the base of the transistor 802 tied to the automatic gain control signal line of the circuitry 690 and the base of the transistor 804 is tied to the if2 in terminal 22 . the emitters of the transistors 802 and 804 are tied together to a collector of a transistor 806 . the base of the transistor 806 is tied to the first intermediate frequency amplifier circuit 780 and to the wake up bias generator circuit 690 . the collector of the transistor 802 is tied to the collector of a transistor 807 and to the base of a transistor 808 . the base of the transistor 807 is tied to the emitter of the transistor 808 . the gate of the transistor 807 is tied to the if2 out terminal 24 . although the present invention has been described in terms of the presently preferred embodiments , it is to be understood that such disclosure is not to be interpreted as limiting . various alterations and modifications will no doubt become apparent to those skilled in the art after having read the above disclosure . accordingly , it is intended that the appending claims be interpreted as covering all alterations and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention .	7
as explained earlier , the invention lies in the domain of television . this technology allows a user to gain access to interactive services , by way of computer applications executed by a microprocessor device of the television set . these computer applications require , in general , configuration parameters used when starting up the application . these configuration parameters must be retained in memory store and depend , for example , on the user and on the television set . likewise , certain interactive services may require the user to input , via appropriate means , personal parameters for operating an interactive service . these parameters may be the personalization of the graphics interface of the service . to avoid the user having to perform the personalization of the interactive service with each usage , these personalization parameters need to be retained in memory store . likewise , the need for a retentive memory arises when the interactive services are , for example , games . in this case , the best scores of the various players need to be kept , in particular by retaining them in memory store . likewise , as appropriate , the code of the applications allowing implementation of the interactive services can be retained in memory store . the present invention will now be described with reference to fig1 . as explained earlier , it is difficult to evaluate the capacity of the storage means ( 21 , 22 , 23 ) during construction of the television since the number of services and the quantity of information to be stored for each service is not defined definitively and may change rapidly . specifically , the television manufacturer is generally aware of the needs of a few interactive service providers in terms of memory requirement . consequently , when a user of the television wishes to benefit from interactive services from a provider initially unknown to the manufacturer , this provider &# 39 ; s requirements are not taken into account in determining the capacity of the storage means ( 21 , 22 , 23 ). as explained earlier , the solution consisting in increasing the capacity of the storage means as and when requirements arise is not satisfactory in so far as these storage means are relatively expensive , voluminous and that their renewal requires the intervention of a technician . another conceivable solution would be to let the user of the television manage the usage of the storage means . this solution , comparable to the management of the memory of a personal computer , is not desirable in so far as the user of the television is not necessarily trained for this management and that moreover the user does not wish to have the burden of this management . according to the prior art , the storage means of a digital television system comprise a local retentive memory ( 21 ) installed in the television , for example of non - volatile memory type , and / or an external memory ( 22 ) connected to the television set and / or a remote server ( 23 ) provided with storage means and connected to the television set , for example by a telephone link and a modem built into the television set . it is clear that each of the storage means ( 21 , 22 , 23 ) possesses different characteristics . thus , the quantity of storable information , the access time and the speed of processing or the rate of transfer of the stored information are different from one storage means to another . the characteristics of the storage means ( 21 , 22 , 23 ) constitute constraints ( 212 , 222 , 232 ) which interfere in the choice of the allocation ( 211 , 221 , 231 ) of an item of information in the storage means when a new item of information or new data need to be stored . according to the invention , the memory management system builds in the performance of the various storage means so as to allocate the memory space necessary to store new information in the most suitable storage means ( 21 , 22 , 23 ). specifically , the definition of the usage constraints or of the characteristics of the information stored can be put in place so that the choice of storage means on which this particular information is to be stored is conditioned by these constraints . in the system according to the invention , these constraints are taken into account upon a request ( 30 , 40 ) asking for the storage of new information . a request ( 30 , 40 ) can be issued by a service provider ( 4 ) or by the user ( 3 ). in order to manage the demands ( 30 , 40 ) for storing information originating from an interactive service provider ( 4 ) or from the user ( 3 ), the system according to the invention comprises a computer program ( 1 ), for example , stored locally in the television set , including a plurality of executable modules ( 11 , 12 , 13 ). each executable module ( 11 , 12 , 13 ) carries out a different , but complementary , activity making it possible to take into account and automatically satisfy the demands ( 30 , 40 ) for storing information while complying with the constraints fixed during the request ( 30 , 40 ). a first module ( 11 ), called the processing module , receives and analyses each information storage request ( 30 , 40 ). this processing module ( 11 ) has access to all the information relating to the constraints of usage of the information item to be stored , which item is contained in the request . this module also has access to the characteristics of the storage means ( 21 , 22 , 23 ) relating in particular to the available space remaining on the various storage means and the processing speed . the processing module ( 11 ) then carries out a comparison between the constraints of storage of the information item and the characteristics of the storage means ( 21 , 22 , 23 ). this comparison makes it possible to verify whether the new information item forming the subject of a request ( 30 , 40 ) can be stored without modifying the state of the information already stored in the storage means , that is to say without erasing or shifting the information already stored . if such is the case , the processing module ( 11 ) allocates the necessary available space on the most suitable storage means , as a function of the usage constraints for the new information item . in the converse case , that is to say when the characteristics of the storage means do not allow the storage of the new information item while complying with the fixed constraints , the processing module triggers a second module called the reorganization and optimization module ( 12 ). this reorganization module ( 12 ) analyses the usage of the storage space of each storage means ( 21 , 22 , 23 ) so as to assign each information item already stored a storage space , in the most optimal manner possible while complying with the usage constraints for each information item . likewise , this reorganization module ( 12 ) verifies the date of validity of each information item stored and deletes all the information items whose duration of validity is exceeded . this date of validity also constitutes an information storage constraint , and can be expressed , either in the form of an expiry date , or in the form of a duration of validity whose start date is the date of storage of the information item or the date of last usage . to do this , the reorganization module ( 12 ) consults a clock in order to verify the duration of validity . likewise , the reorganization module ( 12 ) can use a data compression algorithm to free some storage space on each of the storage means . the compression algorithms are employed by the reorganization module ( 12 ) only in so far as some available storage space is necessary and in so far as the information usage constraints are complied with . in one embodiment of the invention , the reorganization module ( 12 ) can be triggered automatically during periods of non - usage of the television set or as soon as a storage request is received by the program ( 1 ) for managing the television set . the usage constraints for the information item to be stored or the characteristics of this information item are used essentially by the processing module ( 11 ) and by the reorganization module ( 12 ) in order to determine the best possible location in one of the storage means ( 21 , 22 , 23 ). the expression best location should be understood to mean a memory allocation area in respect of which the usage constraints for the information item to be stored and the characteristics of this information item are complied with , either fully , or partially , but sufficiently to permit an operational usage of the information item . the determination of the placement of a new information item depends , on the one hand on objective criteria , for example , its size and the maximum access time for the information item and , on the other hand on more subjective criteria , fixed in general , by the user , the service provider or the manufacturer and relating for example to a usage priority level . the subjective criteria are used by the processing module ( 11 ) and the reorganization module ( 12 ) to determine to what extent certain objective criteria of the information item to be stored can be ignored , in full or part , so that the information item can be stored . thus , by way of example , if a first information item comprises a less important priority level than a second information item , the criteria , or objective constraints of the second information item , will be ignored in a more significant manner than the criteria or objective constraints of the first information item , so as to be able to store the second information item . likewise , during reorganization of the storage space by the reorganization module ( 12 ), the gaining of memory space on a given storage means can be achieved by at least partially ignoring the storage constraints of at least one information item , so as to shift this information item to another storage means or else by applying a compression algorithm . the characteristics of the storage means ( 21 , 22 , 23 ) are gleaned by a third module called the evaluation module ( 13 ). this module ( 13 ) comprises means for interrogating each storage means so as to determine , in particular the space available , the access time and the processing speed of each of the storage means . these characteristics are then stored , for example in a table accessible by the processing module ( 11 ) and the reorganization module ( 12 ). the third module ( 13 ) is triggered as soon as a new information item is stored on one of the storage means ( 21 , 22 , 23 ) or when a new storage means is connected to the television set or else when an existing storage means is replaced . the processing module ( 11 ) and the reorganization module ( 12 ) also use a series of simple procedures to execute the storage of information or the optimization of the storing of this information . these procedures carry out , for example ,: shifting of data from a first storage means to a second storage means . examples of usage constraints and their implication in the memory management mechanisms will now be provided . all the constraints are stored , for example in a table consultable by the processing module ( 11 ) and the reorganization module ( 12 ). the constraint relating to the size of the information item is provided by the service provider when requesting storage of an information item . when a compression is applied to a storage means , the size of the compressed information item is taken into account instead of the initial size . the modification of the table is then achieved , for example by the reorganization module ( 12 ) which is in fact the initiator of the compression operation . the constraint or the information item relating to the date of expiry or the duration of validity is provided either by the service provider , upon the storage request , or by the user who decides to keep a given information item only for a desired duration or until a date fixed by him . likewise , the date of expiry can be fixed by the user by fixing a duration of non - usage of the information item after which this information item can be deleted . the date of validity can be fixed for a particular information item , or for all the information items relating to a specified service . this constraint may , if necessary , be modified by the service provider or the user after the information item has been stored . this modification is carried out by the user by way of input means associated with the television set and controlled by the computer program or by the service provider by way of a communication link . the constraint or the information item relating to the memory available on a storage means is updated by the evaluation module . the constraint relating to the provider priority allows the user and the manufacturer of the television set to assign a priority level to each service provider . this priority level makes it possible to measure the importance of the information provided by a first provider relative to a second provider . this information item is used by the processing module and by the reorganization module to determine to what extent the usage constraints need to be complied with . thus , for information provided by a service provider having an important priority level , no degradation of the usage conditions will be tolerated and all the usage constraints will have to be complied with . on the other hand , for information provided by a service provider having a lower priority level , non - compliance with these usage constraints will be permitted so as to allow compliance with the usage constraints for the information belonging to a service provider of more important priority . the “ service priority ” constraint allows the user , the manufacturer of the television set and the service provider to assign a priority level to a service . this service is used in the same way and for the same purpose as the “ provider priority ” constraint . the “ information priority ” constraint makes it possible to identify the information items which have a unique character and which cannot be retrieved once they have been deleted . these information items must therefore be identified so that they are not deleted . the set of constraints related to the priorities can be modified after storing the information item by way of input means as defined earlier . the “ usual access ” constraint for the information item represents the date or the period during which the information item can be used . this constraint is either fixed by the service provider or calculated by a specific procedure of the computer program , as a function of the date or of the period on or in which the information item is regularly used . the “ last access ” constraint for an information item is determined by a specific procedure of the computer program ( 1 ). this procedure is triggered each time an information item stored is used to update the “ last access ” constraint for an information item . this constraint is used , on the one hand to calculate the “ usual access ” constraint for the information item and serves as a point of departure for determining whether an expiry time , fixed by the user with regard to this information item , has elapsed . the “ measured access time ” constraint for an information item is calculated by the computer program by way of a specific procedure . this constraint makes it possible to evaluate the performance of the storage means . the “ required access time ” constraint for an information item is fixed by the service provider in the request asking for storage of an information item . by way of example , assignment of the various priorities is used when it is necessary to delete data so as to free some storage space . this deletion is carried out by the reorganization module ( 12 ) while complying with the priority levels assigned to each datum stored and by following a hierarchy relating to the importance of one priority type relative to another . by way of example , the reorganization module ( 12 ) processes the priorities in the following order of increasing priority : thus , the first items of information deleted will be those having the lowest information priority level , then that having the lowest level of service priority assigned by the user etc . the deletion of the information stored on the means ( 21 , 22 , 23 ) can be carried out automatically , that is to say without user interrogation , or else semi - automatically , that is to say after systematic user validation . the mode of deletion of data can be parameterized at any moment by the user , for example by way of a graphics interface of the program ( 1 ) for managing the television set . for a better understanding of the invention , an exemplary configuration will now be described with reference to fig2 . the television system ( s ) comprises in particular a television ( t ) using digital technology . the system ( s ) also comprises local storage means ( 21 ), such as a hard disk , installed in the television , external storage means ( 22 ), such as a memory card or a diskette reader , associated with the television or with the local storage means ( 21 ), and remote storage means ( 23 ), inside a network , for example . the characteristics of the various storage means ( 21 , 22 , 23 ) are for example stored on the local storage means ( 21 ) in a table ( 210 ). by way of example the chart below collates the information contained in this table ( 210 ). chart no . 1 storage means local ( l ) associated ( a ) remote ( r ) space available 2 25 1000 ( arbitrary unit ) access time ( s ) 0 2 20 processing 10 5 1 capacity ( arbitrary unit / s ) in this example , the user of the television set ( t ) has access to six interactive services ( s 1 to s 6 ) provided by four different providers ( p 1 to p 4 ). the services ( s 2 , s 5 ; s 4 , s 6 ; s 1 , s 3 ) are provided respectively by the providers ( p 2 ;, p 3 ;, p 1 ; p 4 ). the first five services ( s 1 to s 5 respectively ) each require the storage of an information item ( d 1 to d 5 respectively ). the sixth service requires the storage of two information items ( d 6 and d 7 ) each corresponding , for example to a distinct application of the same service ( s 6 ). the two charts below summarize the constraints relating to the priority fixed by , respectively , the user , the provider and the manufacturer . the information contained in these two charts is stored for example in the table ( 210 ) of the local storage means ( 21 ) or in a distinct table . the first chart ( 2100 ) represents the priorities assigned by the user and the manufacturer in respect of each service provider . the smaller the figure , the more important the priority level : chart no . 2 p1 p2 p3 p4 manufacturer priority 2 2 1 2 user priority 3 1 2 2 the second chart ( 2101 ) represents the priorities assigned by the user , the manufacturer and the service provider in respect of each service ( s 1 to s 6 ). the lower the figure , the more important the priority level . it is obvious that an access provider assigns a priority only in respect of the services which he provides : chart no . 3 s1 s2 s3 s4 s5 s6 provider p1 p2 p4 p3 p2 p3 user priority 3 3 1 2 2 3 provider priority 1 2 2 1 1 2 manufacturer priority 2 2 2 1 2 1 the above chart summarizes the placement of the information ( d 1 to d 7 ) of the various services on the storage means . chart no . 4 information item d1 d2 d3 d4 d5 d6 d7 service s1 s2 s3 s4 s5 s6 s6 size 5 5 30 15 10 10 5 provider date 8 days 21 / 9 / 99 8d 8d 8d 8d 8d of validity user date of 8d 8d 8d 8d 8d 8d 8d validity information 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 priority access wed sat scheduled by provider access fri wed 31 / 10 / 99 20h30 sat sat sat scheduled by manufacturer last access fri wed 31 / 09 / 99 20h30 sat sat sat current 0 . 5 0 . 5 8 1 . 5 1 1 0 . 5 access time desired 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 access time storage site l l r l l l l the abbreviation l signifies local and corresponds to the local storage means ( 21 ), and the abbreviation r signifies remote and corresponds to the associated storage means ( 22 ). a reading of the above chart prompts the following remarks . the service s 1 is a service requiring the parameterization of data specific to the user on the local storage means ( 21 ). moreover , a specific procedure of the program ( 1 ) of the system according to the invention has determined that access to this service is made every friday . the date of validity of the service s 2 is reached , this day feb . 9 , 1999 . the service s 3 requires storage of personal data ( d 3 ) which are currently stored on the associated storage means ( 22 ). the service s 4 is used every evening at around 8h30 . the service s 5 is a television transmission programmed every saturday offering an interactive learning program and requiring the storage locally on the local storage means ( 21 ) of the results obtained by the user during the various lessons . the service s 6 is a telepurchasing service requiring on the one hand the storage of personal data ( d 6 ) and on the other hand the storage of a set ( d 7 ) of parameters accelerating the computer application associated with the service s 6 . in our example , the set ( d 7 ) of parameters does not constitute a priority information item . let us now assume that the user wishes to benefit from a new service ( s 7 ) offered by the fourth service provider ( p 4 ). the seventh service ( s7 ) requires the storage of an eighth information item ( d 8 ), the characteristics of which are summarized in the chart 5 below : chart no . 5 information item d8 service s7 size 20 provider date 8 of validity days user date of 8d validity information 1 priority access scheduled by provider access scheduled by manufacturer last access current 0 . 5 access time desired 1 access time storage site l in view of the desired access time , the eighth information item ( d 8 ) can only be stored on the local storage means ( 21 ). but these means are saturated since according to chart no . 1 there are only two units of storage remaining , whereas the eighth requires 20 units of storage . the processing module ( 11 ) receiving the storage request cannot therefore respond to this request without modifying the organization of the information previously stored . consequently , the processing module ( 11 ) triggers the reorganization module ( 12 ) so as to release some space on the local storage means ( 21 ). the analysis carried out by the reorganization module ( 12 ) reveals that the information ( d 2 ) corresponding to the second service ( s 2 ) can be deleted since the date of validity of this service ( s 2 ) has expired . therefore , 5 units of storage are freed on the local storage means ( 21 ). the first service ( s 1 ) will only be used this friday and the sixth service ( s 6 ) will only be used this saturday . consequently , the data ( d 1 , d 6 , d 7 ) corresponding to these services ( s 1 , s 6 ) can be shifted onto the associated storage means ( 22 ), the latter not being saturated . this action therefore makes it possible to free 15 additional units of storage on the local storage means ( 21 ), thus making it possible to obtain the 20 units of storage required to store the information item ( d 8 ) corresponding to the new application of the third service ( s 3 ). it should be obvious to persons versed in the art that the present invention allows embodiments in numerous other specific forms without departing from the field of application of the invention as claimed . consequently , the present embodiments must be regarded as by way of illustration , but may be modified within the field defined by the scope of the appended claims , and the invention should not be limited to the details given hereinabove .	7
referring now in greater detail to the drawings wherein the showings are for the purpose of illustrating preferred embodiments of the invention only and not for the purpose of limiting the invention , fig1 illustrates a section of a coating appliance , which is identified as a whole by the number 10 , in which the slot nozzle 12 is most obvious , wherein film boundary elements 12 a are arranged on both sides in the nozzle slot 12 b , for the purpose of delimiting the nozzle gap or slot on both sides . double arrows d indicate the displacement directions of the film boundary elements along the nozzle slot 12 b . each film boundary element 12 a has an extension 12 a ′, which in the drawing is lip - like and oriented over the narrow section of the nozzle slot 12 b toward the outside in the direction of a web - type substrate 1 . in one embodiment which is shown in the sectional representation in fig1 , extension 12 a ′ can extend linearly . in this embodiment , the extension can be a rigid extension to help maintain a desired orientation of the extension . in another embodiment , extension 12 a ′ can be somewhat flexible and can follow a curved path — dependent upon the ratio of the length of the extension to the distance of the nozzle slot 12 b from the substrate 1 and / or the flexibility of the extension . in this embodiment , the extension will curve in the direction of movement b of the web - type substrate 1 , as is illustrated by way of example in fig1 . in yet other embodiments , extensions 12 a ′ can have a profiled guide edge 14 , such as is shown by way of example in fig2 a or 2 b and one or more of the guide edges can be utilized in the invention of this application . in fig2 a , the profiling of the guide edge in the left half of the drawing is configured as a groove , and in the right half of the drawing is configured as a land , wherein the concrete exemplary embodiment looks like beading in cross - section . the purpose of the profiling is to improve the guidance and securing of the lateral edges 3 a of a film 3 of a freely flowing adhesive composition on the film boundary elements . fig2 b shows a perspective view of yet other embodiments of the invention of this application . in this respect , shown is a film boundary element 12 a . below the nozzle slot 12 b of the slot nozzle 12 , indicated by dashed lines , an extension 12 a ′ of the film boundary element 12 a extends , directed toward the substrate , which is not shown here . its film boundary surface 12 c , which produces yet another profiling of the edge . surface 12 c borders the adhesive composition film , not shown in the drawing , that is not right - angled in this embodiment , but is beveled at an angle toward the inside with respect to the nozzle slot 12 b . this profiling produces a widening of the adhesive composition film to be produced toward the slot nozzle 12 so that the transverse forces in the film plane ( transversely to the direction of flow of the film ) as it proceeds toward the substrate can be at least partially relieved . in this manner , the corresponding forces acting on the lower tear - off edge 12 c ′ of the film boundary surface 12 c can be advantageously decreased . as with the embodiments discussed above , surface 12 c can also include profiling edge which can be a groove - shaped profiling . the coating appliance can further include a heat exchanger to control the temperature of one or more components of the coating appliance . for example , the heat exchanger can be utilized to control extension ( s ) 12 a ′. in fig2 b , shown is a heat exchange vane 15 , which serves as a heat exchange element , is connected to the guide leg 14 a extending between vane 15 and extensions 12 a ′ thereby maintaining the orientation of extension 12 a ′, oriented as a continuation of the groove - shaped profiling of the guide edge 14 , and essentially is no longer surface coated by the adhesive composition film . in the exemplary embodiment , this heat exchange vane 15 is cut away or ventilated at the back with respect to the extension 12 a ′, allowing optimal heat exchange . the heat of the hot adhesive composition present in the groove - shaped profiling 14 is thereby effectively drawn off , so that the adhesion of the edges of the adhesive composition film to the guide edge 14 is sufficient to essentially completely prevent a neck - in of the film . an additional heat exchange vane 15 ′ is represented solely by way of example on the opposite side of the extension 12 a ′, said vane extending approximately parallel to but offset from the film boundary surface 12 c , and extending in thermally conductive contact with the film boundary surface 12 c and the optional additional guide edge 14 ′. as is also apparent in fig1 , a web - type substrate 1 , such as a web of recycling paper , is advanced in direction of travel b over a roller 2 , around part of which the web - type substrate 1 is wrapped . a melted adhesive composition 8 , is forced into the nozzle slot 12 b via pressure , is discharged from the nozzle gap 12 b in the form of a thin , highly flexible film 3 , which is guided onto the web - type substrate 1 , clamped between the parts of the film boundary elements 12 a which project beyond the nozzle slot . in the embodiment shown , the line of contact 1 a , a dotted - dashed line , is located approximately at the end of the wraparound area of the substrate 1 around the driven roller 2 . a similar transfer position for the film 3 is indicated by dashed lines in fig3 as another alternative embodiment . the film 3 and the substrate 1 are depicted as unusually thick in the drawings so as to improve the clarity of the illustration . a thickening of the film 3 in the area of the film edges 3 a , as is known in the prior art , and a neck in toward the center of the web , in other words a decrease in width as compared with the discharge dimensions of the nozzle slot , does not occur . fig3 illustrates the way in which a film 3 of an adhesive composition 8 , which is discharged from a slot nozzle 12 , can be pressed together with a web - type substrate 1 so as to form a laminate . as the pressing device 4 , a pressing belt 6 which circulates around roller - type turning elements 5 is used , along with a turning means 7 , which generates an additional deflection u in the pressing belt 6 . the turning means 7 , which in the drawing is represented as an especially rotationally driven roller , its preferred form , is arranged in the area of a partial length t of the pressing belt 6 , situated between the turning elements 5 . the extensibility of the pressing belt 6 is low enough that it will not yield excessively to the contact pressure p of the turning means 7 , and that it will generate a sufficiently high reaction force on the area of pressure between the film 3 and the web - type substrate 1 . with the deflection u of the pressing belt 6 in the area of the turning means 7 , a relatively wide nip or running length l as compared with so - called nip roller pairs is created in the direction of web travel , thereby advantageously extending the period of action at the pressing point . the circulating pressing belt can also be somewhat flexibly deformable crosswise to its direction of travel , if this corresponds to the material pairing ( film 3 / substrate 1 ) and the operating conditions , such as temperatures and travel speed , so as to improve quality . the pressing belt 6 can have a selected radially exterior surface , for example a surface treatment 6 a or a surface coating , based upon its use . for example , a surface treated stainless steel belt can be used , if the film 3 , as illustrated by way of example in the exemplary embodiment of fig3 , is in physical contact with the pressing belt 6 over the nip length . while considerable emphasis has been placed on the preferred embodiments of the invention illustrated and described herein , it will be appreciated that other embodiments and / or equivalents thereof can be made and that many changes can be made in the preferred embodiments without departing from the principles of the invention . accordingly , it is to be distinctly understood that the foregoing descriptive matter is to be interpreted merely as illustrative of the invention and not as a limitation .	1
by the present invention , a method is disclosed in which a metal resistant to metal dusting is used at a distance from the inlet of the heat exchange reformer , and in which such distance is calculated from the steam to carbon ratio , effluent outlet temperature and hydrocarbon flow of the main reformer , as well as the steam to carbon ratio and hydrocarbon flow rate of the heat exchange reformer . the present invention relates to a heat exchange reformer ( her ) arranged to be part of a synthesis gas production unit , said synthesis gas production unit comprising a main reforming unit ( mru ) and said heat exchange reformer ( her ). in operation , the effluent from the mru is arranged so as to provide heat to the her , and wherein a hydrocarbon feedstock is arranged so as to pass in parallel through both the mru and the her . the invention thus provides : a . an mru hydrocarbon feed having an mru steam - to - carbon ratio ( mru s / c ), an effluent outlet temperature ( t mru ) and a mru hydrocarbon flow rate ( f mru ) and b . an her hydrocarbon feed having an her steam - to - carbon ratio ( her s / c ) and an her hydrocarbon flow rate ( f her ), wherein said heat exchange reformer comprises a first metal and a second metal , in that : at a distance greater than a distance ( a ) from the inlet of the her , the her is of a first metal having a higher resistance to metal dusting ; and at a distance less than said distance ( a ) from the inlet of the her , the her is of a second metal which has a lower resistance to metal dusting than said first metal . the distance a is determined from the temperature profile within the her varying with the distance from the inlet of the her as a function of the ratio of f her / f mru , the mru outlet temperature ( t mru ), the mru steam - to - carbon ratio ( mru s / c ), the her steam - to - carbon ratio ( her s / c ) and the total hydrocarbon flow rate ( f mru + f her ); and wherein the distance ( a ) is as a distance ( a ) at which metal dusting is not significant . the present invention further relates to a method for improved thermal control in a heat exchange reformer ( her ) of a synthesis gas production unit , where the synthesis gas production unit comprising a main reforming unit ( mru ) and a heat exchange reformer ( her . the effluent from the mru is arranged so as to provide heat to the her , and a hydrocarbon feedstock is arranged so as to pass in parallel through both the mru and the her , thus providing : a . an mru hydrocarbon feed having a mru steam - to - carbon ratio ( mru s / c ), an effluent outlet temperature ( t mru ) and a mru hydrocarbon flow rate ( f mru ) and b . an her hydrocarbon feed having an her hydrocarbon flow rate ( f her ), the method comprises : adjusting the ratio of f her / f mru by adjusting the hydrocarbon flows to the mru and her on the basis of the mru s / c , the t mru , the her s / c , and the total hydrocarbon flow ( f mru + f her ), so as to maintain a stable temperature profile in the heat exchange reformer ( her ). the term “ inlet of the her ” is the inlet of effluent from the mru to the her . in the embodiment shown in fig1 , the inlet of the her is the inlet from the main reforming unit , viz . the tubular reformer via the secondary reformer . the “ inlet of the her ” is thus the lower inlet as shown in the bottom of the hter - p in the embodiment of fig1 . one advantage of the invention is to obtain a heat exchange reformer and a method of ratio control for use in the operation of a heat exchange reformer , where the heat exchange reformer comprises at least two different metals . the metal having a lower resistance to metal dusting can be a cheaper metal which also has a higher mechanical strength , whilst the metal having a higher resistance to metal dusting is more expensive and has a lower relative mechanical strength . since only a part of the reformer is made of the metal having a higher resistance to metal dusting , an overall cheaper and stronger reformer is possible . the method of the invention renders it possible to ensure that the reformer of the invention is operated in a way that the temperatures experienced in the different parts of the reformer are within the material specifications .	1
in one aspect , the present invention is directed to a process for preparing 1h - imidazo [ 4 , 5 - c ] quinoline - 4 - amines of formula ( i ). the preferred 1h - imidazo [ 4 , 5 - c ] quinoline - 4 - amine is imiquimod . however , the inventive process can be used to prepare any compound within the scope of formula ( i ), including those disclosed in u . s . pat . nos . 5 , 756 , 747 , 5 , 395 , 937 , 4 , 689 , 338 , ep 385630 , wo 97 / 48704 , wo 92 / 06093 and wo 92 / 15581 , all of which are incorporated by reference in their entirety herein . the invention is also directed to novel 1h - imidazo [ 4 , 5 - c ] quinoline 4 - phthalimide intermediates of formula ( ii ), which are useful in preparing 1h - imidazo [ 4 , 5 - c ] quinoline - 4 - amines of formula ( i ), and to a process for preparing the intermediates of formula ( ii ). the 1h - imidazo [ 4 , 5 - c ] quinoline 4 - phthalimide intermediates of formula ( ii ) are prepared by reacting a 1h - imidazo [ 4 , 5 - c ] quinoline n - oxide of formula ( iii ) with phthalimide . the reaction is carried out in a solvent and a base . preferred solvents include methylene chloride and ethylacetate . preferred bases include tri - n - butylamine , triethylamine , and triisobutylamine . the most preferred mixture is ethylacetate and tri - n - butylamine . the reaction is preferably carried out in the presence of an organic acid halide , such as , benzoyl chloride . the reaction is preferably carried out at a temperature of between about 0 - 10 ° c ., over a period of about one hour . the 1h - imidazo [ 4 , 5 - c ] quinoline n - oxides of formula ( iii ) can be obtained by any method known in the art , including those disclosed in : u . s . pat . no . 5 , 756 , 747 , wo 92 / 06093 and wo 92 / 15581 , all of which are incorporated by reference in their entirety herein . the 1h - imidazo [ 4 , 5 - c ] quinoline 4 - phthalimide intermediates of formula ( ii ) are then reacted with hydrazine hydrate in a suitable solvent to form 1h - imidazo [ 4 , 5 - c ] quinoline - 4 - amines of formula ( i ). water is a preferred solvent . preferably , isooctyl alcohol is added to avoid foam formation . the reaction is preferably carried out at a temperature of between about 94 - 95 ° c ., over a period of about 4 - 5 hours . one reaction scheme that may be used to make 1h - imidazo [ 4 , 5 - c ] quinoline - 4 - amines of formula ( i ) is shown below : the present invention is illustrated in further detail with reference to the following non - limiting examples . 4 - chloro - 3 - nitro - quinoline is reacted with isobutyl amine in the presence of triethylamine ( tea ) at between − 10 and + 15 ° c . in toluene , while excluding moisture . after washing and phase separation , the organic solution is ready for the next step . the nitroxide group on the 4 - isobutyl - 3 - nitro quinoline produced in example 1 is reduced by catalytic reduction using toluene as solvent , pd / c 5 % ( 50 % wet ) as catalyst , at 40 - 45 ° c . and atmospheric pressure to produce 4 - isobutyl - 3 - amino quinoline . the rate of reaction depends on efficiency of stirring . after catalyst filtration the solution is ready for the next step . the cyclization of 4 - isobutyl - 3 - amino quinoline produced in example 2 is carried out in toluene at 102 - 110 ° c . using teof ( triethyl orthoformate ) and 20 % moles of formic acid to increase the rate of reaction , to produce 1 - isobutyl - 1h - imidazo [ 4 , 5 - c ] quinoline . before addition of teof , in order to prevent its hydrolysis , it is necessary to remove water formed during the catalytic reduction by azeotropic distillation . a mixture of ethanol and toluene is distilled during the reaction to maintain the internal temperature at 102 - 110 ° c . the oxidation of 1 - isobutyl : 1h - imidazo [ 4 , 5 - c ] quinoline produced in example 3 is carried out in toluene at 40 - 45 248c using peracetic acid as oxidant to produce 1 - isobutyl - 1h - imidazo [ 4 , 5 - c ] n - oxide . the product is isolated by filtration after addition of a sodium sulfate solution and ammonium hydroxide . 93 ml of methylene chloride and 15 g of 1 - isobutyl - 1h - imidazo [ 4 , 5 - c ] quinoline n - oxide ( hplc = 95 %) are loaded into a 250 ml three necked round flask . then 24 . 55 g of tri n - butylamine ( 98 %) and 10 . 06 g of phthalimide ( 99 %) are added to the flask under nitrogen and stirring . the suspension formed is cooled to 0 ° c . and the following solution is dropped into the suspension over 1 hour : 12 . 7 g of benzoyl chloride ( 98 %) in 13 ml of methylene chloride , as the temperature is kept between 0 - 10 ° c . the mixture is stirred at room temperature for about 30 minutes and a sample is taken . hplc analysis shows that there is 0 . 32 % of the starting material , 87 . 72 % of the target product , and 0 . 43 % of the 4 - hydroxy derivative . the solution is filtered and the filter cake is washed 3 times with 10 ml of methylene chloride . the wet filter cake is resuspended at 25 ° c . for at least 7 hours in 100 ml of methanol . after resuspension , the solution is filtered and the filter cake is washed 2 times with 10 ml of methanol . prior to the second filtration , hplc shows that there is ≦ 0 . 4 % of the starting material and ≦ 0 . 05 % of the 4 - hydroxy derivative . the solid is dried under vacuum at 50 ° c . for 15 hours . the dry solid weighs 18 g . hplc analysis shows that the solid is 98 . 98 % pure and the yield is 81 . 52 % based on the starting material ( 1 - isobutyl - 1h - imidazo [ 4 , 5 - c ] quinoline n - oxide ). 72 ml water and 18 g 1 - isobutyl - 1h - imidazo [ 4 , 5 - c ] quinoline - 4 - phthalimide ( hplc = 98 . 98 %) are heated to 70 ° c . in a 250 ml reactor . 4 . 8 g hydrazine hydrate is dropped into the reactor while stirring and then 2 ml iso - octyl alcohol is added to the reactor . the reaction mixture is heated at 94 - 95 ° c . for 4 hours and a sample is taken . hplc analysis shows that there is 6 . 16 % starting material and 94 % target material . to obtain a complete conversion of starting material the reaction is allowed to proceed for another hour . the reaction mixture is cooled at 60 ° c . and 180 ml of methanol is added . the mixture is warmed at reflux for 15 minutes , then cooled at room temperature . the solution is filtered and the cake is washed 3 times with 15 ml of a 3 . 5 : 1 mixture of methanol and water . the wet solid obtained weighs 22 . 4 g . hplc analysis shows that its purity is 98 . 23 % ( no phthalhydrazide integration ). the wet solid is treated with 180 ml of water and 5 . 2 g of 37 % hcl at 90 - 93 ° c . for 30 minutes . the hot suspension is filtered and the cake is washed 3 times with 15 ml of water . the solid is phthalhydrazide weighing 4 . 5 g . the hot solution is treated at 90 - 93 ° c . with 0 . 115 g na 2 s 2 o 4 and 0 . 576 g charcoal . after 30 minutes the charcoal is filtered off and the cake is washed two times with 10 ml water . the solution is cooled at 70 - 75 ° c . and 10 g of 30 % naoh is added to ph 11 . 54 , at which time a solid precipitates . the mixture is cooled to room temperature and after 1 hour the solid is filtered and the cake is washed 3 times with 10 ml water . 15 . 1 g of crude wet imiquimod ( pale pink color ) is obtained . the imiquimod is dried to a weight of 10 . 57 g . hplc shows the purity to be 98 . 12 %. there is 1 . 55 % phthalhydrazide present . 53 . 55 ml water , 23 . 62 ml butyl alcohol , 10 . 57 crude imiquimod , and 4 . 77 g of 37 % hcl are loaded into a 100 ml reactor . the mixture is heated to 55 - 60 ° c . to obtain a solution . the solution is cooled to room temperature and a white crystal precipitates . the solid is filtered and washed 2 times with 5 ml butyl alcohol . 13 . 63 g of wet imiquimod chloridrate is obtained . hplc analysis shows that there is 99 . 89 % imiquimod and 0 . 01 % phthalhydrazide . 120 ml water and 13 . 63 g of wet imiquimod chloridate are loaded into a 250 ml reactor and heated to 85 - 90 ° c . the hot solution is filtered and the cake is washed with 5 ml of hot water . then 0 . 024 g of na 2 s 2 o 4 is added . the colorless solution is cooled to 70 - 75 ° c . and 5 . 3 g of 30 % naoh is added to provide a ph of 9 . 7 , at which point a solid precipitates . the suspension is cooled to 20 ° c . and filtered . the cake is washed 3 times with 5 ml water and twice with 5 ml methanol . during the washes no chloride was detected by silver nitrate . the solid is dried under vacuum at 50 ° c . for 8 hours . 8 . 98 g of imiquimod ( off - white color ) is obtained . hplc shows the purity to be 99 . 94 % and the yield to be 63 . 3 % based on the starting material ( 1 - isobutyl - 1h - imidazo [ 4 , 5 - c ] quinoline n - oxide ). having thus described the invention with reference to particular preferred embodiments and illustrated it with examples , those of skill in the art may appreciate modifications to the invention as described and illustrated that do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention as disclosed in the specification .	2
there will now be described by way of example the best mode contemplated by the inventor for carrying out the invention . in the following description , numerous specific details are set out in order to provide a complete understanding of the present invention . it will be apparent , however , to those skilled in the art that the present invention may be put into practice with variations of the specific . fig1 shows a cell of a wireless telecommunications network having a central base station ( 2 ) transmitting and receiving radio frequency ( rf ) signals over a geographical area or cell bounded by the hexagonal boundary ( 4 ) of theoretical equal signal strength with adjacent cells . the network is made up of a plurality of such cells mosaiced over a wider geographical area , as is well known in the art . in a typical 3g system two or three paired channels ( 10 + 10 mhz or 15 + 15mhz ) and one unpaired channel ( 5 mhz ) will generally be available . the paired channels may be used for the fdd infrastructure and the unpaired channel may be used for tdd relay purposes according to the present invention . however , in the future more spectrum is likely to be available and could be split between fdd infrastructure and tdd relay in different ways . the base station ( 2 ) transmits and receives signals to end user equipments , for example mobile end user equipment ( 6 ) over a frequency division duplex , for example using gsm , code division multiple access 2000 ( cdma2000 ) or universal mobile telecommunications system ( umts ). the duplex comprises two channels ( 8 , 10 ) of different frequencies and one channel ( 8 ) is utilised as the downlink for constantly carrying traffic , for example data or voice traffic , from the base station ( 2 ) to end user equipments within the cell , in particular mobile equipment ( 6 ). the other channel ( 10 ) of the duplex is utilised as the uplink for constantly carrying traffic from the end user equipments within the cell , in particular mobile equipment ( 6 ), to the base station . according to the present invention , and as shown in fig2 , end user equipments ( 6 , 14 ) are provided with a fdd transceiver arrangement ( 6 a , 14 a ), a time division duplex transceiver arrangement ( 6 b , 14 b ), an infra - red , blue tooth or wireless lan transceiver ( 6 d , 14 d ) and a relay ( 6 c , 14 c ). an interface or protocol dissembler / assembler ( 26 to 31 ) is provided between the relay ( 6 c , 14 c ) and each of the transceivers for unpacking data packets from signals received by the relevant transceiver and packaging data packets into signals for transmission by the relevant transceiver . it can happen that an obstacle , for example obstacle ( 12 ) can block the transmission of traffic over the fdd between the base station ( 2 ) and user equipments , in this example mobile user equipment ( 14 ) and nomadic end user equipment ( 24 ), located within the cell ( 4 ). however , according to the present invention , the base station ( 2 ) is able to transmit traffic to the user equipment ( 14 ) and / or user equipment ( 24 ) via a first hop end user or intermediate node comprising mobile user equipment ( 6 ) over a time division duplex ( tdd ). the tdd is an additional channel having a different frequency from the channels of the fdd , and over which traffic can be transmitted alternately in two directions . the user equipments ( 6 , 14 , 24 ) may be a mobile equipment ( 6 , 14 ), such as a mobile telephone , mobile computing device or personal digital assistant ( pda ) with interfaced fdd and tdd transceivers . alternatively , the end user equipment may be a nomadic equipment , such as a terminal computing device ( 24 ), eg . a laptop computing device which is generally static while in use but which has a location which may change . it is highly desirable that the data transmitted over the fdd and the tdd use the same basic coding , for example qpsk or 16 - qam and the same modulation , for example ⅓ rd rate turbo code or ½ rate convolutional code . if this is the case then there is no need to assemble / dissemble data packets at the interface between the fdd and tdd . instead a simple physical layer repackaging from fdd to tdd and vice versa should be sufficient . fig3 shows schematically , over a period of time , the frames ( eg . 18 , 19 ) in the fdd ( 6 , 10 ) between the base station ( 2 ) and the mobile equipment ( 6 ) and how they are synchronised with the frames ( eg . 20 , 21 ) in the tdd ( 22 ) between the mobile equipment ( 6 ) and the mobile equipment ( 14 ). in the example shown in fig3 , each fdd frame has fifteen timeslots ( 0 , 1 , 2 , . . . 13 , 14 ) and each tdd frame has fifteen timeslots ( 0 , 1 , 2 , 13 , 14 ). then during time - slots ( 4 , 5 , 8 , 9 ) a network controller or radio node controller ( 50 ) schedules relaying in the part of the cell ( 4 ) within which the mobile equipment ( 6 ) is located , scheduling time slots ( 4 , 5 ) for fdd / tdd downlink and slots ( 8 , 9 ) for fdd / tdd uplink . the number and direction of slots allocated might depend , for example , on the priority of the user terminal ( 24 ), the amount of traffic to be passed up and down , the value of the transaction , the capability of the mobile equipment ( 6 ) acting as fdd / tdd relay and the likely estimated impact of interference on other relays . the tdd and fdd frame structures are the same , as can be seen in fig3 . the tdd system has a ramp up and ramp down period associated with tdd transmissions . the controller ( 50 ) would be aware of this and would pack the fdd frame with data bits ( for example in time slots ( 3 , 6 , 7 , 10 ) that would be discarded due to ramp up and ramp down times . ramp up / down is necessary to minimise out of band emissions ( switching transients ) and is a practical necessity in a radio frequency sub - system . the frame structure need not be that described in relation to fig3 . the frame structure should have enough time slots to ensure sufficient flexibility of assignment , but not so many that the tdd peak power is too large . for example , between 8 and 20 timeslots per frame . referring now to both fig2 and 3 , the base station ( 2 ) transmits a data packet ( a ) over the downlink ( 8 ) in fdd frame ( 18 ) in time slot 5 ( in accordance with the scheduling from the network controller ( 50 )), which data packet ( a ) has a header which indicates that it is destined for the end user terminal ( 24 ). the signal carrying the data packet ( a ) is received by the receiver of the fdd transceiver ( 6 a ) of the first hop end user node , mobile equipment ( 6 ). the data packet ( a ) is unpacked from the signal received by the transceiver ( 6 a ) by the interface ( 28 ) and is then routed by the relay ( 6 c ), in accordance with the header of the data packet ( a ), to the interface ( 26 ) for transmission by the tdd transceiver ( 6 b ) of the mobile equipment ( 6 ). at the interface ( 26 ) the data packet ( a ) is packaged into a signal which is transmitted by the tdd transceiver ( 6 b ) in time slot 5 of frame ( 20 ) of a tdd ( 22 ). note that there is a one - to - one mapping of the fdd timeslot 5 to the tdd timeslot 5 , which avoids the need to disassemble / re - assemble the data relayed . the data packet ( a ) is received by the tdd transceiver ( 14 b ) of the mobile equipment ( 14 ). the fdd interface ( 28 , 29 ) and the tdd interface ( 26 , 27 ) of each mobile equipment ( 6 , 14 ) are connected via a synchronisation arrangement ( 34 ) so as to synchronise the fdd timeslots ( eg . timeslots ( 16 , 19 )) which are transmitted over the fdd ( 8 , 10 ) with tdd timeslots ( eg . timeslots ( 20 , 21 )) which are transmitted over the tdd ( 22 ). the synchronisation arrangement ( 34 ) may be a circuit , or an algorithm run on a digital signal processor , which maintains synchronisation of the tdd frame structure with the fdd frame structure . therefore , it is important for the execution of the present invention that the fdd system has a regular or at least deducible temporal structure . the synchronisation arrangement ( 34 ) could work by using knowledge of the fdd access system and recognise the signalling when the start of an fdd frame occurs . this would be used to maintain an accurate clock with a periodicity equal to timeslots ( or a multiple or sub - multiple thereof ). the signal carrying data packet ( a ) is received by the receiver of the tdd transceiver ( 14 b ) of the second hop end user node , mobile equipment ( 14 ). the data packet ( a ) is unpacked from the signal received by the transceiver ( 14 b ) by the interface ( 27 ) and is then routed by the relay ( 14 c ), in accordance with the header of the data packet ( a ), to the interface ( 31 ) for transmission by the infra - red , blue tooth or wireless lan transceiver ( 14 d ) of the mobile equipment ( 14 ). at the interface ( 30 ) the data packet ( a ) is packaged into a signal which is transmitted by the transceiver ( 14 d ) over an infra - red , bluetooth or wireless lan link ( 32 ). the data packet ( a ) is received by the transceiver ( 24 d ) of the terminal end user equipment ( 24 ). the last hop , ie . between the user equipment ( 14 ) and the terminal ( 24 ) may use a short range technology , such as infra - red , bluetooth or wireless lan which will not interfere with the fdd or tdd channels operating within the cell ( 4 ). for the end user terminal ( 24 ) to transmit a data packet ( b ) to the base station ( 2 ), the end user terminal would package the data packet in an infra - red , blue tooth or wireless lan signal and transmit it via transceiver ( 24 d ) to the infra - red , blue tooth or wireless lan transceiver ( 14 d ) of the mobile equipment ( 14 ) via the link ( 32 ). the data packet ( b ) is unpacked from the signal received by the transceiver ( 14 d ) by the interface ( 31 ) and is then routed by the relay ( 14 c ), in accordance with the header of the data packet ( b ), to the interface ( 27 ) for transmission by the tdd transceiver ( 14 b ) of the mobile equipment ( 14 ). at the interface ( 27 ) the data packet ( b ) is packaged into a signal which is transmitted by the tdd transceiver ( 14 b ) over time slot b of frame ( 21 ) of the tdd ( 22 ). the data packet ( b ) is received by the tdd transceiver ( 6 b ) of the mobile equipment ( 6 ). the data packet ( b ) is unpacked from the signal received by the tdd transceiver ( 6 b ) by the interface ( 26 ) and is then routed by the relay ( 6 c ), in accordance with the header of the data packet ( b ) to the interface ( 25 ) for transmission by the fdd transceiver ( 6 a ) of the mobile equipment ( 6 ). at the interface ( 28 ) the data packet ( b ) is packaged into a signal which is transmitted by the fdd transceiver ( 6 a ) in time slot 8 of frame ( 19 ) of the uplink channel ( 10 ) of the fdd . again it should be noted that there is a one - to - one mapping of the tdd timeslot 8 to the fdd timeslot 8 , which can avoid the need for dissembling / reassembling the data packet . the signal carrying the data packet ( b ) is received by the base station ( 2 ). the network controller or radio node controller ( 50 ) controls the transmissions in a number of cells , including cell ( 4 ). the controller ( 50 ) controls the transmissions over tdds ( 22 ) within the cell ( 4 ) and in adjacent cells , in order to prevent interference between tdd transmissions on the same channel within the cell or between adjacent cells . as described above the tdd time slots ( 20 , 21 ) over which traffic is transmitted between user equipments ( 6 , 14 ) within the cell ( 4 ) are synchronised with the fdd time slots ( 18 , 19 ) over which traffic is transmitted between the base station ( 2 ) and user equipments ( 6 ), as is described above . this means that all tdds generated between user equipments within the cell ( 4 ) will have time slots which are synchronised with each other . the controller ( 50 ) can allocate different tdd time slots on a tdd channel to different user equipments located in the cell ( 4 ) in order to avoid interference between transmission over the tdds in the cell ( 4 ). for example , according to fig3 , the mobile equipment ( 6 ) is allocated time slots ( 3 to 10 ). in the example given above in relation to fig3 , the fdd and tdd timeslots have a one - to one mapping , with each tdd and each fdd frame having fifteen time slots ( 0 to 14 ). the end user equipment ( 6 ), with which the base station ( 2 ) communicates directly over the fdd ( 8 , 10 ) is instructed by the base station ( 2 ) to make tdd transmissions on time slots ( 4 , 5 , 8 , 9 ) only . the mobile equipment ( 6 ) when starting a communication with a second hop user equipment , such as mobile equipment ( 14 ), will inform that user equipment of the tdd time slot structure and on which time slots the second hop user equipment can transmit signals and expect to receive signals . therefore , as can be seen from fig3 , after the mobile equipment ( 6 ) receives the data packet ( a ) in the fdd frame ( 18 ) on timeslot 5 it waits for a timeslot 4 or on a subsequent frame ( 20 ) on the tdd ( 22 ) to transmit a signal carrying the data packet ( a ). similarly , when the mobile equipment ( 6 ) receives the data packet ( b ) over the link ( 32 ) it waits for a time slot 8 or 9 of a subsequent frame ( 21 ) on the tdd ( 22 ) to transmit a signal carrying the data packet ( b ). referring to fig4 a , which shows the cell ( 4 ), with the base station ( 2 ) at its centre , split into three sectors . one tdd channel is allocated to the cell ( 4 ). according to the scheme in fig4 a , a first hop user equipment in the first sector ( x ) is allocated tdd time slots ( 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 ) for transmissions over the tdd channel , a first hop user equipment in the second sector ( y ) is allocated the tdd time slots ( 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 ) and a first hop user equipment in the third sector ( z ) is allocated the tdd time slots ( 0 , 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ). by allocating different tdd time slots to the different end user equipments in the cell ( 4 ) interference between the tdd transmissions made by the end users in the cell is prevented . referring to fig4 b , here each of the time slots ( 0 to 14 ) is used in each sector ( x , y , z ). in the first sector ( x ) there are five first hop user equipments which are each allocated three of the fifteen tdd time slots . in the second sector ( y ) there is one first hop user equipment which allocated all of the fifteen tdd time slots . in the third sector ( z ) there are two first hop user equipments one of which ( which could be the mobile user equipment ( 6 ) described above in relation to fig2 and 3 ) is allocated time slots ( 3 to 10 ) and the other of which is allocated the remaining time slots ( 0 to 2 and 11 to 14 ). as the sectors are geographically separate this should prevent interference between tdd transmissions within the cell ( 4 ), although there is the possibility of interference between user equipments using allocated the same tdd time slots at a boundary between the sectors ( x , y , z ). in fig4 c it is assumed that the network controller ( 50 ) has knowledge of the location of each user equipment , and where user equipments are adequately geographically spaced , the controller ( 50 ) will allocate the same tdd time slots to the user equipments . for example , in the first sector ( x ) there are two first hop user equipments , which are adequately geographically spaced and the controller ( 50 ) allocates all of the fifteen tdd time slots to each of the user equipments in the first sector ( x ). the users of the intermediate mobile equipments ( 6 , 14 ) via which the data packets ( a , b ) are sent between the base station and the end user terminal ( 24 ) are not charged for the cost of the call to the terminal ( 24 ). the user of the terminal ( 24 ) is charged for the cost of the call , based on its contract with its service provider . the facilities of the intermediate mobile equipments ( 6 , 14 ) made available for the call to the terminal ( 24 ) will also be dependent on the contract between user of the terminal ( 24 ) and its service provider and not on the contract between the users of the intermediate equipments ( 6 , 14 ) and their service providers . however , the use of the intermediate equipments ( 6 , 14 ) to transmit data to and from the terminal ( 24 ) will consume power from the intermediate equipment , which will for example reduce the battery run down time of the intermediate equipment . therefore , an incentive can be offered to users , so that they allow their equipments to be used as intermediate mobile equipments and so that they keep their mobile equipments switch on in a transceiving mode so that their equipments are available for the maximum time . as an example , for each unit of time a user equipment is used as an intermediate hop for a call to another equipment , the user equipment could be credited with an equivalent number of time units , or a fraction of the number of time units , for free use of their user equipment to make calls . alternatively , an equivalent cash sum could be credited to the account of the end user of the user equipment . the data transmitted to a destination terminal ( 24 ) via intermediate terminals ( 6 , 14 ) would be encoded such that the data transmitted could not be decoded by the intermediate terminals ( 6 , 14 ) and the user of the intermediate terminal would not be able to determine the identification of the destination terminal ( 24 ). to achieve this the data would be encoded and ciphering used end - to - end of the connection to the terminal ( 24 ). the end user sim ( or umts - sim ) of the destination terminal ( 24 ) provides the identification of the user the data is intended for . in a first proposed arrangement , if a user equipment , for example a destination or terminal mobile equipment ( 14 ) cannot ‘ see ’ the fdd base station ( 2 ), then it sends an ‘ anyone out there ?’ message via its tdd transceiver ( 14 b ). the message would include the user identification of the destination mobile equipment ( 14 ). this message is initially sent out at a low power that increases in steps until a prescribed power limit is reached . the ‘ anyone out there ?’ message would use only the most basic protocols and modulation techniques which all user equipments suitable as relays would share . a ‘ helpful ’ intermediate user equipment is an user equipment which can receive the tdd transmission from the destination equipment ( 14 ) and which is in direct fdd communication or indirect tdd / fdd communication with a base station ( 2 ). the user equipment ( 14 ) sending the ‘ anyone out there ?’ message and the helpful user equipment would exchange capabilities so as to optimise any link between them . when a ‘ helpful ’ intermediate user equipment , such as mobile equipment ( 6 ), is not in an fdd call , it will periodically scan the tdd band for the cell ( 4 ) using the transceiver ( 6 b ). if it receives the ‘ anyone out there message ?’ from the destination equipment ( 14 ) then the intermediate equipment ( 6 ) sends an acknowledgement to the destination equipment ( 14 ). the acknowledgement process would entail an exchange of capabilities and would be similar to the process that would occur in a normal network when a user equipment comes into coverage . the destination equipment ( 14 ) then stops probing for additional user equipments . the intermediate user equipment ( 6 ) passes a message to the base station ( 2 ) to indicate that it has established a tdd communication with the destination equipment ( 14 ). the base station ( 2 ) then registers the location of the destination equipment ( 14 ) on the network . the ‘ anyone out there ?’ message transmitted by the destination equipment ( 14 ) could be encoded to permit the system to determine path loss between the equipments ( 6 ) and ( 14 ). this could then be used for power control between the intermediate user equipment ( 6 ) and the destination equipment ( 14 ) over the tdd ( 22 ). as an alternative to or in addition to the out of range destination mobile user equipment sending out random access probes tt may be preferable for the network controller ( 50 ) to request certain mobile user equipments , such as equipment ( 6 ), with which it can communicate directly to transmit ‘ anyone out there ?’ signals in predetermined time slots . for example , considering sector ( x ) of fig4 b , each of the five first hop mobile user equipments in the sector might be allocated one time slot per frame on which to transmit an ‘ anyone out there ?’ message . for example , equipment ( 52 ) could be allocated slot 1 , equipment ( 54 ) could be allocated slot 7 , etc . the ‘ anyone out there ?’ message could , for example , be a regular pattern of rf pulses recognisable to user equipments subscribing to the network as an indication of an available tdd time slot . a destination end user equipment , for example mobile equipment ( 14 ), not able to directly communicate with the base station ( 2 ) and requiring service , could monitor the tdd relay band looking for an ‘ anyone out there ?’ message indicating available tdd time slots . the destination equipment ( 14 ) could then roughly synchronise with the pulse pattern of the ‘ anyone out there ?’ message and send back a reply over the tdd channel a predetermined number of time slots later ( the predetermined number being selected not to coincide with a transmission on the tdd channel by the first hop user equipment ( 6 )). a similar process as described above could be utilised for exchanging capabilities between the two equipments ( 6 , 14 ) leading to the setting up of a call or session . the present invention could also utilise user equipments subscribing to a different network . a user equipment , for example user equipment ( 6 ) subscribing to a network a could temporarily connect to a different network b and act as an fdd / tdd relay between a base station ( 2 ) of the network b and an end user ( 14 ) who has a subscription with operator b .	7
by way of further explanation of the invention , exemplary embodiments of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings , in which : fig1 is a side elevation of a welding torch with a handle - attachment that embodies the present invention . fig2 is a cross - section on line 2 — 2 of fig1 . fig3 is a front elevation of a welding torch with another design of handle - attachment . fig4 is a pictorial view , showing the components of the handle - attachment of fig3 . the apparatuses shown in the accompanying drawings and described below are examples which embody the invention . it should be noted that the scope of the invention is defined by the accompanying claims , and not necessarily by specific features of exemplary embodiments . fig1 shows an ergonomic handle attachment 23 , attached to the handle 24 of a mig welding torch 25 . a service hose 26 connects the torch to the service center ( not shown ) that houses the electrical supply , gas supply , welding rod feed mechanism , cooling water supply and return , fume suction , etc . these items are activated by the trigger 27 of the torch . the handle 24 of the torch 25 is conventional , in itself . conventional welding torch handles are to some extent ergonomically shaped . the top surface of the handle is humped , as shown at 28 , to fit the hollow of the palm of the hand . also , the undersurface of the handle carries finger - indentations 29 , to allow the middle , ring , and little , fingers to grip the handle with a minimum of muscular squeezing . the handle 24 is designed so that the forefinger 30 falls naturally onto the trigger 27 . the handle is not handed — i . e the one handle serves both left - handed and right - handed welders . even though some design effort has been put into the design of the conventional handle 24 , directed towards making the handle comfortable to grip , still the need arises for the welder to maintain that grip by muscular effort . as shown in fig1 an ergonomic handle attachment , or over - handle , 23 has been bolted onto the front end of the handle 24 . the over - handle 23 overlies the area of the welder &# 39 ; s hand between the thumb and the forefinger . this is known as the first web area . in this area , the first dorsal inteross muscle runs from the base of the thumb to the forefinger , while the adductor pollicis muscle pulls the other way , i . e from the base of the forefinger onto the thumb . when the over - handle 23 is present , the welder holds the handle 24 of the torch in the normal way , with the palm of the hand lying along the humped top of the handle , the thumb to one side , and the fingers underneath . the presence , now , of the over - handle means that the first web area is engaged between the over - handle 23 and the handle 24 . ( fig1 shows the welder &# 39 ; s bare hand , for clarity : of course , welders normally wear thick protective gauntlets .) it is recognised that the above - mentioned muscles in the first web area are substantially not inhibited in their normal functioning , even over a period of several hours at a time , by the presence of the over - handle 23 . the over - handle can be so shaped and positioned that the welder can manipulate and manhandle the torch 25 , with the hose 26 attached , without exerting any muscular squeeze or grip on the torch handle 24 . that is to say , the fingers and thumb of the torch hand can be actually held clear of the torch , and yet still the first web area of the hand is sufficiently securely held to the torch as to permit the required precision and security of movement control of the torch as is needed in the welding operation . as a result , the welder can more or less completely relax his encircling grip on the torch . it should be noted , however , that the invention is aimed at reducing the need for the welder to grip the handle , not at eliminating that need completely . of course , the welder still needs to have his fingers present in an encircling configuration on the torch handle , to operate the trigger 27 . the point is that , when the over - handle 23 is present , he substantially need not squeeze - grip the torch handle with his fingers . as to its structure , the over - handle can be attached as an accessory , to an existing torch handle . the over - handle may be simply clamped around the handle - moulding of the torch . or , as shown in fig1 the over - handle may be secured to the torch handle 24 by the screws 32 . conventional torch handles generally are manufactured as two plastic half - mouldings , which are held together by a number of screws . the layout of the screws varies , but virtually every mig torch handle has a pair of screws at the front end , disposed as at 32 a , 32 b . to secure the over - handle , first these two screws are taken out of the torch ; then , the over - handle is located in position over the holes at 32 a , 32 b , and then two longer screws are inserted . the over - handle should be attached in a way that still enables the screws to clamp the two moulded halves of the handle firmly together . extending from the fixing or attachment area 34 of the over - handle , the over - handle includes the hand - grip area 35 . this area is curved slightly , to follow the general shape of the first web area of the hand . the ( concave ) inside - facing surface of the hand - grip area 35 has a foam - rubber cushion 36 , for extra comfort , and for a little extra grip , but this is not essential . side cheeks 37 are provided on the sides of the hand - grip area 35 , which curve downwards rather more steeply than the gentle curvature of the central portion of the hand - grip area 35 . as shown in fig2 the cheeks 37 are about 2 . 5 inches apart , measured at a level 0 . 5 inches down from the middle of the undersurface of the hand - grip area 35 , as shown in the cross - section 2 — 2 ( fig2 ). the cheeks 37 serve to encase the welder &# 39 ; s hand laterally to some extent . this lateral restraint is useful , in that it is added to the main restraint function of the over - handle , i . e of squeezing the first web area between the over - handle and the top surface of the torch handle . the term squeezing , in the above context , should not be understood as implying tightness to the point of discomfort . rather , it means that the first web area of the welder &# 39 ; s hand is subjected to a slight compression . it is recognized , in the invention , that the first web area is able to be squeezed , in this sense , with enough force to make a large contribution to elimination of the need to grip the torch handle , but at the same time the squeeze force is small enough to cause substantially no discomfort , and no interference with the normal movements of the hand . the squeezing of the first web area between the over - handle and the torch handle is almost imperceptibly gentle when compared with the extent to which a welder had to grip the torch handle when the over - handle was not present . the squeeze - grip the torch , with the over - handle attached , makes on the first web area of the welder &# 39 ; s hand , though light enough to cause no discomfort , is nevertheless quite strong , mainly because the squeeze - grip is applied as a uniform light pressure over what amounts to quite a large area of the hand . unless the over - handle is mis - sized for the particular welder &# 39 ; s hand , the squeeze - grip is secure enough that the welder can even hold the torch vertically , i . e tip down , and still not need to exert any encircling grip on the handle with his muscles . the over - handle , as a product , can be marketed on a one - size - fits - all basis . of course , welder &# 39 ; s hands vary in size , and the thickness of the first web area can be considerably thicker in ( large ) person a than in ( small ) person b . however , the thickness of the first web area tends to increase progressively , further up the hand , whereby a thin hand simply fits a little more closely into the crook of the over - handle than a thicker hand ; in either case , i . e thin or thick , the welder &# 39 ; s first web area is received snugly into the space between the over - handle and the torch handle . as shown in fig1 the space 38 between the cushion 36 and the humped upper surface 28 of the torch handle is a space that correspondingly increases in thickness . that is to say , the space is generally truncated - wedge - shaped , as shown in the fig1 view . it may be preferred to make the over - handle adjustable . fig3 and 4 show one way in which adjustability can be provided . it is recognized that one of the key adjustabilities is to make the over - handle adjustable as to its position longitudinally along the torch handle . in fig3 and 4 , a clamp component 39 is bolted to the torch handle , using the lengthy screws technique , as described , although now the clamp component 39 only occupies one side of the torch . a slider component 40 is bolted to the top surface of the clamp component ; serrations permit the clamp and slider components to be locked together at a suitable position . the clamp and slider components may be moulded in plastic . the over - handle also includes a plate component 42 , which is able to rotate relative to the slider component 40 . radial serrations around the lugs 43 of the plate component 42 serve to lock the plate and slider components together when the bolt 45 is tightened . the plate component 42 can be formed from sheet metal , for example sheet aluminum . thus , the over - handle as shown in fig3 and 4 can be adjusted as to the position of the plate component 42 longitudinally along the torch handle 24 , and as to the wedge angle the plate component 42 makes with the top surface of the torch handle . there are other ways in which the over - handle can be made adjustable . for example , the holes at 32 a , 32 b can be slotted ; or a series of holes may be provided , from which the user selects the ones that give the best fit . as mentioned , the over - handle is intended to squeeze ( in the above sense ) the first web area ; this enables the hand to be “ locked ” into the torch , whereby the torch can be manipulated by movements of the welder &# 39 ; s wrist and arm , without the need for the welder to maintain a constant gripping force on the handle of the torch . the side - cheeks 37 of the over - handle also provide another means whereby the hand is locked into the torch , and the effect caused by the side - cheeks is aggregated onto the effect caused by the squeezing of the first web area . the effect of the over - handle is to make it much easier for the welder to accomplish a full shift of work , without the muscles of his hand and fingers becoming fatigued . the over - handle preferably should be reasonably light in weight . on the other hand , as mentioned , it is mainly the drag of the service hose , not the weight of the torch itself , that makes the torch so tiring to handle . therefore , the design of the over - handle need not be compromised , just to achieve an ultra - lightweight unit . welding torches generally are subjected to knocks and abuse , whereby if a component of a welding torch is to be made from plastic , the component had better be chunky in shape , and that is not true of the over - handles as depicted . so , preferably , the over - handle is made from metal , for example aluminum . however , the over - handle may be moulded in plastic . another function of the over - handle is to serve as protection against splashes and sparks from the welding area . it will be noted that the over - handle does indeed shroud the parts of the welder &# 39 ; s hand that might be expected to be most likely to be splashed . the hand - grip - component and the torch - handle are symmetrical about a left - right central plane .	1
the present invention , according to a preferred embodiment , overcomes problems with the prior art by providing a system and method that assigns different status levels to members of computing system groups based upon their ability to become primary members of that group . these members are assigned a status of “ active ” when the member is an active member of the group . these members are additionally assigned a status of “ ineligible ” to indicate that the member is not eligible to become a primary member . members with ineligible status receive all group messages and are therefore able to configure themselves to become eligible as a primary member . referring now in more detail to the drawings in which like numerals refer to like parts throughout several views , an exemplary computing system group 100 in which exemplary embodiments of the present invention operate is illustrated in fig1 . the exemplary computing system group 100 shows two sites , site a 102 and site b 104 . embodiments of the present invention operate with computing system groups that have any number of sites , from one to as many as are practical . the sites as used in this example are defined to be a group of computer nodes that have access to resources that are within one resource pool . for example , the nodes within site a 102 , i . e ., node a 110 and node b 108 , have access to the resources within resource pool a 130 , i . e ., resource a 116 , resource b 118 and resource z 120 . similarly , the nodes within site b 104 , i . e ., node c 112 and node d 114 , have access to the resources in resource pool b 132 , i . e ., resource a 121 , resource b 122 and resource z 124 . each site in the exemplary embodiment has a number of nodes . site a 102 is shown to have a node a 110 and a node b 108 . these nodes are connected via a data communications network 106 that supports data communications between nodes that are part of the same site and that are part of different sites . in this example , the sites are geographically removed from each other and are interconnected by an inter - site communications system 126 . the inter - site communications system 126 connects the normally higher speed data communications network 106 that is contained within each site . the inter - site communications system 126 of the exemplary embodiment utilizes a high speed connection . embodiments of the present invention utilize various inter - site communications systems 126 such as conventional wan architectures , landline , terrestrial and satellite radio links and other communications techniques . embodiments of the present invention also operate with any number of sites that have similar interconnections so as to form a continuous communications network between all nodes of the sites . embodiments of the present invention also include “ sites ” that are physically close to each other , but that have computer nodes that do not have access to resources in the same resource pool . physically close sites are able to share a single data communications network 106 and not include a separate inter - site communications system 126 . resources contained within resource pools , such as resource pool a 130 and resource pool b 132 , include data storage devices , printers , and other peripherals that are controlled by one node within the group . in the exemplary embodiments , a node is equivalent to a member of a computing system group . in the computing system group 100 , one node or member is designated as the primary member for the group . the primary group member hosts primary resources for the computing group and acts as the point of access and hosts the resources managed by the group . in addition to a primary group member , each site within the exemplary computing system group 100 has a primary site member . a primary site member performs similar processing as the primary group member but only for the nodes or members located at that site . a block diagram depicting a group member 200 , which is a computer system in the exemplary embodiment , of the group 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in fig2 . the group member 200 of the exemplary embodiment is an ibm eserver iseries server system . any suitably configured processing system is similarly able to be used by embodiments of the present invention . the computer system 200 has a processor 202 that is connected to a main memory 204 , mass storage interface 206 , terminal interface 208 and network interface 210 . these system components are interconnected by a system bus 212 . mass storage interface 206 is used to connect mass storage devices , such as dasd device 214 , to the computer system 200 . one specific type of dasd device is a floppy disk drive , which may be used to store data to and read data from a floppy diskette 216 . main memory 204 contains application programs 220 , objects 222 , data 226 and an operating system image 228 . although illustrated as concurrently resident in main memory 204 , it is clear that the applications programs 220 , objects 222 , data 226 and operating system 228 are not required to be completely resident in the main memory 204 at all times or even at the same time . computer system 200 utilizes conventional virtual addressing mechanisms to allow programs to behave as if they have access to a large , single storage entity , referred to herein as a computer system memory , instead of access to multiple , smaller storage entities such as main memory 204 and dasd device 214 . note that the term “ computer system memory ” is used herein to generically refer to the entire virtual memory of computer system 200 . operating system 228 is a suitable multitasking operating system such as the ibm os / 400 operating system . embodiments of the present invention are able to use any other suitable operating system . operating system 228 includes a dasd management user interface program 230 , a dasd storage management program 232 and a group user interface program 234 . embodiments of the present invention utilize architectures , such as an object oriented framework mechanism , that allows instructions of the components of operating system 228 to be executed on any processor within computer 200 . although only one cpu 202 is illustrated for computer 202 , computer systems with multiple cpus can be used equally effectively . embodiments of the present invention incorporate interfaces that each include separate , fully programmed microprocessors that are used to off - load processing from the cpu 202 . terminal interface 208 is used to directly connect one or more terminals 218 to computer system 200 . these terminals 218 , which are able to be non - intelligent or fully programmable workstations , are used to allow system administrators and users to communicate with computer system 200 . network interface 210 is used to connect other computer systems or group members , e . g ., station a 240 and station b 242 , to computer system 200 . the present invention works with any data communications connections including present day analog and / or digital techniques or via a future networking mechanism . although the exemplary embodiments of the present invention are described in the context of a fully functional computer system , those skilled in the art will appreciate that embodiments are capable of being distributed as a program product via floppy disk , e . g . floppy disk 216 , cd rom , or other form of recordable media , or via any type of electronic transmission mechanism . embodiments of the present invention include an operating system 228 that includes a dasd management user interface program 230 that performs functions related to configuration , operation and other management functions , including functions for selecting one or more dasds for an auxiliary storage pool ( asp ). an asp is defined as a set of disk units , and an independent auxiliary storage pool ( iasp ) is a set of disk units independent of a system . an iasp can be switched between systems , if its disk units are switchable and follow configuration and placement rules . the dasd management user interface program 230 is able to communicate with dasd storage management ( dsm ) program 232 , which is a component of operating system 228 that provides internal support for managing disk units . a computing system group , such as the cluster 100 of the exemplary embodiment , uses a group communications mechanism to communicate messages to all members of the group . active group members receive all group messages , which are messages that are broadcast to all members of the group , and the group communications mechanism ensures these group messages are all received in the same order . an example of a group message is a command to add a user to an access control list . computing groups conventionally assign a status of “ active ” to all members that are participating in the group and are processing all group messages . a backup member with a status of “ active ” is presumed to be able , i . e ., has resources that are properly configured , to assume the role of a primary member . when a member wishes to join a computing system group as a backup member , that member is required to properly configure its resources and to be otherwise configured so as to assume the functions of a primary member . this configuration includes communication group information to the new member so that redundant resources controlled by that member , such as redundant data storage units , are properly configured . conventional computing system groups do not include a mechanism to perform this configuration and specialized processing must be developed by application developers to perform this configuration that must occur prior to joining a conventional computing system group . in order to address this problem , embodiments of the present invention introduce a new status that is assigned to group members . in addition to the “ active ” status that is assigned to members that are currently participating in group processing and communications , embodiments of the present invention assign a status of “ ineligible ” to members that are not able to perform as a group member , e . g ., as a backup member , within the group . a group member with an “ ineligible ” status receives all messages communicated to group members and is thereby able to have its resources become properly configured so that it is eligible to assume the functions of a group primary . messages in the exemplary embodiment are processed by a message processor that includes software executing on the processor of the member as well as communications circuits that are part of the member &# 39 ; s hardware components . in addition to a member &# 39 ; s status relative to becoming a group primary member , a member also has a status relative to its ability to become a site primary member . an example node status table 300 as is used by a group 100 in the exemplary embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in fig3 . the example status table 300 shows two status values for each of four nodes , node a 110 , node b 108 , node c 112 and node d 114 . the two status values for each node are contained in a column of the table . the status of each node relative to its ability to become a group primary is contained in group status column 302 . the status of each node relative to its ability to become a site primary is contained in site status column 304 . each of the four nodes has a row in the table . the two status values for node a are stored in row a 306 , the two values for node b are stored in row b 308 , the two values for node c are stored in row c 310 , and the two values for node d are stored in row d 312 . the “ ineligible ” nodes in this table are nodes that have resources that are not properly configured , such as due to recent start up or equipment failure at that node , so as to be able to assume the functions of a group primary or a site primary . as the resources at these nodes become properly configured to perform these primary duties , the node &# 39 ; s status is changed to “ active ,” as is described below . embodiments of the present invention do not include separate site primary members and the ability of a member to be a group primary is stored in the status table of those embodiments . examples of embodiments with no site primary members are clusters with only one site or that do not define sites within their architectures . as a result of the computing group structure of the exemplary embodiment , a member that has an “ ineligible ” site member status also has an “ ineligible ” group member status . it is possible , in this exemplary embodiment , that a member an “ active ” site member status is able to have either an “ active ” or “ inactive ” group member status . it is therefore possible to have a dependency between the group member status and the site member status of a particular node . a member start up processing flow diagram 400 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in fig4 . the member start up processing is performed when a group member , such as a node a 110 , is started or restarted and is to join a computing system group such as computing system group 100 . the member start up processing flow begins , at step 402 , by starting the group member . the start up processing includes conventional processing used to initially configure the node and its resources for operation as part of a group . part of the start up processing in the exemplary embodiment includes registering for status messages that are produced by resources that are under the control of the member or that are produced by resources over which the member is able to assert control . after start up , the processing assigns , at step 404 , a status of “ ineligible ” to the group member . the exemplary embodiment utilizes programming of the processor of the member node as a status monitor to assign status values for the member . the processing continues by performing , at step 406 , an eligibility test on the new member to determine if the member is able to become a primary member for each site and group to which the member belongs . the member start up processing for this embodiment is then complete . the eligibility test is described below and is performed by an eligibility monitor that is implemented in software executed by the member . the eligibility test determines eligibility of the member to become a group primary and a site primary in the exemplary embodiments . after a member starts up and performs the member start up processing flow 400 , the member executes a status change processing flow 500 in order to determine changes in the nodes status . a status change processing flow 500 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in fig5 . the status change processing flow 500 of the exemplary embodiment is performed , for example , in response to the receipt of a status message from a resource under the control of the member or a resource over which the member is able to assert control . the status change processing flow 500 is similarly performed whenever a change in resources is detected . embodiments of the present invention perform the status change processing flow 500 periodically to implement what is in effect a polling of the status of the node . the exemplary status change processing flow 500 begins by performing , at step 502 , a monitoring test . the monitoring test determines the status of the resources under the control of the member . the processing then determines , at step 504 , if there has been a material change to the site resources . a material change in this example is a change that affects the ability of the member to assume the function of a primary for the site or group . if there is no material change in resource status , the processing continues by making , at step 512 , no changes to the member &# 39 ; s status and the processing then terminates until the next iteration of this processing flow , which is either performed in response to a relevant event or after a timed delay . if there was determined to have been a material change in site resources , the processing continues by performing , at step 506 , a member eligibility test . this member eligibility test is similar to the member eligibility test performed as part of the member start up processing flow 400 and is described below . the processing then terminates until the next iteration of this processing flow , which is either performed in response to a relevant event or after a timed delay . a member eligibility test processing flow 600 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in fig6 . the member eligibility test is performed in the exemplary embodiment to test the member &# 39 ; s ability to become both a group primary and to determine the member &# 39 ; s ability to become a site primary . the member eligibility processing flow 600 beings by determining , at step 602 , if this member is a primary member for the group or site according to the test being performed . if the member is a site primary , the processing continues by determining , at step 606 , if any redundant resource is not configured or not usable . redundant resources that are checked include data storage devices , such as iasps , and any other resources related to this member &# 39 ; s ability to retain its status as a primary . testing in this step utilizes conventional testing techniques . the type and extent of resource checking performed in this step is dependent upon the ability of a member to be a group primary or a site primary according to the eligibility being determined . the exemplary embodiments use conventional testing to determine the status of these redundant resources . if there are no redundant resources that are not configured or not usable , the processing continues by setting , at step 612 , the site member status to “ active ” in order to indicate that this member is able to assume the functions of a site primary member . after setting the site member status to “ active ,” the processing continues by setting , at step 616 , the group member status to “ active ” in order to indicate that the member is also able to assume the functions of a group primary member . if the member is not a primary member , the processing advances by determining , at step 604 , whether the member has access to all site resources . in this example , that is a condition to its eligibility to assume the role of a primary member . if it is determined that the member has access to all site resources , the processing continues by setting , at step 610 , the site member status to “ active ” to indicate that this member is able to assume the functions of a site primary member . after setting the site member status to an “ active ” status , the processing continues by determining , at step 614 , if any site resource accessible by this node is not usable . if any site resource is determined to not be usable , the processing advances to setting , at step 618 , the group member status of this member to “ ineligible ” and the processing stops . if none of the site resources are determined to be not usable , the processing continues by setting , at step 616 , the group member status for this member to “ active ,” and the processing terminates . if the processing determined , at step 604 , that the member did not have access to all site resources , or the processing determined , at step 606 , that any redundant resource is unconfigured or not usable , the processing of the exemplary embodiment continues by setting , at step 608 , the site member status of the member to “ ineligible .” the processing then sets , at step 618 , the group member status to “ ineligible ” and the processing then stops . embodiments of the invention can be implemented as a program product for use with a computer system such as , for example , the cluster computing environment shown in fig1 and described herein . the program ( s ) of the program product defines functions of the embodiments ( including the methods described herein ) and can be contained on a variety of signal - bearing medium . illustrative signal - bearing medium include , but are not limited to : ( i ) information permanently stored on non - writable storage medium ( e . g ., read - only memory devices within a computer such as crom disk readable by a cd - rom drive ); ( ii ) alterable information stored on writable storage medium ( e . g ., floppy disks within a diskette drive or hard - disk drive ); or ( iii ) information conveyed to a computer by a communications medium , such as through a computer or telephone network , including wireless communications . the latter embodiment specifically includes information downloaded from the internet and other networks . such signal - bearing media , when carrying computer - readable instructions that direct the functions of the present invention , represent embodiments of the present invention . in general , the routines executed to implement the embodiments of the present invention , whether implemented as part of an operating system or a specific application , component , program , module , object or sequence of instructions may be referred to herein as a “ program .” the computer program typically is comprised of a multitude of instructions that will be translated by the native computer into a machine - readable format and hence executable instructions . also , programs are comprised of variables and data structures that either reside locally to the program or are found in memory or on storage devices . in addition , various programs described herein may be identified based upon the application for which they are implemented in a specific embodiment of the invention . however , it should be appreciated that any particular program nomenclature that follows is used merely for convenience , and thus the invention should not be limited to use solely in any specific application identified and / or implied by such nomenclature . it is also clear that given the typically endless number of manners in which computer programs may be organized into routines , procedures , methods , modules , objects , and the like , as well as the various manners in which program functionality may be allocated among various software layers that are resident within a typical computer ( e . g ., operating systems , libraries , api &# 39 ; s , applications , applets , etc .) it should be appreciated that the invention is not limited to the specific organization and allocation or program functionality described herein . the present invention can be realized in hardware , software , or a combination of hardware and software . a system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention can be realized in a centralized fashion in one computer system , or in a distributed fashion where different elements are spread across several interconnected computer systems . any kind of computer system — or other apparatus adapted for carrying out the methods described herein — is suited . a typical combination of hardware and software could be a general purpose computer system with a computer program that , when being loaded and executed , controls the computer system such that it carries out the methods described herein . each computer system may include , inter alia , one or more computers and at least a signal bearing medium allowing a computer to read data , instructions , messages or message packets , and other signal bearing information from the signal bearing medium . the signal bearing medium may include non - volatile memory , such as rom , flash memory , disk drive memory , cd - rom , and other permanent storage . additionally , a computer medium may include , for example , volatile storage such as ram , buffers , cache memory , and network circuits . furthermore , the signal bearing medium may comprise signal bearing information in a transitory state medium such as a network link and / or a network interface , including a wired network or a wireless network , that allow a computer to read such signal bearing information . although specific embodiments of the invention have been disclosed , those having ordinary skill in the art will understand that changes can be made to the specific embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . the scope of the invention is not to be restricted , therefore , to the specific embodiments . furthermore , it is intended that the appended claims cover any and all such applications , modifications , and embodiments within the scope of the present invention .	7
the invention provides a process for obtaining 4 -( n - alkylamino )- 5 , 6 - dihydro - 4h - thien -( 2 , 3 - b )- thiopyran - 2 - sulfonamide - 7 , 7 - dioxides of general formula ( i ) their individual cis or trans diastereomers , their individual levo or dextro enantiomers , or isomeric mixtures thereof , and pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof , which comprises with a nitrogen protecting group to obtain an n - protected aminosulfone of formula ( iii ) wherein r 1 and r 2 are as defined previously and p is a nitrogen protecting group ; b ) introducing a sulfonamide group at position 2 of said n - protected aminosulfone ( iii ) to obtain the sulfonamide intermediate of formula ( vi ) wherein r 1 and r 2 are as previously defined and p is a nitrogen protecting group ; and c ) eliminating the nitrogen protecting group to obtain the compound of formula ( i ). in the sense using in this description , c 1 - 5 alkyl refers to a radical derived from an alkane , either linear or branched , of 1 to 5 carbon atoms , for example , methyl , ethyl or 2 - methylpropyl . a class of preferred compounds of general formula ( i ) is that in which the r 1 is c 1 - 5 alkyl , the stereochemical relation between the substituent groups of the carbons at positions 4 ( c4 ) an 6 ( c6 ) is trans and the chirality at c4 and c6 is s . a particularly preferred compound included within this class is dorzolamide [ compound ( i ) in which r 1 is methyl , r 2 is ethyl , 4s , 6s , trans ]. another class of preferred compounds of general formula ( i ) is that in which r 1 is hydrogen and the chirality at c4 is s . a particularly preferred compound included within this class is sezolamide [ 4 -( n - isobutylamino )- 5 , 6 - dihydro - 4h - thien -( 2 , 3 - b )- thiopyran - 2 - sulfonamide - 7 , 7 - dioxide ] [ compound ( i ) in which r 1 is hydrogen , r 2 is isobutyl , 4s ]. the process of the invention can be represented as shown in the following scheme . in accordance with the process of the invention , in the first stage [ stage a )], the nitrogen group is protected in order to avoid sulfonylation thereof in the second stage [ stage b )] of the process . examples of protecting groups ( p ) of the nitrogen are as follows : amides : p = r 3 — co —, where r 3 is alkyl , aryl or aralkyl , one or more hydrogens optionally substituted by halogen , for example , acetamide , propionamide , benzamide , phenylacetamide or 2 - chloroacetamide ; carbamates : p = r 4 — o — co —, where r 4 is alkyl , aryl or aralkyl , one or more hydrogens optionally substituted by halogen , for example , ethoxycarbonyl , phenoxycarbonyl , chloroethoxycarbonyl ; sulfonamides : p = r 5 — so 2 —, where r 5 is alkyl or aryl , for example , methanosulfonamide or p - toluensulfonamide ; and benzyl derivatives : p = ar — ch 2 —, where ar represents optionally substituted phenyl , for example , benzyl or p - nitrobenzyl . the racemic aminosulfone ( ii ) [ another way of naming the starting 4 -( n - alkylamino )- 5 , 6 - dihydro - 4h - thien -( 2 , 3 - b )- thiopyran - 7 , 7 - dioxide ] is a known compound or can be obtained by conventional methods [ see examples 1 and 2 ]. the reaction for protecting the nitrogen present in the aminosulfone ( ii ) is carried out under reaction conditions that depend on the selected protecting group . for example , for the formation of amides , aminosulfone ( ii ) is reacted with an anhydride or corresponding acid chloride in an anhydrous solvent such as tetrahydrofuran ( thf ) or methylene chloride in the presence of an organic base . for the formation of carbamates , alkyl chloroformiate , aryl or aralkyl is reacted with aminosulfone ( ii ) in an anhydrous aprotic solvent such as methylene chloride , in the presence of an organic base such as an amine . the formation of sulfonamides is carried out with sulfonyl chloride in the presence of pyridine or an aqueous base . the formation of the benzyl derivatives is carried out with a benzyl halide in a halogenated solvent in the presence of a base such as triethylamine . in the case that compound ( i ) has geometric isomerism , for example , dorzolamide , the aminosulfone ( ii ) has the geometric isomerism of compound ( i ). in a particular embodiment , aminosulfone ( ii ) is a compound in which r 1 is c 1 - 5 alkyl , and the stereochemical relation between the substituent groups at c4 and c6 is trans . in the case that compound ( i ) has optical isomerism , for example , dorzolamide or sezolamide , the chiral centres of the aminosulfone ( ii ) may have the appropriate chirality , or , alternatively , a racemic mixture of ( ii ) may be used . in the first case , the desired enantiomer of the aminosulfone ( ii ) can be obtained from the racemic mixture by conventional techniques for resolving optical isomers , for example , by precipitation with an optically active acid ( see example 3 ) or by enzymatic resolution . in the case of using a racemic mixture of ( ii ) as a starting material , the resulting compound ( i ) would have to be submitted to a final stage of resolution to obtain the desired enantiomer . the introduction of the sulfonamide group to obtain the intermediate ( vi ) is carried out by means of a process that consists of the following three stages : i ) the first stage consists of sulfonylation of the n - protected aminosulfone ( iii ) by addition of chlorosulfonic acid or fuming sulphuric acid to it , at a temperature comprised between − 10 ° c . and + 5 ° c ., followed by heating to a temperature comprised between 20 ° c . and 50 ° c ., for a period of time comprised between 2 and 24 hours , to obtain the sulfonylated intermediate ( iv ) which does not need to be isolated and can be used directly in the following stage ii ); ii ) the second stage consists of a chloration of ( iv ), for which , over said intermediate ( iv ), thionyl chloride is added slowly at a temperature comprised between − 5 ° c . and + 30 ° c ., followed by heating to a temperature comprised between 20 ° c . and 50 ° c ., for a period of time comprised between 2 and 24 hours , to obtain the resulting intermediate ( v ), which is isolated , for example , by addition of the reaction mixture to a mixture of water / ice in which intermediate ( v ) precipitates , and is filtered ; and iii ) the third stage consists of the formation of the sulphonamide ( vi ) for which the intermediate ( v ) is added to a mixture of thf / aqueous ammonia , at a temperature comprised between − 5 ° c . and + 10 ° c ., followed by neutralisation of the reaction mixture , elimination of the organic solvent and isolation of ( vi ) by conventional method , for example , by filtration . the last stage of the process of the invention [ stage c )] comprises the elimination of the nitrogen protecting group to obtain ( i ). this reaction depends on the protecting group present in ( vi ). for the amide , carbamate or sulfonamide protecting groups , this reaction is carried out in mineral acid medium , for example , hydrochloric acid , sulphuric acid , hydrobromic acid or perchloric acid , in water or in a protic organic solvent , such as acetic acid , and at temperatures comprised between room temperature ( 15 ° c .– 25 ° c .) and the reflux temperature of the medium . the product , as a free base , is isolated by neutralisation of the acid and extraction into an organic solvent , for example , ethyl acetate . in the case of protection with a benzyl group , this can be eliminated by catalytic hydrogenation using a catalyst such as raney nickel , pd on carbon , etc . an additional feature of the process of the invention , and one which supposes an advantage thereof , is that a starting material with a defined stereochemistry ( ii ) can be used , given that it has been observed that said configuration is not altered during the synthetic process . thus , for example , if a racemic mixture of trans - 4 -( n - alkylamino )- 5 , 6 - dihydro - 6 - alkyl - 4h - thien -( 2 , 3 - b )- thiopyran - 7 , 7 - dioxide ( compound ( ii ) racemic trans , r 1 = c 1 - 5 alkyl ) is used as starting material , the racemic mixture of trans - 4 -( n - alkylamino )- 5 , 6 - dihydro - 6 - alkyl - 4h - thien -( 2 , 3 - b )- thiopyran - 2 - sulfonamide - 7 , 7 - dioxide ( compound ( i ) racemic trans ; r = c 1 - 5 alkyl ) is obtained without obtaining appreciable quantities of the cis isomer . in the event that the starting material is ( 4s - trans )- 4 -( n - alkylamino )- 5 , 6 - dihydro - 6 - alkyl - 4h - thien -( 2 , 3 - b )- thiopyran - 7 , 7 - dioxide ( compound ( ii ) trans enantiomers s , s , r 1 = c 1 - 5 alkyl ) or else ( 4s )- 4 -( n - alkylamino )- 5 , 6 - dihydro - 4h - thien -( 2 , 3 - b )- thiopyran - 7 , 7 - dioxide ( compound ( ii ) enantiomer s , r 1 = h ), ( 4s - trans )- 4 -( n - alkylamino )- 5 , 6 - dihydro - 6 - alkyl - 4h - thien -( 2 , 3 - b )- thiopyran - 2 - sulfonamide - 7 , 7 - dioxide ( compound ( i ) trans enantiomer s , s , r 1 = c 1 - 5 alkyl ) or ( 4s )- 4 -( n - alkylamino )- 5 , 6 - dihydro - 4h - thien -( 2 , 3 - b )- thiopyran - 2 - sulfonamide - 7 , 7 - dioxide ( compound ( i ) enantiomer s , r 1 = h ) is obtained , respectively , without obtaining appreciable quantities of the cis isomer or observing racemisation of the centre or the chiral centres . r 1a and r 2a , independently , are c 1 - 5 alkyl , and form part of the present invention and constitute an additional object thereof . said enantiomers can be obtained from their racemic mixtures by conventional optical isomers resolution methods , for example , by precipitation with an optically active acid or by enzymatic resolution . illustrative examples of said chiral starting materials ( iia ) and ( iib ) include ( 4s - trans )- 4 -( n - ethylamino )- 5 , 6 - dihydro - 6 - methyl - 4h - thien -( 2 , 3 - b )- thiopyran - 7 , 7 - dioxide and ( 4s )- 4 -( n - isobutylamino )- 5 , 6 - dihydro - 4h - thien -( 2 , 3 - b )- thiopyran - 7 , 7 - dioxide . therefore , in a further aspect , the invention provides a process for the enantioselective synthesis of an enantiomer of 4 -( n - alkylamino )- 5 , 6 - dihydro - 4h - thien -( 2 , 3 - b )- thiopyran - 2 - sulfonamide - 7 , 7 - dioxide ( i ), from the corresponding 4 -( n - alkylamino )- 5 , 6 - dihydro - 4h - thien -( 2 , 3 - b )- thiopyran - 7 , 7 - dioxide with the appropriate stereochemistry , comprising the protection of the alkylamino group , the introduction of the sulfonamide group and the removal of the protecting group . in a particular embodiment , the invention provides a process for the enantioselective synthesis of a ( 4s )- 4 -( n - alkylamino )- 5 , 6 - dihydro - 4h - thien -( 2 , 3 - b )- thiopyran - 2 - sulphonamide - 7 , 7 - dioxide [ compound ( i ), 4s enantiomer ], from the corresponding ( 4s )- 4 -( n - alkylamino )- 5 , 6 - dihydro - 4h - thien -( 2 , 3 - b )- thiopyran - 2 - dioxide [ compound ( iib )] which comprises the protection of the alkylamino group , the introduction of the sulfonamide group and the release of the protecting group by stages a ), b ) and c ), mentioned previously in relation to the general process of the invention . a specific application of this alternative leads to the enantioselective synthesis of sezolamide from the corresponding chiral intermediates . in another particular embodiment , the invention provides a process for the enantioselective synthesis of ( 4s - trans )- 4 -( n - alkylamino )- 5 , 6 - dihydro - 6 - alkyl - 4h - thien -( 2 , 3 - b )- thiopyran - 2 - sulfonamide - 7 , 7 - dioxide [ compound ( i ) in which r 1 is c 1 - 5 alkyl , the geometric isomery is trans , and the chirality is 4s and 6s ], from the corresponding ( 4s - trans )- 4 -( n - alkylamino )- 5 , 6 - dihydro - 6 - alkyl - 4h - thien -( 2 , 3 - b )- thiopyran - 7 , 7 - dioxide [ compound ( iia )], which comprises protecting the alkylamino group , the introduction of the sulfonamide group and the removal of the protecting group by means of stages a ), b ) and c ) previously mentioned in relation to the general process of the invention . a specific application of this alternative leads to the enantioselective synthesis of dorzolamide from the corresponding diastereomeric and chiral intermediates . the intermediates of general formula ( iii ), ( iv ), ( v ) and ( vi ), their individual cis and trans diastereomers , its individual levo or dextro enantiomers , or isomeric mixtures thereof , form part of the invention and constitute an additional object thereof . illustrative examples of said intermediates include the following compounds : 4 -( n - acetyl - n - ethylamino )- 5 , 6 - dihydro - 6 - methyl - 4h - thien -( 2 , 3 - b )- thiopyran - 7 , 7 - dioxide , its individual cis or trans diastereomers , its individual levo or dextro enantiomers , or isomeric mixtures thereof ; and 4 -( n - acetyl - n - isobutylamino )- 5 , 6 - dihydro - 4h - thien -( 2 , 3 - b )- thiopyran - 7 , 7 - dioxide , its individual cis or trans diastereomers , its individual levo or dextro enantiomers , or isomeric mixtures thereof . 4 -( n - acetyl - n - ethylamino )- 5 , 6 - dihydro - 6 - methyl - 4h - thien -( 2 , 3 - b )- thiopyran - 7 , 7 - dioxide 2 - sulfonic acid , its individual cis or trans diastereomers , its individual levo or dextro enantiomers , or isomeric mixtures thereof ; and 4 -( n - acetyl - n - isobutylamino )- 5 , 6 - dihydro - 4h - thien -( 2 , 3 - b )- thiopyran - 7 , 7 - dioxide 2 - sulfonic acid , its individual cis or trans diastereomers , its individual levo or dextro enantiomers , or isomeric mixtures thereof . 4 -( n - acetyl - n - ethylamino )- 5 , 6 - dihydro - 6 - methyl - 4h - thien -( 2 , 3 - b )- thiopyran - 7 , 7 - dioxide 2 - sulfonic acid chloride , its individual cis or trans diastereomers , its individual levo or dextro enantiomers , or isomeric mixtures thereof ; and 4 -( n - acetyl - n - isobutylamino )- 5 , 6 - dihydro - 4h - thien -( 2 , 3 - b )- thiopyran - 7 , 7 - dioxide 2 - sulfonic acid chloride , its individual cis or trans diastereomers , its individual levo or dextro enantiomers , or isomeric mixtures thereof ; and 4 -( n - acetyl - n - ethylamino )- 5 , 6 - dihydro - 6 - methyl - 4h - thien -( 2 , 3 - b )- thiopyran - 7 , 7 - dioxide 2 - sulfonamide , its individual cis or trans diastereomers , its individual levo or dextro enantiomers , or isomeric mixtures thereof ; and 4 -( n - acetyl - n - isobutylamino )- 5 , 6 - dihydro - 4h - thien -( 2 , 3 - b )- thiopyran - 7 , 7 - dioxide 2 - sulfonamide , its individual cis or trans diastereomers , its individual levo or dextro enantiomers , or isomeric mixtures thereof . the following examples illustrate the invention and should not be considered as limiting the scope thereof . 26 ml ( 0 . 2 mol ) of 2 m boroetherate trifluoride in a solution of tetrahydrofuran are added to a solution of 4 -( n - acetamido )- 5 , 6 - dihydro - 6 - methyl - 4h - thien -( 2 , 3 - b )- thiopyran - 7 , 7 - dioxide ( 26 g , 0 . 1 mol ) in tetrahydrofuran ( 320 ml ), cooled to between 0 and 5 ° c . after the addition , the mixture is shaken at room temperature , and sodium borohydride ( 7 . 7 g , 0 . 2 mol ) is added . the mixture is kept at room temperature for 1 hour and then poured onto a solution of 4 n hydrochloric acid . it is stirred at room temperature for 1 hour and then the ph is set to 8 with sodium hydroxide . the crude product is extracted three times with ethyl acetate , and the organic extracts are pooled , dried and concentrated to dryness . the crude product is submitted to silica gel chromatography using a mixture thf / et 3 n ( 50 / 3 ) as solvent , yielding 12 g ( 49 %) of the title product . 1 h nmr ( cdcl 3 , 300 mhz ): δ 1 . 08 ( t , 3h ), 1 . 43 ( d , 3h ), 2 . 29 ( m , 2h ), 2 . 72 ( m , 2h ), 3 . 77 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 89 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 98 ( d , 1h ), 7 . 51 ( d , 1h ); 13 c nmr ( cdcl 3 , 300 mhz ): 10 . 7 , 15 . 2 , 34 . 9 , 41 . 9 , 51 . 0 , 52 . 1 , 127 . 1 , 130 . 5 , 135 . 3 , 145 . 4 . 15 ml ( 0 . 036 mol ) of diborane dimethylsulphide complex in a solution of 2m tetrahydrofuran are added to a solution of 4 -( n - isobutyrylamino )- 5 , 6 - dihydro - 4h - thien -( 2 , 3 - b )- thiopyran - 7 , 7 - dioxide ( 5 g , 0 . 18 mol ) in tetrahydrofuran ( 30 ml ), cooled to between 0 and 5 ° c . after the addition , the mixture is stirred at room temperature for 2 hours . the crude product is neutralised with water and concentrated under vacuum to a thick oil . a solution of 4n hydrochloric acid is added and the mixture kept at room temperature for 1 hour . the ph is set to 8 with sodium hydroxide and the crude extracted three times with ethyl acetate , and the organic extracts are pooled , dried and concentrated to dryness . the crude product is submitted to silica gel chromatography using a mixture ch 2 cl 2 / meoh ( 94 / 6 ) as solvent , yielding 2 . 3 g ( 49 %) of the title product . 1 h nmr ( cdcl 3 , 300 mhz ): δ 7 . 46 ( d , 1h ), 6 . 92 ( d , 1h ), 6 . 84 ( d , 1h ), 5 . 18 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 34 ( m , 2h ), 2 . 51 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 43 ( m , 2h ), 1 . 11 ( d , 6h ); 13 c nmr ( cdcl 3 , 300 mhz ): 146 . 0 , 135 . 4 , 130 . 1 , 129 . 0 , 127 . 0 , 54 . 4 , 52 . 1 , 49 . 2 , 28 . 4 , 27 . 3 , 20 . 3 , 20 . 2 . a racemic mixture of trans - 4 -( n - ethylamino )- 5 , 6 - dihydro - 6 - methyl - 4h - thien -( 2 , 3 - b )- thiopyran - 7 , 7 - dioxide ( 5 g , 0 . 022 mol ) in isopropanol / water ( 100 / 2 ) ( 100 ml ) is heated until it dissolves . while hot , (−)- di - p - tolyl - tartaric acid ( 3 . 6 g , 0 . 01 mol ) is added and the mixture allowed to cool slowly . when it has reached room temperature , the resulting solid is filtered to give 4 . 6 g of salt . the solid is suspended once more in 96 ml of the mixture of water and alcohol , and heated under reflux and cooled to room temperature to yield 3 . 3 g of product . the operation is repeated for a third time , yielding 2 . 9 g of tartaric salt . the tartaric salt obtained in stage a is suspended in water and the ph adjusted to 8 . the mixture is extracted 3 times with ethyl acetate , and the organic extracts are pooled , dried and concentrated to dryness , obtaining 0 . 75 g ( 15 %) of title product with a rotary power of [ α ] d =− 90 ° ( c = 1 , methanol ). 1 h nmr ( cdcl 3 , 300 mhz ): δ 1 . 08 ( t , 3h ), 1 . 43 ( d , 3h ), 2 . 29 ( m , 2h ), 2 . 72 ( m , 2h ), 3 . 77 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 89 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 98 ( d , 1h ), 7 . 51 ( d , 1h ); 13 c nmr ( cdcl 3 , 300 mhz ): 10 . 7 , 15 . 2 , 34 . 9 , 41 . 9 , 51 . 0 , 52 . 1 , 127 . 1 , 130 . 5 , 135 . 3 , 145 . 4 . a solution of α - chloroacetyl chloride ( 3 . 68 ml , 0 . 052 mol ) in tetrahydrofuran is added dropwise to a solution of ( 4s - trans )- 4 -( n - ethylamino )- 5 , 6 - dihydro - 6 - methyl - 4h - thien -( 2 , 3 - b )- thiopyran - 7 , 7 - dioxide ( 12 g , 0 . 048 mol ) and triethylamine ( 14 . 8 ml , 1 . 06 mol ) under a nitrogen atmosphere . once the addition is complete , the mixture is kept at room temperature for 15 minutes and a saturated solution of bicarbonate is added until the medium is neutralised . it is extracted 3 times with ethyl acetate . the extracts are dried and concentrated to dryness to give 12 g ( 88 %) of the title product , with a rotary power of [ α ] d =− 100 ° ( c = 1 , methanol ). 1 h nmr ( cdcl 3 , 300 mhz ): δ 1 . 15 ( t , 3h ), 1 . 52 ( d , 3h ), 2 . 1 ( s , 3h ), 2 . 43 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 82 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 15 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 31 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 60 ( m , 1h ), 5 . 95 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 81 ( d , 1h ), 7 . 60 ( d , 1h ); 13 c nmr ( cdcl 3 , 300 mhz ): 12 . 1 , 15 . 9 , 21 . 5 , 32 . 6 , 40 . 3 , 46 . 9 , 55 . 9 , 126 . 6 , 130 . 4 , 134 . 8 , 142 . 5 , 175 . 1 . this is prepared according to the process described in example 4a , from 2 g ( 0 . 008 mol ) of trans - 4 -( n - ethylamino )- 5 , 6 - dihydro - 6 - methyl - 4h - thien -( 2 , 3 - b )- thiopyran - 7 , 7 - dioxide , 25 ml of methylene chloride , 1 . 4 ml ( 0 . 010 mol ) of triethylamine and 1 . 28 ml ( 0 . 010 mol ) of propionic anhydride . 2 . 1 g ( 87 %) of the title product are obtained . 1 h nmr ( cdcl 3 , 300 mhz ): δ 1 . 10 ( m , 6h ), 1 . 45 ( m , 2h ), 2 . 40 ( m , 3h ), 2 . 75 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 05 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 20 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 55 ( m , 1h ), 5 . 95 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 75 ( d , 1h ), 7 . 60 ( d , 1h ). this is prepared according to the process described in example 4a , from 2 g ( 0 . 008 mol ) of trans - 4 -( n - ethylamino )- 5 , 6 - dihydro - 6 - methyl - 4h - thien -( 2 , 3 - b )- thiopyran - 7 , 7 - dioxide , 25 ml of methylene chloride , 0 . 66 ml ( 0 . 008 moles ) of pyridine and 0 . 65 ml ( 0 . 008 moles ) of α - chloroacetyl chloride . 1 . 6 g ( 62 %) of the title product are obtained . 1 h nmr ( cdcl 3 , 300 mhz ): δ 1 . 20 ( t , 3h ), 1 . 55 ( m , 3h ), 2 . 48 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 90 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 25 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 40 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 60 ( m , 1h ), 4 . 22 ( s , 2h ), 5 . 85 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 85 ( d , 1h ), 7 . 65 ( d , 1h ). this is prepared according to the process described in example 4a , from 2 g ( 0 . 008 mol ) of trans - 4 -( n - ethylamino )- 5 , 6 - dihydro - 6 - methyl - 4h - thien -( 2 , 3 - b )- thiopyran - 7 , 7 - dioxide , 25 ml of methylene chloride , 0 . 66 ml ( 0 . 008 moles ) of pyridine and 0 . 95 ml ( 0 . 008 mol ) of acetyl chloride . an oil purified by silica gel chromatography is obtained using a mixture of heptane / ethyl acetate ( 10 / 20 ), 1 . 8 g ( 67 %) of the title product are obtained . 1 h nmr ( cdcl 3 , 300 mhz ): δ 1 . 20 ( t , 3h ), 1 . 52 ( m , 3h ), 2 . 43 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 82 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 15 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 28 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 55 ( m , 1h ), 5 . 85 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 81 ( d , 1h ), 7 . 45 ( m , 5h ), 7 . 60 ( d , 1h ). this is prepared following the process of example 4a , from 4 g ( 0 . 015 mol ) of 4 -( n - isobutylamino )- 5 , 6 - dihydro - 4h - thien -( 2 , 3 - b )- thiopyran - 7 , 7 - dioxide , 5 . 1 ml ( 0 . 037 mol ) of triethylamine and 1 . 4 ml ( 0 . 02 mol ) of α - chloroacetyl chloride . 3 . 8 g ( 80 %) of the title product is obtained . 1 h nmr ( cdcl 3 , 300 mhz ): δ 7 . 53 ( d , 1h ), 6 . 75 ( d , 1h ), 5 . 48 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 53 ( m , 2h ), 3 . 34 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 52 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 17 ( s , 3h ), 1 . 85 ( m , 1h ), 1 . 11 ( d , 6h ); 13 c nmr ( cdcl 3 , 300 mhz ): 171 . 6 , 143 . 5 , 135 . 5 , 130 . 8 , 126 . 2 , 51 . 9 , 28 . 3 , 26 . 7 , 22 . 4 , 20 . 1 . 4 g ( 0 . 013 mol ) of ( 4s - trans )- 4 -( n - acetyl - n - ethylamino )- 5 , 6 - dihydro - 6 - methyl - 4h - thien -( 2 , 3 - b )- thiopyran - 7 , 7 - dioxide are added to 7 . 4 ml ( 0 . 11 mol ) of chlorosulfonic acid cooled to 0 ° c . once the addition has finished , the mixture is heated to 50 ° c . for 12 h , then cooled once again to 0 ° c . thionyl chloride ( 7 . 42 ml , 0 . 1 mol ) is added slowly dropwise to the solution . the mixture is heated once again to 50 ° c . for 12 hours . the crude product is cooled to room temperature and poured over a water / ice mixture , obtaining a pinkish solid , which is filtered and immediately incorporated into the following stage of the synthesis . the solid obtained from stage a is added slowly to a mixture of tetrahydrofuran ( 25 ml ) and 15 % ammonia ( 5 ml ), cooled to 0 ° c . once the addition is over , stirring is maintained until dissolution is complete . the crude product is concentrated to dryness and submitted to silica gel chromatography using a mixture of ch 2 cl 2 / meoh ( 50 / 3 . 5 ) as solvent , obtaining 2 . 3 g ( 47 %) of the title product , with a rotary power of [ α ] d =− 80 ° ( c = 1 , methanol ). 1 h nmr ( dmso - d 6 , 300 mhz ): δ 1 . 14 ( t , 3h ), 1 . 41 ( d , 3h ), 2 . 05 ( s , 3h ), 2 . 43 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 78 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 26 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 46 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 55 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 91 ( m , 1h ), 4 . 40 ( m , 1h ), 5 . 21 ( 1h , m ), 7 . 24 ( s , 1h ), 8 . 02 ( s , 2h ); 13 c nmr ( dmso - d 6 , 300 mhz ) 11 . 6 , 15 . 2 , 21 . 9 , 32 . 4 , 42 . 7 , 55 . 4 , 62 . 2 , 128 . 4 , 136 . 2 , 144 . 6 , 149 . 4 , 170 . 3 . this is prepared following the process of example 6a ( stage a ), from 2 . 15 g ( 0 . 0075 mol ) of trans - 4 -( n - propanoyl - n - ethylamino )- 5 , 6 - dihydro - 6 - methyl - 4h - thien -( 2 , 3 - b )- thiopyran - 7 , 7 - dioxide , 4 . 1 ml ( 0 . 06 mol ) of chlorosulfonic acid and 4 . 1 ml ( 0 . 055 mol ) of thionyl chloride , yielding a pink coloured solid that is immediately incorporated in the following step of the reaction . this is obtained following the process of example 6a ( stage b ), from acid chloride isolated from the previous step , 15 ml of tetrahydrofuran and 5 ml of 20 % ammonia . 2 . 2 g of crude product are obtained that are submitted to silica gel chromatography using a ch 2 cl 2 / meoh ( 50 / 3 ) mixture as a solvent , obtaining 1 . 9 g ( 69 %) of the title product . 1 h nmr ( dmso - d 6 , 300 mhz ): δ 1 . 05 ( t , 3h ), 1 . 18 ( t , 3h ), 1 . 45 ( d , 3h ), 2 . 43 ( m , 3h ), 2 . 75 ( m , 2h ), 3 . 26 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 45 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 95 ( m , 1h ), 5 . 21 ( 1h , m ), 7 . 20 ( s , 1h ), 8 . 05 ( s , 2h ). this is prepared following the process of example 6a ( stage a ), from 1 . 6 g ( 0 . 0053 mol ) of trans - 4 -( n -( 2 - chloroacetyl )- n - ethylamino )- 5 , 6 - dihydro - 6 - methyl - 4h - thien -( 2 , 3 - b )- thiopyran - 7 , 7 - dioxide , 3 ml ( 0 . 044 mol ) of chlorosulphonic acid and 3 ml ( 0 . 040 mol ) of thionyl chloride , yielding a pink coloured solid that is immediately incorporated in the following step of the reaction . this is obtained following the process of example 6a ( stage b ), from acid chloride isolated from the previous step , 7 . 5 ml of tetrahydrofuran and 4 ml of 20 % ammonia . 2 . 2 g of crude product is obtained that is submitted to silica gel chromatography using a mixture of ch 2 cl 2 / meoh ( 95 / 5 ) as a solvent , obtaining 1 . 18 g ( 58 %) of the title product . this is prepared following the process of example 6a ( stage a ), from 1 . 2 g ( 0 . 0035 mol ) of trans - 4 -( n - benzoyl - n - ethylamino )- 5 , 6 - dihydro - 6 - methyl - 4h - thien -( 2 , 3 - b )- thiopyran - 7 , 7 - dioxide , 3 ml ( 0 . 044 mol ) of chlorosulphonic acid and 3 ml ( 0 . 040 mol ) of thionyl chloride , yielding a pink coloured solid that is immediately incorporated in the following step of the reaction . this is obtained following the process of example 6a ( stage b ), from acid chloride isolated from the previous step , 7 . 5 ml of tetrahydrofuran and 4 ml of 20 % ammonia . 2 . 2 g of crude product is obtained that is submitted to silica gel chromatography using a mixture of ch 2 cl 2 / meoh ( 50 / 2 ) as a solvent , obtaining 1 . 05 g ( 72 %) of the title product . this is prepared following the process of example 6a ( stage a ), from 2 g ( 0 . 0064 mol ) of 4 -( n - acetyl - n - isobutylamino )- 5 , 6 - dihydro - 4h - thien -( 2 , 3 - b )- thiopyran - 7 , 7 - dioxide , 4 . 1 ml ( 0 . 06 mol ) of chlorosulphonic acid and 4 . 1 ml ( 0 . 055 mol ) of thionyl chloride , yielding a light pink coloured solid that is immediately incorporated in the following step of the reaction . this is obtained following the process of example 6a ( stage b ), from acid chloride isolated in stage a , 15 ml of tetrahydrofuran and 5 ml of 20 % ammonia . 2 . 2 g of crude product are obtained that are submitted to silica gel chromatography using a ch 2 cl 2 / meoh ( 47 / 3 ) mixture as a solvent , obtaining 1 . 35 g ( 54 %) of the title product . 1 h nmr ( cdcl 3 , 300 mhz ): δ 8 . 05 ( s , 2h ), 7 . 20 ( s , 1h ), 4 . 76 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 72 ( m , 2h ), 3 . 23 ( m , 2h ), 2 . 95 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 30 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 03 ( s , 3h ), 1 . 83 ( m , 1h ), 1 . 00 ( d , 6h ); 13 c nmr ( cdcl 3 , 300 mhz ): 170 . 3 , 148 . 6 , 145 . 7 , 136 . 3 , 127 . 7 , 62 . 0 , 27 . 6 , 25 . 8 , 25 . 5 , 22 . 5 , 20 . 0 , 19 . 5 . 1 g ( 0 . 0027 mol ) of ( 4s - trans )- 4 -( n - acetyl - n - ethylamino )- 5 , 6 - dihydro - 6 - methyl - 4h - thien -( 2 , 3 - b )- thiopyran - 2 - sulfonamide - 7 , 7 - dioxide is dissolved in 16 ml of a mixture of methanol / hydrochloric acid 36 % ( 1 / 1 ). the solution is heated under reflux for 72 h . it is cooled to room temperature and poured over water and neutralised with a solution of saturated bicarbonate . it is extracted 3 times with ethyl acetate , and the organic phases are pooled , dried and concentrated to dryness . the residue is submitted to silica gel chromatography using the a mixture of thf / et 3 n ( 50 / 2 ) as a solvent , obtaining 0 . 55 g ( 66 %) of the title product , with a rotary power of [ α ] d =− 32 ° ( c = 1 , methanol ). 1 h nmr ( dmso - d 6 , 300 mhz ): δ 1 . 28 ( t , 3h ), 1 . 37 ( d , 3h ), 2 . 53 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 80 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 04 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 19 ( m , 1h ), 4 . 36 ( m , 1h ), 4 . 69 ( 1h , m ), 8 . 01 ( s , 1h ), 8 . 21 ( s , 2h ), 9 . 60 ( m , 1h ); 9 . 89 ( m , 1h ); 13 c nmr ( dmso - d 6 , 300 mhz ): 9 . 9 , 11 . 1 , 30 . 6 , 40 . 7 , 49 . 1 , 51 . 5 , 54 . 5 , 130 . 7 , 137 . 3 , 141 . 8 , 149 . 6 . this is prepared following the process of example 8a , from 0 . 25 g ( 0 . 0015 mol ) of 4 -( n - propionyl - n - isobutylamino )- 5 , 6 - dihydro - 4h - thien -( 2 , 3 - b )- thiopyran - 7 , 7 - dioxide . the crude product is submitted to silica gel chromatography using a mixture of thf / et 3 n ( 50 / 2 ) as solvent , obtaining 0 . 09 g ( 40 %) of the title product . this is prepared following the process of example 8a , from 0 . 25 g ( 0 . 0006 mol ) of 4 -( n -( 2 - chloroacetyl )- n - isobutylamino )- 5 , 6 - dihydro - 4h - thien -( 2 , 3 - b )- thiopyran - 7 , 7 - dioxide . the crude product is submitted to silica gel chromatography using a mixture of thf / et 3 n ( 50 / 2 ) as solvent , obtaining 0 . 08 g ( 38 %) of the title product . this is prepared following the process of example 8a , from 0 . 25 g ( 0 . 0006 mol ) of 4 -( n - benzoyl - n - isobutylamino )- 5 , 6 - dihydro - 4h - thien -( 2 , 3 - b )- thiopyran - 7 , 7 - dioxide . the crude product is submitted to silica gel chromatography using a mixture of thf / et 3 n ( 50 / 2 ) as solvent , obtaining 0 . 07 g ( 35 %) of the title product . this is prepared following the process of example 8a , from 0 . 6 g ( 0 . 0015 mol ) of 4 -( n - acetyl - n - isobutylamino )- 5 , 6 - dihydro - 4h - thien -( 2 , 3 - b )- thiopyran - 7 , 7 - dioxide . the crude product is submitted to silica gel chromatography using a mixture of thf / et 3 n ( 50 / 2 ) as solvent , obtaining 0 . 28 g ( 52 %) of the title product . 0 . 55 g ( 0 . 0017 mol ) of ( 4s - trans )- 4 -( n - ethylamino )- 5 , 6 - dihydro - 6 - methyl - 4h - thien -( 2 , 3 - b )- thiopyran - 2 - sulfonamide - 7 , 7 - dioxide are dissolved in 25 ml of ethyl acetate , and the ph is set to 1 with hydrochloric acid . the crude product is concentrated to dryness obtaining 0 . 62 g ( 95 %) of the title product with a rotary power of [ α ] d =− 8 . 3 ° ( c = 1 , methanol ). this is prepared following the process of example 10 from 0 . 28 g ( 8 × 10 − 4 mol ) of 4 -( n - acetyl - n - isobutylamino )- 5 , 6 - dihydro - 4h - thien -( 2 , 3 - b )- thiopyran - 7 , 7 - dioxide , obtaining 0 . 28 g ( 91 %) of the title product .	8
the formulation of this invention can be prepared by the following manner . amosulalol hydrochloride is mixed well with an excipient which may be selected from those usually used and after adding thereto a solution or a suspension of an entero - soluble material in water or an organic solvent , the resultant mixture is granulated . in this case , the entero - soluble material may be directly added to the aforesaid mixture of amosulalol and after adding thereto a binder which may be selected from those usually used , the resultant mixture may be granulated . also , in the case of using a pharmaceutically acceptable organic acid in this invention , the organic acid may be added to the aforesaid mixture followed by granulation . furthermore , the granules thus obtained may be formed into tablets by means of a tableting machine and coating may be applied to these tablets for the prevention of bitterness and the improvement of the appearance . examples of the entero - soluble material which is used in this invention are a methacrylic acid - ethyl acrylate copolymer ( e . g ., eudragit l30d - 55 , trade name made by rohm and haas company , a copolymer of methacrylic acid and ethyl acrylate ( 1 : 1 ) having a molecular weight of about 250 , 000 ), a methacrylic acid . methyl methacrylate copolymer ( e . g ., eudragit l100 , trade name , made by rohm and haas company , a copolymer of methacrylic acid and methyl methacrylate ( 1 : 1 ) having a molecular weight of 135 , 000 or eudragit s100 , a copolymer of methacrylic acid and methyl methacrylate ( 1 : 2 ) having a molecular weight of about 135 , 000 ), hydroxypropylmethyl cellulose phthalate ( the japan pharmacopoeia , the 10th revision ), cellulose acetate phthalate ( the japan pharmacopoeia , the 10th revision ), shellac ( the japan pharmacopoeia , the 10th revision ), and the like . these entero - soluble materials are dissolved at a ph higher than a specific value . for example , eudragit l30d - 55 is dissolved at a ph higher than about 5 . 5 , eudragit l100 at a ph higher than about 6 . 0 , and eudragit s100 at a ph higher than about 7 . 0 . by properly selecting the entero - soluble material , the medicament can be absorbed at each different portion in the intestines , thus the long acting characteristics can be controlled . among the above - described entero - soluble materials , methacrylic acid - ethyl acrylate copolymers can be dissolved in water as a solvent and hence in this case the granulation is easy as compared to the case of using an organic solvent and also this case is safe and economical . in addition , a methacyrlic acid - ethyl acrylate copolymer ( eudragit l30d - 55 ) is commercially available in the form of usually an aqueous 30 % dispersion . the entero - soluble material is used in a content of 5 to 50 % by weight of the total weight of the formulation of this invention and the content of 10 to 30 % by weight is particularly preferred . examples of the pharmaceutically acceptable organic acids which are used in this invention are citric acid ( the japan pharmacopoeia , the 10th revision ), tartaric acid ( the japan pharmacopoeia , the 10th revision ), and the like . the purpose of using the organic acid is to improve the solubility of amosulalol hydrochloride at a high ph region ( in particular , about 7 . 5 which is one of the ph values of a physiological saline solution ), whereby the bio - availability of amosulalol hydrochloride is increased . the content of the pharmaceutically acceptable organic acid is 1 to 30 % by weight of the total weight of the product but is , in particular , preferably 5 to 20 % by weight . in this invention , excipients , lubricants , binders , and the like , which are usually used for conventional formulations can be used without particular restrictions . examples of the excipients are lactose , starch , calcium hydrogenphosphate , silicic anhydride , and the like ; examples of the lubricants are magnesium stearate , talc , and the like ; and examples of the binders are hydroxypropyl cellulose , starch , and the like . there is no particular restriction on the the amounts of these additives and the amounts of them may be properly selected according to the purpose of using them . then , the present invention will be further explained by the following examples but is not limited thereby in any way . in a fluidized bed / granulator were placed 500 g of amosulalol hydrochloride and 500 g of lactose and the products sufficiently mixed . to the mixture was sprayed an aqueous dispersion of a methacrylic acid - ethyl acrylate copolymer ( eudragit l30d - 55 ) in an amount of 240 g as a solid component and granules were formed from the mixture by mean of a fluidized bed granulator . after drying the granules thus obtained for 4 hours at 40 ° c ., 6 g of magnesium stearate was added to the granules and the mixture was formed into tablets by means of an ordinary tableting machine . each of the formulation of this invention ( containing 50 mg of amosulalol hydrochloride ) and a conventional formulation ( containing 25 mg of amosulalol ) containing no entero - soluble material was orally administrated to each healthy adult man once a day by a crossover method with wash - out period of one week . in the case of using the tablets of this invention , the amosulalol hydrochloride concentration in the plasma was measured by a high pressure liquid chromatographic analysis after 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 6 , 8 , 10 , 12 and 24 hours since the administration , while in the case of using the conventional tablets , the amosulalol hydrochloride concentration in the plasma was measured by the same manner as above after 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 6 , 8 , 10 and 12 hours since the administration . the results are shown in fig1 . as shown in the figure , it can be seen that by the administration of the formulation of this invention once a day , the concentration of amosulalol hydrochloride in the plasma can be sufficiently prolonged as compared to the case of using the conventional formulation . in a fluidized bed dryer were mixed 200 g of amosulalol hydrochloride , 50 g of silicic anhydride and 30 g of hydroxypropyl cellulose and after spraying thereto a solution prepared by dissolving 20 g of citric acid in an aqueous dispersion of a methacrylic acid - ethyl acrylate copolymer ( eudragit l30d - 55 ), granules were produced from the mixture using a fluidized bed granulator . to the granules thus formed was added 1 . 6 g of magnesium stearate and the mixture was formed into tablets by means of an ordinary tableting machine . by the method as performed on the product in example 1 , the amosulalol hydrochloride concentration in the plasma was compared between the case of using the formulation of this invention and the case of using the conventional formulation using beagle dogs . the results are shown in fig2 . as shown in fig2 it can be seen that in the case of using the formulation of this invention , the concentration of amosulalol hydrochloride in the plasma can be sufficiently prolonged as compared to the case of using the conventional formulation . in a vertical mixer were mixed 200 g of amosulalol hydrochloride , 30 g of citric acid and 60 g of hydroxy propylmethyl cellulose phthalate ( hp - 55 , trade name ) and after adding gradually thereto 64 g of an aqueous solution of 10 % hydroxypropyl cellulose under stirring , granules were formed from the mixture . after drying granules thus formed for 4 hours at 40 ° c ., 1 . 6 g of magnesium stearate was added to the granules and the resultant mixture was formed into tablets by means of a tableting machine . by the method as performed on the product in example 1 , the amosulalol hydrochloride concentration in the plasma was compared between the case of using the formulation of this invention and the case of using an aqueous 1 % amosulalol hydrochloride in beagle dogs . the results are shown in fig3 . as shown in fig3 it can be seen that in the case of using the formulation of this invention , the concentration of amosulalol in the plasma can be sufficiently prolonged as compared to the case of using the aqueous solution of amosulalol .	0
as is the case with many inventions , the present invention for a system and method for three - dimensional shape and size measurement is subject to a wide variety of embodiments . however , to ensure that one skilled in the art will be able to understand and , in appropriate cases , practice the present invention , certain preferred embodiments of the broader invention revealed herein are described below and shown in the accompanying drawing figures . as one will appreciate from reviewing this disclosure , the present invention can make 3d full body scanning technology readily accessible to consumers in numerous locations including , by way of example , their local shopping areas . looking more particularly to the drawings , an overview of an embodiment of the present system for three - dimensional shape and size measurement is indicated at 300 in fig1 . there , one sees that by use of a 3d full body scanner 302 , a person 304 can be scanned in , for example , his or her undergarments and footwear that the person 304 may intend to wear with the garment sought to be created . scans of different poses may be required depending on the type of measurements to be acquired . prior to activating the scanner 302 , the person 304 typically will be required to take a breath through his or her nose with closed lips . the person 304 then will hold his or her breath for the duration of the 3d scanning process . one skilled in the art will be aware that a number of companies manufacture full body scanners including cyberware usa , hamamashi japan , textile and clothing technology center usa , tecmath germany , wicks and wilson limited uk . although one skilled in the art certainly would be able to practice this aspect of the invention based on the present discussion , the following patent disclosures , which are expressly incorporated herein by reference , may provide useful background information to the reader : u . s . pat . no . 5 , 852 , 672 to lu for an “ imaging system for three dimensional , 360 degree , time sequence surface mapping of moving objects ”; u . s . pat . no . 6 , 049 , 625 to sakamoto for a “ method of and an apparatus for three - dimensional structure estimation ”; u . s . pat . no . 5 , 561 , 526 to huber et al . for a “ three dimensional measurement device and system ”; u . s . pat . no . 5 , 778 , 177 to azar for an “ interactive scanning device or system ”; u . s . pat . no . 5 , 964 , 707 to fenster et al . for a “ three - dimensional imaging system ”; u . s . pat . no . 5 , 901 , 708 to chang et al . for a “ method and apparatus for forming ultrasonic three - dimensional images using cross array ”; u . s . pat . no . 5 , 797 , 845 to barabash et al . for an “ ultrasound apparatus for three dimensional image reconstruction ”; and u . s . pat . no . 5 , 864 , 640 to miramonti et al . for a “ method and apparatus for optically scanning three dimensional objects using color information in trackable paths ”. in any event , after the person 304 has been scanned , the full body scanner 302 will generate a digital file 306 . depending on the scanner 302 , various levels of additional data processing by a processor 308 may be required . this processing includes the alignment of various captured 3d xyz point cloud data sets as shown at 310 , the patching of areas with missing data as shown at 312 , and the filtering and deleting of noisy data as shown at 314 . after the data of the digital file 306 has been processed , it is then merged as shown at 316 to create a polygonal mesh 318 of the full body surface in a standard digital file format . currently , some of the most widely accepted file formats are . obj , . stl , . vrml , and others . the polygonal mesh 318 , which represents the 3d body surface data , will be imported into a 3d computer aided design ( cad ) system 320 and employed to design and , possibly , to make virtual and actual garments as will be discussed more fully hereinbelow . one skilled in the art will be aware that many scanner manufacturers have developed proprietary automatic body measurement extraction software following traditional measuring principles . one presently preferred 3d cad software for use in taking 3d measurements on polygonal surfaces is called ‘ polyworks ’ and is distributed by a company called innovmetric software inc . in canada . presently preferred 3d cad software for use in working with 3d xyz point cloud data is called ‘ geomagicstudio ’, which is distributed by a company called raindrop geomagic inc . in the united states . one of the most powerful 3d cad design software systems with relational geometry technology capabilities for working on complex organic surfaces is called ‘ multisurf ’ and is designed and written for the marine industry by a software company called aerohydro , which is located in maine , usa . ‘ multiplex ’ is an add - on module to flatten 3d shapes to 2d patterns . since they are widely used , it is clear that one knowledgeable in the present art will be well aware of the use and structure of the aforementioned and similar software systems . the tasks and processes involved in deploying the shape measurement principles under the present invention can be grouped into four categories : type 1 : identifying the data to be measured ( traditional body survey and tailor measurements could be used as basic guidelines ). type 2 : defining methods to record and organize the data in a meaningful and logical format so it can be easily understood . type 3 : analyzing and comparing data to obtain meaningful results , such as size prediction . type 4 : utilizing data , as in reverse engineering the body shape being described and then automatically generating garment patterns and doing virtual garment try on . the details and complexities of 3d measuring can be dynamic and may be dependent on the fit requirements of the garment . a sample system configuration can start with three garment style classifications : relaxed , casual , and tailored . the classification could build on itself from the lowest level of fit requirement ( relaxed ) to the highest ( tailored ) wherein the measuring data becomes more detailed for garment styles that are designed to fit closer to the shape of the body . by way of reference , fig5 illustrates a fit report generated for the most basic , loosely fitting configuration ( relaxed fit ). as is shown in fig7 , after the procedures depicted in fig1 are completed and the 3d polygonal mesh 318 has been imported into the 3d cad design system 320 , the initially performed task 200 involves defining and marking the body surface with measuring guidelines , landmarks , 3d planes , and 3d shape definition points . the next step 202 comprises capturing and recording 3d measuring data . in the final step 204 , the 3d measurement data is exploited to allow , for example , the configuration of virtual mannequins , the automatic generation of garment patterns , or in a database for the accurate prediction of sizes and the virtual trying on of garments . since this invention uses 3d points placed on body measurements to describe the body shape accurately , plane definition tools are very useful for creating body cross section views by slicing the body at any desired angle . the body cross - section views are used to place 3d points on perimeters of the body surface accurately . 3d planes should be created at traditional girth measurements as is depicted in fig . l a . however , if desired , additional planes can be added to give more body shape details . the typical workflow after body data has been imported into the 3d cad system 320 is shown in fig8 . there , one sees that the workflow begins with step 206 where girth shapes are defined using horizontal planes . fig2 a depicts such a horizontal plane used to define a girth shape . in carrying out step 206 , the first plane defined should be at the hip girth , and it should be parallel to the floor surface . as fig2 a shows , four extreme points will be positioned on this circumference line : one at the left side seam ( labeled lftsspoint ), one at the right side seam ( rtsspoint ), one at center front ( cfpoint ), and one at the center back ( cbpoint ). as fig2 a also shows , a line representing the hip width will be drawn to connect the opposite side seam points rtsspoint and lftsspoint . another line representing the hip length will be drawn to connect the center front and center back points cfpoint and cbpoint . the length of the hip width and hip length lines will be measured , recorded , and labeled as y depth and x width . the angle of the two intersecting lines is also recorded . the intersection point of y depth and x width line will be labeled as cpoint . with this , the horizontal plane has been divided into four sections . these four sections are labeled as x plane rtfrt , x plane lftfrt , x plane rtbk , x plane lftbk . in practice , “ x ” is replaced with the name of the respective plane , such as , for example , waist , chest , hip , and the like . under this arrangement , the hip cpoint can be designated as an origin point ( 0 , 0 , 0 ) such that it can be used as a reference for all other planes and points . in step 208 , girth plane perimeter curve definition control points , which are also shown in fig2 a , are defined . in this example , sixteen points are created on the girth perimeter . three points are evenly placed between the side seam points rtsspoint and lftsspoint and center front and back points cfpoint and cbpoint . the three points created in each section can be labeled in a clockwise direction starting at the cfpoint 1 , cfpoint 2 , cfpoint 3 , then rtsspoint 1 , rtsspoint 2 , rtsspoint 3 , and so on , respectively . step 210 , the results of which are shown in fig2 b , comprises drawing straight lines between all curve definition control points on the horizontal plane and the cpoint . the length of each of the drawn straight line is recorded . furthermore , using the line connecting the cpoint and the lftsspoint as a reference line , the angle between each drawn straight line and the reference line is recorded . with this , this information can be used to recreate the shape of the horizontal plane . after all necessary or desired planes are created , step 212 is performed where straight lines are drawn to connect the cpoints of adjacent planes . the results of step 212 are shown in figs . l b and l c . from fig . l b , one sees that , in this exemplary body , the cpoints are generally aligned when viewed from the front . however , as fig . l c shows , when viewed from the side , the cpoints are laterally displaced relative to one another by a relatively significant amount . with this , the lengths of the lines and their angles relative to , for example , the horizontal plane can be recorded to enable plane - positioning reference . the next step , labeled as step 214 in fig8 , comprises identifying and defining measurement guidelines and landmarks by adding 3d shape definition points to certain measurements . the results of step 214 are depicted in fig3 a – 3 d . there , one sees that the 3d shape definition points can be added to girth measurements , arc measurements , vertical measurements ( typically taken with shoes on ), and width and length measurements . a plurality of potential girth measurements are labeled in fig3 a – 3 d with reference numbers 1 – 19 and are described more particularly hereinafter . bust / chest girth 1 — level of maximum bust girth . waist girth 2 — average waist level . hip girth 3 — average hip level . abdominal extension 4 — level of extension . chest girth at scye 5 — minimal chest girth level . thigh 6 — maximum at upper part of leg . mid - thigh 7 — midway between hip and knee . knee girth 8 — around the leg and over the kneecap . calf girth 9 — around the leg and over the kneecap . ankle girth 10 — at the level of maximum girth . neck girth 11 — at midway level . neck base 12 — at base of neck . upper arm 13 — girth at armhole base level . elbow girth 14 — measured with the arm bent at a right angle . wrist girth 15 — measured over the distal end of the ulna . head circumference 16 — at maximum girth level . sitting spread 17 — measured around both thighs of seated subject . vertical trunk 18 — mid - shoulder point to crotch . armhold girth 19 — from the shoulder point through the underarm . some possible arc measurements , bearing reference numbers 20 – 23 , also are depicted in fig3 a . those arc measurements are as follows : bust arc anterior 20 — front portion of the bust girth ; waist arc anterior 21 — front portion of the waist girth ; abdominal extension arc anterior 22 — front portion of abdominal extension girth ; and hip arc posterior 23 — back portion of hip girth . fig3 depicts possible vertical measurements 24 – 34 . these measurements 24 – 34 can be described as follows : height 24 — from peak of head to soles of feet ( taken without shoes on ); cervical height 25 — from cervical to floor ; waist height 26 — waist level to floor ; abdominal extension 27 — from extension level to floor ; hip height 28 — hip level to floor ; knee height 29 — knee to feet ; ankle height 30 — ankle to floor ; side seam 31 — waist level at side to floor ; body rise 32 — at side form waist level to level of the seat with the subject sitting ; inside leg 33 — base of the trunk to soles ; and sitting spread height 34 — average height of the most lateral extension of the upper thighs when the subject is standing . even further still , fig3 a – 3 c depict possible width and length measurements with reference numbers 35 – 60 . these width and length measurements can be described more particularly as follows : waist length , back 35 — cervical to waist length ; across back 36 — between posterior armscyes ; armscye to waist 37 — underarm mid - point to waist at side ; scye depth 38 — cervical to a point level with the mid - underarm point ; shoulder length 39 — intersections of shoulder line with neck base and armscye ; arm length 40 — from intersection of shoulder and armscye lines , over the elbow to the wrist ; upper arm length 41 — same as arm length 40 , but taken to elbow ; underarm length 42 — underarm mid - point to wrist line ; neck point to wrist 43 — from neck base on shoulder line to wrist ; interacromion width 44 — between acromion points ; waist length , front 45 — from neck base to waist level at center front ; across chest 46 — front of the chest from armscye to armscye , midway between shoulder and armhole base ( same level as across back 36 ); width of bust prominence 47 — from bust point to bust point ; neck to bust point 48 — from front shoulder point to bust point ; cervical to center front waist 49 — from cervical to waist level at center front ; neck point to front waist 50 — from neck point over bust to front waist ( vertically ); center shoulder to front waist 51 — from shoulder line to bust point and then vertically to waist line ; cervical to bust point 52 — from cervical to bust point ; lateral waist width 53 — width of body at waist level ; abdomen seat diameter 54 — greatest depth of body from abdomen to seat ; bitrochanteric width 55 — width of body at hip level ; waist to hip 56 — waist line to hip line at side ; crotch length 57 — center front waist , through crotch to center back waist ; crotch length , front 58 — front portion of crotch length 57 to center of inner thigh at crotch level ; shoulder slope 59 — slope in relation to horizontal ; scye width 60 — depth between anterior and posterior armscyes . after all the planes , shape definition points , measurement lines , and landmarks have been established , the measurement collection process can be carried out in an interactive or automated manner . the results can be used , for example , as shape adjustment parameters of virtual mannequins . they also can be used in 3d cad systems to make automatic 3d and 2d custom garments patterns or regular stock garment patterns . as is shown in fig4 , the 3d pattern making process can begin with creating garment patterns on top of the virtual mannequin . to do so , the body shape control points can be used as references to create new reference points that are spaced away from the body surface . 3d curve lines can be created using these points . the 3d curve lines can then be joined together to form the perimeters of 3d garment pattern pieces . the 3d space between the garment pattern and the body surface can be further defined using additional points and curves . if relational geometry technology is utilized by the cad system , then automatic custom - made garments , which may be termed ‘ intelligent patterns ’ or ‘ magic garments ,’ can be created . looking to fig9 , one sees that the steps in creating a ‘ magic garment ,’ a garment that is automatically custom made , begin with step 216 where the relationships between the pattern pieces and the body surfaces are defined in 3d . next , links of sub - relationships between all 3d pattern pieces in a given style are established under step 218 . with the relationships sub - relationships between the pattern pieces and the relationships between the pattern pieces and the body surfaces defined , new 3d body surfaces with different dimensions and shapes can be input under step 220 , and the system can undertake step 222 wherein the ‘ magic garment ’ will adjust its shape and size automatically ( with all linked pattern pieces ) to the new 3d body surfaces . advantageously , the garment will maintain all pre - defined geometric relationships between the pattern pieces and the body surfaces and the sub - relationships between the pattern pieces themselves . the custom made 3d garment can then be automatically ‘ unwrapped / flattened ’ into 2d pattern pieces under step 224 . with this , the 2d pattern pieces can be further processed under step 226 . the further processing of step 226 could take a number of forms including , for example , sending the information defining the 2d pattern pieces on to a computerized fabric cutter so that the 2d pattern pieces can be cut from , for example , a bolt of fabric or the like . one possible embodiment of the system can also employ 3d relational geometry for automatic pattern making relative to standard , stock - sized garments under the process generally shown in fig1 . the system also is able to check for best fit and size prediction . under this arrangement , a library of intelligent 3d pattern parts can first be input into the system or created within the system under step 228 . the library , of course , could include any possible 3d pattern part including , by way of example only , different styles of collars , sleeves , pockets , bodices and any one of the many other 3d pattern parts that would readily occur to one skilled in the art . with such a library provided , 3d parts can be selected and combined under step 230 to create different combinations and new designs on , for example , a standard - sized virtual mannequin . under step 232 , the system can automatically adjust the shape and size of the selected and combined 3d parts to accommodate the shape and size of the virtual mannequin and one another and to ensure that they fit together properly . if desired , the user can then undertake step 234 , the selective modification of the shape and , possibly , the size of one or more of the 3d parts . with this , modifications can be carried out in a virtual manner such that unique new looks can be created with speed , relative ease , and without waste . once the virtual garment is so created , the system can automatically carry out step 236 where the virtual garment is graded into different 3d sizes by the adjustment of the shape and size of the virtual mannequin and then extracting patterns from it . next , garment fit simulations can be performed on each size under step 238 to check how the garment will look when worn by bodies of various shapes . the simulation program can be taught to understand the proper fit characteristics of each given garment . as the garment is run though the simulation tests , all different fit data combinations that fall with in the ‘ proper fit ’ characteristics will be recorded . fit zones will be established for each plane as is shown in fig2 c and 2 d . loose fitting styles as in fig2 d will have a wider fit zone than a tight fitting style garment as in fig2 c . the illustration shows the body cross section being examined does not fall within the fit zone , which means the garment is too big and will not fit the person properly such that it must be appropriately modified . once the garment is properly sized , each size of the garment can then be unwrapped automatically and flattened into new 2d patterns . as fig5 shows , a garment fit report can be generated under step 242 for any given style and for any customer to describe how the garment will fit a given user in a given size . under step 242 , a fit zone diagram can also be printed out individually to show how a garment will fit in relation to the body . it will be clear that the present invention has been shown and described with reference to certain preferred embodiments that merely exemplify the broader invention revealed herein . certainly those skilled in the art can conceive of alternative embodiments . for instance , those with the major features of the invention in mind could craft embodiments that incorporate those major features while not incorporating all of the features included in the preferred embodiments . with the foregoing in mind , the following claims are intended to define the scope of protection to be afforded the inventor . the claims shall be deemed to include equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention . a plurality of the following claims express certain elements as means for performing a specific function , at times without the recital of structure or material . as the law demands , these claims shall be construed to cover not only the corresponding structure and material expressly described in this specification but also equivalents thereof .	8
the present invention involves an atherectomy catheter in which a rotatable cutter is disposed at the distal end and in which means are provided at the proximal end for driving the cutter at a high rotational speed while simultaneously injecting a flushing liquid and aspirating the treatment site . the invention further provides a cutter head or cutter tool of improved safety coordinated and operated with a guidewire system to aid and facilitate guiding the catheter through the tortuous path of the vascular system to the treatment site . the invention will be described with particular reference to the drawing figures in which like numerals will be utilized to designate like parts throughout the same . fig1 illustrates the surgical device of the present invention with respect to a typical atherectomy catheter system which is indicated generally by the numeral 10 . the system includes a control and drive system located within a proximal housing 11 , which may be of high impact plastic material . the catheter itself is of the coaxial bi - lumener type . the housing is connected to an elongated outer flexible tubular member 12 extending between a distal end 13 and a proximal end 14 fixed to the housing 11 . the hollow lumen of the outer tubular member 12 carries a concentrically disposed , coaxial elongated , flexible inner tubular member 15 which extends beyond the full length of the outer tubular member 12 . the inner tubular member 15 , in the embodiment of fig1 also is threaded over a non - rotating or stationary guidewire 16 which extends the full length of the inner tubular member 15 and protrudes therefrom and along which the catheter is free to travel . as can better been seen in fig2 and 3 , and will be described in greater detail below , the distal end of the catheter carries a hollow cutting head or cutting tool 17 which is fixed to the inner tubular member 15 and is free to rotate about the outer tubular member 12 . the outer tubular member 12 is tapered down to a distal end portion 18 that creates a bearing surface which allows easy journaled rotation of the inner tube 15 carrying cutter head 17 . an infusion system is provided including an indented annular area of reduced diameter 19 near the distal end of the outer tubular member 12 which contains a series of radially disposed openings or holes 20 ( fig1 ). liquid contained in the annular space in the lumen of the member 12 surrounding the member 15 as at 21 can be ejected through the holes 20 to flush the operating site . an annular spacer member 22 is provided which is bonded both to the distal tip of the inner tubular member 15 and the inner surface of the cutter head 17 to fix the cutter head to the distal tip of the inner tubular member 15 . the guidewire 16 is slidably threaded and extends through a central hole 23 in the distal tip of the cutter member 17 , throughout the length of the inner tubular member 15 and housing , and is separately controlled . the catheter system is free to move along the guidewire , and it is designed to remain stationary as the cutter head member 17 is rotated . the cutter head 17 contains a plurality of elongated openings 24 disposed in radial symmetry about the center of the distal nose as shown in fig3 . the cutter head may typically be initially cylindrical and taper off in a symmetrical oval shape as it approaches the distal end . the plurality of openings 24 is usually an even number from two to six and the openings are placed close to the nose of the oval - shaped cutter head 17 so that the possibility of inadvertently contacting and cutting the side wall of the vessel parallel to the member 22 from which the plaque or other blockage is to be excised is virtually eliminated . a drive means is contained within the rigid tubular housing 11 located at the proximal end of the outer tubular member . the drive functions to rotate the inner tubular member within the lumen of the outer tubular member . the outer tubular member is joined to the tubular housing 11 as through end plug member 30 and is secured as by a compression fitting 31 which creates a liquid - tight seal . a rotary union shown generally at 32 is positioned within the housing 11 and includes a stationary tubular sleeve member 33 fixed to the housing 11 by pins or screws 34 . a pair of o - ring seals 35 and 36 are disposed in annular grooves in the tubular sleeve 33 to preclude flushing liquid contained in the chamber 37 from passing beyond the rotary union . inside of the stationary sleeve 33 is a rotating hollow manifold member 38 which rotates within the bore of the member 33 when driven by a motor such as that depicted generally at 39 having a drive shaft 40 and a coupling 41 connected in driving relation to the proximal end of the hollow manifold member 38 . the hollow manifold member 38 further contains an annular recess 42 connected to a central bore 43 which , in turn , is joined to the proximal end of the inner elongated flexible tubular member 15 by a coupling member 44 . the central inner bore 43 , via the annular recess 42 , is connected to a further tubular fitting 45 which passes through a bore in sleeve member 33 and the housing 11 to provide a suction outlet for aspirating the inner elongated flexible tubular member 15 . by making the motor drive shaft itself hollow , the stationary guidewire can be fed through the entire system . flushing saline or other solution input is provided through a further access tube 46 which extends through an additional bore in the housing 11 which communicates with the chamber 37 . in operation , the elongated catheter assembly is appropriately introduced into the vascular system , as through the femoral artery , and advanced along the previously inserted guidewire 16 , navigating through the vascular system to the appropriate arterial or other location of interest placing the cutter tip 17 adjacent to the atheroma or other lesion or blockage material to be excised from the vessel . the annular recessed diameter of the outer catheter member 12 , at 19 , aids in preventing clogging of the ports 20 during the insertion of the catheter through the arterial system . a flushing liquid such a saline is introduced through the fitting 46 into the chamber 37 of the housing 11 and flows through the lumen of the outer tubular member 12 outside the outer wall of the inner tubular member 15 . the liquid then exits the radial ports 20 located radially about the side wall of the outer tubular member 12 near is distal end 13 . concurrently , a suitable source of suction or negative pressure is applied to the fitting 45 in a well - known matter to operate in conjunction with the flushing solution to aspirate the flushing liquid along with blood and / or tissue or other debris which may be excised from the atheroma or arterial blockage is drawn through the openings 24 in the cutter head 17 through the lumen of the inner tubular member into a suitable receptacle ( not shown ). the motor 39 is energized to rotate the hollow manifold member of the rotary union within its tubular sleeve and thereby drive the tube 15 to rotate the cutter head 17 as desired . the catheter is advanced utilizing modest pressure between the cutter head 17 and the tissue to be excised so that the tissue is finely divided by the rapidly spinning cutter head and washed by blood and flushing liquid through the central lumen of the tube 15 and into a collecting receptacle ( not shown ). once the atheroma has been completed penetrated , blood flow through the blood vessel is restored . the position of the cutter head within the vessel can be adjusted with the necessary degree of precision during the procedure utilizing the guidewire to achieve complete removal of the blockage . in this manner , the attitude of the cutting head can be controlled and modulated with some leeway without the danger of inadvertent or unintentional damage to the vessel wall . fig4 and 5 show an alternate embodiment of the atherectomy catheter of the invention in which an alternative guidewire 50 is provided in the nose of the cutter head 17 and which is fixed in a manner which allows it to rotate with the cutter head in a loosely fitted or journaled arrangement in which it is free to be held or free to turn with the cutter element 17 depending on the resistance to turning . this form of guidewire provides a certain amount of guidance for the catheter through the arterial system of interest without the necessity of having the guidewire extend throughout the entire length of the inner lumen at 15 . thus , the guidewire 50 may be rivetted to the opening 23 and the cutter member 17 in a manner which allows very little wobble of the guidewire but which allows it to rotate freely within the opening 23 . fig6 illustrates yet another embodiment of the atherectomy catheter of the invention in which the annular spacer member 22 is not used and the cutter head or cutting tool 117 is in the shape of a full oval section and connected directly to the inner catheter 15 . in addition , openings 20 may be replaced by annular space 120 or a combination of the holes 20 ( shown in phantom ) and annular spacer 120 used for the infusion of flushing liquid . the present invention has been described herein in considerable detail in order to comply with the patent statutes and to provide those skilled in the art with the information needed to apply the novel principles and to construct and use such specialized components as are required . however , it is to be understood that the invention can be carried out by specifically different equipment and devices and that various modifications , both as to equipment details and operating procedures , can be accomplished without departing from the scope of the invention itself .	0
certain embodiments of the present invention may reduce or eliminate the drawbacks of existing wood floors , by providing a lumber - base engineered wood floor with a unique core layer material , which can simultaneously provide high surface durability , structural integrity and strength with high material stability , and yet maintain a competitive price against other wood floor products in the same category . a . 2 - layer engineered wood floor comprises of top layer / wear layer with a thickness of 2 . 0 to 6 . 0 mm of either single piece sawn cut veneer or strips of whole length sawn cut veneer ; slats core layer in a thickness of 5 . 0 to 14 . 0 mm and in a width of 12 to 50 mm of wood veneer composite specifically arranged with the glue line in vertical position . the assembly has final total thickness of 6 . 0 to 22 mm , its four sides are molded into tongue - and - groove profile , with either squared or beveled edges . on some particular reasons slats of any other substrate material may be put at the short ends of the floor board and / or may also be inserted in amongst the wood veneer composite slats within the core layer . b . 3 - layer engineered wood floor is an assembly of top layer / wear layer with a thickness of 2 . 0 to 6 . 0 mm of either single piece sawn cut veneer , strips of sawn cut veneer , or thin lamellas composed together ; slats core layer in a thickness of 5 . 0 to 14 . 0 mm and in a width of 12 to 50 mm of wood veneer composite specifically arranged with the glue line in vertical position ; and back layer with a thickness of 1 . 5 to 6 . 0 mm of either rotary cut veneer or thin lamellas composed together . the assembly has final total thickness of 8 . 0 to 24 mm , its four sides are molded either into mechanical locking profile or traditional tongue - and - groove profile , with either squared or beveled edges . on some particular reasons slats of any other substrate material may be put at the short ends of the floor board and / or may also be inserted in amongst the wood veneer composite slats within the core layer . c . multi - layer engineered wood floor consists of top layer / wear layer with a thickness of 2 . 0 to 6 . 0 mm of either single piece sawn cut veneer , strips of sawn cut veneer , or thin lamellas composed together ; middle layer ( s ) which can either be wood veneer , thin hdf / mdf board , thin plywood or any other substrate material with a thickness of 1 . 5 to 10 . 0 mm ; slats core layer in a thickness of 5 . 0 to 14 . 0 mm and in a width of 12 to 50 mm of wood veneer composite specifically arranged with the glue line in vertical position ; and back layer with a thickness of 1 . 5 to 6 . 0 mm of either rotary cut veneer or thin lamellas composed together . multi - layer wood floor can either have two middle layers , one on top of the slats core layer and the other one below the slats core layer ; or only one middle layer , either on top of the slats core layer or below the slats core layer . the assembly has final total thickness of 10 . 0 to 28 mm , its four sides are molded either into mechanical locking profile or traditional tongue - and - groove profile , with either squared or beveled edges . on some particular reasons slats of any other substrate material may be put at the short ends of the floor board and / or may also be inserted in amongst the wood veneer composite slats within the core layer . the slats of the core layer are manufactured from wood veneer composite panel with layers of rotary cut veneer in 1 . 5 to 6 . 0 mm thickness bonded together with heat cured phenol glue . the 8 . 0 to 50 mm thick wood veneer composite panel is cut into slat sticks ( see fig1 ) in rip sawing process which in turn are then arranged with the glue line in vertical position ( see fig2 ). the wood veneer composite panel constitutes of layers of homogeneous or mixed wood species veneer laid one over the other in unidirectional grain direction , commonly known as lvl ( laminated veneer lumber ). alternatively the wood veneer composite panel can also constitute of wood veneer layers in unidirectional grain directional , sandwiched between hdf / mdf ( high or medium density fiber ) boards known as lvs ( laminated veneer sandwich ). the wood veneer composite can also be constructed in a combination of unidirectional and cross directional grain direction known as lvb ( laminated veneer board ) or in alternating cross directional grain direction known as plywood . the arrangement of the slats with vertical glue line position is designed to provide resemblance to quarter sawn natural lumber , known to have superior stability as compared to lumber with other cutting directions . the choice of wood veneer composite material is intended to obtain higher yield of wood material with remarkable shorter drying time . cutting wood material into rotary peeled veneer yields much higher recovery as compared to processing sawn lumber . also , the processing time with concern to drying process is much shorter in thin veneer drying as compared to drying sawn lumber in kiln dryer , not to mention the more homogeneous result of moisture content level in thin veneer drying . reduced drying times may reduce the amount of core material that must be kept in inventory . in the molding process of the wood floor boards &# 39 ; four edges , wood veneer composite with unidirectional grain gives additional advantage of producing particularly precise and smooth profile . additionally , wood veneer composite can be manufactured from sustainable plantation wood species , whilst the usually unfavorable density of the plantation wood species will be sufficiently elevated to the required level by the density of the layers of glue line . further , the less dense wood material theoretically will act as sound absorber to give a more favorable sound level to the finished product . in some cases , the wood veneer composite may be manufactured from plantation wood species that are ten to fifteen years old . in other cases , inexpensive wood can be used to produce the wood veneer composite to minimize material costs . the slats being cut off from the wood veneer composite panel in rip sawing process and flipped over to have their glue line in vertical position are then assembled together with the top layer / wear layer to construct 2 - layer engineered wood floor boards ( see fig3 ), or with the top layer / wear layer to construct 3 - layer engineered wood floor boards ( see fig4 ), or with the top layer / wear layer , middle layer ( s ) and back layer to construct multi - layer engineered wood floor boards ( see fig5 and fig6 ). in 2 - layer construction , the top layer / wear layer is laid in its long grain direction over the wood veneer composite slats already arranged with their glue line in vertical position in their grain direction across the top layer / wear layer &# 39 ; s grain direction . the layers are assembled and joined together with glue , cured under high pressure to give strong bonding . the assembled board is then further processed to have the four sides profiled with tongue - and - groove profile ( see fig7 ). in 3 - layer construction , the bottom layer of either rotary cut veneer or composed thin lamellas is laid in their long grain direction . the wood veneer composite slats are laid over with their glue line in vertical position , with their grain direction across the back layer &# 39 ; s grain direction . the top layer / wear layer is positioned in long grain direction in alignment with the back layer &# 39 ; s direction . the layers are assembled and joined together with glue , cured under high pressure to give strong bonding . the assembled board is then further processed to have the four sides profiled either with mechanical locking profile ( see fig8 ) or traditional tongue - and - groove profile . in multi - layer construction , the bottom layer of either rotary cut veneer or composed thin lamellas is laid in their long grain direction . middle layer may be put on top of the back layer ; wood veneer or plywood back layer can be laid either in long or cross grain direction . the wood veneer composite slats are laid over with their glue line in vertical position , with their grain direction across the back layer &# 39 ; s grain direction . another middle layer may be put on top of the slats core layer ; wood veneer or plywood back layer can be laid either in long or cross grain direction . the top layer / wear layer is positioned in long grain direction in alignment with the back layer &# 39 ; s direction . the layers are assembled and joined together with glue , cured under high pressure to give strong bonding . the assembled board is then further processed to have the four sides profiled either with mechanical locking profile ( see fig8 ) or traditional tongue - and - groove profile . factory applied surface finish is put on the final assembled boards to produce pre - finished engineered wood floor , ready be installed . the surface finish applied can either be uv ( ultra violet ) cured lacquer or oil . the ready to install wood floor boards come in the size ranges of : length 500 to 2 , 300 mm width 70 to 250 mm thickness 6 . 0 to 22 mm for 2 - layer construction or 8 . 0 to 24 mm for 3 - layer construction or 10 . 0 to 28 mm for multi - layer construction . in some embodiments , the process of making the lumber - base engineered wood floor includes specifically designing and utilizing wood veneer composite for core layer material of the lumber - base engineered wood floor . the core layer material is cut into slats specifically arranged with the glue line in vertical position to resemble natural lumber slats with quarter sawn cutting direction . the core layer is bonded with specific bonding material to form a 2 - layer assembly of noble wood top layer and wood veneer composite core layer , or a 3 - layer assembly of noble wood top layer , wood veneer composite core layer , and wood veneer or laminated sawn lamellas back layer , or a multi - layer assembly of noble wood top layer , wood veneer composite core layer , and wood veneer or laminated sawn lamellas back layer , plus wood veneer layer either between the top layer and the core layer or between the core layer and the back layer . methods of making the lumber - base engineered wood floor may include manufacturing , assembling , conditioning , and other processing of the lumber - base engineered wood floor and components thereof . the composition , construction and manufacturing process of the lumber base engineered wood floor of the present invention , provides the wood floor with certain advantages mentioned in the disclosure and elsewhere . various modification , dimension alteration or variations of the invention will be acceptable as long as they are within the scope of this invention as being claimed in the appended claims . as shown below , test results demonstrate that a sample representing an embodiment of the invention ( core 1 ) may have some improved properties over existing engineered wood floor boards ( core 2 , 2 p , 3 p , 5 p ). the properties tested include static locking strength , resistance to changing climates , thermal conductivity , bonding quality , impact sound insulation , and room acoustical properties . the tests were conducted on the following samples of engineered wood floor board : sample of an engineered wood floor board representing an embodiment of the invention with core of wood veneer composite slats ( core 1 ) sample of engineered wood floor board made of mixed light hardwood core ( core 2 ). this core is made of solid wood slats . sample of a first product on the market with 14 mm engineered wood floor board and spruce wood core ( 2 p ) sample of a second product on the market with 14 mm engineered wood floor board and spruce wood core ( 3 p ) sample of a third product on the market with 14 mm engineered wood floor board and spruce wood core ( 5 p ) static locking strength tests were performed based on the iso 24334 standard using a tira test 24100 machine . the tira test 24100 machine applied a compression load of 10 n to open a joint at a rate of 0 . 5 mm / min until the joint opened . the results of the static locking strength tests are shown in table 1 . according to these results , the core 1 sample representing an embodiment of the invention has improved static locking strength ( long side joints ) over the core 2 sample with mixed light hardwood core . the higher long side locking strength of the core 1 sample leads to smaller maximum openings of the long side under changing climates which leads also to higher quality of the connection system . there are no static locking strength requirements for engineered wood floor boards . the static locking strength ( long side ) requirement for laminate floor covering according to iso / tc 219 / wg 03 / n 94 rev . 2 is 1000 n / m . the following table compares the locking strengths of the core 1 and core 2 samples to the static locking strength ( long side ) requirement for laminate floor covering . tests to determine the resistance to changing climates of the samples were carried out in a climatic chamber referring iso 24339 . the total test surface area was 6 m 2 ( 2 m × 3 m ). the following climate was realized : 1 week normal climate of 50 % rel . humidity and 23 ° c . 2 weeks moist climate of 85 % rel . humidity and 23 ° c . 4 weeks dry climate of 30 % rel . humidity and 23 ° c . flatness over the panel width height differences between the elements joint opening between the elements dimension variations of the total test surface area over the length and the width flatness over the total test surface area ( the measurement of this parameter was carried with a measuring roller ). fig9 - 16 include graphs that show the results from the resistance to changing climates tests on the core 1 , core 2 , 2 p , 3 p , and 5 p samples . fig9 is a graph illustrating the dimensional variation in the length of the test area for the test samples of engineered wood floor board . fig1 is a graph illustrating the dimensional variation in the width of the test area for the test samples of engineered wood floor board . fig1 shows that the core 1 sample did not vary in width of the test area as much as the core 2 , 2 p , and 5 p samples and did vary more than the 3 p sample . thus , the core 1 sample representing an embodiment of the invention showed less variation in width when subjected to changing climates as compared to the core 2 , 2 p , and 5 p samples . fig1 and 12 are graphs illustrating the average and maximum values of the opening of long side joints test for the samples . fig1 shows that the core 1 sample representing an embodiment of the invention has a lower maximum value of opening of long side joints than the core 2 sample . fig1 and 14 are graphs illustrating the average and maximum values of height differences of long side joints for the test samples . fig1 and 16 are graphs illustrating the average and maximum values of flatness variation over the panel for the test samples . fig1 and 16 show that the core 1 sample representing an embodiment of the invention shows less flatness variation over the panel than the core 2 sample . the following table lists exemplary values of geometric properties for the core 1 and core 2 samples tested for resistance to changing climates . the following table shows a comparison of the test results to the requirements under the en 13489 standard ( geometric properties without deposition with changing climates ). the core 2 sample does not fulfill the requirement for the flatness over panel width , maximum prescribed under the en 13489 standard . tests to determine thermal resistance of the samples were carried out according to the en12664 standard . the samples were categorized as a material , which is rectangular layered to the heat flow . the two - plate - device “ tlp 900 - h ” was used to determine the thermal resistance . the samples were stored in a climate of 23 ° c . and 50 % relative humidity up to mass stability . directly after the storage , the specimens were tested . the results are shown in table 5 . tests to determine impact sound insulation were carried out through a solid ceiling ( reinforced concrete ) with a thickness of 140 mm in accordance with din en iso 140 - 8 standard in the test stand of mfpa leipzig gmbh . the volume of the space below the ceiling ( reception room ) was 63 . 5 m 3 . the measurement was carried out according to category ii ( large test specimen ) of din en iso 140 - 8 , march 1998 issue . the impact noise reduction was carried out according to din en iso 717 - 2 january 1997 issue . the impact noise level was measured two times at 3 positions of the standard tapping ma - chine parallel to each test specimen at the unfinished ceiling and one position of the standard tapping machine at each specimen . for the measurement a mobile microphone was used in the reception room below . the measurement was carried out at average third - octave of 50 - 5000 hz . the standard impact noise level results from the equation : where : l n : standard impact noise level l : impact noise level a : equivalent absorption area in the reception room in m 3 , determined from the measurement of the reverberation period and the volume of the reception room a o reference absorption area ( a o is defined to 10 m 3 ) impact noise reduction was determined from the difference of the standard impact noise level of the unfinished ceiling and the unfinished ceiling with flooring in accordance with the following equation : δl : impact noise reduction l n , o : standard impact noise level of the solid standard ceiling without the flooring applied l n : standard impact noise level of the solid standard ceiling with the flooring applied table 7 shows the standard impact noise levels for the core 1 and core 2 samples . the test to determine room acoustical properties was performed in a test room , where a reinforced concrete slab ( 2 . 40 m × 2 . 00 m ) of a thickness of 12 mm in installed . there were carried out at least 15 measurements of the walking noise , which was emitted while a person walked consistently on the installed floor . the proband wore high - heeled shoes ( hard rubber sole ) for the test . for the characterization of the room acoustical properties the 1 st step of the test person on the floor is consulted . as measures for the emitted noise the a - weighted total sound pressure level ( frequencies from 25 hz to 12500 hz ) in db ( a ) and the psycho acoustical loudness as sone were used . those were estimated according to ihd - norm 431 in the version 04 / 2003 and the methods described therein . tables 8 and 9 compare the characteristics of the core 1 and core 2 samples . the test results are given as the difference of the total sound pressure level / loudness of the tested sample and the according values of the ihd - reference flooring ( dpl - laminate flooring ( 7 mm ), pe - foam ( 3 mm ), pe - foil ( 0 . 2 mm )). the differences of the total sound pressure levels are assessed as follows : the change of the linear measure loudness ( n ) is calculated in relation to the reference using the term : percentage ⁢ ⁢ changing ⁢ : ⁢ ⁢ ( n ref - n j ) n ref * 100 ⁢ % this value gives the increasing ( negative value ) or decreasing ( positive value ) of the loudness perception in percent .	8
referring to fig1 - 2 , a cross - sectional view of an automatic water supply device 10 according to the present invention is shown . the automatic water supply device 10 generally comprises a water container 11 , a pressure sensitive diaphragm refill valve 12 , and a garden hose adapter 13 . still referring to fig1 - 2 the water container 11 , having an inside , an outside , a bottom and an open top , preferably includes a built in handle 20 . the handle 20 can be used to secure the water container 12 to any wall or fence using a half - inch conduit strap , and can be used to transport the automatic water supply device 10 easily . the water container 11 is preferably a plastic utility bucket having a volume of 3½ gallons or 5 gallons . still referring to fig1 - 2 , the pressure sensitive diaphragm refill valve 12 is installed at the inside of the water container 11 by inserting it through an aperture 21 ( shown in fig2 only ) and securing it using a rubber washer 14 on the inside of the water container 11 and a retaining nut 13 on the outside of the water container 11 . the pressure sensitive diaphragm refill valve 12 is covered by a protective cap 15 , preferably a four inch pvc pipe cap , and has water access holes 16 drilled there through . the protective cap 15 is mounted to the inside of the water container 11 and fits over the refill valve 12 . the pressure sensitive diaphragm refill valve 12 comprises generally a pressure sensitive rubber diaphragm 22 ( shown in fig2 only ), an adjustable screw 17 ( shown in fig1 only ) that is used to regulate the water level in the water container 11 , and an outlet 23 . low water pressure on the inside of the water container 11 starts the flow of fresh water through the outlet 23 from the outside . high water pressure on the inside of the water container 11 stops the flow of water . the adjustable screw 17 ( shown in fig1 only ) can be extended through the protective cap 15 by tube 18 , preferably a ⅜ - inch vinyl tube , for easy access . still referring to fig1 - 2 , a garden hose adapter 19 is mounted on the outside of the water container 11 at the refill valve outlet 23 next to the retaining nut 13 . using a common garden hose , fresh water can be delivered to the water container 11 from any faucet . it should be understand that the garden hose adapter 19 can be replaced with an inlet for a water supply coming from a source other than a garden hose . the automatic water supply device 10 can be used as an automatic pet watering device . the animal can drink the water from the water container 11 through the open top . the consumed water will be automatically refilled since a lower water level in the water container 11 results in a lower water pressure , activating the diaphragm refill valve 12 . fresh water will flow in until the water pressure on the outside and inside of diaphragm 22 ( shown in fig2 only ) is the same . the automatic water supply device 10 can further be used as a water recovery device for a tile saw . a pump from a tile saw cooling system can be submerged into the water container 11 , preferably a 5 gallon plastic utility bucket , through the open top . as the pump uses a certain amount of water , the diaphragm refill valve 12 is activated and the water container 11 refills automatically . the automatic water supply device 10 provides not only clean water for the pump , but by supplying a constant flow of clean water to a tile saw cooling system it also eliminates the need to stop working and refill the bucket with water frequently . the automatic water supply device 10 is relatively maintenance free and virtually self - cleaning . the water container 11 only needs to be turned sideways to empty . this causes the refill valve 12 to open , and the inflowing water rinses the water container 11 . turning the water container 11 upright again ends the cleaning process and starts filling the water container 11 with fresh water again . the automatic water supply device 10 is jam resistant , even if the water container 11 has overturned , the refill valve 12 will not become inoperable . by introducing a diaphragm activated fill valve 12 inside a water container 11 instead of a prior art float valve mechanism , problems associated with the prior art watering devices are solved . the diaphragm activated fill valve 12 has a very compact design and can be easily adjusted to every desired water level . while the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to preferred embodiments thereof , it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing and other changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention .	0
an extract of poria for enhancing nutrient uptake by mammals ( for example , humans ) disclosed in the present invention can be prepared by a process similar to that disclosed in us2004 / 0229852 a1 , which includes extracting poria cocos ( schw ) wolf with the conventional extraction methods to obtain a crude extract , separating the crude extract by chromatography into a low polarity fraction of lanostane ( with an eluent of dichloromethane : methanol of 96 : 4 ) and a high polarity fraction of secolanostane ( with eluents of dichloromethane : methanol of 90 : 10 , and 0 : 100 ), wherein the lanostane fraction is detected by a thin layer chromatography having a chromatographic value , rf , not less than 0 . 1 in accordance , when it is developed by a mixed solvent of dichloromethane : methanol = 96 : 4 ; the rf is less than 0 . 1 for the secolanostane fraction . several lanostanes are separated from the lanostane fraction by subjecting the lanostane fraction to silica gel column chromatography eluted , wherein the eluents used are dichloromethane : methanol = 97 : 3 to 95 : 5 . the following examples are provided for describing the present invention in further details , but should not be used to limit the scope of the present invention . percentages and other amounts referred to in this specification are by weight unless indicated otherwise . percentages are selected from any ranges used to total 100 %. 26 kg of poria grown in yunnan was extracted with 260 liters of 75 % aqueous alcohol solution under heating . the extraction were repeated three times ; the resulting three extraction solutions were combined and vacuum concentrated to yield an extract of 225 . 2 g . quantitative analyses were subsequently carried out on the extract , which indicated that 76 . 27 mg of lanostanes could be found in every gram thereof , wherein k1 ( pachymic acid ) took up 33 . 4 mg ; k1 - 1 ( dehydropachymic acid ) took up 9 . 59 mg ; k2 - 1 ( tumulosic acid ) occupied 19 . 01 mg ; k2 - 2 ( dehydrotumulosic acid ) occupied 6 . 75 mg ; k3 ( polyporenic acid c ) occupied 5 . 06 mg , and k4 ( 3 - epidehydrotumulosic acid ) occupied 2 . 46 mg . 125 g of the alcohol extract from example 1 was further extracted six times with 1 . 3 liters of dichloromethane ; the resulting six extraction solutions were combined and concentrated to obtain an extract of 22 . 26 g . the dichloromethane extract were dissolved in heated 95 % alcohol and left to cool , followed by filtering and discarding the insoluble substances . a small amount of water was added into the filtrate until the alcohol concentration reached 45 % therein , which resulted in precipitation ; from which a precipitate of 17 . 4 g was obtained by centrifugation consequently . subsequent quantitative analyses on the precipitate indicated that each gram thereof comprised 264 . 78 mg of lanostanes , wherein k1 - 1 occupied 159 . 7 mg ; k1 - 2 occupied 56 . 96 mg ; k2 - 1 occupied 24 . 43 mg ; k2 - 2 occupied 8 . 8 mg ; k3 occupied 9 . 84 mg , and k4 occupied 5 . 05 mg . the method of thin layer chromatography ( tlc ) with silica gel was used to confirm the precipitate did not comprise any secolanostane . 100 kg of poria was boiled with 800 kg of water for 3 hours , then left for cooling to 50 ° c . and a ph value thereof was adjusted to ph 11 by using a 5n naoh solution , followed by stirring the resulted solution for 3 hours . a centrifugation machine was used to separate the liquid from the solid , followed by adding another 800 kg of water to the separated solids . the aforesaid procedures were repeated , including adjusting ph value with naoh to ph 11 , stirring , and removing the solids by centrifugation . the two resulting liquids were combined , and then vacuum concentrated to a solution of 100 kg at 50 ° c ., followed by the adjustment of ph value to ph 6 . 5 by using 3n hcl so as to produce a precipitate . said precipitate was separated from the solution , subsequently rinsed with 40 l h2o , and centrifuged in order to recover the precipitate ; the precipitate was sprayed dry with 8 l of water , which yielded 380 g of powder . afterwards , the powder was extracted three times by using 4 l of alcohol , and the extraction solutions were combined and concentrated to result in 238 . 9 g of alcohol extract . the 238 . 9 g of alcohol extract was proved containing no secolanostane compounds by the tlc analysis , and then was subjected to hplc separation , which gave 214 mg of k2 , 23 mg of k3 , 24 mg of k4 , and 4 . 52 mg of k1 in per gram of the extract . in other words , each gram of the extract has approximately 265 mg of lanostane compounds . or the powder was extracted by using 4 l of 50 % aqueous alcohol solution , and then had the 50 % aqueous alcohol solution removed in order to obtain an insoluble powder ; the extraction was repeated three times to yield 245 . 7 g of a substance insoluble in 50 % aqueous alcohol solution . the insoluble substance was confirmed having no secolanostane compounds by the tlc analysis , and then underwent separation and purification processes by hplc , which yielded 214 mg of k2 , 23 mg of k3 , 24 mg of k4 , and 4 . 52 mg of k1 in each gram of the extract , which is equivalent to approximately 261 mg of lanostane compounds in each gram of the extract . a poria powder was made of 30 kg of the china - grown poria cocos ( schw ) wolf . the poria powder was extracted with 120 l 95 % alcohol for 24 hours . the mixture was filtered to obtain a filtrate . the residue was extracted and filtered for another three cycles . the filtrates were combined and concentrated to bring about a dried extract in an amount of 265 . 2 g . the dry extract underwent a distribution extraction with a two - phase extraction agent ( n - hexane : 95 % methanol = 1 : 1 ), and the methanol layer was removed therefrom , which is then concentrated to obtain a dry solid in an amount of 246 . 9 g . a separation of the dry solid was carried out by means of a silica gel column , which was filled with silica gel 10 - 40 times of the weight of the dry solid . the silica gel having a diameter of 70 - 230 mesh was made by merck corporation with a code of silica gel 60 . the column was eluted by the following eluates in sequence : a mixed solvent of dichloromethane : methanol = 96 : 4 ; a mixed solvent of dichloromethane : methanol = 90 : 10 , and pure methanol . the eluates were tested by the thin layer chromatography ( tlc ), wherein an ultraviolet lamp and iodine vapor were used for detecting , and a mixed solvent of dichloromethane : methane = 96 : 4 was used as a developing liquid . the eluates having similar constituents in the tlc were combined . the elution carried out with the mixed solvent of dichloromethane : methanol = 96 : 4 resulted in a pcm portion in an amount of 78 g . the pcm showed 6 trace points in the thin layer chromatography . the resulted eluates from the elutions carried out with the eluents of dichloromethane : methanol = 90 : 10 and pure methanol were combined to obtain a pcw portion in an amount of 168 g . the pcm portion was further separated by means of an eluent of dichloromethane : methanol = 96 . 5 : 3 . 5 and the same silica gel column to obtain purified lanostane components of k1 ( k1 - 1 and k1 - 2 ), k2 ( k2 - 1 and k2 - 2 ), k3 , k4 , k4a , k4b , k5 , k6a and k6b . further details of the separation steps and identification analysis data can be found in us2004 / 0229852 a1 . the amounts of the lanostane compounds k1 to k6b separated from the pcm portion are listed in the table below . the pcm portion contains approximately 15 wt % of the lanostane compounds k1 to k6b . capsules having the pcm portion prepared in example 4 were prepared basing on the following composition : the pcm portion and sodium silicoaluminate were sifted by using a # 80 mesh , and the starch potato was sifted by using a # 60 mesh ; while magnesium sterate was sifted by using a # 40 mesh . subsequently , the aforesaid components were mixed evenly in a mixer , followed by filling the resulting mixture into no . 1 empty capsules . each capsule contains approximately 1 . 68 mg ( 0 . 42 wt %) of effective components k1 - k6 . experiments testing the use of triterpene compounds to prevent and treat type i diabetes the poria extracts used for the following cell experiments were either the precipitate made in example 2 , or the purified compound shown in fig1 . the extracts were dissolved in a solvent made of alcohol : dmso ( 9 : 1 ); the resulted solution was added into culture dishes , in which only one - thousandth of a final volume was added into each well . 3t3 - l1 is a type of rodent preadipocytes that initially appear to be spindle - celled . when the cells are added with an inducing agent and cultured for 2 - 3 days , the cells are transformed and would appear more round in morphology ; the more days the cells are allowed to differentiate , the more specialized the cells become . in cells that have not undergone differentiation , the main glucose transporter is glut1 , whereas in differentiated cells , the main active glucose transporter is glut4 . moreover , the more glut4 on the cells &# 39 ; membrane , the faster and larger volume of blood glucose that are transferred across the cell membrane and absorbed by the cells , and thus blood glucose could be lowered more speedily . the 3t3 - l1 adipocytes possess a comprehensive system of glucose absorption activated by insulin , and thus is adequate for the research of glucose metabolism and insulin signaling pathway , as well as for observing the complete process of the generation and regulation of lipids . therefore , the fully differentiated 3t3 - l1 adipocytes has become a representative cell strain that is applied widely , and because the real adipocytes from human tissues are difficult to culture in successive generations , researchers generally use this particular cell strain to carry out relevant experiments and evaluations . 3t3 - l1 preadipocytes were cultured in dulbecco &# 39 ; s minimal essential medium ( dmem ) supplemented with 100 iu / ml penicillin , 100 g / ml streptomycin , 1 % nonessential amino acid and 10 % calf serum in 5 % co2 and 95 % air at 37 ° c . once the cells have become fully grown , differentiation was induced by treating the cells with differentiation inducers ( dmem containing 0 . 5 mm 3 - isobutyl - 1 - methylxanthane ( ibmx ), 1 m dexamethasone , 10 g / ml insulin , and 10 % fetal bovine serum ) for two days . the cells were re - fed with dmem supplemented with 10 g / ml insulin and 10 % fbs for another two days , and then changed to 10 % fbs / dmem without insulin every 2 days for 4 - 6 days . at this stage , near 90 % of the cells expressed the adipocyte phenotype and were ready for the experiments . before commencing the experiments , the 3t3 - l1 cells were rinsed with pbs solution first , and then cultured overnight in the serum - free and insulin - free 0 . 2 % bsa / dmem culture medium , so as to remove interferences from both serum and insulin . ( b ) cell culture of adipocytes used for inhibited mrna expression of glut4 experiments a viral carrier ( trcn0000043630 shrna , genomics research center , academia sinica , r . o . c .) carrying glut4 - inhibiting rna was used to infect the 3t3 - l1 preadipocytes ( shg4 - 30 ), in order to create a gene expression having consistent inhibition of glut4 expression , and the cell strain was allowed to further differentiate , from which the differentiated adipocytes were used for the experiments . ( c ) cell culture of adipocytes used for testing translocation of glut4 proteins : a glut4 carrier with the influenza viral protein ha marking ( donated by ha - glut4 - gfp , timothy e . mcgraw , weill cornell medical college ) was used to transfect the 3t3 - l1 preadipocytes by lipofectamine 2000 ( invitrogen , ca , usa ), and strains of adipocytes that consistently expressed glut4 proteins with the influenza viral protein ha marking were screened by using g418 , so that the cells were allowed to differentiate into adipocytes and used for evaluating the translocation of glut4 proteins . for the experiment of testing the effects of triterpene compounds on enhancing glucose uptake by 3t3 - l1 adipocytes , 3t3 - l1 preadipocytes were cultured on 6 - well culture dishes , and allowed to grow fully therein before being subjected to differentiation by a differentiation - inducing agent . once the 3t3 - l1 cells became matured and differentiated into adipocytes after 7 - 12 days , the cells were used for testing glucose uptake . said adipocytes were firstly placed in a serum - free culture medium ( 0 . 2 % bsa / dmem ) overnight , followed by cultivation for 2 - 6 hours in serum - free cell culture media containing different concentrations of triterpene compounds , and then rinsed once with pbs solution before undergoing cultivation in krp buffer ( 20 mm hepes , 137 mm nacl , 4 . 7 mm kcl , 1 . 2 mm mgso 4 , 1 . 2 mm kh 2 po 4 , 2 . 5 mm cacl 2 , and 2 mm pyruvate , ph 7 . 4 and 0 . 2 % bsa ) at 37 ° c . for 3 hours . finally , 0 . 2 μci / ml of 2 - deoxy - d -[ 14 c ]- glucose ( 2 - dg , amersham biosciences , little chalfont , bucks , u . k ) and 0 . 2 ml of non - radioactive glucose buffer derived from 0 . 1 mm 2 - dg were used as a substitute for krp buffer in order to begin the experiment on glucose uptake . after allowing the experiment to run for minutes , the cells were removed and rinsed with pbs solution to terminate the intake of glucose . subsequently , the cells were dissolved in 0 . 2 ml of 0 . 2 % sds , and 10 μl , of the solution with dissolved cells was transferred into unifilter plates ( perkim - elmer , wellesley , mass ., usa ) with filtering bases and dried in a vacuum oven at 37 ° c ., in which each well was added with 30 μl of counting solution , and then analyzed by using a micro - disk liquid scintillation analyzer ( topcount , packard nxt , packard bioscience company , meriden , conn ., usa ). the glucose concentration accumulated in the cells was calculated , and divided by the protein concentration , so as to obtain a glucose uptake rate indicated as nanomoles of glucose uptake in every microgram of cell proteins at every minute ( nmol / min / mg ). the protein concentration was determined by using the standard bicinchoninic acid ( bca ) protein assay kit ( pierce , rockford , ill ., usa ). the uptake of non - specific glucose was determined by adding 0 . 2 μci of l -[ 14c ]- glucose , and then used to substract from the value obtained by the analyzer so as to get a value for the uptake of specific glucose . therefore , the effects of different concentrations of triterpene compounds on the glucose uptake by 3t3 - l1 adipocytes could be determined . for the experiment of testing the effects of triterpene compounds on enhancing the glut protein expression in 3t3 - l1 adipocytes , the aforesaid differentiated and mature 3t3 - l1 adipocytes were cultured overnight in a serum - free cell culture medium , and then further cultured in serum - free cell culture media containing different concentrations of triterpene compounds for 24 hours . this was followed by rinsing the cells with pbs solution , and allowing the cells to lyse in 0 . 2 ml lysis buffer ( 1 % np - 40 , 150 mm nacl , 0 . 1 % sds , 50 mm tris - hcl ph 7 . 6 , 10 mm edta , 0 . 5 % deoxycholate , 1 mm pmsf , 1 mm na3vo4 , 10 mm naf , 10 mm β - glycerophosphate , 10 g / ml protease inhibitor and phosphotase inhibitor cocktails ) for 30 min at 4 ° c . an equal amount of protein from each sample was separated by sodium dodecyl sulfate ( sds )- 10 % polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis ( page ) and transblotted onto polyvinylidene difluoride ( pvdf ) membranes ( millipore , bedford , mass ., usa ). subsequently , the western blot analysis was carried out by using monoclonal antibodies targeted for glut1 ( abeam , cambridge , mass . ), glut4 ( r & amp ; d systems , minneapolis , minn . ), and ( β - actin , chemicon , temecula , calif ., usa ), so as to determine whether there was any effects on glut protein expression in 3t3 - l1 adipocytes under different concentrations of triterpene compounds . each sample of proteins was treated with a chemiluminescence kit ( ecl , amersham , u . k .) before being exposed and processed into x - ray film , and then quantitatively analyzed by using computer software . real - time q - pcr was performed in order to evaluate mrna expression of glut proteins in 3t3 - l1 adipocytes under different concentrations of triterpene compounds . firstly , the fully differentiated 3t3 - l1 adipocytes were mixed with different concentrations of triterpene compounds and left for 24 hours , before removing the cell culture medium and using the trizol buffer ( invitrogen , irvine , calif ., usa ) to obtain total rna from the cells . afterwards , 1 μg of rna sample was taken therefrom , and a high - capacity cdna reverse transcription kit ( applied biosystems , darmstadt , germany ) was used to reverse transcribe mrna in the sample into cdna . primers were specifically designed for glut1 , glut4 , and β - actin , and the sybr green q - pcr analyzer ( applied biosystems , foster city , calif ., usa ) was used to expand the gene for detection ( glut1 & amp ; 4 ) and reference gene ( β - actin ), before relative gene expression values were calculated by the δδct method using the stepone v2 . 0 software ( applied biosystems ). in the mechanism of insulin enhancing glucose uptake by adipocytes or muscle cells , the translocation of glut4 from intracellular organelles to plasma membrane ( pm ) actually plays a vital rol therein , thus the effects of triterpene compounds on enhancing the translocation of glut4 to plasma membrane in 3t3 - l1 adipocytes were tested here . the differentiated and mature 3t3 - l1 adipocytes were cultured overnight in a serum - free cell culture medium , and then further cultured in serum - free cell culture media containing different concentrations of triterpene compounds for 2 hours . this was followed by high - speed centrifugation at different rotation speeds ( 16 , 000 g - 200 , 000 g ) in order to separate the cellular plasma membrane fraction from the low density microsome ( ldm ) [ liu , l . z . et . al . ; mol . biol . cell 17 , ( 5 ), 2322 - 2330 , 2006 ]. western blot analysis was performed by using a monoclonal antibody for glut4 , so as to observe whether there are any effects from different concentrations of triterpene compounds on the translocation of glut4 from cellular ldm to pm in 3t3 - l1 adipocytes . 3t3 - l1 preadipocytes stably expressing ha - glut4 - gfp were grown on 96 - well culture dishes , and then allowed to differentiate by an inducing agent after becoming fully grown ( govers , r . et . al . ; mol cell biol . 24 ( 14 ), 6456 - 6466 , 2004 ). the fully differentiated 3t3 - l1 adipocytes were given and left with different concentrations of triterpene compounds for 2 hours , followed by removing the cell culture medium and rinsing the cells with ice - cold pbs solution . subsequently , the cells were fixed in 4 % paraformaldehyde at room temperature for 15 minutes , and then incubated with primary anti - hemagglutinin ( ha ) antibody ( 12ca5 ) for 2 hours after rinsing the cells with ice - cold pbs solution 2 - 3 times . afterwards , the cells were again rinsed with ice - cold pbs solution 2 - 3 times , and incubated with rhodamine - conjugated secondary antibodies ( leinco , ballwin , mo .) for 1 hour . the cells were rinsed with ice - cold pbs solution again before measuring activated wavelength of fluorescence ( em . 480 / ex . 425 nm and em . 576 nm / ex . 550 nm ) from rhodamine and gfp by using a fluorescence microtiter plate reader ( polarstar galaxy ; bmg labtechnologies , offenburg , germany ). the ratio of rhodamine fluorescence to gfp fluorescence was calculated , and used to evaluate a relative quantity of ha - glut4 - gfp translocated to plasma membrane . since ha - tagged glut4 could only be labelled by rhodamine after it has translocated to plasma membrane , the ratio was useful in the evaluation of glut4 translocation to plasma membrane . for the experiment of testing the effects of triterpene compounds on the accumulation of triglycerides and the release of glycerol in 3t3 - l1 adipocytes , the differentiated and mature 3t3 - l1 adipocytes were cultivated overnight in a serum - free cell culture medium , and then further cultivated in serum - free cell culture media containing different concentrations of triterpene compounds for 24 hours . the culture media were collected and tested for the release of glycerol by using a glycerol assay kit ( randox laboratories , antrim , uk ), to determine whether different concentrations of triterpene compounds had any effects on the release of glycerol from lipid breakdown in 3t3 - l1 adipocytes . the level of triglycerides in the adipocytes were determined by oil - red o staining ( ramirez - zacarias , j . l . et . al . ; histochemistry 97 , ( 6 ), 493 - 497 , 1992 ). the oil droplets formed by the accumulation of lipids in the cells were stained , rinsed twice with 60 % isopropanol , and then extracted in 100 % isopropanol before being quantified at the absorbance of 490 nm . the readings were compared with that from the adipocytes without being given triterpene compounds , in order to evaluate the effects of different concentrations of triterpene compounds on the accumulation of triglycerides in the adipocytes . the experimental results indicated that like insulin , the triterpene compounds possess the following four properties , and thus is effective for treating type i diabetes : ( 1 ) in the adipocyte model , components or extracts from poria were effective for enhancing the absorption of extracellular glucose into the cells : from the evaluation of the effects of poria extracts ( example 2 ) on mature adipocytes , as shown in fig2 a ; poria extracts were evidently effective for increasing glucose uptake , and the effect for increasing glucose uptake was positively correlated to increases in doses given to the cells . on the other hand , the addition of 100 nm of insulin was also effective for increasing glucose uptake . the pure compounds from example 2 were used for further experiments . fig2 b showed that two hours after giving the pure compounds to the adipocytes , three of the compounds that included pa , ta , and ppa significantly increased glucose uptake to 165 . 89 %, 142 . 5 %, and 147 . 9 % when given at 0 . 01 μm . wherein the increase induced by pa was the most significant , thus the following evaluations were carried out by basing on pa . according to fig3 a , the effects of pa on increasing glucose uptake elevates along with the lapse of time , and was the most significant at 2 hours after being administered ( increased to 165 . 89 %). in addition , an increase of pa concentration led to elevated glucose uptake . it can be observed in fig3 b that when pa was given at 1 μm , the glucose uptake was increased to 209 . 84 %. according to fig4 , pa was only effective for enhancing glucose uptake in differentiated adipocytes , not for preadipocytes . when phloretin ( pt ) was administered to both preadipocytes and adipocytes , the glucose uptake in both types of cells were significantly inhibited . according to past research literature , the preadipocytes only possess glut1 , whereas the adipocytes possess glut 4 . therefore , pa is thought to increase glucose uptake by increasing glut4 . ( 2 ) the effects of pa , a triterpene compound ; on enhancing the protein and mrna expression of glut4 in mature adipocytes fig5 showed that when different doses of pa were administered to the mature adipocytes for 24 hours , and followed by performing the western blot analysis targeting glut 1 and 4 to evaluate the effects of pa on the protein expression of glut 1 and 4 ; the results indicated that pa was effective for enhancing the protein expression of glut4 ( fig5 a ), but not for glut1 ( fig5 b ). the results of using q - pcr and a specific probe to investigate the effects of different concentrations of pa on the mrna expression of glut proteins in mature 3t3 - l1 adipocytes were shown in fig6 , and it revealed that 1 μm of pa could elevate the gene expression of glut4 to 228 %, which suggested pa could regulate the gene and protein expression of glut4 . moreover , the mrna - interfering method was used to create 3t3 - l1 adipocytes with consistently low expression of glut4 ( fig7 a ), and the adipocytes was used to further evaluate glucose uptake , with the results shown in fig7 b , which demonstrated that different doses of pa did not greatly enhance the glucose uptake in the adipocytes , thereby proving that pa enhances glucose uptake by directly affecting glut4 expression . ( 3 ) the effects of pa on enhancing the translocation of glut4 from intracellular organelles to plasma membrane in mature adipocytes one of the mechanisms for insulin to enhance glucose uptake is to promote the translocation of a large number of glut4 from intracellular organelles to plasma membrane in order to carry out glucose uptake . therefore , the mature 3t3 - l1 adipocytes having the comprehensive system of insulin activating glucose uptake was employed to evaluate the translocation of glut4 proteins . fig8 a illustrated the results of western blot analysis on the plasma membrane separated out using high - speed centrifugation , which revealed that 0 . 01 μm of pa significantly increased the amount of glut4 in the plasma membrane to 141 %, and the amount was further increased to 328 % when pa dose was elevated to 1 μm . the use of 3t3 - l1 adipocytes stably expressing ha - glut4 - gfp proteins and fluorescence measurement method further confirmed that pa enhances glucose uptake by increasing the translocation of glut4 to plasma membrane . it can be observed in fig8 b that when the dose of pa was added to 1 . 0 μm , the translocation of glut4 to plasma membrane was elevated 2 . 71 - fold . the aforesaid results confirmed that pa is effective for enhancing the translocation of glut4 proteins to plasma membrane . ( 4 ) the effects of pa on enhancing the accumulation of triglycerides and reducing the release of glycerol into culture media in the adipocytes in addition to observing the effects of pa on glucose uptake in adipocytes , the synthesis ( storage ) of triglycerides and lipid breakdown ( release of glycerol ) in adipocytes were also evaluated . fig9 a and 9b showed the results from 24 hours after administering different doses of pa , and the accumulation of triglycerides was measured by oil - red o staining . it revealed that under the administration of pa , the accumulation of triglycerides exceeded 137 %, and the release of glycerol was lowered to approximately 70 % of the original level . the results suggested that pa was effective for promoting the synthesis of lipids and preventing the breakdown of lipids . the present invention has been described with preferred examples thereof and it is understood that many changes and modifications to the described examples can be carried out without departing from the scope and the spirit of the invention that is intended to be limited only by the appended claims .	0
fig1 and 1a , depict a section of the interior of vehicle parking structure 10 of the present invention . the parking structure 10 comprises at least one vehicle transfer room 12 and a plurality of parking spaces 16 . the parking structure 10 also comprises framework 44 suitable for maintaining the structural integrity of the structure and , in the embodiment depicted in fig1 , for dividing the individual parking spaces 16 . it should be noted that as depicted , framework 44 does not separate each and every parking space 16 . rather , long horizontal spans are employed , enabling an operator to vary the area allotted for each parking space 16 . this embodiment may be preferable in installations wherein the ability to alter the size of each parking space 16 is desired . however , as will be shown if fig2 and 4 , alternate layouts of framework 44 may be employed without departing from the scope of the invention . finally , it should also be noted that although the figures generally depict an arrangement wherein the parking spaces 16 are placed above the transfer rooms 12 , an alternate embodiment wherein the transfer rooms 12 are above the parking spaces 16 ( such as if the parking spaces were subterranean ), or where the transfer rooms 12 were placed at some intermediate location within the array of parking spaces 16 ( such as if the parking spaces 16 were both subterranean and above ground ), would not deviate from the scope of the invention . within the vehicle parking structure 10 , one or more vehicle transporters 18 may operate . in the embodiment depicted in fig1 , the vehicle transporter 18 is comprised of vertical stabilizer 20 , tractor 22 , a set of unpowered guide wheels 23 , and as shown in more detail in fig1 a , lifting platform 26 , winch 24 , and dolly 30 . the unpowered guide wheels 23 may derive motion from the force transmitted by the vertical stabilizer 20 being moved by the tractor 22 , and both the tractor 22 and the unpowered guide wheels 23 may be guided by rails 46 . the tractor 22 must have sufficient power and structural strength to move itself , the vertical stabilizer 20 and the unpowered guide wheels 23 . the vertical stabilizer 20 must be of sufficient strength to transmit the force required to cause the unpowered guide wheels 23 to move in unison with the tractor 22 . the vertical stabilizer 20 must also have sufficient strength to resist bending and to maintain its shape so that the position of the vehicle transporter 18 can be known by the control system 21 . although fig1 depicts the tractor 22 at the bottom of the parking structure 10 and the unpowered guide wheels 23 at the top of the parking structure 10 , those positions could be reversed without deviating from the scope of the invention . furthermore , a system in which the tractor 22 was located at a point intermediate along the vertical stabilizer 20 and the guide wheels 23 were placed elsewhere along the vertical stabilizer 20 would not deviate from the scope of the invention . alternatively , the tractor 22 could be removed from the vehicle transporter 18 and replaced with a set of guide wheels 23 . in such an embodiment , each vehicle transporter 18 could be associated with , and derive motion from , one or more tractors 22 fixedly located within the parking structure 10 and acting as winches . a chain , cable or other connector could be employed to transmit motion from the one or more tractors 22 to the guide wheels 23 or other point along the vehicle transporter 18 . as was noted above , the parking structure 10 may also comprise one or more rails , tracks or the like 46 which may engage the tractor 22 and the unpowered guide wheels 23 providing guidance for the tractor 22 and the unpowered guide wheels 23 and which may also support the weight of the vehicle transporter 18 and , when loaded , a vehicle 14 . in the present embodiment , the lifting platform 26 is in turn comprised of rotary table 28 and dolly 30 . as depicted more clearly in fig1 a , a vehicle 14 is engaged by the dolly 30 . the lifting platform 26 can be independently raised or lowered on the vertical stabilizer 20 by use of a winch 24 , which in one embodiment is an electrically powered winch attached to lifting platform 26 and counterweight 48 by a lifting chain or cable 50 . alternatively , the winch 24 may be mounted on the lifting platform 26 and / or may act to raise and lower the lifting platform 26 by way of a toothed drive system such as by driving a gear which engages a toothed track mounted on the vertical stabilizer 20 . turning to fig2 , in a preferred embodiment , powered tractors 22 are located at both the top and the bottom of the vertical stabilizer 20 . because both ends of the vertical stabilizer 20 are driven , it may no longer be necessary for the vertical stabilizer 20 to have sufficient strength and rigidity such as may be required to transmit driving force from a single tractor 22 to a set of unpowered guide wheels 23 , as was depicted in fig1 . however , this may be true if the position of each tractor 22 is maintained relative to the other . thus synchronizer 25 may be provided to maintain this positioning by , for example , mechanical mechanisms . in one embodiment , a shaft and gears can be used to connect the two tractors . in other embodiments the mechanisms could use a chain , a toothed belt or belts or other mechanical means . alternatively , electronic means may be used to provide position information to an electronic controller . in this embodiment , devices generate electronic signals that are related to the motion and / or position of each tractor 22 . an electronic controller can use those signals in its control logic to establish the position of each tractor 22 , both in absolute and relative terms . in addition , the controller can cause either or both tractors 22 to adjust position so that the desired position of each tractor 22 is maintained . the electronic means is the preferred embodiment for this invention . fig2 also depicts an embodiment of the present invention in which the vertical stabilizer 20 is mounted to the upper and lower tractor 22 by a non - rigid connection 27 such as a hinge or ball and socket joint . driving the upper and lower tractors 22 in a coordinated fashion will allow the vertical stabilizer 20 to be mounted in a non - rigid fashion thus avoiding or lessening induced moments into the vertical stabilizer 20 and / or the tractors 22 . since induced moments may be either eliminated or reduced , the driven wheels 29 of the tractors 22 and the track 46 will not have to resist those loads . also , the strength requirements for the vertical stabilizer 20 may be reduced . it should also be noted that although tractor 22 is depicted as having wheels 29 , and the unpowered drive wheels 23 are shown as having wheels , the use of wheels is not a necessary part of the present invention . tracks , slides or the like may be substituted without deviating from the scope of the invention . additionally , as depicted in fig2 and fig4 , the use of a non - rigid connection 27 between the vertical stabilizer 20 and / or the tractors 22 may allow a narrower tractor wheelbase 31 because it is no longer providing stability and vertical positioning for the vertical stabilizer 20 . the narrow wheelbase 31 also allows a smaller end zone 54 for parking a vehicle transporter 18 thus allowing the adjacent vehicle transporter 18 a to reach the parking slots normally serviced by the parked vehicle transporter 18 . as noted earlier , fig2 and 4 also depict an alternate embodiment of framework 44 . in this embodiment , vertical elements of framework 44 divide each parking space 16 . although this embodiment may restrict an operators ability to easily alter the area allotted for each parking space 16 , it has advantages in cost and vertical space saving . specifically , the use of additional vertical elements in framework 44 allows for the use of shorter horizontal spans . because these horizontal elements have a reduced span , they need not be as thick as the longer spans depicted in fig1 . thus , the overall height of each level of parking spaces may be reduced . as seen in fig2 , the vertical stabilizer 20 includes an automatic length compensator / adjustor 52 that allows the vertical stabilizer 20 to expand and contract in the direction of the major axis ( in this case vertical ) while preventing the vertical stabilizer 20 from deviating significantly from the normal straight line orientation . this feature will allow for variations in the distance between the upper and lower tractors 22 . as depicted in fig2 , the vertical stabilizer 20 will not be compressively loaded as it is supported by the upper tractor 22 , which is in turn supported by the upper rail 46 . the vertical stabilizer 20 will be in tension or bending or both depending on the selected lift method . in a preferred embodiment , the arrangement of the winch 24 and the lifting platform 26 will be such that the vertical stabilizer 20 is not subjected to the compressive forces associated with lifting the vertical load of the lifting platform 26 and , if present , a vehicle 14 . in this embodiment , this load will be taken by one or both of the tractors 22 , or if present , the unpowered guide wheels 23 . this load may then be transferred directly to the rails 46 , and from there to the framework 44 , or if applicable , to the foundation or floor of the parking structure 10 . the vertical stabilizer 20 may be subjected only to the loading associated with the bending moments from supporting the lifting platform 26 and , if present , a vehicle 14 , and the reaction forces to the movement of the rotary table 28 if present . this feature , in combination with the automatic adjustor 52 , may reduce the strength requirements for the vertical stabilizer 20 , which in turn may allow for a lighter , and less costly vertical stabilizer 20 . furthermore , a lighter vertical stabilizer 20 will also reduce the horsepower required to accelerate and stop the vehicle transporter 18 , as well as reduce the strength requirements of the components to which it attaches such as the rails 46 , and indirectly , the framework 44 . in the two different embodiments disclosed above and shown in fig1 and 2 , the vertical stabilizer 20 takes the form of a substantially rigid mast - like structure . turning now to fig3 a , 3 b , and 3 c , in an alternate embodiment , the vertical stabilizer 20 may take the form of one or more vertically oriented guides such as cables , shafts or the like . the vertical guidance of the lifting platform 26 is provided by the stiffness of the shaft or cable . as with the previous embodiment , automatic adjustors 52 are provided in this embodiment as well , although the sizing function may be accomplished by one or more springs or slip bearings . if the shafts or cables , mounted to the upper and lower tractors 22 , can not provide sufficient stiffness , an intermediate tractor 22 a can be provided to impart additional resistance to deflection . turning to fig3 b and 5 , in a preferred embodiment , the vertical stabilizer 20 of a vehicle transporter 18 may be comprised of a plurality of vertical elements formed in a frame . as in the previous figures , a winch 24 may be provided to supply lifting power , while the tractor ( s ) 22 may be provided to supply horizontal movement . of course , as previously described , the tractor ( s ) 22 may be replaced with unpowered guide wheels 23 and / or moved to various locations either on the vehicle transporter 18 or to various locations within the parking structure 10 . as shown in fig3 b and 5 , the use of a plurality of vertical stabilizers 20 may provide the benefit of added stability within the vehicle transporter 18 as the use of multiple vertical stabilizers 20 may distribute any loads associated with the lifting platform 26 , and , if present , a vehicle 14 . in one embodiment of the parking structure , illustrated in fig4 , the vehicle transporters 18 , 18 a and the parking structure 10 are designed to allow either vehicle transporter 18 , 18 a to service all of the parking spaces 16 . in this embodiment , the vehicle transporters 18 , 18 a are designed such that the lifting platforms 26 , 26 a face each other and / or overlap in their reach . as shown , the lifting platform 26 extends to the right of the vehicle transporter 18 such that when the vehicle transporter 18 is parked in the end zone 54 , the lifting platform 26 may still reach the parking spaces 16 and the transfer room 12 in the leftmost column of the parking structure 10 , labeled as spaces 1 - 1 through 7 - 1 and transfer room a . furthermore , the lifting platform 26 a associated with the vehicle transporter 18 a , extends to the left of the vehicle transporter 18 a such that it overlaps the lifting platform 26 and is also able to access the parking spaces 16 and the transfer room 12 in the leftmost column of the parking structure 10 , labeled as spaces 1 - 1 through 7 - 1 and transfer room a . note that without this opposing / overlapping orientation of the lifting platforms 26 , 26 a , lifting platform 26 a would be unable to access spaces 1 - 1 through 7 - 1 and transfer room a . specifically , associated vehicle transporter 18 a would be unable to traverse far enough to the left to align the lifting platform 26 a with those spaces and transfer room as vehicle transporter 18 a &# 39 ; s path would be blocked by vehicle transporter 18 . the inability to access one or more of the spaces 16 and transfer rooms 12 may be especially disadvantageous in the event that one or more of the vehicle transporters 18 are rendered inoperable through breakdown or routine maintenance which may strand one or more vehicles in the parking structure 10 . while the overlapping orientation depicted here possesses the advantages described , an alternate orientation wherein the lifting platforms 26 , 26 a do not overlap , are able to access all of the spaces 16 and transfer rooms 12 without overlapping , or wherein each vehicle transporter was not able to service the entire parking structure , would not deviate from the scope of the present invention . furthermore , in certain applications , due to design considerations such as cost and available space , a non - overlapping orientation , or a design in which each vehicle transporter was not able to service the entire parking structure may be preferred . furthermore , as depicted in fig4 , in a preferred embodiment , the parking structure 10 may be constructed with multiple arrays of parking spaces 16 . in particular , in a preferred embodiment , the vehicle transporters 18 are restricted to linear travel along a path within the vehicle parking structure 10 . parking spaces 16 may be arrayed on opposite sides of the vehicle transporter 18 , perpendicular to the direction of travel of the vehicle transporter 18 . as will be discussed in greater detail in the discussion of fig1 , dolly 30 may be deployed from multiple sides of the vehicle transporter 18 such that it may service parking spaces 16 on corresponding sides of the vehicle transporter 18 . turning to fig5 and 13 in combination , one embodiment of the lifting platform 26 , dolly frame 110 and dolly 30 is depicted . although the structure associated with a rotary table is not depicted in fig5 , the use of a rotary table is depicted as dolly frame 110 is shown skewed relative to lifting platform 26 . again , although the structure associated with a rotary table is not shown in fig5 , such structure enables the dolly 30 to rotate about an axis , while the dolly 30 provides a substantially planar top surface 56 having a major axis 58 and a minor axis 60 , and a substantially centrally located slot 62 orientated along the major axis 58 through which spine 36 and tongue 114 travel . the top surface 56 and the dolly 30 are orientated so that substantially all of portions of the dolly 30 that travel underneath a vehicle 14 are located above the top surface 56 . in particular , the first slidable section 32 , the second slidable section 34 , the spine 36 , the tongue 114 , and the tire engagement arm pairs 64 a - 64 d are able to pass above the top surface 56 . as will be discussed in greater detail in the discussion below , the dolly 30 is operationally engaged with the lifting platform 26 such that the dolly 30 may be deployed from the lifting platform 26 and positioned under a vehicle 14 , whereupon it may engage and lift the vehicle 14 such that it may be moved on or off of the lifting platform 26 . in a preferred embodiment , the lifting platform 26 and / or the dolly 30 may be tilted about the minor axis 60 , by a tilt actuator employing one or more of a number of known technologies . for example , an automated hydraulic jack may engage the lifting platform 26 and the dolly 30 to tilt the dolly 30 relative to the lifting platform 26 . alternately , the lifting platform 26 may be tilted from horizontal with the winch 24 acting as a tilt actuator . for example , the winch 24 may engage the lifting platform 26 by one or more cables , chains or the like attached at various points on the lifting platform 26 . by selectively engaging one or more of such cables , chains or the like , the winch 24 may tilt the lifting platform 26 which carries the dolly 30 . it may be appreciated that each of the parking spaces 16 associated with the parking structure 10 has a substantially planar floor 17 . to facilitate water run off from either rain or snow carried in by a vehicle 14 or for cleaning operations , the floor 17 may be tilted relative to the horizontal plane , generally such that the edge of the floor 17 adjacent to the lifting platform 26 is higher than the opposite end . however , because of the tilt in the floor 17 , if the dolly 30 were deployed from the lifting platform 26 in a substantially horizontal manner , the dolly 30 would be subjected to bending loads along the spine 36 and / or tongue 114 caused by the leading edge of the dolly 30 being cantilevered over the floor 17 . by tilting the lifting platform 26 to an angle that substantially matches the angle of the floor 17 , the bending loads along the spine 36 and / or tongue 114 may be greatly reduced as the leading edge of the dolly 30 will engage the floor 17 relatively quickly once it has been deployed . turning to fig6 , the dolly 30 is depicted in a first closed position , with the top surface 56 depicted in phantom . the dolly 30 is comprised of a first slidable section 32 , a second slidable section 34 , a spine 36 , and tire engagement arm pairs 64 a - 64 d . each tire engagement arm pair 64 a - 64 d is deployed to engage a single tire of a vehicle 14 to be moved . the tire engagement pairs 64 a - 64 d are associated with the first and second slidable sections 32 and 34 . as depicted , the first slidable section 32 is associated and moves with , tire engagement arm pairs 64 a and 64 b , while the second slidable section 34 is associated and moves with tire engagement arm pairs 64 c and 64 d . thus , each slidable section 32 , 34 , in connection with its associated tire engagement arm pairs 64 a , 64 b and 64 c , 64 d respectively , engages the tires associated with a single vehicle axle . in operation , the first and second slidable sections 32 and 34 are displaced along the major axis 58 such that they accommodate the wheelbase of the vehicle 14 to be moved . as is best seen in fig7 , once in place , the first and second slidable sections 32 and 34 may be temporarily locked in place by locking mechanism 35 . in a preferred embodiment , the displacement of the first and second slidable sections 32 and 34 may be performed prior to or during deployment of the dolly 30 under the vehicle 14 . in a preferred embodiment , the vehicle parking structure 10 may also include a vehicle measuring system capable of measuring and storing at least the wheelbase of a vehicle 14 to be moved . since the vehicle wheelbase is known prior to the vehicle transporter 18 reaching the vehicle 14 , it is possible to preadjust the displacement of the first and second slidable sections 32 and 34 prior to insertion under the vehicle 14 . by preadjusting the slidable section displacement , valuable time is saved during the vehicle movement process as the steps of measuring and adjusting the slidable sections 32 and 34 does not need to be undertaken after the vehicle transporter 18 reaches the vehicle 14 or after the dolly 30 is positioned under the vehicle 14 . turning to fig7 , slidable section 32 of the dolly 30 is depicted in a second open position . while the following discussion will focus only on slidable section 32 , it should be understood that it is equally applicable to slidable section 34 and corresponding elements of the slidable section 34 . in this figure , the tire engagement arm pairs 64 a and 64 b have been opened such that they are substantially parallel to the minor axis 60 . each of the tire engagement arm pairs 64 a 64 b are comprised of at least two tire engagement arms 66 , which in the embodiment depicted , are substantially wedge - shaped and oriented such that leading edge of each wedge is positioned to first engage a vehicle tire , however , the arms 66 may take other shapes without departing from the scope of the invention . each of the arms 66 is supported at its inboard edge by a hinged connection 68 with the slidable section 32 , and by one or more wheels 70 at its outboard edge . referring back to fig6 , it is of note that when in the first closed position , the arms 66 are not carried parallel to the top surface 56 . in particular , the wheels 70 are raised from the top surface 56 by an angle of loft 72 . the angle of loft 72 is sized such that the wheels 70 do not contact the top surface 56 as , while in closed the position , the wheels 72 are transverse to the direction of travel along the major axis 58 . thus , without the angle of loft 70 , when the dolly 30 or the slidable sections 32 or 34 were moved in the direction of the major axis 58 , the wheels 70 would create undesirable drag , hindering performance of the dolly 30 . returning to fig7 , it can be seen that each of the arms 66 associated with tire engagement arm pairs 64 a and 64 b , are separated from their respective pair by a separation distance 74 . in general , the separation distance 74 is set by the overall dimensions of the slidable section 32 or 34 with which it is associated , but at a minimum is large enough to accommodate a vehicle tire . turning to fig8 , the dolly 30 is depicted in a third pinched position . in this position , the separation distance 74 has been reduced relative to that shown in fig7 , and thus each of the arms 66 is now relatively closer to its pair . in a preferred embodiment , the separation distance 74 is now , at a maximum , small enough to ensure that the tires of the vehicle 14 have been lifted from the surface of the lifting platform 26 or parking space 16 . in a more preferred embodiment , the separation distance 74 is approximately 6 . 3 inches . the separation distance 74 is closed through the action of pinching actuator 76 . in a preferred embodiment , the pinching actuator 76 comprises an electro / mechanical linear actuator although alternate designs such as the use of a hydraulic actuator , servo motors or mechanical linkages may also be used without departing from the scope of the invention . in a preferred embodiment , the pinching actuators 76 are also responsible for extending the arms 66 from the closed position depicted in fig6 and to the open position shown in fig7 . turning to fig9 , in a more preferred embodiment , the pinching actuator 76 operates on the arms 66 via a mechanical linkage . a first end 90 of the pinching actuator 76 may be hingedly connected to frame 78 of the slidable section 32 or 34 . a second end 92 of the pinching actuator 76 may be hingedly connected to first linkage arm 94 . the first linkage arm 94 includes first and second hinge points 96 and 98 . the first hinge point 96 is hingedly connected to slidable section upper plate 97 while the second hinge point 98 is hingedly connected to first end 100 of second linkage arm 102 . finally , second end 104 of the second linkage arm 102 is hingedly connected to the arm 66 . the pinching actuator 76 , first linkage arm 94 and second linkage arm 102 are preferably dimensioned such that , in operation , once the pinching actuator 76 has fully operated against the first linkage arm 94 , the arm 66 will be fully extended and substantially perpendicular to the major axis 58 . furthermore , the first linkage arm 94 and the second linkage arm 102 will be in an over center or hyper extended relation such that they are in a non - linear relation while the hinge 106 defined by the second hinge point 98 and the first end 100 is in contact with an adjustable stop ( not shown ). alternatively , the hinge defined by the second hinge point 98 and the first end 100 could be in contact with the arm 66 or some other structure which limits its movement and prevents additional flexing of the hinge . with this arrangement , any force 108 exerted on the arm 66 by a tire of the vehicle 14 , which would otherwise act to collapse the arm 66 , will instead be arrested by the contact between the hinge 106 and the adjustable stop ( not shown ). the arm 66 will collapse to a position adjacent to the frame 78 when the pinching actuator 76 retracts , pulling the first linkage arm 94 and the second linkage arm 102 out of the over center or hyper extended orientation and allowing them to collapse against each other . in an alternate embodiment , the arms 66 may be locked in the extended position during vehicle engagement through the use of a pin or other mechanical means . alternatively , the force applied by the pinching actuator 76 may be sufficient to prevent the arm 66 from collapsing against the frame 78 . as discussed above , the dolly 30 is comprised , in part , of first and second slidable sections 32 and 34 . turning to fig1 , a single , representative slidable section 32 or 34 is shown . the slidable sections 32 and 34 are comprised of a generally rectangular , box steel frame 78 with a central cross brace 80 , although alternate materials with alternate cross sections could be used to construct the frame 78 such as composites or plastics without deviating from the scope of the invention . in the embodiment depicted , six ( 6 ) wheels 82 are mounted along the perimeter of the frame 78 , although an alternate number of wheels placed in alternate configurations would also be acceptable . in a preferred embodiment the wheels 82 are 3 inch outside diameter by 1 . 75 inch wide polyurethane wheels manufactured by sunray , inc . of rutherfordton , n . c . when a vehicle 14 is loaded onto the dolly 30 , the wheels 82 and arm wheels 70 bear the load of the vehicle . the dolly 30 further comprises rollers 84 which engage the spine 36 ( depicted in fig5 - 8 ). the rollers 84 act to align the slidable sections 32 and 34 with the spine 36 to encourage linear travel of the dolly 30 . turning to fig1 , the dolly 30 is again depicted with the slidable sections 32 and 34 and the spine 36 . here , the slidable sections 32 and 34 are depicted in a first , proximate position . turning to fig1 , the slidable sections 32 and 34 are depicted in a second , distant position . with reference to both fig1 and 12 , separators 86 are depicted . in a preferred embodiment , the separators 86 comprise one or more devices capable of moving the slidable sections 32 and 34 relative to each other . examples of suitable devices include electro / mechanical linear actuators , lead screw mechanisms and / or hydraulic rams mounted substantially parallel to the major axis 58 and fixedly connected at opposing ends to the slidable sections 32 and 34 respectively such that operation of the separators 86 acts to increase or decrease the separation between the slidable sections 32 and 34 . in operation , in a preferred embodiment , as the dolly 30 is extended under a vehicle 14 , the slidable sections 32 and 34 are pre - positioned to match the wheelbase of the vehicle 14 . as previously discussed , this pre - positioning eliminates the need to accomplish the sizing function after the dolly 30 has been placed under the vehicle 14 , potentially reducing the time necessary to engage the vehicle 14 . turning to fig1 , the dolly 30 is depicted as fully extended from the lifting platform 26 . the spine 36 is extended , and the slidable sections 32 and 34 are in the proximate position while the arms 66 are in the closed position . one or more collision detectors 88 may be affixed to the dolly 30 such that in the event vehicle transporter contacts a person or structure , the collision detector 88 may sense the contact , and preferably halt or reverse motion of the dolly 30 . collision detectors 88 may be of any one of a number of known technologies . for example , collision with an object may cause the movement or deflection of a collision detector 88 which in turn may complete an electric circuit or compress a piezoelectric load cell creating a signal which may alert the dolly 30 to quickly halt or reverse direction . collision detection is a well - studied art and of particular use in the robotics industry . as such , companies such as rad of tipp city , ohio supply collision detection systems utilizing pneumatics and / or mechanical triggering systems to the robotics industry . similarly , u . s . pat . no . 4 , 821 , 584 to lembke illustrates a collision detection system including a piezoelectric load cell . fig1 , 14 a and 15 further illustrate additional aspects and details of the dolly 30 . in these figures , the terms left and right are used to describe locations and movement in relation to the figures and should not be taken as any limitation of the present invention . fig1 depicts dolly 30 positioned adjacent to a vehicle 14 which is positioned on the floor 17 of a parking space 16 . of course , the same arrangement would be found if the vehicle 14 were positioned in a transfer room 12 . fig1 a depicts dolly 30 having deployed the first slidable section 32 , the second slidable section 34 , and the spine 36 under the vehicle 14 . of course , additional elements , such as the tire engagement arm pairs 64 a - 64 d and the wheels 82 ( depicted in fig6 ) are also deployed under the vehicle 14 , however , they are not distinguishable in fig1 a . however , as shown in fig1 a the deployed elements of the dolly 30 are dimensioned such that they fit between the floor 17 of the parking space 16 and bodywork of the vehicle 14 . in other words , it will be understood that the wheels 82 travel on the same plane as that on which the tires of the vehicle 14 travel . specifically , in a preferred embodiment , the height of the deployed elements of the dolly 30 are less than about 4 . 0 inches , and in a more preferred embodiment , less than abut 3 . 8 inches . turning to fig1 , in a preferred embodiment , a push / pull mechanism associated with dolly 30 is depicted . the push / pull mechanism is comprised of frame 110 , carriage 112 , tongue 114 , the spine 36 , carriage / spine cable 116 , carriage tongue cable ( left ) 118 , carriage tongue cable ( right ) 120 , carriage drive chain 122 , drive motor 124 , and a number of attachment points , guides and pulleys described in more detail below . as shown schematically in fig1 , the drive motor 124 is mounted within the frame 110 and connected by the carriage drive chain 122 to the carriage 112 . the drive chain 122 is routed around drive sprocket 125 and then the first and second idler sprockets 126 and 128 , first and second carriage sprockets 130 and 132 and fixedly mounted to the carriage 112 . in operation , the rotation of the drive motor 124 in a counterclockwise direction as depicted in fig1 will result in the movement of the carriage 112 from right to left . clockwise rotation of the drive motor 124 will result in movement of the carriage 112 from left to right . in either case , the carriage 112 is supported and guided in its travel by guide rails 134 . of course , alternate motive mechanisms and layouts could be implemented without deviating from the scope of the invention . for example , the drive motor 124 could be mounted within the carriage 112 and could drive the carriage 112 by means of a gear fixedly mounted to the drive motor 124 engaging a toothed track mounted along or integral with the guide rails 134 . as the carriage 112 travels in the right to left direction , it engages a number of additional cables and pulleys which translate and amplify the motion of the carriage 112 to the tongue 114 and the spine 36 , causing the deployment of the spine 36 to the left of the frame 110 . as shown , the carriage tongue cable ( left ) 118 is fixedly mounted to the frame 110 at frame attachment point ( left ) 138 , travels in a generally vertical orientation , wrapping around the main pulley stack 136 , the frame pulley stack ( left ) 142 , the frame pulley stack ( right ) 144 , and is fixedly attached to the tongue 114 at tongue attachment point ( left ) 146 . similarly , the carriage tongue cable ( right ) 120 is fixedly mounted to the frame 110 at frame attachment point ( right ) 140 , travels in a generally vertical orientation , wrapping around the main pulley stack 136 , the frame pulley stack ( right ) 144 , the frame pulley stack ( left ) 142 , and is fixedly attached to the tongue 114 at the tongue attachment point ( right ) 148 . it will be appreciated that , although not depicted in fig1 , pulley stacks 136 , 142 and 144 are each comprised of multiple pulleys which are able to spin independently of each other . as the carriage 112 moves right to left , the carriage tongue cable ( left ) 118 , and the carriage tongue cable ( right ) 120 transmit the motion of the carriage 112 to the tongue 114 which is supported and guided by , for example , an inverted c - channel which interfaces with the frame 110 . furthermore , because the carriage tongue cable ( left ) 118 , and the carriage tongue cable ( right ) 120 are wrapped around the main pulley 136 which moves with the carriage 112 , the motion of the carriage 112 is doubled as applied to the tongue 114 , similar to the manner in which a block and tackle operates . that is , the inclusion of the main pulley 136 serves to translate every one unit of horizontal movement of the carriage 112 into two units of horizontal movement of the tongue 114 . furthermore , the carriage 112 is also fixedly mounted to the carriage spine cable 116 at the carriage attachment point 150 . the carriage spine cable 116 is looped around first and second tongue pulleys 152 , 154 in a generally horizontal orientation . the tongue pulleys 152 and 154 are rotatably mounted to the tongue 114 such that the tongue pulleys 152 and 154 move in unison with the tongue 114 . finally , the spine 36 is fixedly attached to the carriage spine cable 116 at tab 156 . the motion of the carriage 112 in the right to left direction is thus transmitted to the spine 36 via the carriage spine cable 116 . the spine 36 is supported and guided by a system of blocks fixed to the spine 36 which engage channels in the tongue 114 thereby ensuring substantially linear movement of the spine 36 in relation to the tongue 114 . this arrangement of blocks and channels could , of course , be reversed and alternate means of ensuring linear travel could be substituted without deviating from the scope of the invention . it should be noted that because the spine 36 is fixedly mounted to the carriage spine cable 116 , and that the carriage spine cable is mounted to the tongue 114 via the tongue pulleys 152 and 154 , any travel of the carriage 112 is naturally transmitted to the spine 36 through its connection with the tongue 114 . thus , as with the tongue 114 , every one unit of travel by the carriage 112 results in two units of travel of the spine 36 . however , the carriage 112 is also transmitting motion to the spine 36 via the carriage spine cable 116 , resulting in an additional one unit of travel for the spine 36 for every unit of travel of the carriage 112 . thus , taken together , for every one unit of travel of the carriage 112 in the right to left direction , the spine 36 experiences three units of travel in the right to left direction . of course , the motion of the carriage 112 in the left to right direction simply reverses all of the previously described motion making it possible to deploy the spine 36 to the right of the frame 110 . as a result of the arrangement of the spine 36 , the tongue 114 and the carriage 116 , small movements of the carriage 112 are amplified three times in the spine 36 . the benefit in this arrangement is that while the movement of the carriage 112 is limited within the frame 110 , the spine 36 must be able to extend fully under the vehicle 14 such that the arms 66 may engage all four tires of the vehicle 14 . of course , alternate embodiments of motion amplifiers , such as the use of different sized gears responsible for imparting motion to the different components are possible without deviating from the scope of the invention . in operation , a vehicle 14 may be parked within the vehicle parking structure 10 as follows . first , a vehicle may enter one of one or more of the vehicle transfer rooms 12 . once in the vehicle transfer room 12 , the vehicle 14 may be measured for overall dimensions of length , width , height , ground clearance and wheelbase to ensure that each dimension falls within pre - determined parameters , and its position within vehicle transfer room 12 may also be measured . in particular , the location of the vehicle 14 relative to one or more known reference points such as the walls of the vehicle transfer room 12 may be determined , as well any skew of the vehicle relative to the walls of the vehicle transfer room 12 . alternately , if the vehicle 14 is known to the vehicle parking structure 10 , such as if the vehicle transmits an identification signal to the system or if the vehicle is otherwise identified to the vehicle parking structure 10 , a determination step , rather than a measuring step may be carried out . in particular , based on the vehicle identification received by the vehicle parking structure 10 , a lookup table containing the vehicle identification correlated with vehicle characteristics such as the vehicle &# 39 ; s spatial dimensions , could be consulted to determine the vehicle &# 39 ; s 14 length , width , height and wheelbase . of course , the step of determining the position of the vehicle 14 within the vehicle transfer room 12 could still be carried out . furthermore , rather than completely eliminating the vehicle measuring step , a reduced or modified measurement could be taken to ensure that the determined vehicle characteristics match the actual characteristics of the vehicle 14 in the vehicle transfer room 12 . alternately , the vehicle 14 may be measured or its spatial dimensions determined prior to its entering a transfer room 12 . once the dimensions and position of the vehicle 14 are either measured or determined , this data may be transferred to the control system 21 . the control system 21 may then pre - adjust one of the one or more vehicle transporters 18 , specifically the positions of the slidable sections 32 and 34 , to correspond to the measured or determined wheelbase of the vehicle 14 . control system 21 may also perform additional functions such as determining optimal placement of the vehicle 14 within the parking structure 10 . specifically , based on the dimensions of the vehicle 14 , the control system may select a parking space 16 in which to place vehicle 14 from a range of available parking spaces 16 which may have varying dimensions . control system 21 may select an available parking space 16 which will best accommodate vehicle 14 . the vehicle parking structure 10 may also perform a vehicle occupancy step to verify that the vehicle 14 is unoccupied . once the vehicle parking structure 10 has determined that the vehicle 14 is unoccupied ( either by a signal given by an operator or through one or more automated means ) and acceptable for movement , if available , one of the one or more vehicle transporters 18 will approach the transfer room 12 to begin the vehicle acquisition process . once the vehicle transporter 18 and the lifting platform 26 have been positioned adjacent to the transfer room 12 , the dolly 30 will be deployed from the lifting platform 26 . because the dimensions and position of the vehicle 14 have already been measured , the dolly 30 may be pre - adjusted to accommodate the size of the vehicle 14 , and , if necessary , non - ideal positioning of the vehicle 14 within the transfer room 12 . specifically , because the wheelbase of the vehicle 14 has been measured or determined prior to deployment of the dolly 30 , the separation of the slidable sections 32 and 34 may be set before or as the dolly 30 is deployed . similarly , because the placement of the vehicle 14 is known , it may be possible , through an adjustment of the position of the vehicle transporter 18 and / or by rotating the dolly 30 through the use of the rotary table 28 , to accommodate a vehicle 14 which is skewed in relation to the transfer room 12 . furthermore , this flexibility may remove the need for structures within the transfer room 12 such as tire guides or the like . once the dolly 30 has been deployed under the vehicle 14 , as previously described , the arms 66 are deployed and engage and lift the wheels of the vehicle 14 . with the vehicle 14 lifted from the floor of the vehicle transfer room 12 , the dolly 30 returns to the lifting platform 26 with the vehicle 14 . once the vehicle 14 has been transferred to the lifting platform 26 , the vehicle transporter 18 may move laterally and / or the lifting platform 26 may move vertically such that the vehicle 14 may be positioned adjacent to an empty parking space 16 . once the lifting platform 26 is adjacent to a parking space 16 in which the vehicle 14 is to be parked , an alignment device ( not shown ) may be deployed to ensure that the lifting platform 26 remains relatively motionless and adjacent to the desired parking space 16 when the vehicle 14 is offloaded . the alignment device may take a number of forms however , a ramp or one or more arms which extend from the lifting platform 26 and which includes one or more engagement points capable of engaging reciprocal points adjacent to the parking space 16 is preferred . if necessary , in one embodiment , either the dolly 30 or the lifting platform 26 may be tilted such that it departs from the horizontal at an angle which approximates the angle of slope of the floor 17 of the parking space 16 . to park the vehicle 14 , the dolly 30 , carrying the vehicle 14 is deployed from the lifting platform 26 and into the parking space 16 . the vehicle 14 is lowered and the arms 66 are disengaged from the wheels of the vehicle 14 . the dolly 30 is then retracted to the lifting platform 26 . in a preferred embodiment , the dolly 30 is deployable from either side of the lifting platform 26 . however , note that prior to parking the vehicle 14 , the rotary table 28 may be used to rotate the dolly 30 such that the dolly 30 need deploy from only one direction relative to the rotary table 28 . to retrieve a vehicle 14 from a parking space 16 , the process is reversed . in a preferred embodiment , the vehicle 14 is rotated at some point in the parking process such that the vehicle operator may drive the vehicle 14 in and out of the vehicle transfer room 12 without having to back in or out . turning to fig1 , a flowchart detailing the steps of a parking structure mapping operation are detailed . in step 1000 , an initial , or set up step may be performed . in this step , an operator may enter data into the parking management system 21 representing physical characteristics of the parking structure 10 and / or the vehicle transporter ( s ) 18 . such data could include , but not be limited to , information regarding physical dimensions of the parking spaces 16 and transfer rooms 12 in the parking structure 10 , such as length , width , height and location of the parking spaces 16 and the transfer rooms 12 . furthermore , data representing characteristics of the vehicle transporter ( s ) such as , but not limited to , location , rate of travel and the like , may be entered . additional information regarding , for example , locations of end zones , obstructions , and fire suppression areas may also be entered . in step 1010 , a verification step may be performed . in this step , which may either be ordered by an operator or may occur automatically in the operation of the vehicle parking apparatus , the vehicle transporter ( s ) 18 are directed to a known location within the parking structure 10 associated with at least some of the data entered in step 1000 to verify the accuracy of the data entered in step 1000 . once the vehicle transporter ( s ) 18 arrive at the known location , the vehicle transporter attempts to engage or identify an indexing marker located at the known location . the indexing marker , which may comprise a beacon , transponder , reflector or the like , allows the parking management system 21 to identify an actual location within parking structure 10 . in step 1020 , the parking management system 21 compares the expected location of the indexing marker , l expected which may have been entered in the set up step 1000 against the actual location of the indexing marker l actual identified in step 1010 . if l expected agrees with l actual , the process moves to step 1030 where the operation being carried out by the parking management system is continued . such operation could be the verification step 1010 previously discussed , or , the operation may be vehicle - moving operation , in which case the parking management system 21 will perform the parking or retrieving operation as expected . if however , l expected does not agree with l actual , the process moves to step 1040 where the parking management system 21 may alter l expected to agree with l actual , following the alteration to l expected , the process moves to step 1030 and the current operation is completed . in step 1040 , the parking management system 21 determines if additional operations requiring verification are needed . such determination could be a self check of requested operations contained within the parking management system &# 39 ; s 21 operation buffer , or could be a request for additional instructions from the system operator . in either case , such operations could include additional vehicle - moving operations if additional verification steps are requested in connection with the vehicle - moving operation , or could be additional verification steps if , for example , multiple locations are to be verified by the system . if additional operations are needed , the system returns to the verification step 1010 . if no additional operations are needed , the process ends at step 1050 . although the present invention has been described in terms of certain preferred embodiments , the various examples presented should not be interpreted as limitations on the scope of the present invention . numerous embodiments and variations are possible which could be substituted without departing from the scope of the present invention .	4
an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described based on the drawings . fig1 is a perspective diagram showing an image forming apparatus 10 as an exemplary embodiment of the present invention . fig2 is a cross - sectional diagram showing the image forming apparatus 10 . the image forming apparatus 10 has an image forming apparatus main body 12 . a frontward opening / closing member 16 opened / closed frontward ( rightward in fig2 ) via a hinge 14 is attached to the image forming apparatus main body 12 . further , an upward opening / closing member 20 opened / closed upward via a hinge 18 to the image forming apparatus main body 12 . an operation unit 22 is provided in front part of the image forming apparatus main body 12 . the operation unit 22 has ten keys to input the number of recording media for image formation , a start key operated at the start of image formation and the like . note that a recording medium is a normal paper sheet , an ohp sheet or the like on which an image is finally formed . a supply opening / closing member 24 is attached frontward openably / closably to the frontward opening / closing member 16 . at normal times , the supply opening / closing member 24 is closed with respect to the frontward opening / closing member 16 , and the supply opening / closing member 24 is opened when the recording media are supplied to a sub conveyance passage 46 to be described later . the upward opening / closing member 20 , in which a recording medium where an image is formed is discharged on its upper surface , is used as a discharge unit . a sub opening / closing member 26 openable / closable with respect to the upward opening / closing member 20 is attached to the upward opening / closing member 20 . the sub opening / closing member 26 can be opened / closed independently of the upward opening / closing member 20 . in a state where the upward opening / closing member 20 is closed with respect to the image forming apparatus main body 12 , the sub opening / closing member 26 can be opened with respect to the upward opening / closing member 20 . the upward opening / closing member 20 is opened when photoreceptor units 86 y , 86 m , 86 c and 86 k and a developer collection container 110 , to be described later , are attached / removed in / from the image forming apparatus main body 12 . when the frontward opening / closing member 16 is opened prior to the opening of the upward opening / closing member 20 , an intermediate transfer belt 92 and the like to be described later , attached to the upward opening / closing member 20 , can be prevented from interfering with the frontward opening / closing member 16 . when the frontward opening / closing member 16 is closed , the upward opening / closing member 20 is closed prior to the closing of the frontward opening / closing member 16 . in a lower position in the image forming apparatus main body 12 , a recording medium supply device 30 to supply the recording medium to an image forming unit 70 to be described later is attached . the recording medium supply device 30 can be pulled out to the front side of the image forming apparatus main body 12 ( right side in fig2 ). in a state where the recording medium supply device 30 is pulled out of the image forming apparatus main body 12 , the recording media are plenished . the recording medium supply device 30 has a recording medium container 32 which holds recording media such as normal paper sheets in a stacked state . further , the recording medium supply device 30 has a conveyance roller 34 to pick up a top recording medium held in the recording medium container 32 and convey the picked recording medium toward the image forming unit 70 , and a retard roller 36 to retard the recording medium so as to prevent multi - feed of plural recording media in an overlapped state to the image forming unit 70 . a conveyance passage 40 used for conveyance of the recording medium is formed in the image forming apparatus main body 12 . the conveyance passage 40 has a main conveyance passage 42 , a reversing conveyance passage 44 and a sub conveyance passage 46 . the main conveyance passage 42 conveys a recording medium supplied from the recording medium supply device 30 to the image forming unit 70 , and discharges the recording medium on which an image is formed to the outside the image forming apparatus main body 12 . along the main conveyance passage 42 , sequentially from an upstream side in a conveyance direction of the recording medium , the conveyance roller 34 and the retard roller 36 , a registration roller 52 , a second transfer roller 96 to be described later , a fixing device 102 to be described later , and a discharge roller 54 , are provided . the registration roller 52 temporarily stops an end of the recording medium conveyed form the side of the recording medium supply device 30 , and sends the recording medium toward the second transfer roller 96 at timing of image formation . the discharge roller 54 discharges a recording medium on which respective color toner are fixed with a fixing device 102 to be described later to the outside the image forming apparatus main body 12 . a reversing conveyance passage 44 is a conveyance passage to resupply a recording medium , where a developer image is formed on one surface , while reversing the recording medium , toward the image forming unit 70 . along the reversing conveyance passage 44 , for example , two reversing conveyance rollers 56 and 58 are provided . when the recording medium is conveyed from the main conveyance passage 42 to the discharge roller 54 , and the discharge roller 54 reverse - rotates in a state where the rear end of the recording medium is held with the discharge roller 54 , the recording medium is supplied to the reversing conveyance passage 44 . the recording medium supplied to the reversing conveyance passage 44 is conveyed to a position upstream of the registration roller 52 with the reversing conveyance rollers 56 and 58 . the sub conveyance passage 46 is a conveyance passage to supply a special recording medium , which has e . g . size and / or paper quality different from that of the recording media contained in the recording medium supply device 30 , to the image forming unit 70 . the recording medium is supplied from the front side of the image forming apparatus main body 12 to the sub conveyance passage 46 in a state where the supply opening / closing member 24 is opened . the sub conveyance passage 46 is provided with a conveyance roller 60 to convey the recording medium supplied to the sub conveyance passage 46 toward the image forming unit 70 and a retard roller 62 to retard the recording medium supplied to the sub conveyance passage 46 so as to prevent multi - feed of plural recording media in an overlapped state to the image forming unit 70 . the image forming unit 70 which forms an image on a recording medium is provided in the image forming apparatus main body 12 . the image forming unit 70 has , for example , four developer image forming units 80 y , 80 m , 80 c and 80 k , an optical writing device 82 and a transfer device 84 . the developer image forming units 80 y , 80 m , 80 c and 80 k respectively form developer images using y ( yellow ), m ( magenta ), c ( cyan ) and k ( black ) developers . note that in the following description , the image forming units may be generically referred to as a developer image forming unit 80 without alphabet y , m , c or k . similarly , other constituent elements corresponding to respective colors may be generically referred ( as photoreceptor unit 86 , a developing device 88 , and the like ). the developer image forming units 80 y , 80 m , 80 c and 80 k respectively have photoreceptor units 86 y , 86 m , 86 c and 86 k and developing devices 88 y , 88 m , 88 c and 88 k . the photoreceptor units 86 are arrayed sequentially from the rear side of the image forming apparatus main body 12 ( left side in fig2 ) as the photoreceptor units 86 y , 86 m , 86 c and 86 k . the photoreceptor units 86 y , 86 m , 86 c and 86 k are respectively used as an image forming structure and respectively have photoreceptor drums 90 y , 90 m , 90 c and 90 k . the photoreceptor drum 90 is used as an image holder . the developing devices 88 y , 88 m , 88 c and 88 k develop latent images formed on the corresponding photoreceptor drums 90 y , 90 m , 90 c and 90 k using respectively contained y , m , c and k developers . the optical writing device 82 which is used as a latent image forming device irradiates the photoreceptor drum 90 with light , thereby forms latent images on the respective surfaces of the photoreceptor drums 90 y , 90 m , 90 c and 90 k . the transfer device 84 has the intermediate transfer belt 92 used as a transfer body , first transfer rollers 94 y , 94 m , 94 c and 94 k used as first transfer devices , a second transfer roller 96 used as a second transfer device , and a cleaning device 98 . the intermediate transfer belt 92 which is an endless belt is supported with e . g . five support rollers 92 a , 92 b , 92 c , 92 d and 92 e , rotatably in an arrow direction in fig2 . at least one of the support rollers 92 a , 92 b , 92 c , 92 d and 92 e is connected to a motor ( not shown ), and rotated upon reception of driving transmitted from the motor , to rotate - drive the intermediate transfer belt 92 . the first transfer rollers 94 y , 94 m , 94 c and 94 k transfer developer images , formed on the surfaces of the photoreceptor drums 90 y , 90 m , 90 c and 90 k by the respectively corresponding developing devices 88 y , 88 m , 88 c and 88 k , onto the intermediate transfer belt 92 . the second transfer roller 96 transfers the y , m , c and k developer images transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 92 to a recording medium . the cleaning device 98 has a scraping member 100 which , after transfer of the respective color developer images with the second transfer roller 96 to the recording medium , scrapes toner as respective color developers remaining on the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 92 . the toner scraped with the member 100 is collected into the main body of the cleaning device 98 . the cleaning device 98 can be attached / removed in / from the image forming apparatus main body 12 via an opening formed by opening the sub opening / closing member 26 . among elements forming the transfer device 84 , the intermediate transfer belt 92 , the support rollers 92 a , 92 b , 92 c , 92 d and 92 e , the first transfer roller 94 , and the cleaning device 98 are attached to the upward opening / closing member 20 . the second transfer roller 96 of the transfer device 84 is attached to the image forming apparatus main body 12 . further , the fixing device 102 to fix the developer image , transferred with the second transfer roller 96 , onto the recording medium to the recording medium , is provided in the image forming apparatus main body 12 . the developer collection container 110 is provided in the image forming apparatus main body 12 . the developer collection container 110 is used as a discharged developer collection container to collect the developer discharged from at least one of the plural developer image forming units 80 y , 80 m , 80 c and 80 k . in the present exemplary embodiment , the developers discharged from all the four developer image forming units 80 y , 80 m , 80 c and 80 k are collected into the developer collection container 110 . more particularly , in the present exemplary embodiment , the developers discharged from the respective developing devices 88 y , 88 m , 88 c and 88 k of the developer image forming units 80 y , 80 m , 80 c and 80 k are collected into the developer collection container 110 . the developers discharged from the developing devices 88 y , 88 m , 88 c and 88 k are conveyed in a developer collection passage 170 ( see fig6 ) to be described later , provided in the image forming apparatus main body 12 , to the developer collection container 110 . the developer collection container 110 is not limited to the structure in the present exemplary embodiment where the developer discharged from the developing device 88 of the developer image forming unit 80 is collected into the developer collection container 110 . in place of this structure , or in addition to this structure , it may be arranged such that the developer discharged from the developer image forming unit 80 and discharged from another device than the developing device ( for example , the developer removed from the surface of the photoreceptor drum 90 ) is collected into the developer collection container 110 . in the present exemplary embodiment , the developer collection container 110 is integrally formed with the photoreceptor unit 86 k , and attached / removed in / from the image forming apparatus main body 12 integrally with the photoreceptor unit 86 k . the developer collection container 110 is not limited to this structure , but in place of the structure where the developer collection container 110 is integrally formed with the photoreceptor unit 86 k , it may be arranged such that the developer collection container 110 is integrally formed with any one of the other photoreceptor units 86 y , 86 m and 86 c and attached / removed integrally with any one of these photoreceptor units 86 y , 86 m and 86 c . further , it may be arranged such that the developer collection container 110 is not integrally formed with the photoreceptor unit 86 but independently provided . next , the details of the photoreceptor unit 86 will be described . note that as the photoreceptor units 86 y , 86 m , 86 c and 86 k have the same structure except that corresponding colors are different , the photoreceptor unit 86 y will be used as a typical example in the following description . fig3 is a cross - sectional diagram of the photoreceptor unit 86 y . the photoreceptor unit 86 y has a photoreceptor unit main body 122 y , and the photoreceptor drum 90 y is attached in the photoreceptor unit main body 122 y . a part of the photoreceptor drum 90 y can be exposed to the outside the photoreceptor unit main body 122 y as an exposed part 124 y . a charging device 126 y to uniformly charge the surface of the photoreceptor drum 90 y is attached in the photoreceptor unit main body 122 y . the charging device 126 y has a charging roller 128 y in contact with the photoreceptor drum 90 y . a latent image is written with the optical writing device 82 ( see fig2 ) on the surface of the photoreceptor drum 90 y uniformly charged with the charging device 126 y . a scraping member 130 y used as a cleaning device is attached in the photoreceptor unit main body 122 y . after y ( yellow ) toner as the developer has been transferred with the first transfer roller 94 y ( see fig2 ) to the intermediate transfer belt 92 , the scraping member 130 y scrapes the developer remaining on the surface of the photoreceptor drum 90 y . further , a collection chamber 132 y in which the toner scraped with the scraping member 130 y off the surface of the photoreceptor drum 90 y is collected is provided in the photoreceptor unit main body 122 y . a shutter 136 y is attached via a support member 134 y to the photoreceptor unit main body 122 y . the support member 134 y and the shutter 136 y are used as opening / closing members to open / close by moving between a position to cover the exposed part 124 y of the photoreceptor drum 90 y ( hereinbelow , referred to as a “ covering position ”) and a position to expose the exposed part 124 y from the photoreceptor unit main body 122 y ( hereinbelow , referred to as an “ exposing position ”). fig3 shows a state where the support member 134 y and the shutter 136 y have moved to the covering position . in a state where the photoreceptor unit 86 y is not attached to the image forming apparatus main body 12 , the support member 134 y and the shutter 136 y are in the covering position . further , in a state where the photoreceptor unit 86 y is attached to the image forming apparatus main body 12 and the upward opening / closing member 20 is opened with respect to the image forming apparatus main body 12 , the support member 134 y and the shutter 136 y are in the covering position . in a state where the photoreceptor unit 200 is attached to the image forming apparatus main body 12 , when the upward opening / closing member 20 is closed with respect to the image forming apparatus main body 12 , in accordance with the closing operation of the upward opening / closing member 20 , the support member 134 y and the shutter 136 y move to the exposing position . further , when the upward opening / closing member 20 is opened with respect to the image forming apparatus main body 12 , in accordance with the opening operation of the upward opening / closing member 20 , the support member 134 y and the shutter 136 y move to the covering position . in this manner , in a state where the photoreceptor unit 86 y is attached to the image forming apparatus main body 12 and the upward opening / closing member 20 is closed , the support member 134 y and the shutter 136 y are in the exposing position . that is , the structure can prevent erroneous contact between the photoreceptor drum 90 y and the outside in other cases than image forming operation . the linkage between opening / closing of the upward opening / closing member 20 and the opening / closing of the support member 134 y and the shutter 136 y is realized with a link mechanism ( not shown ) or the like . next , the details of the developing device 88 will be described . note that since the developing devices 88 y , 88 m , 88 c and 88 k have the same structure except that corresponding colors are different , the developing device 88 y will be used as a typical example in the following description . fig4 is a cross - sectional diagram of the developing device 88 y . fig5 is a cross - sectional diagram along a line v - v in fig4 . the developing device 88 y is a two - component type developing device which develops a latent image using two - component developer containing toner and carrier . the developing device 88 y has a developing device main body 142 y which contains the developer . a developing roller 144 y used as a developer holder is attached in the developing device main body 142 y . the developing roller 144 y rotates in an arrow direction shown in fig4 , to supply the developer held on its surface to the photoreceptor drum 90 y ( see fig2 ) and develop a latent image formed on the surface of the photoreceptor drum 90 y . in the developing device main body 142 y , the space is partitioned into e . g . two spaces with one partition member 146 y , as developer conveyance passages 148 y and 150 y . the developer conveyance passages 148 y and 150 y are used as passages to convey the developer in the developing device main body 142 y . in the developer conveyance passages 148 y and 150 y , conveyance members 152 y and 154 y to convey the developer while stirring the developer are attached . a supply hole 156 y and a discharge hole 158 y are formed in the developing device main body 142 y . the developer is supplied from a developer container ( not shown ) via the supply hole 156 y into the developing device main body 142 y . further , the developer is discharged via the discharge hole 158 y to the outside of the developing device main body 142 y . in the developing device 88 y having the above structure , the developer supplied via the supply hole 156 y in the developing device main body 142 y is conveyed with the conveyance member 152 y in the conveyance passage 148 y , and conveyed with the conveyance member 154 y in the conveyance passage 150 y . then , e . g . some of the developer is finally discharged via the discharge hole 158 y to the outside of the developing device main body 142 y . in this manner , a new developer is supplied into the developing device main body 142 y and excessive developer is discharged , thereby developing is performed using the newly supplied developer without continuously using developer containing deteriorated carrier . the developer collection passage 170 has vertical parts 172 y , 172 m , 172 c and 172 k extending in an approximately vertical direction and a horizontal part 174 connected to these vertical parts 172 y , 172 m , 172 c and 172 k , extending in an approximately horizontal direction . the vertical parts 172 y , 172 m , 172 c and 172 k have a hollow shape such as a pipe . the upper ends of the vertical parts 172 y , 172 m , 172 c and 172 k are connected to discharge holes 158 y , 158 m , 158 c and 158 k of the respectively corresponding developing devices 88 y , 88 m , 88 c and 88 k . the developers discharged from these discharge holes 158 are dropped in the vertical parts 172 to the horizontal part 174 . the horizontal part 174 is connected to an introduction member 112 of the developer collection container 110 . the horizontal part 174 has a hollow shape such as a pipe , in which a conveyance member 176 to convey the developer is inserted in the hollow . the conveyance member 176 receives driving transmitted from a motor m 1 via gears g 1 to g 3 . as the conveyance member 176 rotates with the received driving transmitted from the motor m 1 , the conveyance member 176 conveys the developers drop - conveyed from the vertical parts 172 y , 172 m , 172 c and 172 k toward the developer collection container 110 . the developers conveyed in the horizontal part 174 are introduced with the introduction member 112 into the developer collection container 110 . next , the details of the developer collection container 110 will be described . fig7 is a perspective diagram of the entire developer collection container 110 . further , fig8 is a cross - sectional diagram of the developer collection container 110 viewed from a side surface direction . fig9 is a cross - sectional diagram of the developer collection container 110 viewed from a front side . the developer collection container 110 has a developer collection container main body 202 , and a developer collection chamber 204 is formed in the developer collection container main body 202 . a part of an inner surface of the developer collection container main body 202 forms a slope 206 . the developer collected in the developer collection container main body 202 slips on the slope 206 and falls toward the bottom of the developer collection chamber 204 . in the developer collection container 110 , the developer including both toner and carrier discharged from the developing device 88 is collected , while the toner removed from the surface of the photoreceptor drum 90 is collected into a collection chamber 132 of the photoreceptor unit 86 . in the developer collection chamber 204 , an upper conveyance unit 210 and a lower conveyance unit 220 to convey a developer in the developer collection chamber 204 are provided in upper and lower positions in the gravitational direction . the upper surface of the developer collection container 110 is a release member . the release member is sealed by attachment of the developer collection container 110 to the photoreceptor unit 86 . further , the release member may be sealed with a lid . the ends of the upper conveyance unit 210 and the lower conveyance unit 220 are projected to the outside of the developer collection container main body 202 , and gears g 4 and g 5 are attached to the projected portions . the upper conveyance unit 210 and the lower conveyance unit 220 receive driving transmitted from a motor m 2 via gears g 4 to g 7 . the upper conveyance unit 210 and the lower conveyance unit 220 rotate with the driving transmitted from the motor m 2 , thereby convey the developer introduced from the introduction member 112 to the opposite side to the introduction member 112 ( right side in fig9 , and hereinbelow , referred to as a “ rear side ”) with respect to a rotation shaft direction of the upper conveyance unit 210 and the lower conveyance unit 220 ( hereinbelow , simply referred to as a “ rotation shaft direction ”). the introduction member 112 is provided in an approximately central position with respect to a height direction of the developer collection container main body 202 and at a height between the upper conveyance unit 210 and the lower conveyance unit 220 . accordingly , the developer discharged from the developing device 88 and conveyed in the developer collection passage 170 is collected from a position between the upper conveyance unit 210 and the lower conveyance unit 220 via the introduction member 112 into the collection container main body 202 . the upper conveyance unit 210 has an upper rotation shaft 212 . at least this upper conveyance shaft 212 is provided above the introduction member 112 in the gravitational direction . the upper conveyance shaft 212 is provided with e . g . three spiral - shaped upper conveyance members 214 a , 214 b and 214 c at intervals d 1 and d 2 from the end on the introduction member 112 side . further , at a rear side end of the upper rotation shaft 212 , a reversing conveyance member 216 in a reverse direction to the upper conveyance member 214 is provided at an interval d 3 from the upper conveyance shaft 212 c . accordingly , when the upper conveyance shaft 212 rotates , the upper conveyance member 214 conveys the developer on the introduction member 112 side in the direction of the rear side , and the reversing conveyance member 216 conveys the developer on the rear side in the direction of the introduction member 112 side . note that when the developer is continuously conveyed to only in the direction of the rear side direction in the developer collection container main body 202 , the developer is densely accumulated on the rear side . as a result , excessive load may be imposed on the rotational driving of the upper conveyance unit 210 and the lower conveyance unit 220 . accordingly , the reversing conveyance member 216 conveys the developer from the rear side in the direction of the introduction member 112 side , so as to prevent dense accumulation of the developer on the rear side . the upper conveyance members 214 a , 214 b , 214 c form a first upper conveyance region r 11 , a second upper conveyance region r 13 , and a third upper conveyance region r 15 . further , the intervals d 1 to d 3 form a first upper non - conveyance region r 12 , a second upper non - conveyance region r 14 and a third upper non - conveyance region r 16 . the reversing conveyance member 216 forms a reverse conveyance region r 17 . the positions in the rotation shaft direction of the upper conveyance unit 210 are in the first upper conveyance region r 11 , the first upper non - conveyance region r 12 , the second upper conveyance region r 13 , the second upper non - conveyance region r 14 , the third upper conveyance region r 15 , the third upper non - conveyance region r 16 and the reverse conveyance region r 17 . the lower conveyance unit 220 has a lower rotation shaft 222 . at least this lower rotation shaft 222 is provided below the introduction member 112 in the gravitational direction . the lower conveyance unit 220 is provided with e . g . two spiral - shaped lower conveyance members 224 a and 224 b at an interval d 4 from the end on the introduction member 112 side . the lower conveyance member 224 b is provided at an interval d 5 from the rear side end . the lower conveyance members 224 a and 224 b have a first lower conveyance region and a second lower conveyance region . further , the intervals d 4 and d 5 form a first lower non - conveyance region and a second lower non - conveyance region . the positions in the rotation shaft direction of the lower conveyance unit 220 are in a first lower conveyance region r 21 , a first lower non - conveyance region r 22 , a second lower conveyance region r 23 , a region r 24 in the rear side from the region r 23 and not overlapped with the reversing conveyance member 216 ( region r 17 ) with respect to the rotation shaft direction , and a region r 25 in the rear side from the region r 24 . the lower conveyance member 224 b is provided in a position overlapped with at least the interval d 2 between the upper conveyance member 214 b and the upper conveyance member 214 c in the rotation shaft direction . further , the interval d 4 between the lower conveyance member 224 a and the lower conveyance member 224 b is provided in a position overlapped with at least a part of the upper conveyance member 214 a and the interval d 1 between the upper conveyance member 214 a and the upper conveyance member 214 b in the rotation shaft direction . the details of mutual positional relation between the respective conveyance regions and non - conveyance regions of the upper conveyance unit 210 and the lower conveyance unit 220 will be described using fig9 . note that for the sake of explanation , in the respective regions , the introduction member 112 side is represented as “ beginning ” while the rear side , as “ ending ”. the regions r 11 and r 21 , without disturbing the introduction of developer from the introduction member 112 , start from a position to convey the introduced developer in the direction of the regions r 12 and r 22 . the ending of the region r 11 is on the rear side from the ending of the region r 21 . the beginning of the region r 12 is in the rear side from the beginning of the region r 22 . the ending of the region r 12 is on the introduction member 112 side from the ending of the region r 22 . the beginning of the region r 13 is on the introduction member 112 side from the beginning of the region r 23 . the ending of the region r 13 is on the introduction member 112 side from the ending of the region r 23 . the beginning of the region r 23 is on the introduction member 112 side from the beginning of the region r 15 . the ending of the region r 23 is on the introduction member 112 side from the ending of the region r 15 . the beginning of the region r 15 is on the rear side from the beginning of the region r 23 . the ending of the region r 15 is on the rear side from the ending of the region r 23 . the beginning of the region r 14 is on the rear side from the beginning of the region r 23 . the ending of the region r 14 is on the introduction member 112 side from the ending of the region r 23 . in this manner , the beginning of the second and subsequent upper conveyance regions and the beginning of the second and subsequent lower conveyance regions are alternately arranged on the upper and lower sides with respect to the rotation shaft direction . in the present exemplary embodiment , the upper conveyance member 214 a provided from the respective introduction member 112 side of the upper rotation shaft 212 and the lower rotation shaft 222 , the upper conveyance members 214 b and 214 c on the rear side from the lower conveyance member 224 a , and the lower conveyance member 224 b , are provided alternately on the upper and lower sides with respect to the rotation shaft direction . next , the conveyance of the developer collected in the developer collection container main body 202 will be described . the space in the developer collection container main body 202 is partitioned in the rotation shaft direction , from the end of the introduction member 112 side , ( 1 ) the region r 21 , ( 2 ) the region r 22 , ( 3 ) the region r 23 , ( 4 ) a region where the region r 24 and the region r 15 overlap each other , ( 5 ) the region 16 and ( 6 ) region r 25 . in the region r 21 , the developer discharged from the introduction member 112 is conveyed with the upper conveyance member 214 a and the lower conveyance member 224 a to the region r 22 . with this arrangement , accumulation of the developer around the introduction member 112 ( region r 21 ) is suppressed . in the region r 22 , the developer conveyed from the region r 21 is accumulated . the developer accumulated to the height of the upper conveyance unit 210 is conveyed with the upper conveyance members 214 a and 214 b in the direction of the region r 23 . when a range where the developer is temporarily accumulated is provided in the region r 22 adjacent to the region r 21 , in comparison with a case without the present structure , the accumulation of the developer around the introduction member 112 is further suppressed . in the region r 23 , the developer conveyed from the region r 22 is accumulated . the developer accumulated to the height of the lower conveyance unit 220 is conveyed , mainly with the lower conveyance member 224 b , in the direction of the region r 24 . in accordance with the accumulated state of the developer in the developer collection container main body 202 , when the developer has been accumulated to the height of the upper conveyance unit 210 in the region r 23 , the developer is conveyed , with the upper conveyance members 214 b and 214 c in addition to the lower conveyance member 224 b , in the direction of a range r 4 . ( 4 ) region where region r 24 and region r 15 overlap each other in the region where the region r 24 and the region r 15 overlap each other , the developer conveyed from the region r 23 is accumulated . the developer accumulated to the height of the upper conveyance unit 210 is conveyed with the upper conveyance member 214 c in the direction of the region r 25 . when the regions r 23 and r 24 are provided around the center of the developer collection container main body 202 , in comparison with a case without the present structure , local accumulation of the developer at around the central position can be further suppressed . in the region 16 , the developer conveyed from the region where the region r 24 and the region r 15 overlap each other and the developer conveyed from the region r 25 are accumulated . the region 16 ( interval d 3 ) is the greatest ( longest ) range among the above regions ( 1 ) to ( 6 ). accordingly , the largest amount of developer in the above regions ( 1 ) to ( 6 ) can be contained in the region 16 . when the region 16 is arranged on the rear side from the center of the developer collection container main body 202 , in comparison with a case without the present structure , the developer can be more efficiently contained in the developer collection container main body 202 . in the region r 25 , the developer conveyed from the region 16 is accumulated . the developer accumulated to the height of the upper conveyance unit 210 is conveyed with the reversing conveyance member 216 in the direction of the region 16 . accordingly , in the region r 25 , dense accumulation of developer can be suppressed . further , since the region r 25 is positioned at the end of the rear side , the accumulated developer may reach the height of the upper conveyance unit 210 before the height in the region 16 becomes the height of the upper conveyance unit 210 . in this case , the reversing conveyance member 216 provided in the upper position conveys the developer to the region r 16 having larger capacity than that in the region r 25 . in this manner , in the developer collection container 110 , the developer can be contained even in a position higher than the introduction member 112 . in the present exemplary embodiment , the upper conveyance member 214 is partitioned into three parts , while the lower conveyance member 224 is partitioned into two parts . however , the present invention is not limited to this arrangement . the partitioning may be arbitrarily changed in correspondence with the size or the like of the developer collection container 110 . further , the reversing conveyance member 216 may be provided in the both upper conveyance unit 210 and the lower conveyance unit 220 . further , seen from the rotation shaft direction , the rotation shafts of the upper conveyance unit 210 and the lower conveyance unit 220 overlap each other in the vertical direction . however , the rotation shafts may be shifted in the horizontal direction within a range where the developer can be conveyed . for example , when there is no problem in a state where , seen from the rotation shaft direction , at least parts of the upper conveyance unit 210 and the lower conveyance unit 220 may be overlap each other in the vertical direction , the upper conveyance unit 210 and the lower conveyance unit 220 may be shifted in the horizontal direction . the foregoing description of the exemplary embodiment of the present invention has been provided for the purposes of illustration and description . it is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed . obviously , many modifications and variations will be apparent to practitioners skilled in the art . the exemplary embodiment was chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical applications , thereby enabling others skilled in the art to understand the invention for various embodiments and with the various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated . it is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the following claims and their equivalents .	6
the principle of a high strength , undiffused brushless machine has been previously disclosed in the hsu , u . s . pat . no . 6 , 573 , 634 , issued jun . 3 , 2003 , hsu , u . s . patent application ser . no . 10 / 688 , 586 filed sep . 23 , 2003 , and hsu u . s . patent application ser . no . 10 / 848 , 450 filed may 18 , 2004 , the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference . for a conventional pm machine the air - gap flux density is about 0 . 6 to 0 . 8 teslas and cannot be weakened without the aid of some sophisticated power electronics . both the stationary excitation coil and the pm material in the rotor maximize rotor flux in the pm machines of the embodiments of the present invention . these embodiments can produce two to three times the air gap flux density of a conventional pm machine . because the pm torque produced by an electric machine is directly proportional to the air gap pm flux density , a higher torque , more powerful machine is provided with only small additions to size and weight . fig1 shows a longitudinal section view of a radial gap , high strength undiffused machine 10 with eight side poles 12 a , 12 b in a rotor assembly 11 . fig2 and 3 each show the eight side poles 12 a and 12 b attached to the sides of the rotor core in an area bounded by eight sets of flux - guiding magnets 14 that consist of three pieces of magnets for guiding flux towards the radial air gap 20 for the sample eight - pole machine . the eight side magnets 16 help to prevent leakage flux at the rotor sides . optionally , reluctance side poles 15 are provided by the portions of the rotor positioned in between the side magnet 16 and side pole 12 a and 12 b and between the flux - guiding magnets 14 without contacting the flux - guiding magnets 14 . the reluctance side poles 15 allow the flux produced by a stator 17 to go through these reluctance side poles 15 easier than the path going through the side poles 12 a and 12 b . the rotor assembly 11 is preferably made as described in the disclosures cited above , namely , the rotor has a hub 11 a and a plurality of laminations 11 b of ferromagnetic material are mounted and stacked on the hub 11 a and clamped by non - magnetic end plates 12 c . the rotor laminations 11 b and ferromagnetic end plates 11 c have keyed projections 11 d for insertion in keyways in the rotor hub 11 a . the ferromagnetic end plates 11 c can be made of solid mild steel or stacked laminations . the side poles 12 a , 12 b are made of ferromagnetic material . the flux - guiding magnets 14 can be pre - formed pieces or the injected type . between pieces of flux - guiding magnets 14 , an epoxy material can be used to fill gaps . side magnets 16 are separate pieces attached to the ends of the rotor assembly 11 . bolts ( not shown ) are used to hold the side poles 12 a , 12 b and ferromagnetic end plates 11 c in position . ring band 37 can hold the side poles 12 a , 12 b , side magnets 16 , and ferromagnetic end plate 11 c in place to withstand the centrifugal force . the machine 10 optionally has brushless excitation as shown in fig1 and 4 . brushless excitation of fig1 is provided by stationary coils 23 and 24 and stationary flux collectors 25 and 26 . no brushless excitation is used in fig4 wherein the machine 10 is absent stationary coils and stationary flux collectors . the rotor assembly 11 rotates with a main drive shaft 19 around an axis of rotation 19 a . the stator 17 is disposed around the rotor 11 and has a laminated core 17 a and windings 17 b as seen in a conventional ac machine . the rotor assembly 11 is separated from the stator 17 by a radial air gap 20 , which is also referred to herein as the primary air gap . ac flux is produced in this air gap 20 by the stator field . with brushless excitation , the rotor assembly 11 is separated from the stationary flux collectors 25 and 26 by axial air gaps 21 and 22 , respectively . these air gaps 21 , 22 are oriented perpendicular to the axis 19 a of the rotor 11 . dc flux will be produced in these air gaps 21 , 22 by excitation coils 23 and 24 . stationary flux collectors 25 and 26 are disposed at the axial air gaps 21 , 22 . the laminated option of stationary flux collector can further smooth the dc flux component and reduce the possible occurrence of eddy currents . the drive shaft 19 is supported by bearings 31 and 32 . a short internal shaft 30 is also coupled to the rotor 11 . a shaft encoder 33 and a pump 34 for lubricant for the motor 10 are situated inside a passageway 35 through the hollow center of the excitation coil 24 . a housing cover 36 closes the passageway 33 . referring to fig2 , the dc flux produced by the excitation coils 23 , 24 is conducted into the rotor from one set of the ferromagnetic side poles 12 a attached to the n polarity of the rotor , and then turns to flow radially outward across the main air gap 20 into the stator core 17 a , then loops and returns radially inward and is conducted axially outward through adjacent side poles 12 b attached to the s polarity at the other end of the rotor 11 ( fig3 ). the dc flux produced by the excitation coils does not pass through the reluctance side poles 15 . the dc flux return path 38 ( labeled in fig1 ) goes through the frame that is made of magnetically conducting material . referring to fig2 and 3 , the flux - guiding magnets 14 together with the excitation current going through the excitation coils 23 and 24 produce the north ( n ) and south ( s ) poles on the exterior of rotor 11 that faces the stator 17 and the radial air gap 20 . this rotor flux in the radial air gap 20 can be either enhanced or weakened according to the polarity of the dc excitation in the excitation assemblies 23 , 24 that face the ends the rotor 11 . subsequently , the radial air gap 20 receives the rotor flux from the rotor 11 , which interacts with the primary flux induced by the stator windings 17 b to produce a torque . fig7 and 8 show the flux - guiding magnets 14 inside the rotor lamination 11 b . as an option , a strong flux guiding magnet set 14 a and a weak magnet 14 b can be chosen . fig8 a shows a rotor assembly 11 ′ illustrating that the flux - guiding magnets 14 can be modified to consist of multiple sets of magnets for each pole disposed on multiple grooves to increase the reluctance torque value . fig9 and 10 show the rotor with and without reluctance side poles 15 installed , respectively . fig1 , 12 and 13 illustrate an embodiment of the improvements of the current invention . the functions of each optional improvement are described as follows . the flux - guiding magnets 14 and side magnets 16 are used to conduct the axial fluxes and to block the unwanted axial leakage flux during field enhancement . the flux - guiding magnets 14 are typically thin with respect to the width of the grooves in which they are situated . a thinner magnet can reduce the cost of permanent magnets . during field enhancement the higher air - gap flux density is produced by the brushless field excitation . therefore , a weaker and thinner pm can do the job as part of the flux - guiding barriers to discourage the flux going across the grooves . the ferromagnetic end plate 11 c smoothes the axial flux and produces a return path for the side magnets 16 . the ring band 37 prevents the side poles , side magnets and end pieces from flying apart due to the centrifugal force . the hsub technology is for electric vehicle and hybrid electric vehicle applications . however , the hsub technology certainly can be used for other applications where the use of electricity to produce torque and motion is involved . the invention is applicable to both ac synchronous and dc brushless machines and to both motors and generators . this has been a description of the preferred embodiments of the invention . the present invention is intended to encompass additional embodiments including modifications to the details described above which would nevertheless come within the scope of the following claims .	7
a coil unit according to the first embodiment of the present invention is described with reference to fig1 and 2 . a coil unit 1 of this embodiment is a coil unit for accommodating a primary coil 2 at the power supply - side in a contactless power supply system provided in a motor vehicle or the like , and is installed on a road surface r . a secondary coil not shown is connected to a battery of a motor vehicle or the like . when the motor vehicle or the like is positioned at a predetermined location , the primary coil 2 becomes able to supply electrical power to the secondary coil by utilizing electromagnetic induction . the coil unit 1 includes the primary coil 2 wound around a coil bobbin 9 , a bottom plate 3 directly contacting with the road surface r , a shock absorber 4 arranged on the upper surface of the bottom plate 3 , a frame 5 directly contacting with the upper surface of the bottom plate 3 and accommodated within inside of the shock absorber 4 , a shielding case 6 accommodating the primary coil 2 and accommodated within the frame 5 , a cover 7 covering the shielding case 6 , and supporting posts 8 abutting against the shielding case 6 and the cover 7 , and supporting the cover 7 from below . the bottom plate 3 is formed to include a bottom plate body 31 made of a metal material in a plate - like shape , a rubber bottom 32 arranged between the road surface r and the lower surface of the bottom plate body 31 , and a projection portion 33 integrally formed with the bottom plate body 31 and externally projecting further than an outer peripheral portion 52 of the frame 5 that will be described later . the shock absorber 4 is formed in a frame - like shape by using materials such as hard rubber or the like so as to absorb shocks from the outside thereof . the shock absorber 4 is formed to include a lower peripheral edge 41 having an equivalent size to an outer peripheral edge of the projection portion 33 of the bottom plate 3 , an outer side surface 42 standing from the lower peripheral edge 41 , an inner side surface 43 standing from the lower peripheral edge 41 and opposing to the outer peripheral portion 52 of the frame 5 which will be described later , an upper peripheral edge 44 positioned in a vicinity of a cover body 71 and an inclined surface 45 provided at the upper peripheral edge 44 and lowering toward the outside thereof the frame 5 is formed in a frame - like shape by using a hollow member made of stainless steel or the like having lower electrical conductivity property than the shielding case 6 which will be described later . the frame 5 is formed to include a lower surface 51 abutting against the bottom plate body 31 , the outer peripheral portion 52 standing from the lower surface 51 , an inner peripheral portion 53 standing from the lower surface 51 and opposing to a peripheral wall 62 of the shielding case 6 that will be described later , an upper surface 54 connecting the upper end of the outer peripheral portion 52 and the upper end of the inner peripheral portion 53 , and fixing projections 55 provided along the entire periphery of the upper surface 54 . the fixing projections 55 is provided with a bolt hole 56 for affixing the cover 7 with bolts the shielding case 6 is a member which is responsible for electrical performance such as electrical transmitting efficiency , electromagnetic field leakage reduction property or the like . the shielding case 6 is formed in a box - like shape which opens upward by using materials having high electrical conductivity such as copper alloy , aluminum alloy or the like . the shielding case 6 is comprised of a bottom wall 61 abutting against the bottom plate body 31 , the peripheral wall 62 standing from the outer periphery of the bottom wall 61 and opposing to the inner peripheral portion 53 of the frame 5 and an accommodation space 63 accommodating the primary coil 2 within the bottom wall 61 and the peripheral wall 62 . the cover 7 is formed to include the cover body 71 made of a plate - like member , a frame - like shaped gasket 72 arranged between a lower side face 75 of the cover body 71 and the upper surface 54 of the frame 5 , and an affixing bolt 73 . the gasket 72 is made of materials such as rubber or the like which have shock - absorbing property . the cover body 71 is provided with affixing holes 76 for inserting the affixing bolt 73 thereinto from an upper side surface 74 side of the cover body 71 . the gasket 72 is provided with the insertion holes 77 for inserting the fixing projections 55 provided on the upper surface 54 of the frame 5 thereinto . the supporting post 8 is integrally formed with the coil bobbin 9 , a lower edge face 81 of the supporting post 8 is in contact with the upper surface of the bottom wall 61 in the shielding case 6 , and the upper peripheral edge face 82 is in contact with the lower side face 75 of the cover body 71 . in the outer periphery of the upper and lower edge faces 81 , 82 of the supporting post 8 , there is formed a chamfer 83 a beveling processed . thus , when the coil bobbin 9 is accommodated into the accommodation space 63 of the shielding case 6 , the chamfer 83 is prevented from abutting against the lower side face 75 of the cover body 71 and the upper surface of the bottom wall 61 in the shielding case 6 . next , an example of installing process of the coil unit 1 is described . as for the installing process of the coil unit 1 , it is not limited to those that will be described hereinafter , the order of the processes as described below may be properly alternated in so far as the coil unit 1 shown in fig1 and 2 is configured after the installment thereof . first , the rubber bottom 32 is placed on the road surface r and the bottom plate body 31 is installed on the rubber bottom 32 . next , the shock absorber 4 is disposed so as to coincide with the outer periphery of the projection portion 33 of the bottom plate 3 , and the frame 5 is arranged at the inside of the shock absorber 4 . further , the shielding case 6 accommodating the coil bobbin 9 around which the primary coil 2 is wound , is arranged in the inside of the frame 5 . in final , the fixing projections 55 are inserted into the insertion holes 77 of the gasket 72 , and the affixing bolt 73 is screwed into the bolt hole 56 from the upper surface 74 side of the cover body 71 through the affixing hole 76 such that the cover body 71 is affixed to the frame 5 , resulting in the completion of the installment of the coil unit 1 . incidentally , in this embodiment , although the frame 5 , the cover 7 , and the gasket 72 are affixed by bolts , they may be affixed by other measures . through the processes as above described , in the coil unit 1 , there are accommodated the shock absorber 4 , the frame 5 , the shielding case 6 , and the coil bobbin 9 around which the primary coil 2 is wound , in the order from the outside toward the accommodation space 63 in the shielding case 6 . next , a method by which loads provided from the outside are supported in the coil unit 1 is described . when the motor vehicle or the like goes aground the coil unit 1 , since the motor vehicle or the like firstly goes aground the inclined surface 45 of the shock absorber 4 , being located at the outermost part in the coil unit 1 , loads such as the motor vehicle or the like are supported by both the shock absorber 4 and the bottom plate 3 against which the lower peripheral edge 41 of the shock absorber 4 abuts . further , when the motor vehicle or the like goes aground the cover 7 , the loads such as the motor vehicle or the like are supported by the cover 7 , the frame 5 , and the bottom plate 3 . also , when the motor vehicle or the like goes aground the inner portion of the cover 7 which is not supported by the frame 5 , the loads such as the motor vehicle or the like are supported also by the supporting post 8 . hence , in the coil unit 1 , the bottom plate 3 , the shock absorber 4 , the frame 5 , and the cover 7 are primarily responsible for the load bearing property , and in the inner portion of the cover 7 , which is not supported by the frame 5 , the supporting post 8 is supporting the loads as well . further , since the gasket 72 is arranged between the lower side face 75 of the cover body 71 and the upper surface 54 of the frame 5 , the coil unit 1 shows a water - stopping property with respect to the shielding case 6 and the primary coil 2 accommodated within the space that is more inside of the coil unit 1 than the frame 5 . according to this embodiment , by forming separately the bottom plate 3 , the frame 5 , and the cover 7 which are primarily responsible for mechanical performance such as load bearing property or waterproof property from the shielding case 6 which is responsible for electrical performance such as electrical transmitting efficiency or electromagnetic field leakage reduction property , a design can be created individually by considering mechanical performance and electrical performance individually . therefore , a balance between mechanical performance and electrical performance can be easily controlled . further , since the shock absorber 4 is arranged along the projection portion 33 of the bottom plate 3 and the outer peripheral portion 52 of the frame 5 , and the upper peripheral edge 44 of the shock absorber 4 is located in a vicinity of the cover 7 , when the motor vehicle or the like goes aground the coil unit 1 , the loads of the motor vehicle or the like are applied firstly onto the shock absorber 4 . thereby , the shock applied onto the frame 5 , the shielding case 6 accommodated thereinside , the primary coil 2 , and the coil bobbin 9 , can be reduced . further , since at the upper peripheral edge 44 of the inclined surface 45 , there is formed the inclined surface 45 lowering toward the outside of the coil unit 1 , when the motor vehicle or the like goes aground the coil unit 1 , a difference in level between the road surface r and the cover 7 is absorbed , and tires of the motor vehicle or the like gradually go aground the coil unit 1 . thereby , the shock applied onto the frame 5 , the shielding case 6 accommodated thereinside , the primary coil 2 , and the coil bobbin 9 can be more effectively reduced . further , since the supporting post 8 which supports the cover 7 from below is provided between the bottom wall 61 of the shielding case 6 and the lower side face 75 of the cover body 71 , when the motor vehicle or the like goes aground the coil unit 1 , the loads applied on the inner portion of the cover 7 which are not supported by the frame 5 can be supported also by the supporting post 8 . thereby , the load bearing property of the coil unit 1 can be enhanced . further , since the chamfer 83 beveling processed is provided on the upper and lower edge faces 81 , 82 of the supporting post 8 , when the loads are applied to the supporting post 8 , damages provided to the cover 7 against which the upper and lower edge faces 81 , 82 of the supporting post 8 abut , and damages provided to the bottom wall 61 of the shielding case 6 , can be prevented . further , since the supporting post 8 is integrally formed with the coil bobbin 9 , the supporting post 8 can be efficiently arranged in the accommodation space 63 of the shielding case 6 . thereby , the load bearing property of the coil unit 1 can further be enhanced . a coil unit according to the second embodiment of the present invention is described with reference to fig3 a and 4b . fig3 is an exploded perspective view of a coil unit according to a second embodiment of the present invention , and shows a partial sectional view of a cover 7 a that will be described later . the coil unit 1 includes a bottom plate 3 that has almost the same shape as that of the first embodiment . in this embodiment , the cover 7 a is formed as a component integrally composed of the shock absorber 4 , the frame 5 , and the cover 7 of the first embodiment . in the lower peripheral edge 41 , there is provided a groove 46 in which the gasket 72 arranged between the cover 7 a and the bottom plate 3 , is fitted . further , the supporting post 8 standing from the bottom wall 61 of the shielding case 6 supports the cover 7 a from below , through the coil bobbin 9 , there are formed supporting post insertion holes 91 into which the supporting posts 8 are inserted . according to this embodiment , since the supporting post 8 is standing from the bottom wall 61 of the shielding case 6 and is inserted into the supporting post insertion hole 91 formed through the coil bobbin 9 , the supporting post 8 can be effectively arranged in the accommodation space 63 of the shielding case 6 . thereby , the load bearing property of the coil unit 1 can be enhanced . further , since the cover 7 a is integrally formed with the shock absorber 4 and the frame 5 , and in the shielding case 6 , a portion lower than the upper surface opening portion thereof can be covered by a single member , the waterproof property the coil unit 1 can be enhanced . further , in this embodiment , as shown in fig4 a , the supporting post 8 is supported by the bottom wall 61 of the shielding case 6 . as shown in fig4 b , the supporting post 8 may be integrally formed with the bottom plate body 31 in so far as the supporting post 8 is capable of supporting the cover 7 a . on this occasion , the supporting post insertion hole 64 is formed through the shielding case 6 . incidentally , in each embodiment as described above , the shielding case 6 is made of copper alloy or aluminum alloy having high electrical conductivity property , other materials having electrical conductivity property can be used in so far as the shielding case 6 has a shielding property . as for members such as the bottom plate 3 , the frame 5 , the supporting post 8 or the like which are responsible for the load bearing property , a resin material or the like having no electrical conductivity , or a metallic material such as stainless steel or the like having lower electrical conductivity property than materials used for the shielding case 6 may be used . although the shock absorber 4 is made of a hard rubber , any materials can be used in so far as the materials are able to reduce shocks made by the motor vehicle or the like . further , in the first embodiment , although the gasket 72 of the cover is provided with insertion holes 77 into which the fixing projections 55 of the frame are inserted , and the gasket 72 is arranged between the cover body 71 and the frame 5 , the gasket 72 can be fitted into the groove 57 provided at the lower side face 75 of the cover body 71 and the upper surface 54 of the frame 5 as shown in fig5 . further , the coil unit 1 is installed on the road surface r , the coil unit 1 may be embedded in the underground in so far as electricity can be supplied to the secondary coil mounted in the motor vehicle or the like . although other optimum configurations or methods for implementing the present invention are described in the above descriptions , the present invention is not limited thereto . that is , the present invention is primarily shown and described in specific drawings in regard to particular embodiments , the skilled in the art can variably modify the above described embodiments in shapes , materials , numbers / amounts , or other detailed configurations . therefore , the descriptions in which shapes or materials are disclosed as above is the exemplifying descriptions for facilitating the understanding of the present invention , the present invention is not limited thereto . hence , the present invention includes descriptions in which the members are described in the names of partial limitation such as shapes or materials thereof or in the names of not having all the limitations thereof .	7
in one exemplary embodiment , the sealing assembly according to the invention can be mounted on an aircraft in the area between the fuselage and the wing , as described below with reference to fig1 . the invention is , however , by no means limited to an application in this location , and it can also be employed in other locations on an aircraft . the aircraft according to fig1 has , between fuselage 1 and wing 2 , a fuselage fairing attached to the fuselage 1 and surrounding the wing , which fuselage fairing is made up of individual , in this case plate - shaped , seal retainer elements ( 10 in fig2 ), which in the example shown here are attached via screws to a coupling profile 3 . the coupling profile is attached via screws 4 to the wing 2 . a sealing element ( 12 in fig2 ) made of rubber - elastic material is held and secured by means of the attachment screws 5 between the coupling profile 3 and the seal retainer elements , in each case . in fig2 , the sealing element 12 is shown as a hatch - line representation in the unstressed state . in addition , the shape of the sealing element , when it sits on the broken - line indicated surface of the wing 2 , is shown . in accordance with the design requirements , individual sealing elements are arranged next to and in close proximity to one another , and of these , the sealing elements 12 and 13 are schematically represented in fig3 and 4 . the sealing element 12 is attached via screws 5 , 5 ′ to the plate 10 of the fuselage fairing and the sealing element 13 , via screws 5 , 5 ′, to the plate 11 of the fuselage fairing . as indicated by the arrow symbolizing the flow direction in fig3 , the sealing element 12 constitutes the front element in the direction of flow , and the sealing element 13 constitutes the rear element in the direction of flow . in the “ adapter concept ” depicted here , an adapter element 15 made of rubber - elastic material is provided between these elements , which forms , together with the upper surfaces of the sealing elements 12 and 13 , a continuous , stepless top surface , as depicted , while a projection 18 formed on its upper surface extends between the seal retainer elements 10 and 11 and thus improves the flow behavior between the adjacent seal retainer elements . projections 16 , 17 are provided on the underside of the adapter element 15 , which extend into recesses on the undersides of the sealing elements 12 and 13 and which are attached by means of attachment systems to the sealing elements 12 and 13 , the attachment systems being provided in the areas identified by broken - line ovals in fig3 and explained in detail by reference to fig1 . the underside of the adapter element 15 , together with the projections 16 and 17 , forms a stepless , continuous surface with the undersides of the sealing elements 12 and 13 . the attachment systems prevent the sealing elements 12 , 13 from lifting away from the adapter element 15 . the embodiment shown in fig5 , which likewise employs the “ adapter concept ,” includes sealing elements 12 ′ and 13 ′, the ends of which facing one another are beveled and extend into corresponding recesses of the adapter element 15 ′ so that in this way the front end of the sealing element 13 ′ is prevented from lifting due to the vacuum present during operation relative to the adapter element 15 ′, and thus relative to the sealing element 12 ′. a similar assembly to the one in fig5 is shown in fig6 , wherein the ends of the sealing elements 12 ″ and 13 ″ are designed the same as in fig5 and engage with corresponding recesses in the adapter element 15 ″. the adapter element also includes a projection 18 ″, which extends into the gap between the seal retainer elements 10 , 11 , while the adapter element 15 ″ outside these seal retainer elements forms an essentially stepless , continuous surface with the upper surfaces of the sealing elements 12 ″, 13 ″. an adapter element 15 ″′ with beveled ends is shown in fig7 , wherein the beveled ends extend into corresponding recesses in the ends of the sealing elements 12 ″′ and 13 ″′ and thus couple these sealing elements to one another via the adapter element , preventing upwards movement . in the exemplary embodiment of fig8 and 9 , which is configured in accordance with the “ overlap concept ”, sealing elements 12 a and 13 a are attached to the still plate - shaped seal retainer elements 10 and 11 via screws 5 , and the sealing element 13 a at the rear in the direction of flow has a projection 14 a on its underside , which extends into a recess on the underside of the rear end of the front sealing element 12 and is attached to the sealing element 12 a . the projection 14 a can again be attached to the sealing element 12 a by means of attachment systems shown in fig1 and disposed in the oval area drawn in broken lines in fig8 . however , it is also conceivable to attach the projection 14 a to the sealing element 12 a with adhesive . the projection 14 a forms a continuous extension of the lower surface of the sealing element 13 a with its lower surface and forms a stepless , continuous contact surface with the lower surface of the sealing element 12 a . the projection 14 a prevents lifting of the front end of the sealing element 13 a relative to the rear end of the sealing element 12 a during operation . in the further development of the design according to fig8 and 9 shown in fig1 , the rear sealing element 13 b has an engagement rib 20 b on the projection 14 b , which extends into a correspondingly shaped indentation on the underside of the front sealing element 12 b and thus additionally strengthens the coupling between the sealing elements 12 b and 13 b . fig1 provides a detailed depiction of the attachment system , which , amongst others , in the exemplary embodiments of fig3 and 4 and of fig8 and 9 , can be employed in the areas identified by ovals . a lower element 21 and an upper element 22 are attached to one another by means of the attachment system . the lower element may be the projections 16 , 17 or the projection 14 a , while the upper element is a sealing element 12 , 13 or 12 a in both exemplary embodiments . through - holes , which are aligned with one another , are created in the upper and the lower element 21 , 22 , and a pin 23 having circumferential radial projections 24 extends into the through - hole from the top surface of the lower element 21 , which pin is formed on a first connection element 25 , which by means of a head 26 extending laterally over the hole abuts the lower surface of the lower element 21 . in addition , a second connection element 27 is provided , which likewise has a head 28 extending laterally over the through - hole , which abuts the upper surface of the upper element 22 . a stud 29 is disposed on the second connection element 27 , which extends into the through - hole and has a hole 30 having indentations 31 encircling its peripheral surface . thereby , the pin 23 extends into the hole 30 , and the projections 24 engage with the indentations 31 , so that the connection elements 25 , 27 are firmly connected to one another and the upper and lower elements 21 , 22 retain one another . the surfaces of the projections 24 on the pin 23 facing toward the tip of the pin 23 are oblique , while the surfaces facing toward the head extend perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the pin 23 ( see portion a in fig1 ). as a result , the pin 23 can be inserted into the hole 30 , but cannot be retracted from it . in this way , the projections 16 , 17 of the adapter element 15 can be easily connected to the sealing elements 12 , 13 in the exemplary embodiment of fig4 and 5 . with the described attachment system in the exemplary embodiment of fig9 and 10 , the projection 14 a can likewise be attached to the sealing element 12 a . it should be evident from the above description of the exemplary embodiments that the sealing assembly according to the invention is not limited to an application in the area where the wings connect to the fuselage , but can also be employed in other locations on the aircraft . while at least one exemplary embodiment of the present invention ( s ) is disclosed herein , it should be understood that modifications , substitutions and alternatives may be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art and can be made without departing from the scope of this disclosure . this disclosure is intended to cover any adaptations or variations of the exemplary embodiment ( s ). in addition , in this disclosure , the terms “ comprise ” or “ comprising ” do not exclude other elements or steps , the terms “ a ” or “ one ” do not exclude a plural number , and the term “ or ” means either or both . furthermore , characteristics or steps which have been described may also be used in combination with other characteristics or steps and in any order unless the disclosure or context suggests otherwise . this disclosure hereby incorporates by reference the complete disclosure of any patent or application from which it claims benefit or priority .	1
it is to be understood that the figures and descriptions of the disclosure have been simplified to illustrate elements that are relevant for a clear understanding , while eliminating , for the purpose of brevity , many other elements found in typical digital video recording apparatuses , systems and methods . those of ordinary skill in the art will thus recognize that other elements and / or steps are desirable and / or required in implementing the disclosure . however , because such elements and steps are well known in the art , a discussion of such elements and steps is not provided herein . the disclosure herein is directed to all such variations and modifications to such elements and methods known to those skilled in the art . digital video recorders ( dvr ) are well - known in the available art . such dvrs may typically record any or nearly any showing of an audio - visual program that passes through the dvr , such as for display on a connected television set or computing monitor . such audio - visual programs can typically be recorded , if available , in high definition format or standard definition format , and may , such as at playback , enable a user to fast forward or rewind parts of the program . dvrs may include , receive , or otherwise have associated therewith , information that increases user convenience for use of the dvr , such as interactivity with channel lineups and on - demand programming , for example . dvrs include a variety of types , such as stand - alone residential dvrs , remote dvrs at remote locations , such as at edge servers in cable systems , for example , dvr capabilities in internet protocol ( ip ) televisions , hd dvrs , sd dvrs , and the like . however , currently available dvrs , although a significant increase in efficiency over previous technologies , such as video cassette recorders ( vcrs ), allow a user to increase the efficiency of watching a television program only marginally . that is , most users fast forward only through those parts of the audio - visual program that are not of interest to the user , thereby leaving the bulk of the audio - visual program to be viewed in actual time . this creates a particular issue for users who record large numbers of programs on their respective dvrs , at least in that such users can typically save , at most , approximately 15 minutes of time ( in eliminating much of the programming time taken up by advertisements ) when viewing a one - hour television program . thus , the present invention provides a “ catchup ” feature , in which , unlike the prior art , fast forward audio is provided , rather than simply fast forward video , wherein multiple speeds are available to move through an audio - visual program , which multiple available video speeds may be slower than those typically available through the fast forward feature in current dvrs and similar technology in order to allow the user to process and enjoy viewing the program in spite of the increased speed of play . those skilled in the art will appreciate , in light of the disclosure herein , that the present invention is applicable for all types of dvrs , including , but not limited to , residential dvrs , remote dvrs , sd dvrs , hd dvrs , and ip television dvr . fig1 illustrates a dvr in accordance with the present invention . the dvr 10 may include a programming receiver 12 , a programming lineup receiver 14 , and at least one microprocessor 16 . the microprocessor may include computing code 18 , wherein the computing code 18 is capable of providing interactivity with ones of the programs received at receiver 12 and with ones of the lineup at receiver 14 , such that programming can be recorded from receiver 12 , at a time and place indicated by receiver 14 , to one or more storage elements 22 , as dictated by microprocessor 16 and for output to a viewer , such as via output 20 . further , the interactivity indicated by computing code 18 may further include manipulation of programming stored at storage element 22 , such as a recordings menu , a list of items to be recorded , a list of recommended items for recordation , and inter - program interactivity , such as play , pause , stop , rewind , and fast forward , for example . for example , the software associated with a microprocessor of the dvr may , in accordance with the present invention , allow for play back of an audio visual program in , for example , 1 . 25 × of real time , 1 . 5 × of real time , and 1 . 75 × of real time , wherein , in each such playback mode , sound is provided at the same multiple of speed as that selected for video — that is , the original program play of the audio and the video remains interlaced at the increased playback speeds . thereby , in contradistinction to the aforementioned prior art example wherein the available art saves a viewer , at maximum , 15 minutes of viewing time typically allotted to advertising , the present invention allows the 45 remaining minutes of television programming of interest to the user in the one hour program to be watched by the viewer faster , without the viewer missing any content of interest within the television program . thereby , the present invention allows for the user to watch programs faster , particularly when numerous programs have been recorded on the user &# 39 ; s dvr . this “ catchup ” feature of the present invention may be made available to the user for all programs , may be made available with a typical fast forward feature ( 2 ×, 3 ×, 4 ×, 5 ×, etc .) also made available in the same playback and / or in an alternative real - time playback mode , or may be made available as an option prior to playback of a program . for example , a user may be provided with a choice upon selecting a playback of an audio - visual program , wherein the choice asks the user to select whether the user would like to watch the program in normal mode , such as with the 2 ×, 3 × and 4 × fast forward options , or in catchup mode , with at least the 1 . 25x , 1 . 5x , and 1 . 75x fast forward options , or in normal catchup mode , with the 1 . 25 ×, 1 . 5 × and 1 . 75 × playback with sound fastforward options and the 2 ×, 3 × and 4 × or more fast forward soundless playback options also available . for example , if the user selects normal catchup mode , the user may also have available the normal fast forward feature , such as a 2 ×, 3 ×, 4 × or 5 ×, such as to move through commercials , in conjunction with the aforementioned catchup viewing speeds . alternatively , the user may not have available the normal higher rate fast forwards of a normal playback in catchup mode . thereby , although the user can move through a program faster in catchup mode , the user may optionally be forced to watch and listen to commercials , albeit at the increased catchup viewing pace over the rate designed by the advertisers . as such , the present invention may increase the relevance of advertising for television advertisers to levels available prior to mass implementation of dvr technology . further , the present invention may make catchup mode available to a user at all times , or may make catchup mode available only when a certain amount of programming is stored on the user &# 39 ; s dvr . for example , once a user &# 39 ; s dvr becomes more than 50 % full with respect to the storage allotted in association with the microprocessor of the dvr , catchup mode may become available to the user , whereby the user may catchup with the user &# 39 ; s viewing by playing back the user &# 39 ; s programming at the aforementioned increased pace . as discussed above , in order to optimize user viewing efficiency , the user would best be enabled to watch multiple programs quickly by having higher levels of fast forward also available during catchup mode , but revenue may be maximized by locking the user using catchup mode into using only the lower fast forward speeds . more specifically , advertising revenue may increase if advertisers are assured that a respective advertisement will be viewed and heard by a user , although possibly at an increased pace . on the other hand , a user may pay an increased subscription rate to have both catchup and high - rate fast forward available in a single mode . fig2 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary method 200 in accordance with the present invention . the method 200 includes receiving a plurality of audiovisual programs at step 210 , storing at least one of the audiovisual programs at a first play rate at step 220 , and playing back at step 230 , pursuant to a user request , the stored at least one of the audiovisual programs at a second play rate that is in a range of 1 . 25 × to 1 . 75 × the first play rate . more particularly , the second play rate must be a playback rate at which the audio and video is readily processed by a viewer . although the disclosure has been described and pictured in an exemplary form with a certain degree of particularity , it is understood that the present disclosure of the exemplary form has been made by way of example , and that numerous changes in the details of construction and combination and arrangement of parts and steps may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure as set forth in the claims hereinafter .	7
as shown in fig8 an ink - jet head unit 600 is mounted on a carriage 100 and is scanned parallel to a recording medium 700 . the carriage 100 is slidably supported by guide bars 110 , 120 . the carriage is also fixed to a belt 140 extending parallel to the guide bars 110 , 120 . the belt 140 is moved by a driving force of a motor 37 . as the belt 140 is moved , the carriage 100 reciprocates along the guide bars 110 , 120 . an ink cartridge 32 containing ink to be supplied to the head unit 600 is removably attached to the carriage 100 . the recording medium 700 is held by feed rollers 160 , 170 parallel to the scanning direction of the head unit 600 and is fed perpendicularly to the scanning direction . as shown in fig1 a recording head 10 , as the head unit 600 , can be provided with a plurality of actuators having ink channels 11 , and ejects ink from nozzles 11 a formed at lower ends of the ink channels 11 . one type of such actuator locally heats ink in the ink channel to a boil to eject ink , and another type has ink channel sidewalls formed by piezoelectric elements , which are deformed , upon the application of a voltage , to eject ink . a manifold 12 is disposed on the opposite side of the recording head 10 from the nozzles 11 a . the manifold 12 diverts ink supplied from an ink source to a plurality of ink channels 11 . an ink passage 13 interconnecting the manifold 12 and the ink source is formed by two passage - forming members 21 , 22 . as shown in fig1 and 3 , the ink passage 13 extends along a plane parallel to the direction of an array of a plurality of ink channels 11 . the two passage - forming members 21 , 22 extend along the direction of flow of ink in the ink passage 13 and are disposed in a direction perpendicular to the flow of ink , that is , in upper and lower positions so as to face each other . the upper passage - forming member 21 is provided , on its upper side , with a connecting port 23 that is connected to one end of the ink passage 13 and extends upward in a tubular shape . the upper passage - forming member 21 is provided , on its lower side , with a rib - like peripheral wall 25 that extends downward so as to enclose a periphery of the ink passage 13 . the lower passage - forming member 22 is provided , on its lower side , with a connecting port 24 that is connected to the other end of the ink passage 13 and extends downward in a tubular shape . the passage - forming members 21 , 22 are molded from a synthetic resin . the lower passage - forming member 22 abuts the lower end of the rib - like peripheral wall 25 and they are ultrasonically joined to each other . a portion surrounding the connecting port 24 of the lower passage - forming member 22 is recessed like a funnel , and is tapered from top to bottom . a filter 28 is thermally fixed to a peripheral wall 27 at the upper end of a recess 26 so as to cover the recess 26 . the filer 28 is formed from meshed or sintered metal fibers , and its outer shape is preferably round . the opening area at the upper end of the recess 26 is determined such that the total area of openings of the filter 28 is equal to or larger than the total cross - sectional area of a plurality of ink channels 11 . areas of portions where the filter 28 makes contact with a rib - like partition wall 30 , to be described later , and with the peripheral wall 27 , are excluded . as shown in fig2 a peripheral wall section 25 a of the peripheral wall 25 is round in shape so as to enclose the filter 28 . the width between peripheral wall sections 25 b , 25 c , which enclose a linear portion of the ink passage 13 interconnecting the peripheral wall section 25 a and the connecting port 23 , is less than the radius of the peripheral wall section 25 a . the linear peripheral wall section 25 b extends tangentially from the round peripheral wall section 25 a . thus , a guideway 13 a , which connects the ink passage 13 extending from the connecting port 23 to the round peripheral wall section 25 a , is parallel to the upper surface of the filter 28 and is tangentially connected to the periphery of the filter 28 . the filter 28 is partitioned , on its upper surface ( on the ink supplying side ), by a rib - like partition wall 30 extending along the upper surface . the partition wall 30 integrally projects from the lower surface of the upper passage - forming member 21 so as to come into contact with , or alternatively to be disposed close to but not in contact with , the upper surface of the filter 28 . the partition wall 30 extends from the other peripheral wall section 25 c , which encloses the linear portion of the ink passage 13 , to the filter 28 , and further extends to the center of the filter 28 in a spiral manner , so as to be spaced from the round peripheral wall section 25 a . in cooperation with the peripheral wall section 25 a , the partition wall 30 partitions a space above the filter 28 in a spiral manner . consequently , an elongated space extending from the periphery to the center of the filter 28 is formed , and the cross - sectional area of the filter 28 , which is perpendicular to the ink flow direction , is reduced compared with the case where no partition wall 30 is provided . the connecting port 23 of the upper passage - forming member 21 is provided with a seal 31 so as to receive an ink cartridge 32 containing ink . alternatively , an ink tank can be connected to the connecting port 23 through a tube ( not shown ). the connecting port 24 of the lower passage - forming member 22 is connected to the manifold 12 through a tube 33 . the passage - forming members 21 , 22 , recording head 10 , and manifold 12 are secured to a support plate 34 and integrated into a single unit . an ink sucking operation can be performed in an ink - jet printer to remove air bubbles and foreign matter . during the ink sucking operation , a pump connected to a cap 40 is driven while all nozzles 11 a are covered with the cap 40 . when the pump is driven , ink is drawn from the ink cartridge 32 into the ink passage 13 and the manifold 12 . when the ink flows from the guideway 13 a onto the filter 28 , the partition wall 30 makes the ink rapidly turn along the periphery of the filter 28 and flow into the center of the filter 28 . in other words , the ink passes through the filter while it flows rapidly over the entire surface of the filter 28 . such ink flow allows air bubbles generated in the ink , even if they are larger than the very small openings of the filter 28 , to deform and pass through the very small openings . air bubbles having passed through the filter 28 are discharged together with the ink from the nozzles 11 a through the manifold 12 and the ink channels 11 . by performing the sucking operation , air bubbles contained in the ink in the ink channel 13 can be effectively discharged . this prevents the openings of the filter 28 from being clogged with air bubbles over a long period . accordingly , when a number of actuators are simultaneously driven , ink is sufficiently supplied to the ink channels 11 and excellent ink ejection can be maintained . in addition to the above - described sucking operation , other operations can be performed to discharge air bubbles and foreign matter . ink is ejected under high pressure applied from the ink source side , or ink is forcibly ejected through a flushing operation by simultaneously driving all actuators . when these operations are performed , ink flowing from the guideway 13 a onto the filter 28 turns rapidly along the periphery of the filter 28 toward the center thereof , in the same manner as described above . accordingly , air bubbles contained in the ink are deformed by such ink flow and pass through the openings of the filter 28 . although the partition wall 30 is formed into a spiral shape in the above - described embodiment , a partition wall 30 a may be formed so as to extend from the linear peripheral wall section 25 c , as shown in fig4 . alternatively , a partition wall 30 b may be provided away from the linear peripheral wall section 25 c in the circumferential direction , so as to be spaced from and concentrically with the peripheral wall section 25 a . alternatively , both of these partition walls 30 a , 30 b may be provided . in these configurations , ink also flows from the guideway 13 a parallel to the surface of the filter 28 , tangentially toward the periphery of the filter 28 , and turns along the periphery of the filter 28 as a rapid ink flow . [ 0046 ] fig5 shows another embodiment of the invention . a plurality of rib - like partition walls 30 c , 30 d , 30 e are provided so as to be parallel with each other . the partition wall 30 c extends from the linear peripheral wall section 25 c and its end is spaced from the round peripheral wall section 25 a . the partition wall 30 d is integrally connected to one point of the round peripheral wall section 25 a and extends parallel to the partition wall 30 c , and its end is directed toward another point of the round peripheral wall section 25 a , and is spaced a certain distance from the round peripheral wall section 25 a . also , the partition wall 30 e is integrally connected to one point of the round peripheral wall section 25 a and extends parallel to the partition wall 30 c , and its end is directed toward another point of the round peripheral wall section 25 a and is spaced a certain distance from the round peripheral wall section 25 a . the partition walls 30 c , 30 d , 30 e can alternately extend in the opposite direction from the peripheral wall section 25 a . specifically , the partition walls 30 c , 30 d , 30 e are formed such that ink flows windingly , in a staggered manner , along the upper surface of the filter 28 . in this configuration , the cross - sectional area of the ink passage is reduced , and the velocity of ink flow passing through the filter 28 is increased , thereby enhancing the ability to eliminate air bubbles . [ 0048 ] fig6 a shows still another embodiment of the invention . as shown in fig6 a , two substantially parallel rib - like partition walls 30 f , 30 g are integrally formed with a passage - forming member 21 peripheral wall sections 25 b and 25 c are disposed such that the center of an ink passage 13 , which is defined by the peripheral wall sections 25 b and 25 c , are aligned with the center of a filter 28 . the partition walls 31 f , 30 g are disposed so as to be aligned with peripheral walls sections 25 b , 25 c , respectively , and spaced from a peripheral wall section 25 a . as a guideway 13 a is directed toward the center of the filter 28 , ink flowing from the guideway 13 a passes between the partition walls 30 f , 30 g and strikes the peripheral wall section 25 a . then , the ink is diverted outwardly to two directions and flows along the peripheral wall section 25 a . a triangular protrusion 25 d is formed , at a portion of the peripheral wall section 25 a opposed to the guideway 13 a , so as to divert the ink flow to two directions . by the aid of the protrusion 25 d , the ink flowing from the guideway 13 a is easily divided so as to flow in two directions . in this configuration also , the cross - sectional area of the ink passage is reduced and the velocity of ink flow passing through the filter 28 is increased , thereby enhancing the ability to eliminate air bubbles . although , in the embodiment shown in fig6 a , ink is guided to flow from the guideway 13 a to a passage between the partition walls 30 f , 30 g , an alternative configuration is conceivable . as shown in fig6 b , each guideway 13 a may be connected to a portion between a partition wall 30 f and a peripheral wall section 25 a , and a portion between a partition wall 30 g and the peripheral wall section 25 a so as to allow the ink flowing from a connecting port 23 to be supplied to a filter 28 through two passages . in this configuration , the ink flows along the peripheral wall section 25 a and is guided to a passage between the partition walls 30 f , 30 g . a connecting port 23 of an upper passage - forming member 21 is formed so as to face a filter 28 . the direction of ink flow in an ink passage 13 is perpendicular to the filter 28 . in the vicinity of the filter 28 , a curved surface 13 b is formed at the passage - forming member 21 . the curved surface 13 b directs a guideway 13 c to a direction parallel to the surface of the filter 28 , along which ink flows . ink supplied from a connecting port 23 flows perpendicularly to the surface of the filter 28 , and then the ink is redirected by the curved surface 13 b and supplied onto the filter 28 . accordingly , the ink is supplied over the entire surface of the filter 28 without being concentrated into a certain portion thereof , and flows along the surface of the filter 28 . the guideway 13 c configured as described above can be applied to any one of the embodiments described above with reference to fig2 , 5 , and 6 a . in the configurations shown in fig2 and 4 , if a guideway 13 c is disposed at the center of the filter 28 , ink flows from the center of the spiral passage to the periphery of the filter 28 . further , in each of the above - described embodiments , an additional wall , identical or similar to in shape , to a partition wall can be provided at a recess 26 opposed to the partition wall such that a filter is sandwiched by the additional wall and the partition wall .	1
fig1 shows the current - power characteristic curves of a semiconductor laser at environmental temperatures of t ° c . and t &# 39 ;° c . ( t ° c .& lt ; t &# 39 ;° c .) and is used to explain the underlying principle of the present invention . plotted along the abscissa is the current for driving the semiconductor laser and the power or intensity of the laser beam , along the ordinate . it is seen that when the temperature rises from t ° c . to t &# 39 ;° c ., the threshold current also increases from i th to i th &# 39 ;. however , the slope of the current - power characteristic curves almost remains unchanged . to put into another way , the characteristic curve at t ° c . is shifted to the right at t &# 39 ;° c . in such a way that they are almost in parallel with each other . therefore , it follows that the same reproduction power of the laser beam can be maintained in the reproduction mode only by increasing or decreasing the current i depending upon the environmental temperature . more specifically , when the reproducing current is set i 1 at t ° c . and i 1 &# 39 ; at t &# 39 ;° c ., the same reproduction power p r can be maintained . by the same token , the recording power of the laser beam can be maintained at the same level even though the environmental temperature varies . more specifically , in the recording or writing mode , the reproducing current i 1 or i 1 &# 39 ; is increased by a predetermined current value of i 2 regardless of the environmental temperature t ° c . or t &# 39 ;° c ., whereby a predetermined recording power p w can be maintained . the increase of the reproducing current i 1 or i 1 &# 39 ; by i 2 or the superposition of the current i 2 upon the reproducing current i 1 or i 1 &# 39 ; has the advantage that the rise time ; that is , the time interval from the reproducing power level to the recording power level p w becomes rapid . in fig2 is shown in block diagram an embodiment of the present invention . a light source or write - and - read semiconductor laser 1 is connected to a gate 2 and to a gate 3 through a resistor r 1 . both the gates 2 and 3 can operate at an extremely high switching speed in response to the information to be recorded on a recording disk . more specifically , in response to the output from an inverter 4 , the gate 2 is turned on while the gate 3 is turned off and when the gate 2 is turned off , the gate 3 is turned on . to put into another way , the gates 2 and 3 are alternately turned on and off . the movable contact of the gate 2 is connected to a first constant current circuit 4a and further through a gate 8 to second and third constant current circuits 5a and 6a . the constant current circuits 4a , 5a and 6a control the currents flowing therethrough in response to the signals applied to their respective signal input terminals a 1 , a 2 and a 3 . the first constant current circuit 4a is connected through a sample - and - hold circuit 10 to a gate 7 . the gate 7 is on in the read or reproduction mode while the gate 8 is on in the write or recording mode . a data input terminal rec is connected directly to the gate 8 and further the gate 7 through an inverter 9 which inverts a high level record command signal of rec into a low level as is well known in the art . the stationary contact of the gate 7 is connected to a power control circuit 11 which may be of the conventional type and controls the current fed back to the constant current circuit 4a in response to the output from a photosensor such as a pin photodiode 12 which , in turn , senses or monitors the intensity of the laser light emitted from the semiconductor laser 1 . power supplies 13 and 14 are connected to the constant current circuits 5a and 6a , respectively , whereby the second and third constant current circuits 5a and 6a determines the value of current flowing through the read - and - write semiconductor laser 1 . it should be noted that the power supply 14 is so designed and constructed that its output v 3 varies depending upon areas where data are to be recorded move radially of the recording disk ; that is , in the direction from the rim to the center of the recording disk . next , further referring to fig3 the mode of operation of the driving system with the construction as shown in fig2 will be described in detail below . in the read mode , the gates 2 and 7 are on while the gates 3 and 8 are off . in response to the output from the photosensor 12 which is always sensing or monitoring the laser light emitted from the write - and - read semiconductor laser 1 , the power control circuit 11 controls the semiconductor laser driving current i 1 in such a way that the power of the laser light can be substantially maintained at the predetermined level p r ( see fig1 ). in the write or recording mode , the gate 8 is on while gate 7 is off . the signal to be recorded consists of the digital signal consisting of &# 34 ; 0s &# 34 ; and &# 34 ; 1s &# 34 ;. alternatively , it is the signal derived through a suitable modulator such as a frequency modulator and an amplitude limiter . when a binary bit &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; lasts , the gate 2 is closed while the gate 3 is opened so that the current ( i 1 + i 2 ) flows through the semiconductor laser 1 . during the binary bit &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ;, the gate 3 is on while the gate 2 is off so that the current i 3 flows through the read - and - write semiconductor laser 1 . these currents flowing through the semiconductor laser 1 is assumed to have the following relations : then , only when the signal to be recorded is &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ;, the laser beam with the recording or writing power p w is focused on a predetermined area on the disk . thus , the binary coded signals can be recorded on the disk . when the signal to be recorded is &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ;, the gate 7 is off so that the power control circuit 11 does not operate or remains disabled , but the sample - and - hold circuit 10 holds the voltage v 1 which can cause the read current i 1 to flow . it follows , therefore , that the current i 1 , which maintains the read power p r , plus the current i 2 flows through the semiconductor laser 1 . as described hereinbefore , in the read mode , the reading or reproducing power p r can be maintained in a stable manner and in the write mode the write or recording current i 2 is superposed on the read current i 1 so that the power of laser light rises to the write or recording level p w . thus , regardless of the variations in the environmental temperature , the write or recording power p w can be maintained in a stable manner . in general , in the case of a still picture or a sheet of paper to be filed , the recording time is considerably shorter than the reproduction time so that it may be considered that the sudden temperature variations are very rare during the recording time . therefore , if the read current i 1 is maintained immediately before the recording or writing , the sufficiently stable recording or writing power p w can be attained even if the environmental temperature varies . it should be noted here that the recording current i 2 or the current to be superposed on the writing current i 1 consists of i 21 and i 22 ( see fig2 ). when signals are recorded on a disk which is rotating at a predetermined speed , the writing power p wo required for recording the signals in the areas adjacent or close to the rim of the disk is considerably different from the writing power p wi required for recording the signals in the areas close to the center hole of the disk . in general , p wo & gt ; p wi . therefore , it is needed to vary the writing power p w depending upon the position of a head with respect to the disk ; that is , a recording position . to this end , the output voltage v 3 of the power supply 14 is so controlled that as the write head proceeds radially inwardly from the rim to the center of the disk , the current i 22 is decreased accordingly . to put into another way , the current i 22 controls the writing power p w which in turns is dependent upon a recording area ; that is , the position of the write head with respect to the recording disk . the current i 21 is a current for compensating for the sensitivity or recording properties of a disk which is used . that is , the current i 21 is determined depending upon the physical and chemical properties of a disk used . when the signal is &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ;, the gate 3 is closed while gate 2 is opened so that the current i 3 , the value of which is dependent upon the value of the resistor r 1 , flows through the semiconductor laser 1 . the power of the laser beam emitted from the semiconductor laser 1 when the current i 3 flows therethrough is referred to as &# 34 ; the bias power p b &# 34 ; in this specification . then , the bias power p b is preferably selected a little lower than the threshold or critical power level which is the minimum power for permitting the recording of signal . to put into another way , when the signal is &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ;, the laser light with a low power level is focused on the recording disk so that an area where the signal &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; is to be recorded can be preheated . the preheating has the effect that the power for recording the signal &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; can be lowered . in practice , the bias power p b is close to the read power p r . in the embodiment , the rise time ; that is , the time interval required for the read power p r to rise to the write power p w ( see t 1 in fig3 ) is dependent on the response time of the gate circuit 8 and is independent of the response characteristics of the power control circuit 10 . in fig4 and 5 are shown , respectively , two examples of detailed circuit diagrams of the gates 2 and 3 . the constant current circuits 4a , 5a and 6a as shown in fig2 are represented by a single constant current circuit 16 . the circuit as shown in fig4 includes a transistor pair tr 1 and tr 2 which alternately turns on and off in response to the signal &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; and &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ;. specifically , in response to the signal &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ;, the transistor 1 is turned on , but the transistor 2 is turned off , and vice versa . the circuit as shown in fig4 is an example employing a field - effect transistor tr 4 which also turns on and off in response to the signals &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; and &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ;. in both the circuits as shown in fig4 and 5 , the bias power p b is supplied through a field - effect transistor tr 3 . more specifically , simultaneous with the on - off action of the transistor tr 1 or the field - effect transistor tr 4 , the field - effect transistor tr 3 also turns on and off so that in response to the input signal &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ;, the current flows through the resistor r 1 into the semiconductor laser 1 . the circuit as shown in fig4 further includes resistors r 2 , r 3 , r 4 , r 5 and r 6 and an and gate 15 while the circuit as shown in fig5 a nand gate 17 and an inverter 18 . next , referring to fig6 and 7 , the power control circuit 11 will be described in detail hereinafter . the photosensor 12 which senses or monitors the intensity of laser beam emitted from the semiconductor laser 1 has its cathode connected to the noninverting input (+) of an operational amplifier 20 and has its anode connected to the inverting input (-) thereof . therefore , when the power of the laser beam is correctly controlled , the input voltages v + and v - to the operational amplifier 20 are equal to each other , so that the photosensor 12 is not biased . as compared with a photosensor which is always biased , this arrangement has the advantage that the variations in output current from the photosensor 12 due to the variations in environmental temperature can be reduced to a minimum . when the optical writing and reading system is changed from the read mode to the write mode , the output voltage v o from the operational amplifier 20 is held in the sample - and - hold circuit 10 so that the read power p r can be very rapidly raised to the write power p w . in the write or recording mode , the gate 7 remains on as described elsewhere and the photosensor 12 intercepts the write laser light of a relatively high intensity . as a result , the operational amplifier 20 delivers the output voltage v o which tends to decrease the power of laser light emitted from the semiconductor laser 1 . when , under these conditions , the write or recording mode is switched to the read or reproduction mode , the output voltage v o is delivered through the gate 7 to the constant current circuit 4a . as a consequence , the power of laser light emitted from the semiconductor laser 1 drops below the read or reproduction power p r as indicated by the broken or dot line in fig7 . thereafter , the power control circuit 11 gradually raise the power of the laser light to the read power p r . assume that the write mode is switched to the read mode at t 2 and that at t 3 the read power p r is completely stabilized . then , the time difference t 3 - t 2 = δt is dependent upon the respond speed of the laser light power control loop and is , in general , from 400 microseconds to one millisecond . such a relatively slow response speed gives rise to a problem in the case of a high - speed optical recording and reproducing device . according to the present invention , this problem can be solved in the following manner . a gate 21 is interconnected between the two inputs (+) and (-) of the operational amplifier 20 . in the write mode , this gate 21 is on so that v + = v - which is approximately equal to v + ≈ v - which relationship is maintained when the power control loop is operating and consequently the write or reproduction mode is substantially stabilized . therefore , even when the power control loop is not operating in the write or recording mode , the operational amplifier 20 delivers the output voltage v o which is almost equal to the output voltage obtained in the read or reproduction mode . with this arrangement of the present invention , when the write mode is shifted to the write mode , the write power p w is rapidly lowered to the read power p r . thus , the high - speed reading can be ensured . in summary , according to the present invention , in the read or reproduction mode , the laser light or beam power control loop can be stabilized ; that is , operates in a stable manner , but in the case of the write or recording mode , the control loop is disabled or de - energized and an additional current or recording current is superposed to the read or reproducing current . as a result , the read or reproduction laser light power can be very rapidly raised to the write or recording laser light power independently of the response characteristics of the control loop as opposed to the prior art system . furthermore , the read or reproduction laser beam power is always maintained at a predetermined level before the write or recording mode is initiated and a predetermined value of additional or recording current is superposed on the read or reproduction current so that the variations in the write or recording laser beam power can be reduced to a minimum regardless of variations in the environmental temperature . consequently , the desired data or information can be immediately read or written from its beginning or leading end in a stable manner . moreover , if the bias power is additionally supplied or the write or recording laser beam power is controlled as a function of the distance in the radial direction of the recording disk from its rim in the write or recording mode , the write and read modes can be more positively stablized . thus , highly reliable and dependable operation of the system for driving a semiconductor laser can be ensured .	6
shown in fig1 is an ordinary commercial photovoltaic generator 1 , which includes a number of parallel - connected strings s , which in turn include a number — eight in the exemplary embodiment shown — of series - connected photovoltaic modules m . each photovoltaic module m has series - connected photovoltaic cells 7 , as is evident from fig1 . for example , it is typical for a photovoltaic module m to use 60 cells with 1 . 5 volts open - circuit voltage each , or else 130 cells of approx . 0 . 69 volts each . in both cases , a voltage of approximately 90 volts arises across the module m at open circuit , which is to say approximately 720 volts for eight modules . during operation , this voltage drops to approximately 60 to 65 volts , so that a string voltage ust of 480 to 510 volts results . the ends of the parallel - connected strings s are connected to the input 9 of an inverter 11 , the output 13 of which feeds the generated electricity into a grid , for example . the open - circuit voltage of 720 volts is significantly below the currently permissible limit of 1000 volts , which the manufacturers of photovoltaic modules specify as the upper limit for their product . in operation , a correspondingly larger safety margin is achieved relative to the 1000 volts . in the known systems of this type , it would be desirable to fully utilize the maximum permissible voltage of 1000 volts so that the cross - sections of the cables that are to be laid can be kept small . this purpose is served by the photovoltaic system 1 shown in fig2 . shown there is a single string s , this time with 16 photovoltaic modules m , which is connected in parallel with other strings that are not shown and is routed to the input 9 of the inverter 11 . in the example embodiment shown , the string s has double the number of modules m , hence 16 , each of which is constructed as shown in fig1 a . this results in an impermissibly high open - circuit voltage of 1440 volts across the string s , but a permissibly high operating voltage of 960 to 1020 volts , which are present at one of the modules m and at the input 9 of the inverter 11 . exceeding the permissible level by 20 volts is considered tolerable here . in order to prevent destruction of the inverter 11 and module m in the event of a disconnection from the grid , a shorting switch 15 is provided . the switch 15 is positioned such that it short - circuits between one tenth and one half , in particular between one quarter and one half , of the modules m . the switch 15 is controlled by a threshold detector ( not shown ), which detects when the voltage across the string s exceeds the predefinable value , 1000 volts in the example here . another important advantage in daily operation of the photovoltaic generator 1 according to the invention is explained below with reference to fig3 and 4 . fig3 shows the curve of the generated current i as a function of the associated voltage u of a typical photovoltaic system 1 . by means of an mpp ( maximum power point ) regulator , this current / voltage curve 17 is held at a point at which maximum output is present . this maximum output is the product of impp and umpp , and corresponds to the cross - hatched region , which in this case occupies a maximum area . the mpp regulator regulates on the curve 17 along the double - headed arrow 19 and endeavors to move the photovoltaic system to the mpp . this point changes continuously as a function of sun position , cloud cover , air pollution , and the like . because of the high number of installed modules m in a string s , the mpp regulator could exceed the maximum permissible value of the operating voltage . this is prevented by expanding the control algorithm by the condition that the predefined voltage value ( 1000 volts in the example here ) must not be exceeded . this condition has priority over achieving an optimum power point mpp . in advantageous manner , an output is provided on the mpp regulator that causes the switch 15 to close if this condition is violated for any reason . fig4 shows a typical curve of the voltage present at the string s during morning startup of the system 1 . the illustrated course of the voltage as a function of the time of day is shown here by the curve 21 for the open - circuit case , and by the curve 21 a with the inverter 11 connected in the operating case after it has been connected upon reaching the maximal permissible string voltage of 1000 volts in order to feed the energy that is generated into the grid through the output terminals 13 . in this context , the curve 21 a follows the open - circuit curve 21 until connection of the inverter . when 16 modules m per string s are used by way of example , the curve 21 trends toward the open - circuit voltage of approximately 1440 volts . accordingly , the curve 21 a under load approaches the operating voltage of 960 volts ( corresponding to 16 times 60 volts ). also shown in the diagram in fig4 is an additional curve 23 , drawn with a dotted - and - dashed line , which shows the behavior of the open circuit voltage with the switch 15 closed , which is to say with the five modules m bridged in the example . up to the point in time when the inverter 11 is connected , this curve 23 approaches the open - circuit voltage of the remaining eleven series - connected , active modules m , thus approximately 990 volts ( corresponding to 11 times 90 volts ). at morning startup without short - circuited modules m , the result would be the behavior shown in curve 21 , and the maximum permissible voltage level of 1000 volts would be reached at approximately 8 : 15 am . since the minimum power of 1 kw required for connection of the inverter 11 has not yet been reached , the voltage collapses and must be reestablished starting from zero as is shown by the behavior of the curve 21 a from 8 : 15 am onward . the minimum required power depends on the inverter 11 employed and can be approximately 15 kw for a 2 . 5 megawatt large - scale system . in like manner , a certain open - circuit voltage is necessary so that stable coupling of the inverter 11 to the grid can take place . in the exemplary embodiment shown in fig4 , it is assumed that the connection criteria are reached at a string voltage ust of 700 volts when 11 modules m are present . this is where the shorting switch 15 comes into action , the switch being switched on , which is to say closed , when the startup of the system begins . the photovoltaic system operates with eleven modules m per string s on the dotted - and - dashed line 23 , and at approximately 9 : 00 am reaches a power point 25 at which the minimum power of 1 kw required for stable connection to the grid has been reached . at this point in time , the string voltage ust is 700 volts . starting at this point in time , the switch 15 is opened , which results in a brief drop in the voltage ; this is represented by the circled zigzag in the enlarged detail , since the mpp regulator cannot immediately compensate for this situation . in reality , the zigzag is only a few seconds in duration . the mpp regulator applies its regulating behavior and , in an extremely short time , brings the voltage ust on the curve 23 a to a point 27 on an operating voltage curve 21 a ′ for the complete string s with all sixteen modules m . the curve 21 a ′ is drawn with short dashes and runs parallel to and offset to the left of the curve 21 a starting at the point 27 . from that point , the curve 21 a ′ approaches the maximum of 960 volts of the operating voltage ust in the further course of the day as the sun stands higher . as a result , power is fed into the grid earlier than would have been possible without the switch 15 . in the example shown , power feed to the grid begins at 8 : 45 am , in contrast to which it would not have started until 9 : 20 am with the photovoltaic system being operated along the curve . the process is repeated in reverse order in the evening when the system 1 shuts down . thus , in addition to the more favorable cable cross - sections , the invention also offers the further advantage of a more effective startup behavior in comparison to systems without shorting switches 15 . fig5 shows how six of the 16 modules m can be short - circuited in common for all strings s of the photovoltaic system . to this end , each of the line locations 29 located after the tenth module m are connected to one another and are then routed to the shorting switch 15 . fig6 shows the structure of a photovoltaic generator according to the invention which is provided with p = 8 arrays f 1 to f 8 , each with n = 10 strings s 1 to s 10 . the first array f 5 , preferably the one that is closest to the inverter 11 , is equipped with three strings s in accordance with fig5 , in which five modules m can be short - circuited by means of the shorting switch 15 . in the adjacent , second array f 6 , all strings s are equipped with the shorting switch 15 . in the event of a short circuit on the ac side 13 , the shorting switch or switches 15 is / are closed , and if adequate voltage limiting at the input side of the inverter 11 is not observed , disconnect switches 33 , which connect the arrays f to a bus bar 35 leading to the input 9 of the inverter 11 , are additionally opened . as many arrays f are provided with the shorting switch 15 as possible compensating currents between the arrays can be tolerated by the lines and the bus bar 35 . if a further reduction in the voltage at the inverter input 9 should be necessary because the aforesaid drawing - down of the voltage is not sufficient to reach a safe input voltage at the inverter 11 , the number of modules m per string s would have to be reduced , e . g . from 16 to 12 . the invention being thus described , it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways . such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention , and all such modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are to be included within the scope of the following claims .	7
embodiments of the present invention include systems for simulating the diagnostic features of tension pneumothorax and cardiac tamponade , and more particularly , systems for simulating the diagnostic features of tension pneumothorax and cardiac tamponade within a medical training manikin . there are a variety of manikins can electronically manifest the physiologic changes associated with various abnormal respiratory and cardiac conditions by changing the displays on electronic monitors . there are also manikins currently on the market for practicing needle insertion into the chest and pericardium . there is , to our knowledge , no manikin in the prior art which ( i ) automatically manifests the physical diagnostic signs of tension pneumothorax or cardiac tamponade when there is a buildup of pressure inside the compartments of the chest , or ( ii ) is configured to present or display the different physical signs and monitored physiologic parameters which disambiguate these two life endangering conditions , or ( iii ) is configured to automatically reverse these physical signs after proper decompression of the increased pressure in the chest . embodiments of the present invention can provide any or all of these features . in embodiments of the present invention , systems are provided that automatically detect changes in the simulated pleural or pericardial pressure and transmit data regarding such changes to a logic circuit , automatically trigger a response that changes the physical examination characteristics in the manikin , and automatically change a display of abnormal physical signs involving the 1 .) neck veins , 2 .) the position of the trachea , 3 .) the presence or absence of breath sounds , 4 .) the loudness of the auscultated heart sounds and / or 5 .) a change in blood pressure or pulse characteristics following pressurization of one or more compartments of the chest and / or following the correct treatment of tension pneumothorax or cardiac tamponade . in a further embodiment , the output from the pressure sensors located within the compartments of the chest pass to a logic circuit which controls the displayed parameters on simulated electronic monitors of cardiovascular and respiratory parameters , such as blood pressure , central venous pressure , cardiac output , peak airway pressure , arterial oxygen saturation , mixed venous oxygen saturation and the like . elevation of pressure in one or more compartments of the chest triggers the logic circuit to cause programmed abnormalities of the cardiovascular and respiratory function to be displayed on the electronic monitors . as in the case of the physical diagnostic features , the abnormalities displayed on the monitors are automatically reversed when proper treatment of the tension pneumothorax or cardiac tamponade is accomplished . in embodiments of the present invention , a system is provided that is configured to ( i ) support training medical care providers in crucial elements of the physical examination and / or electronic cardiorespiratory monitoring diagnosis of tension pneumothorax and pericardial tamponade , ( ii ) immediately and automatically change the physical signs and electronic monitor displays to reflect the results of successful treatment , ( iii ) record the performance of the trainee with respect to the essential steps of physical examination , ( iv ) detect and record evidence of correct diagnosis and correct treatment modality , and ( v ) detect and record evidence that the trainee has examined the simulated patient after treatment . fig1 is a front cutaway view of a manikin that includes a system 100 for simulating the diagnostic features of tension pneumothorax and cardiac tamponade according to one embodiment . the system 100 may be integrated into an artificial torso 101 , which can itself be integrated into a full - size manikin of any simulated age and either gender . the artificial torso 101 includes an artificial chest 102 with chest walls 102 a , and an artificial neck 109 . the artificial chest 102 may include artificial skin , subcutaneous tissue , muscles , ribs , and clavicles , and an artificial sternum . the artificial chest 102 may also include shoulder girdles and upper extremity structures . the thickness of the soft tissues representing subcutaneous fat of the chest wall 102 a may vary . the artificial sternum may include a ridge representing the angle of louis ( the anterior angle formed by the junction of the manubrium and the body of the sternum ) at the level of the second intercostal space . the layers of soft tissues of the chest wall 102 a are preferably made of a material that can be penetrated with a needle or knife , and preferably an elastomeric material that can be penetrated with a needle or knife . examples of such materials include silicone or polyurethane elastomers or foams , or hydrogels such as polyvinyl alcohol hydrogels . the artificial chest 102 includes , in its interior , at least two hollow compartments , a first hollow compartment 103 a , which represents a first hemithorax , and a second compartment 103 b , which represents a second hemithorax . representations of the lungs may be present in the first and second compartments 103 a and 103 b . the artificial chest 102 preferably further includes a third compartment 103 c , representing the pericardium , as discussed in more detail below . the first compartment 103 a and the second compartment 103 b are separated from each other by a barrier 105 . the midline barrier 105 is preferably a double walled , airtight barrier . the barrier 105 may be a layered solid or membranous airtight barrier . the barrier 105 is flexible at various points so that it is movable from side to side under the influence of a pressure differential between the first compartment 103 a and the second compartment 103 b . the pressure within the first and second compartments 103 a and 103 b can be individually raised above atmospheric pressure by the pump - driven infusion of a fluid , such as air or water , through pressurization tubes 110 , and into the compartments 103 a and 103 b . a pressurization device , such as a hand pump 111 , may be connected to the first and second compartments 103 a and 103 b via the pressurization tubes 110 . the pressurization device 111 is configured to elevate the pressure of one or both of the first and second compartments 103 a and 103 b . the flow of fluid in the tubes 110 can be controlled using valves 112 . because the first and second compartments 103 a and 103 b can be pressurized with fluid , the insertion of a decompressing , hollow needle or a knife into the compartment results in a jet of pressurized air that is potentially audible by a trainee . in another embodiment , the audible whoosh of air can be simulated by a sound mechanism 201 concealed within the pleural cavity of the manikin ( schematically shown in fig2 ). the sound mechanism 201 includes one or more speakers . the reduction in pleural pressure caused by successful needle insertion into the affected chest compartment causes a programmed logic controller to play a sound simulating the audible whoosh through one or more of the speakers . an artificial trachea 106 extends upward from the barrier 105 . movement of the barrier 105 between the two lateral halves of the artificial chest 102 , resulting from a differential pressure between the first compartment 103 a and the second compartment 103 b , causes the artificial trachea 106 that is affixed to the upper end of the barrier 105 to shift laterally within the artificial soft tissues of the neck at the level of the sternal notch . the artificial trachea 106 shifts away from the compartment that has the higher pressure . the trachea can be affixed to the midline barrier using , for example , mechanical fasteners such as screws , or using adhesives , such as epoxy formulations . in an alternative embodiment , the position of the trachea is shifted through the action of a small electronic actuator 203 controlled by the programmed logic circuit . as discussed above , the barrier 105 preferably includes at least two layers . at least one bladder 107 is disposed between the two layers . the bladder 107 contains a fluid , preferably a liquid such as water . pressure on the bladder 107 created by pressure in the first or second compartment 103 a or 103 b will compress the bladder 107 . the bladder 107 is connected in a fluid - conducting manner to one or more channels or tubes 108 which extend upward into the artificial neck 109 . the system 100 preferably includes two of the tubes 108 , representing external jugular veins . the tubes 108 may be located on the left and right sides of the artificial neck 109 , within artificial skin of the artificial neck . the tubes 108 may be soft , such that the tubes 108 are expandable in a radial direction . alternatively , channels may be molded into the artificial tissues of the neck to conduct the hydraulic fluid . when the fluid in the bladder 107 is pressurized by pressure on the bladder 107 , the fluid is displaced and enters the tubes or channels of the neck 108 . the pressurized fluid from the bladder 107 enters the tubes 108 and causes the tubes 108 to bulge along the simulated course of the external jugular veins . the tubes 108 are unexpanded ( and may be , for example , flat ) in the absence of an elevation above atmospheric pressure within the first and second compartments 103 a and 103 b . the system 100 preferably includes one or more pressure sensors 113 . at least one of the pressure sensors 113 may be configured to detect the pressure within each of the first and second compartments 103 a and 103 b . for example , the system 100 may include one pressure sensor 113 for each compartment 103 a and 103 b , as shown in fig1 . any or all of the pressure sensors 113 may be operatively connected to one or more logic controllers 114 , for example via wires 113 a , so that data from the sensor is received at the logic controller 114 . in an alternative embodiment , wireless transmission from the sensors may be employed . the pressure sensors 113 may be , for example , flexiforce ® sensors , available from tekscan , inc . although , in the preferred embodiment , the direct action of the air pressure within the first and second compartments 103 a and 103 b causes the artificial trachea 106 to shift and the tubes 108 to fill , in other embodiments , one or more actuators or motors electronically linked to the pressure sensors 113 within the artificial chest 102 may be used to cause the artificial trachea 106 to shift and the artificial neck veins to bulge ( e . g ., artificial neck channel actuator 202 and artificial trachea actuator 203 , schematically shown in fig2 ). the system 100 may include a mechanism for creating breath sounds and heart sounds that are audible with a standard medical stethoscope in the two sides of the artificial chest 102 . these breath sounds and heart sounds may be produced by a digital recorder with a speaker . breath sounds may alternatively be produced by the pneumatic impulse from an air pump . these breath sounds and heart sounds are controlled by the programmed logic circuit and are automatically altered by the pressurization / depressurization of one or more compartments of the chest . the logic controller 114 may be configured to automatically switch off the breath sounds on one side of the artificial chest 102 when that side of the chest is pressurized without altering the breath sounds in the other side of the artificial chest 102 . for example , the logic controller 114 may include a switch that is activated by an increase in pressure within one of the compartments 103 a and 103 b . in the preferred embodiment , the output of pressure sensors 113 received by the logic controller 114 may control the breath sounds mechanism . specifically , the logic controller 114 may switch off the breath sounds automatically when the pressure in one of the compartments 103 a and 103 b , detected by the pressure sensors 113 , is increased to a predetermined threshold value by an infusion of air . conversely , when the pressure within a compartment 103 a or 103 b returns to a predetermined “ normal ” level , the logic controller 114 can automatically activate the breath sounds mechanism in that compartment 103 a or 103 b . in the case of cardiac tamponade , the presence of blood within the pericardial sac typically causes the heart sounds to be “ muffled ”, that is , more difficult to hear with a stethoscope . in one embodiment , the system includes a logic controller configured to modulate the volume of the heart sounds so as to simulate the muffling of heart sounds caused by cardiac tamponade . the third compartment 103 c represents the pericardium . a representation of the heart , such as artificial heart 104 , may be present in the third compartment 103 c . the artificial heart is preferably made of elastomeric materials such as silicone . the artificial heart may have simulated contractions caused by actuators or by pneumatic or hydraulic pumping systems . the wall of the artificial heart may contain magnetic elements or electrically conductive materials . the third compartment may be isolated from the first and second compartments 103 a and 103 b . the third compartment 103 c preferably includes a non - stretching , airtight membrane or wall in the areas where the third compartment 103 c abuts the first and second compartments 103 a and 103 b , such that pressure within the third compartment 103 c is not influenced by pressure elevations or differentials in the first and second compartments 103 a and 103 b . the third compartment , containing the heart , while essentially noncompressible , may be displaced laterally as the result pressure elevations in compartments 103 a or 103 b . similarly , pressure increases in the third compartment 103 c preferably do not influence the pressure in the first and / or second compartments 103 a and 103 b . the floor of the third compartment 103 c preferably includes an artificial diaphragm 120 attached circumferentially around the inner aspects of the entire artificial chest 102 . the attachment devices used to attach the artificial diaphragm 120 to the chest wall 102 a may be mechanical devices such as screws or rivets , which may be combined with strong adhesives and / or sealants , so that the three compartments of the chest are airtight . the artificial diaphragm is preferably made of a waterproof , semi - rigid fabric that is penetrable by a needle or a surgical knife . thus , the third compartment 103 c is configured such that a hollow needle is insertable into the third compartment 103 c , via the abdominal wall , through the artificial diaphragm , to drain fluid from the third compartment 103 c and thereby decrease the pressure in the third compartment 103 c . materials suitable for the artificial diaphragm 120 include silicone or polyurethane or other elastomers or foams laminated with fabrics such as nylon , dacron , cotton or silk fabric or mesh . alternatively , hydrogel materials may be used alone or in association with woven or nonwoven fabrics made of cotton , cellulose , silk , nylon or the like to simulate the diaphragm . the third compartment 103 c preferably contains small amount of fluid , such as air or water , at atmospheric pressure . in one embodiment , the fluid is provided by a lubricating system with tubing from a concealed reservoir leading to small apertures in the third compartment 103 c . lubricants may include aqueous suspensions of glycerin , methylcellulose and hydroxymethulcellulose . the pressure within the third compartment 103 c can be raised above atmospheric pressure by the pump - driven infusion of a fluid , such as air , water , or artificial blood , through pressurization tubes 115 , and into the third compartment 103 c . a pressurization device , such as a syringe 116 , may be connected to the first and third compartment 103 c via the pressurization tubes 115 . the pressurization device 111 is configured to pressurize the third compartment 103 c . the flow of fluid in the tube 115 can be controlled using a valve 112 . one of the pressure sensors 113 may be configured to detect the pressure within the third compartment 103 c . the third compartment includes a bladder 117 , which contains a fluid , preferably a liquid such as water . pressure on the bladder 117 created by increased pressure in the third compartment 103 c will compress the bladder 117 . the bladder 117 is connected in a fluid - conducting manner to one or more channels or tubes that extend upward into the artificial neck 109 . in a preferred embodiment , these channels or tubes are the tubes 108 . when the bladder 117 is compressed , the fluid in the bladder 117 is displaced and enters the tubes 108 . the pressurized fluid from the bladder 107 enters the tubes 108 and causes the tubes 108 to bulge along the simulated course of the external jugular veins . it is preferable that the tubes 108 have a double lumen created by a septum disposed in the tubes 108 . tubing from the bladder 107 in the barrier 105 between the first and second compartments 103 a and 103 b leads to one lumen of the tubes 108 . tubing from the bladder 117 in the third compartment 103 c leads to the other lumen . thus , the tubes 108 may be configured to distend as a result of an elevation of pressure in any of the three compartments 103 a , 103 b , and 103 c . however , the tubes 108 are configured to distend in response to increased pressure in the third compartment 103 c , without an elevation in pressure in the first compartment 103 a or second compartment 103 b , and without deviation of the artificial trachea 106 . in other embodiments , two sets of tubes may be used in one or both sides of the artificial neck , rather than a single double lumen tube . the system 100 can further include a fluid pumping system , configured to pump fluid through an artificial circulation system within the artificial neck and / or the artificial extremities . the fluid pumping system may be an electric fluid pumping system . the artificial circulation system may include , for example , tubes representing artificial arteries that follow the approximate anatomic course of the carotid arteries in the neck , the brachial arteries in the arm and forearm , and / or the radial arteries in the arm and forearm . in another embodiment , in which the simulator is a full bodied manikin , lower extremity vessels including the femoral arteries may be included in the simulated circulatory system . the logic controller 114 may be configured to control the rate and stroke volume of the fluid pumping system . the logic circuit 114 may , for example , process data from the pressure sensors 113 and control the fluid pumping system based on this data . for example , if the logic controller 114 received data regarding elevation of pressure in any or all of the first , second , and third compartments 103 a , 103 b , and 103 c , the logic circuit may then cause the pump to alter its rate and stroke volume so as to simulate increased heart rate and / or decreased blood pressure . similarly , when the pressure in the compartments 103 a , 103 b , and 103 c returns to a predetermined normal pressure , the rate and stroke volume may be adjusted accordingly . the change in rate and stroke volume is preferably palpable in the artificial arteries of the system 100 . the change in rate and stroke volume is preferably detectable using a standard sphygmomanometer and stethoscope . in an alternative embodiment , changes in the circulatory pressure can be displayed on electronic monitors receiving display instructions from the programmed logic controller . the system 100 may include an additional pressure sensor 118 located on or near the artificial trachea 106 . this pressure sensor 118 may be configured to detect the pressure exerted on the artificial trachea 106 by a user &# 39 ; s fingers when a user palpates the neck to determine the position of the artificial trachea 106 . additional sensors may be included that are configured to detect palpation of the artificial veins ( such as tubes 108 ) and / or artificial arteries by a user . the pressure data received by the logic controller 114 from the pressure sensors 113 and 118 may be time stamped and recorded in digital memory . the logic controller 114 may be configured to determine whether a user has correctly performed a treatment of a simulated tension pneumothorax or cardiac tamponade based on the pressure data received from each of the pressure sensors 113 . in an alternative embodiment , optical or magnetic sensors may be included at various locations within the chest wall or pleural space to determine the location of a penetrating needle inserted for decompression of one of the chest compartments . using the output from the combination of sensors , the logic controller may , for example , be able to determine the time between ( i ) an increase in pressure in any of the compartments 103 a , 103 b , and 103 c , ( ii ) the insertion of a needle into the chest compartments and iii , a decrease in pressure caused by a treatment of the simulated condition as accomplished , for example , by the insertion of a hollow needle . the logic controller 114 may be further configured to detect whether a user rechecks the position of the artificial trachea 106 based on data received from the pressure sensor 118 . the logic controller 114 may be further configured to encrypt , date , and transmit data , via a wired device or wireless device including radio frequency transmission means , to a monitor , display , or computer at a remote location . this embodiment will permit the analysis of data and evaluation of trainee performance by an observer who is not physically present . the above - described systems and methods can be implemented in digital electronic circuitry , in computer hardware , firmware , and / or software . the implementation can be as a computer program product ( i . e ., a computer program tangibly embodied in an information carrier ). the implementation can , for example , be in a machine - readable storage device , for execution by , or to control the operation of , data processing apparatus . the implementation can , for example , be a programmable processor , a computer , and / or multiple computers . a computer program can be written in any form of programming language , including compiled and / or interpreted languages , and the computer program can be deployed in any form , including as a stand - alone program or as a subroutine , element , and / or other unit suitable for use in a computing environment . a computer program can be deployed to be executed on one computer or on multiple computers at one site . method steps can be performed by one or more programmable processors executing a computer program to perform functions of the invention by operating on input data and generating output . method steps can also be performed by and an apparatus can be implemented as special purpose logic circuitry . the circuitry can , for example , be a fpga ( field programmable gate array ) and / or an asic ( application - specific integrated circuit ). modules , subroutines , and software agents can refer to portions of the computer program , the processor , the special circuitry , software , and / or hardware that implements that functionality . processors suitable for the execution of a computer program include , by way of example , both general and special purpose microprocessors , and any one or more processors of any kind of digital computer . generally , a processor receives instructions and data from a read - only memory or a random access memory or both . the essential elements of a computer are a processor for executing instructions and one or more memory devices for storing instructions and data . generally , a computer can include , can be operatively coupled to receive data from and / or transfer data to one or more mass storage devices for storing data ( e . g ., magnetic , magneto - optical disks , or optical disks ). data transmission and instructions can also occur over a communications network . information carriers suitable for embodying computer program instructions and data include all forms of non - volatile memory , including by way of example semiconductor memory devices . the information carriers can , for example , be eprom , eeprom , flash memory devices , magnetic disks , internal hard disks , removable disks , magneto - optical disks , cd - rom , and / or dvd - rom disks . the processor and the memory can be supplemented by , and / or incorporated in special purpose logic circuitry . to provide for interaction with a user , the above described techniques can be implemented on a computer having a display device . the display device can , for example , be a cathode ray tube ( crt ) and / or a liquid crystal display ( lcd ) monitor . the interaction with a user can , for example , be a display of information to the user and a keyboard and a pointing device ( e . g ., a mouse or a trackball ) by which the user can provide input to the computer ( e . g ., interact with a user interface element ). other kinds of devices can be used to provide for interaction with a user . other devices can , for example , be feedback provided to the user in any form of sensory feedback ( e . g ., visual feedback , auditory feedback , or tactile feedback ). input from the user can , for example , be received in any form , including acoustic , speech , and / or tactile input . the above - described techniques can be implemented in a distributed computing system that includes a back - end component . the back - end component can , for example , be a data server , a middleware component , and / or an application server . the above described techniques can be implemented in a distributing computing system that includes a front - end component . the front - end component can , for example , be a client computer having a graphical user interface , a web browser through which a user can interact with an example implementation , and / or other graphical user interfaces for a transmitting device . the components of the system can be interconnected by any form or medium of digital data communication ( e . g ., a communication network ). examples of communication networks include a local area network ( lan ), a wide area network ( wan ), the internet , wired networks , and / or wireless networks . the system can include clients and servers . a client and a server are generally remote from each other and typically interact through a communication network . the relationship of client and server arises by virtue of computer programs running on the respective computers and having a client - server relationship to each other . the communication networks can include , for example , packet - based networks and / or circuit - based networks . packet - based networks can include , for example , the internet , a carrier internet protocol ( ip ) network ( e . g ., local area network ( lan ), wide area network ( wan ), campus area network ( can ), metropolitan area network ( man ), home area network ( han )), a private ip network , an ip private branch exchange ( ipbx ), a wireless network ( e . g ., radio access network ( ran ), 802 . 11 network , 802 . 16 network , general packet radio service ( gprs ) network , hiperlan ), and / or other packet - based networks . circuit - based networks can include , for example , the public switched telephone network ( pstn ), a private branch exchange ( pbx ), a wireless network ( e . g ., wi - fi network , ran , bluetooth , code - division multiple access ( cdma ) network , time division multiple access ( tdma ) network , global system for mobile communications ( gsm ) network ), and / or other circuit - based networks . the client device can include , for example , a computer , a computer with a browser device , a telephone , an ip phone , a mobile device ( e . g ., cellular phone , personal digital assistant ( pda ) device , laptop computer , electronic mail device , and / or the like ), and / or other communication devices . the browser device includes , for example , a computer ( e . g ., desktop computer , laptop computer , mobile device or the like ) with a world wide web browser ( e . g ., microsoft ® internet explorer ® available from microsoft corporation , mozilla ® firefox available from mozilla corporation , and / or the like ). the mobile computing device includes , for example , a personal digital assistant ( pda ). comprise , include , and / or plural forms of each are open ended and include the listed parts and can include additional parts that are not listed . and / or is open ended and includes one or more of the listed parts and combinations of the listed parts . as used in this application , the terms “ component ,” “ module ,” “ system ,” and the like can refer to a computer - related entity , either hardware , firmware , a combination of hardware and software , software , or software in execution . for example , a component can be , but is not limited to being , a process running on a processor , an integrated circuit , an object , an executable , a thread of execution , a program , and / or a computer . by way of illustration , both an application running on a computing device and the computing device can be a component . one or more components can reside within a process and / or thread of execution and a component can be localized on one computer and / or distributed between two or more computers . in addition , these components can execute from various computer readable media having various data structures stored thereon . the components can communicate by way of local and / or remote processes such as in accordance with a signal having one or more data packets ( e . g ., data from one component interacting with another component in a local system , distributed system , and / or across a network such as the internet with other systems by way of the signal ). moreover , various functions described herein can be implemented in hardware , software , firmware , or any combination thereof . if implemented in software , the functions can be stored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer - readable medium . computer - readable media is non - transitory in nature and includes both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another . a storage media can be any available media that can be accessed by a computer . by way of example , and not limitation , such computer - readable media can comprise ram , rom , eeprom , cd - rom or other optical disk storage , magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices , or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer . also , any physical connection is properly termed a computer - readable medium . for example , if the software is transmitted from a website , server , or other remote source using a coaxial cable , fiber optic cable , twisted pair , digital subscriber line ( dsl ), or wireless technologies such as infrared , radio , and microwave , then the coaxial cable , fiber optic cable , twisted pair , dsl , or wireless technologies such as infrared , radio , and microwave are included in the definition of medium . disk and disc , as used herein , includes compact disc ( cd ), laser disc , optical disc , digital versatile disc ( dvd ), floppy disk and blu - ray disc ( bd ), where disks usually reproduce data magnetically and discs reproduce data optically with lasers . combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer - readable media . other embodiments of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the invention disclosed herein . it is intended that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary only .	6
fig1 illustrates a computer 100 configured in accordance with an embodiment of the invention . the computer 100 includes standard components , such as a central processing unit 110 and input / output devices 112 connected via a bus 114 . the input / output devices 112 may include a keyboard , mouse , touch display and the like . a network interface circuit 116 is also connected to the bus 114 to provide connectivity to a network ( not shown ). a memory 120 is also connected to the bus 114 . the memory 120 includes executable instructions to implement operations of the invention . in one embodiment , a classifier training module 122 includes instructions to select an optimized training set of labeled documents for processing by the classifier 124 . consider the case of a stream of input documents and a collection “ c ” of already received documents . the collection is ordered by some criteria named “ r ”, such as most recent first . a set of labels called “ topics ” is declared . documents are to be labeled with at most one topic . documents with no labels are referred to as being in the pseudo - topic “ other .” specified criteria is used to judge whether a document is properly labeled by a topic . furthermore , documents are marked as relevant or not , where relevance is judged separately within each topic . fig2 illustrates processing operations implemented by computer 100 . the first processing operation of fig2 is to define topics . to define a topic , the topic is given a name . features ( e . g ., keywords ) are used to identify potential documents for a topic . the purpose of the keywords is to identify a subset of the samples that is dense in the topic . the presence of keywords in a document is neither necessary nor sufficient for the document to be in the topic . next , candidate documents are detected 202 . for example , the classifier 124 searches the collection “ c ” based on the features given plus any other features deemed significant ( e . g ., most recent first , source , . . . ). unlike traditional search , the results to the user are designed to expose the greatest range of possible learning with an enforced diversity of sources , content types , and taxonomic distance between the results , as well as the best possible matches against variable interpretations of the user &# 39 ; s criteria “ k ”. the criteria should weigh heavily on the keyword features to match a user &# 39 ; s expectation that the keywords have a significant role in the document , indicating a higher chance that the document should be labeled by the topic . for an example of criteria “ k ”, the set of n highest ranked ( by criteria “ r ”, including diversity and taxonomic weighting ) documents in the collection “ c ” may be searched for the appearance of one or more keywords . these documents may then be further weighted by proximity to the original query . if insufficient documents were collected , n can be increased and the process repeated . next , the candidate documents are labeled 204 . if labeled with the new topic , a separate evaluation is made of the relevance of the document to the topic . at this point , the system has labeled examples for newly defined topics , plus labeled examples for previous topics ( including those labeled examples from when they were defined plus any subsequent labeling through supervised learning ). if the system were to use all its labeled examples for training , there would be a disproportionate number of examples of older topics . a classifier for topics trained with this full set would likely label more inputs with the older topics ( more examples ) and fewer with the new topic ( fewer examples ). this total set of labeled examples is not representative of the full sample set or of the expected mix of newly arriving inputs . thus , in accordance with the invention , the labeled set of documents is modulated 206 . to create a representative labeled set , the system trains for topic recognition on the labeled documents within a training window of input documents . a number “ labeled training window ” ( ltw ) is chosen . the collection “ c ” is ordered according to the criteria “ r ”. in that order , the top labeled samples are collected until there are ltw labeled samples . the position of the last labeled sample chosen will be called “ the training window .” ( for example , if ltw = 100 , and the 100th labeled sample is found at position 250 in the collected documents , the training window is 250 .) this method of choosing labeled examples is approximately representative of the set of inputs . new topics may still be underrepresented . for instance , there might be 120 documents of the new topic in the training window , but only 40 are labeled . the ltw should be approximately the number of topics times the smallest number of labeled examples for one topic . the relative frequency of the topics may vary so much that some topics may have very few or no labeled examples in the training window . if there are two topics , one of which occurs 100 times more frequently than the other , and each has 40 labeled examples , then it is unlikely that there will be any labeled examples of the rare topic in the training window for ltw = 2 × 40 = 80 . to compensate for this , the training window may be increased in either of two ways : ( 1 ) the size of the training window may be increased until a minimum number of labeled examples occur in the training window . ( 2 ) alternatively , for any topic that has less than a minimum number of labeled examples , additional examples for that topic are added as if the training window were increased just for that topic . either of those adjustments distort the training set , so it is no longer perfectly representative of the inputs , but the results are likely better than if the topic is underrepresented . based on this training set , a classifier for topic identification is created . the training for detecting relevance within each topic does not use a training window . the training for each classifier for relevance ( one per topic ) uses all the available labeled examples up to a limit , as ordered by criteria “ r ”. the modulated labeled set is now used to train the classifier 208 . thereafter , the classifier can be operated 210 to process a document feed 212 . after classification by topic , the system uses the appropriate relevance classifier to determine whether a document is relevant within the topic . if a user implicitly or explicitly gives feedback for the topic or relevance , this feedback is recorded and treated as supervised training . whenever the system retrains the classifiers , this supervised training is used as part of the labeled samples . the system again normalizes the labeled set into a training set before training new classifiers . an embodiment of the present invention relates to a computer storage product with a computer readable storage medium having computer code thereon for performing various computer - implemented operations . the media and computer code may be those specially designed and constructed for the purposes of the present invention , or they may be of the kind well known and available to those having skill in the computer software arts . examples of computer - readable media include , but are not limited to : magnetic media such as hard disks , floppy disks , and magnetic tape ; optical media such as cd - roms , dvds and holographic devices ; magneto - optical media ; and hardware devices that are specially configured to store and execute program code , such as application - specific integrated circuits (“ asics ”), programmable logic devices (“ plds ”) and rom and ram devices . examples of computer code include machine code , such as produced by a compiler , and files containing higher - level code that are executed by a computer using an interpreter . for example , an embodiment of the invention may be implemented using java ®, c ++, or other object - oriented programming language and development tools . another embodiment of the invention may be implemented in hardwired circuitry in place of , or in combination with , machine - executable software instructions . the foregoing description , for purposes of explanation , used specific nomenclature to provide a thorough understanding of the invention . however , it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that specific details are not required in order to practice the invention . thus , the foregoing descriptions of specific embodiments of the invention are presented for purposes of illustration and description . they are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed ; obviously , many modifications and variations are possible in view of the above teachings . the embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical applications , they 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 following claims and their equivalents define the scope of the invention .	6
the following description is of the best - contemplated mode of carrying out the invention . this description is made for the purpose of illustrating the general principles of the invention and should not be taken in a limiting sense . the scope of the invention is best determined by reference to the appended claims . embodiments of the invention are described with reference to the drawings that accompany the invention . it is noted that in the accompanying drawings , like and / or corresponding elements are referred to by like reference numerals . the invention is not limited to any particular fluid driving device or driving method , which is not particularly mentioned in the specification . fig3 a - 10b illustrate a method for forming a phase change memory device of an embodiment of the invention . referring to fig3 a and fig3 b , in which fig3 a is a top view of fig3 b , a substrate comprising necessary elements is provided . the elements can be gates , dielectric layers and / or conductive vias , but the substrate , elements thereon or fabrications thereof are known in the art , which are not shown in the figures for simplicity . next , a first inert layer dielectric layer 302 and a bottom electrode 304 are formed on the dielectric layer and / or the conductive via ( not shown ) over the substrate . the first inert layer dielectric layer 302 can be silicon oxide , silicon nitride , silicon oxynitride or low k dielectric materials . the bottom electrode 304 can comprise low conductivity materials , such as aluminum , cupper or tungsten . the formation of the bottom electrodes 304 can comprise forming openings in the first inert layer dielectric layer 302 by lithography and etching , and filling the openings with conductive materials . alternatively , the bottom electrodes 304 can be formed by patterning a conductive layer , blanketly depositing a first inert layer dielectric layer 302 , and then etching back the first inert layer dielectric layer 302 . next , referring to fig4 a and fig4 b , in which fig4 a is a top view of fig4 b , a first electrode layer 306 is formed on the bottom electrode 304 and the first inter - layer dielectric layer 302 by physical vapor deposition , pvd or atomic layer deposition , ald . the first electrode layer 306 can be tin , tiw or tialn . note that the first electrode layer 306 cannot be too thick , which is preferably about 5 å - 500 å , and more preferably about 100 å - 300 å . next , a dielectric layer 308 is formed on the first electrode layer 306 by low pressure chemical vapor deposition ( lpcvd ), atmosphere pressure chemical vapor deposition ( apcvd ), sub - atmospheric chemical vapor deposition ( sacvd ), plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition ( pecvd ) or other depositing methods . the dielectric layer 308 can be silicon oxide , silicon nitride , silicon oxynitride or the like . thereafter , a second electrode layer 310 is formed on the dielectric layer 308 by physical vapor deposition , pvd or atomic layer deposition , ald . the second electrode layer 310 can be tin , tiw , tial , tan or tialn . in a preferred embodiment of the invention , the second electrode layer 310 is thicker than the first electrode layer 306 . for example , the second electrode layer is twice or triple thickness that of the first electrode layer , in which the second electrode layer can be about 100 å - 3000 å thick . referring to fig5 a and fig5 b , a resist layer ( not shown ) is formed on the second electrode layer 310 by a coating method , such as spin coating . next , the resist layer is defined by lithography to form a patterned resist layer 312 according to predetermined design . referring to fig6 a and fig6 b , the second electrode layer 310 , the dielectric layer 308 and the first electrode layer 306 are sequentially and anisotropically etched to form a pillar structure 314 with closed surroundings using the patterned resist layer 312 as a mask . thereafter , the patterned resist layer 312 is removed . the pillar structure 314 is preferably column - shaped , but the invention is not limited thereto . the pillar structure 314 can be any closed - shaped structure , such an oval - shaped pillar or a square , etc . note that the pillar structure 314 with a closed surrounding corresponds to a single memory cell of the memory device of an embodiment of the invention . referring to fig7 a and fig7 b , a phase change layer 316 is formed on the first inter - layer dielectric layer 302 and top and sidewalls of the pillar structure 314 by physical vapor deposition ( pvd ) or atomic layer deposition ( ald ). the phase change layer 316 can be ag , in , te , sb or combinations thereof , or ge , te , sb or combinations thereof . in a preferred embodiment of the invention , the phase change layer 316 is ag x in y te z sb w or ge x te y sb w , and about 500 å thick . note that the phase change layer 316 directly contacts the surrounding of the pillar structure 314 . specifically , the phase change layer 316 directly contacts the surrounding of the first electrode layer 306 of the pillar structure 314 . referring to fig8 a and fig8 b , a resist layer ( not shown ) is formed on the phase change layer 316 , and then defined by lithography to form a patterned resist layer 318 . referring to fig9 a , fig9 b and fig9 c , the phase change layer 316 is etched using the patterned resist layer 318 as a mask to form a patterned phase change layer 320 of the memory cell 300 , which is separated from other patterned phase change layers 307 , 309 , 311 of adjacent memory cells 301 , 303 , 305 . referring to fig1 a and fig1 b , a second inter - layer dielectric layer 330 is formed to cover the patterned phase change layer 320 and the first inter - layer dielectric layer 302 by a depositing method , such as chemical vapor deposition . the second inter - layer dielectric layer 330 can be silicon oxide , silicon nitride or silicon oxynitride . next , the second inter - layer dielectric layer 330 is polished . thereafter , the second inter - layer dielectric layer 330 and the patterned phase change layer 316 are patterned to form an opening , exposing the second electrode layer 310 . next , a conductive layer , such as al , cu or w is deposited on the second inter - layer dielectric layer 330 and fills the opening to form a top electrode 332 , electrically connecting the second electrode layer 310 of the pillar structure 314 . fig1 shows a three dimensional view of a memory cell of an embodiment of the invention , explaining the structure more detail . in this embodiment , a major portion of the memory cell is the pillar structure 314 , comprising a first electrode layer 306 , a dielectric layer 308 and a second electrode layer 310 . the pillar structure 314 is covered by the patterned phase change layer 320 . in addition , the first electrode layer 306 and the second electrode layer 310 of pillar structure 314 electrically connect the top electrode 332 and the bottom electrode 304 respectively . according to the embodiments described , because the first electrode layer 306 of the pillar structure 314 is much thicker than the second electrode layer 310 , the first electrode layer has higher resistance . therefore , heat generated from passage of current mainly neighbors the first electrode layer 306 . when the pillar structure 314 is column - shaped , the interface between the first electrode layer 306 ( heating electrode ) and the phase change layer 320 forms a ring . for example , the columnar structure 314 has a diameter cd and a thickness t . the area a of the interface between the heating electrode 306 and the phase change layer 320 is equal to cd × π × t . note that the area a is not limited to lithography process . in addition , only one lithography step is required to determining the contact area between the heating electrode 306 and the phase change layer 320 of a phase change memory device of the embodiment of the invention . accordingly , variations and / or affection generated from lithography steps can be reduced . additionally , the phase change layer 320 is not further processed or modified , for example by heating , thus composition change could be reduced . furthermore , in an embodiment of the invention , because the heating electrode ( first electrode layer 306 ) is formed on a plane , it is more easily fabricated than conventional technology . while the invention has been described by way of example and in terms of preferred embodiment , it is to be understood that the invention is not limited thereto . to the contrary , it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements ( as would be apparent to those skilled in the art ). therefore , the scope of the appended claims should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements .	7
the cghs have been used for some time to measure optical surfaces or a wavefront from optical surfaces . typically , a cgh converts a spherical wavefront to an aspheric wavefront ( see burge et al ., proc . of spie , vol . 2576 , 1995 and u . s . pat . no . 5 , 737 , 079 ). one limitation of cgh related interferometry testing of optical surfaces is the high cost ( or unavailability ) of large cghs . this is especially true for testing large convex aspheric surfaces . in most cases , the cgh needs to be located near the surface to be tested and a single cgh must have a size as large as the surface to be tested ( see fig1 of burge et al ., proc . of spie , vol . 2576 , 1995 ). for example , when testing a 3 - meter convex curved mirror , it is conventional to have a single cgh that also has a 3 - meter diameter . the present invention advantageously overcomes the size limitation in holograms by employing an array of holograms , also referred to herein as a phat . the phat allows for testing of mirror apertures that are not limited by the availability and expense of single large holograms . the phat provides the functionality of a large hologram by using smaller holograms on each element of the array making up the phat . as will be explained , the spatial relationships amongst the holograms of the array are calibrated by the present invention to form one large hologram . the phat of the present invention , therefore , acts as a single large hologram . the present invention includes different embodiments of test systems for wavefront or surface measurements of a mirror surface or any other optical surface . test measurements may be performed using a phat including an array of cghs that cover the entire optical test surface . in addition , test measurements may be performed by using a phat having an array of cghs that cover a small portion of a test surface . as will be explained , by using sub - aperture techniques , combined with mechanical motions in the test system , a complete mapping of the optical test surface obtained by the present invention . thus , the present invention is useful for testing large optics using individual cghs that when arrayed form a larger cgh . as will also be explained , the present invention provides calibration techniques for calibrating a phat using different diffraction orders and also aligning a phat with an optical test surface , for example . referring first to fig1 a , there is shown a side - view of an embodiment of the present invention illustrating a test system 100 for measuring optical surfaces . the test system includes an interferometer 102 , an expander 104 ( optional ), a phat 106 , and an optics under test 108 , in which the latter is shown held in place by an optics holder 110 . also shown in the figure are optional translation stage 118 and an optional rotational stage 112 . these elements are described below . the interferometer 102 outputs an incident beam and gathers interferometry data using a reference beam and a test beam . the reference beam is reflected from phat 106 back to interferometer 102 , whereas the test beam is reflected from optical test piece 108 , through phat 106 and back to the interferometer . the interferometer 102 may be , for example , a commercial fizeau interferometer , such as those manufactured by 4d technologies and zygo inc . the interferometer may also include a camera . yet as another example , interferometer 102 may be configured as a twyman - greene interferometer . alternatively , interferometer 102 may be configured as a wavefront sensor , such as a shack - hartman , phase diverse phase retrieval sensor ( non - interferometer sensing technology ). it will be appreciated that in fizeau interferometry , two reflecting surfaces are used to combine reflecting beams from these surfaces to form interference fringes . one of the reflecting surfaces is a reference surface and the other surface is a test surface . the fringes produced from the reflecting beams may be used to measure the shape of the optical test surface . the reference surface may be realized by a diffractive optical element , such as a cgh . the cgh , illuminated by a source of light , may produce a reflected beam , for example , which is used as the reference beam . on the other hand , a first order diffraction beam may be directed toward the test surface . the reflected beams from both surfaces combine to generate test data in the form of interference fringes which are processed to produce surface measurements of the test surface . the incident beam output by interferometer 102 may be a collimated coherent light beam , for example . optionally , beam expander 104 , which is disposed between the interferometer and the phat , may be an afocal relay ( for example ). the beam expander 104 may be used to increase the size of the collimated beam output from the interferometer . for example , beam expander 104 may increase the size of the collimated beam and illuminate only a portion of the phat or illuminate the entire array of cghs in the phat , as shown in fig1 a . the phat of the present invention is a one or two dimensional ( 2 - d ) array of diffractive elements that are formed by computer generated holograms ( cghs ) and may be arranged in a matrix format , for example . the diffractive elements may also be randomly scattered , for example . the 2 - d array may be planar , as shown in fig1 a and 1 b , or may be non - planar , as shown in fig6 a and 6 b . it will be understood , however , that each hologram , for example , cgh 106 a , 106 b , etc ., is a planar hologram that is used to form the array of holograms in phat 106 of fig1 a , or phat 606 in fig6 a , or phat 626 in fig6 b . the holograms in the phat may be arranged in a regular grid , or alternatively , may be staggered . in one example , the phat in its entirety , or in a smaller portion , may be configured to bend a collimated wavefront , prior to the beam arriving at the optical test surface . furthermore , the returning wavefront from the phat , prior to the beam arriving at the interferometer , may be used to provide a null wavefront . generally , the null wavefront , also known as an aspheric wavefront is formed by a diffractive carrier . as detailed in burge et al ., proc . of spie , vol . 2576 , 1995 , holograms are designed and manufactured with a carrier to isolate light in a desired order of diffraction , which are then passed through a spatial filter that blocks the other orders of diffraction . most holograms use tilt , random encoding , straight lines , or power , as the carrier to fan out the orders of diffraction . particularly , the power carrier is a type of hologram that includes a ring pattern which axially spreads out the orders of diffraction . in one example , a transmitted 1 st order diffraction power carrier is used . the optical test piece 108 may be held in position by optic holder 110 , as shown in fig1 a . the optic holder , which fixes the optical test piece 108 , may be coupled to an optional rotational stage 112 . the rotational stage 112 may be used to rotate optical test piece 108 about an axis of rotation , in a clockwise or counter - clockwise direction . the rotational motion of the optical test surface allows the array of holograms of phat 106 to cover an entire 360 degrees of the test surface . furthermore , interferometer 102 , together with beam expander 104 , may be linearly translated in order to move the beam ( formed by the interferometer and the beam expander ) along a radial extent of the optical test surface . this linear translation may be performed by an optional translation stage 118 , shown in fig1 a . fig1 b is a side view of another embodiment of the present invention depicting a test system 120 . as shown , diverger 103 , which is a part of beam expander 104 in fig1 a , focuses a collimated beam outputted from interferometer 102 at point 103 a , and then diverges and enlarges the beam . collimating lens 105 , which is also part of beam expander 104 , collimates the diverged beam that is received from diverger 103 . the enlarged collimated beam from collimating lens 105 is then directed towards phat 106 . in another example , beam expander 104 illuminates only a portion of phat 106 ( or as shown in fig2 , only a portion of phat 206 is illuminated ). fig1 c provides a side view of a single hologram , designated as 106 n , in the array of phat 106 . the hologram is comprised of a substrate 111 made of glass ( for example ). the bottom layer of the hologram includes a patterned layer 113 . for example , patterned layer 113 may include an etching of segments of circles 113 a , as shown in a top view of fig1 d . the segments , or arcs of circles are of a predetermined density , typically having a spacing between adjacent segments of 1 micron to 1 mm . the top portion of substrate 111 is shown wedged at a wedge angle 109 . the wedge angle helps reduce ghosting effects in the collimated beam . fig1 e presents a flow diagram of a method 130 for testing an optical surface according to an embodiment of the present invention . the method 130 may be better understood by reference to fig1 b . the method begins at step 140 and directs an incident beam from interferometer 102 toward phat 106 . the system may include beam expander 104 , as shown in fig1 b , for expanding the incident beam . alternatively , the incident beam may be directly output toward phat 106 . in that case , step 150 illuminates at least a portion of the array of holograms in phat 106 . for example , the portion may be a sub - section of the array . alternatively , the illuminated beam may cover the entire array of phat 106 . at step 160 , the method modifies the incident beam by using the array of phat 106 to form a reference beam and a test beam . the reference beam is the beam that is reflected back from the array of holograms , whereas the test beam impinges on optical test piece 108 and then is reflected back , through the array of holograms , toward the interferometer . the wavefront of the test beam may include an aspheric wavefront formed by a first order diffraction power carrier , as described earlier . at step 170 , the reference beam is reflected from the array of phat 106 back to interferometer 102 . at step 180 , the test beam impinges onto and is reflected from optical test piece 108 back to interferometer 102 . thus , both the reference and the test beams are modified by the array of holograms in phat 106 . both beams share a common return path back to the interferometer . the reflected beams , therefore , interfere with each other and form interference fringes , thus generating test data . measurements of the optical test surface may then be performed , by way of step 190 , using the interference fringe data . it will be appreciated that the common optical path traversed by the test and reference beams is advantageous , because alignment errors and atmospheric effects on the test data are reduced . fig2 depicts a side view of a test system 200 in another embodiment of the present invention . the system 200 illustrates a test system which includes interferometer 102 , an optional beam expander 204 , phat 206 and optical test piece 108 , which is held in place by holder 110 . the array of holograms in phat 206 extends across the full radial extent 208 of optical test piece 108 . the test piece 108 has a radial center 210 . if the optical test piece includes an active or an operative reflection surface across the entire diameter of the optical surface , then phat 206 should preferably cover the entire radius of the optical surface including radial center 210 . the interferometer 102 and beam expander 204 are configured to cover at least a portion of the array of holograms in phat 206 , but need not cover the entire extent of the optical test piece . fig3 illustrates another test system 300 which includes a rotational stage 112 and a translation stage 118 , in addition to the components of test system 200 as shown in fig2 . the translation stage 118 is configured to allow interferometer 102 and beam expander 204 to have a radial translation along line 318 , in order to view the full radial extent of optical test piece 108 and the array of holograms in phat 206 . the array of holograms in phat 206 includes m × n holograms covering at least the radial extent of the optical test piece , spanning from the center of optical test piece 108 to the radial end of the active portion of the test piece . fig3 only shows one row of holograms 206 a - 206 m . additional rows are shown , for example , in fig4 , which includes six rows of holograms . it will be appreciated that the number of rows may be varied by the tester that may impact the sampling of the surface of the optical test piece , for example ; the number of columns , however , is determined by the number of holograms required to span the full radial extent of the optical test piece ( assuming that the optical test piece has an active reflection surface spanning across its entire diameter ). in the example of fig3 , nine columns of holograms are required . in operation , interferometer 102 and beam expander 206 may , for example , illuminate elements 206 a - 206 f of the array of holograms which are a small portion of the entire array shown in fig3 . the optical test piece is then rotated by the rotational stage 112 , which is configured to rotate about the rotational axis 210 . the optical test piece 108 may rotate in a clockwise direction 328 , or in a counter - clockwise direction . in order to test another portion of optical test piece 108 , interferometer 102 and beam expander 204 are translated to the right along the direction of line 318 by translator stage 118 . in this manner , the beam from beam expander 204 may illuminate holograms 206 d - 206 m and , thereby cover the remaining portion along the radius of the optical test piece . again , through rotation , the inner portion of the optical test piece is illuminated and tested . it will be appreciated that the linear translation may include an overlap , as described above , by first covering holograms 206 a - 206 f and then covering holograms 206 d - 206 m ( for example ). the rotational motion 328 of test piece 108 and the translational motion 318 of interferometer 102 and beam expander 204 are combined by the present invention to perform a complete optical test surface measurement of test piece 108 , thereby completely mapping the entire active surface of the optical test piece . turning now to fig4 , there is shown a better view of the radial translation and the rotational motion provided by test system 300 . as shown , phat 206 is overlaid above optical test piece 108 . the phat includes n × m holograms that may be staggered , as shown . the beam emanating from expander 204 ( fig3 ) has a circular footprint , or a field - of - view ( fov ), designated as 410 . in the example shown , the phat includes 6 rows ( n ) and 9 staggered columns ( m ). it will be observed that the 9 columns extend the full radial extent of the optical test piece . accordingly , as described before , the radial translation is provided by moving footprint 410 along the direction of line 318 and the rotational motion is provided by rotating the optical test piece in a clock - wise direction 328 ( for example ). generally , the holograms of the array are arranged two - dimensionally in a staggered grid , as shown . each hologram in array 206 is fixed in space relative to its neighbors by placing each hologram in a rigid frame . an example of such a rigid frame is shown as frame 1108 in fig1 . the staggered arrangement of the holograms may provide improved data coverage of the optical test piece and improved phase information from the test data . although not shown , the holograms of a phat may be arranged in a non - staggered manner , in which the columns of one row line - up with the columns of an adjacent row . in another embodiment of the present invention , a test system 500 is shown in fig5 . this embodiment is similar to test system 200 of fig2 , except for the beam expander having been replaced with a diverging lens 503 . thus , a diverging incident beam impinges on phat 206 . the holographic pattern of the array in the phat may be configured to provide additional power ( focus ) to bend the light towards optical test piece 108 , as shown by rays 207 a , b . another difference in test system 500 is that interferometer 102 is not perpendicular to the array of holograms , although in one example it may be perpendicular to the array of holograms . in this configuration , axial alignment of interferometer 102 with the optical test piece may be biased . fig6 a depicts another embodiment of the present invention as test system 600 a . the diverging lens 603 diverges the incident beam onto the array of holograms , or phat 606 . the array is conformal to the shape of the optical test piece 608 . for example , as shown , the array of holograms 606 follows the spherical convex shape of optical test piece 108 . although each hologram in the array is planar or flat , nevertheless , the array , as a whole conforms to the convex shape of the optical test piece . similarly , in another embodiment of the present invention , the array of holograms may be conformal to the surface of a concave optical test piece 628 . in such a scenario , the array of holograms 626 conforms to the shape of the optical test piece , as shown in fig6 b , although each hologram in the phat is planar or flat . fig7 depicts another embodiment of the present invention , in which a test system 700 includes holograms of phat 706 , in which each hologram has a wedge or is mated to a wedged lens that is angled at a predetermined slope . for example , at least two different sized wedges are shown in phat 706 . the inner holograms of the phat include a smaller angled wedge , than the angled wedges of the outer holograms , as shown . the rays may then be refracted to a near collimated state before they impinge on the diffracting surface of the holograms . it is contemplated that this configuration is similar to coupling the phat with a fresnel lens . as shown in fig7 , the transmitted rays are configured to impinge on the convex surface of the optical test piece at a perpendicular ( normal ) angle to the convex surface . alternatively , the holograms of the phat may include other light bending surface profiles . for example , they may be aspheric or spherical and they may also be on one or both sides of each hologram in the array . the surface profiles facilitates bending of the incident beam toward the optical test surface , without a collimating lens ( see fig1 b ), or without additional power in the array of holograms ( see fig5 ), and may be advantageously lower in cost . fig8 is a top view of a complete holographic pattern 113 covering an optical test surface 802 . the hologram pattern 113 generates the different diffraction orders described earlier . in addition , holographic pattern 113 includes auxiliary patterns 804 , which may be used to align the optical surface to the holographic pattern . moreover , coordinate measurement targets 806 ( for example , cross hairs , retro - reflectors ) may be used to pre - align the phat . alternatively , coordinate measurement targets 806 may be used for locating test hardware with the aid of photogrammetry cameras or laser trackers . fig9 is another embodiment of the present invention depicting a test system 900 . the test system includes an interferometer 102 , a beam expander 904 , an array of holograms 906 and an optical system to test 908 . the optical system to test may be comprised of any optical assembly . the test may be carried out according to the method described in fig1 e , in which the test beam is reflected from the optical test system and detected by the interferometer . alternatively , a test may be carried out where a detection is carried out in the optical system to test 908 , according to a variation of the method described in fig1 e . ideally each hologram in the phat is phased to each other hologram , such that the phat acts as a single large hologram . in addition , the phat is aligned to the test system . in practice , however , the alignment may be relaxed so long as the components in the test system are calibrated ( as described below ) by characterizing any residual alignment errors and fabrication errors . these errors may then processed out of the test data . the array of holograms is calibrated for different orders of diffraction . for example , the array of holograms may be calibrated by characterizing the 0 th order of diffraction for the reference beam . an example of a calibration system is shown in fig1 a , identified as system 1000 . the system 1000 includes an interferometer 102 , a beam expander 1004 , an array of holograms 1006 and an optical flat 1001 . as described before , for example , fizeau interferometry may be implemented for calibration and the calibration data may be detected by the interferometer . this may provide a calibration of the reference surface of the phat . the diffracted aspheric wavefront of the phat may also be calibrated . the aspheric wavefronts may be characterized in a diffraction order other than the one that is used for testing the optical test piece . for example , a test system may be designed for a first order diffraction . however , the calibration may be performed for a second order diffraction , as the various diffraction orders are quantifiably related . as shown in fig1 b , a test system 1010 includes an interferometer 102 , a diverging lens 1014 , an array of holograms 1006 and an aspheric corrector 1012 . the aspheric corrector may be required in the calibration test , because the wavefront may have substantial asphericity . the calibration data from the two aforementioned calibration configurations may be combined and used in the calculation of the test data obtained from an optical device under test . fig1 shows an example of a rigid frame for holding each hologram of a phat . for example , the rigid frame includes an m × n openings for receiving the m × n holograms of the phat . in addition , the alignment marks 1110 , as shown in fig1 , may be used to align the phat with an axial center of an optical test piece ( for example ). as such , frame 1108 covers a portion of an optical test piece ( not shown ) as it extends from the axial center of the optical test piece to a radial portion of the optical test piece ( covered by the m × n holograms ). although the present invention is illustrated and described herein with reference to specific embodiments , the invention is not intended to be limited to the details shown . rather , various modifications may be made in the details within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims and without departing from the invention .	6
the present inventor has recognized that cotdr techniques can be used to monitor the status of the optical amplifiers in addition to the status of the undersea cable . fig1 shows a simplified block diagram of an exemplary wavelength division multiplexed ( wdm ) transmission system in accordance with the present invention . the transmission system serves to transmit a plurality of optical channels over a pair of unidirectional optical fibers 306 and 308 between terminals 310 and 320 , which are remotely located with respect to one another . terminals 310 and 320 each include transmitting and receiving unit ( not shown ). the transmitting unit generally includes a series of encoders and digital transmitters connected to a wavelength division multiplexer . for each wdm channel , an encoder is connected to an optical source , which , in turn , is connected to the wavelength division multiplexer . likewise , the receiving unit includes a series of decoders , digital receivers and a wavelength division demultiplexer . each terminal 310 and 320 includes an cotdr unit 305 and 307 , respectively . optical amplifiers 312 are located along the fibers 306 and 308 to amplify the optical signals as they travel along the transmission path . the optical amplifiers may be rare - earth doped optical amplifiers such as erbium doped fiber amplifiers that use erbium as the gain medium . as indicated in fig1 , a pair of rare - earth doped optical amplifiers supporting opposite - traveling signals is often housed in a single unit known as a repeater 314 . the transmission path comprising optical fibers 306 - 308 are segmented into transmission spans 330 1 - 330 4 , which are concatenated by the repeaters 314 . while only three repeaters 314 are depicted in fig1 for clarity of discussion , it should be understood by those skilled in the art that the present invention finds application in transmission paths of all lengths having many additional ( or fewer ) sets of such repeaters . optical isolators 315 are located downstream from the optical amplifiers 220 to eliminate backwards propagating light and to eliminate multiple path interference . each repeater 314 includes a coupler arrangement providing an optical path for use by the cotdr . in particular , signals generated by reflection and scattering of the probe signal on fiber 306 between adjacent repeaters enter coupler 318 and are coupled onto the opposite - going fiber 308 via coupler 322 . the cotdr signal then travels along with the data on optical fiber 308 . cotdr 307 operates in a similar manner to generate cotdr signals that are reflected and scattered on fiber 308 so that they are returned to cotdr 307 along optical fiber 306 . the signal arriving back at the cotdr is then used to provide information about the loss characteristics of each span . fig2 shows a typical trace of the backscattered power on a logarithmic scale versus distance from the cotdr for the transmission spans 330 1 - 330 4 . as previously mentioned , cotdr is usually employed to locate discontinuities in the optical fibers located in the undersea cable . this is accomplished by acquiring cotdr traces of the system at fixed time intervals . the cotdr traces reveal the gain performance of each optical amplifier , as given by the discontinuity beach each fiber loss profile . thus both the gain and loss of the entire amplified transmission path can be represented by a single cotdr trace . the problem is how to interpret these traces to locate specific faults along the transmission path . the cotr traces that are obtained are compared with a reference trace made at an earlier time and which represents the proper working state of the line . by subtracting the reference trace from the current trace , a difference trace of the changes is obtained . the present invention uses these same traces to locate faults that arise in the repeaters . as used herein , a repeater fault refers specifically to any change in the gain of the optical amplifiers located in the repeaters ( other than a total loss of gain ). for example , fig3 shows a reference trace 410 , a subsequent trace obtained after the occurrence of a repeater fault , and a difference trace 430 . the cotdr traces in fig3 can be understood by recognizing that the optical amplifiers are typically operated in a state of compression or gain saturation in which a decrease in optical input power is compensated by increased amplifier gain . that is , in compression the amplifiers regulate the optical power of the signals propagating through the optical fiber . a series of optical amplifiers extending along a transmission path and operating in compression compensates for system degradations through a process of automatic gain adjustment . as a result , the optical output power from the amplifier remains at a substantially constant level even as the optical input power undergoes fluctuations . in other words , once the operating point ( i . e ., the point on the gain versus input power curve ) of the optical amplifier has been determined , its output power will remain substantially constant , provided that the operating point corresponds to a state of compression or gain saturation . accordingly , a decrease in the output power of a given edf will not adversely affect overall system performance because the decrease will be compensated by a gain increase in subsequent downstream amplifiers . fig3 reflects this characteristic of a series of optical amplifiers operating in compression . as shown , a fault ( i . e ., a decrease in gain ) occurs in the second repeater , which in this example is located at a distance of about 225 km from shore . the subsequent repeater , located at a distance of about 275 km , compensates for the majority of the decrease in gain of the previous repeater . the remaining gain loss is compensated in the remaining repeaters located along the transmission path . accordingly , assuming fiber losses are constant , the difference trace 430 is about equal to zero ( except for fluctuations caused by noise ) along each span except for the span immediately downstream from the repeater in which the fault occurred , and , to a lesser extent , the next few downstream repeaters . hence the difference trace is proportional to the gain change . each difference trace can be characterized by an n - dimensional vector , with the i th element given by the average magnitude of the difference between the current trace and the reference trace in span “ i ” out of a total of n spans . fig4 a and 4 b show exemplary difference traces for several possible repeater faults . the difference traces are assumed to each arise from a idealized single optical amplifier fault that is equal to a gain loss of 1 db . further , all difference traces arising from the traces obtained from the forward or downstream transmission path , such as shown in fig4 a , are assumed to have the same shape . likewise , all difference traces arising from the traces obtained from the backward or upstream transmission path , such as shown in fig4 b , are assumed to have the same shape . the actual gain loss arising from a single amplifier fault has the same shape as the idealized fault , but with an amplitude proportional to the magnitude of the actual gain loss . finally , it is assumed that difference traces arising from multiple amplifier failures can be obtained by adding the individual difference traces for each isolated failure . given the aforementioned assumptions , the difference trace for any possible combination of multiple repeater faults can be represented by a linear combination of single repeater fault difference trace vectors : f ⇀ = ∑ i = 1 n ⁢ ⁢ c i ⁢ v ⇀ i + ∑ i = 1 n ⁢ ⁢ d i ⁢ u ⇀ i here { right arrow over ( f )} is the vector representation of the actual measured difference trace , { right arrow over ( v )} i , and { right arrow over ( u )} i are the single amplifier difference vectors for 1 db gain losses at forward - going amplifier “ i ” and backward - going amplifier “ i ” respectively , and c i and d i are factors proportional to the actual single amplifier gain losses at forward - going amplifier “ i ” and backward - going amplifier “ i ”. the set of vectors { right arrow over ( v )} i , and { right arrow over ( u )} i are each complete but non - orthogonal representations of the n - dimensional vector space . the vector { right arrow over ( f )} has n degrees of freedom , and the exact state of the amplifier chain is represented by the 2n degrees of freedom in the loss factors c i and d i . thus in general , the single difference trace measurement represented by { right arrow over ( f )} is not sufficient to fully characterize an arbitrary state of the amplifier chain . fortunately , not all states of the amplifier chain are equally likely . the most likely fault is a single amplifier fault , where only one of the 2n parameters has changed and the rest are steady . therefore it is possible to use an iterative algorithm to correctly identify the fault . to do this , the assumption is made that the fault arises from a single amplifier , that is , only one of the 2n parameters c i and d i are non - zero . a correlation method is used to determine which of the 2n state parameters is non - zero , for example c 22 , and which value of c 22 provides the best fit to the actual difference trace . such correlation methods are well known to those of ordinary skill in the art and thus will not be discussed further . the next step in the iteration process is to subtract this assumed single amplifier failure c 22 { right arrow over ( v )} 22 difference trace from the actual difference trace to obtain an intermediate difference trace { right arrow over ( f )}′. this intermediate difference trace is then assumed to be the result of a single point fault , and repeat the correlation process to determine the best fit of a single point fault to the intermediate difference trace . this process is continued until the intermediate trace is flat . once it has been determined that the difference trace is the result of a small number m of single amplifier faults ( e . g ., m & lt ;& lt ; 2n ) the parameters characterizing these single - point faults can be found either by using the same parameters used in the deconstruction process described above , or by using linear algebra techniques to deconvolve the difference trace .	7
now referring to the drawings , where like reference numerals designate like elements , there is shown in fig7 a a circuit diagram of a bias current supply circuit 700 in accordance with a first exemplary embodiment of the invention . the bias current supply circuit 700 includes a plurality of taps 740 . more specifically , there are n taps 740 , where n corresponds to the number of columns that receive power from the bias current supply circuit 700 . the bias current supply circuit 700 provides each tap 740 with the ibias current at node 741 , which is coupled to node a 1 ( fig2 ) of each pixel 121 . the voltage vaapix is supplied from node 711 of the power source 710 . node 711 is coupled to line 721 , which is coupled to each node 741 . the power source 710 must be capable of providing the output current of nibias at vaapix voltage . the current level of the nibias current must be at least n times the ibias current . the power source 710 also produces another output signal vslice at node 712 . node 712 is coupled to line 722 , which is coupled to a gate of each transistor 731 in circuit 700 . each transistor 731 has one source / drain coupled to line 721 and another source / drain coupled to a respective node 742 . each node 742 is a output node coupled to node b 1 of an associated pixel 121 ( fig2 ). the signal vslice is at a voltage level of vs , where vs is greater than vt , the threshold voltage of transistor 731 . when the imager 100 is operated using the power source 700 , when dark or medium light is incident upon the pixel 121 , the photo signal vsig voltage will be greater than the vs - vt voltage . as a result , transistor 731 will be non - conducting . thus , when dark or medium light is incident upon the pixel 121 , the imager 100 operates as previously described with respect to fig5 . when bright light is incident upon the pixel 121 , as previously discussed , the source follower transistor 125 in the pixel 121 becomes non - conducting and thus the ibias current no longer flows through node 741 to node a 1 of the pixel 121 . however , at the same time the photo signal vsig voltage will also drop below the vs - vt voltage , thereby causing transistor 731 to conduct . since one source / drain of transistor 731 is coupled to line 721 and another source / drain is coupled to node b 1 of pixel 121 , the circuit formed by transistor 731 acts as a current bypass from node 741 to node 742 that permits the ibias current to continue to flow to the pixel 121 even when source follower transistor 125 is non - conducting . as a result , the output current from the power source 710 remains constant , even when bright light is incident upon the pixel 121 . while the fig7 a embodiment of the invention addresses and reduces the unstable horizontal band - wise noise , it does not address the reverse video noise . fig7 b is an illustration of a second exemplary embodiment of the present invention , which provides a way to reduce the reverse video noise . the second exemplary embodiment of the present invention utilizes a power source 700 ′, which is similar to the bias current supply circuit 700 of the first exemplary embodiment . however , circuit 700 ′ includes a new power source 710 ′ and is intended to be used with a new control circuit 160 ′. the power source 710 ′ is similar to the power source 710 of the first embodiment , but further includes a new control signal input node 713 , which accepts a new control signal slice_r . the power source 710 ′ is modified to control the output of the vslice control signal based upon the state of the slice_r control signal . the slice_r is control signal produced by a modified control circuit 160 ′, which is similar to control circuit 160 ( fig1 ), but which also produces the slice_r signal . the characteristics of the slice_r signal are described below . the slice_r control signal is supplied from the control circuit 160 ′ to the power source 710 ′. when the slice_r control signal is asserted , the power source 710 outputs vr to the vslice signal . when the slice_r control signal is deasserted , the power source 710 does not output the vslice signal , that is , vslice is kept at ground potential . as shown in the supplemental timing diagram of fig8 , the slice_r control signal is controlled so that it is asserted simultaneously with the assertion of the shr control signal at time t 3 . the slice_r control signal is then deasserted at any time between the deassertion of the shr control signal at t 4 and the assertion of the shs control signal at time t 5 . thus , the slice_r control signal is asserted only during the reset phase of pixel operation . that is , the power source 710 is controlled to only output the vslice signal during the sampling and holding of the reset signal vrst ( the reset phase ). the presence of the vslice signal does not change the operation of the imager 100 when dark or normal level light is incident upon a pixel . however , when extremely bright light is incident upon a pixel , the presence of the vslice signal prevents the reset signal vrst voltage level from dropping below vslice - vt , thereby preventing the reset signal vrst level from being significantly affected by the extremely bright light . the reverse video noise is therefore addressed by preventing the reset signal vrst from being significantly affected when extremely bright light is incident upon the pixel 121 . both the unstable load noise and the reverse video noise are addressed by a third exemplary embodiment of the present invention . the third exemplary embodiment utilizes the same bias current supply circuit 700 ′ as the second exemplary embodiments ( fig7 b ). referring now to the supplemental timing diagram of fig9 , it can be seen that the vslice signal is generally at the vs voltage level . however , when the slice_r control signal is asserted , the vslice signal is at the higher vr voltage level . by setting the vslice signal at the vr voltage level during the reset phase , the reverse video noise is reduced as explained above in connection with the second exemplary embodiment . similarly , by setting the vslice signal at the vs voltage level during the photo signal phase , the unstable load noise is reduced as explained above with respect to the first exemplary embodiment . the third exemplary embodiment therefore combines elements of the first and second exemplary embodiments to address both the unstable load noise and reverse video noise . fig1 illustrates a bias power supply circuit 1000 in accordance with a fourth exemplary embodiment of the present invention . the power supply circuit 1000 is capable of addressing the reversal video noise . the fourth exemplary embodiment operates similar to the second exemplary embodiment . however , the fourth exemplary embodiment utilizes a different mechanism of generating an output signal at node 742 . while the second exemplary embodiment required power source 710 to be capable of sequencing the vslice signal between the vr and ground voltages , and use the vslice signal to control transistor 731 to govern the output at node 742 , the power source 1010 of the bias power supply circuit 1000 is configured to output the vslice signal at a single voltage level at the vr voltage . an additional transistor 1032 is coupled in series , via its source and drain terminals , between a source / drain of transistor 731 and node 742 . the gate of transistor 1032 is coupled to signal line 1023 , which is also coupled to node 1050 . the control circuit 160 ( fig1 ) is modified to also output the slice_en control signal . the slice_en control signal is used to control the conductivity of transistor 1032 . since the source / drain terminals of transistor 1032 are coupled in series between the source / drain terminals of transistor 731 and node 742 , transistor 1032 can be used as a control device for the current flowing from the power source 1010 ( at node 711 ) to node 742 . more specifically , and referring also back to fig8 , the control circuit 160 is modified to output the slice_en control signal in a manner so that the output at node 742 in this fourth exemplary embodiment is identical to the output at node 742 of the third exemplary embodiment . fig1 illustrates a power source 1100 in accordance with a fifth exemplary embodiment of the present invention . the power source 1100 is capable of addressing both the unstable load noise and the reverse video noise ( as in the third and fourth exemplary embodiments ). the fifth exemplary embodiment operates similar to the third exemplary embodiment . however , the fifth exemplary embodiment utilizes a different mechanism of generating the output signal at node 742 . the third exemplary embodiment controlled the output signal at node 742 by controlling the conductivity of transistor 731 by applying the vslice control signal to the gate of transistor 731 . this required the power source 710 to be capable of sequencing the vslice control signal between the vr and vs voltages . in the fourth exemplary embodiment , the power source 1010 supplies the vslice control signal at a fixed voltage level vr . in the illustrated embodiment , the power source 1110 of the power source 1100 is configured to output the a vslice 1 signal at the vr voltage level on an additional signal line 1121 and a vslice 2 signal at the vs voltage level on an additional signal line 1123 . the power source 1100 utilizes four transistors 1031 a , 1031 b , 1032 , and 1033 to control the output at node 742 . more specifically , transistors 1031 a and 1031 b each operate similarly to transistor 731 ( fig7 a ). transistor 1032 is coupled in series via its source and drain between a source / drain of transistor 1031 b and node 742 . similarly , transistor 1033 is coupled in series via its source and drain between a source / drain of transistor 1031 a and node 742 . the control circuit 160 ( fig1 ) is modified to provide new slice_en 1 and slice_en 2 control signals respectively to the gates of transistor 1032 and 1033 . the states of the slice_en 1 and slice_en 2 control signals are complementary and set by the control circuit 160 so that node 742 is supplied either the signal flowing from line 711 via transistors 1031 a and 1033 or the signal flowing from line 711 via transistors 1031 b and 1032 . in this manner , the bias power supply circuit of 1000 produces an output signal at node 742 identical to that produced third exemplary embodiment . fig1 illustrates a processor system 1200 . the processor system 1200 includes a processor device 1210 . the processor device 1210 may be , for example , digital camera , a personal computer , or other image processing apparatus , and includes , for example , a central processing unit 1220 , a memory 1230 , and an i / o controller 1240 . the memory 1230 may be a conventional memory . alternatively , the memory 1230 may be , or may include , a removable memory , such as a removable flash memory device . the i / o controller is coupled to interconnect 1220 , which couples the processor based device 1210 to an imager 100 ′. the imager 100 ′ is similar to imager 100 ( fig1 ), but incorporates a bias current supply circuit in accordance with the principles of the present invention . as illustrated , the bias current supply circuit is circuit 700 of the first exemplary embodiment , but the bias current supply circuits of the other exemplary embodiments ( e . g ., circuits 700 ′, 1000 , or 1100 ) may be substituted for circuit 700 . the present invention therefore presents a number of embodiments for a pixel power supply circuit with addresses the unstable load and / or reverse video noise which may be encountered in any imaging system . the present invention addresses the unstable load noise by improving bias current stability via current bypass circuits which activate when the source follower is saturated . the present invention addresses the reverse video noise by using a voltage limiter at the pixel output node to limit the reset voltage output from a pixel . while the invention has been described in detail in connection with the exemplary embodiments , it should be understood that the invention is not limited to the above disclosed embodiments . rather , the invention can be modified to incorporate any number of variations , alternations , substitutions , or equivalent arrangements not heretofore described , but which are commensurate with the spirit and scope of the invention . accordingly , the invention is not limited by the foregoing description or drawings , but is only limited by the scope of the appended claims .	7
as shown in fig1 incoming speech from telephone equipment 101 is transmitted over analog twisted pair lines 103 to one of a plurality of linecards 105 which form a proprietary or switch specific barrier at central office 107 . one known such switch specific barrier is a dms - 100 . after processing the information in the switch specific barrier at central office 107 , the speech can be routed over t1 carrier facilities to another central office 111 where another switch specific barrier having linecards 113 can then route the speech from phone equipment 101 over analog switched pair 115 to a receiving phone equipment 117 . as previously discussed , in north america t1 carrier facilities 109 are operated at 1 . 544 mbps in which 24 8 - bit speech words are transmitted in a single 125 μs frame . thus , 192 information bits are transmitted at 8 kilohertz in the 125 μs frame . in addition , a framing bit is also included in the 125 μs frame , thus resulting in 193 bits being transmitted in a 125 μs frame . it should be noted that the invention is not limited to north american t1 carrier facilities but can be applied to other carrier facilities using other data rates and formats employed throughout the world . it should also be noted that , as shown in fig1 incoming speech may originate at another end of the system , such as phone equipment 119 , so that it is transmitted over analog lines 121 through linecards 113 and over carrier facilities 109 to central office 107 . here this speech information could then be routed by linecards 105 over analog lines 123 to telephone equipment 125 . the emergence of the integrated services digital network ( isdn ) as an important telecommunication means has resulted in isdn equipment 201 being connected to linecards , e . g . 203 in central office 205 over a 192 kbps link in which two b channels and one d channel are connected to each linecard . there are three channels operating on the 192 kbps link . each of the two b channels operates at 64 kbps , the d channel has a 16 kbps capability . in addition , as previously discussed , a t1 transmission line operates at 1 . 544 mbps . this accommodates 24 8 - bit speech words per 125 μs frame so that 24 pieces of standard phone equipment can be multiplexed on a single t1 carrier facility . however , each isdn equipment conventionally occupies three 64 kbps channels resulting in a 192 kbps band width . this allows only eight isdn devices to be accommodated by a single t1 carrier facility . this is illustrated in fig3 which shows that isdn devices 301 can be connected to multiplexer 303 and transmitted to a central office switch 305 over t1 carrier facilities 307 . the t1 carrier facilities 307 can accommodate 24 64 kbps channels . since each isdn device conventionally requires three channels , eight isdn devices can be accommodated on the t1 carrier facility 307 communicating with central office switch 305 . fig4 shows a configuration in a central office 401 in which multiplexer 417 receives information from linecards 409 , 411 , and 415 which are connected to telephone equipment 403 , 405 and 407 , respectively . multiplexer 417 receives information from the linecards and formats it for transmission to the 64 kbps switch matrix 419 . the 64 kbps switch matrix 419 is designed to accommodate the number of channels desired by the designer . since information must be provided to switch matrix 419 in the 64 kbps format , multiplexer 417 must operate to provide the 16 kbps d channel isdn information in the same 64 kbps format . this presents no problem for the two isdn b channels . however , since the d channels operate at 16 kbps transmitting information in the 64 kbps format requires duplicating the d channel information so that the same information is transmitted four times . this wastes capacity and is obviously undesirable . fig5 illustrates a switch matrix 419 designed to switch 1 , 000 channels . a frame pulse on signal line 501 activates channel counter 503 whose output on signal line 507 is incremented in response to a clock 505 . each incremented output of the channel counter on output line 507 provides an address code to data memory 509 and connection memory 511 . fig6 illustrates how a 125 μs frame is channelized into one thousand 125 nanosecond channels . eight - bit entities are transmitted in each 125 nanosecond time increment . thus , speech information received as 8 - bit entities on line 513 is sequentially clocked into the data memory so that one 8 - bit entity is stored for each increment of the channel counter . for the data memory 509 , output signal on line 507 from the channel counter 503 points to the address where the received information 513 is to be stored . linecard controller 515 provides information to connection memory 511 concerning the destination of the information , such as speech data and control information , stored in the data memory 509 . thus , each increment of the channel counter provides an address of the connection memory at which the destination of the information stored at the corresponding address in the data memory is identified . it should be noted that 8 - bit entities of information can be stored in data memory 509 at sequential addresses for plain old telephone service ( pots ) and for the b channels of isdn devices . however , since the d channels of isdn devices are transmitted at only 16 kilobits per second , which is 1 / 4 the 64 kbps data rate of pulse code modulated speech information in line 513 , only two bits are required for each d - channel . in order to conform to the 64 kbps format , the d channel information is therefore duplicated so that eight bits of information are transmitted on the channel . during the first half cycle of a clock , incoming speech on signal line 513 is placed in memory . during the second half cycle of a clock , the connection memory is accessed to identify the destination of the information stored in the data memory at the address defined by the channel counter . for example , speech information can be transmitted over data output line 519 while destination information is transmitted over line 521 to routing circuit 523 . it should be noted that the routing circuit 523 can be replaced by using the data output of the connection memory as an address input to the data memory . fig7 illustrates how this can be accomplished . in this configuration , channel counter 701 clocked by clock 703 produces outputs on line 705 which are provided to multiplexers 707 and 709 . multiplexer 709 provides address information on line 711 to connection memory 713 . this information can be the output from the channel counter 705 or a microprocessor address on line 715 which is provided by a linecard controller , e . g . 515 , used to program the routing information into the connection memory . it should be noted that linecard controller 515 is used to completely define in the connection memory the routing information for each channel . data memory 717 receives its address information from the output of multiplexer 707 on line 719 . line 719 contains either the channel counter output on line 705 or latched connection memory information on line 721 . line 721 is defined by the output of latch 723 which is connected to the data output 725 of connection memory 713 . the output of multiplexers 707 and 709 depends on the status of clocks 727 and 729 . during the first half clock cycle , input pulse code modulated ( pcm ) information or speech information received on signal line 731 is transmitted through data line 733 and read into data memory 717 . this is accomplished by activating multiplexer 707 to put the channel count on line 705 as the address on signal 719 of the data memory . the speech or pulse code modulated information is then read into the data memory 717 . in addition , signal line 711 is also clocked so that the address on connection memory 713 corresponds to the output of channel counter 701 on signal lines 705 . thus , during the first half clock cycle the connection memory data output , which defines the destination of the speech at the address location on line 711 is latched into latch 723 . during the second half clock cycle , address line 719 is then switched via clock 727 so that multiplexer 707 provides the information on signal line 721 to the address input of the data memory 717 . as a result , during the second half of the clock cycle pulse code modulated information is transmitted on data line 733 from the address defined by connection memory 713 to the channel corresponding to the channel counter value . fig8 a illustrates a series of incoming 8 - bit entities which are sequentially provided from each of the linecards . the location of each entity is determined by the sequential nature of channel counter 503 . thus , 8 - bit entity a is placed into memory in the first sequential location , the second 8 - bit entity b is placed into the second sequential location , and so on . this occurs for each of the channels in a 125 μs frame . as shown in fig8 a , entities a - e and g are 8 - bit pulse code modulated speech . entity f represents the d channel information from the first isdn device defined by an operator to linecard controller 515 . it should be noted that operator interface 525 provides an individual operator a means for defining to linecard controller 515 the nature of each of the linecards operating at a particular switching station . thus , in the example shown in fig8 a - 9c channels a , b , and c could be accommodating plain old telephone service ( pots ) while channels d and e represent b channels for the first isdn device . channel f represents the d channel information for the first isdn device . as previously discussed , the d channels of isdn devices operate at 16 kbps while the remaining channels operate at 64 kbps . the switching device , such as 64 kbps switch 419 , requires a consistent format . since the d channels operate at only 1 / 4 the data rate of the other channels , and since each channel is 8 bits , only 2 bits are required to transmit the d channel information , which typically control information for the isdn device . however , in order to maintain a consistent 64 kbps format , the two d channel bits are duplicated so that 8 bits are stored in the data memory . the 8 bits are then transmitted in accordance with the information programmed into the connection memory , e . g . 511 or 713 , so that the 8 bits are transmitted through the switch matrix . this is shown in fig8 b where channel f , which is stored at location 6 , contains d channel information for the first isdn device , the d1 channel . data stream h stored at location 8 contains d channel information for the second isdn device , the d2 channel . fig8 b shows that the d1 information is routed to location 100 while the d2 information is routed to location 210 . in this example of a conventional system all 8 bits would then be transmitted in order to be routed to the appropriate location . thus , to accommodate the d1 and d2 channels , 16 bits are transmitted , even though 12 of the transmitted bits merely duplicate the basic information required . only four of the 16 bits actually need to be transmitted to provide the proper control to the first and second isdn devices . this principle is true for any number of isdn devices and as the number of isdn channels in a frame increases , the penalty for transmitting redundant information also increases . fig8 c illustrates one way in which the outgoing information can be packed to avoid the transmission of redundant information . fig8 c shows that when the first isdn d channel is encountered , d channel information for additional isdn devices which can be accommodated by the number of bits in the channel is also transmitted . thus , in the example shown in fig8 the 2 bits required for transmitting d1 channel information are followed by transmitting 2 bits for the d2 channel information . because 8 bits can be transmitted in a channel , this approach could be extended to d3 and d4 channels , as required and remain transparent to other devices in the system . additional isdn devices , e . g . d - channels d5 - d8 , could be accommodated as another eight bit entity formed by string the 8 bit d channel information together in sequence . in cases where 8 bits are not required , e . g . only two isdn channels to be transmitted , the &# 34 ; left over &# 34 ; bits can be ignored . since the d1 and d2 channel information has been transmitted when the address counter is at location 100 , 2 bits of d1 channel information and 2 bits of d2 channel information are transmitted . as previously noted , if 2 bits of d3 information and 2 bits of d4 information were available , these would also be transmitted so that a maximum of an 8 bit entity would be transmitted at one time . the advantage to transmitting the d channel control information in this fashion is that the information is required only once per frame . thus , when channel counter 513 increments to location 210 , the d2 channel information need not be transmitted . location 210 instead becomes available to accommodate an additional pulse code modulated information channel . as a result , the information carrying capacity of the system is increased without necessitating construction of additional transmission capability . for example , as previously discussed , a t1 carrier facility accommodates 24 64 kbps channels with each channel transmitting 8 - bit information entities at 8 kilohertz . when isdn devices are involved , only 8 devices are available , since each isdn device consumes three channels . by eliminating the transmission of redundant information , additional channels become available so that a single t1 carrier facility can handle up to ten isdn devices . as discussed above , efficiency can be achieved by viewing the information transmitted on the system as individual entities whose bit length is equal to the smallest number of bits which are required for fundamental control of the devices on the system . each of these entities is called nyblet . in the above case , 2 bits are needed to provide d channel control information . this is because information transmitted on the d channels is at 16 kbps and is only one - fourth the information rate of the transmission channel which is 64 kbps . thus , even though information is transmitted as 8 - bit speech entities , only one - fourth of these 8 bits , i . e ., or 2 bits , is required for d channel control information . since the individual nyblet entity is now 2 bits , an 8 - bit pulse code modulated speech entity is formed by a sequential series of four 2 - bit nyblets . thus , pulse code modulated speech information can be easily reconstructed in a manner transparent to external devices because four 2 - bit information entities transmitted in sequence are no different to external devices from a single 8 - bit entity . the efficiency is achieved in the transmission of control information on the isdn d channels . this is because instead of transmitting duplicate information , such as d1 - d1 - d1 - d1 , d2 - d2 -, d2 - d2 , d3 - d3 - d3 - d3 , d4 - d4 - d4 - d4 , the information is now transmitted as d1 - d2 - d3 - d4 . control information for four isdn channels is transmitted in a manner compatible with a single 8 - bit entity , rather than requiring four individual 8 - bit entities . as previously discussed , this releases other channels for transmission of additional information . fig9 illustrates how this can be accomplished . as previously discussed , the 1 , 000 channel connection memory required 1 , 000 address locations with each address location containing an 8 - bit word . the 8 - bit word could be either 8 bits of pulse code modulated speech or redundant d channel control information . as shown in fig9 one approach is to replace this memory with another memory only 2 bits wide and having 4 , 000 locations . using this approach , an 8 - bit pulse code modulated entity can be created by stringing together four sequential 2 - bit entities and transmitting them one after the other . since two bit entities rather than 8 bit entities are now being switched , the clock rate for channel counter 503 must be accelerated by four times . however , to devices connected to the system the arrangement of the memory is transparent , since each device sees the correct information appear at the correct time as determined by a clock signal . it should be noted that the information is stored in 2 - bit entities blindly so that the data memory still contains duplicate or redundant copies of the d channel information for each of the isdn devices . thus , 8 - bit speech information and d channel control information is stored in the same manner as in conventional systems , even though it is stored as 2 - bit entities rather than 8 - bit entities . the connection memory now provides routing information in a manner consistent with the alteration of the data memory . for example , the connection memory contains 4 , 000 2 - bit entities to route incoming and outgoing speech from one linecard to another . in this case for a data transmission channel such as a pots device or an isdn b channel , the routing information in the connection memory is programmed such that four 2 - bit entities are routed to the same channel . thus , the bits are easily assembled into an 8 - bit entity . for the d channel control information for isdn devices , the first entry contains the address of the d1 information . the next entries in the connection memory contain the addresses of the d2 , d3 and d4 information , respectively . this is possible because channels are defined by an operator through the operator interface 525 via the line card controller 515 . as a result , at all times it is possible to determine which d channel information is to be transmitted and the location in the connection memory of the remaining d channel information by knowing the current count of channel counter 503 . fig1 illustrates an alternative memory organization method in which the data memory is organized into individual 2 - bit banks . thus , for example , 1 , 000 channels of 8 - bit data memory words can be stored as 1 , 000 entries of banks 0 - 3 . by accessing each bank of the data memory for each count of the channel counter , it is possible to access the information as 2 - bit nyblets while maintaining the same channel count as in conventional systems . the advantage of transmitting information in nyblets is that pulse code modulated information , such as speech , and d channel control information for isdn devices can be transmitted in the same manner in a way that is transparent to the overall system . in addition , since the d channel information can be packed into 8 - bit sequences , with each sequence having 2 bits corresponding to one of four isdn d channels or four isdn devices , it is possible to transmit 16 kbps information in a 64 kbps environment . this releases other information channels , thereby increasing the data transmission capacity of the overall system in taking full advantage of the capabilities of t1 carrier facilities . it should be pointed out that the above invention has been described for isdn devices in a 64 kbps environment . however , nyblets of any particular length can be used to allow transmission of lower data rate information in a higher data rate environment by employing the same approach . moreover , the above method and structure in terms of the organization of nyblets and data and connection memories is not restricted to telephone applications . the method and structure could be applied to any data communications requirement involving the transmission of lower data rate information of higher data rate channels . while several embodiments of the invention have been described , it will be understood that it is capable of further modifications , and this application is intended to cover any variations , uses , or adaptations of the invention , following in general the principles of the invention and including such departures from the present disclosure as to come within knowledge or customary practice in the art to which the invention pertains , and as may be applied to the essential features hereinbefore set forth and falling within the scope of the invention or the limits of the appended claims .	7
in fig2 the first input of an and gate 16 is coupled between input terminal 12 and inverter 10 . the other and gate 16 input is driven from the output of inverter 15 . as long as terminal 14 is low the second and gate 16 input will be high and the signal at terminal 12 will be repeated at the input of inverter 10 . however when the three state circuit is to be disabled terminal 14 will be driven from low to high so that the second and gate 16 input will be low and the input to inverter 10 will be a logic zero . this forces output terminal 11 high by the action of inverter 10 . line 13 will remain high and maintain the output of inverter 10 for the delay period of buffer 17 . after the delay period has elapsed , the output of buffer 17 will go low and disable inverter 10 so that its output will float . thus in the circuit of fig2 the output will go to a logic one just prior to going to its high impedance state . such a condition can be useful in dram control where a substantial capacitive load is present due to parallel connected memory devices and printed circuit wiring . the load capacitance is first charged by the driver before the driver goes to its high impedance state . fig3 is a schematic diagram of a bipolar device implementation of the circuit of fig2 . it is to be understood that while a bipolar schottky , ttl device implementation is shown , other kinds of logic devices , such as mos or cmos , can be employed . where similar elements occur to those in fig2 the same numbers are used . the circuit is operated from a v cc power supply connected + to terminal 20 and - to ground terminal 21 . a capacitive load 22 as described above , is denoted by the dashed lines coupled between output terminal 11 and ground . a conventional low power schottky inverter 10 is shown existing between input terminal 12 and output terminal 11 . a totem pole output stage is made up of current sink transistors 25 , current source transistor 26 and darlington - connected source driver transistor 27 . schottky diode 28 and resistor 29 return the base of transistor 26 to its emitter . when transistor 27 is on its emitter current will drive the base of transistor 26 to turn it on . the voltage drop across diode 28 and resistor 29 is sufficient to ensure conduction in transistor 26 . however when transistor 27 is off diode 28 and resistor 29 will pull the base of transistor 26 low so as to turn it off . schottky diode 30 returns the base of transistors 27 to its emitter and is poled to be conductve when the base of transistor 27 is low . diode 30 is present to pull the base of transistor 26 low when the base of transistor 27 is pulled low in the output disable state or when a logic zero output is desired . schottky diode 31 and resistor 32 return the base of transistor 25 to ground . when transistors 33 and 34 are on the voltage drop across diode 31 and resistor 32 will turn transistor 25 on . when transistors 33 and 34 are off diode 31 and resistor 33 will pull the base of transistor 25 low and turn it off . phase splitter transistor 33 drives the darlington - connected current source driver transistor 27 out of phase with current sink transistor 25 . emitter follower transistor 34 acts to boost the turn on current drive in transistor 25 . when transistor 33 conducts the voltage drop across resistor 35 pulls the base of transistor 27 low and truns it off . when transistor 27 is off transistor 26 will also be off . in the absence of any input at terminal 12 resistor 36 will pull the base of transistor 33 high so that the output at terminal 11 is normally low , thereby causing output terminal 11 to act as a current sink . when input terminal 12 is pulled low , due to a logic zero , transistor 33 will be turned off and the current in resistor 35 will be diverted into the base of transistor 27 thereby turning the current sourcing part of the output stage on . using this characteristic in conjunction with schottky diode 38 creates and gate 16 , the operation of which will now be described . transistor 39 in combination with dual emitter transistor 40 makes up inverter 15 . resistor 41 acts to bias transistor 39 on when disable terminal 14 is either open or high . when disable terminal 14 is low , the current in resistor 41 will flow to ground through the left hand emitter of transistor 40 . there will be insufficient bias to turn transistor 39 on for this condition . terminal 14 will have to rise above one v be to turn transistor 39 on . below this threshold the potential applied to schottky diode 38 will cause it to be non - conductive and any signals at input terminal 12 will be directly coupled to the bases of transistors 33 and 34 . when the level of terminal 14 exceeds the above - mentioned threshold ( goes high ) transistor 39 will turn on and pull the lower end of schottky diode 38 low so that it will conduct the current normally flowing in resistor 36 . this will turn transistors 33 and 34 off . this removes the drive current to transistor 25 and diode 31 along with resistor 32 will pull the base of transistor 25 low so that it too is turned off . thus when transistor 39 is on , output terminal 11 will go high . this means that diode 38 in combination with the normal operation of inverter 10 will create and gate 16 . transistor 39 also drives buffer 17 by applying its output signal to the emitter of diode connected transistor 42 which is also operated as a diode pair . when transistor 39 is on the current flowing in resistor 43 is shunted to ground through the left hand emitter of transistor 42 and through the collector of transistor 39 . at the base of transistor 42 the threshold of conduction in transistor 45 is 2v be . when transistor 39 is on there is close to zero current in resistor 44 so that the base of transistor 45 is below its conduction threshold . however , when transistor 39 turns off the current in resistor 43 is diverted to resistor 44 and the base of transistor 45 which turns on . this conducts the current in resistor 46 to ground thereby pulling the base of transistor 47 low so as to turn it off . under this latter condition inverter 10 will function normally . when the disable signal at terminal 14 goes high , transistor 39 turns on which turns transistor 45 off . under this condition , the current flowing in resistor 46 is forced into the base of transistor 47 which turns it on . thus the current normally flowing in resistor 35 will flow through the collector of transistor 47 and then through schottky diode 48 to ground . this action pulls the base of transistor 27 low and turns it off and this action removes the base current to transistor 26 so that diode 28 and resistor 29 pull the base of transistor 26 low so as to turn it off and thereby terminate the sourcing of current to output terminal 11 . however , the foregoing action cannot occur until transistor 47 turns on and this action is delayed . it will be noted that buffer 17 includes a diode connected transistor 49 connected between the base of transistor 47 and ground . when reverse biased this diode connected transistor will display substantial capacitance that must be charged to turn transistor 47 on . under the condition where terminal 14 is low so as to turn transistor 39 off transistor 45 will be on as described above . this will substantially discharge the capacitance of diode connected transistor 49 . then when the disable pulse turns transistor 45 off , the current flowing in resistor 46 will charge the capacitance of diode connected transistor 49 and this results in a rising voltage ramp at the base of transistor 47 . the threshold of conduction in transistor 47 is about 1 . 2 volt at 300 ° k . due to the presence of diode 48 . the time delay in seconds will approximate : ## equ1 ## where r 46 is the value of resistor 46 in ohms , c 49 is the capacitance of diode connected transistor 49 in farads . the value of ## equ2 ## is about 0 . 27 for a 5 - volt supply . in a typical circuit application the delay will be about 30 nanoseconds which will accommodate charging a wide range of capacitive loads . a typical load can be on the order of 500 pf . in view of the foregoing , it will be seen that when the signal at terminal 14 goes high the totem pole output stage first reverts to its current source mode ( a logic one output ) and then shortly thereafter goes into its high impedance mode . in the application where a number of such devices will be commmonly coupled to a line that is common to dram circuits , the disable action is accompanied by a preceding &# 34 ; high &# 34 ; condition . the invention has been described and a detailed implementation using schottky ttl circuitry has been set forth . clearly the same functions could be implemented using other kinds of circuits , for example nmos , pmos , or cmos . upon reading the foregoing description other alternatives and equivalents , within the spirit and intent of the invention , will occur to a person skilled in the art . accordingly , it is intended that the scope of the invention be limited only by the following claims .	7
the following description is of the best mode presently contemplated for practicing the invention . the description is not to be taken in a limiting sense but is made merely for the purpose of describing the general principles of the invention . the scope of the invention should be ascertained with reference to the issued claims . in the description of the invention that follows , like numerals or reference designators will be used to refer to like parts or elements throughout . the present invention provides a fast , reliable , and efficient method for the isolation of pure plasmid dna , or other nucleic acids , in a format that is coupled to silica based or other chromatographic methods that allows the plasmid , or nucleic acid , to be eluted in small volumes . the addition of colored dyes , or other indicators , to buffers used to make the cleared lysate allows the process to be visually monitored . in specific embodiments employing modified alkaline lysis based buffers the neutralization of the second basic buffer ( sodium hydroxide , naoh / sds ) can also be monitored . the resulting plasmid dna or nucleic acid is pure and suitable for use in sensitive molecular biology applications , such as reverse transcription , transcription , dna and rna sequencing , polymerase chain reaction ( pcr ), restriction digests , ligation reactions , end modifications , among other procedures . in the case of plasmid dna it is pure to be stable at room temperature for prolonged time . the different embodiments of the invention provide for small scale purification to larger preparations designed to purify significant quantities of plasmid or nucleic acid material from a variety of sources . nucleic acids and specifically plasmid dna can be isolated from microbial fermentation and / or eukaryotic cellular cultures . the plasmid dna can be preferentially isolated from escherichia coli ( e . coli ) strains that are usually used to product such material for most molecular biology manipulations . it is recognized that other prokaryotic bacterial or eukaryotic species can also be utilized as vehicles for the purification of nucleic acids or plasmid dna . the nucleic acid to be purified is typically plasmid dna of a variety of sizes , but could be rna , or genomic dna in alternative embodiments . in the case of plasmid dna it may or may not contain foreign dna sequence . the cellular culture can be grown in a variety of culture mediums that can be modified to alter or regulate replication of the plasmid dna , rna , or other nucleic acid molecules . the cells are harvested by centrifugation and the culture media removed to provide a cell pellet . in a preferred embodiment the nucleic acid that is isolated is plasmid dna that can be of a variety of sizes with specific control elements that , either containing heterologous dna or synthetic sequences that are commonly known in the art . the present invention incorporates the addition of dyes , or other indicators , to the nucleic acid isolation buffers ( fig1 ). the dye can be present in amounts and with intrinsic characteristics such that it provides enough color for monitoring , but does not alter other characteristics of the cellular lysates , plasmid dna , purified nucleic acids , or remain after the final chromatographic purification ( fig2 ). numerous chromatographic methods are known in the art and are commercially available from a variety of sources . many of these are compatible with the preferred embodiments of the present invention and allow final purification of the plasmid dna , or nucleic acid from the cleared lysate . there are numerous commercially available candidate dyes or indicators that are contemplated for use including , but not limited to ph indicator dyes , reactive dyes , direct dyes , sulfur dyes , cationic dyes , anionic dyes , intercalating dyes , nucleic acid dyes , and metal complex dyes , among other specific dyes known to those skilled in the art . the indicator dyes are useful due to their property to change color in relation to the ph of the solution . however , many additional dyes or indicators are known in the art and can be used in embodiments of the present invention that are not ph responsive . these can be used alone or in combination with other dyes or indicators to monitor the status of the cellular lysate from which nucleic acids are being purified . in the preferred embodiment of the present invention the color of the cellular lysates is easily followed by simple color transitions by eye due to the presence of the component dyes . these can be different in each of the alkaline lysis based buffers . in other embodiments , a spectrophotometer or like methods is used to assay changes in the cellular lysates . in one preferred embodiment the ph indicator dye phenol red can be used . phenol red is commercially available in several formats or compositions and has a visual transition interval of yellow at about ph 6 . 8 to red are ph of about 8 . 4 , with a transition range of between about ph 6 . 5 - ph 8 . 5 . the phenol red is added to the alkaline lysis buffer p 1 ( around neutral ph 7 . 0 - 8 . 0 and red in color ) and p 3 ( acidic and yellow in color ), while another dye such as emerald - green ( blue ) is added to the p 2 ( basic and blue - green in color )( fig1 ). this preferred embodiment allows for easy and efficient visual monitoring of the steps of clearing the bacterial lysate . one feature of the present invention is the probability of one making errors is reduced due to the ability to easily see the changes in the lysate as each of the buffers is added sequentially . other similar dyes that undergo color transitions in relation to ph , binding , or due to other parameters , are known in the art and are also alternative embodiments of the invention . other commercially available dyes useful in embodiments of the present invention include , but are not limited to , chloro phenol red ( sigma ); emerald green ( alza ); methyl red ( sigma ); methyl green ; ( sigma ); thymol blue ( sigma ); bromo thymol blue ( sigma ); o - cresolphthalen ( nile ); meta cresol purple ( nile ); thymolphthalen ( nile ); phenolphthalen ( nile ); titan yellow ( sigma ); xylene cyanol ; methyl orange ( sigma ); neutral red ( sigma ); cresol red ( sigma ); bromo cresol blue ( sigma ); bromo cresol green ( sigma ); bromo cresol purple ( sigma ); methylene blue ( sigma ); bromo phenol blue ( sigma ), indigo carmine ( aldrich ); methyl viologen dichloride ; resorufin ( aldrich ); reasazurin ( aldrich ); phenosafranine ( aldrich ); carboxyfluorescein ( molecular probes ); napthofluorescine ( molecular probes ); oregon green ( molecular probes ); snafl - 1 ( molecular probes ); snarf - 1 ( molecular probes ); 6 - tet ( molecular probes ), among other similar dyes , and combinations thereof . in addition dyes can be used either alone or in combinations to allow easy visual or spectrophotometric monitoring of the cellular lysates or solutions . in preferred embodiments of the present invention dyes that are non toxic or those with low toxicity can be used . inoculums of e . coli from a single bacterial colony are grown to saturation ( overnight ), or to the desired cellular density . media can be any of the commonly used for bacterial cultures such as luria broth , terrific broth , super broth , among other suitable culture media known in the art . the chromatographic purification procedures are preferentially carried out at room temperature and are known in the art . all centrifugation steps are performed at a speed pf about 11 , 000 - 14 , 000 rpm in a standard laboratory microcentrifuge . the isolation of plasmid dna is a preferred embodiment of the present invention . all steps of the preferred embodiment of the present invention may be carried out at room temperature , about 15 - 30 ° c . isolation of plasmid dna is well known in the art . the method of plasmid isolation comprises modified mild alkaline lysis of host cells containing a plasmid , sodium hydroxide ( naoh ) and sodium dodecyl sulphate ( sds ), naoh / sds , denaturation , and precipitation of unwanted cellular macromolecular components as an insoluble precipitate , coupled to column based silica , or other chromatography or purification methods . this procedure is modified from the original alkaline lysis plasmid preparation procedure and utilizes reduced naoh ( less than 0 . 2 m ) to allow the lysis to be performed at room temperature and also uses guanidine as a denaturant . isolation buffers based on alkaline lysis protocols are well known in the art and variations of compositions are contemplated as embodiments of the present invention that are compatible with various commercially available chromatographic columns and technologies . alkaline lysis procedures use sodium acetate , potassium acetate , as well as a variety of other salts , including chaotropic salts such as iodine and guanidine , among others known in the art . the ribonuclease rnaase a is commonly added in some protocols to degrade contaminating rna from the lysate . the colored buffer system can be used with all variations and simplifies sample manipulation and prevents errors ( fig1 ). the visual monitoring increases efficiency and significantly reduces the time required to process each sample . plasmid can be isolated , typically up to about 25 ug from 1 . 5 ml of standard e . coli starting material and after purification on silica based spin - columns ( fig2 ). the plasmid is pure typically with an od 260 / 280 ratio above 1 . 8 . the plasmid dna is suitably pure for use in the most sensitive experiments ( fig2 , 4 ). alkaline lysis based colored buffers for plasmid nucleic acid purification preferred embodiment and alternative embodiments have different dyes , indicators , or salts , or component chemical components and or concentrations . the below example buffers are embodiments of the present invention and others are contemplated . the colored buffer system simplifies protocol manipulation and prevents errors . various molecular biology and biochemical methods , media components , or other items concerning plasmid isolation mentioned , but not explicitly described in this disclosure are commonly known in the scientific literature and to one skilled in the art . the examples detailed are for small minipreperation of plasmid samples from e . coli from standard overnight cultures . ˜ 0 . 05 mm phenol red ( about 20 mg indicator dye per liter , disodium salt ). ˜ 100 ug / ml rnase a ( added before use , store at 4 ° c .). ˜ 0 . 10 mm emerald green ( about 40 mg indicator dye per liter , disodium salt ). ˜ 0 . 05 mm phenol red ( about 20 mg indicator dye per liter , disodium salt ) 4 . wash buffer : 70 - 80 % ethanol , or other organic solvent based buffer . many wash buffers are compatible with the present invention and are commonly known in the art . separate cultures of e . coli strain jm109 containing plasmids of different sizes ( 3 . 0 kb , 5 . 0 kb , and 5 . 5 kb ) were grown to saturation at 37 ° c . overnight with shaking in an incubator ( new brunswick ). the following example protocols were used to isolate plasmid dna using the modified alkaline lysis based buffers described above . once the cleared bacterial lysate was made this was further purified over silica based spin - columns ( fig2 ; example 1 and 2 )( zymo research corp ). the clarification of the lysate can be performed by centrifugation or filtration methods both of which are known in the art . some protocols utiize lysozyme , while others dispense with this step . the pure plasmid was suitable for sensitive molecular biology techniques and representative samples isolated via the protocol of example 1 are shown ( fig3 ). the typical ratio od 260 / 280 is above 1 . 8 with yields up to 25 ug per ml of bacterial culture . the plasmid dna was sequenced using standard sanger dideoxy techniques and a representative sequence trace is shown ( fig4 )( gibco ). the lysates were also purified on alternate spin - columns that are suitable for either use in a microfuge ( eppendorf ) or vacuum manifold ( example 2 ). in addition such lysates are suitable to scale up for use in large scale methods for use with mid to large sized cultures from about 10 ml to sev . ? ral liters , or larger cultures of about 500 ml , or industrial sized cultures using fermentation equipment known in the art and are all embodiments of the present invention ( 2001 sambrook and russell , 2001 ). additional embodiments of the invention are suitable for high through put multiple sample analysis ( see example 3 ). 1 . pellet 0 . 5 - 5 ml of overnight culture in a 1 . 5 ml microfuge tube by spinning for 15 - 20 seconds . 3 . add 200 ul of p 1 buffer ( red ), containing rnase a ( 100 ug / ml ). resuspend completely with gentle vortexing or by pipette . solution is pink or light red in color to the naked eye . 4 . add 200 ul of p 2 buffer ( blue ). mix by inverting and swirling the microfuge tube 4 - 6 about times . the solution becomes clear and a deeper red in color . if lysis is incomplete the clearing and darkening to a red of the color is qualitatively less pronounced to the naked eye . 5 . add 400 ul pf p 3 buffer ( yellow ) and mix thoroughly , but gently . do not vortex this step hard . a white precipitate will form which consists of k - sds and cellular debris . the buffer becomes yellow and cleared debris suspension . 6 . spin the microfuge tube for 3 minutes at maximum speed . 7 . load the supernatant intro a spin - column ( various types are commercially available .). this may be done by pouring or pipette . be careful not to transfer or disturb any of the white cellular precipitate . 9 . discard the flow - through in the collection tube . make sure the flow - through does not touch the bottom part of the column as it would contaminate the dna inside the column . 10 . add 600 ul of wash buffer onto the column with the collection tube and spin for 30 seconds . 11 . add about 25 ul ( low volume ) of elution buffer to the column and place the column onto a 1 . 5 ml microfuge tube , spin for 10 - 15 seconds to elute the plasmid dna . elution buffer contains 10 mm tris . hcl , ph 8 . 5 , 0 . 1 mm edta . pure water can also be used for elution if needed . dispense the elution buffer directly onto the center of the spin column membrane for an optimal plasmid elution . 1 . pellet 0 . 5 - 5 ml of overnight culture in a 1 . 5 ml microfuge tube by spinning for 15 - 20 seconds . 3 . add 200 ul of p 1 buffer ( red ). resuspend completely with gentle vortexing or by pipette . solution becomes pink or light red in color to the naked eye . 4 . add 200 ul of p 2 buffer ( blue ). mix by inverting and swirling the microfuge tube 4 - 6 about times . the solution becomes clear and a deeper red in color . if lysis is incomplete the clearing and darkening to a red of the color is qualitatively less pronounced to the naked eye . 5 . add 400 ul pf p 3 buffer ( yellow ) and mix thoroughly , but gently . do not vortex this step hard . a white precipitate will form which consists of k - sds and cellular debris . shaking the tube inverted several times increases the efficiency of precipitate formation . 7 . load the supernatant intro a spin - column ( various types are commercially available .). this may be done by pouring or pipette . be careful not to transfer or disturb any of the white cellular precipitate . 9 . discard the flow - through in the collection tube . make sure the flow - through does not touch the bottom part of the column as it would contaminate the dna inside the column . 10 . add 600 ul of wash buffer onto the column with the collection tube and spin for 30 seconds . 11 . add about 40 ul of elution buffer to the column and place the column onto a 1 . 5 ml microfuge tube , spin for 10 - 15 seconds to elute the plasmid . elution buffer contains 10 mm tris . hcl , ph 8 . 5 , 0 . 1 mm edta . pure water can also be used for elution if needed . dispense the elution buffer directly onto the center of the spin column membrane for an optimal plasmid elution ( can use commercially available vacuum manifold apparatus as an alternative ). 2 . add 200 ul of p 1 buffer ( red ) and resuspend pellet , becomes light red or pink . 3 . add 200 ul of p 2 buffer ( blue ) and mix , becomes deeper red and clear to the naked eye . 4 . add 400 ul of p3 buffer ( yellow ) and mix thoroughly , white cellular precipitate forms . 9 . add 600 ul of wash buffer and spin for 30 sec . 10 . add 40 ul ( 25 ul ) of elution buffer or water , put the column into a new microfuge tube , and spin for 10 sec . the present invention is compatible with a 96 well or larger number sample format for high throughput sample analysis as an alternative embodiment . the amounts of samples , buffers , and manipulations for high through - put sample handling as well as optimal centrifugation speeds are well known in the art . the 96 well plates and larger number sample plates that are compatible with robotic methods are known in the art and are readily commercially available . yeast species , fungi species , other microorganisms , homo sapiens ( human ) liquid tissue , homo sapiens ( human ) solid tissue , or tissue from a variety of species commonly used in diagnostic , research or clinical laboratories are contemplated as compatible with this purification procedure as a source of plasmid dna are all alternative embodiments of the present invention . procedures for handling and preparing samples from these various species are well known in the art and are reported in the scientific literature . while the invention has been described by means of specific embodiments and applications thereof , it is understood that numerous modifications and variations could be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . it is therefore to be understood that within the scope of the claims , the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described . molecular cloning a laboratory manual , third edition , 2001 , joseph sambrook and david w . russell , cold spring harbor laboratory press , cold spring harbor new york .	2
reference will now be made in detail to several embodiments . while the subject matter will be described in conjunction with the alternative embodiments , it will be understood that they are not intended to limit the claimed subject matter to these embodiments . on the contrary , the claimed subject matter is intended to cover alternative , modifications , and equivalents , which may be included within the spirit and scope of the claimed subject matter as defined by the appended claims . furthermore , in the following detailed description , numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the claimed subject matter . however , it will be recognized by one skilled in the art that embodiments may be practiced without these specific details or with equivalents thereof . in other instances , well - known processes , procedures , components , and circuits have not been described in detail as not to unnecessarily obscure aspects and features of the subject matter . portions of the detailed description that follow are presented and discussed in terms of a process . although operations and sequencing thereof are disclosed in a figure herein ( e . g ., fig7 , 8 ) describing the operations of this process , such operations and sequencing are exemplary . embodiments are well suited to performing various other operations or variations of the operations recited in the flowchart of the figure herein , and in a sequence other than that depicted and described herein . some portions of the detailed description are presented in terms of procedures , operations , logic blocks , processing , and other symbolic representations of operations on data bits that can be performed on computer memory . these descriptions and representations are the means used by those skilled in the data processing arts to most effectively convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art . a procedure , computer - executed operation , logic block , process , etc ., is here , and generally , conceived to be a self - consistent sequence of operations or instructions leading to a desired result . the operations are those requiring physical manipulations of physical quantities . usually , though not necessarily , these quantities take the form of electrical or magnetic signals capable of being stored , transferred , combined , compared , and otherwise manipulated in a computer system . it has proven convenient at times , principally for reasons of common usage , to refer to these signals as bits , values , elements , symbols , characters , terms , numbers , or the like . 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 following discussions , it is appreciated that throughout , discussions utilizing terms such as “ accessing ,” “ writing ,” “ including ,” “ storing ,” “ transmitting ,” “ traversing ,” “ associating ,” “ identifying ” or the like , 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 . while the following exemplary configurations are shown as incorporating specific , enumerated features and elements , it is understood that such depiction is exemplary . accordingly , embodiments are well suited to applications involving different , additional , or fewer elements , features , or arrangements . as presented in fig1 , an integrated managed service framework 100 is provided which aggregates core cloud computing functions including service provisioning , automating workflows , data and usage monitoring across integrated services , and providing user access control into an integrated system 101 accessible through a single portal . these functions , when efficiently combined , may improve a data center &# 39 ; s ability to execute operations quickly under standardized protocols and with a consistent quality of service . this integrated managed service framework 100 may further interact with existing orchestration frameworks to integrate traditional information technology data resources 115 with private 113 or public 111 cloud computing resources . in an embodiment , the framework 100 may be implemented by integrating various independent sub - frameworks 103 , 105 , 107 . these sub - frameworks may include , for example , a user management framework 103 that implements a web - based portal and / or user interface ; a service management framework 105 for acquiring and managing resources , and mitigating conflicts between them ; and an orchestration framework 107 for performing tasks related to policy management , orchestration , automation , and integration of provisioned resources and services . cloud computing consumers may access and perform customary cloud computing management services through a single web - based portal easily accessible to existing and potential consumers . user management framework 103 provides services such as user access control ; account management ; and service and support for the storefront and portal . likewise , management of remotely coupled traditional data center components may also be performed through the portal . this portal may be implemented by the user management framework 103 as , for example , a single web - based portal which is configured to provide direct access to the consumer to the various other subframeworks within the integrated cloud services framework . the user management framework 103 may also include the functionality for providing the back - end service and support for users of the web - based portal . these functions may include ( but are not limited to ) maintaining and providing a scalable service catalogue that describes the available services and resources from a scalable , user - specific service catalogue . these resources and services may comprise , for example , instances of infrastructure as a service ( e . g ., virtual machines ), instances of platforms as a service ( e . g ., specific operating systems ), instances of software as a service ( e . g ., applications ), and instances of business processes as a service ( e . g ., proprietary workflows ). these instances may be offered from a variety of different , sometimes competing public cloud computing vendors . alternatively , these instances may also comprise instances of a private cloud infrastructure . in still further embodiments , the resources and services may also comprise traditional enterprise data infrastructure components , such as physical devices or virtual private network devices . in an embodiment , the user is able to select desired resources and / or services to implement in a project or environment configuration directly from the service catalogue through the user interface . in further embodiments , the service catalogue is updated dynamically to reflect the user &# 39 ; s previous selections , such that conflicts between offered resources and services are avoided . for example , certain infrastructure components offered by a cloud computing vendor will only run proprietary platforms . thus , a user selection of such an infrastructure component will have available options for platforms ( as displayed in the service catalogue ) dynamically limited . alternatively , a configuration of computing resources may be determined automatically for a user by querying the user with desired system attributes or performance , and selecting a configuration of computing resources ( e . g ., infrastructure components , platforms , applications , and / or business processes ) with the desired attributes or capable of the desired performance . the service catalogue may be used as an interface for a consumer to provision and configure a new cloud computing environment , for example . in further embodiments , the catalogue may be used to access a storage of previously developed computing environment configurations . the previously developed computing environment and configuration may be fully or partially replicated and / or customized as needed in lieu of generating a completely new cloud computing environment . once created , the computing environment may be stored in a central storage base , accessible to the user through the web - based portal . in an embodiment , these configurations may also be stored as an environment template in the central storage base , and referenced when necessary . in further embodiments , this storage base may be implemented as a database , such as a configuration management database ( cmdb ) for example , and accessible through the orchestration framework 107 ( described below ). during a process for generating a set or potential solution of computing resources , the storage base of templates may be referenced and the templates compared to supplied user criteria . a template exactly or substantially matching the user criteria may be supplied as a suggested configuration . according to still further embodiments , the user management framework 103 may also include functionality to extend user access control . user access may be managed for individual users by an authorized user , or through service item management . user access control may include user role management features ( adding or removing new users , defining user classes / groups , assigning user classes / groups to a user ). service item management may include , for example , the ability to view — in an instance of the user interface corresponding to a user — a list of provisioned resources for all projects affiliated with the user , and the ability to turn each individual resource on / off and / or to modify the configuration of the resource . this ability may be provided ( e . g ., accessible ) to the user through the web - portal , for example . this list of provisioned resources may also be limited or expanded ( e . g ., by a project administrator or manager ) where necessary to include or exclude data for certain users and / or user groups . for example , a user designated as an accountant and / or affiliated with a financial user group may see a list of provisioned resources and only the data corresponding to billed or account information corresponding to those resources . other data and or functionality applicable to the resource , such as technical specifications , monitoring , licensing , patching , backup , portability , may be withheld from view for the user . likewise , a test engineer and / or a user affiliated with a testing user group may be granted access only to data pertaining to application or service testing performed in the project . the aforementioned billing information , along with other data and / or functionality , may be withheld from users identified as test engineers or affiliated with the testing user class or group . this list of displayed services can also change dynamically , depending on the state of the resource . for instance , if a resource is already off , the service request to turn off the server will not be display / enabled . other operations performed in the user management framework 103 may include management of user requests for services and service items of provisioned resources ; providing user - specific consumption reporting features which provide the consumer access to consumption , cost and chargeback information ( organized by project and / or vendor for example ) and notifications ( e . g ., if a resource such as a server is reaching its utilization threshold , a recommendation to increase memory may be displayed in the user interface .) in an embodiment , modifications to the state and / or configuration of a resource in a computing environment performed by an authorized user will automatically update the computing environment to reflect the modifications . policies may be declared by a user through a user interface generated by the user management framework 103 , for instance . other features may include functionality for pay - per - use services accounting which monitors and stores the data accessible by a consumer also through the user management framework 103 . data management of third party provided services including service usage , pricing , billing and payment may also be provided in the user management framework 103 . in still further embodiments , system 100 is configured to allow a user to manage ( through a web portal ) entire provisioned computing environments ( or projects comprising sets of servers and resources ) in addition to individual components of an environment infrastructure ( e . g ., a server ). thus , features including ( but not limited to ) the monitoring , licensing , patching , backup , portability , pricing , billing and payment of entire , aggregate provisioned environments can be effectively managed collectively on a macro level , and across different infrastructure vendors , platforms , and software . once a configuration of computing resources for an environment or project is selected , the service management framework 105 will receive the configuration and provision the requested resources ( e . g ., web server , application server , storage , database ) according to an automated workflow process through a provisioning module . in an embodiment , the automated work flow processes conform to and comply with “ best practices ” as defined by industry standards ( from itil ). configuration for the provisioned resources may be performed in an ad hoc manner — manually by a user through the service catalogue , for example . alternatively , pre - stored configuration templates may be referenced from a database ( such as a cmdb database of the orchestration platform 107 described below ) and replicated for the environment or project . in still further embodiments , a configuration may be automatically generated based on user - specified criteria . after the resources have been provisioned and configured , further customization may be performed if necessary . otherwise , automatic scripting processes may be performed to install requisite software for executing the application . if at any point during the automated provisioning and configuration processes an error or fault is encountered , integrated monitoring policies may be automatically applied to notify the system administrator and / or attempt to address the particular issue encountered . according to an embodiment , orchestration of cloud computing services in a project environment is provided by the orchestration framework 107 . in further embodiments , this governance may be extended to both a usage and policy level . the orchestration framework 107 may be implemented as a plurality of separate modules ( such as policy management and rules engine 109 ) which function cooperatively to provide cross - vendor support . these modules may include functionality for policy enforcement and management by centralizing and standardizing management of client - specific policies to regulate and adjust infrastructure services against changing business needs . in an embodiment , the policy management and rules engine 109 may apply user - specific policies to provisioned resources dynamically , such that changes in operating circumstances can be accommodated automatically . for example , a project environment that scales in resource consumption and usage can maintain proportional levels of policy management automatically , rather than requiring manual ( and often inefficient and / or slow ) changes to one or more configurations in the environment . for example , an environment that uses multiple servers each provisioned to run a software platform with a certain amount of licenses may be suddenly and dramatically expanded such that the number of licenses is no longer sufficient to support the number of users . rather than manually identifying , selecting and upgrading ( or downgrading ) the software platforms executing on each of the multitude of servers , or even provisioning entirely new configurations with sufficient size , a single policy can be dynamically and automatically applied to perform a consistent update across the instances , without manual supervision . thus , when a user is notified that the maximum number of provisioned licenses for a software platform has been met and that no further instances of the platform can be provisioned , the user may be able to dynamically create , and apply , a new policy wherein the platform is automatically upgraded to a version with a greater ( or unlimited ) number of licenses when the number of provisioned platforms exceeds the number of granted licenses under a prevailing license agreement . according to another example of dynamic policy and rule management , a provisioned , executing server &# 39 ; s memory utilization may be constantly monitored to prevent over utilization . if the server &# 39 ; s memory utilization is detected to be above a pre - specified threshold , a policy may be dynamically applied to check if the provisioned , executing server can handle additional memory , and if the client has enabled scaling of the machine . if both of these cases are true , additional memory may be automatically increased in the server by provisioning additional memory through the orchestration framework 107 , for example . the orchestration framework 107 may also include a central source base ( such as an instance of a storage service ) for previously configured resources or entire computing environments . for example , the configurations ( either or both of the operating settings and architecture ) of previously provisioned resources and developed environments may be stored in a configuration management module of the orchestration framework 107 , such as within , or used in conjunction with , a database such as a configuration management database ( cmdb ). accordingly , computing resources selected to implement a computing environment may be configured according to a default configuration , without requiring manual ( and typically user - intensive ) individual configuration . these operating configurations may include , but are not limited to : specific active and inactive network ports for a provisioned server ; the location of the virtual machine or storage device associated with a virtual machine ; the physical location of a cloud data center comprising the underlying physical hardware components hosting the virtual machines ; and the operating system ( s ) executing on the virtual machines . the previously requisitioned resources and developed environments may be used as a reference in subsequent provisioning or design processes . storage of the particular configurations and environments may also be used during automated processes for future integration or software and policy updates . by facilitating the storage , referencing , and replication of computing environment designs and resource allocations , the infrastructure of the data center may be standardized and the set up and delivery time for cloud - operated applications may be reduced while maintaining the flexibility to design and deploy alternate and ad hoc configured environments . in a further embodiment , alignment and integration among cloud computing resources provided by various cloud computing vendors is provided by an orchestration framework 107 . this platform may be implemented to provide alignment and integration with the information technology infrastructure library ( itil ) standards of processes , thereby allowing cloud services to be managed as traditional information technology resources with standardized practices and controls . in further embodiments , the platform may also be configured to extend traditional itil processes by providing standard service management and service delivery functions to be extended to cloud computing services . trouble shooting issues or monitoring new automated processes may also be performed in the orchestration framework 107 . in an embodiment , troubleshooting issues and / or monitoring new processes may be performed in the orchestration framework 107 automatically . for example , a monitoring tool may be executed in the integrated managed service framework 100 and tasked with detecting issues which arise during the continued execution of provisioned resources managed by the framework 100 . a detected issue will generate an incident and / or change request ( e . g ., according to itil best practice standards ), and stored . policy management services implemented through the orchestration framework 107 may be subsequently used to identify and characterize the incident type and an appropriate resolution . thereafter , the resolution identified may be performed automatically through the orchestration framework 107 automatically , and , once resolved ( or if additional problems are incurred ) the incident and change requests may be updated accordingly . by employing standardized alignment and integration among the cloud computing resources through a single ( web - based ) portal , a consistent framework is provided which offers increased efficiency among and between the resources , and compliance to industry standards . this standardization may be achieved by connecting to the specific infrastructure and platforms in place as reusable services , and monitoring across all services to verify conformity with industry standards . furthermore , standardization may also be achieved through the automatic application of consistent policies . according to some embodiments , the integrated services framework 100 may be implemented as a remotely managed service operable to prompt , receive , and analyze consumer criteria ; provision and configure resources , deploy applications , subscribe to service agreements among a plurality of platforms ; and integrate the platforms and applications into a single ( or plural , as desired ) seamless working environment ( s ) operable to provide services to a plurality of consumers . alternatively , the framework 100 may be implemented as a privately deployed service which generates dedicated , client - specific solutions deployed within a client &# 39 ; s existing data environment ( which may comprise both existing traditional and cloud data services ). as presented in fig2 - 5 , example user interfaces ( e . g ., user interfaces 200 , 300 , 400 , and 500 ) of an integrated services framework ( e . g ., the integrated services framework 100 ) are depicted , in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure . in an embodiment , user interfaces 200 , 300 , 400 , and 500 depicted in fig2 - 5 simulate the user interfaces through which a user of the integrated services framework are able to access , view , configure , and provision computing resources . user interfaces 200 , 300 , 400 , and 500 presented in fig2 - 5 may be generated by the user management framework 103 of a managed service framework 100 , such as the framework 100 described above with respect to fig1 . in an embodiment , user interfaces 200 , 300 , 400 , and 500 are accessible to a user through the web portal and may be generated specifically to correspond with an identified and / or authorized user . management of computing resources ( that is , accessing , viewing , configuring , and provisioning of computing resources ) may be performed through user interfaces 200 , 300 , 400 , and 500 on a plurality of levels . for example , individual computing resources may be managed on one or more user interfaces ( e . g ., user interface 400 , 500 ), while the multiple computing resources comprising a computing environment may be managed collectively on a separate user interface ( e . g ., user interface 300 ). finally , multiple environments which collaboratively form a project may be managed on an aggregate level through another user interface ( e . g ., user interface 200 ). fig2 depicts an example user interface 200 for provisioning and managing infrastructure resources in a project . as previously discussed , a project may include one or more associated or related environments , each environment comprising one or more provisioned computing resources . in an embodiment , user interface 200 provides management functionality to a user for a specific project corresponding to the user . as depicted in fig2 , user interface 200 includes an environment management panel 201 , project details panel 203 , and project activity panel 209 . individual and / or collective management of the environments comprising the project depicted in user interface 200 may be performed in environment management panel 201 . as shown , environment management panel 201 includes functionality to search for particular environments and / or computing resources ( e . g ., through a search field ). an environment or particular computing resource may be searched for by , for example , entering keywords associated with the environment or computing resource in the search field . items matching the searched for keyword may be displayed in , for example , environment window 207 by highlighting or other visual indicia . user interface 200 may also include functionality to add environments ( e . g ., through the button labeled “ add environment ”). in an embodiment , actuating button add environment may prompt the user to select a pre - configured and provisioned environment . once selected , the environment may be appended as an entry in environment window 207 . other functionality provided in user interface 200 may include functionality to backup and / or clone an environment ( e . g ., by actuating buttons labeled backup and clone , respectively ). actuating button clone , for example , may automatically replicate ( e . g ., provision and configure ) a selected environment in environment window 207 and automatically append the environment to environment window 207 . actuating button backup may duplicate all environments in the environment window 207 as a separate , alternate project . environment window 207 allows a user to view the environments comprising the project . as presented in fig2 , the environments are listed as “ development ,” “ test ,” “ performance ,” “ production ,” and “ q / a .” in one embodiment , actuating on an environment in environment window 207 generates user interface 300 ( described below ), which allows a user to manage the environment separately . environment attributes such as an environment &# 39 ; s name , current power state , known alerts , and budgets may be presented in environment window 207 . in a further embodiment , budgeting for one or more environments in the project may be expressed as a percentage or fraction of costs expended over budget allotted . thus , for example , the budget situation for the “ development ” environment may be expressed as a value corresponding to costs expended to provision and operate the environment ( e . g ., variable “ x ”) over a value corresponding to the budget allotted for the environment ( e . g ., variable “ y ”). in addition , environment window 207 may provide individual management of an environment ( e . g ., via more actions drop down bar ). individual management functionality provided through more actions drop down bar may include , for example , removing a selected environment from the project , deleting an environment , pausing an operation of an environment or turning an environment off . project details panel 203 may provide details regarding the project . these details may include , for example , the name of the project , a description of the project , the creator and / or administrator of the project and dates of operation of the project . these fields may be editable by authorized users . in further embodiments , project details panel 203 may include an environment summary panel 205 , which provides details for the environments in the project . these details may include , but are not limited to , the number of environments in the project , and infrastructure attributes ( e . g ., processing cores , average processing speeds , average memory sizes ) of the environments in the project . project activity panel 209 ( labeled as “ project activity feed ”) may provide information on recent activity or actions performed relevant to the project . this information may include , for example , the addition of new authorized users to an environment or infrastructure component in the project , the modification of the power states to one or more infrastructure resources in one or more environments of the project , infrastructure provisioning requests , scheduled announcements , etc . functionality such as filtering of the information provided in project activity panel 209 ( via the drop down menu labeled “ filter ”) and viewing less recent information ( via button labeled “ view more activity ”) may also be provided through user interface 200 . user interface 200 provides a user the ability to manage entire projects comprising multiple , affiliated environments . for example , turning on or off an environment may also be performed by an authorized user in user interface 200 through environment window 207 , for example . thus , rather than individually manage the power states of each individual instance in each environment , all instances in an environment may be thusly managed . in addition , an entire environment may be cloned ( that is , a like number of instances may be provisioned with identical configurations ) also through user interface 200 through a console or window . cloning entire environments would provide users the functionality to replicate large environments more conveniently and with increased efficiency . fig3 depicts an example user interface 300 for provisioning and managing infrastructure resources in an environment . as previously discussed , an environment may comprise one or more provisioned computing resources . as distinguished from user interface 200 , user interface 300 provides management functionality to a user for a specific environment , rather than an entire project , corresponding to the user . as depicted in fig3 , user interface 300 includes an resource management panel 301 , environment details panel 303 , and environment activity panel 309 . individual and / or collective management of the resources comprising the environment depicted in user interface 300 may be performed in resource management panel 301 . as shown , resource management panel 301 includes functionality to search for particular computing resources ( e . g ., via a search field ). a particular computing resource may be searched for by , for example , entering keywords associated with the computing resource in the search field . items matching the searched for keyword may be displayed in , for example , resource window 307 by highlighting or other visual indicia . user interface 300 may also include functionality to add resources ( e . g ., through the button labeled “ add resource ”). in an embodiment , actuating button add resource may prompt the user to select a pre - configured and provisioned resource , such as a server , a network component , or storage device . once selected , the resource may be appended as an entry in resource window 307 . other functionality provided in user interface 300 may include functionality to power on , shutdown , restart , backup and / or clone one or more resources displayed in resource window 307 ( e . g ., by actuating buttons labeled power on , shutdown , restart , backup and clone , respectively ). actuating button power on , shutdown , or restart , for example , may perform the operation on a selected resource in resource window 307 , or for all resources in resource window 307 if no resource is selected . actuating button clone , for example , may automatically replicate ( e . g ., provision and configure ) a selected resource in resource window 307 and automatically append the environment to resource window 307 . actuating button backup may duplicate all resources in the resource window 307 as a separate , alternate environment . resource window 307 allows a user to view the resources comprising the environment . as presented in fig3 , the resources are listed as “ test ,” “ web server ,” “ application server ,” “ database ,” and “ batch .” resource attributes such as a resource &# 39 ; s name , current power state , known alerts , processing speed , memory , and operating system ( s ) may be presented in resource window 307 . in addition , resource window 307 may provide individual management of a resource ( e . g ., via more actions drop down bar ). individual management functionality provided through more actions drop down bar may include , for example , removing a selected resource from the environment , deleting a resource , or pausing an operation of a resource . environment details panel 303 may provide details regarding the environment . these details may include , for example , the name of the environment , a description of the environment , the creator and / or administrator of the environment and dates of operation of the environment . these fields may be editable by authorized users . in further embodiments , environment details panel 303 may include a resources summary panel 305 , which provides details for the resources in the environment . these details may include , but are not limited to , the number of resources in the environment , and infrastructure attributes ( e . g ., number of processing cores , average processing speeds , average memory sizes ) of the resources in the environment . environment activity panel 309 ( labeled as “ environment activity feed ”) may provide information on recent activity or actions performed relevant to the environment . this information may include , for example , the addition of new authorized users to the environment or an infrastructure component in the environment , the modification of the power states to one or more infrastructure resources of the project , infrastructure provisioning requests , scheduled announcements , etc . functionality such as filtering of the information provided in environment activity panel 309 ( via the drop down menu labeled “ filter ”) and viewing less recent information ( via button labeled “ view more activity ”) may also be provided through user interface 300 . fig4 depicts an example user interface 400 for accessing a provisioned infrastructure resource . as distinguished from user interfaces 200 and 300 , user interface 400 provides information to a user for a specific infrastructure resource , rather than an entire project or environment , corresponding to the user . as depicted in fig4 , user interface 400 includes a resource configuration panel 401 , resource details panel 403 , and resource activity panel 409 . individual management of individual resources may be performed in resource management panel 401 . resource configuration panel 401 selectively provides functionality corresponding to access , power , backup , networking , and configuration of a resource . these functionalities can be alternately toggled by actuating a corresponding button ( e . g ., buttons access , power , backup , network , and configure , respectively ). as depicted in fig4 , resource configuration panel 401 provides accessibility functionality ( identifiable by the position of the indicator below the access button ) corresponding to the resource through accessibility window 407 . accessibility functionality may include for example , providing remote access ( via remote access button ), and may provide details regarding resource accesses . these details may include , for example , the last date and time a resource was accessed by a user and the access history for all users with respect to the resource . resource details panel 403 may provide details regarding the resource . these details may include , for example , the name of the resource , a description of the resource , the creator and / or administrator of the resource and dates of operation of the resource . these fields may be editable by authorized users . in further embodiments , resource details panel 403 may include a resources attributes panel 405 , which provides details for the particular resource &# 39 ; s attributes . these details may include , but are not limited to , the number of processing cores , processing speeds , storage sizes , operating system ( s ) and ip addresses ) of the resource . resource activity panel 409 ( labeled as “ resource activity feed ”) may provide information on recent activity or actions performed relevant to the resource . this information may include , for example , the addition of new authorized users to the infrastructure component , the modification of the power states to the infrastructure resource , additional infrastructure provisioning requests , scheduled announcements , etc . functionality such as filtering of the information provided in resource activity panel 409 ( via the drop down menu labeled “ filter ”) and viewing less recent information ( via button labeled “ view more activity ”) may also be provided through user interface 400 . fig5 depicts an example user interface 500 for configuring a provisioned infrastructure resource and presents an alternate user interface to fig4 for performing user selected functionality . as in user interface 400 , resource configuration panel 501 is able to selectively provide functionality corresponding to access , power , backup , networking , and configuration of a resource . these functionalities can be alternately toggled by actuating a corresponding button ( e . g ., buttons access , power , backup , network , and configure , respectively ). as depicted in fig5 , resource configuration panel 501 provides configuration functionality ( identifiable by the position of the indicator below the configure button ) corresponding to the resource through configuration window 507 . configuration functionality may include for example , configuring attributes for the resource , such as configuring the processing , memory , and storage capabilities of the resource . resource details panel 503 , resources attributes panel 505 and resource activity panel 509 ( labeled as “ resource activity feed ”) operate similarly to correspondingly numbered elements 403 , 405 , and 409 described above with respect to fig4 and user interface 400 . as presented in fig6 , a flowchart 600 of a process for implementing an integrated , cross - platform environment providing dynamic orchestration and user access control is depicted , in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure . the integrated , cross - platform environment may be implemented as , for example , an environment provisioned and configured through the integrated managed service framework 100 described above with respect to fig1 . operations 601 - 609 of flowchart 600 describe exemplary operations comprising the process in accordance with the various embodiments herein described . at operation 601 , desired features of an integrated , cross - platform environment are received from a client or user . the desired features may be comprised as , for example , a criteria corresponding to key characteristics of computing resources . in an embodiment , the desired features may be obtained from a client or user by querying the client or user with a list of pre - generated , directed questions . the questions may pertain to intended usages , prioritized qualities , critical features , etc . answers to the questions are obtained , and key characteristics and desired features of an integrated , cross - platform environment are derived from the answers given by the user . the key characteristics may be derived by , for example , assigning a score or value to a user &# 39 ; s answer , depending on the answer , according to a range , and matching the user &# 39 ; s aggregate score to a particular computing resource or configuration of resources . at operation 603 , the key characteristics of available computing resources ( e . g ., computing resources offered in a service catalogue of fig1 ) maybe analyzed ( or referenced , if pre - stored ) and compared to the desired features and / or user criteria . at operation 605 , a configuration of computing resources is automatically derived from the available computing resources which most complies with the user criteria . operation 605 may also include , for example , comparing candidate configurations with the user - supplied criteria to determine the configuration with the greatest compliance . in further embodiments , each candidate configuration may also be validated for compatibility . thus , incompatible ( e . g ., non - operational ) combinations of resources ( e . g ., vendor proprietary platforms on another vendor &# 39 ; s infrastructure ) will not be selected as a suitable configuration . at operation 607 , the configuration derived during operation 605 is automatically orchestrated to implement a provisioned , integrated , cross - platform environment . according to an embodiment , orchestration may include automatically provisioning a set of computing resources according to the configuration derived during operation 605 . according to further embodiments , orchestration may also include automatically standardizing the set of computing resources by applying pre - configured set of user - defined policies . these policies may include , for example , resource configurations ( e . g ., software or firmware versions ) and may be dynamically applied to instances of computing resources in some or all of the environments corresponding to a user . according to still further embodiments , user - defined policies can be added , updated , or removed at any time , and the application thereto may be performed dynamically across applicable instances , resources , and / or entire environments . finally , access to a client user to the set of computing resources through the integrated cross - platform environment is proved at operation 609 . in an embodiment , the specific avenue of access may comprise generating a web - based portal to access the computing resources . in some embodiments , access may be granted to other users designated by the client . the access may be granted to users individually , or , to one or more groups or classes of users . access to the set of computing resources may include providing access to a user access control module . in still further embodiments , in addition to access to the integrated cross - platform environment , other , pre - generated environments affiliated with a user may also become accessible at operation 609 . according to alternate embodiments , the automatic derivation of a suitable configuration of computing resources performed in operation 605 may be performed by referencing pre - stored configuration templates . fig7 depicts a flowchart 700 of a process for selecting a pre - stored configuration template in a storage base , in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure . operations 701 - 705 of flowchart 700 describe exemplary operations comprising the process in accordance with the various embodiments herein described . in an embodiment , operations 701 - 705 may be performed entirely during operation 605 of the process described in flowchart 600 . at operation 701 , a storage base is referenced to evaluate pre - stored configuration templates . the storage base may be implemented as , for example , a database of templates in an orchestration framework 107 . if no templates exist , or , alternatively , if all existing templates have been evaluated and deemed unsuitable , the process proceeds to operation 709 and a new configuration is determined . if , however , additional configuration templates are found in the storage base , the key characteristics and features of an environment according to the template is derived and compared with the supplied user criteria at operation 703 . key characteristics may include inter alia : size , cost effectiveness , security , portability , and reliability of provisioned components , for example . if the configuration of an environment according to the template is deemed suitable , the configuration according to the template is selected at operation 707 and used as the configuration . suitability may be deemed according to a complete , substantial , or even partial compliance with user supplied criteria , as specified by the user . in still further embodiments , a new configuration derived at operation 709 may be stored as a configuration template in the storage base . as presented in fig8 , an example computing system upon which embodiments of the presently claimed subject matter can be implemented includes a general purpose computing system environment , such as computing system 800 . in its most basic configuration , computing system 800 typically includes at least one processing unit 801 and memory , and an address / data bus 809 ( or other interface ) for communicating information . depending on the exact configuration and type of computing system environment , memory may be volatile ( such as ram 802 ), nonvolatile ( such as rom 803 , flash memory , etc .) or some combination of the two . in further embodiments , system 800 . computing system 800 may be used to host one or more instances of one or more virtual machines . according to some embodiments , virtual machines may be dynamically provisioned by the computing system 800 and other , communicatively computing systems . computer system 800 may also comprise an optional graphics subsystem 805 for presenting information to the computer user , e . g ., by displaying information ( such as user - interface 200 ) on an attached display device 810 , connected by a video cable 811 . additionally , computing system 800 may also have additional features / functionality . for example , computing system 800 may also include additional storage ( removable and / or non - removable ) including , but not limited to , magnetic or optical disks or tape . such additional storage is illustrated in fig8 by data storage device 804 . computer storage media includes volatile and nonvolatile , removable and non - removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information such as computer readable instructions , data structures , program modules or other data . ram 802 , rom 803 , and data storage device 804 are all examples of computer storage media . computer system 800 also comprises an optional alphanumeric input device 806 , an optional cursor control or directing device 807 , and one or more signal communication interfaces ( input / output devices , e . g ., a network interface card ) 808 . optional alphanumeric input device 806 can communicate information and command selections to central processor ( s ) 801 . optional cursor control or directing device 807 is coupled to bus 809 for communicating user input information and command selections to central processor 801 . signal communication interface ( input / output device ) 808 , also coupled to bus 809 , can be a serial port . communication interface 809 may also include wireless communication mechanisms . using communication interface 809 , computer system 800 can be communicatively coupled to other computer systems over a communication network such as the internet or an intranet ( e . g ., a local area network ), or can receive data ( e . g ., a digital television signal ). although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and / or processological acts , it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above . rather , the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims . by using any of the systems provided above , a cloud computing consumer can manage disparately hosted services and resources through a single , integrated portal , thereby allowing the consumer to efficiently publish and apply policies , request optimal configurations of resources and services , and standardize integration and alignment of cloud - hosted platforms to comply with industry standards . this platform may be deployed as an public portal configured to automate and manage cloud computing services remotely from a user or organization as well as a private system under the direct management of a user or organization and customized to provide services for the user or organization .	6
fig1 is a perspective view illustrating the basis of the present invention , from here on referred to as the elongated pouch ( 100 ). the elongated pouch is constructed through the assembly of a multiplicity of flexible panels ( 102 ) and is generally rectangular in shape . these flexible panels may be fabric or plastic or other flexible or semi - rigid material . in the preferred embodiment the flexible panels are sewn , bound or adhered together along their common edges ( 103 ) to create the two halves of the elongated pouch . these two halves , defined by the assembly of flexible panels ( 102 ), define the two sheets of the elongated pouch ( 100 ), from here on referred to as the first sheet ( 104 ) and the second sheet ( 105 ). the first and second sheets ( 104 & amp ; 105 ) are substantially bound together along their common peripheral edges ( 106 ) to form the elongated pouch ( 100 ), again , as illustrated in fig1 . the area between these two connected sheets ( 104 & amp ; 105 ), which are now substantially connected along the common peripheral edges ( 106 ), is considered the main storage cavity ( 107 )— see fig2 for illustration . this cavity defines a volume for storage as well as the internal and external surfaces of the elongated pouch ( 100 ). access to the inside of the main storage cavity ( 107 ) of the elongated pouch ( 100 ) is created via plackets ( 108 ) or other style of openings or voids . these openings may be temporarily sealed using a variety of closure types for example zippers , velcro or the like , from here on referred to as a closure ( 109 ). additional plackets ( 108 ) may be found in multiple locations on the invention to provide convenience to the user during packing or to provide access to the inside cavity via any portion of the elongated pouch ( 100 ). a multiplicity of straps , handles or other carrying means ( 110 ) are attached to the elongated pouch which allows the elongated pouch , with its contents , to fold , in on itself , into what is referred to as the closed position ( see fig5 ) and to be transported ergonomically by a user . fig2 is a perspective view of the elongated pouch ( 100 ) illustrating how the user can install and access items within the main storage cavity ( 107 ) via plackets ( 108 ) as well as some of the preferred internal securing features . the main storage cavity ( 107 ) can be bifurcated or divided in other ways using additional panels to define desired compartments . internal bands ( 111 ), straps or other style of securing apparatus are found in the main storage cavity ( 107 ) and are used to secure and tether travel items during transport . the internal bands are for optional use when the garments are stored within the main storage cavity ( 107 ). the internal bands ( 111 ) do not impede or interfere with the packing of garments and will not wrinkle or crease the garments , but may be of assistance at the users discretion . in cases when garments are longer than the elongated pouch ( 100 ), garments maybe turned over by passing the garments under the internal bands ( 111 ) of the user &# 39 ; s choosing and then laid over for the bands for storage and transport without creasing . the hooking loop ( 112 ) represents a means to secure an additional hanging or securing apparatus supplied by the user . fig3 illustrates an alternative embodiment in which a hanger - type securing apparatus ( 113 ) is installed as an additional mechanism for securing garments . the securing apparatus ( 113 ), is made of a rigid or semi - rigid material . a portion may be curved to retain and support the shoulder portion of garments such as shirts and dresses . a void or opening in the securing apparatus ( 113 ) may exist to accommodate pants - style garments . the securing apparatus may be attached or removably attached to one of the sheets ( 104 , 105 ) within the main storage cavity ( 107 ) in a manner that allows the securing apparatus to hinge and allows for the installation of garments . the securing apparatus ( 113 ) should be installed in a location which will not subject the user to its rigid portions . internal pockets ( 114 ) may be included for the storage of additional travel items . these internal pockets ( 114 ) can be substantially found in the area of the first sheet ( 104 ). the internal pockets ( 114 ) are accessible via plackets or other form of pocket openings ( 115 ) and may contain zippers , velcro or other reversible closures ( 116 ). the contents of the internal pockets ( 114 ) may be accessed when the elongated pouch ( 100 ) is in the open , closing or closed positions . also , shown are optional panels ( 117 ) which may be incorporated into the sides of the elongated pouch ( 100 ) to increase the volume and capacity within the main storage cavity ( 107 ). these optional panels ( 117 ) may be installed such what when not in use they reside compactly with elongated pouch ( 100 ). fig4 illustrates the invention in the closing position , this is the position that the invention passes through as it is transformed from the open position to the closed position and visa versa . the area between the first sheet ( 104 ) becomes the secondary storage cavity ( 118 ) when the invention is in the closed or closing position . a secondary set of carrying means to provide carrying options for the user , from here on referred to as the secondary carrying means ( 119 ). the flexible sides ( 120 ) attached to the common peripheral edges to secure the garments . these panels are optional and serve as one means for providing security and closure to the invention . supplementary elastic straps or flexible pockets ( 121 ) are incorporated to secure or contain personal items such as shoes , swimsuits or hairdryers . fig5 illustrates the base of support ( 122 ) which becomes manifest in the closed position . it is this base of support which helps to provide wide curves to the garments while in this configuration rather than sharp , crease causing folds . this base of support ( 122 ) also reduces the overall length of the invention when in the closed position . this base of support ( 122 ) contributes to the self - supporting aspect of the invention . also illustrated are the flexible sides ( 120 ) in their closed configurations . also illustrated are external pockets ( 123 ) for additional storage and an example of an optional third carrying means ( 124 ). fig6 a perspective view on the elongated pouch apparatus in the closed and sealed position . the invention may be closed using a reversible closure ( 125 ) and may contain supplementary closing panels ( 127 ) for added security . also illustrated are optional backpack - style straps ( 126 ). it must also be understood that the detailed description which has preceded has only been given as an example and that it in no way limits the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims . accordingly , the reader will see that the ergonomic garment carrier of this invention can be used to pack and carry important garments easily and ergonomically . additionally this invention addresses many of the modern travel complications while also providing a new option for many types of travelers who have not had their travel needs met . specifically , this invention addresses the need to transport a garments of importance , along with other travel items in a carry - all piece of luggage . this is more important now given that people are traveling on shorter trips , but more frequently . although the description above contains many specificities , these should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention but as merely providing illustrations of some of the presently preferred embodiments of this invention . for example , the garment carrier may be elliptical in shape ; access to the main cavity may be through the seams or ends ; the mechanism for retaining the carrier in the closed position may be elastic , etc . thus the scope of the invention should be determined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents , rather than by the examples given .	0
one approach to filter design that results in both higher heat capacity and higher gas flow resistance in the channel walls of the axial group of channels is that of increasing the channel wall thickness of the axial channel group relative to that of the peripheral channel group . the increased wall thickness adds material to the axial portion of the section filter that tends to reach higher regeneration temperatures than peripheral filter sections , thereby increasing axial heat capacity and reducing peak axial temperatures . further , this increased wall thickness has the additional effect of increasing the gas flow resistance of the walls , thereby shifting the balance of exhaust gas flow away from the axial channel group toward peripheral channels . this shift causes a relative reduction in soot accumulation in axial filter portions of the filter , relative to soot accumulations developed in prior art filters . again , the result is that peak regeneration temperatures reached along axial portions of the filter are reduced . fig1 of the drawings is a schematic illustration , not in true proportion or to scale , showing a cross - sectional elevational view of a diesel filter 10 supported in an enclosure 12 with a resilient mat 11 , the enclosure being attached via an inlet cone 14 to an exhaust conduit 16 . as shown in fig1 , an axial group of channels 20 disposed about the longitudinal axis 10 a of filter 10 comprise channel walls 20 a that are thicker than the channel walls 22 a of a peripheral group of channels 22 disposed about the periphery of filter 10 . in the operation of filter 10 , diesel exhaust gases indicated by arrows 8 , comprising particulate pollutants such as particulate carbon generated by an operating engine ( not shown ), are conveyed via exhaust conduit 16 into inlet cone 14 and enclosure 12 , being distributed by cone 14 across the entire face of filter 10 . the incoming gases then enter filter 10 via open filter inlet channels such as channels 24 , i . e ., those channels in channel groups 20 and 22 that are open at their upper ends and closed at their lower ends by channel plugs such as plugs 26 . due to blockage by plugs 26 the exhaust gases are forced through channel walls 20 a and 22 a and into the filter outlet channels , i . e ., those channels in channel groups 20 and 22 such as channels 28 that are plugged at their upper ends and open at their lower ends . after discharge from those outlet channels the thus - filtered exhaust gases are then collected and discharged from the bottom of enclosure 12 as indicated by arrows 8 a . fig1 a is a schematic and somewhat enlarged top plan view of filter 10 taken along line 1 a - 1 a of fig1 . broken line 30 in fig1 a indicates the approximate boundary between axial channel group 20 and peripheral channel group 22 . in particular case illustrated in fig1 and 1 a , the entire wall structure of filter 10 is composed of a common porous ceramic material . thus the heat capacity of the thickened wall structure present in axial channel group 20 is higher than that of the wall structure present in peripheral channel group 22 . in addition , thickened channel walls 20 a are less permeable to exhaust gas than channel walls 22 a , reducing exhaust gas flow through , and carbon particulate buildup on , those walls . accordingly , peak regeneration temperatures for filter 10 that normally occur on and proximate to filter axis 10 a are lower than for prior art filters of the same average channel wall thickness , as all channel walls of the prior art filter are of the same gas permeability and heat capacity . of course increasing channel wall thickness comprises only one method for increasing heat capacity and / or increasing the gas flow resistance of the channel walls of the axial channel group ; other methods for modifying axial group properties may also be employed . for example , the axial portions of a honeycomb structure to be used for fabricating a filter can be formed of a different ceramic composition than the composition used to form peripheral sections of the filter . the material used for the axial portion may thus have a higher heat capacity and / or a lower porosity than the material used to form the peripheral sections . channel coating approaches may also be useful for this purpose . thus coatings may be selectively applied to the channel wall surfaces of the inlet and outlet channels of the axial group , the coatings being formed of ceramic materials that can increase the heat capacity and / or reduce the gas permeability of those surfaces . such coatings may differ in composition from the composition of the channel walls , or they may be the same . alternatively , supplemental treatments designed to modify wall permeability may be selectively applied to either the axial or the peripheral channel group , such treatments including chemical treatments to increase or decrease wall porosity and / or heat treatments to decrease such porosity . as is evident from a study of fig1 and 1 a , the cell density of the filter ( number of channels per unit of filter cross - sectional area in the plane perpendicular to the filter axis ) in that embodiment of the invention is the same in both the axial and peripheral channel groups . if this is a design constraint , then reducing the sizes of the inlet and outlet channels in the axial channel group to increase channel wall thickness as shown those drawings is a straightforward approach for increasing axial heat capacity and decreasing axial gas flow . another approach , also based on filter designs of uniform cell density , involves the use of a wall - thickened filter design similar to that of fig1 , but wherein the approach to channel wall thickening is selective . in these embodiments , wall thickening is achieved by selectively reducing the sizes of only the outlet channels in the axial channel group , with the sizes of the inlet channels in the axial group generally remaining the same . the average outlet channel cross - sectional area in the axial group is thus most generally smaller than the average outlet channel cross - sectional area in the peripheral group . in the usual case , the average inlet channel cross - sectional area in the axial channel group will be substantially equivalent to the average inlet channel cross - sectional area in the peripheral channel group . however , equivalent functionality can be achieved by increasing the sizes of the inlet channels in the peripheral channel group relative to the sizes of the inlet channels in the axial channel group . this approach achieves channel wall thinning in the peripheral channel group relative to the axial channel group , increasing gas flow and particulate soot buildup in peripheral portions of the filter relative to gas flows and soot buildup in axial filter portions . this flow pattern thereby also reduces radial temperature gradients developed in the filter during filter regeneration . fig2 and 2 a of the drawing comprise schematic side elevational and partial top plan views of a wall flow filter wherein wall thickening in the axial group of inlet and outlet channels has been achieved by selectively reducing the sizes of the outlet cells in the axial group . the elements and numbering of elements in fig2 and 2 a match those of corresponding elements in fig1 and 1 a . as best seen in fig2 a , inlet channels 24 located both inside and outside of axial channel group 20 in this filter are all of substantially the same cross - sectional area . however , outlet channels 26 a located within axial channel group 30 are reduced in cross - sectional area compared to outlet channels 26 located outside of the axial group . it is this reduction that produces the axial wall thickness difference between channel walls 20 a and channel walls 20 of the filter . in yet another embodiment of the present invention the heat capacity of the axial group of inlet and outlet channels is increased by selectively increasing the cell density of the filter within the axial group . this approach , whether used alone or in combination with wall thickening or other heat capacity control methods as hereinabove described , increases the volume of channel wall material present in axial portions of the filter and thereby increases filter heat along the filter axis . a schematic top plan view of a filter of this design is illustrated in fig3 of the drawings . as shown in fig3 , the cell density in axial channel group 20 approximately delineated by boundary 30 is higher than the cell density in peripheral channel group 22 . therefore , provided that the channel wall thicknesses in channel groups 20 and 22 are substantially the same , the mass of the axial channel group , and thus the heat capacity of that group , are higher than the mass and heat capacity of the peripheral channel group . the invention is further described below with reference to specific examples and embodiments thereof , which are intended to be illustrative rather than limiting . a conventional plasticized batch for ceramic honeycombs is first compounded of kaolin clay , talc , and alumina , these ingredients being provided in proportions suitable for developing a cordierite crystalline phase in the honeycomb following drying and firing . the batch further includes a methylcellulose temporary binder , a stearate lubricant , and water in a proportion sufficient to impart good plastic forming characteristics to the batch . the batch thus provided is extruded through a steel honeycomb die of generally conventional design , wherein the plasticized mixture is conveyed into the die through an array of feedholes provided on the die entrance face . this batch is then fed within the die into an array of intersecting discharge slots opening onto the die discharge face for forming the batch into an intersecting honeycomb wall structure that is extruded from the discharge face as a honeycomb extrudate about 15 cm ( 6 inches ) in diameter and of generally cylindrical shape wherein the honeycomb channels or cells formed by the walls run parallel to the direction of extrusion and the cylinder axis of the extrudate . the slots in the array have a starting slot width of about 0 . 3 mm ( 0 . 012 inches ), and are spaced to produce a square - channeled cylindrical honeycomb having a cell density of 31 channels / cm 2 ( 200 channels / in 2 ) in planes perpendicular to the axis of extrusion of the honeycomb after subsequent firing . to extrude honeycombs with a modified wall structure in accordance with the invention , the discharge slot array of this extrusion die is modified prior to extrusion to increase the width of the discharge slots in a central section of the die discharge face . the method of widening those slot sections is an electrical discharge machining ( edm ) method such as disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 6 , 570 , 119 , incorporated herein by reference . an edm electrode comprising an array of outwardly extending blades is selectively applied to the central section of the die discharge face to widen only slot segments within that central section . the slots in peripheral sections of the discharge face are not machined . the thus - machined slots in the central portion of the discharge space have a width of about 0 . 508 mm ( 0 . 020 inches ). as a natural result of this slot widening , all of the so - called “ pins ” defined and bounded by the widened slots in the central section of the extrusion die are reduced in size . this produces smaller inlet and outlet channel cross - sections as well as a thickened wall structure in the central portion of the cross - section of the honeycomb extrudate produced by the die . sections cut from the honeycomb extrudate thus provided are dried and fired to convert the sections into cordierite honeycombs . selected sections of the honeycombs are then alternately plugged in a checkerboard pattern in the manner conventional for the production of ceramic wall flow filters . a flowable ceramic cement of conventional composition is used to plug the outlet channels on the filter entrance face and to plug the inlet channels on the filter discharge face . the cement plugs thus provided are cured by drying and firing to form the completed wall flow filter . calculations indicate that both the heat capacity and gas flow resistance in the central portion of the wall flow filter are significantly enhanced by the modifications in channel size and channel wall thickness in that portion . thus the heat capacity of [ each channel ][ the central honeycomb section ] is increased by about 56 % due to wall thickening . at the same time , the gas flow resistance through the central portion of the filter is increased by about 40 %, due both to wall thickening and to the reduction in inlet and outlet channel size . accordingly , a significant drop in peak regeneration temperatures along the axis of this honeycomb filter is provided . a plasticized batch for a ceramic honeycomb incorporating clay , talc alumina , a temporary binder , a lubricant , and water is compounded as described in example 1 above . the batch thus provided is then extruded through a steel honeycomb die generally as described in example 1 to produce a cylindrical honeycomb extrudate suitable for conversion to a wall flow filter . the slots in the discharge slot array for this honeycomb die again have a peripheral slot width of about 0 . 3 mm ( 0 . 012 inches ), and are spaced to produce a square - channeled honeycomb cell density of 31 channels / cm 2 ( 200 channels / in 2 ) in the honeycomb extrudate after subsequent firing . to extrude honeycombs with a modified wall structure in accordance with the invention , the discharge slot array of this extrusion die is again selectively modified prior to extrusion to increase the width of the discharge slots in a central section of the die discharge face . as in example 1 , the method of widening those slot sections is an electrical discharge machining ( edm ) method such as disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 6 , 570 , 119 , wherein an edm electrode comprising an array of outwardly extending blades is selectively applied to the central section of the die discharge face . in accordance with the present example , however , edm slot widening is carried out selectively by machining material only from alternate pins in the pin array defined by the slots , so that only those pins are reduced in size . the remaining pins in the array are not machined and therefore retain their original size . the result of this machining approach is a modified slot array for producing a honeycomb cross - section such as shown in fig2 and 2 a of the drawings , wherein only half of the channels in the central portion of the honeycomb , like channels 26 a in fig2 a , are reduced in cross - section . the slot segments in the central portion of the die discharge face are approximately 0 . 508 mm ( 0 . 020 inches ) in width after this machining . sections cut from the honeycomb extrudate produced by this die are dried and fired to convert the sections into cordierite honeycombs . selected sections of the honeycombs are then alternately plugged in a checkerboard pattern as described in example 1 . a flowable ceramic cement of conventional composition is used to plug the outlet channels on the filter entrance face and to plug the inlet channels on the filter discharge face . among the outlet channels that are plugged on the inlet face are all of the channels of reduced cross - section produced by the selective edm machining of the extrusion die described above . following plugging , the cement plugs thus provided are cured by drying and firing to form the completed wall flow filter . again , calculations indicate that both the heat capacity and gas flow resistance in the central portion of the wall flow filter are significantly enhanced by these modifications in channel size and channel wall thickness . the heat capacity of the central portion honeycomb section is increased by about 56 %, while the gas flow resistance through the central portion of the filter is increased by about 40 % due a combination of wall thickening and reduced outlet channel size . a particular advantage of this design , however , is that the volume of the inlet channels within which particulate matter from the engine exhaust stream is to be trapped is not reduced in the central portion of the filter . thus no reduction in the particulate storage capacity of the filter is incurred . a plasticized batch for a ceramic honeycomb incorporating clay , talc alumina , a temporary binder , a lubricant , and water is compounded as described in example 1 above . the batch thus provided is then extruded through a steel honeycomb die generally as described in example 1 to produce a cylindrical honeycomb extrudate about 15 cm ( 6 inches ) in diameter that is suitable for conversion to a wall flow filter . the slots in the discharge slot array for this honeycomb die have a slot width of about 0 . 3 mm ( 0 . 012 inches ), and are spaced to produce a square - channeled honeycomb cell density of 31 channels / cm 2 ( 200 channels / in 2 ) in the honeycomb extrudate after subsequent firing . sections cut from the honeycomb extrudate produced by this die are dried and fired to convert the sections into cordierite honeycombs of uniform channel wall thickness and channel cross - section . next , cylindrical core segments about 5 cm ( 2 inches ) in diameter approximating in shape and location the central honeycomb portions bounded by broken line 30 in fig3 of the drawings are core - drilled from each of the fired honeycombs , thus to produce cylindrical honeycombs with large cylindrical openings lying on the cylinder axes . to provide a composite ceramic honeycomb from one of these core - drilled honeycomb shapes , a cylindrical honeycomb section corresponding in size and shape to the cylindrical opening is inserted into the core - drilled shape and cemented in place with a heat - settable ceramic cement . the cylindrical honeycomb section selected for this purpose has a cell density of approximately 31 channels / cm 2 ( 200 channels / in 2 ) and a channel wall thickness of about 0 . 4 mm ( 0 . 016 inches ). it is formed of silicon carbide , a non - oxide ceramic material having a bulk heat capacity of approximately 1 . 96 j / cm 3 /° c . between 600 and 1100 ° c ., a capacity about 24 % higher that that reported for polycrystalline cordierite . a compliant heat - settable ceramic cement such as disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 914 , 187 , consisting of aluminosilicate fibers , powdered silicon carbide , a silica sol , a methylcellulose temporary binder , and water , is suitable for this purpose . following cementing of the silicon carbide core segment the composite honeycomb body is plugged in a checkerboard pattern as generally described in example 1 , plugging the outlet channels on the filter inlet face and plugging the inlet channels on the filter discharge face . a flowable ceramic cement of conventional composition is suitable for this purpose . following the drying and setting of this plugging cement , a composite wall flow filter is provided wherein the axial group of inlet and outlet channels of the cemented filter core segment have a much higher heat capacity than the peripheral group of inlet and outlet channels surrounding the core segment . thus this composite filter exhibits significantly reduced peak temperatures along the filter axis during filter regeneration cycles than unitary filters composed only of cordierite . thus it can survive multiple filter regenerations without cracking . although a composite filter such as described above in example 3 above can exhibit acceptable thermal durability , the substantially differing thermal expansion characteristics of the core and peripheral ceramic materials place a significant strain on the compliant cement joint between the two filter segments . this joint therefore remains a potential source of filter failure . an alternative composite filter design that solves this problem is described in example 4 below . a fired and core - drilled cordierite ceramic honeycomb shape made as described in example 3 above is selected for further processing . into the central opening of this shape is inserted a cylindrical cordierite honeycomb core element matching the central opening in size and shape . the cordierite core element selected for insertion has a channel wall thickness close to the channel wall thickness of the core - drilled honeycomb shape , but it has a higher cell density of about 46 . 5 cells / cm2 ( about 300 cells / in 2 ) of honeycomb cross - section . this core element is cemented in place with a flowable ceramic cement of conventional composition matching the cement composition used for channel plugging in examples 1 - 3 above . thereafter the inlet and outlet channels of the cemented core - drilled shape and honeycomb core are plugged in a checkerboard pattern as described in example 1 above . drying and setting of the ceramic cements thus applied produces a composite wall flow filter composed entirely of cordierite . however , the ceramic core element has higher bulk density by virtue of its higher cell density . thus the heat capacity of the core element is approximately 20 % higher than the heat capacity of the core - drilled filter periphery , and the core exhibits increased gas flow resistance ( a pressure drop increase of about 5 %) due to its reduced channel size . while not large , this differential in heat capacity and flow resistance will be sufficient to substantially reduce the incidence of regeneration cracking in the composite honeycomb . moreover , as the thermal expansion properties of the cordierite core substantially match those of the peripheral cordierite honeycomb , problems relating to expansion mismatch stresses in the composite structure are entirely avoided . although the foregoing examples are illustrative of filter designs incorporating a step change in filter properties from the core to the periphery , it will be apparent that multi - step or even smoothly graded changes in properties are also effective to increase the average heat capacity or gas flow resistance of the core relative to peripheral sections of such honeycombs . for example , the filter can be designed with continuously varying wall properties from the central channels to the outer channels by having the wall thickness vary linearly with distance from the center to the outside , e . g . from 0 . 024 inches to 0 . 016 inches from the core to the periphery . fig4 of the drawings schematically illustrates a cross - sectional design for a filter based on graded wall thickness changes . as shown in the filter cross section of fig4 , the walls of the honeycomb inlet channels 24 and outlet channels 26 increase continuously in thickness from the outer portion of the cross - section to the center thereof . accordingly , the average channel wall thickness and heat capacity in the central filter section bounded by broken line 30 in this design are higher than the average wall thicknesses in the outer portion of the cross - section . even more preferably , filter wall thicknesses can be varied in direct proportion to the variations in filter temperature that can arise during uncontrolled regeneration . thus the filter could have a maximum wall thickness ( e . g . at 0 . 024 inches ) where the highest uncontrolled regeneration temperatures are observed in similarly sized test filters of uniform wall thickness , and a minimum wall thickness ( e . g . at 0 . 016 inches ) where such observed temperatures are the lowest . all other wall thicknesses would then be proportional in thickness to the uncontrolled regeneration temperatures observed at those particular wall locations in a uniform filter . as a specific example of such a design , if a maximum observed regeneration temperature in a uniform filter is 1000 ° c . and a minimum observed temperature is 600 ° c ., then a wall in that filter having a regeneration temperature of 800 ° c . would remain at 0 . 020 inches thickness , while a wall having a temperature of 900 ° c . would be increased in thickness to 0 . 022 inches . the same concept can be extended across the entire filter , and in fact applied in both axial and radial filter dimensions . moreover , iterative changes to any particular filter design can be made by initiating uncontrolled regenerations in a first - generation thickness - adjusted design , and thereafter readjusting wall thicknesses in second - and later - generation designs to further reduce temperature gradients and overall filter mass . a further important advantage shared by all of the filter designs of the invention is the potential for providing more uniform and complete regeneration than prior art filters . this is due primarily to the fact that regeneration temperatures in exterior portions of the filters of the invention can be higher than can be safely attained in filters of uniform wall thickness . it is known that filters of sufficient wall thickness , e . g ., of 0 . 020 inches thickness or higher , can be designed to survive uncontrolled regenerations despite the presence of high temperature gradients , but such filters may not regenerate completely where peripheral soot concentrations and regeneration temperatures are relatively low . on the other hand , a filter of equivalent overall mass having , for example , exterior walls of 0 . 016 thickness and interior walls of 0 . 024 inches will exhibit higher peripheral temperatures than the uniform filter , due to a more uniform soot redistribution and reduced peripheral mass . thus soot combustion across the filter diameter will generally be more uniform and complete . while the foregoing examples are illustrative of specific embodiments of the invention it will be recognized that similar advantages in filter efficiency and performance may be realized through the use of alternative materials , designs and procedures within the scope of the appended claims .	8
referring to the drawings , the preferred embodiment of the present invention , cargo lash to bar assembly 34 shown in fig6 c , is a beam which is an elongated structural steel tubing member 60 that spans from one twist lock 50 to another twist lock 50 , for mounting athwartship or fore to aft on a ship &# 39 ; s deck 82 , having indexed lock mounting apertures 41 in the bottom mounting and locking surface of structural member 60 toward each end to receive the insertion of twist locks 50 in member 60 , that match the spacing of a commercially available freight container 83 , to facilitate removable connection of lash to bar 34 to a pair of iso type twist lock mounting sockets 40 attached to a ship &# 39 ; s deck 82 . the cargo lash to bar 34 has several d - rings 46 attached to member 60 along the length through which a strap , cable , or chain herein called a lashing 48 may pass for lashing or restraining cargo to . a d - rings 46 consists of any lashing ring 68 and a lashing ring restraining mounting saddle 69 wherein lashing ring 68 is free to pivot , or pivot and rotate , or may be rigidly fastened especially by welding . the lashing ring 68 preferably has a smooth contoured surface to prevent abrasion of the web strap lashings 48 and wire rope lashings 48 . the lash to bar 34 has slot 49 or a plurality of slots 49 through the member 60 to facilitate lifting with lift truck &# 39 ; s forks . fork slots 49 are also a hole through which a lashing 48 may be strung for securing and restraining cargo as shown in fig2 . there are additional mounting apertures 41 in an opposite parallel surface in the top of member 60 like those in the bottom of member 60 that allow multiple cargo lash to bars 30 or 34 to be mounted and removably connected on top of one another with stacking twist locks 50 for storage or shoring as shown in fig1 . this opposite parallel top surface at each end is parallel and noncoplanar to the opposed major mounting surface on the bottom directly below in such a manner that a rotational axis of a twist lock is in line and coaxial with the centerline of the lower and upper noncoplanar mounting apertures . mounting aperture 41 can also be a hole for lashing through as shown in fig2 . aperture 66 located in the end of end fitting 77 of the lash to bar 30 or 34 is a load bearing and alignment aperture for carrying lash to bar 34 on semi trailer container chassis 95 shown in fig2 b , and a lifting point for shipboard and dockside container lifting and handling equipment for lash to bar 34 . the secondary use of the aperture 66 is as a hole for lashing through when the lash to bar 34 is fastened to the ships deck 82 as shown in fig2 . for description purposes the mounting points of each end of container 83 are herein referred to as an end cell ( 2259 millimeter twist lock centers ) or side cell ( 5853 millimeter twist lock centers ). fig3 illustrates ship 80 and deck 82 laid out with iso type twist lock mounting sockets 40 . container 83 is also illustrated . a single athwartship end cell is represented by a line labeled 98 , and a single transverse side cell is represented by a line labeled 99 . twist lock 50 is a commonly known commercially available locking bolt devise used in all branches of intermodal shipping . fig4 a show twist lock 50 and fig4 b shows deck mounting socket 40 that receives the insertion of twist lock 50 . twist lock 50 has a rotary bolt 51 on one end or both that operates turning rotary locking bolt 51 by means of a hand operated lever 55 ninety degrees relative to a pedestal 57 which is a rigid part of the twist lock body 59 from an unlocked to a locked position . lash to bar 30 in fig5 is secured to deck 82 removably connected and locked by twist lock 50 . this elevation view indicates the contiguous relationship of twist lock 50 resting on deck 82 which is a rigid structure , and inserted and removably connected into twist lock deck socket 40 with lash to bar 30 resting on the twist lock 50 which is inserted in mounting aperture 41 in the lower planar surface of lash to bar 30 and locking bolt 51 of twist lock 50 rotated to the locked position , lash to bar 30 now being held fast to ship &# 39 ; s deck 82 . likewise a cargo lash to bar 34 , just as a shipping container 83 , is unlocked and released by turning hand lever 55 and returning rotary bolt 51 back in alignment with pedestal 57 to the unlocked and free position . twist locks 50 are versatile and easy to use and come in a variety of deck and bottom base mounting configurations including iso type base mounting socket 40 of the preferred embodiment , a breech base , and a dove tail base . on semi trailer chassis 95 shown in fig2 b , twist locks 50 are a part of the weldment built into the rear of chassis 95 . end cell 98 cargo lash to bars 30 described above are compact and fit adjacent another lash to bar 30 or 34 , shown in fig7 b , and are used end to end on ship &# 39 ; s deck 82 occupying two adjacent cells athwartship shown in fig6 a , or mounted adjacent fore and aft shown in fig6 b also occupying two end cells 98 always providing enough clearance to prevent adjacent lash to bars 30 from contacting each other . end cell cargo lash to bars 30 generally mount athwartship starboard to port on ships 80 with the deck 82 built for twist locks 50 and containers 83 . single side cell 99 cargo lash to bar 34 shown in fig6 c in twenty foot length configuration is adjacent container 83 in fig2 . apertures 47 in lash to bar 35 fig1 a are lashing holes . special deck cell displacement 98 and 99 lash to bars 30 or 34 are for large and unique cargo and other special configurations . lash to bar 34 gives the shipper more cargo room per square foot of deck space by allowing a tighter pack of mobile equipment cargo 84 , and cargo 88 in fig2 . fig7 b shows the gain of deck space from closer cargo 84 proximity using lash to bars 30 and 34 contrasted with problematic traditional lashing scenario shown in fig7 a having d - ring twist locks 52 for lashing to deck 82 . with lash to bars 30 or 34 each lashing line 48 fastens to an individual d - ring 46 or mounting aperture 41 . the preferred embodiment of lash to bar 34 in side cell mounting 99 orientation , lays fore to aft along the twenty or forty foot span of ships deck 82 between deck twist lock mounting sockets 40 in fig1 . with a pair of cargo lash to bars 34 in fig2 in this orientation , mobile equipment 84 is readily loaded in between a pair of cargo lash to bars 34 like driving a car into a line in a striped asphalt parking lot leaving a completely clear path of travel in between the pair of lash to bars 34 . using lash to bars 34 as a pair also supports irregular cargo 88 on top of container 83 in fig8 especially on top of a stack of containers 83 loaded in the hold of a container ship . the structural steel members 60 , 61 , 62 , and 63 comprising lash to bars 30 , 34 , 35 , 36 , and 37 are fabricated using shapes of square and rectangular tubing , i , or angle steel as per customer preference and as the application dictates . the strongest lash to bars are fabricated from high tensile steel plate and formed or welded into the aforesaid shapes . t or l shaped member 62 is used above deck and does not fill up with rain water or sea water that comes over the deck 82 in rough seas . structural member 60 , or 62 is a continuous beam or weldment of steel or other metal that is fitted with several d - rings 46 , and apertures 41 , 47 , 49 , and 66 or just d - rings 46 or just the aforesaid apertures on or through lash to bar 30 , 34 , 35 , 36 , or 37 . lash to bar 34 is fabricated from a continuous member of square structural steel tubing 60 in fig6 c , and indexed apertures 41 are cut into the aforesaid tube . structural member 63 of a lash to bar 36 in fig1 is a weldment comprised of a length of i beam oriented longitudinally along the elongated longitudinal axis of the lash to bar 36 and a section of structural tubing 77 from which the apertures 41 are cut out of the top and bottom forming an end fitting , that is welded perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of lash to bar 36 . the same procedure using a rectangular tubing member 61 longitudinally along the axis of the lash to bar 30 , is welded to commercially available container corner castings 78 , which are end fittings , shown welded to lash to bar 30 in fig1 . it is foreseen that alternate materials and metals could be employed for satisfactory performance especially extrusions of odd shapes . the present invention foresees any such utilization . hand winches 43 are shown in fig1 and are pivoting apertures for lashing to using web strap type lashing lines 48 . in the preferred embodiment , some applications of cargo lash to bar 30 desire tight removable connection between the ship deck 82 and lash to bar 30 that minimize the clearances inherent to the loose dimensional tolerances of twist lock 50 between lash to bar 30 and deck 82 a device is employed for this purpose in fig1 . the bottom of cargo lash to bar 30 is equipped with optional load transfer brace 76 in fig1 which partially encapsulates twist lock 50 to restrain and inhibit rocking of lash to bar 30 , transferring the imposed load into deck 82 rather than a rocking and reversing load on the iron twist lock center pin . fig1 shows a bottom perspective view of lash to bar 30 with load transfer brace 76 installed . load transfer brace 76 is a collar that is welded to end piece 77 which is a part of the weldment of structural member 60 . this collar is a simple stand and is usually fabricated of 1¼ ″ plate or flat bar which is permanently attached . fig6 c shows cargo lash to bar 30 equipped with support brace 76 installed , removably connected by means of twist lock 50 to ship &# 39 ; s deck 82 wherein load transfer brace 76 impedes rocking action of lash to bar 30 while providing adequate clearance for the use of twist lock 50 and provides room for the locking and releasing hand lever 55 tightening means to function . use of the preferred embodiment in the trucking side of the intermodal shipping industry is shown in fig2 a where lash to bar 34 is carried on top of container 83 to a customer &# 39 ; s destination , then mounted to container chassis 95 so that truck 94 and bare chassis 95 can be used for back haul loads further expanding the economic potential for truck 94 , truck driver , and trailer chassis 95 and makes semi trailer 95 available to valuable back haul loads of irregular shaped cargo 88 shown in fig2 b . lash to bar 34 is removably connected to chassis 95 at the front on holding pins 67 into load bearing holes 66 and at the rear by means of chassis mounted twist lock 50 on the bottom planar surface of lash to bar 34 . aboard ship 80 cargo lash to bar 30 is shown under the end of containers 83 in fig2 where containers 83 are held in place by stacking cones 58 , twist locks 50 and restrained and secured with lashings 48 from the bottom of each container 83 in an x pattern for secure lashing resulting in the reclamation of deck space for hauling more containers 83 , mobile equipment 84 , or cargo 88 as compared to the older lashing schemes . an alternate use of the preferred embodiment is to use the lash to bar 30 as a shoring beam in fig1 and 18 , and stacked one on top of another in fig1 near the area of the sloping side of a ship , or stacked in this configuration for compact storage . what is mentioned for lash to bars 30 and 34 is not intended to be exclusive and may be applicable to alternate forms of the preferred embodiments 34 , 35 , 36 , and 37 . the foregoing description of the preferred embodiments of the invention has been presented for the purpose of illustration and description . it is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention . it is intended that the scope of the invention not be limited by this detailed description , but rather by the claims appended hereto .	1
fig1 illustrates a schematic diagram of a vehicle anti - lock brake system 10 including a control valve 10 which utilizes an accumulator assembly 11 constructed in accordance with the present invention . in particular , the control valve 10 includes those components located within the area defined by the dashed line 10a . prior to discussing the details of the accumulator assembly 11 , the basic components and general operation of the anti - lock brake system will be briefly reviewed . a more detailed explanation of the control system and the control valve utilized therewith can be found in u . s . pat . nos . 4 , 673 , 226 ; 4 , 668 , 023 ; 4 , 790 , 607 ; and 4 , 828 , 235 , and allowed u . s . patent application ser . nos . 07 / 283 , 360 and 07 / 283 , 689 , all of which are herein incorporated by reference . the anti - lock brake system illustrated in fig1 is installed on a vehicle having a hydraulic braking system consisting of a brake pedal 12 coupled to operate a dual reservoir master cylinder 14 . when the vehicle operator depresses the brake pedal 12 to brake the vehicle , the master cylinder 14 supplies pressurized hydraulic fluid from a front reservoir 14a through a hydraulic line 16a and from a rear reservoir 14b through a hydraulic line 16b to a conventional combination valve 18 . the combination valve 18 includes a first output line 18a adapted to supply hydraulic fluid at a predetermined pressure to actuate the vehicle front brakes 19a and 19b and a second output line 18b which supplies fluid at a second predetermined pressure to actuate the vehicle rear brakes 20a and 20b . the combination valve 18 functions to maintain the fluid pressures to the front and rear brakes in approximate proportion to the weight distribution over the front and rear axles during braking of the vehicle . the anti - lock control valve 10 is provided with a normally open isolation valve 22 connected between the line 18b and a line 24 which supplies pressurized fluid to the rear brakes 20a and 20b . the isolation valve 22 is solenoid - operated and is closed in the event an impending rear wheel lock up condition is detected . when closed , the valve 22 will hold the pressure in a line 24 at a relatively constant level and thus will prevent any further increase in pressure in the line 18b from being supplied to the line 24 . the anti - lock control valve 10 also includes a normally closed dump valve 26 connected between the line 24 and a line 27 which is connected to the accumulator assembly 11 of the present invention . the accumulator assembly 11 includes a variable volume fluid reservoir 28 for receiving fluid from the rear brake system during time periods when the rear brake pressure is reduced . in particular , when the isolation valve 22 has been closed and the pressure held in the line 24 continues to cause excessive slippage of the rear wheels , the dump valve 26 is selectively opened to direct fluid into the accumulator reservoir 28 to reduce the brake pressure in the line 24 and prevent lock up of the rear brakes . after the brake pedal 12 has been released , the isolation valve 22 is opened and the fluid in the accumulator reservoir 28 can be returned to the line 24 through a check valve 29 . a check valve 31 is connected across the isolation valve 22 between the lines 18b and 24 and provides for fluid flow from the line 24 to the line 18b when the pressure in the line 24 is greater than the pressure in the line 18b . thus , when the brake pedal is released and the isolation valve is opened , higher pressure fluid in the line 24 can return to the line 18b through both the isolation valve 22 and the check valve 31 . the operation of the isolation valve 22 and the dump valve 26 is controlled by a computer control module 30 . the isolation valve 22 and the dump valve 26 are solenoid operated valves having solenoids 22a and 26a which can be connected to the computer control module 30 by means of electric lines 32 and 34 respectively . in order to determine whether the vehicle operator is in the process of braking the vehicle , the computer control 30 is connected to a brake light switch 36 by a line 38 to monitor whether the brake pedal 12 is depressed . the computer control module 30 is also connected by a line 42 to a speed sensor 40 which monitors the average speed of the vehicle rear wheels by sensing the rotation of the rear differential ring gear ( not shown ). the computer control module 30 is further connected to a differential pressure switch 44 by a line 46 . the differential switch 44 provides two separate functions . as discussed in detail in above - identified u . s . pat . no . 4 , 828 , 335 , when the system is in the anti - lock mode , the switch 44 is used to monitor the differential pressure across the isolation valve 22 in order to determine when it is desirable to release the anti - lock mode and return the braking system to the normal operating mode . secondly , when the vehicle is not in the anti - lock mode and the vehicle is in the normal braking mode , the switch 44 is used to monitor the condition of the dump valve . the operation of the anti - lock brake system illustrated in fig1 will now be summarized . basically , the system monitors the rear wheel speed and deceleration and , during braking of the vehicle , functions to control the application of hydraulic pressure to the vehicle rear brakes via the control valve 10 in order to prevent a lock up condition of the rear wheels . in the event a rear wheel slip condition is detected , indicating that the rear wheels are approaching a lock up condition , the control module 30 closes the isolation valve 22 to hold the pressure in the line 24 at its present value . if , after the isolation valve 22 has been closed , the rear wheel deceleration rate exceeds a predetermined amount , the dump valve 26 can be selectively opened to reduce pressure in the line 24 to prevent lock up of the rear wheels . when the dump valve 26 is selectively opened , fluid will be directed into the accumulator reservoir 28 via the line 27 . in some instances , after pressure has been dumped to reduce rear wheel slip and correct an impending lock - up condition , it is desirable to re - apply additional pressure to the rear brakes to increase braking of the rear wheels . this is accomplished by momentarily opening the isolation valve 22 to permit the higher pressure fluid in the line 18b to be supplied to the line 24 . the specific conditions under which additional pressure is reapplied to the rear brakes is discussed in detail in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 790 , 607 . the present invention is specifically concerned with the construction of the accumulator assembly 11 . in accordance with the present invention , during anti - lock operation , fluid supplied to the accumulator reservoir 28 will be maintained at or near zero pressure . in most prior art accumulators , the pressure is typically maintained at a pressure which is a function of the associated spring constant and is generally in the range of 30 to 60 psi . however , it has been discovered that , with certain braking systems and under certain braking conditions , it is sometimes desirable to reduce rear brake pressure to an amount less than 30 to 60 psi . for example , in vehicles such as light pick - up trucks wherein the rear wheels are provided with disc brakes , and the vehicle is stopping on a relatively low mu surface such as ice , it has been found that , in order to free up a rear wheel which has been locked under these conditions , the brake pressure to the rear wheel often must be reduced to near zero . with prior art accumulators , it is only possible to reduce the brake pressure to the level maintained by the associated spring . the accumulator assembly 11 schematically shown in fig1 is capable of maintaining brake fluid during anti - lock operation at or near zero pressure . as shown in fig1 the accumulator assembly 11 includes an axially shiftable plunger 28a which is normally biased toward the left ( as viewed in fig1 ) by a compression spring 28c to force a slidable piston 28b toward an end wall of the accumulator housing 28d . in this position , the piston 28b and the housing 28d cooperate to define an accumulator reservoir at minimum volume . in accordance with the present invention , when the brake system enters the anti - lock mode and fluid is dumped into the accumulator reservoir 28 , means are provided for shifting the plunger 28a toward the right ( as viewed in fig1 ) for compressing the spring 28c against the right wall of the housing 28d . in these instances , the plunger 28a will exert no axial force on the piston 28b and the piston will be free to shift axially toward the right to increase the volume of the accumulator reservoir 28 without exerting any substantial force on the fluid contained therein . in the preferred embodiment of the invention , the plunger 28a is hydraulically shifted by means of master cylinder fluid pressure in the line 18b supplied to the accumulator assembly through an orifice 28f and adapted to exert a force on an end face 28e of the plunger 28a . during non braking conditions , the spring 28c urges the plunger 28a toward the left as shown in fig1 such that end face 28e of the plunger 28a is seated against the end wall of the accumulator housing , and the piston 28b is urged toward the left to maintain the accumulator reservoir at minimum volume . when brake pressure is applied , the resultant axial force exerted on the plunger 28a will be a function of the area of the end face 28e exposed to the pressurized fluid . when the plunger 28a is in the position shown in fig1 this area corresponds to the area of the orifice 28f . the size of the orifice 28f and the spring constant of the spring 28b are chosen such that , under non anti - lock braking conditions , the axial force exerted by the spring 28c is greater than the opposite hydraulic force , thus maintaining the plunger in the position as shown . however , when the system enters the anti - lock mode and fluid is initially dumped into the accumulator reservoir 28 , the piston 28b and the plunger 28a will be forced to the right to partially compress the spring 28c , thus exposing the entire end face 28e of the plunger 28a to the fluid pressure in the line 18b . in these instances , the resultant hydraulic force is sufficient to compress the spring 28c such that the spring no longer exerts any force on the accumulator piston 28b . the accumulator piston will then be free to shift to the right to increase the volume of the accumulator reservoir 28 without exerting any pressure on the fluid stored therein . when the brakes are released , the spring 28c will urge the plunger 28a and the piston 28b back to their original positions , and will force any fluid in the accumulator reservoir 28 back into the rear brake line 24 through the check valve 29 . referring now to fig2 the specific construction of the accumulator assembly 11 of the present invention will now be discussed in detail . fig2 illustrates the control valve 10 having a structure which , except for the new accumulator design , is similar to the control valve described and illustrated in allowed u . s . pat . no . 4 , 828 , 335 . thus , in the present application , while the overall structure of the valve will be briefly reviewed , only the accumulator assembly will be discussed in detail . the valve 10 includes a one - piece valve body 60 having an inlet 61 adapted to be connected to the line 18b of fig1 and an outlet 62 adapted to be connected to the line 24 of fig1 . the valve body 60 is provided with a plurality of internal openings formed therein for receiving various components of the valve . for example , an opening 60a is adapted to receive the isolation valve assembly 22 , an opening 60b is adapted to receive the dump valve assembly 26 , and an opening 60c is adapted to receive the differential switch assembly 44 . the components of the accumulator assembly 11 are mounted within an opening 60d and a smaller opening 60e which is connected to the opening 60d . the various components of the control valve are interconnected within the valve body 60 by a series of internally formed passageways , as discussed in detail in u . s . patent application ser . no . 07 / 053 , 221 . the isolation valve assembly 22 includes a normally open ball valve 65 , while the dump valve assembly 26 includes a normally closed ball valve 66 . under non anti - lock conditions , brake fluid is supplied directly from the inlet 61 to the outlet 62 through a series of passageways as discussed in detail in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 828 , 335 . when the system enters the anti - lock mode , the isolation ball valve 65 is closed to block fluid flow between the inlet 61 and the outlet 62 and prevent any further increase in pressure to the rear brakes . thereafter , if the system determines that pressure to the rear brakes should be reduced , the dump ball valve 66 can be selectively pulsed open to permit fluid to flow past the ball valve 66 downwardly through a central passageway 67 formed in the dump valve assembly and into the accumulator reservoir 28 . the preferred embodiment of the accumulator assembly 11 , shown in fig2 includes a generally cup - shaped slidable piston 70 ( corresponding to the piston 28b of fig1 ), a helical coil compression spring 72 ( corresponding to spring 28c of fig1 ), and an end plug 74 . the piston 70 is slidably mounted within the cylindrical opening 60d and is urged toward the left end of the opening 60d by means of the spring 72 which is compressed between a spring seat 75 and the end plug 74 . an o - ring 76 is mounted within an outer annular groove formed in the piston 70 and sealingly engages the inner cylindrical wall of the opening 60d . a rubber boot 78 is secured to the plug 74 and projects into the opening 60d , and is provided to accommodate air pressure changes in the space to the right of the piston 70 as the piston 70 is moved to the right . the accumulator assembly also includes an actuating plunger 80 ( corresponding to the plunger 28a of fig1 ) which is slidably mounted within the smaller cylindrical opening 60e and is retained therein by means of a plug 82 threaded into the outer end of the opening 60e . the inner end of the plunger 80 extends through a cylindrical opening 70b formed in the end wall of the piston 70 and has an innermost end 80a formed in a generally semi - spherical manner which extends into a cup - shaped portion of the spring seat 75 . an o - ring seal 81 is provided within the cylindrical opening 70b and sealingly engages the outer surface of the plunger 80 . the plug 82 is provided with a transverse passageway 82a which communicates with a passageway 83 formed in the valve body 60 and connected directly to the inlet 61 to receive master cylinder fluid pressure from the line 18b through a filter 84 . in addition , the plug 82 is provided with an axially extending passageway 82b which connects the passageway 82a to an outer end face 80b of the plunger . the passageway 82b is provided with a restriction 82c to limit fluid flow therethrough . the outer end face 80b of the plunger is provided with a cylindrical opening having a seal 85 mounted therein . when the accumulator spring 72 is extended as shown in fig2 the outer end face 80b of the plunger 80 is urged against the inner face of the plug 82 to cause the seal 85 to sealingly engage the end plug 82 around the entire periphery of the outlet end of the passageway 82b . the outlet end of the passageway 82b is sized of a diameter d1 ( shown in fig3 ) such that , during normal braking operation , the fluid pressure exerted on the seal 85 is insufficient to axially shift the plunger 80 and compress the spring 72 . thus , in these circumstances , the spring 72 will be extended and will continue to maintain the plunger 80 in its leftmost position , at which point the accumulator reservoir is at minimum volume . in this situation , the end face of the piston 70 will be slightly spaced from the inner end wall of the reservoir by a distance l , as shown in fig2 . however , once the brake system has entered the anti - lock mode and has caused fluid pressure to be dumped into the accumulator reservoir 28 , the piston 70 will begin to move toward the right with the spring seat 75 , and will begin to compress the spring 72 . at this point , the spring seat 75 will no longer force the plunger 80 against the plug 82 . the fluid pressure exerted on the plunger 80 is then sufficient to shift the plunger 80 axially toward the right to disengage the seal 85 from the end face of the plug 82 . at this point , the entire end face 80b of the plunger 80 , having a diameter d2 as shown in fig3 will be exposed to the master cylinder fluid pressure . with this additional area , sufficient additional force is exerted on the plunger 80 to compress the spring 72 , as shown in fig3 such that the spring will exert no axial force on the piston 70 . thus , the piston is free to shift to the right as fluid is introduced into the reservoir 28 , and the fluid contained in the reservoir will be maintained at or near zero pressure . when the brake pedal is released , fluid pressure in the line 18b is no longer sufficient to overcome the force exerted by the spring 72 , and the spring will urge the plunger 80 and the piston 70 back to their unactuated positions shown in fig2 . this causes the fluid in the accumulator reservoir 28 to be returned to the brake system via the check valve ( shown in fig2 as a one way lip seal 29a ), while the fluid used to shift the plunger 80 is returned through the passageway 82b . an annular lip seal 86 is located around the inner end of the plug 82 and provides a path , in addition to the passageway 82b , for returning fluid to the passageway 82a when the plunger 80 is moved from its actuated position ( shown in fig3 ) to its unactuated position ( shown in fig2 ). when the plunger is in the unactuated position , and pressurized fluid is present in the passageway 82a , the fluid will exert a force on the seal 86 which tends to compress the seal 86 in an axial direction toward the plunger 80 . this causes the fluid located in an annular space 87 about the outer end of the plunger 80 to become pressurized . to reduce the axial force exerted on the plunger 80 by the fluid in the annular space , a second lip seal 88 is located around the outer end of the plunger 80 . thus , when the seal 86 is compressed , the seal 88 will be compressed in a similar manner , thereby reducing the effect of any axial force exerted by the fluid in the space 87 on the plunger 80 . the accumulator assembly of the present invention has been explained and illustrated in its preferred embodiment . however , it will be appreciated that various modifications may be made to the accumulator assembly without departing from the spirit of the present invention . for example , while the preferred embodiment of the invention utilizes fluid pressure supplied by master cylinder as a means for axially shifting the plunger to compress the accumulator spring , other means could be used . also , while the accumulator has been described herein for use with a pumpless anti - lock system , it will be appreciated that the accumulator can be used in a more conventional , pumped anti - lock system .	8
the present invention provides a technique for utilization of a failure mechanism , e . g , the gross flattening of a cylindrical chamber under pressure , to perform a useful function through the rapid , pressure - actuated release of a fluid or gas from a pressure vessel through a relatively large opening . the nature of this so - called propagating buckle of a cylindrical vessel under external pressure is such that there is a large change in shape from , for instance , a dented cylindrical to a fully - flattened shape . in this way the actuation , or triggering , of the valve mechanism can be made to cause a quick release of pressure from a vessel . this passive but quick release through a large opening makes it possible to use this type of failure mechanism to its fullest extent . referring now to the drawings and in particular , to fig1 thereof , there is shown a partially buckled cylindrical chamber 10 used as a safety valve in pressure vessel wall 11 . the partially collapsed chamber 10 is supported by an elastic ring gasket 12 in an opening in the pressure vessel wall , and the chamber is maintained in position with an elastomeric ring gasket by a support frame 13 . the support frame can be either external or internal to the vessel . the precollapsed part of the chamber must face toward the high pressure side of the chamber . collapse of the chamber 10 causes the walls of the chamber to pull away from the elastic ring gasket , as the chamber flattens , and allow flow of fluid and loss or pressure to the surrounding environment . the release valve failure mechanism is essentially unaffected by the contents of the container , whether corrosive , foaming , film depositing , etc ., and reliably responds without exception to excess pressures in the vessel 11 . it will be apparent that the trigger or chamber 10 can be utilized with other deformable seals than an elastomeric ring gasket , provided a snug fit is provided between the trigger and the pressure vessel wall . an elastomeric material may be coated over the chamber so that it provides a good seal with the vessel wall . while a cylindrical vessel wall is shown , it is manifest that for any type of vessel or other container wherein pressure exists which may need to be vented , the release valve of the present invention can be successfully employed . in fig2 a , 2b and 2c , the steps of making a prebuckled or precollapsed chamber for the valve 10 is shown in steps a , b and c . in step a , a chamber such as capped pipe 30 is mechanically dented in the center . chambers which are triangular , rectangular or elliptical in shape may be employed , and other techniques for denting the chamber may be effected using presses , hammers , etc . in step b , a pressure vessel 31 encompasses the capped and dented pipe 30 and a hydraulic fluid 32 under pressure is passed there - into . the buckle initiated in step b is propagated by the hydraulic fluid . the pressure required to propagate the buckle is noted since this will become the characteristic collapse pressure of the valve . in step c , the pipe is cut in half and welded or otherwise closed at midsection 33 . other fittings or attaching means can be welded or otherwise joined to the flattened , closed pipe to permit its mounting and use as a safety release valve . once a valve actuates it cannot easily be closed again so the chamber must be replaced using the same mounting and perhaps the same seal . this is manifestly but one method for preparing the prebuckled or precollapsed valve unit , and it will be obvious that the unit can be prepared by other methods and still function in accordance with the present invention which relies upon the phenomenon of a propagating buckle .	8
while this invention is susceptible of embodiment in many different forms , there is shown in the drawing , and will be described herein in detail , specific embodiments thereof with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the invention to the specific embodiments illustrated . fig1 illustrates a block diagram of a detector 10 which embodies the present invention . the detector 10 includes an integrated circuit 12 which provides control functions . the integrated circuit 12 could be , for example , a motorola type mc145011 which is publicly available and used for photoelectric - type smoke detectors . it will be understood that other integrated circuits might be usable . the particular integrated circuit that might be chosen is not a limitation of the present invention . the integrated circuit 12 includes an output driving port 12a for intermittently energizing a light source 14 . the output of the source 14 can initially be adjusted during manufacture by a sensitivity adjustment circuit . 16 . the source 14 emits radiant energy r into a smoke chamber , not illustrated . the integrated circuit 12 also includes an alarm indication output port 12b which is coupled to a horn driving circuit 20 . one type of horn that could be used is a piezoelectric horn used with smoke detectors . timing for the integrated circuit 12 is provided at an input port 12c from timing circuitry 22 . a dc supply 24 , which could be a 9 volt battery , provides a source of electrical energy for the detector 10 . the integrated circuit 12 contains an amplifier for which the gain can be set , via an input port 12d , in a gain circuit 26 . coupled to an input port 12e of the integrated circuit 12 is a radiant energy receiver or sensor 30 . radiant energy r emitted from light source 14 is scattered by particulate matter in the ambient air in the smoke chamber and a portion r s of the scattered ambient radiant energy is incident upon the receiver 30 . as the particulate matter in the atmosphere increases , due to the presence of products of combustion , the degree of scattered radiant energy r s increases thereby providing , when amplified within the integrated circuit 12 , an indicium of the presence of combustion . the radiant energy receiver or sensor 30 is biased under normal conditions by a bias circuit 32 . in this condition , the detector has a sensitivity level set in part by the bias condition and partly by the gain of the detector . a bias altering , sensitivity test circuit 34 can be coupled to the receiver 30 by means of manually operable test switch 36 . when the test switch 36 is closed , the bias altering circuit 34 alters the bias of the sensor or receiver 30 and increases the sensitivity of the detector . this bias alteration is such that an output is produced in response to a quiescent , non - alarm level of incident radiation r s . this output is sufficient to cause the integrated circuit 12 to enter an alarm state and energize the horn circuit 20 producing an audible test output in a response to closure of the switch 36 . thus , when the switch 36 is closed , the sensitivity of the receiver or sensor 30 is increased so that a smoke indicating signal is provided to the integrated circuit 12 thus placing it into an alarm state . alternately , instead of altering the bias of the sensor receiver 30 , the gain circuit 26 can be altered to provide increased gain in the integrated circuit 12 thereby generating a smoke condition and placing the integrated circuit into an alarm state . fig2 illustrates portions of the detector 10 in more detail . the same identification numerals are used in fig2 for corresponding circuitry as was discussed above with respect to fig1 . in the embodiment illustrated in fig2 the normal receiver or sensor biasing circuitry is indicated generally at 32 . bias altering circuitry 34 is illustrated coupled to a manually operable test switch 36 . when the switch 36 is closed , the resistor 34 is coupled in parallel across the resistor 34a thereby increasing the sensitivity of the detector 10 and driving the integrated circuit 12 into an alarm state . when the switch 36 is released , the receiver or sensor 30 returns to its normal level of sensitivity and exits the alarm state . alternately , the gain of the integrated circuit 12 can be increased by coupling a capacitor 26a , illustrated in phantom , across one of the gain setting capacitors 26b . increasing the capacitance , results in increased gain in the integrated circuit 12 thereby causing the detector 10 to go into an alarm state . the bias point of the sensor or receiver 30 can also be shifted by increasing the resistance of resistor 34b such as by switching an additional resistance 34c , indicated in phantom , in series therewith . this also will increase the sensitivity of the receiver or sensor 30 . thus , in accordance with the invention , the sensitivity of a sensor or receiver element of a photoelectric smoke detector can be increased thereby placing the detector into an alarm state , for test purposes . when the test switch is released , the unit returns to its normal level or sensitivity . the sensitivity can be increased by increasing the gain of amplifier circuitry in the detector . alternately , the bias point of the sensor or receiver can be altered so as to produce a smoke condition signal which is coupled to the integrated circuit control circuitry thereby placing that circuitry into an alarm state . from the foregoing , it will be observed that numerous variations and modifications may be effected without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . it is to be understood that no limitation with respect to the specific apparatus illustrated herein 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
applicants have developed a method that maximizes the efficiency at which the transesterification reaction of abpa and mma proceeds . the lower temperatures at which applicants &# 39 ; reaction is optimally run at are novel and non - obvious in the art . polymerization of the abad must be avoided to as great an extent as possible . the reaction should be run at as low a temperature as possible . preferably , the reaction temperature is in the range of about 65 ° c . to about 100 ° c ., more preferably about 70 ° c . to about 90 ° c ., and most preferably about 75 ° c . to about 80 ° c . the reaction can be run under vacuum , but applicants prefer atmospheric pressure . a polymerization inhibitor may also be employed . these inhibitors are known in the art . applicants &# 39 ; preferred polymerization inhibitor is selected from the group consisting of hydroquinone , mono - alkoxylated hydroquinone , oxygen containing gases , and non - ionic compounds such as phenothiazine and mixtures thereof . applicants note that there are several different abpa and abad molecules . the difference resides in the number of alkoxy groups on each side of the molecule . applicants preferably use 6 - ethoxylated bpa in their reaction . this means abpa with a statistically distributed total of six alkoxy groups . the ratio of mma to alcohol is about 1 to about 5 : 1 equivalents , preferably about 1 . 1 to about 3 . 0 : 1 , and most preferably 1 . 5 to about 2 . 0 : 1 equivalents . applicants &# 39 ; preferred catalyst is potassium methoxide , but other hydroxides and alkoxides of potassium are effective . it is commonly understood in the art that transesterification catalysts must be added incrementally during the reaction ( and removed by filtration ). this can be accomplished by any technique in the art . the catalyst is typically added in a weight percent of about 0 . 04 to about 4 . 0 % of the reaction mixture . preferably , about 0 . 2 to about 1 . 0 % is used . the invention is illustrated by , but not limited to the following examples : into an apparatus consisting of a four - neck , one liter roundbottom flask equipped with a thermowell , agitator , addition funnel / anhydrous air bleed , and a reflux - controlled ten - tray oldershaw distillation column / cold - water condenser (& lt ; 10 ° c . ), was added the following materials : 246 g 6 - ethoxylated bpa ( 0 . 500 mol ), 162 g methyl methacrylate ( 1 . 62 mol ), 0 . 27 g 4 - methoxyphenol ( 0 . 11 wt %, based on 6 - ethoxylated bpa ), 0 . 27 g phenothiazine ( 0 . 11 wt %, based on 6 - ethoxylated bpa ), 0 . 15 g potassium methoxide ( 0 . 060 wt %, based on 6 - ethoxylated bpa ), and 21 . 5 g hexanes ( 5 . 00 wt %, based on the reaction charge ). the reaction mixture was heated to a moderate boil at atmospheric pressure . after column equilibration was achieved ( the column was considered to be equilibrated once the temperature of oldershaw column tray # 5 decreased to its lowest point ), distillate was removed at an 8 : 1 reflux ratio until the temperature on the oldershaw column tray # 5 increased 15 ° c . above its lowest temperature . the temperature of the reaction mixture was maintained at 80 ° c . by adding hexanes as needed . the reaction mixture was then cooled to 50 ° c . and another increment of 0 . 15 g potassium methoxide catalyst was added . heating was reinitiated and distillate was collected as before . repeating the process through two more incremental catalyst additions gave a reaction conversion of 98 % ( as determined by methanol collection ) in 1 . 5 hours ( the total reaction time represents the time of distillate collection ). a total of 115 g of hexanes was added to maintain 80 ° c . polymer formation was not detected . 1 into an apparatus consisting of a four - neck , one liter roundbottom flask equipped with a thermowell , agitator , addition funnel / anhydrous air bleed , and a reflux - controlled ten - tray oldershaw distillation column / cold - water condenser (& lt ; 10 ° c . ), was added the following materials : 246 g 6 - ethoxylated bpa ( 0 . 500 mol ), 150 g methyl methacrylate ( 1 . 50 mol ), 0 . 27 g 4 - methoxyphenol ( 0 . 11 wt %, based on 6 - ethoxylated bpa ), 0 . 27 g phenothiazine ( 0 . 11 wt %, based on 6 - ethoxylated bpa ), 0 . 15 g potassium methoxide ( 0 . 060 wt %, based on 6 - ethoxylated bpa ), and 20 . 9 g hexanes ( 5 . 00 wt %, based on the reaction charge ). the reaction mixture was heated to a moderate boil at atmospheric pressure . after column equilibration was achieved ( the column was considered to be equilibrated once the temperature of oldershaw column tray # 5 decreased to its lowest point ), distillate was removed at an 8 : 1 reflux ratio until the temperature on the oldershaw column tray # 5 increased 15 ° c . above its lowest temperature . the temperature of the reaction mixture was maintained at 75 ° c . by adding hexanes as needed . the reaction mixture was then cooled to 50 ° c . and another increment of 0 . 15 g potassium methoxide catalyst was added . heating was reinitiated and distillate was collected as before . repeating the process through three more incremental catalyst additions gave a reaction conversion of 100 % ( as determined by methanol collection ) in 2 . 4 hours ( the total reaction time represents the time of distillate collection ). a total of 122 g of hexanes was added to maintain 75 ° c . polymer formation was not detected . 1 into an apparatus consisting of a four - neck , one liter roundbottom flask equipped with a thermowell , agitator , anhydrous air bleed , and a reflux - controlled ten - tray oldershaw distillation column / cold - water condenser (& lt ; 10 ° c . ), was added the following materials : 246 g 6 - ethoxylated bpa ( 0 . 500 mol ), 150 g methyl methacrylate ( 1 . 50 mol ), 0 . 27 g 4 - methoxyphenol ( 0 . 11 wt %, based on 6 - ethoxylated bpa ), 0 . 27 g phenothiazine ( 0 . 11 wt %, based on 6 - ethoxylated bpa ), 0 . 15 g potassium methoxide ( 0 . 060 wt %, based on 6 - ethoxylated bpa ), and 105 g heptane ( 21 . 0 wt %, based on the reaction charge ). the reaction mixture was heated to a moderate boil at a pressure of 550 mm hg . after column equilibration was achieved ( the column was considered to be equilibrated once the temperature of oldershaw column tray # 5 decreased to its lowest point ), distillate was removed at an 8 : 1 reflux ratio until the temperature on the oldershaw column tray # 5 increased 15 ° c . above its lowest temperature . the temperature of the reaction mixture did not exceed 91 ° c . the reaction mixture was then cooled to 50 ° c . and another increment of 0 . 15 g potassium methoxide catalyst was added . heating was reinitiated and distillate was collected as before . repeating the process through three more incremental catalyst additions gave a reaction conversion of 90 % ( as determined by methanol collection ) in 2 . 4 hours ( the total reaction time represents the time of distillate collection ). polymer formation was not detected . 1 into an apparatus consisting of a four - neck , one liter roundbottom flask equipped with a thermowell , agitator , anhydrous air bleed , and a reflux - controlled ten - tray oldershaw distillation column / cold - water condenser (& lt ; 10 ° c . ), was added the following materials : 246 g 6 - ethoxylated bpa ( 0 . 500 mol ), 300 g methyl methacrylate ( 3 . 00 mol ), 0 . 40 g 4 - methoxyphenol ( 0 . 16 wt %, based on 6 - ethoxylated bpa ), 0 . 40 g phenothiazine ( 0 . 16 wt %, based on 6 - ethoxylated bpa ), and 0 . 19 g potassium methoxide ( 0 . 078 wt %, based on 6 - ethoxylated bpa ). the reaction mixture was heated to a moderate boil at a pressure of 550 mm hg . after column equilibration was achieved ( the column was considered to be equilibrated once the temperature at oldershaw column tray # 5 decreased to its lowest point ), distillate was removed at an 8 - 10 : 1 reflux ratio until the temperature on the oldershaw column tray # 5 increased 15 ° c . above its lowest temperature . the reaction mixture was then cooled to 50 ° c . and another increment of 0 . 19 g potassium methoxide catalyst was added . heating was reinitiated and distillate was collected as before . repeating the process through two more incremental catalyst additions gave a reaction conversion of 92 % ( as determined by methanol collection ) in 2 . 3 hours ( the total reaction time represents the time of distillate collection ). the temperature at the end of the reaction was 104 ° c . polymer formation was evident . 1 into an apparatus consisting of a four - neck , one liter roundbottom flask equipped with a thermowell , agitator , anhydrous air bleed , and a reflux - controlled ten - tray oldershaw distillation column / cold - water condenser (& lt ; 10 ° c . ), was added the following materials : 246 g 6 - ethoxylated bpa ( 0 . 500 mol ), 300 g methyl methacrylate ( 3 . 00 mol ), 0 . 40 g 4 - methoxyphenol ( 0 . 16 wt %, based on 6 - ethoxylated bpa ), 0 . 40 g phenothiazine ( 0 . 16 wt %, based on 6 - ethoxylated bpa ), and 0 . 19 g potassium methoxide ( 0 . 078 wt %, based on 6 - ethoxylated bpa ). the reaction mixture was heated to a moderate boil at a pressure of 500 mm hg . after column equilibration was achieved ( the column was considered to be equilibrated once the temperature at oldershaw column tray # 5 decreased to its lowest point ), distillate was removed at an 8 - 14 : 1 reflux ratio until the temperature on the oldershaw column tray # 5 increased 15 ° c . above its lowest temperature . the reaction mixture was then cooled to 50 ° c . and another increment of 0 . 19 g potassium methoxide catalyst was added . heating was reinitiated and distillate was collected as before . repeating the process through two more incremental catalyst additions gave a reaction conversion of 89 % ( as determined by methanol collection ) in 2 . 7 hours ( the total reaction time represents the time of distillate collection ). the temperature at the end of the reaction was 100 ° c . polymer formation was not detected . 1 example 6 -- into an apparatus consisting of a four - neck , one liter roundbottom flask equipped with a thermowell , agitator , anhydrous air bleed , and a reflux - controlled ten - tray oldershaw distillation column / cold - water condenser (& lt ; 10 ° c . ), was added the following materials : 246 g 6 - ethoxylated bpa ( 0 . 500 mol ), 150 g methyl methacrylate ( 1 . 50 mol ), 0 . 27 g 4 - methoxyphenol ( 0 . 16 wt %, based on 6 - ethoxylated bpa ), 0 . 27 g phenothiazine ( 0 . 16 wt %, based on 6 - ethoxylated bpa ), 0 . 15 g potassium methoxide ( 0 . 060 wt %, based on 6 - ethoxylated bpa ), and 105 g hexanes ( 20 . 9 wt %, based on the reaction charge ). the reaction mixture was heated to a moderate boil at atmospheric pressure . after column equilibration was achieved ( the column was considered to be equilibrated once the temperature at oldershaw column tray # 5 decreased to its lowest point ), distillate was removed at an 8 : 1 reflux ratio until the temperature on the oldershaw column tray # 5 increased 15 ° c . above its lowest temperature . the reaction mixture was then cooled to 50 ° c . and another increment of 0 . 19 g potassium methoxide catalyst was added . heating was reinitiated and distillate was collected as before . repeating the process through one more incremental catalyst additions gave a reaction conversion of 81 % ( as determined by methanol collection ) in 2 . 0 hours ( the total reaction time represents the time of distillate collection ). the temperature at the end of the reaction was 79 ° c . polymer formation was not detected . 1 the above procedure was repeated substituting lithium methoxide catalyst for potassium methoxide . a conversion of 60 % ( as determined by methanol collection ) was obtained in 2 . 2 hours ( the total reaction time represents the time of distillate collection ) with no detectable polymerization . 1 the final reaction temperature was 81 ° c . the above procedure was repeated substituting potassium hydroxide catalyst for potassium methoxide . a conversion of 43 % ( as determined by methanol collection ) was obtained in 1 . 2 hours ( the total reaction time represents the time of distillate collection ) with no detectable polymerization . 1 the final reaction temperature was 77 ° c . a pilot - plant apparatus consisting of a 25 - gallon , jacketed , glass - lined reactor , a packed column about 4 inches diameter and 4 feet tall , a condenser piped to both ambient and chilled cooling water , a decanter with sight glass , a reflux pump , and a cartridge filter was used . the reactor was charged with recycle material recovered from the preceding run and consisted of 46 grams ( g ) of methanol , 2413 g of hexane , and 1660 g of methyl methacrylate ( mma ). to this were added fresh feeds as follows : 12 . 15 kg of 6 - ethoxylated bpa , 7 . 98 kg mma , 1 . 5 kg of hexane , 23 g of phenothiazine ( ptz ), 23 g of methoxyphenol , and 10 g of potassium methoxide ( koch3 ). about 2 , 000 g of recycle ( 93 wt %) hexane was added to the decanter . the reaction mixture was heated by steam in the reactor jacket to boiling at atmospheric pressure , which occurred at about 75 ° c . liquid condensate was allowed to collect in the decanter until the level was above the side take - off to the reflux pump . the reflux pump was then turned on and valves regulated to send liquid flow back to the top of the column such that the liquid level stayed relatively constant at about 5 liters and the reactor temperature at around 75 ° c . as the reaction proceeded , methanol was formed as a by - product and distilled out of the reactor along with the hexane . the methanol formed a methanol - rich phase in the separator that was about 63 wt % methanol , 34 % hexane , and 3 % mma . the quantity of this phase indicates the progress of the reaction , and it is allowed to accumulate in the decanter until the reaction is deemed to be completed or until the level approaches the overflow to the reflux pump . during the course of the reaction , three additional potassium methoxide catalyst additions were made at about 50 - minute intervals as a slurry of about 9 grams of catalyst in 70 ml of methanol . in this example , about 2 . 4 kg of methanol - rich phase was removed followed by 1 . 6 kg of hexane - rich layer after reacting for less than 4 hours . the methanol recovery corresponds to about 99 % conversion . then under slight vacuum ( 580 mm hg absolute ), approximately 2 . 2 kg of additional hexane was boiled out and retained for the next batch . the vacuum was then increased gradually down to an absolute pressure of about 60 mm hg to boil out most of the excess mma as the temperature was raised to 90 ° c . next , about 300 ml of warm water was gradually added below the surface of the agitated reactor contents to effectively steam strip out nearly all the remaining mma . finally , the stripped product was pushed through a cartridge filter using about 18 psig of nitrogen pressure to produce the final product . the final product analysis by hplc indicated no detectable residual mma and about 99 % esters with the ratio of diester to monoester in excess of 7 .	2
fig1 shows a sectional view of a conduit 22 as a cross - section through the central longitudinal axis l of the conduit , wherein only a short section of the entire conduit 22 is depicted . however , this is implemented along its length , as explained by reference to the section . if in the following a cross - section is being discussed , then such a cross - sectional view through the central longitudinal axis l according to fig1 is meant , which makes apparent the shape of the corrugation of the conduit and its internal structure . however , the individual layers or pipes are not represented true to scale or simplified for the drawing . the conduit 22 in this exemplary embodiment of the invention has a single inner service pipe 2 , through which the medium or fluid to be transported flows when the conduit is employed . several service pipes may also be present . service pipe 2 may be formed from plastic , i . e . polyethylene , or made of metal . the pipe can be either smooth or corrugated . the service pipe 2 is surrounded by a thermal - insulating layer 14 , which is preferably formed from a polyurethane foam . it is subsequently explained by reference to fig2 how the foam - casing of the medium pipe can be carried out . preferably , the thermal insulating layer is formed from a hard polyurethane foam with a density of 45 kg / m 3 to 80 kg / m 3 . the outer housing 15 of the conduit 22 is shown in the drawing for simplification thereof only as a line , but is a plastic material several millimeters thick , in particular with a thickness ranging from 2 mm to 5 mm . the material of the outer housing is also a plastic , in particular polyethylene , pe , for example pe - ld having a density of 915 kg / m 3 to 935 kg / m 3 . other types of pe or other plastics may also be used . the conduit 22 according to the invention is a corrugated conduit , wherein both the outer housing 15 and the thermal insulation 14 comprise the corrugation . these two parts of the conduit are fixed in direct contact and the outer housing 15 is continuously adjoined to the thermal insulation . this is achieved particularly with the production method explained with the help of fig2 . the corrugation is illustrated with the troughs 25 and peaks 26 , which are visible in the cross - section of fig1 . the two elements of the corrugated shape are formed round according to the invention . preferably , both the trough 25 and the peak 26 seen in the cross - section are circular or these elements of the corrugation are each part of a circle . accordingly , a radius rt can be specified for the trough and a radius rb for the peak . more preferably , the radius of the trough is greater than the radius of the peak , thus the relation rt & gt ; rb applies . the peaks and troughs are preferably connected by sections of the corrugation which are substantially straight in path . the corrugation depth t , thus the difference between the top point of the peak 26 and the lowest point of the trough 25 according to the invention , is in the range of 4 . 5 mm to 8 mm with an outer diameter d ( measured from the peaks ) ranging from 63 mm to 202 mm . it has proven to be advantageous that with this shaping and dimensioning in the production method described in the following for the conduit , a very homogeneous thickness of the outer housing results , while other shapes and dimensions may give rise to a variable thickness in the longitudinal direction of the corrugation . this is undesirable , since then the outer housing must be chosen as generally thicker , in order to also still have adequate thickness at the thinnest sites , while then an unnecessary excess of material is present at the thickest sites . the corrugation - shaping and depth of corrugation according to the invention thus make possible as a positive effect an outer housing , which has a more even thickness and thus a savings in outer housing material . it further shows that these characteristics which bring about the uniform thickness of the outer housing also provide an improved bending capacity of the conduit 22 . preferably , with an outer diameter d of the conduit 22 in the range of 63 nm to 90 mm , the corrugation depth t is implemented in the range of 4 mm to 5 mm . preferably , the corrugation depth t is 4 . 5 mm . preferably , with an outer diameter d of the conduit 22 in the range of 90 nm to 202 mm , the corrugation depth t is implemented in the range of 5 mm to 8 mm . preferably , the corrugation depth t is 5 . 5 mm . furthermore , there is a preferred range for the distance w of the lowest point of two consecutive troughs 25 , which gives particularly good results in the effects of the homogeneous outer housing and good bending properties . this distance w preferably ranges from 25 mm to 50 mm . preferably , with an outer diameter d of the conduit in the range of 63 mm to 90 mm , the distance w of two consecutive troughs is in the range of 25 mm to 33 mm and in particular in the range from 25 mm to 27 mm . it is further preferred that with an outer diameter d of the conduit in the range of 90 mm to 202 mm , the distance w of the lowest point of two adjacent troughs is in the range of 35 mm to 50 mm and more particularly is in the range of 33 mm to 40 mm and more particularly in the range of 33 mm to 35 mm . this proves that the preferred ranges yield a good result for the bending properties and homogeneity of the conduit . fig2 shows a production of the conduit 22 , as is disclosed in the outlines of ep 0 897 788 a1 . here , a service pipe or internal pipe 2 is withdrawn continuously from the feed drum 1 . the means for withdrawing or conveying in the production direction are not shown , since such means are known to those skilled in the art . the service pipe 2 can be a plastic or metal pipe and may be smooth or corrugated . in particular a service pipe 2 made from crosslinked polyethylene is used . the service pipe 2 can be passed through a caliber roller pair 3 , the rollers being driven . the caliber roller pair 3 is preferably displaceable in two directions perpendicular to each other transverse to the direction of production or withdrawal . as mentioned above , two or more service pipes may be present in the conduit and would accordingly feed two or more inner pipes 2 jointly to the further steps . a plastic film 5 , in particular a polyethylene film , is peeled - off from a supply reel 4 and placed concentrically around the service pipe 2 to form a pipe 6 having a glued or welded longitudinal seam . the plastic film 5 may also be a multi - layer film . a foaming plastics mixture can be introduced into the open pipe 6 , in particular based on polyurethane or polyethylene , for example by means of the nozzle 7 . the closed pipe 6 is inserted into a molding tool 9 , which is composed of a plurality of mold halves 9 a and 9 b , which together form a “ migrating die ” for the service pipe equipped with the insulating layer and films 5 and / or 6 . film 5 thus forms the outermost layer of the service pipe . the surfaces of the mold halves 9 a and 9 b facing the film 5 or film 6 have the previously explained corrugation profile , in which the film 5 , 6 is formed as a result of the foam pressure . the pipe blank 10 emerging from the molding tool 9 thus has a corrugated surface with the required corrugation as explained above . the pipe blank 10 can then pass through a known x - ray device 11 , by means of which the pipe blank 10 is continuously checked for an exact central position of the service pipe 2 or a correct position of several service pipes 2 within the insulating layer 14 . in the next production step , the outer housing 15 of the conduit made of plastic is extruded onto the pipe blank 10 by means of an extruder . a vacuum is thereby generated in a known manner , which brings about the close fitting of the outer housing on the foamed insulating layer or on films 5 , 6 of the pipe blank 10 . the outer housing 10 is fitted closely to the corrugation of the pipe blank 10 , whereby the conduit receives the required shaping and dimensioning . the outer housing glues to the plastic films 5 , 6 due to high temperatures received during extrusion thereof , so that the outer housing adjoins without breaks and / or directly to the thermal insulation . the finished conduit 22 having shaping and dimensioning according to the invention can then be withdrawn by a driven extractor and reeled up onto a transport roller .	1
fig1 schematically shows a sectional side view of a horizontal tempering furnace 1 according to the invention . the tempering furnace 1 comprises a housing 2 and rollers 3 upon which glass sheets 4 are placed . during the tempering process , the glass sheets 4 are transferred by means of the rollers 3 in the direction of arrow a . as seen in the figure , a loading table is arranged on the left side of the tempering furnace 1 , and a cooling unit for the glass sheets 4 on the right side of the tempering furnace 1 . for the sake of clarity , said loading table and cooling unit are not shown in fig1 . the glass sheets 4 are placed on the loading table upon the rollers 3 . the rollers 3 are typically ceramic rollers inside the tempering furnace 1 and metal rollers coated with kevlar outside the furnace . the glass sheets 4 are transferred as one load into a heating chamber confined by the housing 2 . the glass sheets 4 are typically heated from above with upper resistors 5 and from below with lower resistors 6 in a manner fully known per se . a different manner of heating , such as forced convection or a combination of different heating means , is also feasible . in the furnace , the temperature of the glass is raised to 610 to 625 ° c . depending on the thickness of the glass . in the tempering furnace 1 , the glass sheets 4 undergo a back - and - forth movement , i . e . are oscillated , in a manner fully known per se , for arranging the roller support points evenly upon the entire glass through the entire heating stage . this is a way to minimize deformations in the glass optics caused by uneven support of the glass . cooling pipes 7 are arranged in every second roller gap between the rollers 3 transversely relative to the travel direction of the glass sheet 4 . air at room temperature is typically blown through said cooling pipes 7 . the pipe serves as a shadow for heat radiation originating from below the glass and also as means for conducting heat out . heat is transferred to the pipe by convection from the furnace air surrounding it and by direct radiation from near - by surfaces , such as the ceramic rollers 3 and the lower resistors 6 of the furnace . the heat is conveyed through the pipe from the outer surface of the pipe to its inner surface from which it is conveyed by convection into air with which it is removed . in the invention , the temperature of the outer surface of the cooling pipe 7 is kept , if needed , significantly below the temperature of the tempering furnace 1 by means of air flowing through the cooling pipe 7 . the magnitude of the thermal current transferred to the cooling pipe 7 is easily adjustable by adjusting the speed of the air in the cooling pipe 7 . the need for cooling changes relative to time , since with the difference in temperature between the glass sheet 4 and the roller 3 becoming smaller , the smaller is the amount of heat to be removed from the tempering furnace 1 . this is why the speed of the air is reduced during the entire heating period . the effect of a single cooling pipe 7 can be improved by enlarging the diameter of the pipe or by ribbing it . heating pipes 8 are arranged in different roller gaps as compared with the cooling pipes 7 , also preferably in every second roller gap . they are provided with machined holes , whereby hot air jets , typically at 650 to 720 ° c ., can be blown from said heating pipe 8 at the lower surface of the glass sheet 4 from between the rollers 3 . the diameter of the holes in the heating pipe 8 is typically 1 to 2 mm , but may vary even more from case to case . the heating pipes 8 are used for heating at the final stage of the heating period when the heating of the glass sheet 4 is typically quite slow , and , in the case of full loads , the ceramic rollers 3 may even start to cool excessively . in these cases , said additional heating at the final stage of the heating period increases the power of the tempering furnace 1 . it is obvious that cooling by the cooling pipes 7 and heating by the heating pipes 8 are not employed simultaneously , the system being forced controlled in order to eliminate concomitant operation . fig1 shows further that the air supplied to the heating pipes 8 arranged between the rollers 3 is led to pass via pipes 8 a located below the lower resistors 6 . in this way the lower resistors 6 make the air warm up in said pipes 8 a . when using heat blowing , the lower resistors 6 are allowed to start to cool , but with said solutions the heat remaining in them may , however , still be utilized for heating the heating air . fig2 a and 2 b show a sectional side view of a detail of the tempering furnace 1 of fig1 . the numbering in fig2 a and 2 b corresponds to that of fig1 . in fig2 a , arrows b show the movement of the air jets blown from the heating pipes 8 . if desired , the hot air blown from the heating pipes 8 may also be aimed directly at the rollers 3 . the cooling pipes 7 , too , may be used for blowing air directly at the rollers 3 for cooling the rollers 3 and the part of the tempering furnace 1 below the glass sheet 4 . said current of cooling air is illustrated by arrows c in fig2 b . the solution according to fig2 a and 2 b allow cold air to be blown directly at the rollers 3 at the initial heating stage , whereby the rollers cool down , and hot air to be blown at the final heating stage , whereby the temperature of the rollers 3 may be raised . fig3 shows the tempering furnace of the invention from below and in section . the numbering in fig3 corresponds to that of fig1 and 2 . fig3 shows the heating pipes 8 arranged in every second roller gap , but for the sake of clarity does not show the cooling pipes 7 , also arranged in every second roller gap , but in different gaps than the heating pipes . hot air is fed to the heating pipes 8 via delivery pipes 9 . the heating pipes 8 and the delivery pipes 9 are arranged such that hot air is fed to the heating pipes 8 from both sides of the tempering furnace 1 so that air is fed to every second heating pipe 8 from above as seen in fig3 and to every second from below . this eliminates the impact of the heat inside the tempering furnace 1 on the temperature of the air passing inside the heating pipes 8 . far more important is , however , the temperature of the air passing inside the cooling pipes , and thus said cooling pipes have to be arranged in a corresponding manner , so that cooling air is fed alternately from different sides of the tempering furnace 1 . this is an easy way to even out potential unilateral cooling of the rollers 3 . the pressure source of the air blown by the heating pipes 8 may be a compressor 10 . after the compressor 10 , the air is heated in what is called a heating radiator 11 . in the heating radiator 11 the air to be blown is heated in advance to the temperature of the tempering furnace 1 , and in some cases even higher . the heating radiator 11 may be a chamber in which a combination of pipes and resistors is provided such that the air blown into the furnace is forced to circulate inside the pipes tens of meters in adjacent spirals . in the immediate vicinity of the pipes , preferably in contact with the pipe , are arranged thermal resistors for warming the pipes and the air inside them to the desired temperature . the heating radiator 11 may also be implemented in some other manner fully known per se , and hence the heating radiator 11 is not described in any more detail here . it is essential that the air blown into the tempering furnace 1 can be heated to the desired temperature and that it does not essentially cool down before the tempering furnace 1 . in practice this is implemented by providing the heating radiator 11 and the pipes between the heating radiator 11 and the tempering furnace 1 with proper insulation . further , in connection with the pipes there is a regulator 12 for adjusting the air flow and thus the magnitude of the desired additional heating . the pipes further comprise a valve 13 which may be a magnetic valve . by means of said valve 13 the air flow can be entirely blocked , if desired . similar pipes and devices as shown in fig3 in connection with the heating pipes 8 are arranged in connection with the cooling pipes , except of course for the heating radiator 11 . during a heating period , air at room temperature is blown through the cooling pipes 7 arranged between the rollers 3 . the air warms up when being conveyed across the tempering furnace 1 and carries heat away from the tempering furnace 1 and particularly from the rollers 3 . the heating of the lower side is entirely or partially switched off . next the glass load at room temperature is transferred to the tempering furnace 1 where it is oscillated in a reciprocating manner and heated from above and from below . the cooling of the lower side is decreased continuously by lowering the speed of the air passing through the cooling pipes 7 . at the same time the heating effect of the lower resistors 6 of the tempering furnace 1 is usually increased . next , approximately in the middle of the heating period , heating is entirely ceased and direct heating of the lower surface of the glass sheet 4 is initiated by forced convection . direct heating of the lower surface of the glass sheet 4 is increased gradually towards the end of the heating period and simultaneously the heating effect of the lower resistors 6 is increased . finally the glass is transferred to the cooling unit and the direct heat blowing of the lower side is switched off and the cooling pipes are switched on . for the sake of clarity , the attached figures do not show the support structures of the pipes and rollers or the control and rotation means of the rollers , these being known per se to those skilled in the art . further , for the sake of clarity , the rollers 3 , for example , are shown fewer in number and greater in size in relation to their natural actual size . the drawing and the related description are only intended to illustrate the idea of the invention . as to its details , the invention may vary within the scope of the claims . this means that the cooling pipes and the heating pipes may also be arranged in the same roller gap , and in this case the heating pipe may be arranged above the cooling pipe and fixed to the cooling pipe , for example . in this case the cooling pipes and the heating pipes may be located both in each roller gap .	2
before beginning a detailed description of the subject invention , mention of the following is in order . when appropriate , like reference numerals and characters may be used to designate identical , corresponding or similar components in differing figure drawings . further , in the detailed description to follow , exemplary sizes / models / values / ranges may be given , although the present invention is not limited to the same . as a final note , well - known components of computer networks may not be shown within the figs . for simplicity of illustration and discussion , and so as not to obscure the invention . fig1 is an example systems overview of an example embodiment of the present invention . in this system diagram two rotary pick and place devices 20 are shown connected to a computer system 10 . however , as would be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art , any number of rotary pick and place devices 20 may be connected to and controlled by computer system 10 . in addition , a single computer system 10 or processor may be dedicated to each rotary pick and place device 20 . further , computer system 10 may be an embedded processor in the rotary pick and place device 20 . the computer system 10 would execute the logic illustrated and further discussed in detail in reference to fig6 . fig2 is a top view of a rotary pick and place device 20 in an example embodiment of the present invention . the rotary pick and place device 20 may be supported by up to four supporting members which are affixed from either above or below to a solid surface . it should be noted that screw drive 230 is utilized to move the rotary pick and place device 20 in the y axis while movement arm 240 is utilized to move the rotary pick and place device 20 in the x - axis . it should also be noted that support members 250 connected to screw drive 230 may not be required and the entire structure shown in fig2 may be supported by the supporting members 250 connected to the movement arm 240 . fig3 is a side view of a rotary pick and place device 20 in an example embodiment of the present invention . in order to simplify fig3 to more clearly illustrate the invention , movement arm 240 is shown without supporting members 250 and screw drive 230 which are depicted in fig2 . as shown in fig3 , rotary wheel 300 is connected to movement arm 240 via cross member 330 . contained within the outer circumference of rotary wheel 300 are a plurality of pick heads 310 . these pick heads 310 are used to pickup work pieces 320 and may comprise any type of grasping tool including a suction device , electromagnetic device , grasping device , etc . the specific type of pick heads 310 used would be directly dependent upon the nature of the work piece 320 . for example , it may be preferable in the case where the work pieces 320 are silicon chips for the pick head 310 to be a suction device . rotary wheel 300 may rotate clockwise or counterclockwise and when a pick head 310 is positioned over a work piece 320 in a nest 350 the pick head 310 would be extended to pickup the work piece 320 . the rotary wheel 300 would rotate and be positioned so that the next pick head 310 would be over the next work piece 320 . this operation would continue until all the work pieces 320 in a tray 400 and or nest 350 were picked up by the pick heads 310 on the rotary wheel 300 . once all the work pieces 320 have been picked up individually by pick heads 310 from nest 350 the work pieces 320 may be moved to another nest 350 or a tray 400 for packaging and shipping , as shown in fig4 , discussed ahead . the number of pick heads 310 would correspond to the largest nest 350 or tray 400 that the rotary pick and place device 20 could handle . therefore , if the nest 350 or tray 400 contained six rows and ten columns of work pieces 320 , then the rotary wheel 300 would have 60 pick heads 310 . still referring to fig3 , in an alternate embodiment of the present invention , a camera 360 may be provided for inspection of the work pieces located in nest 350 and may optionally be connected to computer system 10 , shown in fig1 , so that work pieces 320 may be selected for pickup by pick heads 310 dependent upon imperfections detected by camera 360 . it should further be noted that nest 350 may be traveling along a conveyor belt while being picked up by the rotary pick and place device 20 . fig4 is a side view of a rotary pick and place device 20 in an example embodiment of the present invention . fig4 is similar to fig3 with the exception that camera 360 is absent and trays 400 are provided so that work pieces 320 may be placed into the trays 400 by the pick and place device 20 using pick heads 310 . it should be noted that a portion or an entire tray may be filled utilizing the pick and place device 20 shown in fig4 . all remaining elements of fig4 are identical to that in fig3 and will not be discussed further here . fig5 is a top view of a rotary pick and place device 20 in an example embodiment of the present invention . a single rotary pick and place device 20 is shown in two locations in the figure starting next to the wash and dry area 500 and then being moved by the rotary pick and place device 20 to and from the nest 350 and trays 400 . therefore , the rotary pick and place device 20 has a capability of moving both in the y axis , via the screw drive 230 , and the x - axis , via the movement arm 240 . again both the screw drive 230 and movement arm 240 are supported by support members 250 . this figure is provided to show that the rotary reap pick and place device 20 may move work pieces from a nest to a workstation , such as wash and dry area 500 , and back to a tray 400 for further processing or packaging . before proceeding into a detailed discussion of the logic used by the embodiments of the present invention it should be mentioned that the flowchart shown in fig6 may contain software , firmware , hardware , processes or operations that correspond , for example , to code , sections of code , instructions , commands , objects , hardware or the like , of a computer program that is embodied , for example , on a storage medium such as floppy disk , cd rom , ep rom , ram , hard disk , etc . further , the computer program can be written in any language such as , but not limited to , for example c ++. fig6 is an example of the control logic utilized in an example embodiment of the present invention . the control logic shown in this figure would execute in computer system 10 , shown in fig1 . processing begins in operation 600 and immediately proceeds to operation 610 . in operation 610 , the type and size of the nest 350 or tray 400 is determined . this is required in order to position the pick heads 310 over the work pieces 320 . thereafter , processing proceeds to operation 620 where the initial load position of the nest 350 or tray 400 is determined . in operation 630 , the rotary wheel 300 is positioned over a specified row and column . processing then proceeds to operation 640 where a pick head 310 is extended down to the work piece 320 and picks it up . thereafter , in operation 650 the rotary wheel 300 is rotated clockwise or counterclockwise and simultaneously moved in the x - axis or y - axis direction so that the pick head 310 is located over the next work piece 320 in the row or column of the nest 350 or tray 400 . in operation 660 it is determined if all work pieces 320 in a given row or column have been picked up or all work pieces 320 in a tray have been picked up . if all the work pieces 320 in the tray 400 have not been picked up then processing loops back to operation 630 . still referring to fig6 , if all work pieces 320 in a tray 400 or nest 350 have been picked up , then processing proceeds to operation 670 . in operation 670 , the rotary pick and place device 20 is positioned over a nest 350 or tray 400 that is to receive work pieces 320 . as noted in fig2 and 5 , the rotary reap pick and place device would be positioned utilizing screw drive 230 and movement arm 240 . processing then proceeds to operation 680 where the rotary pick and place device 20 is positioned over a specific row or column of the receiving nest 350 or tray 400 . in operation 690 , a pick head 310 is extended down and releases a work piece 320 into the nest 350 or tray 400 . in operation 700 , the rotary wheel 300 is rotated and positioned over the next location in the row and column of the nest 350 or tray 400 . further , the work piece 320 is placed down into the nest 350 or tray 400 . in operation 710 it is determined whether all the work pieces 320 have been deposited for a given row or colunm and nest 350 or tray 400 . if all work pieces 320 have not been deposited in nest 350 or tray 400 from rotary wheel 300 then processing loops back to operation 670 . otherwise processing proceeds to operation 720 , where processing terminates . still referring to fig6 , it should be noted that operations 610 through 660 are utilized to pick up work pieces 320 from , for example , a tray 400 coming down a conveyor belt with the intent of delivering these to a workstation for further processing . operation 670 through 710 are intended , but not limited to , retrieving the work pieces 320 from the nest 350 or tray 400 after processing has been completed and returning them to the tray 400 for further processing in the assembly line for packaging . one benefit resulting from the present invention is that a high speed device and method of moving work pieces from one container to another is provided , thereby reducing the amount of time it takes to mass produce work pieces and reducing the cost of manufacturing . while we have shown and described only a few examples herein , it is understood that numerous changes and modifications as known to those skilled in the art could be made to the example embodiment of the present invention . therefore , we do not wish to be limited to the details shown and described herein , but intend to cover all such changes and modifications as are encompassed by the scope of the appended claims .	1
hereinafter , in accordance with the attached drawings , an embodiment disclosed by way of example will be explained in detail . first of all , it will be explained with respect to the structure of the overall apparatus and operation in this embodiment . fig1 is a diagram showing a system constitution and an outward - appearance constitution of a wavelength sweep type optical coherence tomographic ( oct ) image forming apparatus ( hereinafter , referred to as imaging apparatus for diagnosis ) equipped with the constitution of the embodiment . as shown in fig1 , the imaging apparatus for diagnosis 100 is provided with an optical probe unit 101 , a scanner & amp ; pull - back unit 102 and an operation control apparatus 103 . also , since a flush liquid described later is made to flow to a blood vessel region targeted for diagnosis , a guiding catheter 115 housing the optical probe unit 101 is used . an insertion hole , into which the optical probe unit 101 is inserted as shown by the arrow in fig1 , is provided at a rear end 115 a of this guiding catheter 115 and an opening portion for exposing the optical probe unit 101 to the outside is provided at a distal end 115 b . then , this guiding catheter 115 is provided with a port 116 for connecting a medicine introducing portion 118 which accommodates the flush liquid described later . by operating this medicine introducing portion 118 , the flush liquid accommodated in the inside is discharged through the distal end portion 11 b . the scanner & amp ; pull - back unit 102 and the operation control apparatus 103 are connected by the signal line & amp ; optical fiber 104 . the guiding catheter 115 housing the optical probe unit 101 is directly inserted into a body lumen such as a blood vessel and the like , and the state inside the body lumen is measured by using an imaging core provided at a distal end of the optical probe unit 101 . this optical probe unit 101 is constituted by an optical fiber 236 which passes through the inside thereof and a catheter sheath 403 which covers the outside thereof , and at least the vicinity of the distal end portion thereof is constituted by a transparent member ( details thereof will be described later ). for the above - mentioned flush liquid , a physiological saline and a contrast agent ( and a mixture liquid thereof ) are used , and it is stored in the medicine introducing portion 118 . the medicine introducing portion 118 is composed , for example , of a syringe , accommodates the flush liquid , and makes the flush liquid flow from a catheter distal end into a blood vessel by pressing a plunger thereof . by replacing the blood with the flush liquid after pushing and flowing away the blood , it become possible to make the scanning in a state in which the effect of the hematocyte component is less exerted . such an operation mentioned above is generally referred to as a flush operation , but the detail description thereof will be omitted here . the scanner & amp ; pull - back unit 102 regulates a radial operation of an imaging core inside the optical probe unit 101 by rotational motion performed by a built - in motor . also , this scanner & amp ; pull - back unit 102 performs an operation ( pull - back process ) for pulling back the optical fiber 236 , which is rotating inside the optical probe unit 101 , at a constant speed by driving another built - in motor . by this pull - back process , it is possible to obtain a continuous blood vessel tomographic image which is along the axis of a blood vessel . also , this scanner & amp ; pull - back unit 102 is provided with an operation portion 102 a which is arranged with various kinds of instruction switches for instructing the setting of the rotation speed , start / stop of the rotation and pullback of the optical fiber 236 inside the optical probe unit 101 . on an occasion when carrying out optical coherence tomographic image formation of biological tissue , the operation control apparatus 103 is provided with a function for inputting various kinds of setting values , a function for outputting measurement light , and a function for processing data obtained by measurement and displaying them as tomographic image . in the operation control apparatus 103 , a reference numeral 111 indicates a main body control unit , which processes data obtained by measurement and outputs a processed result . a reference numeral 111 - 1 indicates a printer & amp ; dvd recorder and it happens that the processed result in the main body control unit 111 is printed and is stored as data . a reference numeral 112 indicates an operation panel and a user carries out inputs of various kinds of setting values and instruction through the operation panel 112 . a reference numeral 113 indicates an lcd monitor as a display apparatus and it displays a processed result in the main body control unit 111 . fig2 is a functional constitution diagram of the imaging apparatus for diagnosis 100 shown in fig1 . in the drawing , a reference numeral 208 indicates a wavelength swept light source and a swept laser is used . the wavelength swept light source 208 is one kind of an extended - cavity laser which is composed of a light source portion 208 a having an optical fiber 217 connected with an soa216 ( semiconductor optical amplifier ) in a ring shape and a polygon scanning filter 208 b . the light outputted from the soa216 proceeds through the optical fiber 217 and enters the polygon scanning filter 208 b and the light whose wavelength is selected here is amplified by the soa216 and finally , is outputted from a coupler 214 . in the polygon scanning filter 208 b , the wavelength is selected depending on the combination of a diffraction grating 212 for light - splitting the light and a polygon mirror 209 . the light which is light - split by the diffraction grating 212 is focused on the surface of the polygon mirror 209 depending on two lenses 210 , 211 . thus , only the light of the wavelength perpendicular to the polygon mirror 209 returns to the same optical path and is outputted from the polygon scanning filter 208 b , so that it is possible to carry out the time sweep of the wavelength by rotating the polygon mirror 209 . for the polygon mirror 209 , for example , a 72 - facets mirror is used and the rotation speed thereof is around 50000 rpm . owing to the unique wavelength sweep system in which the polygon mirror 209 and the diffraction grating 212 are combined , it is possible to employ the wavelength sweep of high speed and high power . the light outputted from the coupler 214 of the wavelength swept light source 208 is made to enter one end of a first single mode fiber 230 . the first single mode fiber 230 is guided to an optical coupler 226 which is optically coupled with a second single mode fiber 231 and here , the light is transmitted by being branched into two paths . on the distal end side ahead of the photo coupler unit 226 of the first single mode fiber 230 , there is provided a scanner & amp ; pull - back unit 102 . inside the scanner & amp ; pull - back unit 102 , there is provided an optical rotary joint ( optical coupling unit ) 203 which connects between a non - rotary portion ( fixed portion ) and a rotary portion ( rotationally drive portion ) and which transmits the light . further , a fourth single mode fiber 235 provided on the distal end side of the optical rotary joint 203 is connected in a freely detachable manner with a fifth single mode fiber 236 through an adapter 202 . thus , while repeating light transmission and reception , the light from the wavelength swept light source 208 is transmitted into an imaging core 201 which is rotationally driven . the light transmitted to the fifth single mode fiber 236 is illuminated from the distal end side of the imaging core 201 with respect to a biological tissue of a blood vessel while performing radial operation . then , a portion of the reflected light which is scattered on the surface of or in the inside of the biological tissue is taken - in by the imaging core 201 and returns to the first single mode fiber 230 side by way of the reverse optical path , and a portion thereof moves to the second single mode fiber 237 side by the photo coupler unit 226 which has functions as a light splitting unit and a light coupling unit at the same time . in the photo coupler unit 226 , the reflected light is mixed with a reference light described below and is light - received as an interference light by a photo detector ( in the embodiment disclosed by way of example , referred to as a photodiode , hereinafter as a pd ) 219 . the rotation unit side of the optical rotary joint 203 is rotationally driven by a radial scanning motor 205 of the rotary drive apparatus 204 . also , the rotary angle of the radial scanning motor 205 is detected by an encoder unit 206 . further , the scanner & amp ; pull - back unit 102 is provided with a linear drive apparatus 207 and defines the insertion - direction ( axial - direction ) movement of the optical probe unit 101 based on an instruction from a signal processing unit 223 . the axial - direction movement is realized by a mechanism in which a linear drive motor inside the linear drive apparatus 207 operates based on a control signal from the signal processing unit 223 . also , there is provided a variable mechanism 225 of the optical path length for fine - adjusting the optical path length of the reference light at a distal end on the distal end side from the photo coupler unit 226 of the second single mode fiber 231 . this variable mechanism 225 of this optical path length is provided with an optical path length adjuster for changing the optical path length which corresponds to the fluctuation of the length thereof such that the fluctuation of the length of the individual optical probe 201 can be absorbed in case of using the optical probe ( imaging core ) 201 by being exchanged . the second single mode fiber 231 and a collimator lens 234 are provided on a one - axis stage 232 which is freely movable in the optical axis direction thereof as shown by an arrow 233 and form the optical path length adjuster , more specifically , in case of exchanging the optical probe 201 , the one - axis stage 232 functions as an optical path length adjuster having such an amount of variable range of optical path length , which can absorb the fluctuation of the optical path length of the optical probe . further , the one - axis stage 232 is provided also with a function as an adjuster for adjusting an offset . for example , even in a case in which the distal end of the optical probe 201 is not closely attached to the surface of the biological tissue , minutely changing the optical path length by the one - axis stage makes it possible to set a state of interference from the surface position of the biological tissue . the light reflected through mirrors 227 , 229 and a lens 228 is inputted to a second single mode fiber 231 as the reference light . the reference light whose optical path length is fine - adjusted by the variable mechanism 225 of the optical path length is mixed with the reflected light from the first single mode fiber 230 side at the photo coupler unit 226 which is provided on the way of the second single mode fiber 231 , and becomes the interference light , and it is light - received by the pd 219 . the light which is light - received by the pd 219 is photoelectrically converted and becomes an electric signal , and it is inputted to an amplifier 220 and amplified , and thereafter , it is supplied to a demodulator 221 . in this demodulator 221 , a demodulation process for extracting only the signal component of the interference light is carried out and the output thereof is inputted to an a / d converter 222 . in the a / d converter 222 , the interference light signal is applied with sampling , for example , by 180 mhz for 2048 points and digital data ( interference data ) of one line are generated . note that the reason why the sampling frequency is set to be 180 mhz is on an assumption that about 90 % of the period of wavelength sweep ( 12 . 5 μsec ) is extracted as digital data of 2048 points in case of setting the repetition frequency of wavelength sweep to be 80 khz and it is not limited by this aspect in particular . the interference light data of one line unit , which are generated in the a / d converter 222 are inputted to the signal processing unit 223 . in this signal processing unit 223 , the interference light data are frequency - decomposed by fft ( fast fourier transform ) and data in the depth direction are generated , and by coordinate - converting these data , cross - sectional images at respective positions of the blood vessel are formed and outputted to an lcd monitor 113 by a predetermined frame rate . note that the signal processing unit 223 is connected with an optical path length adjuster control unit 218 . the signal processing unit 223 carries out control of the position of the one - axis stage 232 by means of the optical path length adjuster control unit 218 . also , the signal processing unit 223 is connected with a motor control circuit 224 and in synchronization with a video synchronization signal when forming a cross - sectional image , the cross - sectional image is stored in an internal memory . in addition , the video synchronization signal of this motor control circuit 224 is transmitted also to the rotary drive apparatus 204 and in the rotary drive apparatus 204 , a drive signal in synchronization with the video synchronization signal is outputted . further , it happens that the signal processing unit 223 executes sampling of the interference light by the above - mentioned pd 219 and a / d converter 222 . fig4 a is a diagram for explaining an aspect in which the imaging core 201 of the optical probe unit 101 is inserted into a body lumen ( into a blood vessel ) and a radial scan is carried out . a catheter sheath 403 installed with the imaging core 201 which is constituted by the optical fiber 236 including an optical mirror 401 and an optical lens 402 at the distal end thereof is inserted into , for example , a blood vessel lumen . the rotary drive apparatus 204 rotates the imaging core 201 in an arrow 405 direction in the inside of the catheter sheath 403 and the linear drive apparatus 207 moves it toward the arrow 406 direction ( pull - back process ). at that time , as shown in fig4 b , the measurement light from the wavelength swept light source 208 is illuminated to the blood vessel wall by the optical mirror 401 by way of the optical fiber 236 . the reflected light to which the illuminated light is reflected is returned to the apparatus from the optical mirror 401 by way of the optical fiber 236 . more specifically , the optical mirror 401 has a function as an optical deflection unit which deflects the axial direction light of the optical probe unit 101 from the optical fiber 236 toward or in the direction of the body lumen wall . for the optical deflection unit , also a prism or the like can be used . fig5 a and 5 b are schematic diagrams for explaining the operation of the optical probe unit 101 when imaging an intravascular tomographic image . fig5 a and 5b are respectively a perspective view and a cross - sectional view of the blood vessel in a state in which the optical probe unit 101 is inserted thereinto . in fig5 a , a reference numeral 501 indicates a blood vessel cross - section into which the optical probe unit 101 is inserted . as described above , the imaging core 201 of the optical probe unit 101 is attached with the optical lens 402 and the optical mirror 401 at the distal end thereof and rotates in the direction shown by a reference numeral 405 in fig5 b depending on the radial scanning motor 205 . depending on the optical lens 402 , transmission & amp ; reception of the measurement light are carried out at respective rotary angles . lines 1 , 2 , . . . , 512 show illumination directions of the measurement light at respective rotary angles . in this embodiment disclosed as an example , while the imaging core 201 including the optical mirror 401 and the optical lens 402 rotates as much as the angle of 360 degree at the position of a predetermined blood vessel cross - section 501 , the transmission of measurement light & amp ; the reception of reflected light intermittently are carried out 512 times . note that the number of times of the transmission & amp ; reception of the measurement light during a period of rotating 360 degrees is not limited by this aspect in particular and it is assumed that the number of times is settable arbitrarily . in this manner , the scan in which the transmission & amp ; reception of the signal is repeated while rotating the imaging core 201 is generally referred to as a “ radial scan ( rotation scan )”. also , the transmission of the measurement light & amp ; the reception of the reflected light by such an imaging core 201 is carried out while the imaging core 201 proceeds in the inside of the blood vessel toward the arrow 406 direction ( see fig4 a ). note that for the rotation speed of the imaging core 201 in the embodiment disclosed by way of example , there are provided two kinds of speeds of 1800 rpm and 9600 rpm . the 1800 rpm is a speed for mainly confirming whether or not the distal end portion of the imaging core 201 has been positioned at the aimed region and confirming whether or not the imaging core 201 is rotating correctly , and by this number of rotation , the pulling - back ( pull - back ) of the imaging core is not carried out toward the arrow 406 direction in fig4 a . hereinafter , this rotation process by 1800 rpm is referred to as a process of a radial scan mode . on the other hand , the 9600 rpm is a speed for obtaining a high - resolution blood vessel tomographic image and also , is a mode for obtaining an image in a predetermined range along the blood vessel axis . accordingly , in this mode , the process of pull - back toward the arrow 406 direction in fig4 a is carried out while rotating the imaging core 201 by 9600 rpm . the flush operation explained previously ( operation of injecting flush liquid ) is carried out in this case . hereinafter , this mode is referred to as a pull - back scan mode . the arrow 406 in fig4 a is the direction toward which the imaging core 201 is pulled back and it is opposite to the direction toward which the blood flows . when the flush operation is carried out , the medicine is outpoured toward the inside of the blood vessel from the distal end portion 115 b of the guiding catheter 115 by passing through the empty space between the guiding catheter 115 and the catheter sheath 403 , and at the portion thereof , the blood is drifted away and replaced by the medicine in which a flow without having an influence of the hematocyte component is produced . then , during the pull - back operation , the distal end portion of the imaging core 201 moves in the area replaced by the medicine toward the arrow 406 direction and it become possible to scan for a highly accurate image . during the pull - back , the guiding catheter 115 is arranged at a position so as not to cover the distal end portion of the imaging core 201 . fig3 shows a constitution of a signal processing unit 223 in the embodiment disclosed by way of example . this signal processing unit 223 carries out a generation process of the tomographic image based on an electric signal ( signal from a / d converter 222 ) obtained from the interference light in the radial scan mode and the pull - back scan mode which are mentioned above in accordance with an instruction by an operator depending on the operation panel 112 and the operation unit 102 a . this generation process will be explained next . the signal processing unit 223 stores data of the interference light for one line by the wavelength sweep from the a / d converter 222 sequentially into a line memory unit 301 . then , depending on an encoder signal of the motor , which is outputted from a motor control circuit 224 , signals are selected and grouped such that the number of lines per one rotation of the motor becomes 512 lines . more specifically , the interference light data per one line are outputted to the line data generation unit 302 by every 512 data per one rotation of the motor . the line data generation unit 302 generates the line data by carrying out an fft ( fast fourier transform ) process and concurrently , a line addition - averaging process , a filtering process , a logarithmic conversion and the like are carried out , and the obtained line data are outputted to a post - processing unit 303 at a subsequent stage . the line data is defined as data array which makes a line from center of the cross - sectional image to edge of the cross - sectional image . the line date is produced from coherence light intensity of the emission direction of the transmitting . in the post - processing unit 303 , a contrast adjustment , a brightness adjustment , a gamma correction , a frame correlation , a sharpness process and the like are applied for the line data received from the line data generation unit 302 , and the processed result thereof is outputted to an image construction unit 304 . the image construction unit 304 converts the line data train of polar - coordinate to a video signal and displays it on the lcd monitor 113 as blood vessel cross - sectional images . note that as one example , there is shown , here , an example of constructing an image by 512 lines , but it is not to be limited by this number of lines . it happens that a control unit 305 controls a series of operations of the respective units mentioned above , but the contents of calculation until the blood vessel tomographic image is obtained and portions relating to the display process thereof do not directly concern the embodiment , so that further detailed explanations will be omitted . next , it will be explained with respect to user interface for an operator in the embodiment disclosed by way of example . first , before moving to an explanation of the user interface , set forth will be an explanation of premise or peripherally related portions . as explained previously , for the scan mode in this example of an embodiment , there are the radial scan mode ( process for making the optical mirror 401 rotate by 1800 rpm ) and the pull - back scan mode ( pull - back process of the optical fiber 236 in which the optical mirror 401 is rotated by 9600 rpm and the optical mirror 401 is made to move by a constant speed toward the arrow 406 direction in fig4 ). problems are not caused by rotation at 1800 rpm , but when the optical fiber 236 ( optical mirror 401 ) is rotated in the catheter sheath by a high speed such as 9600 rpm , frictional heat is generated there and it happens that the temperature of the catheter sheath will heighten or increase . therefore , it is not desirable for the biological tissue on the outside of the catheter sheath to continue the rotation ( high speed rotation ) for a long period . in addition , there also occurs a possibility which leads to breakages of the optical fiber 236 and the optical mirror 401 . consequently , it was required to set the duration time of the rotation speed referred to as 9600 rpm to be within 42 seconds maximally and more specifically , to provide a limiter for the duration time of the high speed rotation of the pull - back scan mode . however , in a case in which it happens that the operator instructs the high speed rotation by 9600 rpm caused by an erroneous operation and it happens that the pull - back scan is instructed without being aware of a fact that the high speed rotation thereof continues nearly for 42 seconds , it happens that the duration time terminates on the way of the scan and the rotation stops , so that complete measurement data cannot be obtained . therefore , it is necessary to prevent such an erroneous operation as much as possible . note that the above - mentioned 42 seconds as the maximum duration time is merely presented as one example and it is a value which is suitably changeable . also , as explained previously , the pull - back scan mode is a mode in which the tomographic image of a predetermined distance of the blood vessel is scanned while carrying out the pull - back of the optical fiber , so that it is necessary to provide time for achieving the movement over the predetermined distance until the scan is completed . therefore , the timing for starting the pull - back process has to be set within a time period which is obtained by subtracting as much as an amount of time necessary for the pull - back process thereof from the maximum duration time ( 42 seconds ) by 9600 rpm . although depending on the length of the scan , in this embodiment disclosed by way of example , it is assumed that the rotation is to be stopped if the start instruction of the pull - back process is not carried out within 30 seconds after the rotation speed becomes 9600 rpm . in light of the foregoing , according to fig6 showing one example of the operation unit 102 a in the scanner & amp ; pull - back unit 102 and fig7 showing a process procedure , there will be explained processes ( process contents of the signal processing unit 223 ) relating to the user interface in an embodiment . as shown in fig6 , in the operation unit 102 a provided at the scanner & amp ; pull - back unit 102 , there are provided a switch 610 for stopping the rotation of the optical fiber 236 , a switch 620 for instructing a shifting to the radial scan mode ( 1800 rpm ), a switch 630 for instructing an entering to the pull - back scan mode and a shifting to a state in which the pull - back is possible ( 9600 rpm ), and a switch 640 for carrying out a start instruction of the pull - back . the switches ( inclusive of buttons which are also acceptable ) are examples of operating devices for initiating the respective noted operations . also , those switches are installed with leds 611 , 621 , 631 , 641 as lighting display devices for notifying the states of the switches respectively . the relationships between driving states of the leds and functional states of the switches are as follows . led turned off : indicating a state in which the function of the switch thereof is not expressed led turned on : indicating a state in which the function of the switch thereof is expressed led blinking : indicating a transitional state until the function of the switch thereof is expressed since it is enough if only the state can be distinguished , it is possible to employ another driving method than the driving method for the leds , which was mentioned above . depending on the case , it is possible to prepare leds having a number of light - emitting colors and to change the light - emitting colors in response to the state . also , the operation unit 102 a is provided with a display unit 650 for countdown - displaying the remaining number of seconds during which the pull - back switch 640 can be pushed down when the rotation becomes 9600 rpm . hereinafter , there will be explained processes of the signal processing unit 223 in an embodiment disclosed by way of example in accordance with a flowchart in fig7 . first , the signal processing unit 223 carries out , in step s 1 , an initial process of each constituent element used for an optical coherence tomographic image formation process . within this process , there are included a turn - on process of the led 621 for notifying the fact that the radial scan switch 620 functions , and turn - off processes of the leds 611 , 631 , 641 for notifying the fact that other switches do not function . it becomes a situation in which the operator carries out , in this state , an operation for guiding the optical probe unit 101 to the inside of the blood vessel in the diagnosis region of a patient . the operator pushes down the radial scan switch 620 in order to confirm the position of the optical probe 201 , to fine - adjust the position and to confirm whether or not the optical mirror portion 401 rotates normally . when the signal processing unit 223 detects the push - down of this radial scan switch 620 (“ yes ” in step s 2 ), the driving of the radial scanning motor 205 is carried out for making the optical fiber 236 rotate by 1800 rpm . at that time , the led of the radial switch 620 is put into a blinking state . note that even if a switch other than the radial scan switch 620 within the switch group shown in fig6 is pushed down , that is ignored . the configuration in which the push - down of a switch lying in a turned - off state is ignored will be similar also in the explanation hereinafter . then , in step s 3 , when it is judged that the speed has reached 1800 rpm , there is carried out a process for obtaining the tomographic image at the rotation speed thereof and there is carried out a process for displaying the image thereof on the lcd monitor 113 ( step s 4 ). as a result thereof , it is possible for the operator to confirm and fine - adjust the position of the optical mirror portion 401 and confirm whether or not the optical mirror portion 401 rotates normally . in this situation , in order to obtain a more accurate image , it sometimes happens that the operator carries out a flush operation using a small amount of medicine ( operation of making the medicine at the medicine introducing portion 120 flow out from the distal end portion 115 b of the guiding catheter 115 ). also , in the course of carrying out the process of this step s 4 , the leds 611 , 631 are turned on , thus providing notification that the push - downs of the stop switch 610 and the pull - back ready switch 630 are to be regarded as effective , and the system then waits for the detection of the push - down of any one of the switches ( steps s 5 , s 6 ). here , when the push - down of the stop switch 610 is detected , the signal processing unit 223 stops the rotation of the optical fiber 236 in step s 7 and the process is returned to step s 1 . on the other hand , when the push - down of the pull - back ready switch 630 is detected , the signal processing unit 223 carries out the driving of the radial scanning motor 205 in order to rotate the optical fiber 236 by 9600 rpm and concurrently , blinks the led 631 ( step s 6 ). then , in step s 8 , the system waits until the rotation speed reaches 9600 rpm . when the speed reaches 9600 rpm , it becomes a state in which the pullback is possible , there is started the countdown of the residual time ( 30 seconds in the embodiment ) until it is no longer possible to carry out the pullback , and there is started displaying of the residual time thereof on the display unit 650 ( step s 9 ). during this countdown , the switches which the operator can operate are the stop switch 610 and the pull - back switch 640 , so that the respective leds 611 , 641 are turned on and the leds 621 , 631 of the other switches are turned off . the signal processing unit 223 judges whether or not the remaining number of seconds by the countdown is zero second in step s 10 and whether or not any one of the stop switch 610 and the pull - back switch 640 has been pushed down in steps s 11 , s 12 , and looping takes place in s 10 to s 12 until any one is judged . note that if the speed is allowed to return to 1800 rpm , it is allowed during this looping to turn on the led 621 , to carry out a process of judging whether or not the radial scan switch 620 has been pushed down and to return the process to step s 3 when the push - down thereof is detected . now , in the looping mentioned above , in a case in which the remaining number of seconds by the countdown has become zero second or the push - down of the stop switch 611 has been detected , the process proceeds to step s 7 , stops the rotation of the optical fiber 236 and returns to step s 1 . at that time , the led 641 is turned off . on the other hand , when the push - down of the pull - back switch 640 is detected ( at that time , operator is carrying out flush operation for introducing medicine into a blood vessel from medicine introducing portion 118 ), the process proceeds to step s 13 . here , the signal processing unit 223 starts driving of the linear drive apparatus 207 and carries out the process of pulling the optical fiber 236 ( rotating at 9600 rpm ) by a predetermined speed as much as a distance which is set beforehand . during that period , as explained previously , there is carried out the sampling of the electric signal of the interference light by the a / d converter 222 and there is carried out the process for obtaining the three - dimensional tomographic images of the blood vessel . during this pull - back process , the led 641 of the pull - back switch 640 is blinking and the leds of the other switches are turned off . in this manner , when the pull - back of the optical fiber 236 for the necessary distance is finished , the process proceeds to step s 14 , the process of the pull - back is terminated and the rotation of the optical fiber 236 is stopped . at that time , all of the leds are turned off . thereafter , the process proceeds to step s 15 and information such as the obtained interference light data and the like is stored in a memory unit of a hard disk or the like which is not shown , and this process is finished . as explained above , according to this embodiment , it is not possible to shift to such a high - speed rotation as 9600 rpm without undergoing such a low - speed rotation as 1800 rpm for carrying out the confirmation operation , so that in a non - rotation state , even if the pull - back ready switch is pushed down by an erroneous operation , it is possible to treat the operation thereof as invalid and it become possible to improve safety and operability . also , there can be obtained a situation in which whether or not each switch is effective can be confirmed by the driving state of the led provided at each switch and it becomes more possible to prevent erroneous operations . note that to provide the stage of such a low - speed rotation as 1800 rpm is useful for carrying out various kinds of the confirmation operations for which high - speed rotation is not required , and it becomes effective in case of avoiding heat generation and breakdown . note that in the embodiment , an example was explained in which each switch is arranged at the scanner & amp ; pull - back unit 102 . instead of or in addition to this aspect , it is also allowed for a similar switch to be provided at the operation panel 112 or to be displayed on the lcd monitor 113 . also , in the embodiment disclosed by way of example embodiment , examples of 1800 rpm and 9600 rpm were explained for the rotation speeds of the optical fiber 236 , but the present invention is not to be limited by these rotation numbers . it is needless to say that the length of time for counting down also varies depending on the apparatus constitution and / or the setting , so that the present invention is not to be limited by the embodiments mentioned above . the detailed description above describes features and aspects of an embodiment of an optical coherence tomographic image forming apparatus and associated control method disclosed by way of example . the invention is not limited , however , to the precise embodiment and variations described . various changes , modifications and equivalents could be effected by one skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims . it is expressly intended that all such changes , modifications and equivalents which fall within the scope of the claims are embraced by the claims .	0
the method of the present invention may be carried out by means of a conventional acoustic borehole logging system . a preferred embodiment of such an acoustic logging system consists of a single transmitter and a pair of receivers as illustrated in fig1 . the logging tool 10 is suspended by cable 12 for movement along the length of the borehole 14 . the logging tool includes an acoustic source or transmitter 16 for the production of repetitive time - spaced pulses of acoustic energy . a pair of spaced - apart receivers 18 and 20 , respond to frequencies between about 0 . 1 khz and 30 khz , to sense each of the generated acoustic pulses and converts them into representative electrical signals r1 and r2 for the near receiver 18 and far receiver 20 respectively . an exemplary signal output for one of such receivers is illustrated in fig2 . the waveform of fig2 is shown to comprise a wavetrain , including several separately identifiable events . the uphole components include a surface control panel 30 to which the cable 12 is directed over the sheave 31 . a motor 32 , which is controlled from the surface control panel 30 , operates the sheave 31 for raising and lowering the logging tool 10 in the borehole 14 . an output means , such as a digital recorder 33 , is electrically connected to the surface control panel for recording and / or displaying the date detected from the logging tool 10 . a first arriving event is the compressional wave which represents acoustic energy which has been refracted through the formation adjacent the wellbore as , for example , by way of path 21 . the compressional wave travels as a fluid pressure wave in the wellbore mud from the transmitter to the formation where it travels at the compressional wave velocity of the particular formation . the compressional wave then travels to the receiver through the wellbore mud as a fluid pressure wave . the second arriving event is the shear wave which is also refracted by way of path 21 through the formation adjacent the wellbore . unlike the compressional wave , the shear wave travels at shear velocity through the formations . the particles of the formation along the path of propagation are vibrated in a direction perpendicular to the direction of the propagation of the wave . the third arriving event is the tube wave which causes a radial bulging and contraction of the borehole and its travel is , therefore , associated with the borehole wall , that is , the boundary between the borehole fluids and the formation solids . for a more detailed description of such a borehole logging tool , including the configurations of the transmitter and receivers , reference may be made to the aforementioned u . s . pat . nos . 4 , 432 , 077 and 4 , 575 , 82 , the teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference . having described the borehole logging tool as shown in fig1 as well as in the aforementioned u . s . patents , the method of the present invention for using acoustic tube wave energy in the recorded signals r1 and r2 from the pair of spaced - apart receivers to identify permeability of a subsurface formation will now be described in conjunction with the flow chart of fig3 . initially at step 50 an impermeable zone of a subsurface formation is identified from a porosity log , such as a density log , by identifying a zero porosity rock using a conventional porosity tool . it is assumed that near zero porosity is approximately equal to zero permeability , while greater than zero porosity may or may not be zero permeability . identifying an impermeable zone is important for the calibration of energy curves . a density log is used as a reference value in the impermeable zone because it is widely used as a porosity tool and is available for most wells . formation density is determined at step 51 for zero permeability . a density log at zero porosity reads very close to the matrix density . the average density of the zero porosity interval is used as the density value for zero permeability . a tube wave energy ratio p &# 39 ; is determined for zero permeability at step 52 using a crossplot of density versus tube wave energy ratio such as shown in fig4 . values used in the crossplot in an impermeable interval are regressive coefficients where m is the intercept and b is the slople . for the crossplot of fig4 the value m is 0 . 23684 and the value b is 0 . 264474 . at step 53 a tube wave energy r2 &# 39 ; for the far receiver 20 in the impermeable zone is determined by multiplying the measured tube wave energy r1 for the near receiver 18 by the determined tube wave energy ratio : the value of r2 &# 39 ; is the predicted tube wave energy for the far receiver 20 in the impermeable zone with the acoustic energy signal r1 from the near receiver 18 as a reference and p &# 39 ; as a constant . at step 54 , the measured tube wave energy r2 is corrected by a correction factor derived from a defined relationship between such measured tube wave energy r2 and the predicted tube wave energy r2 &# 39 ; in the impermeable zone . this relationship may be based on either the difference or the ratio of the two energies . firstly , step 54 may be carried out using a correction factor based on a difference relationship of r2 and r2 &# 39 ; as will now be described . a correction factor er is generated for the impermeable zone by subtracting the predicted tube wave energy r2 from the measured tube wave energy r2 : an error factor er is determined as the average of the correction factor er . a calibrated tube wave energy r2c is determined for the receiver 20 by subtracting the error factor er from the tube wave energy r2 : secondly , step 54 may be carried out using a correction factor based on a ratio relationship of r2 and r2 &# 39 ; as will now be described . a correction factor er is generated for the impermeable zone by taking the ratio of the predicted tube wave energy r2 &# 39 ; to the measured tube wave energy r2 : an error factor er is determined as the average of the correction factor er . a calibrated tube wave energy r2c is determined for the far receiver 20 by multiplying the measured tube wave energy r2 by the error factor er : next , at step 55 , a calibrated tube wave energy ratio tr is determined from the ratio of the calibrated tube wave energy r2c for the far receiver 20 and the measured tube wave energy r1 for the near receiver 18 : using a chart like that shown in fig5 relating core permeability to tube wave energy ratio , step 56 transforms the calibrated energy ratio tr into formation permeability . for the data points shown in fig5 m is - 13 . 636364 and b is 11 . 590909 . in using tube wave energy in the flow chart of fig3 two kinds of energy curves may be employed . as shown in fig6 a full energy curve is from the first to the third zero crossing points ( i . e . points 1 and 3 respectively ) and a half energy curve is from the first to the second zero crossing points ( i . e . points 1 and 2 respectively ). energy of an event is the summation of the squared amplitude of each sample divided by the number of samples . full energy curves are preferred for use in practicing the method of the present invention , but half energy curves still yield satisfactory results . data quality can be checked by plotting the tube wave energy curves of both receivers on the same track . quality problems will be indicated by different appearances of the two curves . for example , if one curve is spiky and the other is smooth , the third zero crossing was not located . different trends when one curve increases while the other decreases is another indication of data quality problems . in both cases , the tube wave signals should be filtered to remove high frequencies that might interfere with the tube waves . in some cases , geographical location suggests a permeability / porosity correlation . if the energy ratio curve does not have a similar character to the porosity curve , there is possibly mud invasion or other formation damage . while the foregoing preferred embodiment of the method of the present invention has been described and illustrated , numerous modifications or alterations may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims .	6

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