text
stringlengths 1.55k
332k
| label
int64 0
8
|
|---|---|
referring now to fig1 one embodiment of a computer system 80 that includes a graphics system that may be used to implement one embodiment of the invention is shown . the graphics system may be comprised in any of various systems , including a computer system , network pc , internet appliance , a television , including high definition television ( hdtv ) systems and interactive television systems , personal digital assistants ( pdas ), virtual reality systems , and other devices which display 2d and or 3d graphics , among others . as shown , the computer system 80 comprises a system unit 82 and a video monitor or display device 84 coupled to the system unit 82 . the display device 84 may be any of various types of display monitors or devices including cathode ray tube ( crt ), liquid crystal display ( lcd ) or gas - plasma display . various input devices may be connected to the computer system , including a keyboard 86 and / or a mouse 88 , or other input device ( e . g ., a trackball , digitizer , tablet , six - degree of freedom input device , head tracker , eye tracker , data glove , or body sensors ). application software may be executed by the computer system 80 to display graphical objects on display device 84 . referring now to fig2 a simplified block diagram illustrating the computer system of fig1 is shown . elements of the computer system that are not necessary for an understanding of the present invention are not shown for convenience . as shown , the computer system 80 includes a central processing unit ( cpu ) 102 coupled to a high - speed memory bus or system bus 104 also referred to as the host bus 104 . a system memory 106 may also be coupled to high - speed bus 104 . host processor 102 may comprise one or more processors of varying types , e . g ., microprocessors , multi - processors and cpus . the system memory 106 may comprise any combination of different types of memory subsystems , including random access memories , ( e . g ., static random access memories or “ srams ,” synchronous dynamic random access memories or “ sdrams ,” and rambus dynamic random access memories or “ rdram ,” among others ) and mass storage devices . the system bus or host bus 104 may comprise one or more communication or host computer buses ( for communication between host processors , cpus , and memory subsystems ) as well as specialized subsystem buses . in fig2 a graphics system 112 is coupled to the high - speed memory bus 104 . the 3 - d graphics system 112 may be coupled to the bus 104 by , for example , a crossbar switch or other bus connectivity logic . it is assumed that various other peripheral devices , or other buses , may be connected to the high - speed memory bus 104 . it is noted that the graphics system may be coupled to one or more of the buses in computer system 80 and / or may be coupled to various types of buses . in addition , the graphics system may be coupled to a communication port and thereby directly receive graphics data from an external source , e . g ., the internet or a network . as shown in the figure , one or more display devices 84 may be connected to the graphics system 112 comprised in the computer system 80 . host cpu 102 may transfer information to and from the graphics system 112 according to a programmed input / output ( i / o ) protocol over host bus 104 . alternately , graphics system 112 may access the memory subsystem 106 according to a direct memory access ( dma ) protocol or through intelligent bus mastering . a graphics application program conforming to an application programming interface ( api ) such as opengl or java 3d may execute on host cpu 102 and generate commands and data that define a geometric primitive ( graphics data ) such as a polygon for output on display device 84 . as defined by the particular graphics interface used , these primitives may have separate color properties for the front and back surfaces . host processor 102 may transfer this graphics data to memory subsystem 106 . thereafter , the host processor 102 may operate to transfer the graphics data to the graphics system 112 over the host bus 104 . in another embodiment , the graphics system 112 may read in geometry data arrays over the host bus 104 using dma access cycles . in yet another embodiment , the graphics system 112 may be coupled to the system memory 106 through a direct port , such as the advanced graphics port ( agp ) promulgated by intel corporation . the graphics system may receive graphics data from any of various sources , including the host cpu 102 and / or the system memory 106 , other memory , or from an external source such as a network , e . g ., the internet , or from a broadcast medium , e . g ., television , or from other sources . note while graphics system 112 is depicted as part of computer system 80 , graphics system 112 may also be configured as a stand - alone device ( e . g ., with its own built - in display ). graphics system 112 may also be configured as a single chip device or as part of a system - on - a - chip or a multi - chip module . additionally , in some embodiments , certain elements of the illustrated graphics system 112 may be implemented in software . referring now to fig3 a functional block diagram illustrating one embodiment of graphics system 112 is shown . note that many other embodiments of graphics system 112 are possible and contemplated . graphics system 112 may comprise one or more media processors 14 , one or more hardware accelerators 18 , one or more texture buffers 20 , one or more frame buffers 22 , and one or more video output processors 24 . graphics system 112 may also comprise one or more output devices such as digital - to - analog converters ( dacs ) 26 , video encoders 28 , flat - panel - display drivers ( not shown ), and / or video projectors ( not shown ). media processor 14 and / or hardware accelerator 18 may be any suitable type of high performance processor ( e . g ., specialized graphics processors or calculation units , multimedia processors , digital signal processors ( dsps ), or general purpose processors ). in some embodiments , one or more of these components may be removed . for example , the video output processor may be excluded from an embodiment that does not provide video output signals to drive a display device . in other embodiments , all or part of the functionality implemented in either or both of the media processor or the graphics accelerator may be implemented in software . in some embodiments , media processor 14 and hardware accelerator 18 may be comprised within the same integrated circuit . in other embodiments , portions of media processor 14 and / or hardware accelerator 18 may be comprised within separate integrated circuits . as shown , graphics system 112 may include an interface to a host bus such as host bus 104 in fig2 to enable graphics system 112 to communicate with a host system such as computer system 80 . more particularly , host bus 104 may allow a host processor to send commands to the graphics system 112 . in one embodiment , host bus 104 may be a bi - directional bus . each functional block of graphics system 112 is described in more detail below . [ 0039 ] fig4 shows one embodiment of media processor 14 . as shown , media processor 14 operates as the interface between graphics system 112 and computer system 80 by controlling the transfer of data between graphics system 112 and computer system 80 . in some embodiments , media processor 14 may also be configured to perform transform , lighting , and / or other general - purpose processing on graphical data . transformation refers to manipulating an object and includes translating the object ( i . e ., moving the object to a different location ), scaling the object ( i . e ., stretching or shrinking ), and rotating the object ( e . g ., in three - dimensional space , or “ 3 - space ”). lighting refers to calculating the illumination of the objects within the displayed image to determine what color and or brightness each individual object will have . depending upon the shading algorithm being used ( e . g ., constant , gourand , or phong ), lighting may be evaluated at a number of different locations . for example , if constant shading is used ( i . e ., each pixel of a polygon has the same lighting ), then the lighting need only be calculated once per polygon . if gourand shading is used , then the lighting is calculated once per vertex . phong shading calculates the lighting on a per - pixel basis . as illustrated , media processor 14 may be configured to receive graphical data via host interface 11 . a graphics queue 148 may be included in media processor 14 to buffer a stream of data received via the accelerated port of host interface 11 . the received graphics data may comprise one or more graphics primitives . as used herein , the term graphics primitive may include polygons , parametric surfaces , splines , nurbs ( non - uniform rational b - splines ), sub - divisions surfaces , fractals , volume primitives , voxels ( i . e ., three - dimensional pixels ), and particle systems . in one embodiment , media processor 14 may also include a geometry data preprocessor 150 and one or more microprocessor units ( mpus ) 152 . mpus 152 may be configured to perform vertex transform and lighting calculations and programmable functions and to send results to hardware accelerator 18 . mpus 152 may also have read / write access to texels ( i . e . the smallest addressable unit of a texture map , which is used to “ wallpaper ” a three - dimensional object ) and pixels in the hardware accelerator 18 . geometry data preprocessor 150 may be configured to decompress geometry , to convert and format vertex data , to dispatch vertices and instructions to the mpus 152 , and to send vertex and attribute tags or register data to hardware accelerator 18 . as shown , media processor 14 may have other possible interfaces , including an interface to a memory . for example , as shown , media processor 14 may include direct rambus interface 156 to a direct rambus dram ( drdram ) 16 . a memory such as drdram 16 may be used for program and data storage for mpus 152 . drdram 16 may also be used to store display lists and / or vertex texture maps . media processor 14 may also include interfaces to other functional components of graphics system 112 . for example , media processor 14 may have an interface to another specialized processor such as hardware accelerator 18 . in the illustrated embodiment , controller 160 includes an accelerated port path that allows media processor 14 to control hardware accelerator 18 . media processor 14 may also include a direct interface , such as bus interface unit ( biu ) 154 , which provides a direct port path to memory 16 and to hardware accelerator 18 and video output processor 24 via controller 160 . referring now to fig5 one embodiment of the hardware accelerator 18 is shown . one or more hardware accelerators 18 may be configured to receive graphics instructions and data from media processor 14 and then to perform a number of functions on the received data according to the received instructions . for example , hardware accelerator 18 may be configured to perform rasterization , 2d or 3d texturing , pixel transfers , imaging , fragment processing , clipping , depth cueing , transparency processing , set - up , and / or screen space rendering of various graphics primitives occurring within the graphics data . clipping refers to the elimination of graphics primitives or portions of graphics primitives that lie outside of a 3d view volume in world space . the 3d view volume may represent that portion of world space that is visible to a virtual observer ( or virtual camera ) situated in world space . for example , the view volume may be a solid truncated pyramid generated by a 2d view window and a viewpoint located in world space . the solid truncated pyramid may be imagined as the union of all rays emanating from the viewpoint and passing through the view window . the viewpoint may represent the world space location of the virtual observer . in most cases , primitives or portions of primitives that lie outside the 3d view volume are not currently visible and may be eliminated from further processing . primitives or portions of primitives that lie inside the 3d view volume are candidates for projection onto the 2d view window . set - up refers to mapping primitives to a three - dimensional viewport . this involves translating and transforming the objects from their original “ world - coordinate ” system to the established viewport &# 39 ; s coordinates . this creates the correct perspective for three - dimensional objects displayed on the screen . screen - space rendering refers to the calculation performed to generate the data used to form each pixel that will be displayed . for example , hardware accelerator 18 may calculate “ samples .” samples are points have color information but no real area . samples allow hardware accelerator 18 to “ super - sample ,” or calculate more than one sample per pixel . super - sampling may result in a higher quality image . hardware accelerator 18 may also include several interfaces . for example , in the illustrated embodiment , hardware accelerator 18 has four interfaces . hardware accelerator 18 has an interface 160 ( referred to as the “ north interface ”) to communicate with media processor 14 . hardware accelerator 18 may also be configured to receive commands from media processor 14 through this interface . additionally , hardware accelerator 18 may include an interface 176 to bus 32 . bus 32 may connect hardware accelerator 18 to boot prom ( programmable read - only memory ) 30 and / or video output processor 24 . boot prom 30 may be configured to store system initialization data and / or control code for frame buffer 22 . hardware accelerator 18 may communicate with texture buffer 20 using an eight - way interleaved texel bus that allows hardware accelerator 18 to read from and write to texture buffer 20 . hardware accelerator 18 may also interface to a frame buffer 22 . for example , hardware accelerator 18 may be configured to read from and / or write to frame buffer 22 using a four - way interleaved pixel bus . the vertex processor 162 may be configured to use the vertex tags received from the media processor 14 to perform ordered assembly of the vertex data from the mpus 152 . vertices may be saved in and / or retrieved from a mesh buffer 164 . the render pipeline 166 may be configured to receive vertices and convert them to fragments . the render pipeline 166 may be configured to rasterize 2d window system primitives ( e . g ., dots , fonts , bresenham lines , polygons , rectangles , fast fills , and blits ( bit block transfers , which move a rectangular block of bits from main memory into display memory , which may speed the display of moving objects on screen )) and 3d primitives ( e . g ., smooth and large dots , smooth and wide dda ( digital differential analyzer ) lines , triangles , polygons , and fast clear ) into pixel fragments . the render pipeline 166 may be configured to handle full - screen size primitives , to calculate plane and edge slopes , and to interpolate data down to pixel tile resolution using interpolants or components such as r , g , b ( i . e ., red , green , and blue vertex color ); r 2 , g 2 , b 2 ( i . e ., red , green , and blue specular color from lit textures ); a ( alpha ); and z , s , t , r , and w ( texture components ). in embodiments using supersampling , the sample generator and evaluator 174 may be configured to generate samples from the fragments output by the render pipeline 166 and to determine which samples are inside the rasterization edge . sample positions may be defined in loadable tables to enable stochastic sampling patterns . hardware accelerator 18 may be configured to write textured fragments from 3d primitives to frame buffer 22 . the render pipeline 166 may send pixel tiles defining r , s , t and w to the texture address unit 168 . the texture address unit 168 may determine the set of neighboring texels that are addressed by the fragment ( s ), as well as the interpolation coefficients for the texture filter , and request texels from the texture buffer 20 ( as described in greater detail below ). the texture buffer 20 may be interleaved to obtain as many neighboring texels as possible in each clock . the texture filter 170 may perform bilinear , trilinear or quadlinear interpolation . the texture environment 180 may apply texels to samples produced by the sample generator and evaluator 174 . the texture environment 180 may also be used to perform geometric transformations on images ( e . g ., bilinear scale , rotate , flip ) as well as to perform other image filtering operations on texture buffer image data ( e . g ., bicubic scale and convolutions ). fragment processor 184 may be used to perform standard fragment processing operations such as the opengl fragment processing operations . for example , the fragment processor 184 may be configured to perform the following operations : fog , area pattern , scissor , alpha / color test , ownership test ( wid ), stencil test , depth test , alpha blends or logic ops ( rop ), plane masking , buffer selection , pick hit / occlusion detection , and / or auxiliary clipping in order to accelerate overlapping windows . texture buffer 20 may include several sdrams . texture buffer 20 may be configured to store texture maps , image processing buffers , and accumulation buffers for hardware accelerator 18 . texture buffer 20 may have many different capacities ( e . g ., depending on the type of sdram included in texture buffer 20 ). in some embodiments , each pair of sdrams may be independently row and column addressable . graphics system 112 may also include a frame buffer 22 . in one embodiment , frame buffer 22 may include multiple 3dram64s . frame buffer 22 may be configured as a display pixel buffer , an offscreen pixel buffer , and / or a supersample buffer . furthermore , in one embodiment , certain portions of frame buffer 22 may be used as a display pixel buffer , while other portions may be used as an offscreen pixel buffer and supersample buffer . in some embodiments , a video output processor 24 may buffer and process pixels output from frame buffer 22 . for example , video output processor 24 may be configured to read bursts of pixels from frame buffer 22 . video output processor 24 may also be configured to perform double buffer selection ( dbsel ) if the frame buffer 22 is double - buffered , overlay transparency , plane group extraction , gamma correction , pseudocolor or color lookup or bypass , and / or cursor generation . in one embodiment , frame buffer 22 may include multiple 3dram64 devices that include the transparency overlay function and all or some of the lookup tables . video output processor 24 may also be configured to support two video output streams to two displays using the two independent video raster timing generators . for example , one raster ( e . g ., 196 a ) may drive a 1280 × 1024 crt while the other ( e . g ., 196 b ) may drive a ntsc or pal device with encoded television video . in one embodiment , the video output processor 24 may directly output digital pixel data in lieu of analog video signals . this may be useful when a display device is based on a digital technology ( e . g ., an lcd - type display or a digital micro - mirror display ). in some embodiments , the video output processor 24 may be configured to output a stream of digital video data to a dac ( digital to analog converter ) 202 . the dac 202 may , in turn be configured to provide a high resolution rgb analog video output at dot rates of 240 mhz . this analog video output may be used to drive a display device such as a cathode ray tube ( crt ) monitor . in some embodiments , the video output processor 24 may also output a stream of digital video data to one or more encoders 200 . each encoder 200 may be configured to supply an encoded video signal to a display ( e . g ., encoded ntsc or pal video ). turning now to fig6 a simplified block diagram of one embodiment of a vertex processor is shown . in the illustrated embodiment , the bus interface 200 may be configured to receive information communicated on a bus representing a upa ( ultra port architecture ) architecture variant . the information transmitted on the bus may take the form of packets , where each packet may be introduced ( i . e ., message preamble ) with a tag . the tag may contain information concerning the nature of any data following the tag , such as how many data words are expected , or where the data words are to be stored . information received by the bus interface 200 may be buffered and distributed to the two queues . the width of the bus may be 64 binary bits , and may be logically subdivided into four 16 - bit halfwords , each halfword being further divisible into two bytes . in parallel with the bus data , two byte enable bits may be sent for each halfword ( i . e ., 8 byte enable bits ). the byte enable bits may be used to indicate which bytes contain valid data during data transfer cycles . in one embodiment , the data transmitted on the bus may be aligned on halfword ( even byte address ) boundaries , and may be sent in byte pairs ( i . e ., halfwords are sent ). in other embodiments , the transmitted data may be aligned on word boundaries ( i . e . byte address that is an exact multiple of 4 ). the tag queues 202 may be configured to receive and store the tags from the bus interface 200 . these tags may be justified , reordered , and then pushed onto fifo ( first - in - first - out ) storage structures until the tag unpack state machine 204 is ready to process them . ( the internal operation of the tag queues 202 is described in greater detail below .) the tags may contain information regarding any associated data transmitted after the tag , this information may identify the data as being one of three basic types ; register write data , vertex data , or attribute data . a register write tag received in the tag queues may indicate that the next two 16 - bit halfwords received are to be treated as register data . the two halfwords may therefore be received and pushed onto the tag queues . as the corresponding tag is unpacked and decoded by the tag unpack state machine 204 , the data ( 6 bytes of data , 2b register tag plus 4b register data ) may be removed from the tag queues 202 and transferred to the vertex processor registers 208 . the register receiving the data may be specified by a register address embedded in the tag . in this way , the media processor 14 may control and configure the vertex processor 162 . additionally , information transmitted in this manner may allow for the media processor 14 to order 2d and 3d primitives . vertex data tags ( halfword size , 2b ) received in the tag queues may indicate that a series of words , doublewords or quadwords is to follow which are descriptive of one vertex of a geometric primitive . there may also be information embedded within the tag which describes how the vertex data is to be processed ( i . e ., push the vertex onto one of the data queues 210 , push vertex onto the mesh buffer 216 , etc .). in some embodiments , a vertex data tag may introduce a variable - length stream of information associated with one vertex . in these cases , the stream may be subdivided into several different components , each component conveying unique information ( e . g ., x , y , z and w coordinates , front face rgb values , back face rgb values , specular values , texture coordinates , etc .). the data received in the stream may be temporarily stored in one of the data queues until the vertex accumulation buffers 212 are ready to process it . in one embodiment , the receipt of a pre - defined component may be used to terminate the stream . in this case , the terminating component may be selected by writing the component type to one of the vertex processor registers 208 . in one embodiment , tags received which correspond to attribute data may introduce a series of doublewords or quadwords targeted for the vertex processor registers 208 . the attribute data may be received and pushed onto the data queues 210 , where the data may be temporarily stored until transfer to the appropriate registers may be accomplished . each packet of the attribute data may contain a target register address and the data to be written into the register . in one embodiment , the attribute data may be terminated by a write to a reserved register address . since one tag may be associated with a multiplicity of attribute data , this method may be more efficient for writing to large blocks of vertex processor registers 208 than the register tag method described above . in some embodiments , the tag unpack state machine 204 may be configured to maintain status information of the individual queues within the tag queues 202 , track pushes and pops onto the queues , and the location of tags within the queue structure . in other embodiments , a subset of these functions may be performed within the tag queues 202 . the tag unpack state machine 204 may examine each tag as it is conveyed from the tag queues 202 , and extract sequencing information embedded within the tag . the sequencing information may be decoded , and any additional , associated tags may be popped off the tag queues 202 ( e . g ., in the case where an examined tag is determined to indicate a register data transfer , two additional halfwords may be popped off the tag queues and routed to the vertex processor registers 208 ). in one embodiment , the tag unpack state machine 204 may convey an encoded operation code to the data transfer state machine 206 in response to determining the nature of the tag , this operation code may contain information regarding the source and target locations of data to be transferred throughout the vertex processor 162 . in other embodiments , the tag may be popped off the tag queues 202 , and transferred directly to the data transfer state machine 206 by the tag unpack state machine 204 . in one embodiment , the data transfer state machine 206 may be configured to receive tags from the tag unpack state machine 202 . the data transfer state machine may decode the tags , determine the implied data transfers , and issue the appropriate control signals the functional blocks of the vertex processor 162 . through the control signals , the data transfer state machine 206 may initiate the transfer of vertex data ( e . g ., from the vertex accumulation buffers 212 to the mesh buffer 216 or to the time sort buffers 218 ), and affect updates to the vertex processor registers 208 . in some embodiments , there may be a large number of vertex processor registers 208 , ranging in size from a single bit to 32 bits in width . the contents of the vertex processor registers 208 may be altered directly through the use of register write tags , and alternately , attribute tags may be used for modifying large blocks of registers . the function of an individual register may vary , it may be a hardware control function ( e . g ., setting the high - water mark for the tag queues 202 and data queues 210 ), a transfer control function ( e . g ., specifying the number of vertices to be included in a packet ), or attribute data to be applied to one or more vertices ( e . g ., color and transparency values ). in some embodiments , the data queues 210 may be configured to receive and provide short - term storage for vertices and attribute data . the data queues 210 may be a small fifo memory structure , and in some embodiments , more than one data queue 210 may be available . in cases where there is more than one data queue 210 in the vertex processor 162 , and more than one mpu 152 in the media processor 14 , each data queue 210 may be associated with a single mpu 152 . in one embodiment , vertices may be built in the vertex accumulation buffers 212 from the constituent elements . this building process may involve combining data from the data queues 210 with attribute information stored in the vertex processor registers 208 . the width of the vertex accumulation buffers 212 may be configured to accommodate all the information associated with a vertex before lighting is applied . this information may include some or all of the following ; x , y and z coordinates , clipping information , texture coordinates , color values for both front and back faces , and transparency ( alpha ) values . in one embodiment , the next vertex buffer 214 may receive vertex information from either the vertex accumulation buffers 212 , or directly as a result of register write operations . an input multiplexer within the next vertex buffer 214 may choose between the two input sources , and may be controlled by signals received from the data transfer state machine 206 . vertex information stored temporarily in the next vertex buffer 214 may be routed to either the mesh buffer 216 or the time sort buffers 218 . in some embodiments , individual vertices used more than once may be temporarily stored in a mesh buffer 216 . if , for example , an area to be displayed is composed of triangles , then one vertex may be common to two or more adjacent triangles . in these cases , saving the common vertices in the mesh buffer 216 may mitigate redundant data transfers , with geometric primitives assembled from a combination of inbound vertices , and vertices stored in the mesh buffer 216 . in one embodiment , the concept of a geometric primitive first becomes realized in the time sort buffers 218 . the time sort buffers 218 may be configured to receive vertex information from the next vertex buffer 214 or the mesh buffer 216 . the source of the vertex information may be controlled by signals received from the data transfer state machine 206 . within the time sort buffers 218 , entire primitives may be built from the selected vertices and then output to the render pipeline 166 turning now to fig7 one embodiment of the tag queues 202 is illustrated . each of the four muxs 230 may be configured to receive a full bus width of information ( i . e ., 64 bits ), and to output a single halfword ( i . e ., 16 bits ). thus , any of the four fifos 232 may receive any one of the four halfwords received from the bus . the write controller 236 may receive byte enable information from the bus interface 200 indicative of the active bytes within the four halfwords , and may combine this information with historical status information of the four fifos 232 ( i . e ., the last fifo written to ). from the combination of these two pieces of information , the write controller 236 may generate the multiplexer control signals , write enables , and write controls appropriate for pushing the pending tag data onto the fifos 232 . as the tag data is pushed onto the queue , the write controller 236 may update the historical status information , indicating the last fifo 232 device written to as part of the most recent operation . additionally , the write controller 236 may check the fifos 232 for available space and stall the media processor 14 upon determination that a predetermined high - water mark has been reached . the write controller 236 may also signal the tag unpack state machine 202 that tag data is available in the tag queue 202 for processing . in the illustrated embodiment , the read controller 238 may receive control signals from the tag unpack state machine 202 requesting data . these control signals may include information regarding the amount of data requested . in response to a request for data , the read controller 238 may utilize historical status information ( i . e ., the last fifo read from ) to generate read controls which may then be conveyed to the fifos 232 . additionally , the read controller 238 may generate the appropriate control signals for the output muxs 234 . each of the output muxs 234 may be directed to output a halfword from a single fifo 232 , selecting the fifos 232 properly so that the original ordering of the halfwords is retained . in response to a request for data , one , two or three halfwords may be transferred to the tag unpack state machine 204 . in one embodiment , the write controller 236 and the read controller 238 may be coupled in order to synchronize the starting write and read positions . thus , the tag queues 202 may be configured to perform in a fashion similar to a circular buffer , where the width of the read and write data may be independently variable . hence by pushing only active halfwords onto the fifos 232 , the tag queues 202 may potentially offer the same level of functionality as a much larger fixed word width fifo ( i . e ., a 64 bit wide fifo ). turning now to fig8 a flow diagram representing one embodiment of a method for storing tag data in the tag queues 202 is illustrated . the illustrated method may be entered upon system power up or some other convenient board level reset , and begin by initializing the next write position to zero ( step 250 ). the next write position may be a two bit address indicating which of the four fifos 232 is to receive the next halfword . the next read position may then be likewise initialized to 0 ( step 252 ) and the flag indicating that there is data available in the queue may be de - asserted ( step 254 ). the process may then stall while waiting for any inbound tag data ( step 256 ). once inbound tag data is detected , the byte enables associated with the tag data and the next write position may be combined to generate the input multiplexer signals ( step 258 ). in some embodiments , the data is received by the tag queues 202 in byte pairs ( halfwords ), and may be aligned on halfword boundaries . in these cases therefore , it may be necessary to examine only four of the eight byte enable signals ( i . e ., the enables corresponding to the first byte of each quadword ). this , coupled with the fact that the next write position may be implemented with two bits yields a total of 2 6 or 64 possible conditions affecting the state of the input multiplexers . therefore , the generation of the input multiplexer control lines may be implemented in combinatorial logic , or a small , hard - wired look - up table ( lut ). next , the byte enables and the next write position may be combined and utilized to generate the fifo 232 write controls ( step 260 ). similar to the generation of the input multiplexer controls , the generation of the fifo write controls may also be implemented in combinatorial logic or a small lut , there being only 16 possible conditions to consider . once the data has been transferred to the fifos 232 , the next write position may be updated to reflect the most recent write operation ( step 262 ). this may be accomplished by summing the value of the next write position with the number of halfwords written , and truncating the result of the summation to two bits . next , a counter indicating the amount of available data in the tag queues 202 ( i . e ., the number of valid halfwords available ) may be incremented by the number of halfwords written ( step 264 ). the data count may then be tested for equality to zero ( step 266 ), and if it is determined that the data count is not equal to zero ( i . e ., valid halfwords available in the queue ), then the flag indicating available data may be asserted ( step 270 ). if , however , the data count is equal to zero , then the flag indicating available data may be de - asserted ( step 268 ). once the flag has been updated , the process may branch back to step 256 . referring now to fig9 a flow diagram representing one embodiment of a method for retrieving tag information from the tag queues 202 is illustrated . this method may be used in conjunction with the method illustrated in fig8 and described above , to manage the flow of tag data through the tag queues 202 . some features of this method for retrieving tag information ( i . e ., available data flag , data count , and next read position ) are also employed in the method for storing tag data as described above . hence , referring to the preceding description of a method for storing tag data will aid in understanding the following description . the process may initially be stalled in an idle state or idle loop while waiting for valid data to become available in the tag queues ( step 280 ). once the presence of valid tag data is indicated by the data ready flag , a single tag word may be removed from the tag queues 202 ( step 282 ). the next read position may be used in generating the correct output multiplexer control signals , affecting the justification and the output of the tag ( step 284 ). the first tag may be decoded , and information extracted or inferred from tag data which may indicate that the tag includes more than one halfword ( e . g . register write tag uses three halfwords ) ( step 286 ). in some embodiments , this information as well as the number of words contained in the packet may be available in one of the vertex processor registers 208 , or a separate queue . if it is determined that the tag includes more than one halfword ( step 288 ), then the additional halfwords comprising the tag may also be removed from the fifos 232 , and the appropriate output multiplexer control signals generated ( step 296 ). once the initial tag halfword , and any additional halfwords required to complete the tag are removed from the queue , the next read position may be incremented by the number of halfwords removed ( step 292 ). finally , the data count may be decremented by the number of halfwords removed from the queue ( step 294 ). the data count , as described earlier , may be incremented as data is stored in the fifos 232 , and decremented as data is removed , thus providing an indication not only of valid data present in the queue , but also of the amount of available storage space remaining in the queue . testing the data count against a predetermined high - water mark ( not shown in fig8 and 9 ) may then allow for stalling the media processor 14 and averting a potential overrun condition . although the embodiments above have been described in considerable detail , other versions are possible . numerous variations and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fully appreciated . it is intended that the following claims be interpreted to embrace all such variations and modifications . note the headings used herein are for organizational purposes only and are not meant to limit the description provided herein or the claims attached hereto . | 6 |
referring to the drawings in detail wherein like elements are indicated by like numerals , there is shown an embodiment of a notebook computer security hook lock assembly 1 constructed according to the principles of the present invention . the invention 1 provides lock body 40 containing a lock cylinder 20 with an attached protruding hook element 25 . the lock body 40 , itself , is housed within a cable lock housing 80 . an anchored locking cable 5 is removably attached to the cable lock housing 80 . in the examples shown , the computer 10 is a notebook computer . the computer 10 secured could be a smaller or a larger personal computer . the computer 10 has a generally rectangular configuration , with a front outer wall 11 , rear outer wall 12 , two outer side walls 13 , a top 14 , and a bottom 15 . one of the computer sides 13 ′ has an open , generally rectangular , security slot 16 formed therein . the security slot has two long edges 17 defining a security slot longitudinal axis , and two short edges 18 . in this embodiment , the security slot short edges 18 are parallel to the computer chassis top 14 and bottom 15 . the invention protruding hook element 25 is insertable into the open security slot 16 . manipulation of the lock cylinder 20 locks the lock cylinder 20 and lock body 40 to the computer 10 . the cable lock housing 80 encloses the lock body 40 . the locking cable 5 is joined to the cable lock housing 80 and is fastened to an appropriate secure object such as a table leg 3 . the lock cylinder 20 is a conventional key 2 operated lock with internal indents ( not shown ) to hold a key rotational turn at either a radial 0 degrees or a radial 90 degrees . the lock cylinder 20 has a rear portion 21 adapted to receive a key 2 , an opposite and parallel forward portion 22 and a cylindrical body 23 extending from said rear portion 21 and terminating in said forward portion 22 , said rear 21 and forward 22 portions defining a lock cylinder longitudinal axis . the lock cylinder body 23 has an elongated channel 37 formed therein , beginning at the lock cylinder rear portion 21 and extending forwardly a desired distance , said channel 37 having a longitudinal axis coincident with the lock cylinder longitudinal axis . the lock cylinder forward portion 22 has a central , threaded aperture 24 formed therein . a generally flat and generally rectangular locking plate 30 is fixedly attached to the lock cylinder forward portion 22 . the locking plate 30 has a flat plane parallel to a radial plane of the lock cylinder cylindrical body 23 . the locking plate 30 has a forward surface 31 , a rearward surface 32 , two parallel long side edges 33 , two parallel short side edges 34 , and a central aperture 35 corresponding to the lock cylinder forward portion aperture 24 . the locking plate rearward surface 32 is attached to the lock cylinder forward portion 22 . the locking plate short side edges 34 define a locking plate longitudinal axis which is parallel to the locking plate long side edges 33 and which is transverse to the longitudinal axis of the lock cylinder 20 . the locking plate long side edges 33 exceed a lock cylinder cylindrical body radial diameter . the lock cylinder 22 is adapted so that movement of the key 2 to and from 0 degrees through 90 degrees causes a direct corresponding turn of the locking plate 30 longitudinal axis about the locking plate central aperture 35 . the present invention is further comprised of a protruding hook element 25 attached to the lock cylinder forward portion 22 . the hook element 25 has a front end 26 and a rear end 27 terminating in a threaded element 28 extending rearwardly from the hook element rear end 27 . the hook element front end 26 is bent at an obtuse angle thereby forming an obtuse hook . the hook element threaded element 28 is adapted to threadingly engage the lock cylinder forward portion central threaded aperture 24 through the locking plate central aperture 35 . a compression spring 29 is fitted over the hook element 25 . as stated above the invention is comprised of a lock body 40 containing the lock cylinder 20 with protruding hook element 25 . the lock body 40 has an enclosed front end 41 from which a cylindrical side wall 42 extends to an open rear end 43 , said front end 41 and rear end 43 defining a lock body longitudinal axis , said front end 41 , side wall 42 and rear end 43 defining a hollow lock body interior 44 , said lock body 40 being generally cylindrical in shape . the lock body front end 41 has a generally rectangular aperture 46 formed centrally therein . the side wall 42 has an exterior surface 45 and an interior surface 60 . for purposes of manufacturing and installation of the lock cylinder within the lock body interior 44 , the lock body side wall 42 may be split into two longitudinal halves . the two side wall longitudinal halves may be joined and held in place by a combination of pins 52 and opposing apertures 53 as shown in fig6 and rings 55 ( described below ). the side wall exterior surface 45 is divided into four circumferential radial external bands , each external band radially encircling the exterior surface 45 . the first exterior band 47 beginning at the lock body front end 41 and extending longitudinally rearwardly a selected distance has threads 48 formed thereon . the fourth exterior band 51 beginning at the lock body rear end 43 and extending longitudinally forwardly a selected distance also has threads 48 formed thereon , and has a radial outer diameter equal to a first exterior band radial outer diameter . the second exterior band 49 beginning at the first exterior band 47 and extending longitudinally rearwardly a selected distance has a smooth surface formed thereon , and has a radial outer diameter greater than the first and fourth exterior band radial outer diameters . the third exterior band 50 beginning at the second exterior band 49 and extending longitudinally to the fourth exterior band 51 has a smooth surface formed thereon , and has a radial outer diameter less than the radial outer diameter of the second external band but greater than the first and fourth exterior band radial outer diameters . the lock body 40 is further comprised of two identical rings 55 , each ring having an outer surface 56 and a threaded inner surface 57 , said rings 55 adapted to threadingly engage the first and fourth exterior bands 47 , 51 . each ring 55 has a radial outer diameter equal to the radial outer diameter of the second exterior band 49 . the ring outer surfaces 56 are nominally smooth . however , for improved gripping purposes the outer surfaces 56 of one or both rings may be knurled or otherwise ridged or channeled for gripping purposes . the side wall interior surface 60 is divided into two longitudinal portions , a rearward interior surface portion 61 and a forward interior surface portion 62 . the rearward interior surface portion 61 is smooth and has a radial inner diameter slightly greater than the radial diameter of the lock cylinder cylindrical body 23 . the rearward interior surface 61 has a small circular aperture 69 formed therein , said aperture containing a pin 68 projecting inwardly toward a lock body central longitudinal axis . the pin 68 is adapted to engage the lock cylinder body elongated channel 37 , thereby holding the lock cylinder body 23 in position within the lock body interior 44 and preventing the lock cylinder body 23 from moving out of the lock housing 80 . the forward interior surface portion 62 contains two radial channels , a forward first radial channel 63 and a rearward second radial channel 64 , and also two longitudinal channels , a first longitudinal channel 65 and a second opposite longitudinal channel 66 . the radial channels 63 , 64 intersect the longitudinal channels 65 , 66 . the inner diameters of the forward interior surface portion channels 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 are equal to each other , but are greater than the radial inner diameter of the rearward interior surface portion 61 . the inner diameters of the forward interior surface portion channels 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 are slightly greater than the locking plate long side edges 33 . the inner diameter of the rearward interior surface portion 61 is less than the locking plate long side edges 33 . the diameter of the forward interior surface portion 67 between the radial channels 63 , 64 is equal to the diameter of the rearward interior surface portion 61 . the longitudinal channels 65 , 66 extend longitudinally from the lock body front end 41 rearwardly past the radial channels 63 , 64 to the interior surface rearward portion 61 . the lock cylinder 20 is positioned within the lock body interior 44 with the front end 25 of the hook element 25 protruding through the lock body front end aperture 46 . in the unlocked position , the lock cylinder locking plate 30 is positioned so that the locking plate short side edges 34 are placed within the lock body interior surface longitudinal channels 65 , 66 . the locking plate 30 is adapted to turn radially 90 degrees when the key 2 is turned to lock the lock cylinder 20 . the locking plate 30 is adapted then to slide into one of the forward interior surface portion radial channels 63 or 64 . the diameter of the forward interior surface portion 67 between the radial channels 63 , 64 and the diameter of the rearward interior surface portion 61 prevents the locking plate 30 from moving rearward . the compression spring 29 about the hook element 25 maintains a rearward pressure on the lock cylinder forward portion 22 and locking plate 30 . the lock body 40 containing the lock cylinder 20 is housed within a cable lock housing 80 . the lock housing 80 has an enclosed front end 81 from which a cylindrical side wall 83 extends to an open rear end 82 , said front end 81 and rear end 82 defining a lock housing longitudinal axis , said front end 81 , side wall 83 and rear end 82 defining a lock housing hollow interior 84 , said lock housing body 80 being generally cylindrical in shape . the lock housing front end 81 has a generally circular aperture 89 formed centrally therein . the side wall 83 has a smooth exterior surface 85 and a smooth interior surface 86 . the side wall exterior surface 85 has a rounded , radially protruding , elongated element 90 formed thereon extending longitudinally from the housing rear end 82 to an approximate housing longitudinal midpoint 87 . the protruding element 90 has a closed forward end 91 , an open rearward end 92 , a radially rounded top 93 and a bottom 94 formed from the housing side wall 83 , said forward end 91 and rearward end 92 defining a protruding element longitudinal axis , said protruding element longitudinal axis being parallel to the lock housing longitudinal axis . the forward end 91 , rearward end 92 , top 93 and bottom 94 define a protruding element interior 97 . the protruding element 90 is divided longitudinally into a forward section 95 and a rearward section 96 . the interior 97 portion of the protruding element forward section 95 is solid . however , an inwardly protruding sprin - loaded ball 88 is embedded in the forward section protruding element bottom 94 projecting inwardly toward a lock housing central longitudinal axis . the spring - loaded ball 88 is adapted to engage the lock body third exterior band 50 . the interior 97 portion of the protruding element rearward section 96 is hollow . the bottom 94 portion of the protruding element rearward section 96 is open . a radial channel 98 is formed within the protruding element rearward section interior 97 portion adjacent the protruding element forward section 95 interior 97 portion . the radial channel 98 has a diameter greater than the diameter of the open rearward end 92 and a bottom 94 opening greater than the bottom 94 opening of the open rear end 92 . the cable lock housing 80 and lock body 40 combination is used in conjunction with an anchored locking cable 5 . the locking cable 5 has two ends , an anchored end 6 and a holding end 7 . as may be seen in fig1 a , 1 b and 2 , the cable anchored end 6 may terminate in a simple slip knot and wrapped around a secure object such as a table leg 3 . the cable anchored end 6 may also be attached to a special adaptor 4 glued to a secure object such as the underside of a desk . any number of anchor cables having different anchored ends 6 may be used with the present invention . as may be seen additionally from fig2 and 4 , the holding end 7 of the cable is comprised of a cylindrical shank 8 terminating in a disk - like protrusion 9 having a diameter greater than said shank 8 . the anchor cable 5 is adapted to being connected to the lock housing 80 by sliding the anchor cable disk 9 into the protruding element radial channel 98 through the protruding element rearward section open bottom 94 and threading the cable shank 8 through the protruding element rearward end 92 . the lock body 40 is then slid into the lock housing interior 84 and the cable 5 is secured within the protruding element radial channel 98 . in operation , the anchor cable 5 is installed as described above . the lock body 40 is slid into the lock housing interior 84 . the lock cylinder key 2 is held in the unlocked position and the locking plate 30 pushed completely forward wherein the key 2 is turned to turn the locking plate 30 and engage the lock body first radial channel 63 . the protruding hook 25 is now at its maximum extension and is easily inserted into the computer open security slot 16 . with the hook 25 engaged within the security slot 16 , the key 2 is turned back to unlock the lock cylinder 20 , and the compression spring 29 pushes the lock cylinder away from the lock body front end 41 , thereby drawing the protruding hook front end 26 up against the inside 113 of the computer side wall 13 ′ and pushing the cable lock housing front end 81 against the outside 114 of the computer side wall 13 ′, thereby assuring a snug fit against the security slot 16 . the locking plate 30 is pushed back even with the lock body second radial channel 64 . the key 2 is again turned to the lock position wherein the locking plate 30 engages the second radial channel 64 and the front end 81 of the cable housing 80 secured against the computer security slot 16 . the key 2 is now removed and the computer 10 is thereby secured . different computers may have different thicknesses for the wall 13 ′ containing the security slot 16 . the present invention provides a means for adjusting the gripping width of the present invention lock assembly 1 . the gripping width is defined as the distance between the underside 19 of the protruding hook front end 26 and the cable lock housing front end 81 . ideally , the gripping width should be as close to the width of the computer side wall 13 ′ as possible . adjustment is provided with the ring 55 in threading engagement with the lock body first exterior band 47 . by manipulating this ring 55 the overall longitudinal length of the lock body 40 may be increased or decreased changing the extension of the protruding hook 25 from the lock body front end 41 and through the lock housing front end 81 into the security slot 16 , thereby affecting the gripping width of the lock assembly 1 . an adjustment spacer 75 is also provided . the adjustment spacer 75 is a round , flat piece with an elongated aperture 76 formed centrally therein . the spacer 75 has a thickness equal to the thickness of the housing front end 81 . the lock body 40 and lock cylinder 20 may be fitted to a computer 10 by removing the lock housing 80 and placing the spacer 75 over the protruding hook 25 . the spacer 75 replaces the lock housing 80 . the lock body 40 with lock cylinder 20 and spacer 75 are fitted into the security slot 16 . after a desired adjustment is made by manipulation of the ring 55 engaged with the first exterior band 47 , the spacer 75 is removed and the lock housing 80 is fitted over the lock body 40 for installation on the computer 10 . it is understood that the above - described embodiment is merely illustrative of the application . other embodiments may be readily devised by those skilled in the art which will embody the principles of the invention and fall within the spirit and scope thereof . | 4 |
the present invention relates to the operation of a cup making machine and more particularly to an air actuated seam clamp assembly 12 and mechanical cup ejection assembly 14 . referring to fig1 an exemplary cup making machine 16 is shown which generally includes a mandrel turret 18 , a transfer turret 20 and a rimming turret 22 mounted on a frame 25 . the mandrel turret 18 is rotated in a step by step or indexing manner into alignment with each of the surrounding work stations 28 , 30 , 34 , 36 , 38 , 40 and 42 . in this regard a bottom blank 26 is applied to the end of a mandrel 24 at the bottom blank work station 28 . the mandrel 24 is stepped to a bottom reformer station 30 wherein the edges of the bottom blank are folded outwardly . the mandrel 24 is then stepped into alignment with the transfer turret 20 wherein a side wall blank 34 is transferred from a hopper 32 to a position beneath the mandrel 24 . the side wall blank 34 is folded about the mandrel 24 , the edges of the bottom blank are heated , overlapped and sealed along the seam by the seam clamp assembly 12 . the mandrel is then stepped in sequence to a bottom heat station 36 , a roller in - curl station 38 and a bottom finish station 40 . once the bottom blank is formed and sealed the cup is transferred to a discharge station 42 where it is transferred to a rimming turret 44 , rotated to a lube station 46 and then rotated to a rimming precurl station 48 where the upper lip of the side wall is curled outwardly . from that station the cup is indexed to a rimming finish curl station 50 which finishes the curl portion along the top of the cup to make an attractive edge . the cup is then moved to a cup blow off station 52 for removal of the finished cup . referring more particularly to fig2 and 4 a cross section of the turret 18 and one of the mandrels 24 is shown . the turret 18 is supported on a shaft 58 which is seated in a bearing housing 60 having a number of tapered roller bearings 62 . each mandrel 24 generally includes a hollow tapered housing 64 having a flange 68 and a tubular assembly 66 which is axially aligned in housing 64 . the flange 68 being secured to the turret 18 . the tubular assembly 66 includes a flange 67 at one end which engages the outer end of the housing 64 . an axial passage 70 is provided through the tubular member 66 which is connected to a number of angularly offset air passages 72 in the flange 67 . the inner end of member 66 is supported by a housing 74 having an axial passage 76 and a radial flange 78 at the end thereof . the housing 74 is biased to a neutral position by means of a spring 80 positioned between flange 78 on housing 74 and a shoulder 65 on housing 64 . the tubular member 66 is biased to a neutral position by the spring 80 which is seated on flange 78 on the end of housing 74 and a shoulder 65 on housing 64 ( fig3 ). the tubular member 66 is moved axially outwardly to release a cup 65 from the mandrel by means of a cam roller assembly 84 which is positioned to engage the end of a pin 86 mounted in passage 76 in housing 74 . a flange 92 is provided on pin 86 in a position to engage a flange 78 at the end of passage 76 . an overtravel spring 90 is provided in passage 76 in a position to engage the flange 92 on pin 86 and the end 93 of pin 66 . the tubular member 66 is extended to initially release the cup 65 from the mandrel by means of the offset cam roller assembly 84 which is actuated by a fixed cam plate 96 as shown in fig5 . in this regard the cam plate 96 is mounted on the lower end of the fixed cam shaft 98 . the cam plate 96 includes a cam 100 on the outer periphery which bridges the in - curl station 38 , bottom finish station 40 and cup discharge station 42 . the cam roller assemblies 84 as shown in fig3 generally include a plate 102 pivotally mounted in a mandrel mounting plate 104 which is supported on shaft 98 by a roller bearing 95 . the cam roller assembly 84 includes a first cam roller 106 and a second cam roller 108 eccentrically mounted on plate 102 by means of a pin 105 . the first cam roller 106 is positioned to engage the periphery of the cam plate 96 and the second cam roller 108 is positioned to engage the end of the pin 86 . in operation and referring to fig4 and 5 when the first cam roller 106 passes line 107 located between stations 36 and 38 and engages the cam 100 on cam plate 96 , the cam plate 102 will pivot the second cam roller 108 into engagement with the end of the pin 86 pushing the tubular assembly 66 outwardly as shown in fig4 to mechanically release the cup 65 from the mandrel housing 64 . the pin 86 will remain extended through the in - curl station 38 , the bottom finish station 40 and discharge or cup blow off station 42 . when the roller 106 reaches the end of the cam 100 at line 109 , the springs 80 and 90 will return the pin 86 and housing 66 to their original position and pivot the cam plate 102 back to its original position . when the mandrels 24 reach the blow off station 42 compressed air is admitted into the passages 70 and 72 to blow the cup off of the end of the mandrel into a receptacle 110 on the rimming turret 22 . in this regard a manifold plate 112 is mounted on the cam shaft 98 . air passages 111 , 113 and 115 as shown in fig7 are provided in the bottom of plate 112 . air openings 117 , 119 and 121 are respectively connected to passages 111 , 113 and 115 . a pneumatic plate 114 is mounted on the turret 18 which pivots with the mandrels 24 . an air passage 116 is provided in the pneumatic plate 114 and an air passage 118 is provided in mandrel mounting plate 18 which connect the manifold plate 112 to the bushing 120 which supports the pin 86 . an air passage 122 is provided in pin 86 which is connected to the passages 70 and 72 in tubular assembly 66 . when the mandrel rotates to the bottom blank work station 28 , the air passages 70 and 72 are connected to the vacuum passage 113 in the diaphragm plate 112 . in this regard it should be noted in fig7 that the plate 112 includes a pressure passage 121 , a vent passage 117 and a vacuum passage 119 . the seam clamp assembly 12 is positioned to engage and seal the seam 125 on the side wall of the cup . in this regard the side wall of the cup is wrapped around the mandrel 64 with the edges of the side wall overlapping on the top of the mandrel . the seam clamp assemblies 12 are held in the open or up position by air which on release allows the seam clamp assemblies to drop down on the seam . referring to fig4 and 6 the seam clamp assembly 12 generally includes a seam clamp arm 126 which is mounted for reciprocal motion on seam clamp shafts 128 and secured thereto by bolts 130 and plates 135 . a seam clamp 132 is pivotally mounted on the seam clamp arm 126 by means of a pin 134 mounted on a bracket 136 which is secured to the clamp arm 126 by bolts 138 . the clamp arm 126 is free to pivot on pin 134 when moved into engagement with the tapered side wall of the housing 64 . the clamp arms 126 are simultaneously elevated , each time the mandrels 64 are indexed to the next stations . this is achieved by means of a cup shaped seam clamp lifter 140 which is secured to a piston 142 by bolts 144 . the seam clamp lifter 140 includes a rim 146 around the outer perimeter of lifter 140 which is positioned to engage the end of a bolt 148 mounted on the end of the seam clamp arm 126 . the lifter 140 is elevated by admitting air under pressure into a chamber 150 located between the piston 142 and the bearing housing 152 . a number of springs 145 are provided around the lifter for biasing the piston 142 to the down position . in operation each time the mandrel turret 18 is advanced to the next work station , the lifter 140 is elevated to lift the seam clamp assemblies 12 off of the mandrel turret 18 . the lifter is elevated by pressurizing chamber 150 in bearing housing 152 . the lip 146 engages the end of the bolt 148 to raise the seam clamp off of the seam in the side wall of the cup 65 . an adjustable limit stop assembly 154 is provided to control the amount of pressure on the mandrel . the limit stop assembly includes a first screw 156 seated on the top of the mandrel beneath each of the seam clamp arms . a second adjustable screw 158 is provided on each of the seam clamp arms 126 which is aligned with the screw 156 . a lock nut 160 is provided on screw 158 to adjust the amount of pressure exerted by the seam clamp 132 on the ends of the side wall clamp . it should be noted that the seam clamp assemblies are dropped simultaneously with the movement of the mandrel to the blow off station . thus , it should be apparent that there has been provided in accordance with the present invention a cup making machine that fully satisfies the objectives and advantages set forth above . although the invention has been described in conjunction with specific embodiments thereof , it is evident that many alternatives , modifications and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art . accordingly , it is intended to embrace all such alternatives , modifications and variations that fall within the spirit and broad scope of the appended claims . | 1 |
in the below description directions are arbitrarily selected and are indicated as directions of travel parallel to an axis for linear axes and rotating about an axis for axes of rotation . referring to fig1 a prior art cd player focus and tracking mechanism ( ftm ), is shown . the ftm comprises a magnetic stator assembly 10 , having a magnetic yoke and having two magnets 13 disposed thereon , a carriage 11 , mounting wires 12 . the mounting wires 12 for flexibly mounting the carriage to the stator assembly as well as for conducting current to the electromagnetic windings 16 as part of the carriage 11 . a gap 19 is formed between the magnets 13 and the magnetic yoke , the gap 19 having magnetic flux therein . with no current applied to the electromagnetic windings 16 , the carriage is supported within the gap 19 using mounting wires 12 in such a manner that it does not touch the magnetic stator assembly 10 . furthermore , the carriage 11 is spatially oriented by the mounting wires 12 within the gap 19 in such a manner so as to be able to be displaced proportionately in two substantially orthogonal axes upon the application of a control signal having a polarity and magnitude . in response to the control signal , the carriage linearly displaces proportionately to the applied control signal as the current in the coils reacts with the magnetic flux within the gap 19 . thus , controllable motion of the carriages 11 is obtainable in the two substantially orthogonal axes . namely , controllable horizontal displacement along an x direction 15 , as well as controllable displacement in a vertical , y direction 14 . unfortunately , the ftm assembly has no provision for controllable motion along the z direction . in use within a cd player the ftm is mounted to a third motorized axis , in such an orientation that this third axis is parallel to one of the controllable axes of the ftm . meaning , that unfortunately the device is unsuitable for three axis alignment since it lacks controllable motion along a third controllable axis that is oriented orthogonal to the x direction axis and the y direction axis . in fig2 an electromagnetic controllable dual axis mechanism ( ecm ) 29 , similar to the ftm of prior art fig1 is shown . the ecm 29 has two substantially orthogonal electromagnetically actuated axes of displacement that displace a carriage 28 relative to a stator portion 27 of the ecm 29 . the stator assembly having a magnetic yoke with the magnets coupled therewith to permit a magnetic flux to reside in a gap therebetween . electromagnetic coils coupled to the carriage have a portion thereof located within this gap . the stator portion 27 of the ecm 29 is coupled to a sliding portion 21 of a linear actuator bearing slider assembly 20 and 21 . the stator portion 20 of the bearing slider assembly is fixedly mounted to a plate 33 ( fig3 ). a linear actuator 22 is coupled to the stator portion 20 of the bearing slider in such a manner that upon receiving a control signal the linear actuator 22 slides the sliding portion 21 on bearing provided within the bearing slider assembly 20 and 21 in response thereto , resulting in displacement of the ecm 29 along an axis substantially orthogonal to the electromagnetically actuated axes of displacement of the ecm 29 . in use , when a control signal is applied to the windings of each of the coils wound about the carriage , a magnetic field is generated that interacts with the magnetic flux in the gap , resulting in movement of the carriage in response thereto . a variation of the embodiment shown in fig2 is shown in fig3 . in this case similarly to that shown in fig2 . the ecm 29 is coupled to a linear actuator 22 in an orientation such that the resultant two electromagnetically actuated axes of displacement are substantially orthogonal to the axis of the linear actuator 22 . in use , the linear actuator 22 moves the slider assembly 21 along a z direction in response to a control signal applied to the linear actuator 22 by a control circuit . two optical components 34 and 35 are held by component holders 32 and 31 , wherein component holder 32 is stationary with respect to all axes of travel of the component holder 31 . component holder 31 is coupled to the carriage 28 of the ecm 29 . it is therefore preferable to orient the optical component 35 on the mounting plate 24 of the ecm 29 in such a manner that the axes of the optical component 35 which require precise travel are those which are mounted parallel to the electromagnetically controllable axes of the ecm 29 , the third axis thus being utilized for coarse positioning of optical component 35 with respect to optical component 34 . optionally , component holder 31 is coupled to the mounting plate with a small magnet 26 embedded within the carriage 28 for magnetically attracting a metallic portion of the component holder 31 . the mounting plate allows for various component holders 31 to be removably mounted to the carriage 28 . preferably , precision alignment marks on both the mounting plate and component holders allow for repeatable positioning of the component holders . the orientation of the magnet 26 within the carriage 28 is advantageously provided in such a manner as to oppose the magnetic flux generated by the stator assembly 27 , thereby reducing a portion of the weight imposed on the carriage 28 by the optical component 35 when in use . in fig4 the ecm 29 shown is adjustably mounted to a mounting plate 40 . the mounting plate 40 is coupled to the slider portion 21 of the linear slider assembly 21 , 20 via a three point mounting system . a first mounting point is a pivot point ( not shown ) that enables pivoting of the ecm 29 about two and optionally three substantially orthogonal axes located at a center of the pivot point . the other three mounting points comprise of a calibration screw 41 , 42 , and 43 and threaded portion . for calibration screws 41 and 42 a spring is disposed on or about the calibration screws 47 and 46 to bias the mounting plate 40 against the linear slider assembly 21 . rotation of the calibration screws 41 and 42 results in angular movement of the ecm 29 about the first pivot point about at least an axis 45 that is preferably the x axis . preferably the calibration screws 41 and 42 are adjusted in tandem to prevent rotation of the ecm 29 about the z axis . rotating the screw 43 results in angular movement of the ecm 29 about another axis 44 , preferably the y axis . a biasing spring 48 is provided for biasing the mounting plate against calibration screw 43 . in the case in which the optical component is an optical fiber , angular degrees of freedom may need to be fine tuned using the calibration screws 41 , 42 and 43 , in order to ensure that the optical fibers are substantially parallel with each other . adding the optical component may cause angular misalignment of the carriage 39 due to the additional weight or due to the orientation the component . thus , calibration screws are used to position the ecm 29 in such a manner that the controllable electromagnetic axes actuate as desired . in some cases additional flexible mounting is preferably added to aid in supporting the carriage 28 of the ecm 29 to provide additional biasing to the carriage . preferably , in use , as the linear actuator 22 moves the ecm 29 , mechanical inaccuracies of the linear slide assembly 20 and 21 are actively compensated for by the active control of the ecm 29 in a feedback loop in combination with a control circuit . it would be also advantageous to provide an optical feedback assembly for determining the absolute position of the carriage 28 with respect to the stator portion 27 . an example of this is shown in fig5 . effects such as vibration may offset the carriage 28 and the absolute position of the component 35 . therefore , having an absolute position feedback mechanism for the carriage 28 would be advantageous . for the absolute position feedback mechanism for the carriage 28 a light source 55 , such as an inexpensive diode laser , is thus provided within the ecm 29 to emit light for reflecting off a reflective portion 57 of the carriage 28 . a detector 56 embedded within the stator 27 for use in receiving the reflected light from the carriage 28 . as the carriage 28 of the ecm 29 moves in relation to the stator 27 of the ecm 29 , the intensity of the light impacting the detector varies in an axis in a predetermined manner in dependence upon the position of the carriage 28 relative to the stator portion 27 of the ecm 29 . thus with the use of a calibration table correlating reflected optical intensity to control signal magnitude , the position of the carriage 28 in relation to the optical intensity is determinable . preferably , such an optical intensity position determining system is provided for sensing the position of the carriage in more than one axis of displacement . in fig6 a plurality of ecms 29 are shown , coupled to a same stator portion 20 of a linear actuator bearing slider assembly . two ecms are coupled to a same stator portion 20 a , and a single ecm is coupled to another same stator portion 20 b . component holders 31 have v - grooves 51 aligned along a common z axis , with each of the ecms 29 optionally actuated with respect to the same stator portion 20 using linear motors 29 . preferably , fine adjustment of angular position of the ecms 29 is performed using the calibration screws prior to use in optical alignment of optical components . in fig7 an alternate embodiment of the invention is shown using three linear motors 72 having an output shaft 70 of each fixedly coupled to a magnet 71 . the three linear motors are preferably oriented orthogonally to each other and mounted to a common mounting plate ( not shown ). the magnets 71 from all three axes are magnetically attracted to a carriage 73 . the carriage 73 is displaced in an axis substantially parallel to the orientation of the linear motor 72 upon the application of a control signal having a magnitude and polarity to the linear motor 72 oriented along that axis . motion of the carriage 73 along a controlled axis causes the carriage 73 to slide past the magnets 71 of the other stationary axes . due to the magnetic attraction between the carriage 73 , the magnet 71 and the output shaft 70 , the carriage 73 is maintained in a substantially parallel orientation to all three axes even during motion of any axis . this arrangement allows for controllable displacement in directions substantially parallel to the three actuated axes without the need for expensive linear slide mechanisms . the use of an actuator mechanism such as that described herein provides active alignment of components . because of the dynamic nature of such a system , it allows for compensation of variations in alignment due to temperature changes , epoxy hardening , solder expansion , fusing processes , and other effects resulting during a process of affixing aligned components one to another . advantageously , such an alignment system thus provides for improved alignment speed as well as significant cost reduction over conventional alignment system designs . numerous other embodiments may be envisaged without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention . | 6 |
referring more specifically to the drawings , for illustrative purposes , the present invention is generally embodied in fig2 through fig7 . it will be appreciated that the system and method may vary as to configuration and as to details of the parts , and as to the specific steps and sequence , without departing from the basic concepts as disclosed herein . the instant invention embodies a transparent and self - adapting run - time system for power awareness , or , more specifically , a power - aware run - time system that has tight performance - slowdown control and can deliver considerable energy savings . consider a dvfs system that exports n frequency - power settings {( f i , p i )}. without loss of generality , assume 0 & lt ; f 1 & lt ; . . . & lt ; f n . f min and f max are sometimes used to refer to f 1 and f n , respectively . the traditional dvfs scheduling problem is formulated as the following energy optimization problem : given a workload w in cycles and a deadline d in seconds , find a schedule { t i *} such that when the cpu runs at speed f 1 for t i * seconds with power consumption p i , the total energy usage is minimized , the required work w is performed , and the deadline d is met ; that is , t *= arg t min { e min ( d ): d ≦ d } ( 1 ) function e min ( d ) represents the lowest energy that any dvfs schedule executes the entire program in exactly d seconds can consume . the present invention generalizes the traditional dvfs scheduling problem by replacing the equality where t i stands for the execution time of a program running at frequency f i substituting t i with r i · t i yields a new definition of e min ( d ) where e i = p i · t i is the energy consumption running at frequency f i . the present invention includes the development of a theorem that depicts the optimal solution for the above dvfs scheduling problem , as stated below . intuitively , the new theorem states that if the piecewise - linear function that connects points {( t i , e i )} is convex and non - increasing on [ t n , t 1 ], then running at a cpu speed that finishes the execution right at the deadline is the most energy - efficient dvfs schedule . if the desired cpu speed is not one of the supported settings , it can be emulated by the two neighboring speeds and the resulting energy consumption is minimized . for the case where d ≧ t 1 or t 1 = . . . = t n , there is an even simpler description of the optimal solution : a program will run entirely at frequency f j , where j = arg i min { e i }. based on the above theorem , a new interval - based dvfs algorithm , the “ β - adaptation ” algorithm , was developed . at a high level , the β - adaptation algorithm exploits the opportunities where the cpu frequency is not a determining factor for program performance , defined as “ non - cpu - boundedness ”, to run the cpu at a lower frequency so that performance degradation can be minimized . to determine when non - cpu - boundedness occurs , the algorithm measures the differences among frequencies in terms of workload processing rate . a program has a fixed amount of work to be completed , and the rate of completing this work ( called workload processing rate ) at each cpu frequency is different . however , if the differences among frequencies are small , then non - cpu - boundedness is indicated . the instant invention , leveraging the dvfs mechanism , comprises an automatically - adapting , power - aware algorithm that is transparent to end - user applications and can deliver considerable energy savings with tight control over dvfs - induced performance slowdown . performance slowdown is defined herein as the increase in relative execution time with respect to the execution time when the program is running at the peak cpu speed . a user can specify the maximum allowed performance slowdown δ ( e . g ., δ = 5 %), and the algorithm will schedule cpu frequencies and voltages in such a way that the actual performance slowdown does not exceed δ . the β - adaptation algorithm is an interval - based scheduling algorithm , that is , scheduling decisions are made at the beginning of time intervals of the same length ( e . g ., every second ). interval - based algorithms are generally easy to implement because they make use of existing “ alarm clock ” functionality found in the operating system . by default , this power - aware algorithm , and its software realization as part of the run - time system , sets the interval length i to be one second . however , the algorithm allows a user to change this value per program execution . in contrast to previous approaches , this power - aware algorithm does not require any application - specific information a priori ( e . g ., profiling information ), and , more generally , it is transparent to end - user applications . therefore , such information is implicitly gathered , such as by monitoring the intensity level of off - chip accesses during each interval i in order to make smart scheduling decisions . intuitively , when the intensity level of off - chip accesses is high , it indicates that program execution is in a non - cpu - intensive phase , indicating that this phase can execute at a lower cpu frequency ( and voltage ) without affecting its performance . while conceptually simple , this type of algorithm must overcome the following obstacle in order to be effective : the quantification of the intensity level of off - chip accesses needs to have a direct correlation between cpu frequency changes and execution - time impact ; otherwise , the tight control of dvfs - induced performance slowdown is difficult to achieve . for example , one might think that the high cache - miss rate is a suitable indicator that program execution is in a non - cpu - intensive phase . however , unless a prediction can be made as to how the execution time will be lengthened for every lower cpu frequency that may be executed in this non - cpu - intensive phase , the information of the high cache - miss rate will not help in the selection of the appropriate cpu frequency to maintain tight control of dvfs - induced performance slowdown . therefore , a model is needed that associates the intensity level of off - chip accesses with respect to total execution time . specifically , the development of the algorithm started with the observation that many real - life applications , especially scientific computations , can be modeled using a simple performance model : where c 0 and c 1 are constant . this performance model can then be re - formulated as a single - parameter model as follows : the parameter β is a value between 0 and 1 and indicates the sensitivity of the application performance to the change in cpu speed . if β = 1 , that means the execution time will be cut in half when the cpu speed is twice as fast ; equivalently , the execution time will remain constant even when running at the lowest frequency , i . e ., t ( f )= c 0 . in general , a cpu - bound application will have a β value that is close to one , while a memory - or i / o - bound application will have a β value close to zero . conceptually , it is similar to the scalability of performance in the field of parallel processing , but the number of processors is replaced by various cpu frequencies . applying the theorem in section 2 to the performance model for t ( f ) given hereinabove results in the following corollary : specifically , given a time constraint d , the present invention dvfs algorithm seeks an ideal cpu frequency where δ defines the relative deadline d , i . e ., d =( 1 + δ )· t ( f max ). if this ideal cpu frequency is not supported by the underlying dvfs processor , then the present invention will emulate this particular frequency using the two immediately - neighboring supported frequencies ; that is , find f i and f i + 1 such that f j ≦ f *& lt ; f j + 1 and run the entire program at for r percent of time and at f j + 1 for ( 1 − r ) percent of time , where the ratio r is defined as follows : intuitively , this corollary states that as long as the dvfs system is well - designed , one can use the optimal solution in our theorem to schedule the use of dvfs settings so as to minimize the energy consumption without violating any given performance constraint . the dvfs system is well - designed , according to the corollary , if each of every dvfs setting has the lowest power consumption compared to the best possible combination of all other settings that emulates its speed . this means that if the dvfs processor will be well - designed . on the other hand , a well - designed dvfs processor does not necessarily require this frequency - voltage relationship to be satisfied . hence , the corollary is more capable of handling real - life situations , that is , when only a discrete set of cpu frequencies and voltages is supported . note that a well - designed dvfs processor can be achieved by carefully choosing frequency - voltage settings at the system design time . more specifically , the β - adaptation model is based on the mips rate ( i . e ., millions of instructions per second ), which can correlate the execution - time impact with cpu frequency changes : represents the execution - time impact of running at cpu frequency f in terms of the relative execution time with respect to running at the peak cpu frequency f max . the rightmost term , introduces a parameter , β , that quantifies the intensity level of on - chip accesses ( and indirectly , off - chip accesses ). by definition , β = 1 indicates that execution time doubles when the cpu speed is halved , whereas β = 0 means that execution time remains unchanged , regardless of the cpu speed . finally , the middle term provides a way to describe the observed execution - time impact and is used to adjust the value of β . ideally , the value of β was known a priori , equation ( 9 ) could be used to select an appropriate cpu frequency to execute in the current interval such that the dvfs - induced performance slowdown is tightly constrained . however , it is assumed that β is not known a priori because the power - aware algorithm does not require any application - specific information a priori . therefore , the challenge for the automatically - adapting , power - aware algorithm lies in the “ on the - fly ” estimation of β at run time . to estimate β at run time , a regression method over equation ( 9 ) is used , taking into account the fact that most dvfs - enabled microprocessors support a limited set of cpu frequencies to perform the regression . that is , given n cpu frequencies { f 1 , . . . , f n }, a particular β value is derived that minimizes the least - squared error : by equating the first differential of equation ( 10 ) to zero , β can be derived as a function of the mips rates and cpu frequencies , as follows : once the value of β is calculated using equation ( 11 ), that value can be plugged into equation ( 9 ) and the lowest cpu frequency f can be calculated whose predicted performance slowdown does not exceed the maximum possible performance slowdown δ . mathematically , this establishes the following relationship : by solving this equation for f , the desired frequency f * for running the cpu is determined : i : the time - interval size ( default , 1 second ). δ : slowdown constraint ( default 5 %). initialize mips ( f i ), i = 1 , . . . , n , by executing the program at f i for i seconds . repeat in essence , this power - aware algorithm wakes up every i seconds . the algorithm then calculates the value of β using the most up - to - date information on the mips rate based on equation ( 11 ). once β is derived , the algorithm computes the cpu frequency f for the interval based on equation ( 12 ). since a dvfs - enabled microprocessor only supports a limited set of frequencies , the computed frequency f * may need to be emulated in some cases . this sequence of steps is repeated at the beginning of each subsequent interval until the program executes to completion . the emulation scheme is as follows , with respect to step 3 , shown above : f j ≦ f *& lt ; f j + 1 ( b ) compute the ratio r . the ratio r denotes the percentage of time to execute at frequency f j . to extend the β - adaptation algorithm from the uniprocessor environment that is implicitly assumed above to a multiprocessor environment the algorithm is simply replicated onto each processor and each local copy is run asynchronously . this strategy is adopted for the following reasons . first , the intensity level of off - chip accesses is a per - processor metric . second , a coordination - based power - aware algorithm would need extra communication , and likely , synchronization — both of which add to the overhead costs ( in terms of performance and energy ) of running the power - aware algorithms . and as noted in section a . 2 , the β - adaptation algorithm running asynchronously on each processor is quite effective in saving energy while minimizing impact on performance . in summary , the β - adaptation algorithm is a power - aware and interval - based algorithm that is parameterized by two user - tunable variables : the maximum performance - slowdown constraint δ and the interval length i . the default values of which are 5 % and one second , respectively . to facilitate an empirical evaluation of the effectiveness of this algorithm , it is implemented in the run - time system , thus creating a power - aware run - time ( part ) system . the part system is then tested on uniprocessor and multiprocessor platforms using appropriate benchmark suites , as discussed in example b . the present invention not only performs better than the existing dvfs algorithms , but it also does so without any of the above drawbacks . whereas previous works were only based on simulation , the present invention has been tested ( see example below ) on high - performance processors . the strength of evaluating dvfs algorithms on real processors is that some assumptions used in simulators may not be valid for state - of - the - art dvfs processors . computer hardware . an hp ® notebook computer . this computer included a mobile amd athlon xp ® 2200 + processor with a 256 - kb level - two cache , 256 - mb ddr sdram memory , 266 - mhz front - side bus , a 30 - gb hard disk , and a 15 - inch tft lcd display . the cpu supports five frequency - voltage settings as shown in table 3 . power meter . a yokogawa wt210 ™ digital power meter was used . this power meter continuously sampled the instantaneous wattage of the system at a rate of 50 khz ( i . e ., every 20 μs ). benchmarks . a set of representative spec ( standard performance evaluation corporation ) cpu95 benchmarks was used for the experiments . these benchmarks emphasize the performance of the cpu and memory , but not other computer components such as i / o ( disk drives ), networking , or graphics . dvfs algorithms . five dvfs algorithms , in addition to that of the present invention . testing and measurements . all benchmarks were compiled by gnu ( short for “ gnu &# 39 ; s not unix ”) compilers with an optimization level of − o6 . all benchmarks were run to completion , with each run taking over a minute . to measure the execution time of a benchmark execution , the wall - clock - time query functions provided by the operating system are used . the energy consumption is measured via the power meter , which is connected to a power strip that passes electrical energy from the wall power outlet to the system under test , as shown in fig2 . table 4 details the comparison of the invention with other dvfs algorithms in the format of “ relative - time / relative - energy ” with respect to the total execution time and system energy usage when running the application at the highest setting throughout the entire execution across all five aforementioned dvfs algorithms . relative to both performance and energy consumption , the present invention clearly outperforms the other algorithms . computer hardware . a desktop computer based on an asus k8v deluxe motherboard . this computer includes an amd athlon64 3200 + processor with a 1 - mb level - two cache and 1 - gb ddr - 400 sdram memory . the cpu supports four frequency - voltage settings as shown in table 5 . dvfs algorithms . the method of the present invention and a compiler - based dvfs algorithm . testing and measurement . the spec cfp95 benchmarks were compiled using the gnu compiler 3 . 3 . 3 with optimization level − o3 . the cpu2000 benchmarks were compiled using the intel compiler 8 . 1 with the optimization level − xw − ip − o3 . fig3 shows a comparison of the actual performance slowdown between the method of the present invention ( denoted as beta ) and the compiler approach ( denoted as hsu ) for spec cpu95 benchmarks . it can be seen that the actual performance slowdown induced by the compiler algorithm is poorly regulated , given that the maximum performance - slowdown constraint was specified as 5 %. in contrast , the present invention regulates the actual performance slowdown much better . with respect to spec cpu200 benchmarks . fig5 a and 5b show the actual performance slowdown and the cpu energy savings delivered by the present invention . on average , the present invention reduces the cpu energy consumption by 12 % with only a 4 % actual performance slowdown for spec cfp2000 ( fig4 a ); for spec cint2000 ( fig4 b ), the two numbers are 9 . 5 % and 4 . 8 %, respectively . computer hardware . two multiprocessor - based computers . one is a cluster of four athlon64 - based desktop computers as in example b connected via gigabit ethernet . the other is a cluster of four quad - cpu celestica a8440 servers connected via gigabit ethernet . each celestica a8440 server includes four amd opteron 846 processors with 4 - mb level - two cache and 4 - gb ddr - 333 sdram memory . the cpus support four frequency - voltage setting as shown in table 5 . testing and measurement . all benchmarks were compiled using the gnu compiler 3 . 3 . 3 with optimization level − o3 . lam / mpi version 7 . 0 . 6 was used to run the benchmarks . for the athlon64 cluster , fig5 shows the actual performance slowdown and cpu energy savings of nas - mpi for the class b workload . on average , the present invention saves 14 % cpu energy at 5 % actual performance slowdown . for the class c workload , the average savings is about 12 % at a 4 % actual performance slowdown , as shown in fig6 . for the opteron cluster , fig7 shows that the part system was able to save cpu energy ranging from 8 % to 25 %, with an average savings of 18 %. the average actual performance slowdown is 3 %. computer hardware . an ibm eserver model 8848 - 81u server . this computer includes a single - core amd opteron processor with 1 - mb level - two cache and 1 - gb ecc dddr sdram memory . the cpu supports several frequency - voltage settings ranging from 1 . 0 ghz through 2 . 6 ghz . benchmarks . three benchmark suites . the spec jbb2005 benchmark suite provides a java based ecommerce style application that is cpu - intensive . this testing base reflects the second ( application ) tier of a commercial transaction processing application . the iozone . com filesystem benchmark provides a disk i / o intensive testing base which simulates a variety of i / o loads on the test platform , including read , write , reread , rewrite and other mixed loads . the ramspeed benchmark provides a set of memory access style tests which measures the cpu / memory interaction and throughput performance of computer systems . energy savings as great as 16 . 9 % were achieved with extremely heavy workloads with minimal performance impact (& lt ; 10 %) using the present invention . computer hardware . an hp proliant ml310 - g3 server , model a1560n . this computer includes a dual - core intel pentium d model 915 cpu with 2 - mb level - two cache and 2 - gb ddr2 sdram memory . the cpu supports two frequency - voltage settings of 2 . 4 and 2 . 8 ghz . dvfs algorithm . the present invention ( cpu based ) versus the intel speedstep dvfs algorithm coming with the suse linux distribution . the current invention outperforms the intel speedstep dvfs algorithm for linux by introducing additional 9 % energy savings with a performance slowdown less than 2 %, on average , for five different system loads . the instant invention provides a power - aware solution that works on any commodity platform that supports dynamic voltage and frequency scaling ( dvfs ). specifically , an embodiment of the power - aware algorithm ( β - adaptation algorithm ) is implemented as a power - aware run - time ( part ) system . the part system transparently and automatically adapts cpu voltage and frequency so as to reduce power consumption ( and energy usage ) while minimizing impact on performance . the performance evaluation on both uniprocessor and multiprocessor platforms shows that the system achieves its design goal . that is , the system can save cpu energy consumption by as much as 20 % for sequential benchmarks and 25 % for parallel benchmarks shown herein , at a cost of 3 - 5 % performance degradation . moreover , the performance degradation was tightly controlled by our part system for all the benchmarks . at a high level , the present invention , an autopilot for delivering an energy - efficient computer system , is analogous to an autopilot program for a car . the goal is to minimize fuel usage while getting to the destination on - time . when approaching a stop light , an autopilot program could put the car in its highest gear , rush to the traffic light , and stop with its wheels spinning and rubber burning while waiting for the signal to change or the autopilot program could direct the car to approach the traffic light at a slower speed and time its arrival to coincide with the traffic light turning to green . unfortunately , most computer systems behave like the first type of autopilot program . in a computer system , the processors are often stalled because the required data to operate on has not yet been retrieved from the memory . during these waiting periods , the processors are still running at their fastest clock speed , thereby wasting electrical energy . in contrast , the present invention foresees potential processor stalls and schedules processor speeds in such a way that when they need data to operate on , the data has already been retrieved from memory . previous work in this area , targeted at embedded systems rather than supercomputers , has found that predicting processors stalls is very difficult and frequently produces incorrect predictions , resulting in late ( sometimes very late ) arrival . the present invention is based on a fundamental theorem for developing and characterizing the “ best driving pattern ” in real time for a computer system . the present invention therefore results in significantly fewer mispredictions . as a result , the present invention not only predicts “ traffic - light patterns ” in a computer system well and arrives at the destination on - time , but it also minimizes “ fuel usage ” in a computer system ( i . e ., minimizes electrical usage ) while maintaining high performance . from a technical standpoint , current high - performance microprocessors ( e . g ., amd opteron ®) export a set of frequency - power tradeoffs called settings . the faster a microprocessor runs , the more power it consumes ; the slower it runs , the less power it consumes . the present invention intelligently decides when to change a setting and what to change the setting to , in order to minimize the overall energy consumption while maintaining high performance . since the performance impact for each program at the same microprocessor frequency is different and this information is not known a priori , the present invention “ learns it on the fly .” the present invention repeatedly applies the theorem to obtain the best scheduling policy given the performance model it has learned so far . a preliminary evaluation ( via physical measurements taken with a highly accurate , industry - strength , digital power meter ) shows that the present invention saves as much as 54 % on microprocessor energy usage while impacting peak performance by less than 2 %. on average , it saves 20 % of energy usage for a set of programs from physics , chemistry , and other compute - intensive disciplines . the present invention comprises a methodological solution to a dvfs scheduling problem that incorporates a single - parameter ( β ) performance model that does not depend on the explicit cpu work requirement . the optimal solution for the scheduling problem was characterized via an optimality theorem that does not rely on a specific relationship between frequency and voltage like so many other previous dvfs algorithms assume . in the present invention , the performance model was abstracted as a single parameter β and a methodology for computing β at run time was devised . therefore , the present invention provides a novel methodology that can reduce the intrinsic power and energy requirements of any given computer system . the generality of the methodology offers the advantage of hardware - independence , thus allowing the present invention to be deployed on nearly any commodity system . although the description above contains many details , these should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention but as merely providing illustrations of some of the presently preferred embodiments of this invention . therefore , it will be appreciated that the scope of the present invention fully encompasses other embodiments which may become obvious to those skilled in the art , and that the scope of the present invention is accordingly to be limited by nothing other than the appended claims , in which reference to an element in the singular is not intended to mean “ one and only one ” unless explicitly so stated , but rather “ one or more .” all structural , chemical , and functional equivalents to the elements of the above - described preferred embodiment that are known to those of ordinary skill in the art are expressly incorporated herein by reference and are intended to be encompassed by the present claims . moreover , it is not necessary for a device or method to address each and every problem sought to be solved by the present invention , for it to be encompassed by the present claims . furthermore , no element , component , or method step in the present disclosure is intended to be dedicated to the public regardless of whether the element , component , or method step is explicitly recited in the claims . no claim element herein is to be construed under the provisions of 35 u . s . c . 112 , sixth paragraph , unless the element is expressly recited using the phrase “ means for .” | 6 |
the present invention relates to a vehicle power steering system , and more specifically to a hydraulic vehicle power steering system in which the resistance to actuation of a power steering control valve increases with increasing vehicle speed . as representative of the present invention , fig1 illustrates a vehicle fluid power assist rack and pinion steering system 12 . the steering system 12 is of the type shown in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 293 , 954 and is operable to turn steerable vehicle wheels ( not shown ) upon rotation of a steering wheel 18 by an operator of the vehicle . rotation of the steering wheel 18 actuates a hydraulic power steering directional control valve 22 to port hydraulic fluid from an engine driven pump 24 and supply conduit 26 to either one of a pair of motor conduits 28 and 30 . the high pressure fluid conducted from the supply conduit 26 through one of the motor conduits 28 or 30 effects operation of a power steering motor 31 to turn the steerable vehicle wheels in one or another direction . simultaneously , fluid is conducted from the motor 31 to a reservoir 32 through the other one of the motor conduits 28 or 30 , the control valve 22 , return conduits 34 and 36 , and a speed responsive control unit shown schematically at 38 . thus , return conduit 36 conducts fluid from the steering valve 22 to the speed responsive control unit 38 . return conduit 34 conducts fluid from the steering valve 22 and the speed responsive control unit 38 to the reservoir 32 . conduit 230 conducts fluid from the pump 24 to the speed responsive control unit 38 . the control valve 22 includes an inner rotary valve member 40 and an outer rotary valve member or sleeve 42 . the outer valve member 42 encloses the inner valve member 40 . the inner valve member 40 and outer valve member 42 are rotatable relative to ( a ) each other and ( b ) a housing 44 about a common central axis 46 . the inner valve member 40 is formed on a part of a cylindrical input member or valve stem 50 that is connected with the steering wheel 18 . the outer valve member 42 is connected with a follow - up member or pinion 54 by a diametrically opposed pair of hitch pins 56 . the follow - up member 54 is rotatably supported in the housing 44 by bearings 58 and 60 . the follow - up member 54 has a pinion gear portion 64 that is in meshing engagement with the toothed portion of a rack 66 . the rack 66 is drivingly connected with the power steering motor 31 and steerable vehicle wheels as is well known in the art . the inner valve member 40 and the outer valve member 42 are drivingly interconnected through a resilient torsion bar spring 51 ( which is only partially visible in fig1 ), as is well known in the art , and a drive mechanism 55 defined by dogs 57 on an end of the follow - up member 54 and tines 59 on an end of the input member 50 . the dogs 57 and the tines 59 allow limited rotational movement of the input member 50 relative to the follow - up member 54 when the torque in the pinion gear portion 64 required to displace the rack 66 exceeds the torque required to deflect the torsion bar 51 . hence , the input member 50 can be displaced by a few degrees relative to the follow - up member 54 with the displacement occurring in the torsion bar 51 . the outer valve member 42 is fixed against rotation relative to the follow - up member 54 by the hitch pins 56 . accordingly , the input member 50 and the inner valve member 40 can be rotated slightly with respect to the follow - up member 54 and the outer valve member 42 . the amount of relative rotation , within the limits of the dog and tine drive mechanism 55 , is proportional to the torque in the torsion bar 51 and other elements of the manual steering drive line , such as the follow - up member 54 and the input member 50 . this relative rotation between the input member 50 and the outer valve member 42 is used to control the flow of hydraulic fluid from the pump 24 to the steering motor 31 . the pump 24 is a fixed positive displacement pump . the control valve 22 is of the open - center type . therefore , when the control valve 22 is in an initial or unactuated neutral condition , that is when there is no steering demand , fluid flow from the pump 24 is directed by the control valve 22 to the return conduits 34 and 36 and reservoir 32 . hence , fluid is circulated at low pressure , by the pump 24 through the valve 22 and back to the reservoir 32 . upon rotation of the steering wheel 18 and rotation of the valve stem 50 , the inner valve member 40 , if there is sufficient resistance to displacement of the rack 66 caused by frictional engagement of the vehicle tires with the ground or road surface , will be rotated about the axis 46 relative to the outer valve member 42 . this relative rotation moves valving edges on the inner valve member 40 relative to valving edges on the sleeve 42 , creates , in a known manner , a demand for higher pressure fluid from the pump 24 and directs the higher pressure fluid from the pump 24 to one of the motor conduits 28 or 30 and directs fluid from the other motor conduit to the reservoir 32 . as the power steering motor 31 operates , the rack 66 , which is also the rod for the motor 31 , rotates the pinion 64 and follow - up member 54 . this rotation of the follow - up member 54 together with the torque from the torsion bar 51 rotates the outer valve member 42 relative to the inner valve member 40 tending to return the valve 22 to its open center , neutral position . when the motor 31 is operated to turn the steerable vehicle wheels to an extent corresponding to the extent of rotation of the inner valve member 40 , the feedback of the rotation of the follow - up member 54 caused by movement of the rack 66 rotates the pinion 64 through a distance sufficient to move the outer valve member 42 to its initial position relative to the inner valve member . when this occurs , the fluid pressure in the motor cylinder chambers 72 and 74 falls and equalizes and the motor 31 stops operating . pressurized fluid from the pump 24 is conducted to an annular central groove 80 formed in the outer valve member 42 . fluid flows to the inside of the valve member 42 through a pair of diametrically opposite passages 82 and 84 . the inner and outer valve members 40 and 42 may have the same construction and cooperate with each other and the torsion bar 51 in the same manner as described in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 276 , 812 issued jul . 7 , 1981 and entitled “ power steering valve and method of making same ”. however , the inner and outer valve members 40 and 42 could have a different construction if desired . the control valve 22 may be a “ four land ” type valve . the inner valve member 40 has a generally square cross - sectional configuration with rounded corners that form the four valving lands that cooperate with the edges of four axially extending grooves formed inside the outer valve member 42 to control the flow of fluid to and from the motor 31 . the ends of one pair of diametrically opposite grooves on the inside of the outer valve member 42 are connected in fluid communication with an annular outer groove 88 connected with the motor conduit 28 . a second pair of diametrically opposite and axially extending grooves on the inside of the outer valve member 42 are connected in fluid communication with an annular outer groove 90 formed in the outer valve member and connected with the motor conduit 30 . one end of the torsion bar 51 is connected to the valve stem 50 and the opposite end of the torsion bar is connected to the follow - up member 54 . the torsion bar 51 resiliently deflects when subjected to torque in a vehicle steering activity enabling relative rotation between the inner and outer valve members 40 and 42 , and when free of torque , urges the inner and outer valve members 40 and 42 to their initial positions all as is well known in the art . the torque required to actuate the control valve 22 increases as vehicle speed increases . at relatively low vehicle speeds , relative rotation of the inner and outer valve members 40 and 42 is controlled by the spring constant of the torsion bar 51 and a relatively small torque is required to rotate the inner valve member 40 relative to the outer valve member 42 and hence actuate the hydraulic assist motor 31 making the steering feel less manual . at higher vehicle speeds , the control unit 38 causes fluid pressure to act on a slidable , annular force transmitting member 116 . the member 116 is drivingly connected to the input member 50 , a cam assembly 120 , and outer valve member 42 that cooperates with the torsion bar 51 to require a larger torque to rotate the inner valve member 40 relative to the outer valve member 42 making the steering feel more manual . the force transmitting member or slider 116 is disposed in the power steering control valve housing 44 . the force transmitting member 116 rotates about its central axis 46 with the inner valve member 40 and the valve stem 50 and is movable axially along the valve stem 50 . the force transmitting member 116 is connected with the outer valve member 42 by a cam assembly 120 . the cam assembly 120 includes a plurality of downwardly facing cam surfaces 122 on the force transmitting member 116 , a plurality of upwardly facing cam surfaces 124 on the outer valve member 42 , and a plurality of balls or spherical cam elements 126 located between the cam surfaces 122 and 124 , preferably four of each . however , a greater or lesser number of cam elements 126 and cam surfaces 122 and 124 could be used if desired . the force transmitting member 116 is urged axially toward the outer valve member 42 by a spring 130 acting between a collar 232 connected to the valve stem 50 and the slidable force transmitting member 116 . the force applied against the force transmitting member 116 by the spring 130 urges the cam surfaces 122 and 124 against opposite sides of the balls 126 and maintains and centers the balls on the cam surfaces 122 and 124 . annular upper surface 142 and annular lower surface 144 of the force transmitting member 116 cooperate with a cylindrical inner side surface 134 of the housing 44 and the cylindrical outer surface 135 of the valve stem 50 to partially define a chamber 98 and an annular pressure chamber 136 on axially opposite sides of the force transmitting member 116 . a pair of diametrically opposite openings 94 in the inner valve member 40 extend radially inward to an axially extending central passage in the inner valve member 40 in which ( a ) the torsion bar 51 is located and ( b ) is used to conduct hydraulic fluid to the chamber 136 through opening 138 extending radially outwardly from the axially extending central passage . the pressure chamber 136 is connected to the reservoir 32 by the return conduits 36 and 34 and the speed responsive control unit 38 . from the pressure chamber 136 the fluid is conducted to the speed responsive control unit 38 by the return conduit 36 and from the speed responsive control unit 38 to the reservoir 32 by the return conduit 34 . the force transmitting member 116 has a generally fluid tight fit with the inner side surface 134 of the housing 44 . the chamber 98 is connected in fluid communication with the reservoir 32 by return conduit 34 . any fluid that leaks from the pressure chamber 136 into the chamber 98 is thus conducted back to the reservoir 32 . although the preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown with the spring 130 located in chamber 136 , the spring 130 might not be used . if there is no spring , the length of the steering control valve housing 44 can be reduced by reducing the axial length of the chamber 136 . rotation of the valve stem 50 and inner valve member 40 relative to the housing 44 and outer valve member 42 is resisted by a force that is related to the spring constant of the torsion bar 51 and a combination of the axial force on the force transmitting member 116 by spring 130 and the fluid pressure force applied against the annular surface 142 . the balls 126 act as driving connections between the force transmitting member 116 and the outer valve member 42 . upon rotation of the inner valve member 40 , the cam surfaces 122 and 124 in the force transmitting member 116 and outer valve member 42 create axial and tangential forces on the balls 126 with respect to the force transmitting member 116 and the outer valve member 42 . these forces translate into ( a ) additional torque in the steering column felt by the operator of the vehicle , and ( b ) resistance to relative rotation of the inner and outer valve members 40 and 42 . relative rotation between the inner valve member 40 and the outer valve member 42 causes the spherical elements 126 to tend to roll on the cam surfaces 122 and 124 and therefore to move the force transmitting member 116 axially away from an end 146 of the outer valve member 42 . obviously , the force required to move the force transmitting member 116 axially away from the outer valve member 42 varies as a function of the net force urging the force transmitting member 116 toward the outer valve member 42 . thus , the greater the net force pressing the force transmitting member 116 against the balls 126 , the greater is the force required to rotate the valve stem 50 and inner valve member 40 relative to the outer valve member 42 . the speed responsive control unit 38 responds to steering activity and vehicle speed to control the fluid pressure in the chamber 136 . the speed responsive control unit 38 is connected in fluid communication with the chamber 136 in the housing 44 by the return conduit 36 . at engine idle and relatively low vehicle speeds , a relatively low fluid pressure is present in the return conduit 36 and in the chamber 136 . at engine idle and low vehicle speeds , the force of the spring 130 and the low fluid pressure in chamber 136 urge the force transmitting member 116 toward the cam elements 126 . thus , there is little resistance to relative rotation between the valve stem 50 and outer valve member 42 and the steering effort feels less manual . at relatively high speeds of the vehicle , the pressure in chamber 136 is at a maximum and there is maximum resistance to relative rotation of the valve stem 50 and outer valve member 42 and less hydraulic assist is provided and the steering feels more manual . changes in the fluid pressure in the chamber 136 affect the axial forces acting on the valve sleeve 42 . when the pressure in the chamber 136 is relatively low , fluid pressure in the control valve 22 can tend to urge the valve sleeve 42 to move axially in its housing 44 , in an upward direction as viewed in the drawings . upon such movement , seals 160 , such as the one shown in fig2 that seal the annular space between the valve sleeve 42 and the housing 44 , can be forced out of their grooves and into the annular space between the valve sleeve and the housing . this can adversely affect the sealing ability of the seals 16 . in accordance with the present invention , the axial movement of the valve sleeve 42 is limited by a snap ring 170 placed on the valve sleeve 42 after the valve sleeve is assembled with the hitch pins 56 . the valve sleeve 42 ( fig2 and 3 ) is initially assembled into the control valve 22 by sliding it axially until the hitch pins 56 , which are press fitted in the pinion 54 , move into axially extending slots 162 in a lower end portion 164 of the valve sleeve 42 . fig2 and 3 show one of the pin / slot assemblies . the engagement of the hitch pins 56 in the slots 162 couples the valve sleeve 42 for rotation with the pinion 54 in a follow - up manner . in this initial condition of assembly , however , the valve sleeve 42 is movable axially off the hitch pins 56 , that is , in an upward direction as viewed in fig2 and 3 , in response to the axial forces in the control valve 22 . the snap ring 170 is received in a groove 172 in the valve sleeve 42 . the groove 172 extends 360 degrees around the outer circumference of the valve sleeve 42 , in the lower end portion 164 of the valve sleeve . the groove 172 extends through , and is thus discontinuous at , the two slots 162 . the groove 172 is located so that the snap ring 170 engages the two hitch pins 56 when the snap ring is placed in the groove . during operation of the steering system 12 , forces that tend to move the valve sleeve 42 in a downward direction as viewed in fig2 and 3 are counteracted by the engagement of the hitch pins 56 with the closed ends of the slots 162 . forces that tend to move the valve sleeve 42 in an upward direction as viewed in fig2 and 3 are counteracted by the engagement of the snap ring 170 with the hitch pins 56 . the snap ring 170 engages the hitch pins 56 to limit axial movement of the valve sleeve 42 in this direction , relative to the pinion 56 and the valve core 40 . this prevents the seals 160 from being extruded into the gap between the valve sleeve 42 and the housing 44 . from the above description of the invention , those skilled in the art will perceive improvements , changes and modifications in the invention . such improvements , changes and modifications within the skill of the art are intended to be covered by the appended claims . | 1 |
in order to more fully describe the present invention , a number of related aspects will also be described . in this way , the reader can gain a better understanding of the context and scope of the present invention . fig6 illustrates , schematically an overall representation of one aspect of invention . although specific aspects of various elements of the overall flow chart are discussed below in more detail , it may be helpful to provide an outline of the flow chart illustrated in fig6 . block model 601 , mining and processing parameters 602 and slope constraints 603 are provided as input parameters . when combined , precedence arcs 604 are provided . for a given block , arcs will point to other blocks that must be removed before the given block can be removed . as typically , the number of blocks can be very large , at 605 , blocks are aggregated into larger collections , and clustered . cones are propagated from respective clusters and clumps are then created 606 at intersections of cones . the number of clumps is now much smaller than the number of blocks , and clumps include slope constraints . at 607 , the clumps may then be scheduled in a manner according to specified criteria , for example , mining and processing constraints and npv . it is of great advantage that the scheduling occurs with clumps ( which number much less than blocks ). it is , in part , the reduced number of clumps that provides a relative degree of arithmetic simplicity and / or reduced requirements of the programming engine or algorithms used to determine the schedule . following this , a schedule of individual block order can be determined from the clump schedule , by de - aggregating . the step of polish at 608 is optional , but does improve the value of the block sequence . from the block ordering , pushbacks can be designed 609 . secondary clustering can be undertaken 610 , with an additional fourth co - ordinate . the fourth co - ordinate may be time , for example , but may also be any other desirable value or parameter . from here , cones are again propagated from the clusters , but in a sequence commensurate with the fourth co - ordinate . any blocks already assigned to previously propagated cones are not included in the next cone propagation . pushbacks are formed 611 from these propagated cones . pushbacks may be viewed for mineability 612 . an assessment as to a balance between mineability and npv can be made at 613 , whether in accordance with a predetermined parameter or not . the pushback design can be repeated if necessary via path 614 . other consideration can also be taken into account , such as minimum mining width 615 , and validation 616 . balances can be taken into account for mining constraints , downstream processing constraints and / or stockpiling options , such as blending and supply chain determination and / or evaluation . the following description focuses on a number of aspects of invention which reside within the overall flow chart disclosed above . for the purposes of fig6 , sections 2 and 5 are associated with 605 , sections 3 , 4 and 5 are associated with 606 , sections 4 , 6 are associated with 607 , sections 7 and 7 . 3 are associated with 610 , sections 7 . 2 and 7 . 3 are associated with 611 , section 7 . 3 is associated with 612 , 613 and 614 , and sections 7 , 7 . 1 , 7 . 2 and 7 . 3 are associated with 609 . input parameters include the block model 601 , mining and processing parameters 602 , and slope constraints 603 . slope regions ( eg . physical areas or zones ) are contained in 601 ; slope parameters ( eg . slopes and bearings for each zone ) are contained in 602 . the block model 601 contains information , for example , such as the value of a block in dollars , the grade of the block in grams per tonne , the tonnage of rock in the block , and the tonnage of ore in the block . the mining and processing parameters 602 are expressed in terms of tonnes per year that may be mined or processed subject to capacity constraints . the slope constraints 603 contain information about the maximal slope around in given directions about a particular block . the slope constraints 603 and the block model 601 when combined give rise to precedence arcs 604 . for a given block , arcs will point from the given block to all other blocks that must be removed before the given block . the number of arcs is reduced by storing them in an inductive , where , for example , in two dimensions , an inverted cone of blocks may be described by every block pointing to the three blocks centred immediately above it . this principle can also be applied to three dimensions . if the inverted cone is large , for example having a depth of 10 , the number of arcs required would be 100 ; one for each block . however , using the inductive rule of “ point to the three blocks centred directly above you ”, the entire inverted cone may be described by only three arcs instead of the 100 . in this way the number of arcs required to be stored is greatly reduced . as block models typically contain hundreds of thousands of blocks , with each block containing hundreds of arcs , this data compression is considered a significant advantage . the number of blocks in the block model 601 is typically far too large to schedule individually , therefore it is desirable to aggregate the blocks into larger collections , and then to schedule these larger collections . to proceed with this aggregation , the ore blocks are clustered 605 ( these are typically located towards the bottom of the pit . in one preferred form , those blocks with negative value , which are taken to be waste , are not clustered ). the ore blocks are clustered spatially ( using their x , y , z coordinates ) and in terms of their grade or value . a balance is struck between having spatially compact clusters , and clusters with similar grade or value within them . these clusters will form the kernels of the atoms of aggregation . from each cluster , an ( imaginary ) inverted cone is formed , by propagating upwards using the precedence arcs . this inverted cone represents the minimal amount of material that must be excavated before the entire cluster can be extracted . ideally , for every cluster , there is an inverted cone . typically , these cones will intersect . each of these intersections ( including the trivial intersections of a cone intersecting only itself ) will form an atom of aggregation , which is call a clump . clumps are created , represented by 606 . the number of clumps produced is now far smaller than the original number of blocks . precedence arcs between clumps are induced by the precedence arcs between the individual blocks . an extraction ordering of the clumps that is feasible according to these precedence arcs will automatically respect minimum slope constraints . it is feasible to schedule these clumps to find a substantially npv maximal , clump schedule 607 that satisfies all of the mining and processing constraints . now that there is a schedule of clumps 607 , this can be turned into a schedule of individual blocks . one method is to consider all of those clumps that are begun in a calendar year one , and to excavate these block by block starting from the uppermost level , proceeding level by level to the lowermost level . other methods are disclosed in section 6 of this specification . having produced this block ordering , the next step may be to optionally polish 608 the block ordering to further improve the npv . in a more complex case , the step of polish 608 , can be bypassed . if it is desirable , however , polishing can be performed to improve the value of the block sequence . from this block ordering , we can produce pushbacks , via pushback design 609 . advantageously , the present invention enables the creation of pushbacks that allow for npv optimal mining schedules . a pushback is a large section of a pit in which trucks and shovels will be concentrated to dig , sometimes for a period of time , such as for one or more years . the block ordering gives us a guide as to where one should begin and end mining . in essence , the block ordering is an optimal way to dig up the pit . however , often this block ordering is not feasible because the ordering suggested is too spatially fragmented . in an aspect of invention , the block ordering is aggregated so that large , connected portions of the pits are obtained ( pushbacks ). then a secondary clustering of the ore blocks can be undertaken 610 . this time , the clustering is spatial ( x , y , z ) and has an additional 4th coordinate , which represents the block extraction time ordering . the emphasis of the 4th coordinate of time may be increased and decreased . decreasing the emphasis produces clusters that are spatially compact , but ignore the optimal extraction sequence . increasing the emphasis of the 4th coordinate produces clusters that are more spatially fragmented but follow the optimal extraction sequence more closely . once the clusters have been selected ( and ordered in time ), inverted cones are propagated upwards in time order . that is , the earliest cluster ( in time ) is propagated upwards to form an inverted cone . next , the second earliest cluster is propagated upwards . any blocks that are already assigned to the first cone are not included in the second cone and any subsequent cones . likewise , any blocks assigned to the second cone are not included in any subsequent cones . these propagated cones or parts of cones form the pushbacks 611 . this secondary clustering , propagation , and npv valuation is relatively rapid , and the intention is that the user would select an emphasis for the 4th coordinate of time , perform the propagation and valuation , and view the pushbacks for mineability 612 . a balance between mineability and npv can be accessed 613 , and if necessary the pushback design steps can be repeated , path 614 . for example , if mineability is too fragmented , the emphasis of the 4th coordinate would be reduced . if the npv from the valuation is too low , the emphasis of the 4th coordinate would be increased . once a pushback design has been selected , a minimum mining width routine 615 is run on the pushback design to ensure that a minimum mining width is maintained between the pushbacks and themselves , and the pushbacks and the boundary of the pit . an example in the open literature is “ the effect of minimum mining width on npv ” by christopher wharton & amp ; jeff whittle , “ optimizing with whittle ” conference , perth , 1997 . a more sophisticated valuation method 616 is possible at this final stage that balances mining and processing constraints , and additionally could take into account stockpiling options , such as blending and supply chain determination and / or evaluation . it has been found that the number of blocks in a block model is typically far too large to schedule individually , therefore in accordance with one related aspect of invention , the blocks are aggregated into larger collections . these larger collections are then preferably scheduled . scheduling means assigning a clump to be excavated in a particular period or periods . to proceed with the aggregation , a number of ore blocks are clustered . ore blocks are identified as different from waste material . the waste material is to be removed to reach the ore blocks . the ore blocks may contain substantially only ore of a desirably quality or quantity and / or be combined with other material or even waste material . the ore blocks are typically located towards the bottom of the pit , but may be located any where in the pit . in accordance with a preferred aspect of the present invention , the ore blocks which are considered to be waste are given a negative value , and the ore blocks are not clustered with a negative value . it is considered that those blocks with a positive value , present themselves as possible targets for the staging of the open pit mine . this approach is built around targeting those blocks of value , namely those blocks with positive value . waste blocks with a negative value are not considered targets and are therefore this aspect of invention does not cluster those targets . the ore blocks are clustered spatially ( using their x , y , z coordinates ) and in terms of their grade or value . preferably , limits or predetermined criteria are used in deciding the clusters . for example , what is the spatial limit to be applied to a given cluster of blocks ? are blocks spaced 10 meters or 100 meters apart considered one cluster ? these criteria may be varied depending on the particular mine , design and environment . for example , fig7 illustrates schematically an ore body 701 . within the ore body are a number of blocks 702 , 703 , 704 and 705 . ( the ore body has many blocks , but the description will only refer to a limited number for simplicity ) each block 702 , 703 , 704 and 705 has its own individual x , y , z coordinates . if an aggregation is to be formed , the coordinates of blocks 702 , 703 , 704 and 705 can be analysed according to a predetermined criteria . if the criteria is only distance , for example , then blocks 702 , 703 and 704 are situated closer than block 705 . the aggregation may be thus formed by blocks 702 , 703 and 704 . however , if , in accordance with this aspect of invention , another criteria is also used , such as grade or value , blocks 702 , 703 and 705 may be considered an aggregation as defined by line 706 , even though block 704 is situated closer to blocks 702 and 703 . a balance is struck between having spatially compact clusters , and clusters with similar grade or value within them . these clusters will form the kernels of the atoms of aggregation . it is important that there is control over spatial compactness versus the grade / value similarity . if the clusters are too spatially separated , the inverted cone that we will ultimately propagate up from the cluster ( as will be described below ) will be too wide and contain superfluous stripping . if the clusters internally contain too much grade or value variation , there will be dilution of value . it is preferable for the clusters to substantially sharply identify regions of high grade and low - grade separately , while maintaining a spatial compactness of the clusters . such clusters have been found to produce high - quality aggregations . furthermore , where a relatively large body of ore is encountered , the ore body may be divided into a relatively large number of blocks . each block may have substantially the same or a different ore grade or value . a relatively large number of blocks will have spatial difference , which may be used to define aggregates and clumps in accordance with the disclosure above . the ore body , in this manner may be broken up into separate regions , from which individual cones can be defined and propagated . from each cluster , an inverted cone ( imaginary ) is formed . a cone is referred to as a manner of explaining visually to the reader what occurs . although the collection of blocks forming the cone does look like a discretised cone to the human eye . in a practical embodiment , this step would be simulated mathematically by computer . each cone is preferably a minimal cone , that is , not over sized . this cone is represented schematically or mathematically , but for the purposes of explanation it is helpful to think of an inverted cone propagating upward of the aggregation . the inverted cone can be propagated upwards of the atom of aggregation using the precedence arcs . most mine optimisation software packages use the idea of precedence arcs . the cone is preferably three dimensional . the inverted cone represents the minimal amount of material that must be excavated before the entire cluster can be extracted . in accordance with a preferred form of this aspect of invention , every cluster has a corresponding inverted cone . typically , these cones will intersect another cone propagating upwardly from an adjacent aggregation . each intersection ( including the trivial intersections of a cone intersecting only itself ) will form an atom of aggregation , which is call a ‘ clump ’, in accordance with this aspect . precedence arcs between clumps are induced by the precedence arcs between the individual blocks . these precedence arcs are important for identifying which extraction ordering of clumps are physically feasible and which are not . extraction orderings must be consistent with the precedence arcs . this means that if block / clump a points to block / clump b , then block / clump b must be excavated earlier than block / clump a . with reference to fig8 , illustrating a pit 801 , in which there are ore bodies 802 , 803 , and 804 . having identified the important “ ore targets ” in the stage of initial identification of clusters , as described above , the procedure of propagation and formation of clumps goes on to produce mini pits ( clumps ) that are the most efficient ways access these “ ore targets ”. the clumps are the regions formed by an intersection of the cones , as well as the remainder of cones once the intersected areas are removed . in accordance with the embodiment aspect , intersected areas must be removed before any others , eg . 814 must be dug up before either 805 or 806 , in fig8 . in accordance with the description above , cones 805 , 806 and 807 are propagated ( for the purposes of illustration ) from ore bodies to be extracted . the cones are formed by precedence arcs 808 , 809 , 810 , 811 , 812 and 813 . in fig8 , for example , clumps are designated regions 814 and 815 . other clumps are also designated by what is left of the inverted cones 805 , 806 and 807 when 814 and 815 have been removed . the clump area is the area within the cone . the overlaps , which are the intersections of the cones , are used to allow the excavation of the inverted cones in any particular order . the collection of clumps has three important properties . firstly , the clumps allow access to the all targets as quickly as possible ( minimality ), and secondly the clumps allow many possible orders of access to the identified ore targets ( flexibility ). thirdly , because cones are used , an extraction ordering of the clumps that is feasible according to the precedence arcs will automatically respect and accommodate minimum slope constraints . thus , the slope constraints are automatically built into this aspect of invention . once the initial clumps have been formed , a search is performed from the lowest level of the clump upwards . the highest level at which ore is contained in the clump is identified ; everything above this level is considered to be waste . the option is given to split the clump into two pieces ; the upper piece contains waste , and the lower piece contains a mixture of waste and ore . fig9 illustrates a pit 901 , in which there is an ore body 902 . from the ore body , precedence arcs 903 and 904 define a cone propagating upward . in accordance with this aspect of invention , line 905 is identified as the highest level of the clump 902 . then 906 can designate ore , and 907 can designate waste . this splitting of waste from ore designations is considered to allow for a more accurate valuation of the clump . many techniques assume that the value within a clump is uniformly distributed , however , in practice this is often not the case . by splitting the clump into two pieces , one with pure waste and the other with mostly ore , the assumption of homogeneity is more likely to be accurate . more sophisticated splitting based on finer divisions of value or grade are also possible in accordance with predetermined criteria , which can be set from time to time or in accordance with a particular pit design or location . the feature of ‘ clumping blocks together ’ may be viewed for the purpose of arithmetic simplicity where the number of blocks are too large . the number of clumps produced is far smaller than the original number of blocks . this allows a mixed integer optimisation engine to be used , otherwise the use of mixed integer engines would be considered not feasible . for example , cplex by ilog may be used . this aspect has beneficial application to the invention disclosed in pending provisional patent application no . 2002951892 , titled “ mining process and design ” filed 10 oct . 2002 by the present applicant , and which is herein incorporated by reference . this aspect can be used to reduce problem and calculation size for other methods ( such as disclosed in the co - pending application above ). the number of clumps produced is far smaller than the original number of blocks . this allows a mixed integer optimisation engine to be used . the advantage of such an engine is that a truly optimal ( in terms of maximising npv ) schedule of clumps may be found in a ( considered ) feasible time . moreover this optimal schedule satisfies mining and processing constraints . allowing for mining and processing constraints , the ability to find truly optimal solutions represents a significant advance over currently available commercial software . the quality of the solution will depend on the quality of the clumps that are input to the optimisation engine . the selection procedures to identify high quality clumps have been outlined in the sections above . some commercial software , as noted in the background section of this specification , do use mixed integer programming engines , however , the method of aggregating blocks is different either in method , or in application , and we believe of lower - quality . for example , it is considered that ‘ ecsi maximiser ’ uses a form of integer optimisation in their pushback design , and restricts the time window for each block , but the optimisation is local in time , and it &# 39 ; s problem formulation is considered too large to optimise globally over the life of a mine . in contrast , in accordance with the present invention , a global optimisation over the entire life of mine is performed by allowing clumps to be taken at any time from start of mine life to end of mine life . ‘ minemax ’ may be used to find rudimentary optimal block sequencing with a mixed integer programming engine , however it is considered that it &# 39 ; s method of aggregation does not respect slopes as is required in many situations . ‘ minemax ’ also optimises locally in time , and not globally . in use , there is a large huge number of variables , and the user must therefore resort to subdividing the pit to perform separate optimisations , and thus the optimisation is not global over the entire pit . the present invention is global in both space and time . now that there is a schedule of clumps , it is desirable to turn this into a schedule of individual blocks . one method is to consider all of those clumps that are begun in year one , and to excavate these block by block starting from the uppermost level , proceeding level by level to the lowermost level . one then moves on to year two , and considers all of those clumps that are begun in year two , excavating all of the blocks contained in those clumps level by level from the top level through to the bottom level . and so on , until the end of the mine life . typically , some clumps may be extracted over a period of several years . this method just described is not as accurate as may be required for some situations , because the block ordering assumes that the entire clump is removed without stopping , once it is begun . another method is to consider the fraction of the clump that is taken in each year . this method begins with year one , and extracts the blocks in such a way that the correct fractions of each clump for year one are taken in approximately year one . the integer programming engine assigns a fraction of each clump to be excavated in each period / year . this fraction may also be zero . this assignment of clumps to years or periods must be turned into a sequence of blocks . this may be done as follows . if half of the clump a is taken in year one , and one third of clump b is taken in year one , and all other fractions of clumps in year one are zero , the blocks representing the upper half of clump a and the blocks representing the upper one - third of clump b are joined together . this union of blocks is then ordered from the uppermost bench to the lowermost bench and forms the beginning of the blocks sequence ( because we are dealing with year one ). one then moves on to year two and repeats the procedure , concatenating the blocks with those already in the sequence . having produced this block ordering , block ordering may be in a position to be optionally polished to further improve the npv . the step of polishing is similar to the method disclosed in co - pending application 2002951892 ( described above , and incorporated herein by reference ) but the starting condition is different . rather than best value to lowest value , as is disclosed in the co - pending application , in the present aspect , the start is with the block sequence obtained from the clump schedule . from this block ordering , we must produce pushbacks . this is the ultimate goal of klumpking — to produce pushbacks that allow for npv optimal mining schedules . a pushback is a large section of a pit in which trucks and shovels will be concentrated for one or more years to dig . the block ordering gives us a guide as to where one should begin and end mining . in principle , the block ordering is the optimal way to dig up the pit . however , it is not feasible , because the ordering is too spatially fragmented . it is desirable to aggregate the block ordering so that large , connected portions of the pits are obtained ( pushbacks ). a secondary clustering of the ore blocks is undertaken . this time , clustering is spatially ( x , y , z ) and as a 4th coordinate , which is used for the block extraction time or ordering . the emphasis of the 4th coordinate of time may be increased or decreased . decreasing the emphasis produces clusters that are spatially compact , but tend to ignore the optimal extraction sequence . increasing the emphasis produces clusters that are more spatially fragmented but follow the optimal extraction sequence more closely . once the clusters have been selected , they may be ordered in time . the clusters are selected based on a known algorithm of fuzzy clustering , such as j c bezdek , r h hathaway , m j sabin , w t tucker . “ convergence theory for fuzzy c - means : counterexamples and repairs ”. ieee trans . systems , man , and cybernetics 17 ( 1987 ) pp 873 - 877 . fuzzy clustering is a clustering routine that tries to minimise distances of data points from a cluster centre . in this inventive aspect , the cluster uses a four - dimensional space ; ( x , y , z , v ), where x , y and z give spatial coordinates or references , and ‘ v ’ is a variable for any one or a combination of time , value , grade , ore type , time or a period of time , or any other desirable factor or attribute . other factors to control are cluster size ( in terms of ore mass , rock mass , rock volume , $ value , average grade , homogeneity of grade / value ), and cluster shape ( in terms of irregularity of boundary , spherical - ness , and connectivity ). in one specific embodiment , ‘ v ’ represents ore type . in another embodiment , clusters may be ordered in time by accounting for ‘ v ’ as representing clusters according to their time centres . there is also the alternative embodiment of controlling the sizes of the clusters and therefore the sizes of the pushbacks . “ size ” may mean rock tonnage , ore tonnage , total value , among other things . in this aspect , there is provided a fuzzy clustering algorithm or method , which in operation serves to , where if a pushback is to begin , its corresponding cluster may be reduced in size by reassigning blocks according to their probability of belonging to other clusters . there is also another embodiment , where there is an algorithm or method that is a form of ‘ crisp ’, as opposed to fuzzy , clustering , specially tailored for the particular type of size control and time ordering that are found in mining applications . this ‘ crisp ’ clustering is based on a method of slowly growing clusters while continually shuffling the blocks between clusters to improve cluster quality . having disclosed clustering , above , another related aspect of invention is to then propagate these clusters in a time ordered way without using intersections , to produce the pushbacks . referring to fig1 , a mine site 1001 is schematically represented , in which there is an ore body of 3 sections , 1002 , 1003 , and 1004 . inverted cones are then propagated upwards in a time order , as represented in fig1 , by lines 1005 and 1006 for cone 1 . that is , the earliest cluster ( in time ) is propagated upwards to form an inverted cone . next , the second earliest cluster is propagated upwards , as represented in fig1 by lines 1007 and 1008 ( dotted ) for cone 2 , and lines 1009 and 1010 ( dotted ) for cone 3 . any blocks that are already assigned to the first cone are not included in the second cone . this is represented in fig1 by the area between lines 1008 and 1005 . this area remains a part of cone 1 according to this inventive aspect . again , in fig1 , the area between lines 1010 and 1007 remains a part of cone 2 , and not any subsequent cone . this method is applied to any subsequent cones . likewise , any blocks assigned to the second cone are not included in any subsequent cones . these propagated cones or parts of cones form the pushbacks . in this related aspect , there is a process loop of clustering , propagating to find pushbacks , valuing relatively quickly , and then feeding this information back into the choice of clustering parameters . this secondary clustering , propagation , and npv valuation is relatively rapid , and the intention is that there would be an iterative evaluation of the result , either by computer or user , and accordingly the emphasis for the 4th coordinate can be selected , the propagation and valuation can be considered and performed , and the pushbacks for mineability can also be considered and reviewed . if the result is considered too fragmented , the emphasis of the 4th coordinate may be reduced . if the npv from the valuation is too low , the emphasis of the 4th coordinate may be increased . referring to fig1 a , there is illustrated in plan view a two dimensional slice of a mine site . in the example there are 15 blocks , but the number of blocks may be any number . in this example , blocks have been numbered to correspond with extraction time , where 1 is earliest extraction , and 15 is latest extraction time . in the example illustrated , the numbers indicate relatively optimal extraction ordering . in accordance with the aspect disclosed above , fig1 b illustrates an example of the result of clustering where there is a relatively high fudge factor and relatively high emphasis on time . cluster number 1 is seen to be fragmented , has a relatively high npv but is not considered mineable . in accordance with the aspect disclosed above , fig1 c illustrates an example of the result of clustering where there is a lower emphasis on time , as compared to fig1 b . the result illustrated is that both clusters number one and two are connected , and ‘ rounded ’, and although they have a slightly lower npv , the clusters are considered mineable . an approach in accordance with a first aspect of invention is to aggregate the precedence constraints as follows : in this first aspect approach , the number of constraints is reduced to one for every block below the surface ( there are no precedence constraints for the blocks on the top bench of the pit ). in this case each constraint enforces the rule that a block can only be extracted if all of its predecessor blocks are extracted . however , the total unimodularity property of the exact ( disaggregated ) formulation is not preserved in this first approach formulation . hence , the integrality constraints on the decision variables must be enforced . equation 3 manifests therefore as an integer program , and must be solved using the method of branch - and - bound , rather than the simplex method . this solution method takes a relatively long time in terms of computation time and can also require a relatively large amount of memory for storage of the decision tree . in particular , obtaining the truly optimal solution ( as opposed to a solution within a specified percentage of the optimal solution ) may take a relatively long time . when the aggregated formulation ( equation 3 ) is lp - relaxed and solved in cplex , the decision variables may take fractional values , and the outcome is expressed in equation 4 following : consider the case of a relatively small first example of a mine ( 16 , 049 blocks ) that is provided as an example with the whittle software package ( by whittle pty ltd , www , whittle . com . au ). fig1 shows the view from above of a comparison of the optimal solutions found by the exact formulation ( equation 2 ) and the lp relaxation of the aggregated formulation ( equation 4 ). the blocks 10 are those that are set to 1 by both the exact formulation ( equation 2 ) and the aggregated formulation ( equation 3 ). the blocks 11 around the outside of this pit are those blocks which are included ( set to 1 ) in the ultimate pit found by the exact formulation ( equation 2 ), but are not included ( set to 0 ) in the solution found by the lp relaxation of the aggregated formulation ( equation 4 ). it is evident that there are a number of blocks that are included in the true ultimate pit that are not included by the lp relaxation of the aggregated formulation ( equation 4 ). the blocks 12 are waste . a comparison of a vertical cross - section of the pit design using the exact formulation ( equation 2 ) and the lp relaxation of the aggregated formulation ( equation 4 ) for this first mine example is illustrated in fig1 when compared with fig1 . fig1 shows a plane through the example pit from the view of the solution using the exact formulation ( equation 2 ). the area 20 is the ultimate pit and the area 21 is waste . referring to table 1 , below , the total value of this pit is found to be $ 1 . 43885e + 09 , and cplex requires 29 . 042 seconds to obtain this solution . fig1 shows the equivalent view when the lp relaxation of the aggregated formulation ( equation 4 ) for the ultimate pit is used . the area 20 is blocks set to 1 , area 21 is waste ( blocks set to 0 ) and area 22 is material which may be further interrogated in order to decide whether it is included ( or not ) in the ultimate pit ( set to a value between 0 and 1 ). the total value of this pit is found to be $ 1 . 54268e + 09 , and found in a cpu time of 0 . 992 seconds . note that the solution of the aggregated formulation ( equation 3 ) ( where integrality constraints are imposed on the decision variables ) gives a total value of the ultimate pit to be $ 1 . 43591e + 09 ( using a branch - and - bound stopping criteria of 1 % from optimal ), which is similar to the value as that given by equation 2 , and a cpu time of 1675 . 18 seconds was required to obtain this solution . it is evident that cplex , when using this relaxed aggregated formulation for the problem , provides a relatively higher valued ultimate pit to be found , but does so in a relatively shorter time . this relatively higher value results , in part , from a relaxation of the predecessor constraints , thus allowing a fraction of a block to be taken even when all of its predecessor blocks have not been taken . by way of illustration of the reason for finding a relatively higher pit value using equation 4 , consider the situation shown in fig1 . the number within each block represents the value assigned to the decision variable ( xi ) for that block by the lp relaxation of the aggregated formulation ( equation 4 ). in the case illustrated in fig1 , blocks 2 and 3 are predecessors of block 1 . block 1 is represented by x 1 , block 2 by x 2 and block 3 by x 3 in the equations below . in the exact formulation ( equation 2 ), the constraints for this situation illustrated are the solution given ( x 1 = 0 . 5 , x 2 = 0 , x 3 = 1 ) is infeasible for the exact formulation ( equation 2 ), since however , in the lp relaxation of the aggregated formulation ( equation 4 ), the relevant constraint is in this case the solution from fig1 is considered feasible ( since 2 × 0 . 5 = 1 & lt ;= 0 + 1 = 1 ). hence if blocks 1 and 3 were ore blocks and had positive value , while block 2 was a waste block with negative value , the lp relaxation of the aggregated formulation ( equation 4 ) can take all of block 3 and 0 . 5 of block 1 without incurring the penalty of taking the negative valued block 2 . hence the aggregated formulation ( equation 4 ) can take fractions of positive blocks that otherwise would not have been taken in the exact formulation ( equation 2 ). this leads to a solution of greater value than in the disaggregated case . the lp relaxation of the aggregated formulation ( equation 4 ) can be modified to overcome this solution of artificially greater value . the result is equation 9 below , namely : loop over all arcs { if i → j , and x i & gt ; x j in solution , then add the constraint x i ≦ x j } this approach as expressed by equation 9 is considered a second aspect of invention termed a ‘ cutting plane method ’. in this second aspect , an initial ( reduced ) problem is solved to give an upper bound on the optimal value , and then any constraints from the overall ( master ) problem that are violated by this solution are added , and the problem is re - solved . this is repeated until substantially no constraints from the master problem are found to be violated . in this second aspect , the linear program for the aggregated formulation ( equation 4 ) is run and a solution , call it { circumflex over ( x )} is obtained . each element of the vector { circumflex over ( x )} represents the value ( possibly fractional ) assigned to each block . within { circumflex over ( x )} there will be instances of pairs of individual blocks where the constraint that the successor block cannot be taken until the entire predecessor block has been taken ( from the exact formulation ) is violated . for example , in fig1 , the constraint in the exact formulation that block 1 is assigned an i value of 0 . 5 and j is assigned a value of 0 thus , in the case of fig1 , i has a value greater than j and the constraint is added and the solution re - run . the result will be the violation posed by fig1 as far as blocks 1 and 2 , will be removed . some individual block constraints can be added to the lp relaxation of the aggregated formulation ( equation 4 ) to make it feasible for the ultimate pit problem . it is possible to perform the following iteration . for each element of { circumflex over ( x )}, compare its value with that of each of its predecessor blocks in turn . whenever there is a situation where the successor block has a greater value than the predecessor block , add the relative single block constraint to the formulation . for example , in the situation from fig1 , the constraint will be added to the lp relaxation of the aggregated formulation ( equation 4 ). after checking the relationship for all pairs of predecessors , re - solve the problem , subject to the aggregated constraints as well as the added single block precedence constraints . again , the solution may be infeasible , so the process may have to be repeated . this process should be repeated until the step of checking single block dependencies reveals that substantially no single block precedence relationships are violated . the solution at this point has been found to be the same as the optimal solution , found by solving the exact formulation ( equation 2 ). it is considered that the number of constraints needed to obtain the solution using this second aspect approach is significantly less than the number used in the disaggregated formulation . since the initial aggregated solution gives a reasonable approximation to the ultimate pit , it has been found that only a small percentage of the total number of single block precedence constraints for the problem should need to be added to the formulation . in this way , the computational requirement in terms of memory ( storage and manipulation of the constraint matrix ) to find the optimal solution should be significantly reduced . however , the cost of this approach is that the process of checking and identification of violated constraints will require more time than the prior art method of equation 2 . when equation 9 is applied to the first mine example referred to above , this second approach found the total value of the pit to be $ 1 . 43885e + 09 , the same as the solution to the problem using the disaggregated formulation ( equation 2 ). the computation time required to achieve this second approach was 976 . 565 seconds . a brief comparison of these two methods for the ultimate pit problem at the first example mine is given in table 1 , above . it is evident that the trade off between the prior art approach and the approaches of the first and second aspects is time against memory , as illustrated in table 1 , above ). the exact formulation ( equation 2 ) finds the optimal solution in 29 . 402 seconds , while the cutting plane formulation ( equation 9 ) takes 976 . 565 seconds to find the optimal solution . this is due , in part , to the fact that the cutting plane formulation re - solves a large lp a number of times in the process of solving the problem . in addition , the process of searching through and checking the entire arcs file ( which is completed as a part of each iteration ) takes a significant amount of time . however , the exact formulation ( equation 2 ) solves a model with 264 , 859 precedence constraints ( requiring a significant amount of memory ), compared with 34 , 819 precedence constraints in the cutting plane formulation ( equation 5 ). this is a decrease of 87 %. it is expected that the number of constraints in the model is proportional to the memory required to store and solve the problem , in particular , to perform the inversion on the final constraint matrix once the optimal solution has been found . thus , advantageously , a solution of the cutting plane formulation ( equation 9 ) may be possible in cases where cplex runs out of memory when trying to solve the exact formulation ( equation 2 ). in a second example mine , which has 38 , 612 blocks , the same approach was taken to that above , with similar results , as shown in table 2 . in particular , referring to table 2 above , the exact formulation ( equation 2 ) contains 1 , 045 , 428 constraints , while the final model following implementation of the cutting plane algorithm ( equation 9 ) requires only 159 , 832 constraints . however , the cutting plane method ( equation 9 ) takes 12 , 354 . 3 seconds to find the solution , while the exact formulation ( equation 2 ) requires 223 . 762 seconds of cpu time . further testing of the alternative mixed integer program approaches to the pit design was carried out on a third mine example , as detailed in table 3 below . the block model for the third mine example contains 198 , 917 blocks . initially , the exact formulation ( equation 2 ) was trailed . this resulted in cplex attempting to solve a linear program with 3 , 526 , 057 single block constraints . the size of this constraint matrix caused cplex to run out of memory when trying to apply the dual simplex algorithm to solve the problem . thus , the exact solution to the pit design in the case of this third mine example is unable to be determined by this approach . the aggregate formulation ( equation 3 ) was next trailed . this resulted in 188 , 082 constraints , a value of $ 3 . 34125e + 09 , and a cpu time of 33298 . 5 seconds . the next trail was to run the lp relaxation of the aggregated formulation ( equation 4 ). it is expected that the solution to this problem will give an upper bound on the optimal value of the ultimate pit , as was described above . this is due to the fact that cplex includes fractions of blocks without necessarily taking their entire precedence set . in this trail , the model had 188 , 082 constraints . the optimal solution was found to have a value of $ 3 . 40296e + 09 , and this was found in 12 . 989 seconds of cpu time . the cutting plane formulation ( equation 9 ) was also trailed on this example third mine . this is the method where the solution to the lp relaxation of the aggregated formulation is used as a starting solution , and then violated single block constraints are added to the model and then again resolved . this process is repeated until no more single block constraints are violated , and thus the solution is similar to that for the exact formulation . the solution to this equation 9 is considered to be the correct solution to the problem . when equation 9 was run , it was found that cplex was able to handle the size of the problem , and the exact ultimate pit was found . the solution contained 285 , 598 constraints , a reduction of 92 % on the exact formulation . the optimal value of the pit design was found to be $ 3 . 37223e + 09 , and the cpu time required to find this solution was 19703 . 8 seconds . thus the cutting plane algorithm ( equation 9 ) has been found to provide an improved solution within the memory limits of a practical implementation of the present invention , using computers and / or computer modelling , where the exact formulation ( equation 2 ) could not . again , the saving in memory is offset by a longer computation time . as in the case of the first mine example , a comparison of a vertical cross - section of the solution to the ultimate pit problem using the cutting plane formulation and the lp relaxation of the aggregated formulation for the third mine example is illustrated in the figures . fig1 and 18 show a plane view through the pit using the cutting plane formulation ( equation 9 ). the area 20 is the ultimate pit and the area 21 is waste . fig1 and 19 , on the other hand , show the same view , but for the lp relaxation of the aggregated ( equation 4 ). again , areas 20 are the pit and areas 21 are waste . again , it is evident that the lp relaxation of the aggregated ( equation 4 ) takes fractions of blocks that are infeasible for the exact formulation . this result is considered to confirm that solution of the cutting plane formulation ( equation 9 ) may be possible in cases where cplex runs out of memory when trying to solve the exact formulation ( equation 2 ). a summary of the results for the third mine example is found in table 3 . since it was found that adding all violated constraints at once causes additional loading on the cutting plane approach ( equation 9 ), due to the very large number of constraints added by the first iteration , one variation of the cutting plane method is to add the constraints incrementally . initially , the effect of adding the most violated constraints first , and then re - solving the formulation was investigated . this method was thoroughly tested on the first mine example . the approach taken was as follows . at each iteration of the method , a lower bound on the size of the violation of the single block constraint was specified ( e . g . 0 . 5 , 0 . 6 , . . . ). for example , fig1 illustrates violations for each block . in this example fig1 , the violation = xi − xj , and so the ‘ size ’ of the violation is 0 . 5 - 0 = 0 . 5 . constraints that were violated by an amount greater than this tolerance were added to the formulation , and the problem was re - solved . however , using this approach the optimisation process completed before the optimal solution was found . this occurs because this method of adding constraints does not identify and add all single block constraints that are violated , only those that are violated by more than a certain amount . in this way , not all of the necessary single block constraints are added to the formulation , and the truly optimal solution is not reached . to alleviate this problem , violation ( s ) greater than a selected lower bound is added to at least the first iteration . this approach enables an optimal solution is still obtained . another approach is to add the most violated constraints , but to decrease the amount of violation required at each iteration until a certain number of constraints have been added . for example , it may be designated that a minimum of 5000 constraints should be added at each iteration . say the initial violation parameter is set to 0 . 6 ( that is , only single block constraints that are violated by 0 . 6 or more are added to the formulation ). it may be the case that 1200 constraints are added . then , before re - solving the formulation , the violation parameter could be decreased to 0 . 5 . this may result in a further 3000 constraints being added to the model . since there are still less than 5000 constraints added , the violation parameter is further decreased to 0 . 4 , and more single block constraints are added . this may result in 2000 constraints being added to the formulation , and the problem is now re - solved since the minimum of 5000 constraints has been reached . the process is then repeated until the optimal solution is obtained . alternatively , the tolerance could be reduced on a smaller incremental level ( say 0 . 01 at a time instead of 0 . 1 ) in an attempt to reduce the size of the overshoot on the number of constraints added compared with the prescribed minimum number of constraints . a further alternative is simply to add a specified number of constraints to the model before the formulation is re - solved . in any approach where a minimum number of constraints are added , the determination of the appropriate number of constraints to add at each iteration is a non - trivial matter . this element of the problem may itself require optimisation . it is expected that the maximum size of the problem that is able to be stored in memory and handled by cplex will affect this value . consideration of this fact may allow a test to be built in to the program for solving the ultimate pit problem . the form of the test procedure could proceed as follows . if the size of the constraint matrix following the first iteration is less than the maximum size able to be solved by cplex , ( with a margin to allow more constraints to be added in subsequent iterations based on the general proportion of constraints added after the initial loop — it appears that approximately 90 % of the constraints that are required are added in the first loop ), take the path of adding all violated constraints . if the size of the constraint matrix following the first iteration is greater than the maximum able to be solved , restart the iteration process using one of the alternative constraint - adding processes described above . the approaches described above were tested on the first mine example above . in this case , the approach that performed the best was to add single block constraints that were violated by more than 0 . 6 in the first 5 loops , and in subsequent loops , add all violated constraints . this approach found the optimal solution in 2152 . 24 seconds . this was significantly longer than the standard cutting plane procedure , which required 976 . 565 seconds ( compare with statement below ). another approach for adding constraints incrementally takes advantage of the specific geometry of the mine . in this case , a vector containing the z coordinate ( or “ height ”) for each block is stored . using this information , violated single block constraints are added from the largest z coordinate ( corresponding to the top of the pit ) down , decreasing by block height , in each loop . the constraint adding process stops either once a specified number of constraints have been added , or after a specified number of z coordinates have been descended . by adding violated single block constraints from the largest z coordinate down , it is hoped that the subsequent optimisation steps will force more single block constraints from lower in the pit to be satisfied before they need to be explicitly added to the formulation in a cutting plane iteration . that is , once decisions regarding the uppermost benches of the pit have been made , the precedence constraints within the formulation could force these decisions to propagate down the pit . subsequently , less single block constraints may need to be added through the cutting plane iterations before the problem is solved to optimality . this approach was particularly effective in the case of the third mine example . the optimal solution to the problem was found in 2664 . 11 seconds when constraints were added from the top z coordinate down in each iteration , with ten z coordinates descended in each iteration . this compares very favourably with the standard cutting plane formulation , which requires 19 , 703 . 8 seconds to find the optimal solution . while this invention has been described in connection with specific embodiments thereof , it will be understood that it is capable of further modification ( s ). 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 come within known or customary practice within the art to which the invention pertains and as may be applied to the essential features hereinbefore set forth . the present invention may be embodied in several forms without departing from the spirit of the essential characteristics of the invention , it should be understood that the above described embodiments are not to limit the present invention unless otherwise specified , but rather should be construed broadly within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims . various modifications and equivalent arrangements are intended to be included within the spirit and scope of the invention and appended claims . therefore , the specific embodiments are to be understood to be illustrative of the many ways in which the principles of the present invention may be practiced . in the following claims , means - plus - function clauses are intended to cover structures as performing the defined function and not only structural equivalents , but also equivalent structures . for example , although a nail and a screw may not be structural equivalents in that a nail employs a cylindrical surface to secure wooden parts together , whereas a screw employs a helical surface to secure wooden parts together , in the environment of fastening wooden parts , a nail and a screw are equivalent structures . | 4 |
referring to fig1 and fig2 , the art design knife 10 of the invention herein is comprised of a front cover 1 , a rear cover 2 , a hatch 3 , a hatch lock button 4 , a blade transport component 7 , a blade magazine 8 , blades 91 , a push button 92 , a blade lock button 93 , an upper grip cushion 94 , and a lower grip cushion 95 , of which : the front cover 1 , referring to fig3 and fig4 , the said front cover 1 is a case member of one - piece construction having a semicircular indentation 11 formed in its top anterior section and a slide track indentation 12 disposed along the interior of its top medial section , with the said slide track indentation 12 having a plurality of rectangular detent blocks 121 evenly arrayed along its bottom edge ; an elongated indentation 13 is formed in the top posterior section of the said front cover 1 and , furthermore , another elongated indentation 18 is formed at its bottom posterior section ; additionally , the said front cover 1 has an opening 14 formed in the side of its anterior section and there are pivot holes 141 disposed at each of two upper and lower corners at the front side of the said opening 14 ; the said front cover 1 has a oval - shaped reinforcement plate 15 situated at its medial section ; an elongated hole 16 is formed at the center of the said reinforcement plate 15 and , furthermore , the said reinforcement plate 15 has a post 17 disposed inside its rear edge and a threaded hole 171 is tapped into the center of the said post 17 , and a round hole 19 is formed through the trailing end of the said front cover 1 . the rear cover 2 , referring to fig5 and fig6 , the said rear cover 2 is a case member of one - piece construction having a semicircular indentation 21 formed in its top anterior section and a slide track indentation 22 disposed along the interior of its top medial section , with the said slide track indentation 22 having a plurality of rectangular detent blocks 221 evenly arrayed along its bottom edge ; an elongated indentation 23 is formed in the top posterior section of the said rear cover 2 and , furthermore , another elongated indentation 28 is formed at its bottom posterior section ; additionally , the said rear cover 2 has an upper level and lower level abutment plate 24 and 25 protruding along the inside of its anterior section , the said upper level abutment plate 24 has a notch 241 formed in its forward extremity and the said lower level abutment plate 24 has a support element 26 disposed at the lower edge of its front portion ; the said rear cover 2 has a threaded mounting hole 27 situated in the center of its posterior section , and a round hole 29 formed through the trailing end of the said rear cover 2 . the hatch 3 , referring to fig7 and fig8 , is shaped such that it corresponds to the profile of the opening 14 in the said front cover 1 and there are pintles 31 disposed at each of the upper and lower corners at the front side of the said hatch 3 ; the said front hatch 3 has an arced depression 32 and a securing slot 33 at the outer edge of its rear side ; additionally , the said hatch 3 has threaded holes 34 tapped into the front and rear of its interior side and , furthermore , each threaded hole 34 has a curved mounting groove 35 at its upper and lower extent . the magazine feed spring mount 6 , referring to fig9 , has a locating plate 61 at its center and a hole 62 is formed in the said locating plate 61 ; a retaining brace plate 63 is formed by bending the upper edges at the each of the two ends of the said magazine feed spring mount 6 and , furthermore , a curved footing element 64 is folded at their left and right sides . the magazine feed spring 5 , referring to fig1 , is of a pressure stamped metal construction and consists of contact elements 51 fabricated by bending down each of its two left and right sides and then articulating an outward bend at their extremities and , furthermore , punch forming a plurality of flat spring elements 52 postured at a downward angle in the center of the said magazine feed spring 5 . as indicated in fig1 , two magazine feed spring mounts 6 are first inserted into the curved mounting grooves 35 of the hatch 3 and then a screw 97 is placed into each hole 62 of the magazine feed spring mounts 6 and fastened to the threaded holes 34 of the hatch 3 ; the contact elements 51 at the two sides of the magazine feed spring 5 are inserted into and ensconced by the retaining brace plates 63 such that the plurality of flat spring elements 52 of the magazine feed spring 5 are forced outward to achieve their function and capability . the hatch lock button 4 , referring to fig1 and fig1 , is of an oval shape and has an arced groove 41 and a concavity 42 at one end of its exterior side and a check plate 43 at one end of its interior side ; furthermore , the said hatch lock button 4 has a raised block 44 disposed in the center of its interior side and a threaded hole 45 is tapped in the center of the said raised block 44 . as indicated in fig1 , the said mounting block 46 consists of a solid rectangular construct having a threaded hole 47 through one side and a cylindrical recess 48 formed partially through another side , with a coil spring 49 placed into the said cylindrical recess 48 ; the raised block 44 of the said hatch lock button 4 is inserted into the elongated hole 16 at the center of the front cover 3 reinforcement plate 15 , then a screw 96 is placed into the threaded hole 47 of the mounting block 46 and fastened to the hatch lock button 4 by means of the threaded hole 45 in its raised block 44 , thereby configuring the coil spring 49 and the mounting block 46 such that the hatch lock button 4 slides back and forth resiliently on the front cover 1 reinforcement plate 15 . the blade magazine 8 , referring to fig1 and fig1 , is a container structure having an upper support member 81 , a rear support member 82 , and a lower support member 83 respectively disposed on three sides ; the interior of the said blade magazine 8 consists of a frame plate 84 , a stop tab 85 angled inward at the front edge of the said lower support member 83 , and a gap 86 left between the said stop tab 85 and the frame plate 84 that is capable of accommodating the passage of a single blade ; additionally , a elongated opening 87 is formed in the said frame plate 84 and there is a beveled face 88 along the front edge of the said elongated opening 87 . the blade transport component 7 , referring to fig1 and fig1 , consists of a sliding support plate 71 horizontally situated at its upper anterior section , a vertical plate 72 along the underside of said sliding support plate 71 , with a beveled face 73 on the front edge of the said vertical plate 72 , an impelling block 74 extending inward from the said vertical plate 72 near the center of the said sliding support plate 71 , and a lip 75 formed along the rear section at the other side of the said sliding support plate 71 ; additionally , the said blade transport component 7 has a push button support plate 76 at the upper edge of its rear section , a fastening hole 77 is formed in the center of the said push button support plate 76 and , furthermore , the said blade transport component 7 also consists of two positioning tabs 78 extending outward from its rear section . the said blades 91 consist of a quantity of orderly stacked individual blades that are placed inside the said blade magazine 8 ; the said push button 92 has a protruding post at its bottom aspect that is inserted and fixed in the fastening hole 77 of the blade transport component 7 ; the said blade transport component 7 is brought against the top edge of the blade magazine 8 and , at the same time , the blade transport component 7 and the blade magazine 8 are placed into the abutment plates 24 and 25 of the rear cover 2 ; additionally , the blade lock button 93 is secured into the semicircular indentation 11 in the upper edge of the front cover 1 , the said upper grip cushion 94 — a one - piece component constructed of a soft plastic material — is secured into the elongated indentation 13 formed in the top posterior section of the front cover 1 , the said lower grip cushion 95 — also a one - piece component constructed of a soft plastic material — is secured in the elongated indentation 18 formed in the bottom posterior section of the front cover 1 and , furthermore , the two pintles 31 of the said hatch 3 are movably conjoined to the pivot holes 141 of the front cover 1 , the hatch 3 is closed over the front cover 1 opening 14 , and the hatch lock button 4 is engaged into the front cover 1 ; the front cover 1 and the rear cover 2 are then placed together and a screw 98 is inserted through the threaded hole 171 of the front cover 1 and fastened to the threaded mounting hole 27 inside the rear cover , thereby enabling assembly into a complete art design knife structure . as indicated in fig1 and fig2 , the positioning tabs 78 at the rear section of the blade transport component 7 of the invention herein engage a notch among the plurality of detent blocks 221 arrayed in the rear cover 2 and when the push button 92 is depressed , the positioning tabs 78 at the rear section of the blade transport component 7 are moved downward and become disengaged from the rear cover 2 detent blocks 221 , following which the button 92 is pushed outward horizontally such that the push button 92 causes the blade transport component 7 and a blade 91 to slide outward , with the push button 92 released when the blade 91 has slid to an appropriate position ; the said push button 92 returns upward upon release due to the elasticity of the blade transport component 7 and the positioning tabs 78 simultaneously ascend to engage a notch among the plurality of detent blocks 221 along the rear cover 2 , thereby achieving a safe and stable blade forwarding operation ; to retract the blade 91 , the push button 92 is utilized to perform the reverse of the said procedure . to replace blades , the said push button 92 is pressed outward to the very front end , at which time the beveled face 73 along the forward interior side of the said blade transport component 7 vertical plate 72 slides into contact with the beveled face 88 along the front edge of the blade magazine 8 elongated opening 87 and with the vertical plate 72 of the blade transport component 7 consequently moved outward , the said impelling block 74 is disengaged from the notch in the upper edge of the blade 91 , thereby ejecting the blade 91 ; the remaining quantity of orderly stacked blades 91 in the said blade magazine 8 are shoved toward the uppermost blade 91 by the magazine feed spring 5 ( not shown in the drawings ) at the interior side of the hatch 3 which also pushes the blades 91 to the lowest level of the blade magazine 8 , the said blade transport component 7 returns in the opposite direction and the impelling block 74 engages the notch in the upper edge of the next blade 91 , thereby completing the blade replacement operation . in summation of the foregoing section , since the present invention is capable of achieving its claimed objectives and , furthermore , the disclosed structure possesses exceptional practical value and functions , the invention herein is submitted to the examination committee for review and the granting of the commensurate patent rights . | 1 |
hereinafter , an embodiment of the invention will be described in detail . fig1 is a perspective view illustrating the mechanism of the whole of a printer , with removing away external parts ( such as a frame 7 , and a cover ) from the printer , and fig2 is a view illustrating a printing mechanism section . the printer of the embodiment is mainly configured by four mechanism sections , i . e ., a power transmission mechanism section , including a transmission with several sub - transmissions the printing mechanism section , a paper feeding mechanism section , and a ribbon feeding mechanism section . as shown in fig1 a motor 1 having a motor gear 2 in the form of a worm is mounted in a lateral direction with respect to the printer . the power transmission mechanism section is configured by a speed reduction shaft 3 serving as the driving shaft onto which a reduction gear 4 , a pulley driving gear 24 , and a paper feed clutch unit 6 are fixed , and which is disposed on the right end side of the frame 7 . in the reduction gear 4 , a worm wheel portion 4 - 1 which meshes with the motor gear , and a worm portion 4 - 2 are united with each other . the worm portion 4 - 2 of the reduction gear 4 meshes with a worm wheel portion formed in the lower portion of a ribbon take - up shaft set 5 which drives a ribbon driving mechanism . the pulley driving gear 24 constitutes a worm gear and meshes with a worm gear 22 - 1 of a pulley transmission gear 22 which is rotatably disposed on the bottom of the frame 7 . the printing mechanism section comprises a carriage 16 on which a printing head 15 is mounted , and which is moved by a carriage belt 19 . the carriage belt 19 runs between a driven pulley 21 - 1 and a driving pulley 20 - 1 which are respectively disposed on the sides of the frame 7 . as the printing method , the bidirectional printing method is employed in which printing is enabled during the movement of the printing head 15 in both the directions of the arrows a and b . fig3 is a perspective view of the paper feeding mechanism section . the section will be described with reference to the figure . the paper feeding mechanism section comprises a paper guide frame 44 disposed in the rear portion of the printer , a paper guide ( inner ) 43 disposed so as to oppose the guide frame 44 with being separated therefrom by a predetermined gap , and a paper feed shaft 33 . the paper feed shaft 33 has sprocket wheels 35 at the lateral ends , and is rotated through the paper feed clutch unit 6 . pins which are to engage with holes formed in the side edges of recording paper are formed on the outer peripheries of the sprocket wheels 35 . the paper feeding mechanism section further comprises a paper feed trigger electromagnet unit which controls the on / off operation for the power transmission of the clutch unit 6 , and a release mechanism which is disposed on the paper feed shaft 33 and serves as a second clutch . the paper feed clutch unit 6 will be described in detail with reference to fig4 , 7 , and 8 . fig4 is a side view of a portion supporting the speed reduction shaft in a first embodiment of the invention , fig5 is a partially cutaway perspective view of the paper feed clutch unit , fig7 shows a perspective view and a section view of an example of fixation of the gears onto the speed reduction shaft , and fig8 is a rear view of the paper feed trigger electromagnet . the paper feed clutch unit 6 of the embodiment is a spring clutch , and comprises : a paper feed arbor 25 fixed to the speed reduction shaft 3 ; a paper feed clutch spring 27 which is wound on a paper feed sleeve 26 and has arms respectively formed at the ends , the paper feed sleeve being pressingly inserted into the paper feed arbor 25 so as to be rotated integrally therewith ; a paper feed ratchet wheel 28 which is rotatably supported on the paper feed arbor 25 , has teeth 28 - 1 arranged on the outer periphery and engaging with a trigger suction plate 38 , and engages with one of the arms of the clutch spring 27 ; and a paper feed driving gear 29 which is rotatably supported on the paper feed arbor 25 , has a worm gear 29 - 1 formed on the outer periphery and transmitting the power to the paper feed mechanism section , and engages with the other arm of the clutch spring 27 . these components are assembled into the unit while deflecting a pawl 25 - 1 of the paper feed arbor 25 ( see fig5 end view in fig6 ( g ) and side view in fig6 ( h ), and the movement of the paper feed driving gear 29 is restricted by the pawl 25 - 1 . therefore , the paper feed clutch unit 6 is assembled as a unit before the unit is fixed to the speed reduction shaft 3 . when the unit is thereafter fixed to the speed reduction shaft 3 , the pawl 25 - 1 is not deflected toward the center , and hence the components are prevented from being disassembled . fig9 is a rear view of the release mechanism , and fig1 is an enlarged section view of the release mechanism . the release mechanism comprises : a paper feed transmission gear 30 which is disposed on the paper feed shaft 33 and rotated by the paper feed driving gear 29 ; a paper feed clutch disc 32 which is not rotated with respect to the paper feed shaft 33 and can be moved so as to mesh with the transmission gear 30 ; and a release lever 40 which locates the clutch disc 32 to either of the position where the disc and the transmission gear 30 mesh with each other , and that where the disc and the transmission gear 30 do not mesh with each other . the ribbon feeding mechanism section is configured by a ribbon cassette ( not shown ) in which a mobius system is configured by an endless ribbon , and the ribbon take - up shaft set 5 which engages with a ribbon driving portion of the ribbon cassette so as to move the ribbon . the ribbon take - up shaft set 5 for the ribbon meshes with the worm portion 4 - 2 of the reduction gear 4 so as to be rotated . as above mentioned , three worm 24 , 4 - 2 and 29 - 1 are attached to drive shaft 3 in this embodiment . however this invention shall not limited to this embodiment , and may be effective even when the drive shaft has two worm selected from these three worms . the operation of the thus configured printer will be described in detail . when the motor 1 rotates , the rotation driving force of the motor is transmitted to the speed reduction shaft 3 with a speed which is largely reduced by the motor gear 2 that is a worm gear , and the reduction gear 4 . the ribbon take - up shaft set 5 which meshes with the worm portion 4 - 2 of the reduction gear 4 is rotated with a further largely reduced speed , thereby moving the ribbon of the cassette . the pulley driving gear 24 fixed to the speed reduction shaft 3 rotates the driving pulley 20 - 1 through the pulley transmission gear 22 . teeth which mesh with the carriage belt 19 serving as a timing belt are formed on the driving pulley 20 - 1 . the carriage belt 19 which runs between the driving pulley and the driven pulley 21 - 1 is moved in the direction of the arrow c . the carriage 16 on which the printing head 15 is mounted is engaged with a carriage driving shaft 19 - 1 fixed to the carriage belt 19 , so as to be moved in the direction of the arrow a or b . then , printing is conducted at a desired position by using a timing signal detected by a t - detection plate 10 fixed to the shaft of the motor 1 , and a position detection signal detected when an r - detector set 11 of the light transmission type fixed to the carriage 16 recognizes a projection 7 - 2 on the frame 7 . in the paper feed clutch unit 6 attached to the speed reduction shaft 3 , since the paper feed ratchet wheel 28 is prevented from rotating by the trigger suction plate 38 , the inner diameter of the paper feed clutch spring 27 is increased . therefore , the paper feed sleeve 26 can rotate , but the clutch spring 27 cannot rotate , with the result that the rotation of the speed reduction shaft 3 is not transmitted to the paper feeding mechanism . when a trigger electromagnet 37 is energized at a desired timing , the trigger suction plate 38 swings to cancel the engagement between the plate and the tooth 28 - 1 , so that the paper feed ratchet wheel 28 rotates . the clutch spring 27 rotates together with the paper feed sleeve 26 , and the paper feed driving gear 29 is rotated by the arm of the spring . when the energization of the trigger electromagnet 37 is terminated , the trigger suction plate 38 is caused to again engage with the paper feed ratchet wheel 28 by the force of a trigger pawl spring 39 , and stops in this state . therefore , the rotations of the paper feed ratchet wheel 28 and the paper feed driving gear 29 are stopped in the standby state by the function of the paper feed clutch spring 27 . when the paper feed driving gear 29 rotates , the paper feed transmission gear 30 rotates . in the case where the teeth 30 - 1 of the transmission gear 30 mesh with the teeth 32 - 1 of the clutch disc 32 , the rotation is transmitted to the paper feed shaft 33 and the recording paper is fed by the sprocket wheels 35 . in some cases , in order to conduct an operation such as replacement of the recording paper engaged with the sprocket wheels 35 , the recording paper is detached from the sprocket wheels 35 . in such a case , when the tip end of the release lever 40 is rotated in the direction of the arrow 1 , a cam face 40 - 1 of the release lever 40 pushes the engaging face m of the paper feed clutch disc 32 in the direction of the arrow n , and hence the engagement between the teeth 30 - 1 of the transmission gear 30 and the teeth 32 - 1 of the clutch disc 32 is canceled , thereby allowing the paper feed shaft 33 to freely rotate . as a result , the recording paper can be pulled out in either direction ( the state indicated by the broken lines in fig1 ). when the release lever 40 is returned to the original position , a release lever spring 41 causes the paper feed transmission gear 30 and the paper feed clutch disc 32 to mesh with each other , so that the paper feed shaft 33 and the transmission gear 30 can integrally rotate . in the embodiment , the gears are attached to the speed reduction shaft 3 so as to always act in the direction of the arrow d or toward the rear portion of the printer . specifically , the motor 1 rotates in a counterclockwise direction so as to rotate the reduction gear 4 , and hence the speed reduction shaft 3 is urged toward the rear portion of the printer by the rotation of the motor 1 . the worm portion 4 - 2 of the reduction gear 4 is configured so that , when a worm wheel section formed in the lower portion of the ribbon take - up shaft set 5 for driving the ribbon driving mechanism is rotated , the speed reduction shaft 3 is urged in the direction of the arrow d by the reaction force due to the rotation . the printing mechanism is driven by the pulley driving gear 24 through the pulley transmission gear 22 . the pulley driving gear 24 which is a worm gear is configured so as to , also in this case , urge the speed reduction shaft 3 in the direction of the arrow d . also in the case where the paper feed clutch unit 6 rotates the transmission gear 30 , similarly , the worm is configured so that the speed reduction shaft 3 is urged in the direction of the arrow d or toward the rear portion of the printer . in other words , all the worms disposed on the speed reduction shaft 3 are configured so that their lead angles are oriented in the same direction . according to this configuration , when the speed reduction shaft 3 is always urged toward the rear side , the behavior of the speed reduction shaft 3 is stabilized , and , even when there is a gap in the axial direction , the quality of the printer is not affected . therefore , it is possible to obtain an excellent printing quality . in order to clarify the effect , for example , the motor gear and the reduction gear urge the speed reduction shaft 3 in the direction of the arrow d , the helical direction of the worm gear in the mesh of the pulley driving gear 24 and the pulley transmission gear 22 is set to be opposite ( the lead angle is set to be opposite ), and the speed reduction shaft 3 is then moved in the direction opposite to the direction of the arrow d or toward the front portion of the printer . then , the speed reduction shaft 3 is moved in the direction opposite to the direction of the arrow d because of the load for moving the printing head 15 . when the moving direction of the printing head 15 is inverted at the driving pulley 20 - 1 and the driven pulley 21 - 1 , however , the load on the pulley driving gear 24 is abruptly reduced because of the effect of the inertia of the printing head 15 , and the speed reduction shaft 3 is moved in the direction of the arrow d by the motor gear 2 . therefore , the speed reduction shaft 3 is reciprocally moved in the axial direction , and the position of the printing head 15 fails to coincide with the timing signal detected from the motor 1 , with the result that the printing quality is largely lowered . the reciprocal movement of the speed reduction shaft 3 adversely affects the generation of noises , etc . in the embodiment , the configuration in which rotation of worms or worm gears disposed on the speed reduction shaft 3 always urges the speed reduction shaft 3 in one direction can solve the problem , and therefore can attain a great advantage . as in the embodiment described above , the components constituting the power transmission mechanism in the invention are the motor gear 2 , the reduction gear 4 , the speed reduction shaft 3 , the pulley driving gear 24 , the paper feed clutch unit 6 ( the paper feed driving gear 29 ), the ribbon take - up shaft set 5 , the pulley transmission gear 22 , the carriage driving pulley set 20 , and the paper feed transmission gear 30 , or the number of the components can be reduced to eight . the portions where gears mesh with each other are reduced to a very small number or five . the helical directions of the worms are set so that the reaction forces of the worms are caused to urge the speed reduction shaft 3 toward the rear portion of the printer ( in the direction of the arrow d ) by the load exerted in each of the ribbon drive , the print head drive , and the paper feed . therefore , the plays of the gears are small , and generation of noises caused by backlash of the gears can be suppressed to a very low level . next , fixation of the gears onto the speed reduction shaft 3 will be described in detail with reference to fig6 and 7 . fig6 ( a ) to 6 ( h ) show parts in example 1 of fixation of the gears onto the speed reduction shaft , and fig7 ( a ) and 7 ( b ) show a perspective view and a section view of example 2 of fixation of the gears onto the speed reduction shaft . in the embodiment , fixation of the gears to the speed reduction shaft 3 is conducted in the following manner . as shown in fig6 ( b ), which is an enlarged view relative to fig . 6 ( a ), the speed reduction shaft 3 is a deformed shaft having a section shape in which recesses 3 - 1 elongating in the whole length of the shaft are formed at two symmetrical positions . in the reduction gear 4 ( see end view in fig6 ( c ) and side view in fig6 ( d ), projections 4 - 3 which are to engage with the recesses 3 - 1 are formed . the reduction gear 4 is attached to the speed reduction shaft 3 with engaging the projections 4 - 3 with the recesses 3 - 1 so that the gear cannot be rotated with respect to the shaft and can be moved in the axial direction . the movement in the axial direction is restricted by an e - type snap ring 3 - 2 . since the recesses are formed over the whole length of the shaft , the configuration has drawbacks such as that the strength is low and a warpage easily occurs . as a countermeasure to the above , a configuration is employed in which , as shown in fig7 ( a ) and 7 ( b ), a tenon is formed on each end of the speed reduction shaft 3 , fitting grooves 4 - 1 and 25 - 2 for receiving the respective tenons are respectively formed inside the reduction gear 4 and the paper feed arbor 25 , and these components are then engaged with each other so as to integrally rotate . according to this configuration , the speed reduction shaft 3 is enhanced in rigidity so as to have a higher strength . the relationships between the tenons and the fitting grooves may be inverted , or the fitting grooves may be formed on the speed reduction shaft 3 and the tenons in the reduction gear 4 . as a method of enabling the pulley driving gear 24 to be rotated integrally with the speed reduction shaft 3 , a method may be employed in which key ways are formed in each of the speed reduction shaft 3 and a component which is to be attached to the shaft , and a key 42 to be fitted into the key ways are used . next , other embodiments of the invention will be described with reference to fig1 and 12 . fig1 is a side view of a portion supporting the speed reduction shaft in another embodiment , and fig1 is a side view of a portion supporting the speed reduction shaft in a further embodiment . in the first embodiment , the reduction gear 4 , the pulley driving gear 24 , and the paper feed clutch unit 6 are fixed to the single speed reduction shaft 3 , and the shaft is supported at the ends or two points ( fig4 ). in the embodiment , since a warpage easily occurs in a long shaft such as the speed reduction shaft 3 during the production process of the shaft , particularly the pulley driving gear 24 disposed in the middle portion of the speed reduction shaft 3 produces a large run out ( in the directions of the arrows in fig4 ). this phenomenon increases the rotation variation of the wheel train engaged with the pulley driving gear 24 . as a countermeasure to the above , a speed reduction shaft 45 or 45 - 1 in fig1 or 12 has a limited length which elongates to a position beyond a pulley driving gear 46 ( see end view in fig6 ( e ) and side view in fig6 ( f ) or 46 - 1 , and is rotatably supported by a raised portion formed on the bottom of a frame 47 or 47 - 1 with using a part of the pulley driving gear 46 or 46 - 1 as a bearing . according to this configuration , the pulley driving gear 46 or 46 - 1 produces a small run out and the rotation variation is reduced , thereby producing an effect that the accuracy of the power transmission is further enhanced . since the engaging degree of the worm is ensured , moreover , also the durability of the gear is improved . the embodiments of fig1 and 12 are different from each other in the configuration of the speed reduction shaft . the speed reduction shaft of the embodiment of fig1 is configured in the same manner as that of the first embodiment . the embodiment of fig1 is different from the embodiments in that the speed reduction shaft is divided into two portions and the pulley driving gear 46 - 1 is used as a joint . in the embodiment of fig1 , the load applied to the paper feed clutch unit can be supported by the metal shaft of high rigidity and the vicinity of the bearing . therefore , the embodiment is more advantageous in strength than the embodiment of fig1 . since it is not necessary for the worm to be moved to the vicinity of the middle of the shaft , the assembly property is improved . fig1 is a perspective view of the whole of a printer . the printer is different from the second embodiment in that a speed reduction shaft 48 and a driving pulley 49 are rotated at a substantially same rate and a pulley driving gear 50 and the driving pulley 49 are directly coupled to each other by a timing belt 51 . in the embodiment , the use of the timing belt 51 can eliminate the rotation variation of the carriage driving pulley set 20 due to the part accuracies such as the concentricity of the worm wheel and the spur gear of the pulley transmission gear 22 in the first embodiment . as described above , according to the invention , a transmission element other than a worm may be used on the speed reduction shaft . the invention is not restricted to the embodiments described above , and may be modified in various manners . in the embodiments , the recording paper has a continuous slip form having holes in the side edges and the sprocket wheels are used as the paper feeding means . alternatively , roll - like recording paper and means for friction feed such as rollers may be used . the invention is not restricted by printing means , a printing method , etc . in the present invention described above , since the plural worms are disposed on the single driving shaft , it is possible to attain a large reduction ratio , and power transmission to mechanisms of the printer can be configured without requiring a large space . furthermore , the number of components is very small . consequently , portions where the gears mesh with each other can be reduced in number and generation of noises caused by backlash of the gears can be reduced to a very low level . furthermore , depending on the respective loads , the worms urge the driving shaft in the same direction , and hence the driving shaft does not fluctuate in the axial direction , so as to be stabilized . as a result , the carriage is stably transported , so that the printing quality is enhanced , and the vibrations of the gears due to the plays are reduced . therefore , generation of noises caused by backlash of the gears can be further suppressed . | 1 |
referring now in more detail to the drawings , in which like numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views , fig1 and 2 depict an automotive paint restoration tool that embodies principles of the invention in a preferred form . the tool 11 , which resembles a squeegee in some respects , comprises a generally cylindrical squeezable plastic bottle 12 having a shoulder 18 and an externally threaded open mouth 19 ( fig2 ). the bottle 12 is sized and shaped to be held comfortably in the hand of a user and is adapted to contain a touch - up paint mixture as described in more detail below . an angled plastic coupler 14 has a first end 16 , a second end 17 , and is formed with an internally threaded receptacle 21 in its first end 16 . the receptacle 21 is configured to be threaded securely onto the externally threaded mouth 19 of the squeezable bottle 12 to cap the bottle and form an angled forward extension thereof . the second end 17 of the coupler 14 is formed with a relatively wide slot 22 , which extends into the body of the coupler 14 from the second end thereof . a blade holder 23 , which preferably is relatively thick and substantially flat , has a top face 24 and a bottom face 26 ( fig2 ) and is received in the slot 22 where it is securely fixed with an appropriate adhesive such as an epoxy or pvc cement . as an alternative to a separate blade holder cemented in a slot of the coupler , the blade holder 23 and coupler 14 can be formed as a single unitary injection molded plastic component if desired and such fabrication may well be preferable because of its inherent strength and simplicity of assembly . in any event , the blade holder 23 projects forwardly from the coupler 14 to a substantially straight forward edge 27 . further , the blade holder 23 preferably flares outwardly from the coupler defining flared edges 28 and forming a forward edge 27 that preferably is at least several inches long , but that may take on other lengths depending upon intended final use of the tool . the forward edge 27 of the blade holder is formed with a longitudinally extending slot 22 , which preferably but not necessarily extends the full length of the forward edge . the slot 22 is further configured with a pair of internal grooves 36 , which in the illustrated embodiment extend at substantially right angles with respect to the slot 22 . a flexible blade 29 is disposed and secured within the slot 22 and extends forwardly therefrom to a substantially straight free edge 31 . the blade 29 has an upper surface 32 and a lower surface 33 and its rear edge portion extends into the slot 22 formed in the forward edge of the blade holder 23 . further , the rear edge portion of the blade is formed with a pair of projecting tongues 36 , which are sized and positioned to be received and held within the grooves 36 formed in the slot 34 . in this way , the blade 29 is held firmly and securely within the slot 34 by the cooperating tongues and grooves 37 and 36 respectively . further , during fabrication , the blade 29 advantageously may be secured within the blade holder 23 by sliding its rear edge portion into the slot 34 from one end of the blade holder . the blade 29 may be formed of any appropriate flexible material such as rubber , polymer , a relatively low durometer pvc plastic , or any other suitably flexible material . in any event , the blade preferably is flexible yet relatively stiff rather like the blade of a traditional squeegee . when the blade 29 is installed in the slot 34 , a shoulder 38 ( fig3 ) is formed by the forward edge 27 of the blade holder on either side of the blade 29 . a relatively small diameter passageway 41 is formed through the coupler 14 and the blade holder 23 . the passageway 41 communicates between the threaded recess 21 in the first end of the coupler and the shoulder 38 adjacent the lower surface 33 of the blade 29 . thus , when the bottle 12 is charged with touch - up paint and threaded into the coupler 14 , a gentle squeeze of the bottle forces paint through the passageway 41 and onto the lower surface 33 of the blade 29 ( fig3 ). a tubular extender nozzle 42 may be secured within the end of the passageway 41 if desired to direct and deposit the paint on the lower surface 33 of the blade at a location nearer the free edge 31 thereof , although the invention does not require the use of such an extender nozzle . [ 0020 ] fig3 and 4 illustrate generally the best mode known to the inventors of using the tool 11 to repair or restore a blemish such as a scratch or scrape in the painted finish of an automobile . first , the squeezable bottle 12 is at least partially filled with a touch - up paint formulation having a color that matches the color of the painted finish . as described in more detail below , the touch - up paint is specially mixed and formulated to have a rather thick consistency compared to ordinary paint and in this regard preferably has the approximate consistency of a paste . the filled bottle is then threaded into the coupler 14 , where the bottle serves the dual purpose of containing a supply of touch - up paint and providing the handle of the tool 11 . the tool preferably is then held upright as shown in fig3 with the blade of the tool extending upwardly or at an angle so that the lower surface 33 of the blade faces generally in an upward direction . the bottle 12 is then squeezed gently until a small dollop or bead of touch - up paint 43 of a predetermined size is deposited onto the lower surface 33 of the blade . most preferably , the passageway 41 communicates through the shoulder 38 of the blade holder in a central location of the blade intermediate its ends , but this certainly is not a requirement or limitation of the invention . further , if it is desired to deposit the bead of touch - up paint closer to the free edge 31 of the blade , an extender nozzle 42 may be fitted in the end of the passageway 41 as shown in fig2 . in any event , a bead of touch - up paint is deposited on the lower surface of the blade 29 and , significantly , the amount of paint that is deposited can be carefully gauged and controlled by applying the appropriate pressure to the squeezable bottle 12 and observing the flow of paint onto the blade . in this way , only the amount of touch - up paint needed to affect the restoration is used and the significant waste inherent in prior art restoration processes is eliminated . [ 0022 ] fig4 illustrates the painted finish 47 of a vehicle having a blemish , which is shown as a scratch or scrape , but that may also be a chip , small dent , or other blemish . with a bead of touch - up paint applied to the lower surface of the blade 29 as described above , the tool of the invention is held by the bottle , which now functions as a handle , and the blade 29 is applied to the surface with sufficient pressure to deflect the blade and hold its free edge firmly against the finish . the blade is positioned such that the bead of touch - up paint on the lower surface of the blade is located adjacent to the blemish . the tool is then pulled steadily in the direction of arrows 49 to draw the blade across the blemish . as the blade moves over the blemish , the blade wipes a small amount of touch - up paint into the blemish to fill it in much the same way that spackling fills cracks in drywall when applied with a drywall knife . at the same time , the straight free edge of the blade levels and smoothes the surface of the touch up paint so that it is flat and flush with the surface of the painted finish around the blemish . when the entire length of the blemish has been covered , the tool is lifted from the finish , leaving the blemish filled and the finish restored . the bottle can then be removed from the tool by untreading it from the coupler , whereupon the bottle can be capped and stored until touch - up paint of the same color is needed for a future repair . the tool itself can then be cleaned easily by , for example , threading a bottle of solvent onto the coupler and squeezing it to force solvent through the passageway 41 to remove any paint residue . the blade may be cleaned simply by wiping it with a cloth and solvent and put away for future use . when the touch - up paint in the blemish has been allowed to dry for a prescribed drying time , which may vary depending upon the composition of the paint , any excess paint or film left on the painted finish is removed with a small amount of solvent , such as acetone or an enamel reducer , and a soft cloth . the entire area of the vehicle containing the repaired blemish may then be buffed if desired to improve the appearance of the repair further . the result is a restoration that is virtually invisible and that is accomplished in a fraction of the time and with a fraction of the skill and waste inherent in prior art restoration processes . the best mode of practicing the invention will now be described in more detail . it has been found that commercially available touch - up base paints used in prior art manual and air brushing restoration techniques generally do not have the optimum consistency and finished appearance characteristics . accordingly , certain pre - application formulation is preferable for a consistent high - quality result . the formulation starts with a matching commercial base paint such as , for example , base paints available from the basf corporation under the trademarks glasurit ® or diamont ®, each of which is believed to be a polyester - based product . a thickening agent , also commercially available from basf and others , is then added to the base paint to decrease its viscosity , preferably to the consistency of a soft paste . an organic or polymeric gel also may be used to thicken the base paint and to provide a smooth consistency to the resulting paste . the amount of thickening agent needed may vary depending upon the base paint used , temperature conditions , and other factors . in addition to thickening the touch - up paint , it has been found that the thickening agent also enhances the ability of the paint to suspend the small metal flakes commonly used in automotive metallic finishes , which are popular among many consumers . after addition of the thickening agent , a commercially available glossing agent is added to the formulation and the mixture is thoroughly blended so that all of the ingredients are evenly distributed . addition of the glossing agent is preferred in the formulation because it causes the touch - up mixture to take on a glossy sheen as it dries and also provides protection against fading as a result exposure to ultraviolet light , which is a component of sunlight . without a glossing agent , the touch - up mixture tends to dry to a less glossy matte - like finish and an additional step of clear coating and buffing the area of the restoration is required . accordingly , including the glossing agent also eliminates a step commonly required in prior art restoration techniques . as mentioned above , after application of the touch - up mixture with the tool of this invention , relatively minor post application finishing such as wiping with a solvent to remove any film and buffing with a soft cloth may be applied to render the restoration virtually invisible . hand buffing the entire affected area with a buff enhancer further improves the appearance of the restoration . the final result is a restoration that is flush with the surrounding finish and matches the finish in color and sheen to provide a virtually invisible repair . all of this is accomplished quickly , easily , and economically with the unique and innovative tool and method of the present invention . the invention has been illustrated and described herein in terms of preferred embodiments and methodologies that represent the best mode known to the inventors of practicing the invention . however , the illustrated embodiments are not intended to , nor should they be construed as , limiting the invention . it will be obvious that a variety of additions , deletions , and modifications of the illustrated embodiments might well be made by persons of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the claims . | 1 |
now the present invention will be clarified in detail by embodiments thereof , with reference to the accompanying drawings . fig4 is a partial circuit diagram of a signal readout circuit in a first embodiment of the solid - state image pickup element of the present invention , wherein a readout circuit 53 of the present embodiment corresponds to the readout circuit 22 in fig1 or that 56 in fig3 . the configuration of the photoelectric converting pixel is same as that of the unit pixel 1 shown in fig1 . referring to fig4 there are shown an amplifier 54 for amplifying the pixel output , having an output of a positive phase where the amplifier 54 shows a higher output potential for a larger signal , a pmos transistor 57 constituting a signal transfer transistor for transferring the signal charge to a capacitance 45 , a gate electrode input terminal 58 for the pmos transistor 57 , a mos transistor 59 constituting reset means for resetting the accumulating capacitance 45 , a reset potential supply terminal 60 for the capacitance 45 , and a gate input terminal 61 for the reset mos transistor 59 . in fig4 components the same as those in fig1 and 3 are represented by same numbers and will not be explained further . the amplifier 54 in fig4 constitutes a buffer for obtaining a driving power required for driving the clamp capacitance 41 constituting the clamp capacitance means in case the output resistance of the pixel is large , and the present invention may dispense with such the buffer if the output resistance of the pixel is small enough . the transfer mos transistor 57 is composed of a pmos transistor for the signal output of a positive phase but an nmos transistor for the signal output of an inverse phase . this mos transistor operates as a charge transfer gate , of which part is different from the switch mos transistor in the conventional configuration shown in fig3 . fig5 is a timing chart showing the operation of the present embodiment 1 . in fig5 signals φ 41 , φ 58 and φ 61 have suffixes 44 , 58 , 61 respectively coinciding with the number of the pulse input terminals shown in fig4 and respectively indicate potentials ( or pulses ) at such input terminals . the mos transistors 42 , 59 are assumed to be turned on or off respectively when the gate potential is high or low . when the pixel reset output starts to emerge from the amplifier 54 , an electrode of the clamp capacitance 41 is fixed to the potential of the terminal 43 through the mos transistor 42 . the gate potential of the gate electrode input terminal 58 is selected somewhat lower than a potential , defined by subtracting the threshold voltage of the pmos transistor 57 from the potential of the terminal 43 . the potential of the capacitance 45 is fixed at the potential of the terminal 60 , but is selected at such a sufficiently low level that the transfer mos transistor 57 executes a saturation operation or a sub - threshold value operation . when the mos transistor 42 is turned off , a saturation current or a sub - threshold current flows in the transfer mos transistor 57 , whereby the potential of an electrode of the clamp capacitance 41 , namely the source potential of the pmos transistor 57 approaches a potential v cl determined by the potential of the terminal 58 and the threshold voltage of the pmos transistor 57 . when the pixel reset output is terminated , the mos transistor 59 is turned off whereby the accumulating capacitance 45 is maintained in a floating state , and , when the pixel signal output is started , the potential of the clamping portion ( namely potential of an electrode of the clamp capacitance 41 at the side of the transfer mos transistor ) tends to be pushed up corresponding to the signal voltage through the clamp capacitance . however , as shown in the potential chart in fig6 the potential of the clamping portion returns to v cl within the ( reset + signal ) output period , by the current flowing through the mos transistor 57 . consequently the signal charge corresponding to the product c o · v s of the clamp capacitance c o and the signal voltage v s alone , not including the reset level , is accumulated in the capacitance 45 in the floating state . by shifting the terminal 58 to the high level state to completely turn off the transfer mos transistor 57 at a certain time during the ( reset + signal ) output state , the signal charge c o · v s is retained in the accumulated state in the capacitance 45 . in the present embodiment , the signal voltage read out to the output line 49 is | c t /( c h + c t )|·( c o · v s / c t ) or | c o /( c h + c t )|· v s , and the loss of the signal voltage resulting from capacitative division can be maintained smaller than in the conventional examples by selecting c o to be larger and c t to be smaller . also there cannot be generated the fixed pattern noise resulting from the unbalance of the two output paths c hn , c hs as in the first conventional example shown in fig1 and 2 . although the fixed pattern noise is surely generated by the fluctuation of c t , its contribution is much smaller than in the conventional examples , so that the fixed pattern noise can be made smaller than in the conventional examples if the fluctuation in c o can be suppressed . also by setting the reset potential for the capacitance 45 supplied from the terminal 60 sufficiently low , the on - resistance of the mos transistor 48 can be made smaller so that the horizontal signal transfer can be achieved at a high speed . the circuit configuration in a second embodiment of the present invention is the same as the first embodiment shown in fig4 . the timing of operation , shown in fig7 is different the first embodiment in that the gate potential of the transfer mos transistor 57 is made different between the pixel reset output and the ( reset + signal ) output and is made lower in the latter . in the first embodiment , the potential of the clamping portion in the ( reset + signal ) output becomes v cl if the signal voltage is sufficiently large but becomes lower than v cl if the signal voltage is 0 or very small . this is because even if the signal voltage is 0 , the subthreshold current flowing in the mos transistor 57 at the pixel reset output period , of which magnitude decreases , continues to flow in the ( reset + signal ) output period . consequently , in the ( reset + signal ) output , the final potential of the clamping portion depends on the magnitude of the signal voltage , so that the linearity of the signal in the capacitance 45 is not retained . on the other hand , if the charge flowing in the transfer mos transistor 57 is more than a certain amount , the potential of the clamping portion eventually reaches a certain value regardless of the initial value thereof . in order to secure a certain amount of such flowing charge , the potential of the terminal 58 is made lower in the ( reset + signal ) output period than in the reset output period as shown in fig7 whereby the potential of the clamping portion at the end of the ( reset + signal ) output period assumes a constant value not depending on the magnitude of the signal voltage . in this manner there can be secured the linearity of the transferred signal in the capacitance 45 . fig8 shows a third embodiment of the solid - state image pickup element of the present invention , wherein shown are an operational amplifier 62 , a signal charge integrating capacitance 63 , an amplifier resetting mos transistor 64 , a gate input terminal 65 of the mos transistor 64 , and a supply terminal 66 of a reference potential entered into a non - inverted (+) input port of the operational amplifier . an electrode of the signal integrating capacitance 63 is connected to an output line 49 and an inverted (−) input terminal of the operational amplifier 62 , and the other electrode is connected to the output of the operational amplifier 62 . in fig8 components same as those in fig4 are represented by same numbers and will not be explained further . in the present third embodiment , the operation of the readout circuit 53 is same as that in the first or second embodiment . in fig8 the operational amplifier 62 , the signal charge integrating capacitance 63 , the amplifier resetting mos transistor 64 , the gate input terminal 65 of the mos transistor 64 and the reference potential supply terminal 66 constitute a charge integrating amplifier , and the signal charge c o · v s accumulated in the capacitance 45 is integrated by the signal charge integrating capacitance 63 of a magnitude c s so that the terminal 52 provides a signal output voltage ( c o · v s )/ c s which is independent from c t . consequently the fixed pattern noise is caused only by the fluctuation in c o , and can be reduced by suppressing the fluctuation in c o . in the foregoing embodiments , the transfer transistor is composed of a mos transistor , but it may also be composed of a jfet ( junction field effect transistor ) or a bipolar transistor as long as a saturation area function is possible . as explained in the foregoing , the first to third embodiments of the present invention firstly allow to output a high signal voltage and secondly allow to increase the readout speed . in addition it is possible to reduce the fixed pattern noise in the solid state image pickup element . in the foregoing first to third embodiments , the control of pulse application to the mos transistor is executed by a timing generation unit 108 ( fig9 ) to be explained later . in the following there will be explained , with reference to fig9 a fourth embodiment in which the solid - state image pickup element of the first to third embodiments is applied to a signal processing apparatus such as a still camera . in fig9 there are shown a barrier 101 serving as a lens protector and a main switch , a lens 102 for focusing the optical image of an object on a solid - state image pickup element 104 , an iris 103 for varying the amount of light transmitted by the lens 102 , a solid - state image pickup element 104 for fetching the object image , focused by the lens 102 , as an image signal , an a / d converter 106 for executing analog - digital conversion on the image signal outputted from the solid - state image pickup element 104 , a signal processing unit 107 for executing various corrections and data compression on the image data outputted from the a / d converter 106 , a timing generating unit 108 for outputting various timing signals to the solid - state image pickup element 104 , an image signal processing circuit 105 , the a / d converter 106 and the signal processing unit 107 , a system control and operation unit 109 for executing various calculations and controlling the entire still video camera , a memory unit 110 , an interface unit 111 for executing recording on and readout from a recording medium , a detachable recording medium 112 for executing recording or readout of the image data , such as a semiconductor memory , and an interface unit 113 for communication with an external computer or the like . in the following there will be explained the operation of the signal processing apparatus of the above - described configuration in the image taking operation . when the barrier 101 is opened , the main power supply is turned on . then the power supply for control system is turned on , and the power supply for the image pickup circuits such as the a / d converter 106 etc . is also turned on . then , in order to control the exposure amount , the system control and operation unit 109 fully opens the iris 103 , and the signal outputted from the solid - state image pickup element 104 is converted by the a / d converter 106 and is input into the signal processing unit 107 . based on such data , the system control and operation unit 109 calculates the exposure . the luminance is judged from the result of the above - described photometry , and the system control and operation unit 109 controls the iris 103 based on such result . then a high frequency component is extracted from the signal outputted from the solid - state image pickup element 104 , and the system control and operation unit 109 calculates the distance to the object . thereafter the lens is driven and there is judged whether the lens is in - focus position , and , if not , the lens is driven again and the distance measurement is repeated . when the exposure is terminated , the image signal outputted from the solid - state image pickup element 104 is subjected to a / d conversion by the a / d converter 107 , then passed by the signal processing unit 107 and is written into the memory unit by the system control and operation unit 109 . the data accumulated in the memory unit 110 is thereafter passed by the recording medium control i / f unit and recorded in the detachable recording medium 112 such as a semiconductor memory , under the control of the system control and operation unit 109 . otherwise the data may be introduced , through the external i / f unit 113 , directly into a computer or the like for image processing . many widely different embodiments of the present invention may be constructed without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention . it should be understood that the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiments described in the specification , except as defined in the appended claims . | 7 |
preferred embodiments of the invention will be described below . in the present embodiment , what is to be fired are ceramic honeycomb structures , namely ceramic porous bodies containing organic binders . the unfired ceramic porous bodies are loaded on a carriage and carried into a furnace to evaporate the organic binder at about 200 ° c . and then fired at an elevated temperature of about 1500 ° c . in fig1 , numeral 1 indicates a furnace body of a shuttle kiln . although three carriages 20 placed in the furnace are shown in fig1 for simplification , actually the furnace body 1 extends horizontally and an entry door 21 is opened to allow many carriages to enter the furnace body 1 for firing . on the bottom surface of each of the carriages 20 , a gas flow path 2 is formed . at the lower part of each carriage , a gas suction path 4 including a gas suction port 3 is placed at a position facing the gas flow paths 2 . as described above , since the shuttle kiln needs to have a traveling mechanism for the carriages 20 , the lower part of the furnace body cannot be sealed completely . however , by providing the gas suction path 4 , some fresh air having entered from the outside as denoted by an arrow can be prevented from entering the furnace body because it is suctioned to the gas suction path 4 together with the in - furnace gas . in this case , the gas is not limited to be suctioned through the lower part of the carriage because it can be drawn in through the top or rear wall of the furnace body 1 depending on a furnace structure . the gas suction path 4 includes an afterburner 5 and a suction fan 6 . during the binder releasing process in an early phase of temperature rising , the organic binder contained in the ceramic porous bodies evaporates and therefore vapor of the organic binder is contained also in in - furnace gas suctioned to the gas suction path 4 . the organic binder vapor is completely burned by the afterburner 5 and released into the atmosphere . the shuttle kiln of the invention includes a circulation path 7 in addition to the gas suction path 4 . the circulation path 7 is used to suction the in - furnace gas from the furnace through a circulating suction port 13 formed in a side wall of the furnace body 1 and burn the organic binder gases and then draw it back into the furnace through a circulating return port 14 . by providing the circulation path 7 in addition to the gas suction path 4 , it is possible to reduce the burden on and down size of the afterburner as compared to a method that includes only the gas suction path 4 to suction the whole amount of in - furnace gas containing organic binder gases to the gas suction path 4 , completely burn it with the afterburner , and draw back the resultant combustion gas into the furnace . the circulating suction port 13 and the circulating return port 14 should preferably be disposed to positions where they may not disturb a flow of the in - furnace gas . in the present embodiment , the in - furnace gas may be suctioned by a circulation fan 8 through the circulating suction port 13 formed at a plurality of positions on the lower part of the side wall of the furnace body 1 and drawn back into the furnace via the circulating return port 14 formed at those multiple positions . generally , from the viewpoint of in - furnace temperature distribution and thermal efficiency , a downward flow should preferably be formed in the furnace . for this purpose , in the present embodiment , the gas is suctioned from the lower part of the side wall and drawn back from the upper part of the side wall . however , those ports need not always be disposed to those positions . in some cases , the gas can be drawn from the upper part of the side wall or the top portion and drawn back from the lower part of the side wall . the circulation path 7 includes a combustion device 9 for burning the organic binder gases contained in the suctioned in - furnace gas . the combustion device 9 , which should preferably be a catalytic reactor vessel , serves to burn the organic binder gases contained in the in - furnace gas and consume oxygen in the in - furnace gas through the burning so that the oxygen concentration may lower . the catalytic reactor vessel is made up of , for example , a ceramic honeycomb structure containing a precious - metal oxidation catalyst such as platinum or palladium and , therefore , can progress catalytic combustion even in condition where the organic binder gas concentration is low or in the condition that the oxygen concentration is low . however , the catalytic reactor vessel is not limited to this type . since catalyst activity of the catalytic reactor vessel is influenced by the temperature , a heating device 10 is mounted to the stage preceding the catalytic reactor vessel to increase the temperature of the suctioned in - furnace gas to , for example , about 300 ° c . further , since the in - furnace gas temperature is increased by catalytic combustion , if the gas is returned directly into the furnace body 1 , the in - furnace temperature is disturbed . therefore , it is preferable to provide , at a stage following the catalytic reactor vessel , a cooling device 11 for lowering the temperature of the gas having passed through the catalytic reactor vessel to about a predetermined in - furnace temperature . the heating device 10 is a gas burner or an electric heater and the cooling device 11 is a heat exchanger . the circulation path 7 is used in the binder releasing process in the early temperature rising phase and stopped in a firing process in which firing is performed at a higher temperature . in a case where the concentration of the organic binder gases contained in the in - furnace gas is too low to decrease the oxygen concentration by sufficiently consuming oxygen contained in the in - furnace gas only through the resultant combustion , a fuel gas supply pipe 15 can be disposed to the stage preceding the catalytic reactor vessel , as shown in fig3 . fuel gas supplied from the fuel gas supply pipe 15 may be burned in the catalytic reactor vessel to consume oxygen contained in the in - furnace gas in order to lower the oxygen concentration . an embodiment shown in fig3 has a configuration in which the heating device 10 is provided to the stage preceding the catalytic reactor vessel to increase the temperature of the suctioned in - furnace gas to a catalyst activation temperature so that combustion may be enabled under the condition of a higher catalyst activation level . however , even a simple configuration in which the heating device 10 is omitted and only the fuel gas supply pipe 15 is disposed to the stage preceding the catalytic reactor vessel , as shown in fig4 , is capable of having an effect of consuming oxygen contained in the in - furnace gas to decrease the oxygen concentration in a case where the concentration of the organic binder gas concentration contained in the in - furnace gas is too low to decrease the oxygen concentration by sufficiently consuming oxygen contained in the in - furnace gas only through the resultant combustion . a shuttle kiln of the invention having such a configuration may be used , similarly to conventional methods , to fire unfired ceramic porous bodies containing organic binders , for example , a ceramic honeycomb structure . in the binder releasing process in the early temperature rising phase , in - furnace gas and fresh air which enters the furnace body 1 through its lower portion are suctioned to the gas suction path 4 to burn and deodorize the contained organic binder gases with the afterburner 5 , while at the same time the in - furnace gas is suctioned to the circulation path 7 through the circulating suction port 13 formed in the side wall of the furnace body 1 . the in - furnace gas drawn to the circulation path 7 is heated by the heating device 10 to an activation temperature area of the oxidation catalyst and then passes through the catalytic reactor vessel . in this case , the contained organic binder gases undergoes catalytic combustion , and therefore the gas having passed through the catalytic reactor vessel is lower in organic binder gases concentration and also in oxygen concentration , and is cooled by the cooling device 11 to the predetermined in - furnace temperature and returned into the furnace body 1 through the circulating return port 14 . as the circulation process is repeated , oxygen in the furnace is consumed while air is prevented from entering the furnace through its lower part . consequently , the in - furnace oxygen concentration can be reduced to 8 % or less as a target value , or preferably 5 % or less . further , organic binder gases generating from the ceramic porous bodies is also removed through catalytic combustion so that its concentration can be maintained at a low level of about ¼ of the explosion limit . in the binder releasing process in the early temperature rising phase , the in - furnace temperature needs to be raised moderately as shown in fig2 , but it is not always easy to control combustion of the many burners 12 placed in the furnace body 1 . however , according to the invention , the in - furnace temperature can be easily and accurately controlled by controlling only the heating device 10 placed on the circulation path 7 while holding the many burners 12 placed in the furnace body 1 in an unignited state in the binder releasing process . in a shuttle kiln of the invention , it is possible to arbitrarily control the gas circulation speed ( gas circulation amount ) along the circulation path 7 without influencing the in - furnace temperature . in the conventional shuttle kiln not provided with the circulation path 7 , to control the oxygen concentration to 8 % or less , or preferably 5 % or less , the amount of air that can be drawn into the furnace must be limited , which causes a problem that stirring in the furnace becomes insufficient or the organic binder gas concentration increases . in contrast , according to the invention , it is possible to arbitrarily increase the gas circulation speed ( gas circulation amount ) along the circulation path 7 in the repetitive catalytic combustion process and , therefore , arbitrarily control the organic binder gas concentration while sufficiently stirring the inside of the furnace . as described above , conventional methods require a long - time for releasing the binder to prevent occurrence of breaks in the binder releasing process . the behavior is denoted by a dotted line in fig2 . in contrast , if the shuttle kiln of the invention is used , it is possible to arbitrarily control the oxygen concentration as well as the organic binder gas concentration and , therefore , greatly reduce the binder releasing time to about ⅕ of the conventional value as denoted by a solid line in fig2 while securely preventing the occurrence of breaks . after the binder releasing process ends , the operation of the circulation path 7 is stopped to perform firing at a high temperature by using the many burners placed in the furnace body 1 . as described hereinabove , according to the invention , by inhibiting rapid combustion of an organic binder by decreasing the oxygen concentration , the binder releasing process can be progressed efficiently while preventing the occurrence of breaks on ceramic porous bodies to thereby reduce the overall firing time to about ⅔ of the conventional value . therefore , with a furnace having the same capacity as the conventional one , productivity can be improved to about 1 . 5 - fold . moreover , the in - furnace organic binder gas concentration can be controlled to a level much lower than the explosion limit and an advantage of excellent safety can be obtained . | 2 |
fig1 and 2 are block diagrams showing the optical systems and circuit systems of the first embodiment of a camera photometry system using the invention . the optical system , shown in fig1 is structured so that light rays passing through the photography lens 1 are reflected by a quick return mirror 2 , creating an image on a diffusion screen 3 , and reach the eye of the photographer by passing through a condenser lens 4 , a pentagonal prism 5 and the eyepiece lens 6 . in addition , some of the light rays that formed the image on the diffusion screen 3 pass through the condenser lens 4 , the pentagonal prism 5 , a photometry prism 7 and a photometry lens 8 to form an image on a photometry element 9 . the photometry element 9 is made up of 273 photometry regions dividing the subject field into 13 rows horizontally and 21 columns vertically , as shown in fig3 and a number is associated with each of these photometry regions , with the photometry region in the lower left corner being ( 1 , 1 ) and the photometry region in the upper right corner being ( 21 , 13 ). in addition , each of the photometry regions is divided into the primary colors red ( r ), green ( g ), and blue ( b ), as shown in fig4 so that 273 photometry values for each of the colors red , green and blue is output from the photometry element 9 . the circuit system , shown in fig2 is a system that calculates the optimal exposure value based on the photometry values measured by the photometry element 9 and controls the exposure based on the optimal exposure value . the circuit system is equipped with a photometry part 10 that includes the photometry element 9 described above . the photometry part 10 is divided into a first photometry area 10a and a second photometry area 10b and is structured so that each of the first and second photometry areas 10a , 10b is independently controlled by a control mechanism as will be described hereafter . the photometry values that are output from the photometry part 10 are converted into digital signals by an a / d converter 11 , and the digital signals are output to the brightness calculator 12 as digital photometry information . the brightness calculator 12 reads information about the positioning of the exit pupil and the f release value of the photography lens from a lens rom 13 mounted inside the photography lens , and calculates a brightness value for each photometry region based on this information and the digital photometry information . an exposure calculator 14 calculates the optimal exposure value based on the output of the brightness calculator 12 and an exposure controller 15 controls the exposure in accordance with the optimal exposure value through full depression of a shutter release button ( not shown in figure ). the photometry information from the photometry regions which was converted to digital signals by the a / d converter 11 is supplied to a first accumulation control part 16 , which controls the accumulation time of the first photometry area 10a , and to a second accumulation control part 17 , which controls the accumulation time of the second photometry area 10b . a description of the first and second accumulation control parts 16 , 17 will be given hereafter . in addition , the photometry system is equipped with a clock mechanism 18 designed as a timer to keep track of the current date and time . date information from the clock mechanism 18 is supplied to the first and second accumulation control parts 16 , 17 as information showing the date and time the photograph is taken , and is used in the process that sets an initial accumulation time that will be described hereafter . fig5 is a diagram showing further details of the structure of the photometry part 10 . as described above , because each of the 273 individual photometry regions in the photometry element 9 is configured to separately measure the amount of the three primary colors red , green and blue in the photometry part 10 , accumulation - type photoelectric elements rij , gij , bij ( where i = 1 , 2 , . . . , 21 ; j = l , 2 , . . . , 13 ) are positioned in the horizontal direction in positions corresponding to each photometry region . in addition , horizontal transmission registers h1 , h2 . . . , h13 are situated at each of the 13 rows of photoelectric elements 9 and the output end of each of the horizontal transmission registers h1 - h13 is connected in parallel to a vertical register v1 . because the photometry part 10 is divided into a first photometry area 10a and a second photometry area 10b as described above , registers h1 - h7 are registers for the first photometry area 10a and registers h8 - h13 are registers for the second photometry area 10b . the device is configured so that the starting and stopping of accumulation in each of the accumulation - type photoelectric elements in the respective areas is controlled independently by the first accumulation control part 16 and the second accumulation control part 17 , respectively . next , we will explain the action of the photometry part 10 . the electric charge that accumulates in the photoelectric elements rij , gij , bij in each of the photometry regions is transferred to the corresponding horizontal transmission register h1 - h13 upon the generation of an accumulation termination signal by whichever of the accumulation control parts 16 , 17 that corresponds to the photoelectric element . further , the charge from areas with short accumulation times is stored in the transmission register until the accumulation of charge is terminated in areas with long accumulation times and the charge is transmitted to the transmission register . when the charge accumulated in all of the photoelectric elements rij , gij , bij has been transmitted to the horizontal transmission registers h1 - h13 , it is transmitted to the vertical register v1 one element at a time in accordance with a clock signal produced in the photometry part 10 . the vertical register v1 transmits the charge to the a / d converter 11 via an output circuit ( not shown in the diagram ) in the photometry part 10 also in accordance with an internal clock . by thus dividing the photometry part 10 into areas and controlling the accumulation time of the photoelectric elements in each area , it becomes possible , for instance in the case when the upper section of the subject field h is bright while the lower section is a darker scene , to bring the photometric output of the two areas within the range where photometry is possible and it also becomes possible to enlarge the dynamic photometry range by making the accumulation time of the photometry regions in the lower section longer than the accumulation times of the photometry regions in the upper section . we will further explain this point using fig6 . suppose a subject 0 is present as shown in fig6 . light rays passing through the photography lens 1 form an image of the subject 0 &# 39 ; on the screen 3 , and this image 0 &# 39 ; is then projected onto the photometry element 9 through the photometry lens 8 , thereby forming another image 0 &# 34 ;. in this case , taking the direction of transmission in the vertical register v1 of the photometry part 10 to be in the direction of the arrow a , in other words from the top ( upper side ) to the bottom ( lower side ) with respect to the subject field h , because the charge from the elements in the relatively dark lower side are transmitted without passing through the relatively bright upper side when the charge is transmitted by the vertical register v1 , it is possible to eliminate the smear phenomenon that occurs when the charge from the brighter sections of the screen flows into the photometric charge from the less bright sections . that is to say , because it is common for bright regions such as the sky to be positioned in the upper part of the subject field h , such as is shown in fig7 it is possible to eliminate the smear phenomenon because by having the direction of transmission be in the direction of arrow a from the upper side to the lower side , charge from the dark lower regions does not pass through the bright upper regions . concerning the positioning of the photoelectric elements , the optical axis passes through the center of photoelectric element g11 , 7 used for green light in the photometry region numbered ( 11 , 7 ), as shown in fig8 . because the transmission mechanism is located on the light receptor surface in accumulation - type photoelectric elements , the aperture ratio , which is the ratio of the photoelectric part to the light receiving area , unavoidably decreases . as a result , it becomes impossible to measure light from objects outside the photoelectric part . because of the high probability that the major subject will be located on the optical axis on the photographic screen , it is vital that the photoelectric part be on the optical axis . in addition , when the pixels used to measure different color tones are lined up alternately , the pixel that measures the color green ( g ), which has a sensitive distribution nearest the visibility curve , must be located on the optical axis in order to improve the photometric accuracy . as an alternative example of the photometry part 10 , when a frame transfer format is used in which the photometry elements 9 are separated into light receptors p and accumulators m , as shown in fig9 it is possible to eliminate the smear phenomenon by having the direction of charge transmission be from the upper side to the lower side because the charge is transmitted to the accumulators m via the light receptors p . next , we will explain the action of the photometry system in the embodiment by referring to the flowchart shown in fig1 . the action is initiated by depressing the shutter button ( not shown in the diagram ) halfway . first , the process of setting the initial accumulation time is executed ( step s1 ). this process sets the initial accumulation time ta of the photoelectric elements rij , gij , bij from the date and time of the photograph . details of the process of step s1 be explained by referring to the flowchart shown in fig1 at a later time . next , an accumulation of charge is executed in the first and second photometry areas 10a , 10b through the accumulation time ta which has been set , and the photometry value obtained as a voltage signal from each of the photometry regions is converted into a digital signal by the a / d converter 11 and output as digital photometry information ( step s2 ). next , a brightness value is calculated by the brightness calculator 12 based on the digital photometry information , the accumulation time ta and information from the lens rom 13 ( step s3 ). the exposure calculator 14 then calculates the optimal exposure value based on the calculated brightness value ( step s4 ). because the method of calculating the optimal exposure value is explained in detail in the public disclosure of japanese laid - open publication no . 4 - 310930 , which corresponds to u . s . patent application ser . no . 07 / 831 , 201 , the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein , a detailed explanation is omitted . next , the system determines whether the shutter button ( not shown ) has been depressed all the way ( step s5 ). if it is depressed all the way , the exposure is controlled by the exposure controller 15 based on the optimal exposure value ( step s6 ) and the process terminates . if the shutter button is not depressed all the way , the next accumulation time ta is set ( step s7 ) and the process is repeated from step s2 . the process involved in step s7 will be explained hereafter . next , we will explain the initial accumulation time setting process subroutine ( of step s1 ) by referring to the flowchart shown in fig1 . the probable outdoor conditions are divided into the three categories of &# 34 ; daytime &# 34 ;, &# 34 ; morning or evening &# 34 ; and &# 34 ; night &# 34 ; based on the current date and time information which is calculated by the clock mechanism 18 ( step s11 ). first , it is determined whether night conditions are probable ( step s12 ). if the determination is &# 34 ; night &# 34 ;, the initial accumulation time ta is set at 160 ms ( step s13 ). when a standard photometric optical system and photometry element are used , this corresponds to measuring light with a brightness of ev1 . if the determination is not &# 34 ; night &# 34 ; in step s12 , the system determines whether &# 34 ; morning or evening &# 34 ; conditions are probable ( step s14 ). if the determination is &# 34 ; morning or evening &# 34 ;, the initial accumulation time ta is set at 20 ms ( step s15 ). with the photometry system mentioned above , this corresponds to measuring light with a brightness of ev4 . if the determination is not &# 34 ; morning or evening &# 34 ; in step s14 , the determination is &# 34 ; daytime &# 34 ;, so the initial accumulation time ta is set at 2 . 56 ms ( step s16 ). with the photometry system mentioned above , this corresponds to measuring light with a brightness of ev7 . next , we will explain the accumulation time setting process subroutine ( of step s7 ) by referring to the flowchart shown in fig1 . first , average values ada , adb are calculated for the digital photometry information from each of the photometry regions in the first photometry area 10a and the second photometry area 10b ( step s21 ). the average values ada , adb are 10 artilogrithms within the range 0 - 1 , 023 . the values are the output of the a / d converter 11 . the a / d converter 11 has a level of discrimination of 10 bits so there are 1024 values . in this application , minimal amounts of data are assigned a value of zero . thus , the highest value is 1 , 023 and the range is 0 - 1 , 023 . the minimal value is zero because it cannot be measured . if assigned the value 1 , it could be read as one - half of the value 2 . however , the value 1 is used to represent the minimum amount of measurable data . then , it is determined whether the average value ada from the first photometry area 10a is zero ( step s22 ). if the average value ada is zero , the next accumulation time ta is set at 1 , 024 times the previous accumulation time ta ( step s23 ). this is because data that was &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ;, that is , the minimum measurable amount of light , in the previous measurement of light in the next measurement becomes the value that just exceeds the maximum value &# 34 ; 102338 and data less than or equal to this ends up within the photometry range , which is very convenient . if it is determined in step s22 that the average value ada is not zero , it is determined whether the average value ada is the maximum measurable value &# 34 ; 1 , 02338 , values above &# 34 ; 1 , 023 &# 34 ; being overflow values and represented by &# 34 ; 1 , 023 &# 34 ;( step s24 ). if it is determined that the value is the maximum value , the next accumulation time ta is set at 1 / 1024 times the previous accumulation time ( step s25 ). this is because data that overflowed , was in fact greater than the largest measurable value , in the previous light measurement becomes &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; the smallest or minimum measurable amount of light , in the next light measurement and data greater than or equal to this ends up within the photometry range , which is very convenient . if it is determined that the average value ada is not the maximum value , the next accumulation time ta is determined using the equation ( step s26 ): having done this , the setting of the next accumulation time ta for the first photometry area 10a is concluded . we will now discuss the method of setting the accumulation time by referring to fig1 . the graph of fig1 shows the value of the digital photometry information on the horizontal axis with the frequency ( number ) of photometry information in all of the photometry regions in the first photometry area 10a shown on the vertical axis . in the graph , when the average value ada of the photometry information is &# 34 ; 16 &# 34 ; for instance , the next accumulation time ta determined from equation 1 becomes double the previous accumulation time ta and , if the condition of the subject does not change , the next average value ada will be &# 34 ; 32 .&# 34 ; in addition , when the average value ada is &# 34 ; 64 &# 34 ; the next accumulation time ta determined from equation 1 becomes one - half the previous accumulation time ta and , if the condition of the subject does not change , the next average value ada will be &# 34 ; 32 .&# 34 ; that is to say , if the brightness of the subject does not change , the next average value will be &# 34 ; 32 .&# 34 ; this is because the brightness value is expressed as a logarithm , so when the average value is &# 34 ; 32 &# 34 ; in the range from &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; to &# 34 ; 1023 &# 34 ;, the photometry range can be secured with exactly 5 ev both up and down . when the setting of the next accumulation time ta in the first photometry area 10a is concluded , the next accumulation time tb in the second photometry area 10b is set . because the method of setting the accumulation time tb is the same as the method of setting the accumulation time ta discussed above , a detailed explanation is omitted here , but first , it is determined whether the average value adb from the second photometry area 10b is zero ( step s27 ), and if adb = 0 , the next accumulation time tb is set at 1024 times the previous accumulation time ( step s28 ). if the average value adb is not zero , it is determined whether or not the average value ( adb ) is the maximum value &# 34 ; 1 , 023 &# 34 ;( step s29 ) and if it is the maximum value , the next accumulation time tb is set at 1 / 1024 times the previous accumulation time ( step s30 ). if it is determined that the average value adb is not the maximum value , the next accumulation time tb is found using the following equation ( step s31 ): having done this , the setting of the next accumulation time tb for the second photometry area 10b is concluded . using this invention , it becomes possible , in a photometry system equipped with accumulation - type photometry elements , to eliminate the smear phenomenon that results from the effects of the bright regions of the subject field , and it also becomes possible to appropriately measure light from the major subject in the subject field and to obtain correct photometry values with few errors . | 7 |
hereinafter , embodiments for implementing the present technology will be described . the description will be given in the following order . 1 . first embodiment ( an example in which a route search is carried out on an information processing terminal side ) 2 . second embodiment ( an example in which a route search is carried out on a server side ) fig1 illustrates an external appearance configuration example of an information processing terminal according to an embodiment of the present technology . an information processing terminal 1 of fig1 is a pnd ( portable navigation device ) and has a casing with a size at which a user can hold by one hand . a display unit 2 composed of lcd ( liquid crystal display ) or the like is provided on a front face of the casing of the information processing terminal 1 . for example , a touch panel is layered and provided on the display unit 2 , and a button or the like displayed on the display unit 2 can be directly operated by the user with a finger . the information processing terminal 1 has a gps ( global positioning system ) function and performs a positioning of its own terminal to display a position of its own terminal on a map displayed on the display unit 2 . also , in a case where a destination is set and a search for a route ( path ) to the destination is instructed , the information processing terminal 1 performs the search and displays the route decided by the search on the map . a member with which the information processing terminal 1 can be fixed to a cradle 3 is provided on a back face of the casing of the information processing terminal 1 . the user can attach the information processing terminal 1 , for example , to the cradle 3 that is fixed to a dashboard of an automobile by a suction disc 3 a and detach the information processing terminal 1 from the cradle 3 to bring out . for the cradle of the information processing terminal 1 , in addition to the cradle 3 which is an automobile - use cradle , a plurality of cradles such as a bicycle - use cradle are prepared . when attached to the cradle , for example , the information processing terminal 1 is electrically connected to the cradle and detects to which cradle the information processing terminal is attached on the basis of an id or the like read out from the cradle . for use cases of the information processing terminal 1 , the user may take along the information processing terminal 1 and move on foot and attach the information processing terminal 1 to the bicycle - use cradle and move by bicycle . also , the user may attach the information processing terminal 1 to the automobile - use cradle and move by automobile . hereinafter , mainly , the case will be described in which a movement mode of the user is on foot , by bicycle , or by automobile , but the mode in which the user brings about the information processing terminal 1 and moves is not limited to the movement on foot , the movement by bicycle , or the movement by automobile . the information processing terminal 1 having the above - mentioned external appearance configuration accumulates and manages histories of passageways , such as sidewalks , pedestrian walking / running paths , bicycle trails or roads , passed by the user on foot , by bicycle , or by automobile for each movement mode . a memory inside the information processing terminal 1 respectively stores the history of the roads passed on foot , the history of the roads passed by bicycle , and the history of the roads passed by automobile . when a search for a route from a current position to a destination is instructed , the information processing terminal 1 preferentially selects a road where a passage frequency is low on the basis of the passage history in accordance with the current movement mode of the user and decides the route to the destination . the road where the passage frequency is low includes not only a road where the number of passages is small but also a road which has not been passed . the route to the destination decided while the road where the passage frequency is low is preferentially selected is displayed on the display unit 2 to be presented to the user . fig2 illustrates a display example of the route decided while the road where the passage frequency is low is preferentially selected . in the example of fig2 , a map in a predetermined range is displayed on the display unit 2 , and at a location corresponding to the current position of the information processing terminal 1 , an icon i 1 representing the current position of the information processing terminal 1 is displayed . also , at a location corresponding to the destination set by the user , an icon i 2 representing the destination is displayed . also , among routes connecting the current position with the destination , the route decided while the road where the passage frequency is low is preferentially selected is displayed by a solid line arrow # 1 . a route represented by a broken line arrow # 2 is a route composed of a road with a high passage frequency , and a route represented by a broken line arrow # 3 is a route with a shortest distance . it is also possible to set that he route composed of the road with the high passage frequency and the shortest distance route are not displayed on the display unit 2 . according to this , the user can check the road where the passage frequency is low , and while moving by following the displayed route , it is possible to go to the destination by using a road different from the usual road . by using the road different from the usual road , the user can encounter fresh discoveries along the road and be familiar with an area along the road . it should be noted that icons i 11 , i 12 , and i 13 illustrated along the route with the low passage frequency in fig2 are icons respectively representing a location of a cake shop , a location of a monument , and a location of a park . these icons are displayed while the location of the cake shop , the location of the monument , and the location of the park are previously registered by the user . also , for example , text data such as a posting to a bulletin board is obtained from a web server , and these icons are displayed in accordance with an inclusion of information on the cake shop , the monument , and the park in the obtained text data . that is , for the search for the route , appropriately , not only the passage frequency , but also the locations registered by the user , the locations posted to the bulletin board , and the like are taken into account . a route search taking into account these pieces of information will be described below . fig3 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration example of the information processing terminal 1 . the information processing terminal 1 is composed by connecting an operation input unit 12 , an output unit 13 , a position detection unit 14 , a sensor unit 15 , a communication unit 16 , an attachment detachment detection unit 17 , and a storage unit 18 to a computation processing unit 11 . the computation processing unit 11 is composed by connecting a cpu ( central processing unit ) 31 , a rom ( read only memory ) 32 , a ram ( random access memory ) 33 , a non - volatile memory 34 , and an interface unit 35 via a bus . the cpu 31 loads programs from the rom 32 and the non - volatile memory 34 to be executed by using the ram 33 to control an overall operation of the information processing terminal 1 . the non - volatile memory 34 is a memory that is rewritable and also can hold data even when a supply from a power source is interrupted . the non - volatile memory 34 is composed of an sram ( static random access memory ) where the power source is backed up by a battery , a flash memory , or the like . the interface unit 35 functions as an interface between respective units connected to the computation processing unit 11 . the control information with respect to the respective units from the cpu 31 and the information with respect to the cpu 31 from the respective units are transmitted and received via the interface unit 35 . the operation input unit 12 detects operations by the user with respect to a switch provided to the casing of the information processing terminal 1 and the touch panel layered on the display unit 2 and outputs the information representing the contents of the operations by the user to the computation processing unit 11 . also , the operation input unit 12 receives a signal from a remote controller and outputs the information representing the contents of the operations by the user with respect to the remote controller to the computation processing unit 11 . an audio input with respect to a microphone or the like and an input of an image by a camera or the like may be detected by the operation input unit 12 . the output unit 13 is composed of the display unit 2 and a speaker 41 . the display unit 2 displays the map and the route of the search result to be presented to the user while following the control by the computation processing unit 11 . in a case where the route of the search result is presented to the user instead of the image display , the speaker 41 outputs a sound for notifying of the route of the search result while following the control by the computation processing unit 11 . the position detection unit 14 receives radio waves from the gps and detects the position of the information processing terminal 1 . instead of using the radio waves from the gps , the positioning may be carried out by using radio waves from a base station of the mobile phone device , radio waves from an access point of a wireless lan ( local area network ), or the like . the sensor unit 15 is composed of a sensor such as a gyro sensor , an acceleration sensor , or a vibration sensor . information detected by the sensor unit 15 is output to the computation processing unit 11 and used for a correction on the location detected by the position detection unit 14 or the like . the communication unit 16 performs a communication with an apparatus on a network such as a lan or the internet via a radio transmission such as bluetooth ( trademark ) or a wireless lan . the information processing terminal 1 may be connected to an external apparatus via a fixed line such as a usb ( universal serial bus ) cable . the attachment detachment detection unit 17 detects a state of the attachment of the information processing terminal 1 with respect to the cradle . also , the attachment detachment detection unit 17 detects to which cradle the attachment is made . information on a detection result by the attachment detachment detection unit 17 is supplied to the computation processing unit 11 . the state of the attachment with respect to the cradle may be detected on the basis of a change in a power source voltage when connected to a terminal provided to a joining part with the cradle , or a switch may be provided to the joining part with the cradle and the attachment may be mechanically detected . also , a handle for transport may be provided to the casing of the information processing terminal 1 , and the state of the attachment may be detected on the basis of whether the handle is stored or not . for example , in a case where the handle is stored , the attachment to the cradle is detected . a type of the attached cradle is detected , for example , on the basis of the id read out from the cradle when attached to the cradle as described above . the storage unit 18 is composed of a flash memory , a hard disc , or the like and stores information on map data and the passage history . the storage unit 18 also stores poi ( point of interest ) information which is information on a building , a shop , a park , and the like on the map , search information , music contents , video contents , and the like . fig4 is a block diagram illustrating a function configuration example of the information processing terminal 1 . at least a part of function units illustrated in fig4 is realized while a predetermined program is executed by the cpu 31 of fig3 . a user interface unit 51 obtains the information supplied from the operation input unit 12 to be output to an information processing unit 52 . also , the user interface unit 51 obtains the information supplied from the attachment detachment detection unit 17 to be output to the information processing unit 52 and also causes an attachment detachment state storage unit 53 to store information representing the attachment detachment state with respect to the cradle . furthermore , on the basis of the information supplied from the information processing unit 52 , a menu processing unit 54 , and a character display processing unit 56 , the user interface unit 51 controls a display of the display unit 2 . for example , information on the map and information on the route of the search result are supplied from the information processing unit 52 . also , information on a menu screen is supplied from the menu processing unit 54 . information on a character input by the user is supplied from the character display processing unit 56 . the menu processing unit 54 is composed of a vehicle installment - use menu processing unit 54 a and a household - use menu processing unit 54 b . when a display of a vehicle installment - use menu screen is instructed by the user in a case where the information processing terminal 1 is attached to the automobile - use cradle , the vehicle installment - use menu processing unit 54 a outputs information on the vehicle installment - use menu screen to the user interface unit 51 to be displayed on the display unit 2 . whether the information processing terminal 1 is attached to the automobile - use cradle or not is identified on the basis of the information stored in the attachment detachment state storage unit 53 . when a display of a menu screen is instructed by the user in cases other than the case where the information processing terminal 1 is attached to the automobile - use cradle , the household - use menu processing unit 54 b outputs information on the menu screen to the user interface unit 51 to be displayed on the display unit 2 . different menu screens are displayed , for example , in a case where the information processing terminal 1 is attached to the automobile - use cradle and in the other cases . a character input processing unit 55 is composed of a vehicle installment - use character input processing unit 55 a and a household - use character input processing unit 55 b . when an input of a character is requested by the user in a case where the information processing terminal 1 is attached to the automobile - use cradle , the vehicle installment - use character input processing unit 55 a causes the input of the character by displaying an input column for the character on the display unit 2 or the like . the input of the character by the user is carried out at the time of the search for the location or the like . when the input of the character is requested by the user in cases other than the case where the information processing terminal 1 is attached to the automobile - use cradle , the household - use character input processing unit 55 b causes the input of the character by displaying the input column for the character on the display unit 2 or the like . different input columns for the character are displayed , for example , in a case where the information processing terminal 1 is attached to the automobile - use cradle or in other cases . the character display processing unit 56 is composed of a vehicle installment - use character display processing unit 56 a and a household - use character display processing unit 56 b . when the character is input by the user in a case where the information processing terminal 1 is attached to the automobile - use cradle , the vehicle installment - use character display processing unit 56 a outputs information on the character input by the user to the user interface unit 51 to be displayed on the display unit 2 . when the character is input by the user in cases other than the case where the information processing terminal 1 is attached to the automobile - use cradle , the household - use character display processing unit 56 b outputs the information on the character input by the user to the user interface unit 51 to be displayed on the display unit 2 . fig5 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of the information processing unit 52 of fig4 . the information processing unit 52 is composed of a movement mode detection unit 71 , a history management unit 72 , a history storage unit 73 , a passage frequency calculation unit 74 , a registration information / attention information obtaining unit 75 , a search - use information storage unit 76 , a search unit 77 , a map data storage unit 78 , and a display control unit 79 . the history storage unit 73 , the registration information / attention information obtaining unit 75 , and the map data storage unit 78 are realized , for example , in the storage unit 18 . the history storage unit 73 , the registration information / attention information obtaining unit 75 , and the map data storage unit 78 may also be realized in storage units other than the storage unit 18 such as a storage unit on the server and removable media mounted to the information processing terminal 1 . the information representing the attachment detachment state with respect to the cradle detected by the attachment detachment detection unit 17 is input from the user interface unit 51 to the movement mode detection unit 71 . also , the information on the current position obtained through the positioning by the position detection unit 14 is input from the user interface unit 51 to the history management unit 72 and the search unit 77 . the information representing the content of the operation by the user detected by the operation input unit 12 is input from the user interface unit 51 to the registration information / attention information obtaining unit 75 and the search unit 77 . the movement mode detection unit 71 determines a movement mode of the user on the basis of the information representing the attachment detachment state with respect to the cradle detected by the attachment detachment detection unit 17 . for example , in a case where the information processing terminal 1 is not attached to the cradle , the movement mode detection unit 71 determines that the movement mode of the user is on foot , and in a case where the information processing terminal 1 is attached to the bicycle - use cradle , it is determined that the movement mode of the user is by bicycle . also , in a case where the information processing terminal 1 is attached to the automobile - use cradle , the movement mode detection unit 71 determines that the movement mode of the user is by car . the movement mode detection unit 71 outputs the information representing the determined movement mode of the user to the history management unit 72 at the time of the accumulation of the passage history . also , the movement mode detection unit 71 outputs the information representing the determined movement mode of the user to the search unit 77 at the time of the search for the route . the history management unit 72 obtains the information representing the movement mode of the user supplied from the movement mode detection unit 71 and the information on the current position detected by the position detection unit 14 in a predetermined cycle when the user moves while carrying about the information processing terminal 1 . the history management unit 72 performs a matching with the map data stored in the map data storage unit 78 or the like to detect a road through which the user is currently passing and stores information on the passed road in the history storage unit 73 as a passage history for each movement mode of the user . the information on the passed road which is stored as the passage history includes not only identification information as to which road is passed but also information on a gradient of the road . the history storage unit 73 stores the passage history for each movement mode . the passage history also includes information on a time at which the user passes through each road . the passage frequency calculation unit 74 reads out the passage history for each movement mode from the history storage unit 73 and calculates the passage frequency of each road on the basis of the passage history . the passage frequency calculation unit 74 stores the information on the passage frequency of each road in the search - use information storage unit 76 for each movement mode . the registration information / attention information obtaining unit 75 identifies a favorite location of the user on the basis of the operation by the user with respect to the operation input unit 12 . a registration of the favorite location is carried out , for example , when the user selects a predetermined location on the map displayed on the display unit 2 . the registration information / attention information obtaining unit 75 stores the information on the identified favorite location of the user in the search - use information storage unit 76 . the information on the favorite location includes position information on the favorite location and the information representing a degree of liking registered by the user . also , the registration information / attention information obtaining unit 75 controls the communication unit 16 to access the web server and downloads and obtains the text data . for example , in a case where the web server is a server for managing the bulletin board , the text data posted in the bulletin board is obtained . the registration information / attention information obtaining unit 75 extracts names of the building , the shop , the park , and the like by analyzing the obtained text data . the registration information / attention information obtaining unit 75 identifies a location attracting attention from people who have posted among the locations such as the building , the shop , and the park which are placed on the map stored in the map data storage unit 78 . also , the registration information / attention information obtaining unit 75 obtains an attention degree of the identified attention location , for example , on the basis of the number of inclusions of the name of the same location in the text data . the registration information / attention information obtaining unit 75 stores the information on the attention location including the position information on the attention location and the information on the attention degree in the search - use information storage unit 76 . the search - use information storage unit 76 stores the information on the passage frequency of each road calculated by the passage frequency calculation unit 74 and the information on the favorite location and the information on the attention location supplied from the registration information / attention information obtaining unit 75 as the search - use information which is information used for searching for the route . the search - use information also includes information on each road on the map . fig6 illustrates an example of search - use information stored in the search - use information storage unit 76 . the search - use information includes road information d 1 , road connection information d 2 , user information d 3 , neighborhood information d 4 , and traffic information d 5 . information other than the information illustrated in fig6 may also be included in the search - use information . also , a part of information among the information illustrated in fig6 may also be used for carrying out the route search . the road information d 1 includes a length of each road on the map , a width of each road , a type of each road such as a national road , a prefectural road , a minor street , or a toll road , a road structure of each road such as whether it is a service road or not , a gradient of each road , and information on a state of each road such as whether it is a paved road or an unpaved road . the road connection information d 2 includes information representing a right - turn road or a left - turn road with regard to each road , information on the presence or absence of an intersection , information on the presence or absence of a level crossing , and information on the presence or absence of a traffic signal . the user information d 3 includes the information on the passage frequency of each road for each movement mode , the information on the favorite location , and the information on the attention location . the information on the passage frequency included in the user information d 3 is registered by the passage frequency calculation unit 74 , and the information on the favorite location and the information on the attention location are registered by the registration information / attention information obtaining unit 75 . the neighborhood information d 4 includes the information on the shop on the map and the information on the park . the traffic information d 5 includes information on the presence or absence of the generation of traffic jam , the presence or absence of the generation of a traffic accident , and the presence or absence of the generation of a passage prohibition . while referring back to the description of fig5 , in a case where a predetermined position on the map is set as the destination by the user and the search for the route from the current position to the destination is instructed , in accordance with the search mode , the search unit 77 reads out predetermined information from the search - use information storage unit 76 . the search mode includes a mode for carrying out the search for the route including the road different from the usual road and a mode for carrying out a normal search in priority to a distance or in priority to a time . for example , in a case where the conduct of the search for the route including the road different from the usual road is instructed , the search unit 77 reads out the entire search - use information of fig6 including the information on the passage frequency . also , in a case where the conduct of the normal search is instructed the search unit 77 reads out information at least except for the information on the passage frequency among the search - use information of fig6 . that is , the information on the passage frequency is used for the route search in a case where the search for the route including the road different from the usual road is carried out . the search unit 77 performs the search for the route from the current position to the destination on the basis of the information read out from the search - use information storage unit 76 . for an algorithm of the route search , for example , dijkstra method of obtaining a cost of each route from the current position to the destination and select a route with a low cost is used . other search algorithms such as λ - star method may also be used . it should be noted that the current position is identified on the basis of the location detected by the position detection unit 14 . the search unit 77 outputs the information on the route of the search result to the display control unit 79 . the map data storage unit 78 stores the map data and the poi information . in a case where the information on the route of the search result is supplied from the search unit 77 , the display control unit 79 reads out the map data in a range including the route of the search result from the map data storage unit 78 and generates screen information illustrated in fig2 where the route of the search result is displayed on the map . the display control unit 79 outputs the generated screen information to the user interface unit 51 and causes the display unit 2 to display the route of the search result . herein , an operation by the information processing terminal 1 will be described . first , with reference to a flow chart of fig7 , a processing of the information processing terminal 1 that accumulates the passage history will be described . the processing of fig7 is repeatedly carried out , for example , when the power source of the information processing terminal 1 is turned on and the user uses the information processing terminal 1 . when the power source of the information processing terminal 1 is turned on , the positioning is carried out by the position detection unit 14 to detect the current position . in step s 1 , the movement mode detection unit 71 determines the movement mode of the user on the basis of the information supplied from the attachment detachment detection unit 17 . in step s 2 , the history management unit 72 identifies a road through which the user passes on the basis of the current position detected by the position detection unit 14 and the map data stored in the map data storage unit 78 . in step s 3 , the history management unit 72 stores the information on the passing road in the history storage unit 73 for each movement mode and ends the processing . the processing of fig7 is repeatedly carried out , and the passage history in a case where the movement mode is on foot , the passage history in the case of the car , and the passage history in the case of the bicycle are respectively stored in the history storage unit 73 . next , with reference to a flow chart of fig8 , a learning processing by the information processing terminal 1 will be described . the processing of fig8 is carried out at a predetermined timing each time the passage history is stored in the history storage unit 73 or the like . in step s 11 , the passage frequency calculation unit 74 reads out the information on the passage history for a predetermined movement mode from the history storage unit 73 . in step s 12 , the passage frequency calculation unit 74 performs the learning of the passage history read out from the history storage unit 73 to calculate the passage frequency of each road . in step s 13 , the passage frequency calculation unit 74 stores the information on the passage frequency obtained through the calculation in the search - use information storage unit 76 and ends the processing . next , with reference to a flow chart of fig9 , a processing of the information processing terminal 1 for performing the route search will be described . the processing of fig9 is started , for example , when a predetermined position on the map is set as the destination by the user and the search for the route from the current position to the destination is instructed . after the destination is set , a menu screen used for settings with regard to the search is displayed on the display unit 2 . by using the menu screen , the user can perform various settings regard to the search such as a selection to perform the search for the route including the road different from the usual road and a selection to avoid the toll road . information representing the selected contents by the user is detected by the operation input unit 12 and supplied to the search unit 77 . in step s 21 , the search unit 77 determines whether or not the search for the route including the road different from the usual road is carried out . in a case where it is determined in step s 21 that the search for the route including the road different from the usual road is performed , in step s 22 , the search unit 77 reads out the search - use information including the information on the passage frequency in accordance with the movement mode from the search - use information storage unit 76 . for example , in a case where the movement mode detection unit 71 determines that the movement mode of the user is on foot , the search - use information storage unit 76 reads out the search - use information including the information on the passage frequency learnt on the basis of the passage history on foot from the search - use information storage unit 76 . in step s 23 , the search unit 77 performs a cost calculation processing . a cost of an arbitrary route to the destination is calculated through the cost calculation processing . herein , with reference to a flow chart of fig1 , the cost calculation processing performed in step s 23 of fig9 will be described . in step s 41 , the search unit 77 obtains setting information related to the calculation of the cost among the settings by the user with regard to the search . the selection to avoid the toll road and the like become the settings related to the calculation of the cost . in step s 42 , the search unit 77 sets weights on the respective parameters of the search - use information and calculates the cost of the arbitrary route . fig1 is a diagram for describing the cost calculation . an edge indicated by an arrow corresponds to one road , and nodes on both ends of the edge correspond to two points connected by the road . a direction of the arrow indicating the edge represents a direction in which the passage can be made . a node corresponding to the current position is set as the node a , and a node corresponding to the destination is set as a node j . in this case , first , the respective costs of the nodes between a - b , the nodes between a - c , the nodes between a - d , the nodes between a - d - c , and the nodes between a - c - b which are routes to the nodes b , c , and d which are locations adjacent to the node a are calculated . for example , the cost between the nodes a - b can be obtained in the following manner by using the respective parameters of fig6 . the parameter of the road information d 1 and the parameter of the road connection information d 2 are the parameter related to a road a - b which is a road connecting the locations corresponding to the node a and the node b . weights w by which the respective parameters are multiplied are changed in accordance with the setting information obtained in step s 41 or the like . cost between the nodes a - b =( length of the road )× w 11 +( width of the road )× w 12 +( type of the road )× w 13 +( structure of the road )× w 14 +( gradient of the road )× w 15 +( state of the road )× w 16 +( left right turn )× w 21 +( intersection )× w 22 +( the presence of the absence of the level crossing )× w 23 +( the presence or absence of the traffic signal )+ w 24 +( passage frequency )× w 31 +( favorite location )× w 32 +( attention location )× w 33 + . . . in this example , since the conduction of the search for the route including the road different from the usual road is instructed , the information on the passage frequency is also used in the cost calculation . the other parameters illustrated in fig6 are also appropriately used in the calculation of the cost between the nodes a - b . the weighting may also be carried out on parameters such as a time and consumed calorie other than the parameters illustrated in fig6 and used for the calculation of the cost . the weight w 31 by which the parameter of the passage frequency is multiplied becomes a larger value as the passage frequency of the road a - b is higher and becomes a smaller value as the passage frequency is tower . according to this , in a case where the parameter of the passage frequency is used for the cost calculation , the obtained cost becomes larger as the passage frequency is higher and becomes smaller as the passage frequency is tower . according to this , a route including a road where a passage frequency is low becomes more likely to be searched for . the weights w by which the respective parameters are multiplied are changed by the movement mode of the user . for example , in a case where the movement mode is on foot , the weight w 12 by which a parameter of the width of the road a - b is multiplied is set to be smaller than that in the case where the movement mode is on foot or by bicycle . according to this , in a case where the movement mode is on foot , a route including a narrow road becomes more likely to be searched for . also , in a case where the movement mode is on foot , the weight w 15 by which parameter on the gradient of the road a - b is multiplied is set to be larger than that in the case where the movement mode is on foot or by bicycle . according to this , in a case where the movement mode is on foot , a route including a road with a large gradient becomes more unlikely to be searched for . similarly , also in a case where the movement mode is by bicycle , the weight w 12 by which the parameter of the width of the road the road a - b is set to be smaller than that in the case where the movement mode is on foot or by bicycle . according to this , in a case where the movement mode is by bicycle , a route including a narrow road becomes more likely to be searched for . also , in a case where the movement mode is by bicycle , the weight w 15 by which the parameter on the gradient of the road a - b is multiplied is set to be larger than that in the case where the movement mode is on foot or by bicycle . according to this , in a case where the movement mode is by bicycle , a route including a road with a large gradient becomes more unlikely to be searched for . on the basis of the information on the gradient of the road included in the passage history , a determination is made on to which extent of the gradient the user can pass for each movement mode , and the weight w 15 by which the parameter of the gradient of the road is set , so that it is also possible to carry out the route search . for example , in a case where the movement mode is on foot or by bicycle , the weight w 15 becomes larger than the case where the movement mode is on foot or by bicycle . in this manner , in the information processing terminal 1 , it is possible to carry out the search for the route while taking into account the width of the road and the gradient of the road in accordance with the movement mode . for the parameter of the favorite location , for example , a predetermined value such as “ 1 ” is set in a case where the favorite location registered by the user exists in a predetermined range while a location on the straight line connecting the current position with the destination is set as a reference and is used for the cost calculation . for the weight w 32 by which the parameter of the favorite location is multiplied , a larger value is set as the favorite location is closer to the reference location or the degree of liking is larger . in a case where the favorite location is registered by the user but the location does not exist in the predetermined range , “ 0 ” is set as the value of the parameter of the favorite location and is not used for the cost calculation . for the parameter of the attention location , for example , in a case where the attention location exists within a predetermined range while the straight line connecting the current position with the destination is set as the reference , a predetermined value such as “ 1 ” is set and is used for the cost calculation . for the weight w 33 by which the parameter of the attention location is multiplied , a larger value is set as the attention location is closer to the reference location or a degree of attention is larger . in a case where the attention location does not exist within the predetermined range , “ 0 ” is set as the value of the parameter of the attention location and is not used for the cost calculation . in the example of fig1 , it is obtained in a manner that the cost between the nodes a - b is 10 , the cost between the nodes a - c is 20 , the cost between the nodes a - d is 8 , and the cost between the nodes a - d - c is 13 ( 8 + 5 ). in this case , routes from the node a toward the node c include the route between the nodes a - c and the route between the nodes a - d - c , but the route between the nodes a - c where the cost is large is removed from the candidate , and the route between the nodes a - d - c remains as the candidate . by repeatedly carrying out the above - mentioned cost calculation , the search unit 77 obtains the cost of each route . for example , in a case where the calculation for the cost for an arbitrary route from the current position to the destination such as the nodes a - d - c - f - i - j is carried out , while returning back to step s 23 of fig9 , the subsequent processing is carried out . in step s 24 , the search unit 77 determines whether or not the route where the cost has been calculated is relevant to the exceptional condition . fig1 is a drawing for describing the determination on the exceptional condition . as illustrated in fig1 , while a position p 11 is set as the current position and a position p 12 is set as the destination , a case will be described in which a route from the position p 11 to the position p 12 is searched for . in this case , for example , the search unit 77 sets an elliptic area having a straight line obtained by extending a straight line # 11 connecting the position p 11 with the position p 12 by a predetermined length as a major axis as an area a 1 . the area a 1 includes the current position and the destination . the search unit 77 determines a route out of the area a 1 as a route relevant to the exceptional condition . it may be determined to be relevant to the exceptional condition in a case where a part of the roads constituting the entire route exceeds the area a 1 , and also it may be determined to be relevant to the exceptional condition in a case where a road having a distance at a predetermined rate with respect to the distance of the entire route exceeds the area a 1 . according to this , it is possible to prevent a search for a route where a distance to the destination becomes too far . furthermore , the user may choose to expand the area a 1 if the user has more available time to reach the destination . for example , the user may choose to input “ extra - time ” available to the user so that the user can possibly explore more locations of interest that would fall within the area a 1 . moreover , if the user decides he has more extra time to reach the destination , the user may select a broader area a 1 so the user can experience new routes and locations of interest along unfamiliar passageway segments . in accordance with a situation of the learning on the passage frequency , the area functioning as the reference of the determination on the exceptional condition may be changed as illustrated in fig1 . in the example of fig1 , the area a 1 of fig1 is expanded as indicated by arrows # 21 and # 22 to be extended to a range of an area a 2 . as the information amount on the passage history becomes larger and the learning on the passage frequency progresses , by setting the elliptic area functioning as the reference of the determination on the exceptional condition to be large , it is possible to expand the range of the route including the road different from the usual road . while returning back to the description of fig9 , in a case where it is determined in step s 24 that the route where the cost has been calculated is relevant to the exceptional condition , in step s 25 , the search unit 77 performs the recalculation of the cost . the recalculation of the cost is realized by changing the setting on the weight so that the cost of the route determined to be relevant to the exceptional condition becomes high and performing a processing similar to the processing of fig1 . finally , since the route where the total of the costs of the respective roads constituting the route is low is selected as the search result , the route relevant to the exceptional condition becomes unlikely to be selected as the search result . in a case where it is determined in step s 24 that the route where the cost has been calculated is not relevant to the exceptional condition , the processing in step s 25 is skipped . in step s 26 , the search unit 77 determines whether or not a search end condition is satisfied . for example , in a case where the calculation for the cost for a predetermined number of routes is ended , it is determined that the search end condition is satisfied . in a case where it is determined in step s 26 that the search end condition is not satisfied , the search unit 77 returns to step s 23 and calculates a cost of another route from the current position to the destination . on the other hand , in a case where it is determined in step s 26 that the search end condition is satisfied , in step s 27 , the search unit 77 decides the route having the lowest total of the costs of the respective roads constituting the route as the search result . the search unit 77 outputs information representing the decided route of the search result to the display control unit 79 . in step s 28 , the display control unit 79 displays the map in a predetermined range on the display unit 2 on the basis of the data stored in the map data storage unit 78 and displays the route of the search result on the displayed map . it should be noted that the icons representing the locations of the cake shop , the monument , and the park illustrated in fig2 are stored , for example , in the map data storage unit 78 . at the time of the display of the route of the search result , information on the rate of the roads different from the usual road ( roads having a lower passage frequency than a threshold ) among the entire roads constituting the route of the search result may be displayed . also , a color of the road different from the usual road may be displayed in a different color from a color of the road having a higher passage frequency than the threshold , or the width of the road different from the usual road may be displayed in a width different from the width of the road having the higher passage frequency than the threshold . according to this , the user can easily check the road different from the usual road . on the other hand , in a case where it is determined in step s 21 that the search for the route including the road different from the usual road is not carried out , in step s 29 , the search unit 77 performs a normal route search without using the learning data . the normal route search is the same as the above - mentioned search except for a point that the information on the passage frequency among the search - use information is not used for the route search . the route that becomes the search result is decided in step s 27 on the basis of the costs of the respective routes obtained through the normal search and is displayed on the display unit 2 in step s 28 . through the above - mentioned processing , the user can check the road where the passage frequency is low and can go to the destination by moving by following the displayed route with use of the road different from the usual road . also , the user does not have to examine the route using the road different from the usual road by itself , and it is possible to avoid the trouble . in a case where the route using the road different from the usual road is examined by itself , the user has to relay on memories and perform an operation of considering which road the user has not passed through by itself and setting a via point , but it is possible to avoid such trouble . the time taken by checking the route using the road different from the usual road can be shortened , and it is possible to improve the usability of the user . since the processings of fig7 to fig9 are repeatedly carried out , the information processing terminal 1 also starts guiding a side road having a low passage frequency and a narrow width which the user may not remember . according to this , from the viewpoint of presenting the route using the road different from the usual road , it is possible to improve the quality of the guided route . in a case where the user examines the route using the road different from the usual road by itself , the route of the examination result may become an unrealistic route going a long way round , but the above - mentioned circumstance can be avoided by carrying out the determination on the exceptional condition . also , by accumulating the passage history for each movement mode of the user and carrying out the route search while taking into account the passage frequency for each movement mode , the information processing terminal 1 can guide the route including the road different from the usual road for each movement mode . the communication system of fig1 is constructed by connecting the information processing terminal 1 with a search server 101 via a network 102 . in the communication system of fig1 , transmission and reception of various pieces of information are carried out between the information processing terminal 1 and the search server 101 , and the search for the route using the road different from the usual road or the like is carried out by the search server 101 . a plurality of terminals having a configuration similar to the information processing terminal 1 are connected to the search server 101 via the network 102 . that is , at the time of the accumulation of the passage history by the user , the information processing terminal 1 determines the movement mode of the user and transmits the information on the movement mode and the information on the current position to the search server 101 . the search server 101 receives the information transmitted from the information processing terminal 1 and manages the passage history of the user of the information processing terminal 1 for each movement mode . also , the search server 101 calculates and manages the passage frequency of each road by the user of the information processing terminal 1 . in a case where the search for the route to the predetermined destination is requested from the information processing terminal 1 , while following the request from the information processing terminal 1 , the search server 101 performs the search for the route as described with reference to fig9 . the search server 101 transmits the information on the route of the search result to the information processing terminal 1 to be displayed on the display unit 2 of the information processing terminal 1 . in this manner , it can also be set that the route search taking the passage frequency of the user of the information processing terminal 1 or the like into account is carried out in the search server 101 . fig1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of the information processing unit 52 that the information processing terminal 1 of fig1 has . a hardware configuration of the information processing terminal 1 of fig1 is the same as the configuration of fig3 . in the information processing terminal 1 , a movement mode detection unit 111 , an obtaining unit 112 , and a search result obtaining unit 113 are realized while predetermined programs are executed by the cpu 31 . at the time of the accumulation of the passage history or at the time of the search for the route , similarly as in the movement mode detection unit 71 of fig5 , the movement mode detection unit 111 determines the movement mode of the user on the basis of the attachment detachment state with respect to the cradle which is detected by the attachment detachment detection unit 17 . the movement mode detection unit 111 outputs the information representing the determined movement mode of the user to the obtaining unit 112 . the obtaining unit 112 obtains the information supplied from the movement mode detection unit 111 at the time of the accumulation of the passage history and the information on the current position detected by the position detection unit 14 when the user moves while carrying about the information processing terminal 1 . the obtaining unit 112 controls the communication unit 16 and transmits the information representing the movement mode of the user and the information on the current position to the search server 101 . also , at the time of the search for the route , the obtaining unit 112 obtains the information supplied from the movement mode detection unit 111 , the information on the current position detected by the position detection unit 14 , and the information on the destination set by the user . the obtaining unit 112 transmits the information on the current position and the information on the destination together with the information on the movement mode and the information on various settings related to the search to the search server 101 and requests the search for the route . the settings related to the search include , for example , information for instructing the search for the route using the road different from the usual road . the search result obtaining unit 113 controls the communication unit 16 and obtains the information on the search result transmitted from the search server 101 . by controlling the user interface unit 51 or the like , the search result obtaining unit 113 displays the route of the search result on the display unit 2 to be presented to the user . fig1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of hardware of the search server 101 . a cpu 121 , a rom 122 , and a ram 123 are mutually connected by a bus 124 . an input output interface 125 is further connected to the bus 124 . an input unit 126 composed of a key board and a mouse and an output unit 127 composed of a display , a speaker , and the like are connected to the input output interface 125 . also , a storage unit 128 composed of a hard disc , a non - volatile memory , or the like , a communication unit 129 that is composed of a network interface or the like and performs a communication with the information processing terminal 1 via the network 102 , and a drive 130 for driving removable media 131 are connected to the input output interface 125 . fig1 is a block diagram illustrating a function configuration example of the search server 101 . in the search server 101 , while a predetermined program is executed by the cpu 121 of fig1 , a part of the configuration illustrated in fig5 is realized . in the search server 101 , an obtaining unit 141 , a history management unit 142 , a history storage unit 143 , a passage frequency calculation unit 144 , an attention information obtaining unit 145 , a search - use information storage unit 146 , a search unit 147 , a map data storage unit 148 , and a transmission control unit 149 are realized . the history management unit 142 corresponds to the history management unit 72 of fig5 , and the history storage unit 143 corresponds to the history storage unit 73 of fig5 . the passage frequency calculation unit 144 corresponds to the passage frequency calculation unit 74 of fig5 , and the attention information obtaining unit 145 corresponds to the registration information / attention information obtaining unit 75 of fig5 . the search - use information storage unit 146 corresponds to the search - use information storage unit 76 of fig5 , the search unit 147 corresponds to the search unit 77 of fig5 , and the map data storage unit 148 corresponds to the map data storage unit 78 of fig5 . a redundant description will be appropriately omitted . the obtaining unit 141 controls the communication unit 129 and obtains the information transmitted from the information processing terminal 1 . at the time of the accumulation of the passage history , the obtaining unit 141 outputs the information representing the movement mode of the user and the information on the current position transmitted from the information processing terminal 1 to the history management unit 142 . also , at the time of the search for the route , the obtaining unit 141 outputs the information representing the movement mode of the user , the information on the current position , the information on the destination , and the information on the setting transmitted from the obtaining unit 141 to the search unit 147 . the history management unit 142 obtains the information representing the movement mode of the user and the information on the current position supplied from the obtaining unit 141 . the history management unit 142 identifies the road through which the user of the information processing terminal 1 passes by carrying out the matching with the map data stored in the map data storage unit 148 or the like and stores the information on the passed road as the passage history in the history storage unit 143 for each movement mode . the history storage unit 143 stores the passage history of the user of the information processing terminal 1 for each movement mode . the passage history also includes information on the times at which the user has passed the respective road and identification information of the information processing terminal 1 . at the time of the learning on the passage frequency of the user of the information processing terminal 1 , the passage frequency calculation unit 144 reads out the passage history for each movement mode of the user of the information processing terminal 1 from the history storage unit 143 to calculate the passage frequency of each road . the passage frequency calculation unit 144 stores the information on the passage frequency of each road in the search - use information storage unit 146 for each movement mode . the attention information obtaining unit 145 controls the communication unit 129 to access the web server and downloads and obtains text data . the attention information obtaining unit 145 identifies the attention location by analyzing the obtained text data . the attention information obtaining unit 145 stores the information on the attention location including the position information on the attention location and the information on the attention degree in the search - use information storage unit 146 . the search - use information storage unit 146 stores the information on the passage frequency of each road calculated by the passage frequency calculation unit 144 and the information on the attention location supplied from the attention information obtaining unit 145 as the search - use information . the search - use information includes the information illustrated in fig6 . in a case where the information representing the movement mode of the user of the information processing terminal 1 , the information on the current position , the information on the destination , and the information on the setting of the route search are supplied from the obtaining unit 141 , in accordance with the search mode , the search unit 147 reads out predetermined information from the search - use information storage unit 146 . on the basis of the information read out from the search - use information storage unit 146 , the search unit 147 performs the search for the route to the destination as described with reference to fig9 , for example . the search unit 147 outputs the information on the route of the search result to the transmission control unit 149 . the map data storage unit 148 stores the map data and the poi information . in a case where the information on the route of the search result is supplied from the search unit 147 , the transmission control unit 149 reads out the map data in a range including the route of the search result from the map data storage unit 148 and generates information on a screen where the route of the search result is displayed on the map . the transmission control unit 149 transmits the generated screen information to the information processing terminal 1 and displays the route of the search result on the display unit 2 . the map data may be prepared in the information processing terminal 1 . in this case , only the information on the route of the search result is transmitted from the search server 101 , and in the information processing terminal 1 receiving it , the route of the search result is displayed on the map . herein , operations of the information processing terminal 1 of fig1 and the search server 101 will be described . first , with reference to a flow chart of fig1 , the processing of the information processing terminal 1 that transmits the passage history will be described . in step s 101 , the movement mode detection unit 111 of the information processing terminal 1 ( fig1 ) determines the movement mode of the user on the basis of the information supplied from the attachment detachment detection unit 17 . in step s 102 , the position detection unit 14 performs the positioning to detect the current position . in step s 103 , the obtaining unit 112 transmits the information representing the movement mode of the user and the information on the current position to the search server 101 and ends the processing . next , with reference to a flow chart of fig1 , a processing of the search server 101 that manages the passage history of the user of the information processing terminal will be described . the processing of fig1 is carried out in accordance with the conductance of the processing of fig1 in the information processing terminal 1 . in step s 111 , the obtaining unit 141 of the search server 101 ( fig1 ) obtains the information representing the movement mode of the user and the information on the current position transmitted from the information processing terminal 1 . in step s 112 , the history management unit 142 identifies the road through which the user of the information processing terminal 1 passes on the basis of the information on the current position obtained by the obtaining unit 141 . the history management unit 142 stores the passage history of the user of the information processing terminal 1 for each movement mode in the history storage unit 143 and ends the processing . while the processings in fig1 and fig1 are repeatedly carried out , the history storage unit 143 of the search server 101 respectively stores the passage history in a case where the movement mode is on foot , the passage history in the case of the car , and the passage history in the case of the bicycle . next , with reference to a flow chart of fig2 , a processing of the information processing terminal 1 that displays the result of the route search will be described . the processing of fig2 is started , for example , after the destination is set by the user and the setting on the route search is carried out . in step s 121 , the movement mode detection unit 111 of the information processing terminal 1 determines the movement mode of the user on the basis of the information supplied from the attachment detachment detection unit 17 . in step s 122 , the position detection unit 14 performs the positioning to detect the current position . in step s 123 , the obtaining unit 112 transmits the information on the movement mode of the user and the information on the current position together with the information on the destination , the information on the setting related to the search , and the like to the search server 101 and requests the route search . in the search server 101 receiving the request from the information processing terminal 1 , a processing basically similar to the processing described with reference to fig9 is carried out . when the route search is ended , the information including the route of the search result is transmitted from the search server 101 . in step s 124 , the search result obtaining unit 113 obtains the information transmitted from the search server 101 . in step s 125 , the search result obtaining unit 113 displays the map including the route of the search result on the display unit 2 to be presented to the user . through the above - mentioned processing too , the user of the information processing terminal 1 can check the road where the passage frequency is low and can go to the destination with use of the road different from the usual road by moving while following the displayed route . it should be noted that the determination on the movement mode of the user may also be carried out in the search server 101 . a configuration of a part of the configuration illustrated in fig1 can also be provided to the information processing terminal 1 . in the above , the passage frequency of each road is calculated on the basis of the passage history , but the calculated passage frequency is reset at a predetermined timing , and the passage frequency may also be recalculated by using the passage history within a predetermined latest period of time . according to this , with regard to the road where a certain period of time has elapsed since the passage , the passage frequency thereof can be decreased , and a route including the road where the user has not passed for a while can be more likely to be searched for . also , in the above , the movement mode of the user is determined on the basis of the attachment state of the cradle , but of course , the user may input the movement mode to the information processing terminal 1 by itself . the movement mode of the user may also be determined on the basis of the sensor data detected by the vibration sensor of the sensor unit 15 . in this case , in the information processing terminal 1 , sensor data detected when moved on foot , sensor data detected when moved by car , and sensor data detected when moved by bicycle are prepared . while the matching between a characteristic of the previously prepared sensor data and a characteristic of the sensor data detected by the sensor unit 15 is carried out , the movement mode of the user is determined . the route search taking the passage frequency into account is carried out in the information processing terminal 1 that is the pnd or the search server 101 , but the route search taking the passage frequency into account can be applied to various apparatuses . for example , it is possible to carry out the above - mentioned route search taking the passage frequency into account in a vehicle installment - use apparatus , a mobile phone device , a digital camera , and a personal computer having a navigation function . fig2 illustrates an external appearance configuration example of the mobile phone device that performs the route search taking the passage frequency into account . similarly as in the information processing terminal 1 , a mobile phone device 201 of fig2 has a casing with a size at which the user can hold by one hand . a display unit 202 composed of an lcd or the like is provided on a front face of a casing of the mobile phone device 201 . the mobile phone device 201 has a gps function and can perform the positioning of a position of its own terminal . the mobile phone device 201 displays the position of its own terminal on a map displayed on the display unit 202 and displays a route decided through the search on the map in a case where the destination is set and the search for the route to the destination is instructed . in the vicinity of the display unit 202 on the casing front face of the mobile phone device 201 , a speaker 205 , a microphone 204 , and an operation unit 206 composed of various buttons are provided . on a casing back face of the mobile phone device 201 , a member for allowing the mobile phone device 201 to be fixed to a cradle 203 is provided . fig2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of the mobile phone device 201 . a mobile phone unit 210 of the mobile phone device 201 is composed of the microphone 204 , the speaker 205 , a transmission reception unit 211 , a decoder 212 , a mobile phone control unit 214 , and an encoder 215 . at the time of a phone call , the microphone 204 collects voice of the user and outputs a voice signal to the encoder 215 . while following a control by the mobile phone control unit 214 , the encoder 215 performs an encode on the voice signal supplied from the microphone 204 and outputs voice data obtained by the encode to the transmission reception unit 211 . the transmission reception unit 211 transmits the voice data supplied from the encoder 215 to an external base station from an antenna λp and causes a terminal of a call party to transmit . also , when the voice data is transmitted from the terminal of the call party via the base station , the transmission reception unit 211 receives the voice data to be output to the decoder 212 . while following a control by the mobile phone control unit 214 , the decoder 212 decodes the voice data and outputs the voice from the speaker 205 . the mobile phone control unit 214 detects the operation by the user with respect to the operation unit 206 and controls the overall operation of the mobile phone device 201 . for example , the mobile phone control unit 214 controls the respective units of the mobile phone unit 210 to realize the call function and also displays the screen illustrated in fig2 on the display unit 202 on the basis of information supplied from an overall control unit 209 . a storage unit 208 is composed of a flash memory and stores various pieces of information supplied from the mobile phone control unit 214 . the overall control unit 209 outputs information supplied from a navigation unit 220 to the mobile phone control unit 214 and conversely outputs information supplied from the mobile phone control unit 214 to the navigation unit 220 . from the navigation unit 220 , for example , the information on the screen representing the result of the route search is supplied to the overall control unit 209 , and from the mobile phone control unit 214 , the information representing the content of the operation by the user for performing the route search is supplied to the overall control unit 209 . the navigation unit 220 is composed of the computation processing unit 11 , the position detection unit 14 , the sensor unit 15 , the attachment detachment detection unit , the storage unit 18 of fig3 , and the like . in the navigation unit 220 , the respective configurations of fig4 and fig5 are realized , and the above - mentioned route search taking the passage frequency of the user into account is carried out . in this manner , the route search taking the passage frequency of the user into account can be applied to various apparatuses . the above - mentioned series of processings can be executed by hardware and can also be executed by software . in a case where the series of processings are executed by the software , a program constituting the software is installed into a computer incorporated in dedicated - use hardware , a general - use personal computer , or the like . the installed program is recorded on the removable media 131 illustrated in fig1 composed of an optical disc ( a cd - rom ( compact disc - read only memory ), a dvd ( digital versatile disc ), or the like ), a semiconductor memory , or the like and presented . also , it may be provided via a wired or wireless transmission medium such as a local area network , the internet , or digital satellite broadcasting . the programs can be previously installed into the rom 122 or the storage unit 128 . it should be noted that the program executed by the computer may be a program in which the processings are performed in a time - series manner in the order described in the present specification or a program in which the processings are performed in parallel or at a needful timing such as a timing when a call is performed . the embodiments of the present technology are not limited to the above - mentioned embodiments , and various changes can be made within a range without departing from the gist of the present technology . a calculation unit that calculates a passage frequency of each road on the basis of a passage history ; and a search unit that preferentially selects a road where the passage frequency is low and decides a route to a destination . a display unit that displays the route to the destination decided by the search unit on a map . the information processing terminal according to the ( 1 ) or ( 2 ), further including : an output unit that outputs the route to the destination decided by the search unit by way of voice . the information processing terminal according to any one of the ( 1 ) to ( 3 ), further including : a storage unit that stores information on the road detected by the detection unit as the passage history , in which the calculation unit calculates the passage frequency on the basis of the passage history stored in the storage unit . in which the storage unit stores the passage history for each movement mode detected by the movement mode detection unit , and the calculation unit calculates the passage frequency on the basis of the passage history of a predetermined movement mode . the information processing terminal according to any one of the ( 1 ) to ( 5 ), in which the search unit sets an area including a current position and the destination and does not select a route including a road out of the set area as the route to the destination . in which the search unit changes and sets the area in accordance with an amount of the passage history . the information processing terminal according to any one of the ( 1 ) to ( 7 ), in which the calculation unit recalculates the passage frequency on the basis of the passage history within a predetermined recent period of time , and the search unit selects the route to the destination on the basis of the passage frequency recalculated by the calculation unit . the information processing terminal according to any one of the ( 1 ) to ( 8 ), in which the search unit selects the route to the destination to pass a location specified by the user of the information processing terminal . the information processing terminal according to any one of the ( 1 ) to ( 9 ), further including : an obtaining unit that obtains , from a server on a network , text data posted to a web site managed by the server and extracts information indicating a location from the text data , in which the search unit selects the route to the destination to pass the location indicated by the information extracted by the obtaining unit . calculating a passage frequency of each road on the basis of a passage history ; and preferentially selecting a road where the passage frequency is low and deciding a route to a destination . a program for causing a computer to execute a processing including the steps of : calculating a passage frequency of each road on the basis of a passage history ; and preferentially selecting a road where the passage frequency is low and deciding a route to a destination . | 6 |
alkyl are preferably , independently of one another , branched or unbranched methyl , ethyl , propyl , butyl , pentyl , hexyl or cyclohexyl radicals . the novel oxidation can be carried out in the temperature range from 100 to 300 ° c ., preferably from 120 to 250 ° c ., and in the pressure range from 1 to 30 bar , preferably from 1 to 25 bar , in a variety of solvents or in bulk . in the case of the dimethyl compounds preferred conditions are from 140 to 250 ° c . and from 1 to 20 bar . the oxidizing agents used may comprise pure or diluted oxygen , in particular air or lean air . a particular embodiment of the present invention uses atmospheric pressure , and the oxygen - containing gas or air is introduced directly , either continuously or batchwise , with atmospheric pressure ( or with the pressure drop produced through the reactor ) via injection equipment into the liquid reaction mixture . if the conduct of the reaction gives full conversion there is no problem of removing starting materials from the reaction mixture and recirculating the same , and materials separation is therefore enormously simplified . the catalyst can be synthesized from inexpensive precursors by a process which is simple , reproducible and capable of industrial - scale operation . the catalyst can be repeatedly recycled . the reaction may be carried out without solvent , i . e . in bulk , or in a solvent . suitable solvents are any organic solvent or mixture of these with water in which the catalyst is stable and which is stable to the catalyst . for example , the active component ( heteropolyanion ) must not become separated from the support to any significant extent , and the solvent ( in particular alcohols ) must not itself be oxidized under the reaction conditions selected , and the solvent must not react with the alcohol starting material ( e . g . acids giving esters ) or with reaction products ( e . g . anhydrides with water to give acid ). examples of suitable solvents are benzene , alkylated aromatics , in particular toluene , xylenes , chlorinated and fluorinated c 1 - c 10 alkanes and aromatics , dichloroethane , chlorobenzenes , in particular monochloro - benzene , o - or m - dichlorbenzene , benzonitrile , alkanecarboxylic acids , in acetate , liquid alkanes and cycloalkanes , e . g . decane , acetonitrile , benzonitrile , dmf , dimethylacetamide , dimethyl sulfoxide ( dmso ), alkylated naphthalenes , alkylated biphenyls , decalin , tetralin , diphenylmethane , silicone oils and mixtures of these with water . particularly suitable solvents for the dimethyl compound are chlorobenzene , dichlorobenzenes , ethyl acetate or butyl acetate . the catalyst used for the novel process is known from the literature ( fujibayashi , nakayama , hamamoto , sakaguchi , nishiyama , ishii , j . mol . catal . a 110 ( 1996 ) 105 - 117 ). this literature is expressly incorporated herein by way of reference . the active component is a npvmo / c catalyst or an active - carbon - supported ammonium molybdatovanadophosphate . very generally , the catalyst is composed of a heteropolyoxometallate anion comprising the elements p , v , mo and an alkali metal , alkaline - earth metal and / or ammonium as counter ion , preferably ammonium , on an active - carbon support . 12 - metallophosphates are preferred . 1 .) the oxidation of activated alcohols with benzylic or allylic protons at low temperatures of & lt ; 120 ° c . is now described . heteropolyanions belong to the class of polyoxometallates and exist in an almost infinite variety . the best known members of the group have keggin structure typically featuring an atom of the 3rd , 4th or 5th main group ( e . g . b , si , p , as ) surrounded tetrahedrally by m 3 o 10 units ( m = mo , w ) which , in turn , are linked to one another via oxygen atoms . the general empirical formula is h 3 xm 12 o 40 . in addition to these there are also a wide variety of defect structures and larger aggregates , e . g . dawson - type heteropolyacids . the tungsten - containing heteropolyacids in particular feature high acid strength , while the molybdenum - containing heteropolyacids also have pronounced redox properties . molybdenum and tungsten can replace one another and also be replaced by other metals , e . g . nb or v . this and the choice of the appropriate heteroatom permit the various properties of the heteropolyacids to be controlled as desired . in addition , other modifications to properties can be achieved by substituting metal ions for the protons . heteropolyphosphoric acids particularly suitable for the present invention are those of molybdenum in which much of the molybdenum has been substituted by vanadium . this substitution lowers the pka and increases the susceptibility of the heteropolyacid to reduction . at a degree of substitution of up to 3 the synthesis gives particular keggin - type heteropolyacids . at the degree of substitution prevailing in the present invention , however , no definite compound is obtained , but rather a complicated mixture of positional , substitutional and structural isomers of the molybdatovanadophosphate . a particularly suitable compound for the present invention is an ammonium molybdatovanadophosphate obtained from navo 3 and na 2 moo 4 by adding h 3 po 4 and introducing the aqueous solution into nh 4 cl solution , and isolating and purifying the precipitate . this active component is then applied to the active - carbon support by saturation . active - carbon supports are known low - cost supports for noble metals and , due to their large internal surface area , are known adsorbents . the internal surface is generally occupied by functional groups which can give the active carbon either acid or basic properties . some active carbons have a proportion of heteroatoms ( o , n , h ) which can be more than 10 % by weight . depending on their preparation , active carbons may be microporous or else mesoporous . active - carbon supports particularly suitable for the present invention are those which have been chemically activated and feature a high proportion of large pores , and the internal surface area of these is therefore markedly less than from 1400 to 1600 m 2 / g . they are typically obtained from water - vapor - activated microporous active carbons . among the active carbons tested , particularly successful types are those whose bet surface area is in the range from 500 to 1500 m 2 / g , preferably from 1000 to 1400 m 2 / g . the ph of the active - carbon supports may be from 1 to 10 , preferably from 2to6 . the support may be blended with other ( inert ) components , binders and additives and be utilized in the form of pellets , beads , tablets , rings , strands , stars or other moldings , or as granules , paste or powder . the diameter or the length and thickness of the molded supports is generally from 1 to 10 mm . however , for the suspension method in the liquid phase no moldings are needed , but powders , pastes or granules may , of course , still be used . other metals and nonmetals may also be used to promote or dope the catalyst . the npvmo loading of the catalyst is generally in the range from 1 to 25 % by weight , preferably in the range from 3 to 15 % by weight . the required loading can be applied in one step or by multiple deposition . to apply the heteropolyanion to the active - carbon support use may be made of the usual processes , such as saturating , impregnating , dipping or spray - impregnating . the novel process features in particular high conversions simultaneously with good selectivity . specifically , the selectivity of the reaction after 100 hours is ≧ 90 % at a conversion of & gt ; 90 %. 1 ) preparation of the npvmo active component 14 . 64 g of sodium metavanadate navo 3 . h 2 o are charged to a 250 ml multinecked flask , dissolved in 76 ml of bidistilled water and stirred to give a milky solution . 16 . 4 g of sodium molybdate dihydrate na 2 moo 4 . 2h 2 o are dissolved in 24 ml of bidistilled water and then added to the navo 3 solution , and stirring is continued for 10 min . a solution of 15 . 2 g of h 3 po 4 ( 85 %) in 20 ml of bidistilled water is slowly added dropwise via a 50 ml dropping funnel . a yellow coloration immediately appears and changes to dark red toward the end of the dropwise addition . stirring is continued for 1 h at 95 ° c . and the mixture is allowed to stand overnight . the contents of the flask are stirred into 300 ml of a saturated ammonium chloride solution , giving a brown precipitate . this precipitate is filtered off through a glass suction filter and then purified twice using 0 . 25 molar h 2 so 4 ( 50 ml ). the precipitate is dried overnight in a drying cabinet . the active - carbon support used in the examples has a bet specific surface area of 1300 m 2 / g and a ph of 4 . 12 g of the abovementioned active composition are mixed with 400 ml of distilled water and stirred for 2 h at room temperature . this solution is then filtered to give a clear red solution . 108 g of active carbon are added to this red solution and the mixture is stirred for 4 h at room temperature , then filtered via a suction filter . the black powder is dried in a drying cabinet . 0 . 38 g = 2 . 5 mmol of 1 , 5 - dimethylbicyclo [ 3 . 2 . 1 ] octan - 8 - ol starting material in 10 ml of chlorobenzene solvent are charged with 250 mg of catalyst to a 100 ml roth laboratory autoclave with magnetic stirrer ( giving 90 ml of gas space ) and once the reaction temperature of 150 ° c . has been achieved synthetic air is applied under pressure at 15 bar . during the course of the reaction the pressure in the autoclave falls due to consumption of the air . the duration of the reaction is 15 h . no further air is introduced , i . e . the amount of oxygen is limited . with air at 15 bar (= 3 bar of o 2 ) and 150 ° c . the amount of oxygen charged is about 7 . 7 mmol , i . e . there is an approximately 3 - fold molar excess of oxygen . an hp 5890 gc with supelco 2 - 5358 capillary column ( 105 m × 0 . 53 mm , 3 mm film , isothermal 145 ° c .) was used for analysis . the analysis was only qualitative , i . e . the conversion and yields given below have been calculated from the integrated peak areas without correction / quantitative calibration . the results of the catalyst tests are given in table 1 . the autoclave experiments are carried out in a roth 100 ml autoclave or in a berkhoff 200 ml autoclave with teflon lining . both reactors have a magnetic stirrer . the experimental procedure is the same as that in example 2 except that reaction conditions , concentrations , solvents and process details were different in each case , and these can be found in table 1 together with the results obtained ( yield , conversion and selectivity in gc area %). if the reaction temperature is lowered below 150 ° c . the reaction rate falls dramatically . higher reaction temperatures in the range from 180 to 220 ° c . allow the reaction rate to rise markedly and therefore the duration of the reaction to be reduced without sacrificing selectivity . these higher - temperature experiments are listed again in table 5 . the experiments with varying starting material quantities and catalyst quantity are summarized again in tables 3 and 4 . selectivity can be further improved by varying the process to maintain a local shortage of oxygen at the active center of the catalyst . the pressure here can be reduced to & lt ; 10 bar . continuous or else discontinuous afterfeed of oxygen at low pressures or even at atmospheric pressure has proven advantageous . the experiments at atmospheric pressure were carried out in a reflux apparatus composed of multinecked flask with magnetic stirrer , gas feed pipe , internal thermometer and rapid - cooling unit with continuous oxygen / air feed under atmospheric pressure . the gas feed was controlled via an mfc with a gas flow of 2 . 5 l / h . the solvent volume was 50 ml . the results of the catalyst tests are found in fig1 - 5 . fig1 and 2 show the progress of the oxidation in chlorobenzene or butyl acetate as solvent . it can be seen that in chlorobenzene complete conversion is achieved in 70 h , while selectivity is about 90 %. the only significant gc byproduct ( rt = 31 . 3 in chlorobenzene ) does not appear until 30 h have passed and then increases continuously to about 2 %. the concentration of this byproduct as a function of time suggests two versions of the process for industrial use , specifically high selectivity with partial conversion or full conversion , avoiding removal of starting material from the reaction mixture . in butyl acetate only 50 h are required for full conversion to be reached . the byproduct is already present at the start of the reaction and increases approximately linearly to about 6 % as the reaction progresses . since further byproduct continues to be formed at 100 % conversion it may be concluded that this is produced by a follow - on reaction from product already formed ( presumably further oxidation of the ketone with ring - opening of the bicyclic system ). there is also a conclusion for the industrial conduct of the reaction : that the reaction must be terminated at the correct juncture ( shortly after reaching full conversion ) to avoid unnecessary selectivity losses . fig3 shows the progress of air oxidation at atmospheric pressure ( gas flow 2 . 5 l / h of air ) in chlorobenzene . after 70 h conversion is 100 % and selectivity is greater than & gt ; 95 %. fig4 shows the progress of air oxidation at atmospheric pressure ( gas flow 2 . 5 l / h of air ) in butyl acetate . after 80 h conversion is 100 % and selectivity is greater than & gt ; 90 %. selectivity can therefore be increased by using air instead of pure o 2 . fig5 shows the progress of air oxidation at atmospheric pressure ( gas flow 2 . 5 l / h of air ) in chlorobenzene with a 3 - fold increase in catalyst quantity and starting material quantity . full conversion is achieved after 55 h at a selectivity of & gt ; 95 %. the starting material quantity and alcohol quantity may therefor then be increased without difficulty by a factor of two or three . higher concentrations are desirable since they simplify the subsequent treatment of the materials ( experiment 90 ). two experiments ( each with different starting material / catalyst concentrations ) were carried out in a 1 liter autoclave in a high - pressure pilot plant . in each case the initial charge was 400 g of chlorobenzene and use was made of for experiment 78 : 28 g of cat + 30 . 4 g of alcohol ( doubled cat / alcohol quantity ) at 150 ° c . and with lean air ( 10 % o 2 ) at 2 . 5 bar with a gas flow of 50 l / h and with mechanical stirring at 600 rpm . the product was not isolated , but the reaction mixture was simply analyzed by gc . the results obtained are even better than in the laboratory autoclave experiments . experiment 77 ( using standard concentrations of cat / alcohol ) gives full conversion with 91 % selectivity ( based on gc area %) after only 24 h , whereas the laboratory apparatus operated at atmospheric pressure had required 70 h , i . e . the duration of the reaction can be further dramatically reduced by optimizing mixing ( gas flow , stirrer rotation rate ). a simultaneous two - fold increase in catalyst concentration and alcohol concentration gives a further reduction in the duration of the reaction to 15 h , without loss of selectivity . tables 2 and 3 again show results from experiments 77 and 78 . fig6 shows the progress of the air oxidation in a mechanically stirred reflux apparatus with a 4 liter flask , operated at atmospheric pressure ( experiment 100 , 1 kg of chlorobenzene , 70 g of catalyst , 76 g of alcohol , 150 ° c ., gas flow 7 . 5 l / h of synthetic air ). 100 % conversion and & gt ; 95 % selectivity are achieved after 50 h . fig1 - 5 : laboratory reflux apparatus version at atmospheric pressure fig5 : air , chlorobenzene , 3 - fold increase in catalyst quantity and starting material quantity fig6 : scale - up in a 4 liter stirred flask ( atmospheric pressure , chlorobenzene , air ) ( experiment 100 ) tables 2 and 3 : pilot plant experiments with lean air in a 1 l autoclave | 2 |
in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present invention , systems and methods disclosed herein provide compact , handheld radar detection of objects using rf pulses in the v band ( approximately 50 - 75 ghz ) produced from a radar unit operating in uwb band ( approximately 1 . 6 - 10 . 5 ghz ) and having a small , active array antenna whose size would ordinarily be too small for use at uwb band and which can take advantage of the higher frequencies of v band for improved beam forming and directionality of the radar pulses . in one particular embodiment , a v band radar system may use an existing commercially available uwb radar at 5 ghz connected to transmit and receive v band modules in a super - heterodyne configuration that converts the uwb radar to v band and uses a compactly sized active array antenna to provide enhanced antenna directionality and beam forming . a portable radar system such as just described may be useful for dynamically scanning for objects ( e . g ., ordnance or vehicles ) behind a wall , both from moving vehicles , on - road and off - road , and from the ground , and to statically locate internal structural details of buildings or other structures . — such a radar system may be useful , for example , to persons ( e . g ., fire , rescue workers , military , police ) needing information in situations involving their safety where other sources of information are unavailable or unreliable . fig1 illustrates a portable handheld radar system 100 in accordance with one or more embodiments . system 100 may emit rf radiation 101 toward a target object 102 in a direction controlled by a user or operator ( not shown ), for example , by aiming a hand - held unit containing the radar system 100 . further aiming or scanning of rf radiation 101 may also be accomplished by a beam forming array antenna 104 . the transmitter of the system 100 may , for example , emit rf radiation 101 in the form of rapid wideband ( narrow width ) radar pulses at a chosen pulse repetition frequency ( prf ) in the v band . the v band pulses can penetrate glass , wood , soil , concrete , dry wall and bricks with varying attenuation constant . by choosing a prf in the range of 1 - 10 mhz , for example , and appropriate average transmitter power , a surveillance range of approximately 50 - 500 feet can generally be achieved . the radar system 100 may , for example , transmit gaussian pulses as short as 100 pico - seconds wide with center frequency in the v band . radar system 100 may employ a correlator pulse detector circuit to identify reflections 103 of the radiation 101 . amplitude and delay information may be extracted and processed in an integrated signal processor , for example , included in signal processing and imaging module of uwb radar unit 110 . radar unit 110 , which may be a pre - existing , commercially available unit , may provide a display for a user including images for which image construction algorithms may be implemented using digital signal processing ( dsp ). although two antennas 104 are shown in fig1 for clarity of illustration , use of a circulator 106 may enable use of a single antenna 104 for both transmit and receive . antenna 104 may include a 16 - by - 1 active array antenna implemented using wafer scale antenna module technology . wafer scale antenna modules ( wsam ) are disclosed by u . s . patent application publication 20090102703 , filed oct . 18 , 2007 , to mohamadi et al ., and u . s . patent publication 20080252546 , filed oct . 31 , 2006 , to mohamadi , which are both hereby incorporated by reference . radar system 100 may include v band transmit module 120 and receive module 122 . transmit module 120 and receive module 122 each have nominally 60 ghz center frequency , or local oscillator frequency for super - heterodyne frequency conversion , and therefore may also be referred to as “ 60 ghz ” modules as well as “ v band ” modules . each of 60 ghz transmit module 120 and 60 ghz receive module 122 may produce or be responsive to frequencies in the range of about 53 ghz to 65 ghz , and may provide a wide band platform for transmission of the uwb spectrum of short impulses at 60 ghz . transmit module 120 and receive module 122 may be provided with a phase reference 123 , as shown in fig1 . system 100 may also include band pass filters 124 , 126 to select out unneeded sidebands produced by the super - heterodyne frequency conversion . one operational purpose of system 100 is to provide a link at 60 ghz for transmission and reception of base band ( e . g ., uwb band ) short impulses ( as short as 100 pico - seconds ) to be used for high precision radar applications . another purpose of system 100 is to serve as a direct conversion system that modulates a base band short impulse 200 pico - seconds long ( producing a spectrum 5 ghz wide ) used in a 60 ghz radar front end . system 100 may provide a 60 ghz platform that can be used with an existing 5 ghz uwb radar system that allows the existing 5 ghz uwb system to benefit from the practical size of a directive antenna at 60 ghz . using the 60 ghz transmit module 120 and receive module 122 in tandem with the existing 5 ghz uwb radar system can provide a virtual narrow beam at 5 ghz which can improve the detection resolution without the need to use antenna arrays with impractical sizes at 5 ghz . fig2 is a system block diagram illustrating a v - band transmitter and receiver system 200 used in a direct conversion configuration using the same 60 ghz transmit module 120 and 60 ghz receive module 122 . system 200 may include an impulse generator 210 connected to transmit module 120 . the impulse from impulse generator 210 is up - converted by transmit module 120 , then transmitted and received through the 23 db , 10 degrees beam width standard horn antennas 204 . the received reflections 103 may be down - converted and fed to sampling scope 211 . fig3 illustrates a v - band transmitter and receiver system 300 with addition of components to system 200 to make use of an existing 5 ghz uwb radar 110 in accordance with an embodiment . as is shown in the block diagram of fig3 , with the addition of some external components , e . g ., circulator 106 and band pass filters 124 , 126 , the existing 5 ghz uwb radar 110 can be used alongside the same v band modules 120 , 122 of system 200 in a super - heterodyne configuration . to choose the lower side band spectrum , system 300 may use band pass filters ( and a circulator 106 at transmit module 120 ). if desired , the upper side band spectrum could be used instead by choosing different values for the band pass filter components . fig4 and fig5 are diagrams showing frequency spectrum graphs to illustrate the transmit and receive , respectively , operation of radar systems 100 , 200 , and 300 . as is shown in the block diagram of fig4 , and the frequency spectra shown in fig4 and fig5 , the 60 ghz front end ( e . g ., transmit module 120 and receive module 122 ) is transparent to the 5 ghz radar system 110 . in other words , the 5 ghz output 111 and 5 ghz input 112 of radar system 110 may be approximately the same regardless of whether the 60 ghz front end is connected to or being used with radar system 110 . fig4 shows the frequency spectrum at the output of each stage of transmit ; for example , spectrum 125 shows that a lower side band centered at about 56 ghz has been selected for transmission by the antenna 104 or antenna 204 , while an upper side band centered at about 66 ghz has been suppressed . similarly , fig5 shows the frequency spectrum at the input of each stage in the receive chain ; for example , spectrum 127 shows the lower side band amplified while the upper side band is suppressed in this example embodiment , and conversion of the lower sideband via receive module 122 to the baseband spectrum 112 . another feature of the v band front end ( e . g ., transmit module 120 , receive module 122 , and band pass filters 124 , 126 ) which improves the authenticity of the up - converted incident signal 101 and down - converted reflected signal 103 over the original 5 ghz signals from radar unit 110 , is the fact that the local oscillator ( lo ) frequencies at receive module 122 and transmit module 120 are phase locked through the phase reference 123 provided by the transmit module 120 board to the receive module 122 . fig6 is a block diagram illustrating a v band 16 - by - 1 active antenna array 600 , which may be used , for example , to implement active array antenna 104 of radar system 100 . the v band 16 - by - 1 active antenna array 600 is the front - end unit to address the directivity enabler for beam forming within the proposed heterodyne structure . each element 610 of array 600 has its own dedicated amplifier 620 . corporate combining may be used to implement a corporate distribution feed network 630 . the corporate distribution feed network 630 may be symmetrical leading to the in - phase addition of the propagated wave from each element 610 . some nominal values that may be achieved using active antenna array 600 are : antenna array gain = 14 dbi ( decibels isotropic ); antenna gain with reflector = 18 dbi ; dipole gain = 2 dbi ; p1 db =+ 12 dbm ; gain = 21 db ; corporate distribution 1 to 16 insertion loss on ro4035 = 2 db ; p in = 4 dbm ; p out = 29 dbm eirp ( without reflector ); p out = 33 dbm eirp ( with reflector ). fig7 is a perspective diagram showing a physical arrangement of components for an active antenna array system 700 . system 700 may include three separate boards and a reflector : a mother board 702 , an antenna board 704 , a power management board 706 and the reflector 708 . the mother board 702 , shown in fig7 and fig8 , hosts the mmic ( monolithic microwave integrated circuit ) amplifiers 620 and the corporate distribution feed network 630 . antenna board 704 hosts the antenna elements 610 . power management board 706 hosts circuits to provide power management for the mmic amplifiers . the antenna board 704 may be wire - bonded to the mother board 702 as shown also , for example , in fig8 . continuing with fig7 and fig8 , in order to maintain the ground plane integrity on the die and the board ( e . g ., mmic dies on the mother board 702 , and antenna board 704 ) and also minimize the length of the wire bonds between antenna board 704 and mother board 702 , a laser cut trench 710 may be devised on the mother board 702 . the trench 710 may house 16 mmic amplifiers 620 which are die attached to the substrate ( e . g ., mother board 702 ) and are fed through the corporate distribution feed network 630 . the corporate combining feeds ( e . g ., network 630 ) to antenna array 600 are also shown in more detail in fig8 . there may be a pedestal devised in mother board 702 on which the antenna board 704 may be installed so that the continuity of the ground plane between the two boards — mother board 702 and antenna board 704 — is maintained . the antenna board 704 may be installed on the pedestal using silver epoxy and then the lines connecting the two boards may be wire - bonded so that the antenna array on antenna board 704 is attached to the active distribution network ( e . g ., network 630 ) on motherboard 702 . as shown in fig8 the maximum dimension , or width , of the antenna array 600 may be less than 2 inches . active antenna array system 700 may readily be implemented using wsam methods incorporated by reference above . fig9 is block diagram for power management board 706 for an active antenna array system 700 . power management board 706 may be powered , for example , by a 5 v ( volt ) power input 7060 . power management board 706 may provide a sequenced dc bias to the mmic amplifiers 620 as indicated in fig9 by sequencing module 7061 , providing , for example , a 5 v bias sequencing for mmic amplifiers 620 ; and sequencing module 7062 , providing , for example , a − 3 v bias sequencing for mmic amplifiers 620 . as shown in fig7 , power management board 706 may be installed perpendicularly to both the motherboard 702 and the reflector 708 . embodiments described herein illustrate but do not limit the disclosure . it should also be understood that numerous modifications and variations are possible in accordance with the principles of the present disclosure . accordingly , the scope of the disclosure is best defined only by the following claims . | 6 |
fig1 shows a protocol memory region of a slave module , which comprises a request cell 1 and a response cell 2 , request cell 1 comprising three registers 3 , 4 , 5 , and response cell 2 comprising two registers 6 , 7 . registers 3 to 7 are addressable with addressees ad1 to ad5 respectively . the master unit accessing registers 3 , 4 , 5 in a writing manner and registers 6 , 7 in a reading manner , and the slave unit accessing registers 6 , 7 in a writing manner and registers 3 , 4 , 5 in a reading manner . to initiate a memory access , the master unit first enters into register 3 several identifiers , and specifically , an identifier for the imminent write or read access into cell 0 of register 3 , an identifier for the beginning of the access into cells 1 and 2 , and an identifier for the accessing master unit into cells 6 and 7 . cells 3 to 5 are not written , but are reserved for possible functional expansions . the master unit deposits into register 4 the number of a data record which is to be entered into the memory of the slave unit , or is to be read out of it . in the case of a write access , the master unit deposits into register 5 an identifier for the length of the data record to be written in . in the event of a read access , on the other hand , the slave unit deposits into register 6 the identifier for the length of the data record to be read out . this means that , given a write access , the master unit writes registers 3 , 4 , 5 of the request cell , which the slave unit reads out , and that the slave unit only writes in register 7 , which the master unit reads out . in the event of a read access to be initiated , on the other hand , the master unit only writes registers 3 , 4 , and the slave unit , in addition to register 7 , writes in register 6 of the response cell 2 . the slave unit indicates to the master unit , by means of an appropriate entry into cells 0 and 1 of register 7 , whether the master unit is authorized to carry out a read access to the data record characterized by the data record number , or to enter this data record into the memory of the slave unit . in addition , the slave unit can indicate that this master unit cannot access the indicated data record temporarily , because the slave unit is just processing the data record , that the master unit cannot access the data record at all because , for example , the slave unit does not know the requested data record at all , or that the master unit can access the requested data record , in this case the slave unit indicating to the master unit a transfer address , under which the master unit accesses data records , in cells 2 to 6 of register 7 . cell 7 of register 7 is not occupied and can likewise be considered for possible functional expansions . after the entries into registers 3 to 7 , in the case of an existing access authorization , the master unit accesses the data stored in the memory of the slave unit under the indicated transfer address , i . e . the data transfer between the slave unit and the master unit takes place under this address . the master unit indicates the end of the access to the slave unit by means of a renewed entry of an appropriate identifier into cells 1 and 2 of register 3 . the slave unit acknowledges the access end by writing the identifier provided for this purpose into cells 0 and 1 of register 7 . in a practical exemplary embodiment of the present invention , the following identifiers are provided for registers 3 to 7 : length ( in bytes ) of the data record in registers 5 and 6 : 11 = acknowledgment negative ( generally , i . e . the slave unit does not know the number of the data record ) cell 3 to 5 of register 3 and cell 7 of register 7 are reserved . fig2 shows a memory 10 of a slave unit , into which a user must enter parameter data for parameterization of the slave unit . the same parts occurring in fig1 and 2 are provided with the same reference symbols and , in the present example , the protocol region is a component of a protocol memory 8 . for parameterization , it is necessary that the user file the parameters into a data record with the data record number 30 , according to a parameterization specification provided for this unit . the master unit activates a write signal wr for writing into the protocol memory 8 , and writes : into register 3 of the request cell the identifier 0 ( cell 0 , fig1 ) for an intended write access , and the identifier 01 ( not shown ) for the beginning of the write access ( cell 1 and 2 , fig1 ); into register 4 the number 30 of the parameterization data record ; and into register 5 , the length lae -- 30 of this data record . the slave unit first of all reads out the content of registers 3 , 4 , and with the aid of table 9 stored in the slave unit , recognizes that an authorization ( identifier 10 ) exists for a write access to write in the parameterization data record number 30 . subsequently , the slave unit transfers the length lae -- 30 of the data record into the table , allocates to this data record an identifier 12 for the transfer addresses 176 , 177 , 178 and 179 , and writes this identifier 12 into register 7 ( cell 2 to 6 , fig1 ). the master unit now activates a read signal rd to read out the content of register 7 and , in a subsequent step , writes into protocol memory 8 , under the transfer addresses 176 to 179 , the parameterization data record of the length lae -- 30 . the slave unit assigns an address adr - 30 to this data record and stores the data record in its memory 10 under this address . of course , it can be necessary for the master unit to have to write the protocol region of the transfer addresses 176 . . . 179 repeatedly and for the slave unit to have to read out this region repeatedly . this is the case , for example , if the data record is longer than 4 bytes and the width of the protocol memory is only 8 bits , meaning that the master unit can only read out 4 bytes during a data record access . after the master unit has transferred the data record with the data record number 30 to the slave unit by way of the transfer addresses 176 . . . 179 completely , the master unit indicates to the slave unit the end of the write access ( not shown ). in addition , the master unit in turn activates the write signal and enters into register 3 the identifier 10 for the end of the access . the slave unit reads out register 3 and acknowledges by entry of the identifier 11 ( positive acknowledgment ) into register 7 of the response cell . the write access is thus finished . fig3 illustrates a read access to memory 10 of the slave unit . in this case , it is assumed that a data record with the number 40 is to be read out . the master unit first of all activates the write signal wr and enters into register 3 the identifier 1 for an intended read access , and the identifier 01 ( not shown ) for the beginning of the access , and into register 4 , the number 40 of the data record to be read out . the slave unit reads out registers 3 and 4 and , because there is authorization for a read access to the data record number 40 ( identifier 10 in table 9 ), the slave unit removes the length of the data record lae -- 40 and the identifier 12 for the transfer addresses 176 , 177 , 178 and 179 from table 9 and enters them into registers 6 and 7 of response cell 2 . after activation of the read signal rd , the master unit reads out the content of registers 6 and 7 and , under the transfer addresses 176 to 179 , accesses the content ( data record number 40 ) of the protocol memory which the slave unit has read out from memory 10 under the address adr - 40 and has entered under these transfer addresses into the protocol memory . for the read access , it can also be necessary for the slave unit to have to repeatedly write the protocol region with the transfer addresses 176 to 179 , in dependence upon the length of the data record to be read out and the width of the protocol memory , and for the master unit to have to read out this region repeatedly in order to read out the data record completely . the master unit , in turn , indicates in register 3 the end of the read access to the slave unit , the slave unit acknowledging the indication in register 7 . in fig4 protocol memory 8 is provided with four stack regions sb1 , sb2 , sb3 , and sb4 , each of which is allocated to one of four master units with the identifiers 00 , 01 , 10 and 11 ( fig1 ) respectively . the fact that protocol region 1 , 2 and protocol memory 8 , as well as control table 9 and slave memory 10 are shown separately does not signify any restriction of the generality . a division of the regions according to fig2 and 3 , or another suitable division , is , of course , also conceivable . it is first of all assumed that -- as already described -- master unit 1 ( identifier 00 ), with a first start telegram which comprises the entry of the identifier for the beginning of an access and the identifier 00 for the accessing master unit , introduces the access to a data record . a protocol control 11 of the slave unit reads the start telegram out of request cell 1 , examines the access authorization and , in the case of granted access authorization , writes into response cell 2 the identifier 12 for transfer addresses 176 to 179 , said identifier being allocated to this master unit 1 . the master unit 1 accesses the registers of the slave unit which can be addressed under these transfer addresses , and into which the slave unit writes the requested data or out of which the slave unit reads the requested data . it can now happen that , because of the requirements of a control program to be executed by master unit 1 , this data - record access must be interrupted and master unit 1 must access another data record . to this end , master unit 1 writes a second start telegram into request cell 1 , this having the effect that protocol control 11 first of all enters into stack memory sb1 the current data record number nr -- akt of the data record whose transfer was interrupted , the data record length lae -- akt , yet to be transferred , of this data record , and the current memory address adr -- akt under which the not yet transferred data is deposited in slave memory 10 . after this data protection , the slave unit processes the data transfer introduced by the second start telegram . if this data transfer is concluded , which master unit 1 indicates to the slave unit by way of an end telegram , the data transmission of the interrupted data transfer is resumed again . for that purpose , it is first of all necessary that protocol control 11 initially reads in the information ( the data record number nr -- akt , data record length lae -- akt , memory address adr -- akt ) deposited in the stack region sb1 in order to continue the data transfer . in turn , master unit 1 indicates to the slave unit the end of the transfer by means of an end telegram allocated to this data record . in the following , the processing of protocols of several master units by the slave unit is considered . in so doing , it is assumed that master unit 2 enters a start telegram into request cell 1 for a write access to a data record , which master unit 1 is just accessing in a writing manner ( nested write accesses ). in this case , the slave unit acknowledges the access of this master unit 2 in response cell 2 in a temporarily negative manner ( identifier 01 , fig1 ). nested read accesses , i . e . read accesses of several master units to the same data record , are possible , in connection with which , for reasons of performance , the &# 34 ; nesting depth &# 34 ; should not be selected to be too high . each master unit is allocated its own transfer address , under which the respective master unit accesses data records . to make simultaneous , nested write and read accesses to a data record possible , slave memory 10 is divided into a write and a read region . a data record , modified by a write access , is deposited by the slave unit , after this modification , into the read region , the same data record number being allocated in each case to these data records . to achieve a deterministic behavior , all slave units must acknowledge accesses of the master unit within a certain time . in the case where several master units want to access a data record , it is necessary for the slave unit to acknowledge the intended access positively to the first accessing master unit . however , it is also necessary for the slave unit to acknowledge the access attempt temporarily negatively to all other master units . fig5 is a block diagram of a simple evaluation circuit of a slave unit , which is capable of evaluating three different data records provided with data record numbers 51 , 52 , 53 . in the following , a write access is considered . during the active write signal wr , the appropriate identifiers which are to be evaluated are supplied by way of a bus bu to request cell 1 . in the present example , however , an identifier mk of the accessing master unit and the data record length lae are not evaluated . data records are applied to comparators v1 , v2 , v3 which examine whether the master unit is authorized to access the data records 51 , 52 , 53 . the identifiers ke for the beginning of the request , the end of the request or the discontinuation of the request are examined with discrete logic . an encoder en allocates a transfer address adr to the data records and , in the case where access to one of the data records 51 , 52 , 53 and the identifier ke is permitted , a positive acknowledgment is deposited in response register 2 . given the active read signal rd , response cell 2 is read out by the master unit and the data records 51 , 52 , 53 are transferred between the master unit and the slave unit by way of the read - out transfer address adr . a recognition and mutual locking of multiple requests is not possible with the simple evaluation circuit shown . | 6 |
the machine which is designated generally by reference numeral 10 , comprises a machine cabinet employing a suitable vertical and horizontal framework covered by a metal housing comprising a top 12 , front 14 , sides 15 , back 16 and work table 18 , supported on a bottom machine base 20 . the work table , or saw platform , 18 is supported on the machine framework to provide a horizontal support surface on which is supported a plastic material 22 , such as a block or sheet of acrylic plastic , to be cut . a stationary wire guide assembly 26 located below the work table 18 employs a wire guide means . an adjustable wire guide assembly 28 is located on the machine 10 frame above the work table 18 . the resistance wire cutting element designated generally by reference numeral 30 is guided between the fixed or stationary wire guide assembly 26 and the adjustable wire guide assembly 28 to provide a reciprocating wire 30 above and through a hole in the work table 18 , for the purpose of cutting plastic ( or wood ) material 22 placed thereon and manipulated by hand . wire 30 may be nichrome wire such as a driver - harris no . v , or equal , capable of withstanding incandescent temperatures required for vaporizing materials rather than melting same . wire 30 is reciprocated and caused to retrace its path in such a manner that positive electrical contact is maintained and the wire is not bent or worked in the process . the guide means , the fixed guide 26 and adjustable guide 28 each have two pivotally connected bearing sections 31 , 31 &# 39 ; having bearing surfaces molded from a material comprised of gypsum plaster ( hydrated calcium sulfate ) and &# 34 ; teflon &# 34 ; ( tm ): ( trademark for tetra fluoro ethylene ) particles . adjustable guide 28 has pivoted jaws 32 each holding a bearing 31 , 31 &# 39 ; on a base plate 33 . both guides 26 , 28 have adjustable springs 34 and adjustment nuts 35 . the bearing sections 31 , 31 &# 39 ; are shaped so that they may be held in a frame so as to provide a tongue and groove conformation . the cutting wire 30 rides between sections 31 , 31 &# 39 ; in such a manner that the opposing springs 34 exert a slight pressure on the cutting wire to hold it in a true path . wire 30 is reciprocated by means of a nonconducting drive cable 36 having the strand of nichrome 5 wire 30 attached thereto by a thermal clip 38 attached at one end and by means of another clip assembly 40 at the other end . which passes around a series of idler pulleys 44 , 46 , 48 , 50 , 52 , 54 , 56 and 58 located on respective shafts at different locations on the frame of the machine . it will be noted that the path of this nonconducting drive cable 36 forms an open throat between pulleys 58 and 52 . the work table 18 is mounted on the machine frame parallel to base 20 , at the lower extremity of this throat . the strand of nichrome 5 cutting wire passes through a 1 / 2 inch round hole in the work table 18 . one end of wire 30 is attached by means of the terminal clip assembly 38 , to the nonconducting drive cable 36 at a point just above pulley 58 by hooking a knotted end of wire 30 in a clip 59 . clip assembly 40 is attached to one end of a take - up spring 42 . the other end of this spring 42 is connected to the nonconducting drive cable 36 at a point below pulley 52 . in this way the nichrome 5 cutting wire 30 is suspended in such a manner that it closes the throat formed by the path of the nonconducting drive cable between pulleys 58 and 52 . the motor 62 has a drive pulley 64 driving a belt 66 which drives a double grooved pulley 68 . a belt 70 riding in the second groove of pulley 68 drives idler pulley 72 . a swivel device 74 is attached to belt 70 and firmly connected to nonconducting drive cable 36 . when the motor 62 is operated , belt 70 revolves around pulley 68 and 72 in an elliptical pattern . this action causes the nonconducting drive cable 36 to first move upward for the travel distance between the outer circumferences of pulleys 68 and 72 , then to reverse itself and move downward the same distance and again reverse its movement . this reversing action is translated to the cutting wire 30 by the nonconducting drive cable to provide a reciprocating motion . electrical current for providing electrical resistance heating is supplied through a transformer 80 to the cutting wire through flexible leads 82 and 84 , which are firmly attached to the thermal clip assemblies 38 and 40 , respectively . also included in the electrical circuit with transformer 80 are a control panel 86 which includes a rheostat r and switches sr for adjusting the voltage and resistance in the nichrome wire circuit . the control panel 86 also includes a separate switch sw2 for the drive motor and another switch sw3 for the motor of an exhaust fan 90 . except for the throat of the &# 34 ; c &# 34 ; where the worktable 18 is provided , the entire machine is mounted in a cabinet completely enclosed and made as airtight as possible , except for vent holes 14a and 14b in the front panel of the cabinet in the area where the nichrome wire 30 travels . the exhaust blower 90 is mounted in the cabinet to serve two purposes : one is to remove the fumes which occur directly above the work table when the materials being cut are vaporized in the cutting process . this is accomplished by means of an exhaust vent 93 immediately above the work table 18 . the other purpose is to provide air movement for quenching or cooling those sections of the cutting wire 30 not in contact or not imminently to be in contact with the material being severed . this air quenching action has been found to be basically worthwhile to the efficient performance of this machine . experimentation in cutting a wide variety of materials has shown that the best results , such as fast cutting and smooth , polished appearing cut surfaces are only achieved when the cutting wire glows brightly and reaches a temperature in the range of 1500 ° f to 1700 ° f . maintaining this temperature in the cutting wire 30 where it is in contact with the material being severed 22 , without air quenching , those portions of the cutting wire 30 , not in contact with the work , could result in overheating the wire above 91 and below 92 the work area , so that the wire would soon disintegrate , depending upon the particular wire . when the material being cut 22 , comes in contact with the cutting wire 30 , the material acts as a heat sink , cooling the wire . this means that these sections of the wire 91 and 92 not being cooled by contact with the material would overheat . when a heavy cutting wire is employed , lower voltage or higher resistance is required to reach the optimum temperature for satisfactory cutting action . this may be achieved by means of the rheostat and switches on the control panel 86 but to compensate for the larger cross section or greater mass of the larger wire , it is desirable to provide more air movement around the wire in areas 91 and 92 . this adjustment may be made by changing the position of the louvres which pivot at points 13a and 13b to open or close air vents 14a and 14b . the wire guide 28 and a similar wire guide 26 mounted below the work table 18 provides accurate guiding of the nichrome wire 30 . the upper guide 28 is mounted in such a way that it may be raised up or down by means of a slide and set screw 96 according to the thickness of the material being severed . in the modified form shown in fig6 a machine cabinet 100 employs a machine frame 102 on which is mounted a reciprocating nichrome cutting wire 104 operating through suitable guide means 106 , 108 mounted above and below a work table 110 which is located in the throat of a cabinet shaped like a letter c . a pair of rocker assemblies 112 comprise a circular rocker member 114 , 114a and an elongated rocker shaft 116 , 116a mounted on a pivot 118 on the frame of the machine . the ends of the respective rocker arms 116 and 116a are connected by means of a rod 120 attached to respective pivots 122 , 124 and serve to oscillate the respective rocker arms 114 and 114a . in turn , rod 120 is driven by connecting rod 130 having one end attached to a pivot 132 on the rod 120 and the other end attached to a drive pulley pivot 134 on a drive wheel 136 rotating about a shaft 138 mounted on the machine . a motor 140 has a drive pulley 142 which drives the drive wheel 136 by means of a drive belt 144 . the nichrome wire 104 is attached to the respective rocker arms by means of flexible wire conductors 150 , 152 attached by tie clips 154 and a take - up spring 156 . the respective flexible conductors are electrically connected through a transformer 160 by means of electrical flexible conductors 162 , 164 and conductor 164 leads through a control panel 166 having switches 168 and a controllable rheostat 170 for controlling current to the nichrome wire 104 . referring to the third embodiment shown in fig8 - 15 inclusive , the machine 200 , which is similar to those in the previous embodiments , has a machine frame 202 comprising horizontal frame members 204 and vertical frame members 206 . a traveling c - frame 208 provides a means for moving the heated wire 210 in lieu of the apparatus provided in the previous embodiments . the frame 208 is mounted for vertical movement on a pair of vertical guide bars 212 , 214 which are in substantial alignment but separated by the work space 216 which is defined by structural members 218 to provide a structural support for a work table 220 supported on a hinged strut 222 . the traveling c frame 208 comprises an upper horizontal frame member 224 attached to a rear vertical frame member 226 which is attached to a lower horizontal frame member 228 thereby providing a rigid frame . a pair of rollers 230 on frame 208 are mounted about upper guide bar 212 and a pair of rollers 232 are mounted on frame 208 about lower guide bar 214 so that frame 208 travels freely upwardly and downwardly on guide bars 212 , 214 . the frame 208 is driven and reciprocated vertically by means of a frame drive assembly comprising a motor 233 which drives a belt 234 driving a pulley 236 which has the face thereof attached to the face of a sprocket 238 on common shaft 240 . sprocket 238 drives a drive chain 242 which drives around another sprocket 244 mounted on a shaft 246 . the drive chain 242 is attached to the c - frame by means of a pivot connector assembly comprising a pivot pin 248 attached to one link of the chain and also attached to a spring cartridge which comprises a plunger 250 and a double acting spring 252 inside a case 253 ( see fig1 and 15 ). a connector pin 254 attaches one end of the plunger 250 to a bracket 256 attached about a vertical guide bar 258 to the traveling c - frame 208 , supporting a pair of rollers 260 which travel on bar 258 . the cutting wire 210 is attached to the c - frame by means of a clip assembly 262 which is insulated from the frame 208 and the wire 210 passes through a hole in the work table 220 and is attached at the bottom end of the frame 208 by means of a similar clip assembly 264 suspended on a take - up spring 266 . flexible electrical leads 268 , 270 are attached to each clip assembly and through a transformer 272 , control panel 274 to power source such as 115 volts a . c . the wire guide means may be the spring biased , jaw arrangement with gypsum bearings , etc . as described previously . when motor 233 is energized , chain 242 is caused to travel in an elliptical path pulling pivot connector 250 to the upper perimeter of sprocket 244 and then down to the lower perimeter of sprocket 238 . this action moves c frme 208 up and down the distance between the outer perimeters of sprockets 244 , 238 which causes c frame 208 and cutting wire 210 to move up and down the same distance . wire guides 280 , one mounted on the cabinet just above the work table 220 and another under work table 220 hold the cutting wire 210 in an axially stable path . when a switch is turned on in control panel 274 , the cutting wire 210 which is nichrome v , resistance wire , is energized and heated . another switch ( not shown ) in control panel 274 energizes an exhaust blower 284 which draws air through vent holes 286 and also through venthood 288 . this suction action draws air from outside the cabinet across the cutting wire 210 both above and below the work area of the machine , serving to cool the cutting wire 210 in these areas where it is not in contact with the material 290 being cut . sliding louvres 292 , 294 may be adjusted to increase or decrease air flow as needed to maintain optimum cutting temprature in the work area without overheating the wire above and below this area . as this machine employs only a relatively short strand of nichrome 5 cutting wire , little resistance is encountered and high temperatures ( 1500 ° f to 1700 ° f ) can be attained in the cutting wire with low voltage and amperage . however , it is desirable to provide vent cooling louvres 292 , 294 in order to air quench those portions of the wire not in contact or not imminently to be in contact , with the material being severed . by air quenching the sections of wire inside the cabinet above and below the work area it is possible to raise the wire temperature in the work area to optimum temperature without overheating those sections not in contact with the material being severed . in this manner the optimum temperatures for cutting materials of various densities and thicknesses may be attained without damaging the cutting wire through overheating . at high wire temperatures , 1500 ° f to 1700 ° f , combustible materials are vaporized , rather than melted and the vapors or fumes are removed through venthood 288 . in order to hold the cutting wire in an axially stable position when material to be cut is fed into the wire , the wire guide system ( guides 106 and 108 in fig6 ; guides 280 in fig8 ; guides 28 in fig1 ) is provided so that the cutting wire does not deviate from its true path when pressure is placed against it . in the manner described in connection with fig3 et al , each guide consists of a bracket and two sections of a special material made of plaster and teflon . this material is molded so that one section forms a tongue and the other forms a groove . these are mounted in a pivoted bracket and each section is backed up by lower compression spring in such a manner that the tongue and groove oppose each other . the cutting wire is passed between this tongue and groove at a 90 ° angle so that the wire moves freely up and down and soon wears a notch in the plaster material , which serves as a track to hold the cutting wire in an axially stable position . therefore , it is seen that the present invention makes it possible to use a comparatively short strand of nichrome v , or similar wire 30 et al , and to eliminate such bothersome things as changing spools of wire . also the use of welded junctions and all of the attendant problems has been eliminated . it is not necessary to provide electrical commutators or sliding electrical contacts because the present wires may be solidly connected directly to the cutting wire 30 , 104 . the use of rollers or sliding electrodes in contact with the cutting element has been eliminated and in the present device the two ends of the cutting wire are clamped in fixed position with respect to their electrical connection , and flexible electrical leads are permanently attached to the clamps . such an arrangement reduces the possibility of poor contact and arcing , and completely avoids the abrasive effects on the cutting wire which rollers or sliding contacts woud cause . since it may be necessary to replace the heated wire in any system , in the present device such changes are made quite easily , quickly and at very small cost for the wire , as compared to continuous systems in which changes in the wire are very time consuming and the wire is very costly . it is also possible to change wires and wire sizes with very little difficulty in a range as fine as 0 . 005 and as large as 0 . 025 for various cutting operations . this method for precisely fixing the vertical path in which the cutting wire travels makes it practical for this device to precisely duplicate a design by use of a pantograph . various material may be cut , including polyethylene , polystyrene , ( solid or expanded ), polyurethane ( foam , rigid or flexible ), acrylic ( methyl - methacrylite ), nylon , polyvinyl acetate , and polycarbonate , walnut , mahogany , hickory , oak and plywoods . other wires may be used than nichrome in all sizes from about 0 . 005 to 0 . 025 - fine wires requiring less amperage and making finer cuts and the heavier wires being better for thicker or denser materials . an example of approximate cutting speeds : 1 / 8 acrylic at 10 inches per minute ; 1 / 4inch basswood at 20 inches per minute ; 1 / 4 walnut at 4 inches per minute . a typical machine makes one complete cycle per second and the wire travels about 2 &# 39 ; 6 &# 34 ; in each direction which is about 5 feet per second . with the present device , the strand of cutting wire 30 may be easily detached from the clamp at one end and threaded through a small hole drilled in the material , then reattached to the clamp so that a continuous design , such as a ring , may be cut out of the material without a break in the outside border . the foregoing description does not constitute any sort of limitation on the scope of the invention since various changes and departures may be made without avoiding the invention as defined only by a proper interpretation of the appended claims . | 8 |
the preferred embodiment of the present invention provides a facility for creating internet shortcuts . internet shortcuts are like other shortcuts found in the microsoft ® windows ® 95 operating system , sold by microsoft corporation of redmond , wash ., except that they point to resources ( such as documents or services ) that reside on the internet . each internet shortcut appears to the user as a shortcut icon . the user may double click on the internet shortcut icon to access the associated internet resource . as internet shortcuts are objects that comply with the microsoft ole 2 . 0 component object model , they exhibit the behavior associated with such types of objects . for example , as will be explained in more detail below , the internet shortcuts may be dragged and dropped . the internet shortcuts encapsulate urls ( or other location information ) and other information . the internet shortcuts are implemented as objects that are visible within the shell name space . the preferred embodiment of the present invention provides a user with the ability to manipulate internet resources in a well understood environment ( i . e ., the environment of the operating system &# 39 ; s shell ). the internet shortcuts eliminate the need for the user to know the physical location of the resource that the user wishes to access . in other words , the internet shortcuts provide a layer of abstraction that hides the physical location from the user . moreover , the internet shortcuts provide a consistent approach to accessing internet resources across different internet protocols . fig2 is a block diagram that depicts the environment that is of interest to the preferred embodiment of the present invention . in particular , the preferred embodiment of the present invention is concerned with the situation where a client computer 28 wishes to connect to a server computer 30 that is part of the internet 32 . the client computer 28 wishes to access a resource that is on the server 30 . fig3 is a block diagram that shows in more detail a suitable client computer configuration for practicing the preferred embodiment of the present invention . the client computer 28 includes a central processing unit ( cpu ) 30 that has access to a primary memory 32 and a secondary storage 34 . the primary memory 32 holds a copy of an operating system 36 . for purposes of the discussion below , it is assumed that the operating system 36 is the microsoft ® windows ® 95 operating system . the primary memory 32 also holds a copy of url . dll 38 , which is the internet shortcut shell extension handler that provides the facilities for implementing the internet shortcuts in the preferred embodiment of the present invention . although the internet shortcut handler 38 is shown in fig3 as being separate from the operating system 36 , those skilled in the art will appreciate that it may in alternative embodiments be incorporated as part of the operating system . an internet explorer 40 is also held within the memory 32 . the internet explorer 40 enables a user to explore the internet and view documents from the internet . the internet explorer 40 may include client programs for protocol handlers for different internet protocols ( e . g ., http , ftp and gopher ) to facilitate browsing using different protocols . the client computer 28 also has a number of input / output devices . these input / output devices include a video display 42 , keyboard 44 , a mouse 46 , and a modem 48 . as mentioned above , an internet shortcut extension handler is provided in the preferred embodiment of the present invention . the internet shortcut extension handler is an example of a shell extension handler . shell extension handlers are described in more detail in copending application , &# 34 ; shell extensions for an operating system &# 34 ;, ser . no . 08 / 355 , 410 , which was filed on dec . 13 , 1994 , and which is explicitly incorporated by reference herein . the internet shortcut extension handler is registered within a registry that is maintained by the operating system 36 of the client computer 28 . the registration of the internet shortcut extension handler within the registry helps the client computer to be aware of the handler and to utilize it when needed . all internet shortcuts are implemented in the preferred embodiment as files that contain the . url filename extension . the internet shortcut extension handler serves as a class handler for files of the url class . the internet shortcut extension handler contains support for creating , opening and displaying internet shortcuts and other additional operations that may be performed relative to internet shortcuts . the registry is implemented as a hierarchically structured tree having a number of nodes . each node is identified by a keyname composed of ansi characters . keys may contain other keys , known as subkeys . the registry has a predefined key called hkey -- classes -- root . at the same level of the hierarchy are other predefined keys including : hkey -- current -- user , hkey -- local -- machine , hkey -- users , hkey -- current -- config , hkey -- performance -- data and hkey -- dyn -- data . each of these predefined keys acts as a root of a separate subtree in the registry . before an application program may add data to the registry , the application program must open a key within the registry . to open a key within the registry , the application program must supply the handle of another key in the registry that is already open . the predefined keys listed above serve as entry points to the registry for application programs . of particular interest to the preferred embodiment of the present invention is the hkey -- classes -- root key . registry entries that are subordinate to this key define types or classes of documents and properties associated with such types or classes . client programs for protocol handlers for the respective protocols are also registered in the registry . the registry entries for the protocol handlers are stored under the hkey -- classes -- root subkey . for each protocol , there is a definition of the name of the protocol , the open command that is used for the protocol , and the icon to be used for the protocol . an example of such a portion of the registry for the http and ftp protocols is : ______________________________________hkey . sub .-- classes . sub .-- rootftp & lt ; default & gt ; reg . sub .-- sz &# 34 ; url : file transfer protocol &# 34 ; editflags reg . sub .-- binary 0x00000002url protocol reg . sub .-- sz &# 34 ;&# 34 ; defaulticon & lt ; default & gt ; reg . sub .-- sz &# 34 ; c :\ windows \ ftp . exe , 0 &# 34 ; shellopen command reg . sub .-- sz &# 34 ; c :\ windows \ ftp . exe &# 34 ; ddeexec reg . sub .-- sz &# 34 ; % 1 !&# 34 ; application & lt ; default & gt ; reg . sub .-- sz &# 34 ; ftp &# 34 ; topic & lt ; default & gt ; reg . sub .-- sz &# 34 ; ftp . sub .-- openurl &# 34 ; htp & lt ; default & gt ; reg . sub .-- sz &# 34 ; url : hypertext transfer protocol &# 34 ; editflags reg . sub .-- binary 0x00000002url protocol reg . sub .-- sz &# 34 ;&# 34 ; defaulticon & lt ; default & gt ; reg . sub .-- sz &# 34 ; c :\ ncsa \ mosaic . exe , 0 &# 34 ; shellopen command reg . sub .-- sz &# 34 ; c :\ ncsa \ mosaic . exe &# 34 ; ddeexec reg . sub .-- sz &# 34 ; % 1 !&# 34 ; application & lt ; default & gt ; reg . sub .-- sz &# 34 ; mosaic &# 34 ; topic & lt ; default & gt ; reg . sub .-- sz &# 34 ; www . sub .-- openurl &# 34 ; ______________________________________ in order to gain a fuller understanding of internet shortcuts , it is helpful to review how internet shortcuts appear and how they are used by a user . fig4 shows an example of the visual appearance of an internet shortcut 52 on a virtual desktop 50 that is produced by the operating system 36 . the internet shortcut 52 is displayed on the virtual desktop 50 as an icon with a distinguishing arrow portion 54 drawn in its lower left - hand corner to denote that the icon refers to a shortcut . the name of the internet shortcut 52 is displayed beneath the icon . the virtual desktop 50 also displays an icon 56 for the internet explorer 40 . a user has a number of options for creating an internet shortcut . the discussion below will first focus on the user interface components for creating internet shortcuts and then focus on the programmatic steps that are taken to create internet shortcuts . one way in which a user may create an internet shortcut is to position a mouse cursor over the internet explorer icon 56 and double click a designated button on the mouse 46 in order to open the internet explorer . the internet explorer 40 initially appears to the user as shown in fig5 . specifically , window 58 for the internet explorer is shown on the virtual desktop 56 . the window 58 includes a text box 60 that may be used to enter a url for a document that is to be opened . suppose that the user enters the url &# 34 ; http :\\ www . w3 . org &# 34 ; in the text box 60 , as shown in fig6 . if the user then requests to open the document associated with the url in the text box 60 , the document 61 is displayed within the client area of the internet explorer window 58 . once the internet document is displayed within the client area of the internet explorer window 58 , the user has a number of options for creating a shortcut to the document . first , the user may open a file menu 62 that includes a &# 34 ; create shortcut &# 34 ; menu option 64 which when selected causes a shortcut for the active internet document to be created on the virtual desktop 56 . another option to create a shortcut is for the user to click a right button on the mouse 46 to cause a context menu 68 to be displayed for the internet document . the context menu 68 includes a menu option 70 for creating a shortcut . the preferred embodiment of the present invention also provides a &# 34 ; favorites &# 34 ; folder which may be used to hold internet shortcuts to favorite internet sites of a user . a &# 34 ; favorites &# 34 ; menu item 76 ( fig9 a ) is provided on menu bar of the internet explorer window 58 . when the &# 34 ; favorites &# 34 ; menu is opened , an &# 34 ; add to favorites . . . &# 34 ; menu option 78 is provided . the selection of this menu option causes the shortcut to the current page to be added to the &# 34 ; favorites &# 34 ; folder . an &# 34 ; add to favorites . . . &# 34 ; button 84 is provided on the toolbar of the internet explorer window 58 ( fig9 b ). a user may add an internet shortcut to the &# 34 ; favorites &# 34 ; folder by positioning a mouse cursor 80 over the button 84 and activating the button . the button has an associated tool tip 82 that may be displayed when the mouse cursor is positioned over it for a sufficient amount of time . when a user selects the &# 34 ; add to favorites . . . &# 34 ; menu option 78 or activates the &# 34 ; add to favorites . . . &# 34 ; button 84 , an &# 34 ; add to favorites . . .&# 34 ; dialog 86 ( fig9 c ) is displayed . a list 92 lists the internet shortcuts that are currently in the &# 34 ; favorites &# 34 ; folder . the name of the page for which an internet shortcut is to be added is listed in the name text box 88 . the user has the option of creating a different name for the internet shortcut . when a user wishes to add an internet shortcut for the current page to the &# 34 ; favorites ...&# 34 ; folder , the user activates the &# 34 ; add &# 34 ; button 90 . as a result , an internet shortcut 94 ( fig9 d ) is visible in the window for the &# 34 ; favorites &# 34 ; folder 92 . each internet shortcut is implemented as an object that supports a number of microsoft ole 2 . 01 interfaces . in particular , each internet shortcut supports the following standard ole interfaces : idataobject , ipersist , ipersistfile , ipersiststream , and iunknown . in addition , each internet shortcut supports the following shell extension ole interfaces : iextracticon , ishellextinit , ishellink , and ishellpropsheetext interfaces . these shell extension interfaces are described in more detail in the copending application entitled &# 34 ; shell extensions for an operating system &# 34 ;, ser . no . 08 / 355 , 410 . in addition , each internet shortcut object must support the iuniformresourcelocator interface . this interface includes three methods . the first method is the get method for retrieving a url from the internet shortcut object . the second method is the set method for setting a url for an internet shortcut object . lastly , an invoke method is provided for invoking a command on the internet shortcut object . the four above - described approaches for creating an internet shortcut ( described relative to fig7 - 9d ) require the same programmatic steps to be performed . fig1 is a flowchart illustrating the programmatic steps that are performed to create an internet shortcut in such an instance . first , the predefined function cocreatelnstance () is called to create an object of the internet shortcut object class and to obtain an iuniformresourcelocator interface for the created internet shortcut object ( step 96 in fig1 ). the seturl () function within the iuniformresourcelocator interface of the internet shortcut object is called to set the url value for the internet shortcut object ( step 98 ). a queryinterfaceo function is called to obtain an ipersistfile interface that is supported by the internet shortcut object ( step 100 ). the save () function of the ipersistfile interface is called to save the internet shortcut as a . url file in the file system of the operating system 36 ( step 102 ). the release () function of the ipersistfile interface is then called to release the interface ( step 104 ). lastly , the release () function of the iuniformresourcelocator interface is called to release that interface ( step 106 ). documents that are set forth in the html ( hypertext markup language ) format include hyperlinks . these are links that may be used to gain access to related documents . these hyperlinks may be dragged and dropped to create internet shortcuts . for example , as shown in fig1 a , the internet document 61 includes a hyperlink 108 associated with the term &# 34 ; w3 servers &# 34 ;. it should be appreciated that this hyperlink is surrounded by a broken border in fig1 a solely for illustrative purposes . a user may use the mouse 46 to position the mouse cursor over the hyperlink 108 and drag the hyperlink to a destination where the hyperlink is dropped . fig1 b illustrates an example of the appearance of the virtual desktop when the hyperlink 108 has been dragged and dropped onto the virtual desktop 56 to create an internet shortcut 110 . fig1 illustrates the programmatic steps that are performed to create an internet shortcut object when the drag and drop technique described above relative to fig1 a and 11b is used . initially , the cocreateinstance () function is called to create an object of the internet shortcut class and to retrieve an iuniformresourcelocator interface ( step 112 ). the seturl () function of the iuniformresourcelocator interface of the internet shortcut object is called to set the url for the internet shortcut ( step 114 ). the queryinterface () function is then called to obtain an idataobject interface for the internet shortcut object ( step 116 ). the dodragdrop () function is called to perform the drag and drop operation with that idataobject ( step 118 ). the drop target calls the getdata () function within the idataobject interface to obtain data for the internet shortcut ( step 120 ). it should be appreciated that other methods within the idataobject interface may also be called to retrieve data . the release () function in the idataobject interface is called to release the idataobject interface ( step 122 ). similarly , the release () function of the iuniformresourcelocator interface is called to release the iuniformresourcelocator interface ( step 124 ). an internet shortcut may additionally be created from the context menu of a hyperlink . fig3 shows an example of a context menu 126 that may be produced from the hyperlink 108 by clicking a right button of the mouse 46 while a mouse cursor is positioned over the hyperlink . the context menu 126 includes a &# 34 ; copy shortcut &# 34 ; menu option 128 that causes an internet shortcut to the hyperlink to be copied to the clipboard . the user may then paste the internet shortcut at desired destination . fig1 is a flowchart that illustrates the programmatic steps that are performed when the internet shortcut is created using the context menu for a hyperlink . initially , the cocreatelnstance () function is called to create an object of the internet shortcut class and to return an iuniformresourcelocator interface ( step 130 ). the seturl () function within the iuniformresourcelocator interface of the internet shortcut object is called to set the url to the appropriate value ( step 132 ). the querylnterface () function is called to obtain an idataobject interface that is supported by the internet shortcut object ( step 134 ). the olesetclipboard () function provided by microsoft ole 2 . 01 is called to put the internet shortcut on the clipboard ( step 136 ). when the paste operation occurs , the getdata () function of the idataobject interface is called ( step 138 ). the release () function of the idataobject interface is called to release the idataobject interface ( step 140 ). lastly , the release () function of the iuniformresourcelocator interface is called to release that interface ( step 142 ). an internet shortcut may also be created from an existing internet shortcut . in particular , a copy of an internet shortcut may be created from a context menu of an existing shortcut . fig1 depicts an example of a context menu 144 for internet shortcut 52 . the context menu 144 may be displayed by clicking the right button of the mouse 46 when the mouse cursor points to the internet shortcut 52 . the context menu 144 includes a &# 34 ; create shortcut &# 34 ; menu option 146 for creating an internet shortcut . programmatically , the explorer simply copies the existing internet shortcut to a new file to create the new internet shortcut . an internet shortcut may , likewise , be created from the virtual desktop 56 or from any file system container . specifically , a user may position the mouse cursor to point at a location on the virtual desktop 56 or other file system container window and click a right button of the mouse 46 . this causes a context menu 148 ( fig1 a ) to be displayed . the context menu 148 includes a &# 34 ; new &# 34 ; menu option 150 . the &# 34 ; new &# 34 ; menu option 150 has a cascading menu 152 that is displayed when the mouse cursor is positioned over the &# 34 ; new &# 34 ; menu option . the cascading menu 152 includes a menu option 154 for creating a shortcut . when the user selects the &# 34 ; shortcut &# 34 ; menu option 154 , a shortcut wizard 156 ( like that shown in fig1 b ) is displayed . the user may use the shortcut wizard to create a number of different types of shortcuts , including internet shortcuts . the preferred embodiment of the present invention embellishes the code provide in the operating system 36 to facilitate the creation of internet shortcuts . in order to appreciate the programmatic steps that are performed to create an internet shortcut using the internet shortcut wizard , it is helpful to first review a new interface that is defined by the preferred embodiment of the present invention . this new interface is the inewshortcuthook interface . this interface includes functions that enable the user to create an internet shortcut from a full or partial url using the shortcut wizard . the inewshortcuthook interface includes several functions . the setreferent () function sets the referent for the internet shortcut ( where the referent is a url or other indication of location ). the getreferent () function gets the referent for the shortcut . the setfolder () function sets the folder that contains the internet shortcut , whereas the getfolder () function gets the folder that contains the internet shortcut . the getnameo function gets the name of the internet shortcut within the containing folder and the getextension () function retrieves the extension for the internet shortcut . fig1 illustrates the programmatic steps that are performed to create an internet shortcut using the internet shortcut wizard . initially , the cocreateinstance () function is called to create an instance of an object of the internet shortcut class and to return an inewshortcuthook interface ( step 158 ). the setreferent () function within the inewshortcuthook interface is called to set the appropriate referent for the internet shortcut object ( step 160 ). the setfoldero function within the inewshortcuthook interface is called to set the folder that contains the internet shortcut ( step 162 ). next , the getname () function of the inewshortcuthook interface is called to obtain a suggested file name for the internet shortcut ( step 164 ). the getextensiono function of the inewshortcuthook interface is then called to get the . url extension for the internet shortcut ( step 166 ). the getreferent () function is called to obtain the referent for the internet shortcut object ( step 168 ). a querylnterface () call is then made to retrieve the persistfile interface for the internet shortcut object ( step 170 ). the save () function within the ipersistfile interface is called to save the internet shortcut as a . url file ( step 172 ). the release () function of iperistfile is called to release the ipersistfile interface ( step 174 ). lastly , the release () function of the inewshortcuthook interface is called to release that interface ( step 176 ). it should be appreciated that the operating system 36 and / or the internet shortcut extension handler may define certain internet shortcuts a priori that do not require the user to explicitly create them . each internet shortcut object has a number of properties associated with it that may be viewed and edited through property sheets . to display a property sheet for an internet shortcut , a user may click the right button of mouse 46 while the mouse cursor points to internet shortcut 52 . as was described above relative to fig1 , such user action causes a context menu 146 to be displayed . this context menu 146 , includes a &# 34 ; properties &# 34 ; menu option 178 as shown in fig1 . when the user selects the &# 34 ; properties &# 34 ; menu option 178 , a property sheet 180 ( fig1 ) is displayed . the &# 34 ; general &# 34 ; property sheet 180 specifies general information about the internet shortcut . the user may also position the mouse cursor to point at tab 182 and click a left mouse button on mouse 46 to display the &# 34 ; internet shortcut &# 34 ; property sheet ( fig2 ). the &# 34 ; internet shortcut &# 34 ; property sheet 184 includes a text box 186 for viewing and editing the url that is associated with the shortcut . the &# 34 ; internet shortcut &# 34 ; property sheet 184 additionally includes a &# 34 ; run &# 34 ; drop down list 188 that allows a user to specify the start state of the window when the associated application for displaying the internet document is run . a user may specify the start state as minimized , normal or maximized through the &# 34 ; run &# 34 ; drop down list 188 . text box 190 allows a user to specify what directory to start in when the associated application is run . lastly , &# 34 ; change icon . . . &# 34 ; button 192 is provided to allow a user to change the icon that is associated with the internet shortcut . these property sheets are implemented as property sheet extensions as described in the copending application entitled &# 34 ; shell extensions for an operating system &# 34 ;, ser . no . 08 / 355 , 410 . the property sheet handler is provided by url . dll . the . url files have a predefined format . each . url file may include a url and other information such as working directory , icon file , icon index and hot key . an example of a contents of a . url file for an internet shortcut is as follows : as mentioned above , internet shortcuts may be dragged and dropped . the internet shortcuts utilize the microsoft ole 2 . 01 mechanism described in copending application &# 34 ; uniform data transfer &# 34 ;, ser . no . 08 / 199 , 853 , filed on feb . 22 , 1994 , which is explicitly incorporated by reference herein . fig2 a and 21b illustrate an example of how this drag and drop capability may be utilized . suppose that a user has a word processing window 194 open with an open document 196 . if the user drags internet shortcut icon 52 and drops the internet shortcut icon in the document 196 , the internet shortcut becomes embedded within the document . a corresponding internet shortcut icon 198 is displayed within the document 196 . the drop behavior that is exhibited is a product of the drop target as established by the microsoft ole 2 . 01 protocol . because internet shortcuts are objects that are visible in the name space , they may be treated like other objects in the name space . accordingly , the internet shortcut icons may be transferred in a fashion like other objects . one way in which these internet shortcuts may be transferred is through the context menu 146 . the context menu includes a &# 34 ; send to &# 34 ; menu option 200 ( fig2 ) that has an associated cascading menu 202 that lists the number of possible destinations . these destinations include floppy disk , facsimile recipients and e - mail recipients . a user may open an internet shortcut in a number of different ways . a first option is for the user to select the open menu option 204 from the context menu 146 for the internet shortcut 52 fig2 ). a second option is for a user to position a mouse cursor over the internet shortcut icon 52 and double click the designated button of the mouse 46 . an internet shortcut may also be opened in the explorer application 205 ( fig2 ). in particular , a user may open a file menu 206 and select the &# 34 ; open &# 34 ; menu option 208 . all of the above described approaches for opening an internet shortcut cause the steps in fig2 to be performed . initially , the internet shortcut extension handler ( url . dll ) is invoked ( step 210 ). the internet shortcut extension handler retrieves the url from the internet shortcut object and parses the url ( step 212 ). the internet shortcut extension handler then determines the protocol for the url from the parsed url ( step 214 ). using the protocol identification information that has been determined from the parsed url , the internet shortcut extension handler looks to the registry to fetch the client program for the protocol handler name ( based on protocol ) and syntax for passing the url argument ( step 216 ). the internet shortcut extension handler then calls the client program using the determined syntax to request opening of the associated document ( step 218 ). the document is then opened by the internet viewer ( step 220 ). the internet viewer includes the appropriate intelligence for using the url to locate the corresponding document . in order to support activation of the corresponding internet document from an internet shortcut , the preferred embodiment of the present invention defines the ishallexecutehook interface that is supported by the interface shortcut objects . the ishallexecutehook interface is used to allow a full or partial url to be programmatically activated by calling the shallexecuteo api in the operating system 36 . the interface supports a single function : execute (). the execute method executes a given argument , such as a url . while the present invention has been described with reference to a preferred embodiment thereof , those skilled in the art will appreciate that various changes in form or detail may be made without departing from the intended scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims . for example , the present invention may be used to encapsulate other kinds of location information that differ from urls . | 6 |
fig1 shows a staircase 1 constructed according to the invention . while this particular staircase is a 90 ° curved staircase , as shown in fig2 the staircase 1 can be either a straight , curved , or spiral staircase because of the flexibility allowed by the modular design . this exemplary staircase 1 is constructed by joining : four straight modules 2 , nine curved modules 3 , and one bullnose module 4 . a straight staircase would be made by only using straight modules 2 and a spiral staircase would be made by using only curved modules 3 . thus , a curved staircase is defined as any staircase having curved stair modules 3 and at least one straight stair module 2 . examples of various curved staircases are shown in fig2 b - 2c . the use of bullnose (&# 34 ; starter &# 34 ;) modules 4 is entirely optional . furthermore , the inside and outside radii dimensions of the curved module ( s ) are manufactured with fixed dimensions , in relation to each other ( width of fixed tread ), of any values desired . additional flexibility in the x and y axes can be achieved by manufacturing the curved modules in more than one size . for example , the curved modules can be manufactured as follows : ______________________________________insideradius outside radius width of tread______________________________________28 1 / 4 &# 34 ; 70 3 / 4 &# 34 ; 42 1 / 2 &# 34 ; 39 3 / 4 &# 34 ; 82 1 / 4 &# 34 ; 42 1 / 2 &# 34 ; 51 1 / 4 &# 34 ; 93 3 / 4 &# 34 ; 42 1 / 2 &# 34 ; 62 1 / 2 &# 34 ; 105 &# 34 ; 42 1 / 2 &# 34 ; 74 &# 34 ; 116 1 / 2 &# 34 ; 42 1 / 2 &# 34 ; ______________________________________ fig3 shows the details of individual stair modules . typically , each module is made of multiple wood planks . each module has a finished tread 10 attached to and supported by an upper assembly diaphragm 11 which itself is supported on top ends of both a front riser panel 12 and a back riser panel 13 . the upper assembly diaphragm 11 also acts as a temporary tread during the building construction process . a lower optional assembly diaphragm 14 connects a bottom of the back riser panel 13 with a point substantially midway between the top and a bottom of the front riser panel 12 . this increases dimensional accuracy and structural rigidity . furthermore , forming left and right side walls of the stair module are rhomboidal - shaped side stringer panels 20 having alignment splines 21 ( fig8 ). these side stringer panels 20 have angular edges following the rake of the staircase . these panels 20 are curved when they are used in curved modules . thus , according to this structure , these stair modules are substantially complete stairs , in the sense that they are not mere skeletons of a staircase as in prior art patents such as u . s . pat . no . 4 , 296 , 577 , to schuette and u . s . pat . no . 4 , 373 , 609 , to de donato . an alternative to the multi - part wood step construction described above is shown in fig1 a ( supported version ) and fig1 b ( free - standing version ). it is conceived that the step modules can be constructed as a unitary structure out of any moldable material such as , but not limited to , fiberglass or a composite material . in this embodiment , the upper assembly diaphragm 11 , the front riser panel 12 , the back riser panel 13 , and the left and right side walls , as described above , form one unitary stair module . the finishing tread 10 is all that would be non - unitary with the rest of the step and would be nailed or glued to the unitary stair module . this one - piece structure creates an even easier method of mass producing the individual stair modules because now automated manufacturing methods and molding machines can be used by the stair module manufacturer . this embodiment also requires substantially less construction time and effort than the skeleton staircases shown in prior art patents such as u . s . pat . no . 4 , 296 , 577 , to schuette and u . s . pat . no . 4 , 373 , 609 , to de donato because there is less to construct . finally , this one - piece construction creates a much more appealing looking staircase due to the neat lines and edges resulting from the unitary and molded construction . to attach two stair modules together and adjust for the desired rise height , the two modules are aligned so that the desired rise height is achieved while maintaining the top edge of the front riser panel 12 parallel to the top edge of the back riser panel 13 of the adjacent module . panels 12 and 13 are temporarily secured , under the modules , with &# 34 ; c &# 34 ; clamps . multiple attaching members 19 , such as drywall screws , are then driven through the front riser panel 12 of the upper module and the back riser panel 13 of the lower module simultaneously . this method of attaching the stair modules together is equally applicable to the both the multi - piece and one - piece embodiments of the invention . furthermore , how a particular rise height is determined will be described below . as previously described , the rise height is adjustable to an infinite number of riser heights without the need for any spacer means , such as shims of various thickness or studs of varying height . while permissible rise heights are determined by local building codes , the norm is 7 &# 34 ;- 8 &# 34 ;. accordingly , the stair modules and side stringer panels 20 are constructed so when at a mid - point rise of 71 / 2 &# 34 ; inches between stairs is set , the angular edges of the side stringer panels 20 of adjacent modules form a continuous line . however , as shown in fig4 and 5 , when the rise is set at the lower limit of 7 &# 34 ; ( fig4 ) or the higher limit of 8 &# 34 ; ( fig5 ), the angular edges of the side stringer panels 20 of adjacent modules form a jagged discontinuous line . to eliminate the unappealing appearance created by this jagged line and to trim out the staircase to an adjacent drywall , flexible moldings 22 are used . as shown in fig7 a and 7b , these flexible moldings can be attached to , for example , a sheet rock wall 40 adjacent the staircase by use of , for example , nails or glue . to this point we have described a supported curved staircase composed of modules that would be supported by building framing underneath the assembled modules . with the addition of : two structural members 30 per module ( fig9 - 11 ); a structural connecting sleeve 31 ; and a nut , bolt , and washer assembly 32 ( fig1 ), the resulting curved staircase can be free - standing , that is , supported only at the top and the next to the bottom modules by the building with no intermediate support . to install the structural members 30 , a separate set of modules containing the structural components would be used . these modules , however , can be either the multi - piece or the one - piece embodiments of the stair module . fig9 shows the details of these alternate modules containing the structural members . during the above assembly process , the structural connecting sleeve 31 is inserted between the modules in the position shown in fig9 . after the assembly of the modules has been completed as above , the structural members 30 of a given module are connected to the adjacent module structures 30 by installing the nut , bolt , and washer assembly through the structural connecting sleeve 31 , and at the same time , through vertical slots 33 ( fig1 ) on the flange of the structural member 30 of the upper module . as shown in fig1 , the vertical slots 33 in the flanges of the structural members 30 allow passage of the bolt assembly 32 after vertical rise adjustments have been made to the modules . there are similar vertical slots made into the faces of the front riser panel 12 and the back riser panel 13 for the same vertical adjustment . the nut , bolt , and washer assembly 32 are tightened and the process is repeated for all the modules . the details of this connection are shown in fig1 . fig1 shows a plan section view of the structural components of the modules . when all modules are connected structurally as above , the resulting unit structure is secured to the building frame at the top and the next to the bottom modules . in the case of the alternative unitary structure , the structural components would be achieved by simply thickening and strengthening the side panels 20 into a beam structure . the front panels 12 and the back panels 13 would be similarly thickened and strengthened to provide for bolting securely the front panel 12 to the adjacent back panel 13 . now that the structure of the modular staircase system has been described , how a particular rise height is calculated and how this modular structure is incorporated into a building will be described . assume a builder wants to install a supported curved staircase into a building he is constructing . when the builder has framed and dried in the structure , he would evaluate the space he has available ( x , y , z axes ) for a curved staircase . the builder determines , we will assume , that the 15 - rise staircase shown in fig1 will fit his allowed lateral space ( x , y axes ) assuming he could adjust the rise height to meet the required code limits ( say between 7 &# 34 ; and 8 &# 34 ;) ( z axis ). he would order : an appropriate length of flexible molding , one bullnose stair module , nine curved stair modules , and four straight stair modules . the builder measures the floor - to - ceiling height to be 1143 / 8 &# 34 ;, and thereby determines that a rise height of 75 / 8 &# 34 ; is required ( 1143 / 8 &# 34 ; divided by 15 rises ) to assure that the finished staircase will mate flush with both the elevated floor and bottom floor of the building . the staircase is assembled , module by module , to a rise height of 75 / 8 &# 34 ; without the need for spacer shims or tubes , and , finally , the finished treads and flexible molding are installed , completing the staircase . no further substantial construction is required as in prior art attempts at constructing modular staircases . the builder , using &# 34 ; off the shelf &# 34 ; modules , has completed his lower cost , mass produced staircase in one or two days instead of a minimum of four weeks lead time plus the installation time required for a custom fabricated staircase . the above description is given in reference to a modular concept staircase system . however , it is understood that many variations are apparent to one of skill in the art from a reading of the above specification and such variations are within the spirit and scope of the instant invention as defined by the following appended claims . | 4 |
the invention can be more fully understood by the following examples . infrared absorption spectra are recorded on a perkin - elmer model 421 infrared spectrophotometer . except when specified otherwise , undiluted ( neat ) samples are used . mass spectra are recorded on an atlas ch - 4 mass spectrometer with a 10 - 4 source ( ionization voltage 70 ev ). 3α , 5α - dihydroxy - 2β -( 3α - hydroxy - trans - 1 - octenyl )- 1 . alpha .- cyclopentanepropionaldehyde δ lactol ( formula xxix : t is 1 - pentyl and ˜ is alpha ). refer to chart a . a suspension of methoxymethyltriphenylphosphonium chloride ( levine , j . am . chem . soc . 80 , 6150 ( 1958 ), 32 . 4 g .) in 150 ml . of tetrahydrofuran ( thf ) is cooled to - 15 ° c . and to it is added 69 . 4 ml . of butyllithium ( 1 . 6 m . in hexane ) in 45 ml . of thf . after 30 min . there is added a solution of the formula - xxvii 3α , 5α - dihydroxy - 2β -( 3α - hydroxy - trans - 1 - octenyl )- 1 . alpha .- cyclopentaneacetaldehyde γ lactol bis ( tetrahydropyranyl ) ether ( corey et al ., j . am . chem . soc . 92 , 397 ( 1970 ), 10 . 0 g .) in 90 ml . of thf . the mixture is stirred for 1 . 5 hrs ., meanwhile warming to about 25 ° c ., and is then concentrated under reduced pressure . the residue is partitioned between dichloromethane and water , and the organic phase is dried and concentrated . this residue is then subjected to chromatography over silica gel , eluting with cyclohexaneethyl acetate ( 2 : 1 ). those fractions shown by thin - layer chromatography ( tlc ) to contain the formula - xxviii intermediate are combined and concentrated to yield that enolether , 5 . 2 g . the above enol - ether , in 20 ml . of thf , is hydrolyzed with 50 ml . of 66 % acetic acid at about 57 ° c . for 2 . 5 hrs . the mixture is concentrated under reduced pressure . toluene is added to the residue and the solution is again concentrated . finally the residue is subjected to chromatography on silica gel , eluting with chloroform - methanol ( 6 : 1 ). the title compound is obtained by combining and concentrating suitable fractions , 2 . 54 g . ; recrystallized from ethyl acetate , m . p . 121 °- 123 ° c ., infrared absorption at 3500 , 1315 , 1220 , 1140 , 1120 , 1045 , 1020 , and 970 cm - 1 . following the procedures of example 1 , but replacing the formula - xxvii compound with the corresponding racemic 3α , 5α - dihydroxy - 2β -( 3α - hydroxy - trans - 1 - octenyl )- 1 . alpha .- cyclopentaneacetaldehyde δ lactol bis ( tetrahydropyranyl ) ether ( corey et al ., j . am . chem . soc . 91 , 5675 ( 1969 )), there is obtained the corresponding racemic δ lactol , namely , dl - 3α , 5α - dihydroxy - 2β -( 3α - hydroxy - trans - 1 - octenyl )- 1α - cyclopentanepropionaldehyde δ lactol . following the procedures of example 1 , but replacing the formula - xxvii compound with the corresponding 3β - hydroxy ether compound , there is obtained the corresponding formula - xxix 3β - hydroxy compound , namely 3α , 5α - dihydroxy - 2β -( 3β - hydroxy - trans - 1 - octenyl )- 1 . alpha .- cyclopentanepropionaldehyde δ lactol . likewise following the procedures of example 1 , but replacing the formula - xxvii compound with the corresponding racemic 3β - hydroxy ether compound , there is obtained the corresponding racemic 3β - hydroxy δ lactol , namely dl - 3α , 5α - dihydroxy - 2β -( 3β - hydroxy - trans - 1 - octenyl )- 1α - cyclopentanepropionaldehyde δ lactol . 4 , 5 - cis - didehydro - pgf 1 . sub . α ( formula ix : r 1 and r 2 are hydrogen , and ˜ is alpha ). refer to chart a . 3 - carboxypropyltriphenylphosphonium bromide is prepared by heating triphenylphosphine ( 156 . 8 g .) and 4 - bromobutyric acid ( 100 g .) in 125 ml . of benzene at reflux for 18 hrs . the crystalline product is filtered off , washed with benzene , and recrystallized from ethanolacetonitrile - ether , 150 g ., m . p . 247 °- 249 ° c . the above phosphonium bromide ( 10 . 6 g .) is added to sodio methylsulfinylcarbanide prepared from sodium hydride ( 2 . 08 g ., 57 %) and 30 ml . of dimethyl sulfoxide , and the resulting wittig reagent is combined with the formula - xxix lactol ( example 1 , 1 . 76 g .) in 20 ml . of dimethyl sulfoxide . the mixture is stirred overnight , diluted with about 200 ml . of benzene , and washed with potassium hydrogen sulfate solution . the two lower layers are washed with dichloromethane , and the organic phases are combined , washed with brine , dried , and concentrated under reduced pressure . the residue is subjected to chromatography over acid - washed silica gel , eluting with ethyl acetate - isomeric hexanes ( 3 : 1 ). those fractions shown to contain the desired compound by tlc are combined and concentrated to yield the title compound , 0 . 14 g ., high resolution mass spectral peak ( trimethylsilyl derivative ) at 642 . 3929 . following the procedures of example 2 , but replacing the formula - xxix lactol with either the corresponding racemic lactol , the corresponding formula - xxix 3β - hydroxy lactol , or the corresponding racemic 3β - hydroxy lactol obtained following example 1 , there is obtained the corresponding dl - 4 , 5 - cis - didehydro - pgf 1 . sub . α , the formula - xvii 4 , 5 - cis - didehydro - 15β - pgf 1 . sub . α product , or dl - 4 , 5 - cis - didehydro - 15β - pgf 1 . sub . α . 4 , 5 - cis - didehydro - pgf 1 . sub . α , methyl ester ( formula ix : r 1 is methyl , r 2 is hydrogen , and ˜ is alpha ). a solution of diazomethane ( about 50 % excess ) in diethyl ether ( 25 ml .) is added to a solution of 4 , 5 - cis - didehydro - pgf 1 . sub . α ( example 2 , 50 mg .) in 25 ml . of a mixture of methanol and diethyl ether ( 1 : 1 ). the mixture is left standing at 25 ° c . for 5 min . and then is concentrated under reduced pressure to the title compound . likewise following the procedures of example 3 , the methyl esters of dl - 4 , 5 - cis - didehydro - pgf 1 . sub . α , 4 , 5 - cis - didehydro15β - pgf 1 . sub . α , and dl - 4 , 5 - cis - didehydro - 15β - pgf 1 . sub . α are prepared . 4 , 5 - cis - didehydro - pge 1 , methyl ester ( formula xxxiv : r 1 is methyl , t is 1 - pentyl , and ˜ is alpha ). refer to chart b . 1 . a solution of 4 , 5 - cis - didehydro - pgf 1 . sub . α , methyl ester ( example 3 , 480 mg .) in 20 ml . of acetone is cooled to about - 50 ° c . and to it is added 4 ml . of n - trimethylsilyldiethylamine . the mixture is kept under nitrogen at - 50 ° c . for 2 . 5 hrs . progress of the reaction is monitored by tlc . the reaction mixture is diluted with about 200 ml . of diethyl ether . the solution is washed with about 150 ml . of cold brine and cold saturated potassium bicarbonate solutions . the ether extract is concentrated to a residue containing 4 , 5 - cis - didehydro - pgf 1 . sub . α , 11 , 15 - bis -( trimethylsilyl ) ether , methyl ester ( formula xxxii ). 2 . for the oxidation step , a solution of the above 11 , 15 - bis ( trimethylsilyl ) ether in dichloromethane ( 4 ml .) is added to a solution of cro 3 - pyridine ( prepared from 0 . 26 g . of cro . sub . 3 and 0 . 4 ml . of pyridine in 16 ml . of dichloromethane ). the mixture is stirred for 5 min . at about 0 ° c . and 5 min . at about 25 ° c ., then diluted with 10 ml . of ethyl acetate and filtered through silica gel . the solution , together with rinsings , is concentrated under reduced pressure . 3 . the product of step 2 is hydrolyzed in 6 ml . of methanol , 1 ml . of water , and about 0 . 1 ml . of acetic acid at about 35 ° c . for 15 min . the volatiles are removed under reduced pressure and the residue is partitioned between dichloromethane and water . the organic phase is separated , dried over sodium sulfate , and concentrated under reduced pressure . the residue is chromatographed on silica gel , eluting with ethyl acetate - skellysolve b ( isomeric hexanes ) ( 4 : 1 ). those fractions containing the title compound free of starting material and impurities are combined and concentrated to yield the title compound , 77 mg . ; mass spectral peaks ( for trimethylsilylated derivative ) at 495 , 492 , 479 , 439 , 420 and 349 ; mass 510 . 3198 . following the procedures of example 4 , but replacing 4 , 5 - cis - didehydro - pgf 1 . sub . α , methyl ester with dl - 4 , 5 - cis - didehydro - pgf 1 . sub . α , methyl ester obtained following example 3 , there is obtained dl - 4 , 5 - cis - didehydro - pge 1 , methyl ester . following the procedures of example 4 , but replacing 4 , 5 - cis - didehydro - pgf 1 . sub . α , methyl ester , with 4 , 5 - cis - didehydro - 15β - pgf 1 . sub . α obtained following example 2 , there is obtained the formula - xvi 4 , 5 - cis - didehydro - 15β - pge 1 product . likewise , using dl - 4 , 5 - cis - didehydro - 15β - pgf 1 . sub . α , methyl ester , there is obtained dl - 4 , 5 - cis - didehydro - 15β - pge 1 , methyl ester . 4 , 5 - cis - didehydro - pgf 1 . sub . β , methyl ester ( formula ix : r 1 is methyl , r 2 is hydrogen , and ˜ is beta ). refer to chart e . a solution of sodium borohydride ( 300 mg .) in 6 ml . of ice - cold methanol is added to a solution of 4 , 5 - cis - didehydro - pge 1 , methyl ester ( example 4 , 650 mg .) in 30 ml . of methanol at - 5 ° c . the mixture is stirred for 0 . 5 hrs . at 0 ° c . and 5 ml . of acetone is added , after which the mixture is stirred for 5 min . and made slightly acid with acetic acid . the mixture is evaporated under reduced pressure until most of the methanol and acetone are removed , then the residue is extracted with dichloromethane . the extract is washed with water , dilute aqueous sodium bicarbonate , and brine , then dried over sodium sulfate and evaporated under reduced pressure to give a residue . this residue is chromatographed over silica gel wet - packed in ethyl acetate , eluting with 2 %, 4 %, 7 . 5 %, and 10 % ethanol in ethyl acetate , taking 25 ml . fractions . those fractions containing the title compound free of starting material and impurities , as shown by tlc , are combined and concentrated to yield the formula - ix product . following the procedure of example 5 , the corresponding 15β compound and the respective racemic compounds are each reduced and separated as the corresponding 4 , 5 - cis - didehydro - pgf 1 . sub . β - type compounds . 4 , 5 - cis - 17 , 18 - cis - tetradehydro - pgf 1 . sub . α ( formula xiii : r 1 and r 2 are hydrogen , and ˜ is alpha ). following the procedures of example 1 and 2 , but replacing the formula - xxvii 3α , 5α - dihydroxy - 2β -( 3α - hydroxytrans - 1 - octenyl )- 1α - cyclopentaneacetaldehyde γ lactol bis ( tetrahydropyranyl ) ether of example 1 with 3α , 5α - dihydroxy - 2β -( 3α - hydroxy - trans - 1 - cis - 17 - octadienyl ) 1α - cyclopentaneacetaldehyde γ lactol bis ( tetrahydropyranyl ) ether ( corey et al ., j . am . chem . soc . 93 , 1490 ( 1971 )), there is obtained first the corresponding formula - xxviii intermediate enol - ether , then the formula - xxix lactol , wherein t is cis 1 - pent - 2 - enyl , and finally the title compound . following the procedures of example 6 but replacing the formula - xxvii ether of that example with the corresponding 3β - hydroxy ether , namely , 3α , 5α - dihydroxy - 2β -( 3β - hydroxy - trans - 1 - cis - 5 - octadienyl )- 1α - cyclopentaneacetaldehyde γ lactol bis ( tetrahydropyranyl ) ether , there is obtained the corresponding formula - xxi 4 , 5 - cis - 17 , 18 - cis - tetradehydro - 15β - pgf 1 . sub . α product . following the procedures of example 6 but using the appropriate racemic intermediate , there is obtained dl - 4 , 5 - cis - 17 , 18 - cis - tetradehydro - pgf 1 . sub . α and dl - 4 , 5 - cis - 17 , 18 - cis - tetradehydro - 15β - pgf 1 . sub . α . following the procedures of example 4 , but replacing the 4 , 5 - cis - didehydro - pgf 1 . sub . α , methyl ester of that example with formula - xiii 4 , 5 - cis - 17 , 18 - cis - tetradehydro - pgf 1 . sub . α ( example 5 ), there is obtained the title compound . likewise following the procedures of example 7 , but using formula - xxi 4 , 5 - cis - 17 , 18 - cis - tetradehydro - 15β - pgf 1 . sub . α , there is obtained the corresponding formula - xx 4 , 5 - cis - 17 , 18 - cis - tetradehydro - 15β - pgf 1 compound . following the procedures of example 7 , but using the racemic tetradehydro pgf 1 . sub . α and 15β - pgf 1 . sub . α - type compounds , there is obtained dl - 4 , 5 - cis - 17 , 18 - cis - tetradehydro - pge 1 and dl - 4 , 5 - cis - 17 , 18 - cis - tetradehydro - 15β - pge 1 . refer to chart e . a solution of 4 , 5 - cis - didehydro - pge 1 methyl ester ( example 4 , 300 mg . ), 4 ml . of tetrahydrofuran and 4 ml . of 0 . 5 n hydrochloric acid is left standing at 25 ° c . for five days . brine and dichloromethane - ether ( 1 : 3 ) are added and the mixture is stirred . the organic layer is separated , dried and concentrated . the residue is dissolved in ether and the solution is extracted with saturated aqueous sodium bicarbonate . the aqueous phase is acidified with dilute hydrochloric acid and extracted with dichloromethane . this extract is dried and concentrated to yield the formula - x title compound . following the procedure of example 8 , the corresponding 4 , 5 - cis - didehydro - 15β - pga 1 and racemic products are obtained . refer to chart e . a solution of 4 , 5 - cis - didehydro - pge 1 methyl ester ( example 4 , 200 mg .) in 100 ml . of 50 % aqueous ethanol containing about one gram of potassium hydroxide is kept at 25 ° c . for 10 hrs . under nitrogen . then , the solution is cooled to 10 ° c . and neutralized by addition of 3 n . hydrochloric acid at 10 ° c . the resulting solution is extracted repeatedly with ethyl acetate , and the combined ethyl acetate extracts are washed with water and then with brine , dried , and concentrated to give the desired formula -- xi title compound . following the procedure of example 9 , the corresponding 4 , 5 - cis - didehydro - 15β - pgb 1 and racemic products are obtained . | 2 |
an invention for a semiconductor packaging process and system that implements electromigration characteristics of metallization materials to effectuate the bonding process between the semiconductor chip and the semiconductor package is disclosed . in the following description , numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention . it will be understood , however , to one skilled in the art , that the present invention may be practiced without some or all of these specific details . in other instances , well known process operations have not been described in detail in order not to unnecessarily obscure the present invention . fig1 a shows a top view of a metallization bonding structure 100 implemented in a bonding by electromigration ( bem ) process , in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention . the metallization bonding structure 100 is preferably arranged in a geometric shape that will promote an electromigration stress region 102 when current is driven along the metallization bonding structure 100 . electromigration is commonly understood to be the result of an average current flow through a conductor . the flowing electrons transfer a fraction of their momentum to the metal atoms from the scattering process . this momentum transfer in turn causes a movement of the metal atoms ( i . e ., mass transfer ) in the direction of electron flow . therefore , the amount of momentum transfer , and resulting metal flow , increases with increasing current density . this flow of material is seldom uniform and regions of tensile stress develop where there is a net loss of material over time and regions of compressive stress develop where there is a new increase of material over time ( e . g ., the bend at 102 ). as shown , the metallization bonding structure 100 has a ground bonding connection 100a at one end of the structure and a positive voltage bonding connection 100b at the other end . by applying a voltage differential , a current &# 34 ; i &# 34 ; is caused to flow from the positive voltage bonding connection 100b toward the ground bonding connection 100a . this current flow therefore causes a flow of electrons &# 34 ; e &# 34 ; in the opposite direction flowing from the ground bonding connection 100a toward the positive voltage bonding connection 100b . as a result of the electron flow , an electromigration of metallization atoms 110 &# 39 ; will flow from the ground bonding connection 100a toward the positive voltage bonding connection 100b . thus , the electromigrating metallization atoms 110 &# 39 ; will flow toward the corner bend of the metallization bonding structure 100 , and thereby cause the electromigration stress region 102 . the electromigration stress region 102 will therefore result in a substantially increased concentration of electromigration metallization atoms 110 &# 39 ;. to accomplish the bonding by electromigration ( bem ) process , an underlying bonding via 104 is positioned below the electromigration stress region 102 of the metallization bonding structure 100 . by placing the underlying bonding via 104 in such a location , the increased electromigration metallization atom concentration 110 &# 39 ; will be forced to flow down into the underlying bonding via 104 as shown in fig1 c . as will be discussed in greater detail below , when the bonding via 104 becomes filled , an electrical bonding link will be advantageously established between the chip and the package . this bond link is of course formed without the need for conventional wire bonds or solder ball bonds , which as described above , may require larger chip and package arrangements . fig1 b illustrates another embodiment of the present invention , in which the underlying bonding via 104 is replaced with a plurality of underlying bonding vias 104a through 104d . in a similar manner as discussed above , the electromigrating metallization atoms 110 &# 39 ; will flow down into the underlying bonding vias when a current is caused to flow between corresponding ends of the metallization bonding structure 100 . from this embodiment , is should become apparent that the underlying vias can be of any shape and can include one or more vias of differing sizes , depending upon the ic chip being bonded and its associated packaging specifications . in one embodiment , fig1 c illustrates how the metallization bonding structure 100 can be integrated as part of a package 110 . the package 110 will , in this embodiment , include an oxide passivation material 108 , such as silicon nitride and oxide which electrically insulates the various bond pads and other exposed metal lines of the ic chip 112 from one another . the passivation material 108 , as will be discussed below , can also be formed as part of the ic chip itself . in this example , the ic chip 112 is shown having one exemplary on - chip metallization pad 114 which is configured to be bonded to the package 110 through the underlying bonding via 104 . as mentioned above , when the appropriate current is passed through the metallization bonding structure 100 , the electromigration of metallization atoms will allow the metallization atoms to flow down into the underlying bonding via 104 and cause an electrical interconnection between the package 110 and the ic chip 112 . of course , it should be understood that the ic chip 112 will in practice , have a multitude of on - chip metallization pads 114 which will be interconnected to associated metallization bonding structures 100 throughout the package 110 . fig1 d illustrates a more detailed view 101 of the package 110 and ic chip 112 combination of fig1 c . from this perspective , the underlying bonding via 104 is shown to be defined in the oxide passivation material 108 of the package 110 . this via will therefore enable a connection between the package 110 and the ic chip 112 once a current is caused to flow through the metallization bonding structure 100 as mentioned above . although any well known techniques may be used for attaching the ic chip 112 to the package 110 , an interface dielectric 105 may be used in order to establish a suitable bond between the package and the ic chip . in this exemplary diagram of fig1 d , the thickness 107 of the metallization bonding structure 100 may be between about 5 microns and about 20 microns . the exemplary diameter 109 of the via 104 , when one larger via is used , may be between about 1 micron and 10 microns . when multiple small vias 104 are used , as in the example of fig1 b , the diameter of the vias may range between about 0 . 4 micron and about 10 microns . continuing along with the exemplary dimensions , the oxide passivation material 108 may have a thickness 113 that ranges between about 1 micron and about 3 microns . in a specific bem bonding example , the metallization bond structure 100 can be made to receive a current density ranging between about 1 × 10 5 amp / cm 2 and about 1 × 10 6 amp / cm 2 . an associated bonding temperature for this range of current density may be , for example , between about 300 degrees c and about 400 degrees c . in a more preferred embodiment , the current density may be about 5 × 10 5 amp / cm 2 when a temperature of about 350 degrees c is maintained during the bem process . fig1 e provides an illustration of the bem process that causes electrons to flow in a direction suitable to cause the electromigration stress region 102 over the underlying bonding via 104 . once the ground bonding connection 100a and the positive voltage bonding connection 110b is suitably interconnected to the metallization bonding structure 100 , an electromigration flow of metallization atoms will allow the metallization material of the package 110 to flow into the underlying bonding via 104 and cause a suitable electrical connection with the on - chip metallization pad 114 . typically , the package 110 will implement metallization such as gold ( au ) and the ic chip 112 will implement metallization such as aluminum ( al ). the resulting interconnection between the metallization bonding structure 100 and the on - chip metallization pad 114 will consist of aluminum and gold compounds . of course , it should be understood that the metallization of the metallization bonding structure 100 may also be copper , aluminum , or any other suitable metallization material . the metallization used in the ic chip 112 can be selected from other suitable materials , such as copper . as is well known , copper is typically used when a damascene process ( e . g ., oxide etch , metal deposition , and planarization ) is implemented to form the interconnect metallization lines throughout the ic chip 112 . in either case , the bem process will enable bonding between the package 110 and the ic chip to be a purely electrical process , as opposed to implementing wire bonds or solder balls as discussed above . fig1 f provides a top view of the package 110 and an underlying ic chip 112 shown with dashed lines . in this example , the ic chip 112 is shown having on - chip metallization pads 114 along the periphery of the chip . this package 110 is shown having an exemplary metallization bonding structure 100 overlying one of the on - chip metallization pads 114 . in fig1 e , when the appropriate current is passed along the metallization bonding structure 100 , the electromigration stress region 102 will occur at a particular corner bend of the metallization bonding structure 100 . the electromigration stress region 102 may therefore occur at either corner of the metallization bonding structure 100 , depending upon the direction in which current / electrons are flowing through the metallization bonding structure 100 . the metallization bonding structure 100 may also be used to interconnect to on - chip metallization pads that are designed over the core region of the ic chip 112 . for example , one on - chip metallization pad 114 &# 39 ; is shown lying over the ic chip 112 at about the core region of the chip . to establish a bond between the package 110 and the ic chip 112 , a suitable metallization bonding structure 100 is provided to reach toward the on - chip metallization pad 114 &# 39 ; and thus , produce an electromigration stress region 102 suitable to cause the bonding between the package 110 and the ic chip 112 . accordingly , it should be understood that the metallization bonding structure 100 can be implemented to achieve bonding interconnections between the ic chip 112 and the package 110 at any location throughout the ic chip 112 . fig2 a shows another embodiment of the present invention , in which , an ic chip 112 is attached to the package 110 &# 39 ; through the use of a suitable metallization bonding structure 100 &# 39 ;. in this embodiment , the ic chip 112 itself will preferably have an oxide insulative material 108 through which a via 104 is defined down to the on - chip metallization pad 114 . in addition , the package 110 &# 39 ; will preferably have a plurality of conductive bonding vias 202 that make suitable connections down to the metallization bonding structure 100 . fig2 b is a more detailed view 200 of fig2 a , in which the conductive bonding via 202 is shown being interconnected down to the metallization bonding structure 100 &# 39 ;. in this example , the ic chip 112 is attached to the package 110 &# 39 ; via a suitable interface dielectric 105 . the interface dielectric 105 can be , for example , an adhesive insulator material that allows proper joining of the ic chip 112 to the package 110 &# 39 ;. the conductive bonding vias 202 will therefore provide a path from the top surface 110a of the package 110 &# 39 ; down to the metallization bonding structure 100 &# 39 ;. in this manner , suitable electrodes can be made to contact the conductive bonding vias to apply the appropriate current through the metallization bonding structure 100 &# 39 ;, in order to form the appropriate bond between the on - chip metallization pad 114 and the package 110 &# 39 ;. fig2 c shows a top view of the package 110 &# 39 ; having one exemplary metallization bonding structure 100 &# 39 ; defined such that an electromigration stress region 102 occurs at a corner that underlies the via 104 . from cross section b - b , it is evident that the conductive bonding vias 202 will make contact down to respective ends of the metallization bonding structure 100 &# 39 ;. by implementing the conductive bonding vias 202a and 202b , for example , a suitable electrode 250 of fig2 d may be implemented to cause the application of the current through the metallization bonding structure 100 &# 39 ;. as will be discussed below , the electrode 250 can be configured to perform the bonding of each of the interconnections between the ic chip 112 and the package 110 &# 39 ; all one time . for example , the electrode 250 can have a plurality of bonding pins that are suitably configured to make contact with the conductive bonding vias 202 . the bonding pins will thus be programmable to apply either a positive voltage at one pin and a ground voltage at the complementary pin for enabling the bem process using the metallization bonding structure 100 &# 39 ;. in this example , fig2 e shows how the electrode 250 is lowered onto the package 110 &# 39 ; such that the bonding pins make contact with the conductive bonding vias 202 ( i . e ., that define bonding contact points for the electrode 250 ). ground is applied to the conductive bonding via 202b and a positive voltage is applied to the conductive bonding via 202a . when such voltage potential is applied , a suitable amount of current is caused to flow through the metallization bonding structure 100 &# 39 ; such that the underlying bonding via 104 gets filled and an electrical connection is established between the on - chip metallization pad 114 and the metallization of the chip 110 &# 39 ;. fig3 a is a top view of the package 110 &# 39 ; having a plurality of conductive bonding vias 202 designed along the periphery of the package , in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention . as can be appreciated , pairs of the conductive bonding vias , such as 202a and 202b , are configured to make electrical contact down to the metallization bonding structure 100 or 100 &# 39 ;. because the conductive bonding vias 202 can be designed with a very tight pitch relative to one another , it is possible to design substantially more conductive bonding vias throughout the package 110 &# 39 ;, and thus enable for more dense designs of the on - chip metallization pads 114 . fig3 b shows yet another embodiment of the present invention in which a package 110 &# 34 ; has an array of conductive bonding vias 202 designed throughout the package . accordingly , pairs of the conductive bonding vias , e . g ., 202a and 202b , are patterned such that electrical contact is made to complimentary ends of the metallization bonding structure 100 / 100 &# 39 ; that is designed at the lower portion of the package 110 &# 34 ;. fig4 a and 4b illustrate different embodiments of the electrode 250 , in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention . as shown in fig4 a , an electrode 250a has a plurality of bonding pins which are designed to contact the periphery of the conductive bonding vias 202a and 202b as shown in fig3 a . alternatively , the electrode 250b can be configured to include an array of bonding pins that are configured to mate with associated ones of the conductive bonding vias 202 of fig3 b . fig5 illustrates yet another embodiment of the metallization bonding structure 100 &# 34 ;. this illustration is provided to make clear that the metallization bonding structure can be of any particular shape , so long as a bend is provided in order to create the electromigration stress region 102 . by creating the electromigration stress region 102 , it will be possible to cause the electromigrating metallization atoms to flow down into an underlying bonding via 104 . as such , the actual physical geometry of the metallization bonding structure can change as well as the direction in which electrons are caused to flow . fig6 a shows a single chip bonding system 300 that can be implemented to carry out the bonding by electromigration ( bem ) process in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention . as shown , a bonding parameter set 302 is first configured to identify bonding locations throughout the package 110 as well as voltage application levels , and time parameters ( e . g ., typically between about 30 seconds and 5 minutes ) for applying the voltages to the package 110 . once the bonding parameter set 302 is provided to a computer system 304 , the computer system 304 is configured to communicate the bonding parameters to a bonding electrode controller 306 . the bonding electrode controller 306 is configured to communicate bonding signals 308 to the electrode 250 . in general , the electrode 250 can be connected to a mechanical arm ( not shown ) which will lower the electrode 250 in a vertical direction 312 onto the package 110 . of course , the package can also be an interposer or any other suitable substrate that is configured to be bonded to the chip 112 . once the electrode 250 is lowered onto the appropriate conductive bonding vias of the package 110 , the bonding electrode controller will provide the bonding signals 308 to the electrode 250 to effectuate the bonding by electromigration ( bem ) process . fig6 b shows yet another embodiment of the present invention in which a multiple - chip bonding system 300 &# 39 ; is implemented . in this embodiment , the bonding parameter set 302 &# 39 ; is designed to receive information about the multiple chips 112 throughout a substrate or printed circuit board 310 . in general , the bonding parameter set 302 &# 39 ; may include a chip id number for the appropriate chip which requires bonding . once the chip id number is provided by the user , the appropriate bonding locations , voltage application levels , and time parameters will be know and then provided to the bonding electrode controller . in this example , the electrode 250 is shown capable of being lowered in the vertical direction 312 , and moved in a horizontal direction 314 depending upon the location of the chip 112 . moving of the electrode 250 can be accomplished with a suitable mechanical arm that is in communication with the bonding electrode controller 306 . after the electrode 250 is moved to the appropriate location over the printed circuit board 310 , the bonding signals 308 are received from the bonding electrode controller 306 to effectuate the bonding by electromigration ( bem ) process . once bonding is complete for one chip , the electrode 250 will move to another location over the printed circuit board 310 to repeat the bonding process for the appropriate chip 112 . although the foregoing invention has been described in some detail for purposes of clarity of understanding , it will be apparent that certain changes and modifications may be practiced within the scope of the appended claims . accordingly , the present embodiments are to be considered as illustrative and not restrictive , and the invention is not to be limited to the details given herein , but may be modified within the scope and equivalents of the appended claims . | 7 |
the invention is based on the observation that a great part of new multimedia traffic will be asymmetrical in the sense that the major part of the data flow will go from the network to the users and that a great part of such requests for data appear compatible with broadcasting and multicasting transmissions , these last , interactively personalized by the customer and by the network manager as a function of events , interests , demand and of typical cycles in the clients activities . in this perspective , a network architecture is envisioned that , in order to respect the new standards , allows a significant increase in the capacity in the most economical and the fastest to implement . it seems desirable , therefore , to integrate the planned wireless terrestrial networks with elements of other networks , for the most part already in existence , which are characterized by an elevated level of reliability , by high transport capacity , by modest access costs and by the requirement of extremely low cost interface apparatus . in particular , geostationary satellites dedicated to broadcasting digital , ( or also analog ), tv , audio channels and internet content channels or data streams and programs specifically dedicated to the mobile users , appear to be the most feasible for integrating with 2 . 5g or 3g wireless networks and for economically transferring the major part of the new multimedia traffic envisaged for the future . it may be operatively economical as well both for informative services on a global , national or local scale to functionally integrate , alongside the connection with said satellites , with terrestrial tv or audio radio transmissions broadcast in analog modulation and in near time , in digital format ( e . g ., dvb - t , dab - t idab , drm or similar standards or their derivatives ). the inventive idea consists , therefore , of the integration of the broadcast transmission of the transmitting geostationary satellites , with the possible addition of broadcasting from terrestrial stations , with the access network of the umts system ( utran ), namely in peripheral areas as well as those near the users , of the telecommunications network for mobile users . this integration allows the utilization of geostationary satellites that typically require oriented antennae ( not appropriate for providing of mobile services ) to offer mobile services . this result is possible through utilization of parabolic antennae , e . g ., fixed and oriented , installed at each base station snb or at each network radio controller crr , connecting the satellite transmitted content , through a decoding / encoding unit and making it accessible to the radio resources of the umts network being run by the base stations snb . this allows the users of the telecommunications network unet to exploit the services that otherwise require a fixed connection without increasing significantly the traffic on the transport subsystem stt . in fig2 , the block diagram shows base stations according to the invention . the base stations snb are connected to a satellite interconnection device gsb , that implements a station controller interface iub like that described in fig1 , to the base stations snb satellites and in addition is equipped with means for satellite reception rts in order to connect with one or more geostationary satellites . for that purpose in fig2 a geostationary satellite gs which transmits bs in broadcast mode satellite channels , that are received by means for satellite reception rts and are transferred through interface iub to the base station snb , that broadcasts then the content of the satellite channel bs in the coverage area of its cell . said means for satellite reception rts is completely analog to those for receiving domestic television programming and can include for example , low noise block amplifier / downconverter lnb , a decoder with a satellite signal format and a re - coder in one or more standards compatible with umts specifications for the types of expected services . a conceptually equivalent solution , with a different antenna and receiver - digitizer - encoding unit , allows the routing to the snb and finally to the user terminal , of terrestrial broadcasting analog stations ( audio , tv or dedicated full - band or sub - band programs ) or , with a different antenna - receiver - decoder - re - coder unit , terrestrial digital stations ( audio , tv or dedicated programs or sub - programs ). some of the possible services and data streams could also be reserved for the operators of emergency public protection , security services or general / public utility services . instead , fig3 shows a device for network satellite interconnection ngs that is equipped with an transport / access interface iu toward the radio network controller crr and by means for satellite reception nrts . the device for network satellite interconnection ngs is , therefore , connected to the radio network controller crr . the device for network satellite interconnection ngs , situated on a hierarchical network level of that of the transport system stt can also run all the communications that are necessary with database hlr . said database hlr as known , contains all the information relative to each single user which are necessary for managing the customer and his mobility , i . e . it constitutes the database on which a network management system permanently stores the various data relative to the users who have subscribed through it . for simpler services , may not be necessary to communicate with the network resources that control and manage user mobility . in other words , the device for network satellite interconnection ngs could operate without knowing where the various users are located . in the case of personalized service , the information on the location of a particular user can be used instead for the construction of the service . in that case , it becomes important to communicate with the database hlr . for the same hierarchical level reason , the above device for network satellite interconnection ngs will be able to run all of the communications that are necessary with an intelligent network node ( in ). such nodes contain all of the information relative to each single user that is necessary to be able to manage complex communications services . both the database hlr and the intelligent network nodes in are network elements with open interfaces with standardized communication protocols . the telecommunications network for mobile users unet equipped for the base stations snb and / or the radio network controllers crr described above permit such applications as : internet navigation ( web type ) of high quality . extremely efficient personalized data streaming ( e . g . e - mail , multimedia mail , dedicated special data etc ,). one or more broadcast channels ( standard tv or audio channels or mobile user dedicated contents , data and video clips ) provided to all authorized mobile customers . a single service center is sufficient for the entire network and no more than a minimal amount of communication data between terminals and service centers is required to manage these additional services . for quality internet services , it will be possible to use services based on updatable databases ( e . g ., e - commerce , reservations , etc .). the quality of these services depends primarily on the number of access points available to the network that can be co - locatable with sgsn . a large number of access points can be updated easily via satellite . for access to the satellite internet service providers isp using the high downlink capacity provided by the satellite , it is possible to extend their offer to umts mobile customers ( without any type of modification to the user terminal ) and therefore to all those that have an umts terminal authorized for this service . regarding personalized streaming , it will be possible to receive on the user umts terminal , directly from the base station , the data streams ( e . g ., some mb ) with personalized content such as , newspapers , stock market information , sports news or other subscription services . for this reason , the device for network satellite interconnection gsb or ngs can be equipped with storage capability in such a way as to be capable of storing the bs flow data sent from the satellite gs . the satellite gs can send informative content at regular intervals , such as a news service that changes slowly and in small parts over time . in that way , it will be possible by request from the user terminal keyboard , to transmit via satellite only the specific variations / updates requested by that user . for example , the news service contains national news stored in the memory of the device for network satellite interconnection gsb or ngs , whereas , after the user &# 39 ; s request for the news service , the satellite bs will send a local bulletin or expand on specific subjects . in this way , the information content load can be diminished by the carrier on the signal bs sent by the satellite gs . if , for example , a channel is reserved for the base station for such services performed by the additional data flows bs , each cell can serve up to 10 customers per minute and a single service center is all that is needed for the entire network . this is obtainable with a quite small amount of data between the terminals and the service center . the description above should provide a clear idea of the characteristics and advantages of the invention . the telecommunications network for mobile users according to the invention allows an increased data transport capacity since it provides an integrated architecture capable of carrying heavy multimedia data flows via satellite directly to the base stations to which the users are connected with their terminals , thus avoiding traffic saturation in the terrestrial transport network . a further advantage is that , with a single satellite radio emission , all of the base stations belonging to one provider ( tens of thousands ) begin to operate , one - by - one , as they are installed . equipping the base stations and / or the antenna radio controllers and related apparatus for satellite reception , it is as if each mobile terminal can receive multimedia programs directly from the geostationary satellite . the use of a system of geostationary satellites that broadcast the information is particularly advantageous in that the reception systems with which the base stations or the controllers crr have to be equipped ( interface apparatus , antenna , lnb , decoder , re - coder to standards compatible with the umts environment ), are simple and economical . in addition , the leasing of similar channels or satellite transponders or parts of the transponders is particularly cost effective with respect to development of services specifically for mobile phones . the telecommunications network for mobile users according to the invention , furthermore , makes advantageous use of base stations and controllers that are already part of the area covered by the cellular network that is , of its access system . it will be appreciated , then , that the aforementioned mobile telecommunications network , according to the invention , differs from the type of network that integrates a terrestrial network for mobile users with a mobile satellite network . these networks tend to increase the coverage of service areas not covered ( typically due to a low density of customers ) but do not permit the increase of the bit rate that is instead advantageously obtained according to the invention and without increasing significantly the traffic in the transport network . the telecommunications network for mobile users , according to the invention , permits the use of services that are planned with maximum flexibility and ease of implementation in the shortest time . this allows to obtain advantages in the quality / cost ratio of services offered using broadcast or multicast mode satellites . a further advantage is the possibility of broadcasting or multicasting directly . in addition , the telecommunications network for mobile users , using our invention , is compatible with umts and cdma 2000 or other similar standards of the 3g family . it is also compatible with future systems based on an analogous architecture , which make use of open interfaces , or with updated older systems such as gprs . furthermore , the telecommunications network for mobile users according to the invention advantageously allow the provider to strategically optimize the bandwidth such in certain instances in which the user cannot look at the video ( while driving , at work , etc .) but can listen to audio programs . statistically , the users &# 39 ; activities tend to be cyclical ( e . g ., breakfast , driving to work , work , lunch , work , driving home , personal activities , etc .). the continued miniaturization of the mass memory and the rapid evolution of the elaboration power of small microprocessors lead to believe that within a short time it will be possible to produce compact terminals capable of both storing films , music , personalized video or audio news on different themes , and running images , graphics and audio messages or text via e - mail . it is believed , further , that multimedia service providers will also move toward furnishing interactive tv as well as music and audio services with content and updates selected by the customer . such an approach , compatible with the connection mode “ always on ” offered by the gprs and umts systems , will advantageously allow the provider to minimize the request for bandwidth in the peak hours in that he can turn to the memory caching at various levels ( in network radio controllers , in the base stations and in the user terminals ). it is obvious that many changes are possible for the man skilled in the art to the telecommunications networks for mobile users and / or base stations and / or radio network controllers and / or the method for sending the information described above by way of example , without departing from the novelty spirit of the innovative idea , and it is also clear that in practical actuation of the invention the components may often differ in form and size from the ones described and be replaced with technical equivalent elements . for example , future availability of geostationary satellites with large bandwidth capable of exchanging large quantities of bi - directional data flows with single users equipped with suitable fixed , low - cost domestic satellite radio receivers , equipping the radio controllers and a certain number of base stations of the access network with the necessary apparatuses to realize such bidirectional satellite connections , will allow users , for whom a brief response delay is tolerable , the possibility of video - conferencing or transmitting videos over long distances without overloading the terrestrial networks , while , for the providers , it will also become possible to install remote base stations ( also additional or temporary ) in locations devoid of infrastructure for telecommunications or with inadequate or incompatible infrastructure . the base station , according to the invention , allows bi - directional communication between satellite and umts terminals ; in fig2 and 3 only the downlink is described , i . e ., the communication from the provider to the user , because this transmission direction is currently more relevant and can offer major economic advantages in the near future by offering quality , innovative services to umts users . access to the umts interfaces , however , allows the use of the access subsystem not only as an access network to the umts transport network but also as an access infrastructure of a satellite network . the architecture shown allows those with new generation mobile terminals to directly access satellite broadcasting services ( typically tv , “ cd quality ” audio and internet or personalized data ) until now reserved for the users equipped with the appropriate domestic satellite interface . since a typical base station can run a limited number of channels at a high speed , it appears cost - effective to make use of only a small number ( typically one or two ) with non - interactive or partially interactive television channels . part of the base stations can be installed on buildings . since there are various elements in common between the satellite connection systems integrated in the base station and a system of domestic satellite connections , it may be cost - effective to organize the base stations with elements of the domestic satellite connection system in order to be able to quickly and economically carry out the functions of the shared satellite connection system for the entire building . focusing again on use of the preexisting building wide shared equipment , it will be possible to equip a new base station utilizing a preexisting satellite antenna on a house , apartment or office building . finally , it is clear that the telecommunications network , using our invention , is not limited to the architecture required for umts . for example , it can be used in relation to the 2 . 5 standard when dealing with the gprs or the dect systems . the telecommunications network according to the invention finds also application integrated with wireless lan ( local area network ), like that supported by bluetooth , or weca ( wireless ethernet compatibility alliance ) ieee802 . 11 a or b , or even homerf or also non ethernet based . signals according to said protocols can be carried through low mobility picocells access subsystem ( e . g . in supermarkets , airports ) of umts ( or gprs ) networks , that , according to the invention , are associated to satellitar antennae . said subsytems according to the invention are integrated with access points ( ap for weca ) of the above mentioned wireless in order to broadcast towards terminal users that receive both on the umts frequency and on the lan frequency , informations that can be different and local with respect to that broadcast by the normal umts service , and also additional with respect to that normally broadcast through the lan and its servers . | 7 |
referring to fig1 a - fig1 e , a ligament re - attachment surgical procedure in the rotator cuff area 80 includes the following . first , a drill 90 and a drill bit guidance device 100 are provided . drill bit guidance device 100 is placed in front of drill 90 and includes a mechanism that guides the drill bit to drill a u - shaped curved tunnel . next , the surgeon creates access to the bone area 82 , and holds the distal end 101 of device 100 firmly against the bone 82 with one hand , while the other hand holds the power drill 90 that is attached to the proximal end 102 of the device 100 . next , the surgeon operates the drill 90 so that it rotates and he pushes the drill forward in the direction indicated by arrow 103 toward the distal end 101 of device 100 , as shown in fig1 a . during this process , a drill bit or burr feeds through the distal end 101 of device 100 and enters a first bone location 83 a . as the drill bit feeds out , it is guided by a tube 110 that causes the drill bit to move through a curved path , as shown in fig1 c . the curved path has a predetermined radius and forms a u - shaped tunnel 83 . the drilling process continues until the drill bit exits the bone from a second bone location 83 b . next , while still holding the device 100 in place , the surgeon retracts the power drill 90 leaving behind an open u - shaped curved tunnel 83 . the process is repeated again and a second u - shaped tunnel 84 is opened . next , sutures 85 a , 85 c are threaded through the opened u - shaped tunnels 83 , 84 , respectively , and through the ligament 81 that needs to be attached to the bone 82 , as shown in fig1 d . finally , the sutures 85 a , 85 b are tied and ligament 81 is attached to the bone 82 , as shown in fig1 e . referring to fig1 f , the process diagram 200 , for attaching a ligament to a bone includes the following . first , providing a drill and a drill bit guidance device that guides the drill bit to form a u - shaped tunnel ( 201 ). next , drilling a u - shaped tunnel into a bone by entering into a first bone location with the guided drill bit and exiting from a second bone location ( 202 ). next , threading a suture through the opened u - shaped tunnel and through the ligament that needs to be attached to the bone , and then attaching the ligament to the bone with the threaded suture ( 206 ). referring to fig2 a , a drill bit guidance device 100 includes a handle 106 , a universal grip 104 , an outer stationary tube 108 , an inner tube assembly 112 and a thrust assembly 140 . thrust assembly 140 transfers the power drill drive motion to a drive shaft 114 that is housed within the inner tube assembly 112 , as shown in fig4 . the universal grip 104 is attached to handle 106 and is used to hold the device with one hand while holding the power drill 90 with the other hand . inner rod assembly 112 is housed within the outer stationary tube 108 . handle 106 has a first through opening dimensioned to receive and hold the outer stationary tube 108 . handle 106 also has a second through opening dimensioned to receive and hold a guide rod 148 , shown in fig3 . thrust assembly 140 is pivotally linked to handle 106 with link assembly 146 . referring to fig3 and fig4 , inner tube assembly 112 includes a tube 110 with a slotted front portion (“ slotted tube ”), drive shaft 114 , flexible shaft 116 , flexible actuator rod 118 and drill bit 120 . drive shaft 114 has a distal end attached to the flexible shaft 116 and flexible shaft 116 is attached to the drill bit 120 with a front end bushing 161 . flexible shaft 116 allows the drill bit 120 to curve and follow the curving of the slotted tube 110 , as will be described below . in one example , flexible shaft 116 is made of nitinol wire , stainless steel wire or cable . flexible actuator rod 118 is arranged parallel to the drive shaft 114 and has a distal end that is connected to the distal end of the slotted tube 110 . the assembled drive shaft 114 , flexible shaft 116 , drill bit 120 , and actuator rod 118 are dimensioned to be housed and move within the slotted tube 110 and slotted tube 110 is dimensioned to be housed and move within the stationary outer tube 108 . a front end tube bushing 109 a supports the distal end of the drive shaft assembly within the front end of the outer tube 108 . similarly , a back end tube bushing 109 b supports the proximal end of the drive shaft assembly within the back end of the outer tube 108 b , as shown in fig8 a . the slotted front portion of slotted tube 110 includes slots 122 that are slightly wider at the bottom of each slot 124 than at the top of the slot , as shown in fig5 c . referring to fig7 a , fig7 b , fig8 a and fig8 b , thrust assembly 140 includes a shank chuck 142 that connects to the drive shaft 114 , a tube bushing 144 , a thrust end cap 150 , thrust bushings 152 a , 152 b , and actuator slide 154 . thrust assembly 140 is pivotally connected to handle 106 and to actuator slide 154 via linkage assembly 146 . linkage assembly 146 includes left and right vertical links 146 a , 146 b that link the handle 106 to the inner tube assembly 112 via a pivot connection 147 . linkage assembly 146 also includes left and right links 156 a , 156 b that provide a straight link between the left and right links 146 a , 146 b and the actuator slide 154 . in the embodiment of fig6 a and fig6 b , linkage assembly 146 also includes left and right links 158 a , 158 b that provide a straight link between the actuator slide 154 and the thrust end cap 150 . in operation , as the drill bit 120 feeds out of the outer tube 108 , the slotted front end of tube 110 that is connected to the drill bit 120 follows . as each slot 122 of the slotted tube front exits the outer tube 108 , it collapses inward in the slot direction . this inward collapse of the slots 122 causes the length of the slotted tube 110 to become shorter than the length of the drive shaft 114 and this results in curving of the flexible shaft 116 , which in turn causes the drill bit 120 to follow a curved path as it moves forward . the ratio of the length of the drive shaft 114 to the length of the collapsed slotted tube 110 remains constant throughout the entire range of the drill bit movement causing the radius of the curved path to remain constant . flexible actuator rod 118 is connected to the distal end of the slotted tube 110 and causes each slot 122 to collapse as it exits the outer tube 108 . in this embodiment , the actuator slide 154 and the slotted tube 110 move at different rates , thereby causing the slots 122 to collapse . drill bit 120 and drive shaft 114 move the same amount as the slotted tube 110 . the length of the slotted tube 110 is different than the length of the flexible shaft 116 in the curved position . this results in the drill bit 120 moving away from the front end bushing 161 . flexible actuator rod 118 , drive shaft 114 with the attached drill bit 120 and the slotted tube 110 are connected through a linkage assembly 146 at the proximal end of the device . the linkage 146 provides the proper feed ratio so that the drill bit 120 moves in a curved path with a predetermined radius . fig2 a depicts the drill bit guidance device 100 with the slotted tube in the start position . fig2 b depicts the drill bit guidance device 100 with the slotted tube in the “ straight ” position . fig2 c depicts the drill bit guidance device 100 with the slotted tube in the “ curved ” position . fig5 c depicts the distal end of the slotted tube in the “ straight ” position and fig5 d depicts the distal end of the slotted tube in the “ curved ” position . fig6 a and fig6 b depict side views of another embodiment of the drill bit guidance device 100 with the slotted tube in the “ straight ” and “ curved ” positions , respectively . in this embodiment , linkage assembly 146 includes left and right vertical links 146 a , 146 b , left and right links 156 a , 156 b and left and right links 158 a , 158 b . left and right vertical links 146 a , 146 b link the handle 106 to the inner tube assembly 112 via a pivot connection 147 . left and right links 156 a , 156 b provide a straight link between the left and right links 146 a , 146 b and the actuator slide 154 . left and right links 158 a , 158 b provide a straight link between the actuator slide 154 and the thrust end cap 150 . in this embodiment , slotted tube 110 , actuator slide 154 and drive shaft assembly feed out at different ratios . this keeps the drill bit 120 and the front end bushing 16 at the same spacing throughout the entire range of motion . in other embodiments , a gear mechanism or a cam mechanism is used instead of the linkage assembly 146 to control the ratio of the slotted tube 110 and actuator rod 118 length to the length of the drive shaft 114 . several embodiments of the present 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 . accordingly , other embodiments are within the scope of the following claims . | 0 |
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 that 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 do not delimit the scope of the invention . to facilitate the understanding of this invention , a number of terms are defined below . terms defined herein have meanings as commonly understood by a person of ordinary skill in the areas relevant to the present invention . terms such as “ a ”, “ an ” and “ the ” are not intended to refer to only a singular entity , but include the general class of which a specific example may be used for illustration . the terminology herein is used to describe specific embodiments of the invention , but their usage does not delimit the invention , except as outlined in the claims . obtaining consistent size and thickness can require controlled pre - processing ( e . g ., milling and separation ) of the crystalline graphite mechanochemical process that use crystalline graphite with a mild oxidizing agent in conjunction with mechanical energy ( milling ) for synthesis of graphene / graphite oxide flakes . the mechanical energy in conjunction with a mild oxidizing environment can produce edge oxidation of the graphene minimizing the strong surface oxidation , formation of epoxy groups and mechanical defects generated in a hummers &# 39 ; based process . graphite ( 30 g ) can be used as the starting material for the graphene / graphite oxide flakes mechano - chemical process . the mechanochemical process can be done in what is generically referred to as a “ stirred ball mill .” a useful and simple equation describing the grinding momentum is m x v ( mass x velocity ), which enables us to see how an ball milling use up to 6 lbs ( or ˜ 2600 stainless steel balls ) of 0 . 25 ″ diameter stainless steel balls weighing 1 g each . milling in a closed chamber for 360 minutes at 2 , 000 rpm or less . when grinding in the ball mill , as the balls ( media ) in their random movement are spinning in different rotation and therefore are exerting shearing forces on the crystalline graphite . the resulting graphene / graphite oxide preferably has edge - only oxidization flakes with a pristine surface primarily free of distortions , epoxy groups or corrugations with low surface energies allowing for easier incorporation and entrainment in a host through powder mixing resulting in enhance physical properties . if the suspension application requires a narrow size distribution the edge oxidized graphene / graphite flake can be chemically separated via acidic precipitation by titrating hydrochloric acid into the bath the larger ( thicker / heavier ) material comes out of suspension first creating a narrow graphene oxide flake distribution . the particle size can be monitored during this process by a dynamic light scattering measurement tool . dynamic light scattering tools can resolve particle sizes down to 30 å . preferably , the surface area to thickness ratio should be greater than about 300 to have a positive impact on the host as a suspension . the ph of the water containing the oxidized graphite / graphene oxide can range from 5 to 9 while maintaining the suspension of the media the ph of the resulting water / graphene / graphite oxide mixture is typically is about 7 . a mechanochemical process can be controlled to process graphene / graphite with oxidization from 0 . 1 % to 30 %. unless otherwise indicated or produced by the hummer process , the term “ graphene ” as used herein means graphene / graphite with oxidization of from 0 . 1 % to 30 %. the functionalization can be cooh on the edge carbons preserving the graphene structure with substantially no epoxy groups . oxidized graphene / graphite produced by this method is typically hydrophilic and easily suspended in a neutral aqueous solution . the oxidized graphite can be kept in suspension until varying the ph of the solution . a ball mill operating with less than or equal to 2000 rpm can be generally sufficient to prevent agglomeration of the graphene adhering to the milling balls or tank . the graphene / graphite can be combined with the host powder or liquid in a mechanical agitation process . graphene / graphite oxide flakes can be aligned using shearing and laminar forces for orientation and mixing along in addition to other methods such as : melt blending , counter rotating screw , sonication or other mixing processes of the graphene / graphite additive . other powders that can be the cast , extruded or otherwise processed into the final product by inducing long or short range ordering or bonding through chemical , thermal , electrical , shearing , or mechanical treatments . the mixing to create uniform disbursement can be achieved in minutes to several hundred minutes in a ball mill or other mixing device . thus , in one non - limiting example , the present invention includes a method of making a graphene / graphite oxide mixed with other hydrophilic powders , where the graphene / graphite oxide is made by a method comprising : obtaining graphene / graphite oxide flakes with a surface area to thickness ratio greater than 300 angstroms , and thickness of less than 160 angstroms , wherein the graphene flakes have no significant physical surface distortions , no significant epoxy functionalization , and has an oxidation level greater than 1 . 5 % by mass ; combining with , e . g ., ordinary portland cement ( and other dry powders ); mixing for at least 30 minutes in a sonic mixing system ; and adding water to react the powders and form a cementitious composite when cured . in one example , the graphene / graphite oxide is greater than 0 . 00005 % by mass of the dry powder material . by combining the graphene / graphite oxide flakes , cement and water , one or more of the following has been modified : mechanical , electrical , or thermal physical properties , which are enhanced by the addition of the graphene / graphite oxide . in one example , at least 95 % of the graphene / graphite oxide flakes are from about 0 . 8 to 16 nanometers in thickness . in another example , at least 95 % of the graphene / graphite oxide flakes have a surface area to thickness ratio of a minimum of 300 angstroms . often , the maximum dimension of the graphene / graphite oxide flakes between 220 angstroms and 100 microns . in one example , the graphene / graphite oxide flake has primarily edge oxidation . in another example , the flake surface has the same hydrophobicity as the other powders . the mechanochemical exfoliating graphite can be formed into graphene / graphite oxide flakes in a stirred media mill , and the stirred media mill is an attrition mill or ball mill . although the present invention and its advantages have been described in detail , it should be understood that various changes , substitutions and alterations can be made herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims . moreover , the scope of the present application is not intended to be limited to the particular embodiments of the process , machine , manufacture , composition of matter , means , methods and steps described in the specification . as one of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate from the disclosure of the present invention , processes , machines , manufacture , compositions of matter , means , methods , or steps , presently existing or later to be developed , that perform substantially the same function or achieve substantially the same result as the corresponding embodiments described herein may be utilized according to the present invention . accordingly , the appended claims are intended to include within their scope such processes , machines , manufacture , compositions of matter , means , methods , or steps . although the present invention and its advantages have been described in detail , it should be understood that various changes , substitutions and alterations can be made herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims . moreover , the scope of the present application is not intended to be limited to the particular embodiments of the process , machine , manufacture , composition of matter , means , methods and steps described in the specification . as one of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate from the disclosure of the present invention , processes , machines , manufacture , compositions of matter , means , methods , or steps , presently existing or later to be developed , that perform substantially the same function or achieve substantially the same result as the corresponding embodiments described herein may be utilized according to the present invention . accordingly , the appended claims are intended to include within their scope such processes , machines , manufacture , compositions of matter , means , methods , or steps . it is contemplated that any embodiment discussed in this specification can be implemented with respect to any method , kit , reagent , or composition of the invention , and vice versa . furthermore , compositions of the invention can be used to achieve methods of the invention . it will be understood that particular embodiments described herein are shown by way of illustration and not as limitations of the invention . the principal features of this invention can be employed in various embodiments without departing from the scope of the invention . those skilled in the art will recognize , or be able to ascertain using no more than routine experimentation , numerous equivalents to the specific procedures described herein . such equivalents are considered to be within the scope of this invention and are covered by the claims . all publications and patent applications mentioned in the specification are indicative of the level of skill of those skilled in the art to which this invention pertains . all publications and patent applications are herein incorporated by reference to the same extent as if each individual publication or patent application was specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference . the use of the word “ a ” or “ an ” when used in conjunction with the term “ comprising ” in the claims and / or the specification may mean “ one ,” but it is also consistent with the meaning of “ one or more ,” “ at least one ,” and “ one or more than one .” the use of the term “ or ” in the claims is used to mean “ and / or ” unless explicitly indicated to refer to alternatives only or the alternatives are mutually exclusive , although the disclosure supports a definition that refers to only alternatives and “ and / or .” throughout this application , the term “ about ” is used to indicate that a value includes the inherent variation of error for the device , the method being employed to determine the value , or the variation that exists among the study subjects . as used in this specification and claim ( s ), the words “ comprising ” ( and any form of comprising , such as “ comprise ” and “ comprises ”), “ having ” ( and any form of having , such as “ have ” and “ has ”), “ including ” ( and any form of including , such as “ includes ” and “ include ”) or “ containing ” ( and any form of containing , such as “ contains ” and “ contain ”) are inclusive or open - ended and do not exclude additional , unrecited elements or method steps . in embodiments of any of the compositions and methods provided herein , “ comprising ” may be replaced with “ consisting essentially of ” or “ consisting of ”. as used herein , the phrase “ consisting essentially of ” requires the specified integer ( s ) or steps as well as those that do not materially affect the character or function of the claimed invention . as used herein , the term “ consisting ” is used to indicate the presence of the recited integer ( e . g ., a feature , an element , a characteristic , a property , a method / process step or a limitation ) or group of integers ( e . g ., feature ( s ), element ( s ), characteristic ( s ), propertie ( s ), method / process steps or limitation ( s )) only . the term “ or combinations thereof ” as used herein refers to all permutations and combinations of the listed items preceding the term . for example , “ a , b , c , or combinations thereof ” is intended to include at least one of : a , b , c , ab , ac , bc , or abc , and if order is important in a particular context , also ba , ca , cb , cba , bca , acb , bac , or cab . continuing with this example , expressly included are combinations that contain repeats of one or more item or term , such as bb , aaa , ab , bbc , aaabcccc , cbbaaa , cababb , and so forth . the skilled artisan will understand that typically there is no limit on the number of items or terms in any combination , unless otherwise apparent from the context . as used herein , words of approximation such as , without limitation , “ about ”, “ substantial ” or “ substantially ” refers to a condition that when so modified is understood to not necessarily be absolute or perfect but would be considered close enough to those of ordinary skill in the art to warrant designating the condition as being present . the extent to which the description may vary will depend on how great a change can be instituted and still have one of ordinary skilled in the art recognize the modified feature as still having the required characteristics and capabilities of the unmodified feature . in general , but subject to the preceding discussion , a numerical value herein that is modified by a word of approximation such as “ about ” may vary from the stated value by at least ± 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 10 , 12 or 15 %. additionally , the section headings herein are provided for consistency with the suggestions under 37 cfr 1 . 77 or otherwise to provide organizational cues . these headings shall not limit or characterize the invention ( s ) set out in any claims that may issue from this disclosure . specifically and by way of example , although the headings refer to a “ field of invention ,” such claims should not be limited by the language under this heading to describe the so - called technical field . further , a description of technology in the “ background of the invention ” section is not to be construed as an admission that technology is prior art to any invention ( s ) in this disclosure . neither is the “ summary ” to be considered a characterization of the invention ( s ) set forth in issued claims . furthermore , any reference in this disclosure to “ invention ” in the singular should not be used to argue that there is only a single point of novelty in this disclosure . multiple inventions may be set forth according to the limitations of the multiple claims issuing from this disclosure , and such claims accordingly define the invention ( s ), and their equivalents , that are protected thereby . in all instances , the scope of such claims shall be considered on their own merits in light of this disclosure , but should not be constrained by the headings set forth herein . all of the compositions and / or methods disclosed and claimed herein can be made and executed without undue experimentation in light of the present disclosure . while the compositions and methods of this invention have been described in terms of preferred embodiments , it will be apparent to those of skill in the art that variations may be applied to the compositions and / or methods and in the steps or in the sequence of steps of the method described herein without departing from the concept , spirit and scope of the invention . all such similar substitutes and modifications apparent to those skilled in the art are deemed to be within the spirit , scope and concept of the invention as defined by the appended claims . | 2 |
the present invention provides a method for hydroprocessing reformate , comprising contacting reformate with a catalyst having a catalytic hydrogenation action under a liquid - phase hydroprocessing condition in a hydrogenation reactor , at least part of hydrogen gas for hydroprocessing is from dissolved hydrogen contained in the reformate . according to the method disclosed by the present invention , the reformate is obtained from bottom of gas liquid separating tank by injecting a catalytic reforming mixture into the gas liquid separating tank , the catalytic reforming mixture is obtained by contacting hydrocarbon oil with a catalyst having a reforming catalytic action under a catalytic reforming condition . that is , according to the method of present invention , a mixture obtained by contacting hydrocarbon oil with a catalyst having a catalytic reforming action under a catalytic reforming condition is subject to gas liquid separation in a gas liquid separating tank , and a reformate obtained from bottom of the separating tank is directly subjected to liquid - phase hydroprocessing . according to the method disclosed by the present invention , the reformate contains residual hydrogen derived from the catalytic reforming process , and the reformate is obtained only after the reformed mixture output from the reforming reactor is treated by gas liquid separation ; and thus , the hydrogen in the reformate ( i . e ., the residual hydrogen derived from the catalytic reforming process ) exists substantially in form of dissolved hydrogen . in the present invention , the dissolved hydrogen in the reformate refers to the residual hydrogen gas derived from the catalytic reforming process . the content of the dissolved hydrogen in the reformate is slightly different depending on the conditions of gas liquid separation and the composition of the reformate . generally , based on the total weight of the reformate , the reformate may contain the dissolved hydrogen in a content of 0 . 001 - 0 . 025 % by weight . according to the method disclosed by the present invention , when hydroprocessing the reformate , the hydrogen gas may solely come from the hydrogen innately contained in the reformate ; alternatively , the hydrogen gas may come from the hydrogen innately contained in the reformate and hydrogen gas supplemented into the reformate . that is , according to the method disclosed by the present invention , the hydroprocessing may be carried out with or without supplemental hydrogen gas . the supplemental hydrogen gas refers to hydrogen gas injected into the reformate in one time or in several times before the contacting and / or during the contacting . according to the method disclosed by the present invention , whether the supplemental hydrogen gas is required and the amount of the supplemental hydrogen gas may be determined appropriately according to the content of dissolved hydrogen in the reformate and the content of olefins in the reformate . in the case that the dissolved hydrogen in the reformate is enough to remove the olefins in the reformate to a satisfactory level , the residual dissolved hydrogen contained in the reformate , which is derived from the catalytic reforming process , is preferably used solely as the source of hydrogen for hydroprocessing without the supplemental hydrogen gas . in the case that the dissolved hydrogen in the reformate is not enough to remove the olefins in the reformate to a satisfactory level , according to the method disclosed by the present invention , the hydroprocessing is preferably carried out in presence of the supplemental hydrogen gas . according to the method disclosed by the present invention , in the case that the supplemental hydrogen exists , the supplemental hydrogen may be injected into the reformate in one time , for example , the supplemental hydrogen gas may be injected into the reformate before the reformate is fed into the hydrogenation reactor . alternatively , the supplemental hydrogen gas may be injected into the reformate in several times , for example , at least one supplemental hydrogen gas inlet may be arranged on the hydrogenation reactor , a part of the supplemental hydrogen gas is injected into the reformate at the inlet side of the hydrogenation reactor , while the remaining part of the supplemental hydrogen gas is injected into the reformate via the supplemental hydrogen gas inlet . according to the method disclosed by the present invention , in the case that the supplemental hydrogen gas exists , the hydrogen gas may be injected into the reformate in a variety of ways . in a preferred example of the present invention , the method for injecting the supplemental hydrogen gas into the reformate comprises injecting the supplemental hydrogen gas through pores with an average pore diameter in nanometer size into the reformate . by injecting the supplemental hydrogen gas through pores with an average pore diameter in nanometer size into the reformate , the supplemental hydrogen gas can be dispersed highly and dissolved more quickly in the reformate , so as to eliminate the demand for a diluent or circulating oil in the prior liquid - phase hydroprocessing of hydrocarbon oil for the purpose of increasing the amount of hydrogen carried in the raw oil . in the present invention , the pores are through - holes . the pores may have an average pore diameter in a range of 1 nm to 1 , 000 nm , preferably in a range of 30 nm to 1 , 000 nm . for the purpose of further improving the degree of dispersion and the rate of dissolution of the supplemental hydrogen gas in the reformate , the pores more preferably have an average pore diameter in a range of 30 nm to 800 nm , even more preferably in a range of 50 nm to 500 nm . the average pore diameter is measured with a scanning electron microscopy . the hydrogen gas may be injected into the reformate in a static state or in a flowing state . preferably , the hydrogen gas is injected into the reformate in a flowing state , so that the hydrogen gas can be injected into the reformate during the period of transporting the reformate , and thereby the production efficiency can be further improved . in the case that the hydrogen gas is injected into the reformate in a flowing state , the hydrogen gas may be injected into the reformate at a rate of v 1 by g · h − 1 · m − 2 ( the total amount of the hydrogen gas passing through the pores in per unit area within per unit time ), the reformate may have a flow rate of v 2 by kg · h − 1 · m − 2 ( the mass of reformate passing through per unit area of cross section within per unit time ), ratio of v 1 / v 2 may be in a range of 0 . 000625 to 0 . 09 , so as to achieve a further improved effect of dispersing and dissolving hydrogen gas . preferably , the ratio of v 1 / v 2 is in a range of 0 . 005 to 0 . 01 , so as to achieve better effect of dispersing and dissolving hydrogen gas , and higher production efficiency . the hydrogen gas may be injected into the reformate at a rate in a range of 0 . 0001 kg · h − 1 · m − 2 to 2 , 000 kg · h − 1 · m − 2 . according to the method disclosed by the present invention , the supplemental hydrogen gas may be injected into the reformate through pores with an average pore diameter in nanometer size by a variety of methods . preferably , the supplemental hydrogen gas is injected into the reformate by means of a mixing device , the mixing device comprises at least one liquid passage for accommodating the reformate and at least one gas passage for accommodating the supplemental hydrogen gas , the liquid passage is adjacent to the gas passage through a component , at least part of the component is a porous area having the pores with an average pore diameter in nanometer size , the supplemental hydrogen gas is injected into the reformate through the pores with an average pore diameter in nanometer size . in the present invention , the term “ liquid passage ” refers to a space that can accommodate the reformate ; the term “ gas passage ” refers to a space that can accommodate the supplemental hydrogen gas . according to the method disclosed by the present invention , there is no particular restriction on the positional relationship between the liquid passage and the gas passage , as long as the liquid passage is adjacent to the gas passage through the component . in an embodiment of the mixing device used in the method according to the present invention , as shown in fig1 , the gas passage 2 is disposed in the liquid passage 1 , and the inner wall of the component 3 forms the gas passage 2 . in another embodiment of the mixing device used in the method according to the present invention , as shown in fig2 , the gas passage 2 is disposed at a side of the liquid passage 1 , the liquid passage 1 and the gas passage 2 are separated by the component 3 . in a preferred embodiment of the mixing device used in the method according to the present invention , as shown in fig3 , the gas passage 2 surrounds outside of the liquid passage 1 , the gas passage 2 and the liquid passage 1 are separated by the component 3 . at least part of the component is a porous area , which extends in the direction of the length of the component . preferably , the porous area covers the entire component ( i . e ., the liquid passage is adjacent to the gas passage through the component having pores with an average pore diameter in nanometer size , and the supplemental hydrogen gas is injected through the pores with an average pore diameter in nanometer size into the reformate ). the porous area has the pores with an average pore diameter in nanometer size , so as to inject the supplemental hydrogen gas through the pores with an average pore diameter in nanometer size into the reformate . the porous area preferably has a porosity in a range of 5 - 28 %, so that enough supplemental hydrogen gas can be dispersed and dissolved in the reformate better . the porous area more preferably has a porosity in a range of 10 - 25 %. the porosity refers to the percentage of the total volume of the pores in the porous area to the total volume of the porous area , and is measured by a nitrogen adsorption method . according to the method disclosed by the present invention , the component may be any component that enables the supplemental hydrogen gas accommodated in the gas passage to pass through the pores and enter into the reformate accommodated in the liquid passage . preferably , the component is a tube . in an embodiment of the present invention , the component is made of a porous material having pores with an average pore diameter in nanometer size . in another embodiment of the present invention , the component comprises a substrate and a porous membrane attached to the substrate , the substrate has pores , and the porous membrane may be disposed on surface of the substrate that contacts with the reformate accommodated in the liquid passage or on surface of the substrate that contacts with the supplemental hydrogen gas accommodated in the gas passage . preferably , the porous membrane is disposed on surface of the substrate that contacts with the reformate accommodated in the liquid passage . the porous membrane has pores with an average pore diameter in nanometer size . there is no particular restriction on the average pore diameter of the pores in the substrate , as long as the gas can pass through the pores . preferably , the through - holes in the substrate has an average pore diameter in micronmeter size ( i . e ., in a range of 1 μm to 1 , 000 μm ) or in nanometer size ( i . e ., in a range of 1 nm to 1 , 000 nm ), that is , the pores in the substrate may be in a range of 1 nm to 1000 μm . in this embodiment , the component is preferably a membrane tube ( i . e ., the porous tube serves as a substrate , and the porous membrane is disposed on the inner wall and / or outer wall of the porous tube ). the membrane tube may be any ordinary inorganic membrane tube ( for example , inorganic ceramic membrane tube ) or organic membrane tube , as long as the material of the membrane tube can not have any chemical interaction with the reformate and hydrogen gas . according to the present invention , the component can be prepared with a conventional method or be available commercially , and it will not be further described in detailed herein . according to the method disclosed by the present invention , in the case that the component is a tube , the tube may be used in combination with a housing . that is , the tube is disposed in a housing , and there is a space between the outer wall of the tube and the inner wall of the housing . the space enclosed by the inner wall of the tube is used as the liquid passage for accommodating the reformate , while the space formed between the outer wall of the tube and the inner wall of the housing is used as the gas passage for accommodating the supplemental hydrogen gas ; alternatively , the space enclosed by the inner wall of the tube is used as the gas passage for accommodating the supplemental hydrogen gas , while the space formed between the outer wall of the tube and the inner wall of the housing is used as the liquid passage for accommodating the reformate . preferably , the space enclosed by the inner wall of the tube is used as the liquid passage for accommodating the reformate , while the space formed between the outer wall of the tube and the inner wall of the housing is used as the gas passage for accommodating the supplemental hydrogen gas . in the case that the component is a membrane tube , preferably the space that contacts with the porous membrane on the membrane tube is used as the liquid passage . for example , in the case that the porous membrane is disposed on the inner wall of the membrane tube , the space enclosed by the inner wall of the membrane tube is used as the liquid passage for accommodating the reformate , while the space formed between the outer wall of the membrane tube and the inner wall of the housing is used as the gas passage for accommodating the supplemental hydrogen gas . according to the present invention , in the case that the component is a tube , the tube may have one or more liquid passages . for the purpose of further improving the efficiency of the method according to the present invention ( i . e ., more supplemental hydrogen gas can be dispersed and dissolved in the reformate in the same time ), as shown in fig4 ( a cross section view of the tube ), the inner wall of the tube 4 forms a plurality of liquid passages 1 parallel to each other ( for example , 4 - 20 liquid passages ). in the case that inner wall of the tube forms a plurality of liquid passages , preferably the liquid passages are distributed uniformly . in the preferred embodiment , the housing may be any component that has a hollow structure and at least one opening , the opening is for connecting with a source of supplemental hydrogen gas or a reformate tank , to direct the supplemental hydrogen gas or the reformate into the space between the inner wall of the housing and the outer wall of the tube ( i . e ., the gas passage or liquid passage ). according to the method disclosed by the present invention , the amount of the supplemental hydrogen gas may be determined appropriately according to the saturated solubility of hydrogen gas in the reformate and the chemical hydrogen consumption of the reformate , as long as the hydrogenation product can meet the requirement . according to the method disclosed by the present invention , in the case that the supplemental hydrogen gas is injected into the reformate through the pores with an average pore diameter in nanometer size , the supplemental hydrogen gas can be dispersed highly and dissolved more quickly in the reformate . therefore , the method according to the present invention , the amount of hydrogen gas carried in the hydrocarbon oil is enough to meet the requirement , even if the hydrogen gas is not injected in a large amount into the reformate . generally , according to the method disclosed by the present invention , the amount of the supplemental hydrogen gas may be 0 . 01 - 4 times of the saturated solubility of hydrogen gas in the reformate under the liquid - phase hydroprocessing condition , preferably 0 . 01 - 2 times of the saturated solubility , more preferably 0 . 1 - 1 time of the saturated solubility , even more preferably 0 . 1 time to less than 1 time of the saturated solubility . the saturated solubility refers to the saturated amount by gram of hydrogen gas dissolved in 100 g reformate under the liquid - phase hydroprocessing condition . the saturated solubility of hydrogen gas in the reformate can be determined with any conventional method in the art , which will not be described in detailed herein . according to the method disclosed by the present invention , there is no particular restriction on the temperature and pressure of the reformate when injecting the supplemental hydrogen gas , which may be an ordinary choice in the art . preferably , the supplemental hydrogen gas may be injected into the reformate at a temperature and a pressure for hydroprocessing . according to the method disclosed by the present invention , the contact between the reformate and a catalyst having a catalytic hydrogenation action may be performed in any ordinary hydrogenation reactor in the art , and there is no particular restriction . according to the method disclosed by the present invention , the contact may be performed in a tank - type reactor or a tubular reactor . preferably , the contact is performed in a tubular reactor . in the present invention , the tubular reactor refers to a reactor with a high ratio of length to inner diameter , for example , the tubular reactor may have a ratio of length to inner diameter in a range of 5 - 50 : 1 . according to the present invention , the inner diameter of the tubular reactor is preferably in a range of 20 mm to 1 , 000 mm . in the case that the contact is performed in a tubular reactor , hydrogen gas may be injected by means of the mixing device described above into the reformate . in that case , amount of the mixing devices may be one or more . in the case that the amount of the mixing device is one , the mixing device is preferably arranged at the inlet side of the tubular reactor , and hydrogen gas is injected into the reformate by means of the mixing device during transporting the reformate into the tubular reactor . the mixing device may be arranged at the inlet side of the tubular reactor with a conventional method in the art , as long as the reformate can pass through the liquid passage in the mixing device and the supplemental hydrogen gas in the gas passage can be injected through the component into the reformate . according to the method disclosed by the present invention , in the case that the hydrogen gas is injected into the reformate by means of the mixing device described above to obtain hydrogen - containing reformate and feed the hydrogen - containing reformate into the reactor , an outlet o for outputting the hydrogen - containing reformate on the mixing device may have a inner diameter of r 1 , an inlet i for inputting the hydrogen - containing reformate on the reactor may have a inner diameter of r 2 , ratio of r 1 / r 2 may be in a range of 0 . 6 to 1 . a tube connecting the outlet o to the inlet i may have an inner diameter of r 3 , ratio of r 1 / r 3 may be in a range of 0 . 85 to 1 . 5 . as a result , the hydrogen - containing reformate is more stable in the transportation process , and thereby a better hydrogenation effect can be obtained . according to the method disclosed by the present invention , besides at least one mixing device arranged at the inlet side of the tubular reactor , at least one mixing device is preferably arranged on the tubular reactor ; thus , the supplemental hydrogen gas can be injected in several times into the reformate according to the chemical hydrogen consumption of the reformate and the hydrogen content in the reformate , so as to further improve the efficiency of the method according to the present invention . the mixing devices may be arranged on the tubular reactor with a variety of methods . for example , as shown in fig1 , the space enclosed by the inner wall of the tubular reactor is used as the liquid passage , and an opening is arranged on the tube wall of the tubular reactor ; a component having pores with an average pore diameter in nanometer size is formed into a tube sealed at one end , and the space enclosed by the inner wall of the tube is used as the gas passage ; the tube extends through the opening into the tubular reactor ( the outer wall of the tube is hermetically connected to the opening ), the end of the tube in the tubular reactor is the sealed end , and the other end of the tube is for connecting with the source of supplemental hydrogen gas , so that the supplemental hydrogen gas is injected into the tubular reactor through the tube . in a preferred embodiment of the method according to the present invention , the hydrogenation reaction is performed in the tubular reactor , and the mixing device preferably comprising a tube as the component , and a housing that is used in combination with the tube , wherein , the space enclosed by the inner wall of the tube serves as the liquid passage , the space formed between the outer wall of the tube and the inner wall of the housing serves as the gas passage , and the liquid passage is connected with the space for performing hydrogenation reaction in the tubular reactor . according to the method disclosed by the present invention , the amount of the reactor for hydrogenation reaction may be one or more ( i . e ., two or more ). in the case that two or more reactors are used , the reactors may be connected in series connection or in parallel connection . in the case that two or more reactors are used , the supplemental hydrogen gas is preferably fed into the reformate at the inlet side of each hydrogenation reactor ( for example , a mixing device described above is arranged at the inlet side of each hydrogenation reactor to feed the supplemental hydrogen gas into the reformate ). according to the method disclosed by the present invention , the catalyst having a catalytic hydrogenation action may be in any form . preferably , the hydrogenation reactor is a fixed - bed reactor . in the case that the hydrogenation reactor is fixed - bed reactor , the amount of the catalyst beds may be an ordinary choice in the art , for example , the catalyst beds may be one ; alternatively , the catalyst beds may be two or more . according to the method disclosed by the present invention , in the case that the hydrogenation reaction is performed in the fixed - bed reactors , the volume space velocity of the reformate may be in a range of 5 h − 1 to 20 h − 1 , preferably in a range of 10 h − 1 to 20 h − 1 . in a preferred embodiment of the present invention , the hydrogenation is performed in tubular fixed - bed hydrogenation reactors . the method according to the present invention attains the object of the present invention by utilizing residual dissolved hydrogen in reformate derived from a catalytic reforming process . there is no particular restriction on the condition of the liquid - phase hydroprocessing , which may be an ordinary choice in the art . usually , the liquid - phase hydroprocessing condition comprises : temperature may be in a range of 130 ° c . to 200 ° c ., preferably in a range of 140 ° c . to 160 ° c . ; pressure by gage pressure may be in a range of 1 . 5 mpa to 3 . 5 mpa , preferably in a range of 1 . 5 mpa to 2 mpa . according to the method disclosed by the present invention , the catalyst having a catalytic hydrogenation action may be any commonly used catalyst having a catalytic hydrogenation action in the art , and it will not be described in detailed herein . according to the method disclosed by the present invention further comprises removing light constituents in the product obtained in the contact ( i . e ., hydroprocessing ), so as to remove the light constituents generated in the catalytic reforming and hydroprocessing ( for example , constituents with a carbon number lower than 5 ) in the product obtained in the hydroprocessing . according to the method of the present invention , there is no particular restriction on method for removing the light constituent , which may be a conventional method in the art . usually , the hydrogenated product may be heated up , so as to remove the light constituents in the hydrogenated product . according to the method disclosed by the present invention , in the case that the light constituents in the hydrogenated product are removed by heating up the hydrogenated product , the method according to the present invention further comprises removing light constituents in product obtained by contacting , to obtain light constituent - removed oil , reformate is fed into the hydrogenation reactor after exchanging heat with the light constituent - removed oil . in that way , the residual heat in the light constituent - removed oil can be utilized fully to warm up the reformate , thereby eliminating the demand for a preheating furnace for the reformate , and further reducing the capital cost and energy consumption of the equipment of method according to the present invention . in the case that the hydrogenated product obtained by the method according to the present invention is mainly used to prepare aromatic , the method according to the present invention may further comprise removing heavy constituents in the light constituent - removed oil to obtain a raw material for aromatics extraction . the heavy constituents in the light constituent - removed oil may be removed by any conventional method in the art , which will not be described in detailed herein . fig5 shows a preferred embodiment of the method according to the present invention . according to the preferred embodiment , hydrocarbon oil contacts with a catalyst having a reforming catalytic action under a condition of catalytic reforming in catalytic reforming reactor 5 , to obtain a catalytic reforming mixture ; the obtained catalytic reforming mixture is injected into a gas liquid separating tank 6 for gas liquid separation , to remove volatile constituents 7 , and obtain reformate from the bottom of the gas liquid separating tank ; a predefined amount of hydrogen gas is injected into the obtained reformate to mix with the reformate if necessary , and then hydrogen - containing reformate is injected into hydrogenation reactor 9 ( preferably a tubular reactor ) to contact with a catalyst having a catalytic hydrogenation action under a liquid - phase hydroprocessing condition ; the hydrogenated product output from the hydrogenation reactor 9 is fed into light constituent removing tower 10 to remove light constituents 12 , so as to obtain light constituent - removed oil from bottom of the light constituent removing tower 10 ; the obtained light constituent - removed oil exchanges heat with reformate in a heat exchanger 11 before the reformate is injected into a mixing device ; after heat exchange , the light constituent - removed oil is injected into a heavy constituent removing tower 13 for separation , so as to obtain a heavy constituents 15 from bottom of the heavy constituent removing tower 13 and a raw material 14 for aromatics extraction at the top of tower . according to the embodiment , a plurality of hydrogenation reactors can be arranged , and the hydrogenation reactors can be connected in series or in parallel . in the case that the hydrogenation reactors are connected in series , in the flowing direction of the reformate , the mixing device may be arranged at the inlet side of the first hydrogenation reactor ; alternatively , as shown in fig6 , a mixing device 8 may be arranged at the inlet side of each hydrogenation reactor 9 . in the case that a plurality of the hydrogenation reactors are connected in parallel , only one mixing device may be arranged , to mix the reformate with hydrogen gas ; then , the obtained mixture is fed into the hydrogenation reactors connected in parallel respectively ; alternatively , as shown in fig7 , a mixing device 8 may be arranged at the inlet side of each hydrogenation reactor 9 . fig8 is provided to illustrate the part i in fig5 , and shows the structure of the mixing device 8 in fig5 and the connection relationship between the mixing device 8 and the hydrogenation reactor 9 . as shown in fig8 , the mixing device 8 comprises gas passage 2 and liquid passage 1 , and the gas passage 2 and the liquid passage 1 are adjacent by a component 3 , wherein , the inner wall of the component 3 forms the liquid passage 1 , while the outer wall of the component 3 and the inner wall of housing 22 form the gas passage 2 ; the two ends of the gas passage 2 are sealed , and the housing 22 has an opening ( not shown ) for connecting with a source of hydrogen gas . the mixing device 8 is connected to inlet line 18 of tubular reactor 9 . during operation , the reformate flows into the hydrogenation reactor 9 through the liquid passage 1 ; as the reformate flows through the liquid passage 1 , the supplemental hydrogen gas in the gas passage 2 is injected through the component 3 into the reformate and thereby is dispersed and dissolved in the reformate ; then , the hydrogen - containing reformate enters into the hydrogenation reactor 9 , to perform hydrogenation reaction in presence of a catalyst having a catalytic hydrogenation action . the mixing device 8 may be connected to the inlet line 18 in a variety of ways , for example , a flange may be arranged on each end of the mixing device 8 ( one of the flanges 16 is shown in fig8 ), and each flange is hermetically connected with a flange on the corresponding inlet line ( as shown in fig8 , the flange 16 on one end of the mixing device is hermetically connected with the flange 17 on the inlet line 18 ); the other end of the inlet line 18 is connected through flanges 19 and 20 to the inlet side 21 of the hydrogenation reactor 9 . hereinafter , the present invention will be described in detailed combining with some examples and comparative examples . in the following examples and comparative examples , the bromine index is measured by potentiometric titration . in the following examples and comparative examples , the aromatic content is measured by gas chromatography . in the following examples and comparative examples , the average pore diameter is measured by scanning electron microscopy . in the following examples and comparative examples , all pressure values are gage pressure . examples 1 to 6 are provided herein to illustrate the method according to the present invention . ( 1 ) as shown in fig5 , a catalytic reforming mixture output from a reforming reactor is injected into a gas liquid separating tank of reforming product for gas liquid separation , and a reformate is obtained from bottom of the gas liquid separating tank . wherein , the temperature is 40 ° c . and the pressure is 0 . 7 mpa in the gas liquid separating tank . based on the total weight of obtained reformate , the reformate contains dissolved hydrogen in an amount of 0 . 015 % by weight . ( 2 ) supplemental hydrogen gas is injected by means of a mixing device to the reformate as raw oil ( the chemical hydrogen consumption of 100 parts by weigh raw oil is 0 . 03 parts by weigh , and , under the hydrorefining condition as shown in table 1 , the saturated solubility of hydrogen gas in the raw oil is 0 . 025 % by weight ). the injection rate of hydrogen gas is 2435 g · h − 1 · m − 2 , and the ratio of the injection rate of hydrogen gas ( by g · h − 1 · m − 2 ) to the flow rate of raw oil ( by kg h − 1 · m − 2 ) is 0 . 006 . the hydrogen - containing reformate is fed through a tube with an inner diameter of 40 mm into a tubular fixed - bed reactor ( with an inner diameter of 65 mm , and a ratio of length to diameter of 30 . there is one catalyst bed with a ratio of height to diameter of 25 in the tubular fixed - bed reactor ), and contacts with a catalyst having a catalytic hydrogenation action under the condition as shown in table 1 . the aromatic content and bromine index of the obtained hydrogenated product are shown in table 2 . the mixing device comprises a tube made of a porous material ( purchased from beijing zhongtianyuan environmental engineering co ., ltd ., the outer diameter is 25 . 4 mm , the cross section of the tube is as shown in fig4 , the tube has 19 uniformly distributed liquid passages , the inner diameter of each liquid passage is 3 . 3 mm , the average pore diameter of the pores in the tube wall is 50 nm , the percentage of the quantity of pores with a pore diameter in a range of 50 nm to 55 nm to the total quantity of pores is 95 %, and the porosity is 20 %) and a housing ( with a inner diameter of 40 mm ) to be used with the tube in combination . the space formed between the outer wall of the tube and the inner wall of the housing serves as a gas passage . the inner diameter of the outlet for outputting hydrogen - containing hydrocarbon oil on the mixing device is 40 mm . the temperature is 160 ° c . and the pressure is 1 . 8 mpa in the liquid passages of the mixing device . the catalyst having a catalytic hydrogenation action is catalyst hdo - 18 from fushun research institute of petroleum and petrochemicals , sinopec . ( 3 ) the obtained hydrogenated product is injected into a light constituents removing tower to remove light constituents with a carbon number lower than 5 in the mixture resulted from the hydroprocessing , to obtain a light constituent - removed oil . subsequently , the light constituent - removed oil exchanges heat with the reformate in a heat exchanger followed by injecting the light constituent - removed oil into a heavy constituent removing tower to remove heavy constituent with a carbon number higher than 8 , to obtain a raw material for aromatics extraction at the tower top . the reformate is hydroprocessed with the same method as described in example 1 , but the difference is in that no hydrogen gas is fed into the gas passage of the mixing device ( i . e ., no supplemental hydrogen gas is injected into the reformate ). the aromatic content and bromine index of the obtained hydrogenated product are shown in table 2 . the reformate is hydroprocessed with the same method as described in example 1 , but the difference is as indicated below . in step ( 1 ), the temperature is 40 ° c . and the pressure is 0 . 3 mpa in the gas liquid separating tank . based on the total weight of the obtained reformate , the reformate contains dissolved hydrogen in an amount of 0 . 01 % by weight . in the step ( 2 ), the mixing device comprises a membrane tube ( purchased from beijing zhongtianyuan environmental engineering co ., ltd ., the outer diameter is 25 . 4 mm , the average pore diameter of the pores in the substrate is 100 μm , the average pore diameter of the pores in the porous membrane is 250 nm , the percentage of the quantity of pores with a pore diameter in a range of 250 nm to 260 nm to the total quantity of pores is 95 %, and the porosity is 25 %) and a housing ( with a inner diameter of 40 mm ) to be used with the tube in combination . the porous membrane is disposed on the outer wall of the membrane tube ; the cross section of the membrane tube is as shown in fig4 . the membrane tube has 7 uniformly distributed liquid passages , and the inner diameter of each liquid passage is 6 mm . the space formed between the outer wall of the membrane tube and the inner wall of the housing serves as a gas passage . the temperature is 150 ° c . and the pressure is 1 . 5 mpa in the liquid passages of the mixing device . the chemical hydrogen consumption of 100 parts by weigh raw oil is 0 . 03 parts by weigh , and the saturated solubility of hydrogen gas in the raw oil is 0 . 025 % by weight under the hydrorefining condition as shown in table 1 . the injection rate of hydrogen gas is 2 , 180 g · h − 1 · m − 2 , and the ratio of the injection rate of hydrogen gas ( by g · h − 1 · m − 2 ) to the flow rate of raw oil ( by kg · h − 1 · m − 2 ) is 0 . 007 . the catalyst is catalyst hdo - 18 from fushun research institute of petroleum and petrochemicals , sinopec . the aromatic content and bromine index of the hydrogenated product obtained in the hydroprocessing under the condition shown in table 1 are shown in table 2 . the reformate is hydroprocessed with the same method as described in example 1 , but the difference is as indicated below . in the step ( 2 ), the mixing device comprises a membrane tube ( purchased from beijing zhongtianyuan environmental engineering co ., ltd ., the outer diameter is 25 . 4 mm , the average pore diameter of the pores in the substrate is 100 μm , the average pore diameter of the pores in the porous membrane is 500 nm , the percentage of the quantity of pores with a pore diameter in a range of 500 nm to 550 nm to the total quantity of pores is 95 %, and the porosity is 25 %) and a housing ( with a inner diameter of 40 mm ) to be used with the tube in combination . the porous membrane is disposed on the inner wall of the membrane tube ; the cross section of the membrane tube is as shown in fig4 . the membrane tube has 19 uniformly distributed liquid passages , and the inner diameter of each liquid passage is 3 . 3 mm . the space formed between the outer wall of the membrane tube and the inner wall of the housing serves as a gas passage . the aromatic content and bromine index of the hydrogenated product obtained in the hydroprocessing under the condition shown in table 1 are shown in table 2 . the reformate is hydroprocessed with the same method as described in example 4 , but the difference is in that in the mixing device , the average pore diameter of the pores in the tube wall of the tube made of a porous material is 5 μm ( the tubes are from beijing zhongtianyuan environmental engineering co ., ltd .). the aromatic content and bromine index of the obtained hydrogenated product are shown in table 2 . the reformate is hydroprocessed with the same method as described in example 4 , but the difference is in that the fixed - bed reactor is a fixed bed tank - type reactor ( the inner diameter is 1600 mm , there is one catalyst bed with a ration of height to diameter of 6 . 0 arranged in the reactor ). the properties of the obtained hydrogenated product are shown in table 2 . the result of example 2 indicates that the dissolved hydrogen innately contained in the reformate can be utilized to effectively carry out hydroprocessing of the reformate . the results of examples 4 and 5 indicate that under the condition of the same injection amount of supplemental hydrogen gas , by injecting the supplemental hydrogen gas into the reformate through pores with an average pore diameter in nanometer size , the supplemental hydrogen gas can be dispersed highly and dissolved more quickly in the reformate , and thereby a better hydroprocessing effect can be achieved . while some preferred examples of the present invention are described above , the present invention is not limited to the details in those examples . the person skilled in the art can make modifications and variations to the technical scheme of the present invention , without departing from the spirit of the present invention . however , all these modifications and variations shall be deemed as falling into the protected domain of the present invention . moreover , different embodiments of the present invention can be combined freely as required , as long as the combinations do not deviate from the ideal and spirit of the present invention . however , such combinations shall also be deemed as falling into the scope disclosed by the present invention . | 1 |
in fig1 a hollow inverted u - shaped roll bar 1 co - operates with a roll bar release mechanism 2 ( whose housing alone is shown in fig1 for the sake of clarity ). in this example the release mechanism is a spring - loaded arrangement . ( alternatively , the spring - loaded arrangement could be replaced with a pyrotechnic mechanism ). the release mechanism is activated by a release device 3 which in this example is a solenoid switch . ( as an alternative , a pyrotechnic actuator could be used ). the roll bar 1 , spring - loaded arrangement 2 and solenoid switch 3 , operate in a known manner , i . e . when a remotely - generated trigger signal is received by the solenoid switch 3 , the switch activates the release mechanism 2 and as a consequence , the roll bar 1 is deployed upwards out of the housing 2 ( in the direction of arrow a ). conventional locking means ( not shown ) prevent the roll bar 1 from moving any further or from being pushed back into the housing by any external force once the roll bar 1 has reached its fully - deployed position . in accordance with the first embodiment , the roll bar 2 is fitted with two pins 4 . with reference to fig2 , each pin 4 consists of a threaded portion 5 , an integral lock nut 6 and an end portion 7 having a frusto - conical form . the threaded portion co - operates with a tapped hole 8 in the upper surface 9 of the roll bar . each pin 4 is located close to the shoulders 10 , 11 of the roll bar . the threaded portion 5 and lock nut 6 are made of steel and the end portion 7 is composed of tungsten carbide and bonded to the lock nut 6 using a suitable epoxy resin adhesive . ( alternatively , the end portion 7 can be brazed to the lock - nut 6 ). with reference now to fig3 a the roll bar arrangement of fig1 and 2 is shown incorporated in a convertible vehicle 12 which includes a removable or folding roof 13 incorporating rear window 14 made of glass , a seat 15 and rear bulkhead 16 . the rest of the vehicle is omitted for the sake of clarity . the roll - bar arrangement 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 of fig1 and 2 is secured to the rear bulkhead 16 behind the seat 15 . also fitted to the vehicle is a vehicle motion sensor 17 , of conventional design , whose electrical output ( not shown ) is connected to the solenoid switch 3 . an item of trim 18 is positioned over the upper surface of the roll bar , hiding the roll bar 1 from view whilst in its un - deployed , stowed position in the housing 2 . operation of the embodiment of fig3 a will now be described with particular reference to fig3 b . when the vehicle motion sensor 17 detects that rollover of the vehicle 12 is imminent , it transmits a trigger signal to the solenoid switch 3 which in turn , activates the release mechanism 2 . consequently , the roll bar 1 is rapidly deployed upwards ( in the direction of arrow b ). as the roll bar 1 deploys in this way , it displaces the trim item 18 and continues upwards towards the glass rear window 14 whereupon the end portion 7 of at least one of the pins 4 strikes the window causing the latter to shatter into many fragments 19 . once the roll bar 1 is deployed to its fullest extent , it locks in position just beyond the roof line as defined by the profile of the rear window 14 and clear of the head of any occupant of the seat 15 , thus affording the necessary protection . the alternative arrangement of fig4 shows the roll bar arrangement of fig1 and 2 incorporated in the backrest of the seat 15 rather than being attached to the rear bulkhead . also in this example , the trim item 18 is made of a frangible material . otherwise , the constituents of the arrangement illustrated in fig4 are the same as those in fig3 a and 3b . on deployment of the arrangement of fig4 , as the roll bar 1 is deployed upwards , it first breaks through the frangible trim item 18 and then strikes and shatters the rear window 14 . a second embodiment will now be described with reference to fig5 and 7 . in fig5 a hollow inverted u - shaped roll bar 20 co - operates with a roll bar release mechanism 21 ( whose housing alone is shown in fig1 for the sake of clarity ). in this example the release mechanism is a spring - loaded arrangement . ( alternatively , the spring - loaded arrangement could be replaced with a pyrotechnic mechanism ). the release mechanism is activated by release device 22 which in this example is a solenoid switch . ( as an alternative , a pyrotechnic actuator could be used ). the roll bar 20 , spring loaded arrangement 21 and solenoid switch 22 operate in a known manner , i . e . when a remotely - generated trigger signal is received by the solenoid switch 22 , the switch activates the release mechanism 21 and as a consequence , the roll bar 20 is deployed upwards out of the housing 21 ( in the direction of arrow a ). conventional locking means ( not show ) prevent the roll bar 20 from moving any further or from being pushed back into the housing by any external force once the roll bar 20 has reached its fully - deployed position . the delay between receiving a trigger signal at the solenoid switch 22 and deployment of the roll bar 20 is typically no more than 150 ms . in accordance with the second embodiment , the roll bar 20 is fitted with two pyrotechnic actuators 23 to be described hereinbelow . with particular reference to fig6 , each pyrotechnic actuator 23 is secured to an upper surface 24 of the roll bar 20 by means of a screw - threaded part 25 which co - operates with a tapped hole 26 in the upper surface 24 . each actuator 23 is positioned so that its upper face is substantially flush with the upper surface 24 of the roll bar 20 and is put into position by feeding it through an access hole 27 provided in a lower surface 28 of the roll bar 20 . electrical leads 29 , connecting each actuator 23 to a control circuit ( to be described hereinbelow ), are fed through the hollow part of the roll bar 20 into the housing 21 . inside each pyrotechnic actuator 23 is a combustion chamber , stored pyrotechnic material in powder form and a deployable pin 30 having an end portion 31 , frusto - conical in form and made from tungsten carbide . a signal supplied via the electrical leads 29 activates an igniter inside the actuator . the time delay between ignition and deployment of the pin to its fullest extent is typically 2 ms . fig7 shows a pyrotechnic actuator 23 in its deployed configuration with the pin 30 having been ejected from its stowed position . each actuator 23 deploys its pin 30 in a conventional manner , and is locked into a fixed position once it has been deployed to its fullest extent . with reference now to fig8 a the roll bar arrangement of fig5 and 6 is shown incorporated in a convertible vehicle 32 which includes a removable or folding roof 33 incorporating rear window 34 made of glass , a seat 35 and a rear bulkhead 36 . the rest of the vehicle is omitted for the sake of clarity . the roll bar arrangement 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 of fig5 and 6 is secured to the rear bulkhead 36 behind the seat 35 . also fitted to the vehicle is a vehicle motion sensor 37 , of conventional design , whose electrical output ( not shown ) is connected to the solenoid switch 22 . a delay circuit 38 is also fitted to the vehicle . this circuit is electrically connected to the motion sensor 37 and to each pyrotechnic actuator 23 . an item of trim 39 is positioned over the upper surface of the roll bar , so hiding the roll bar 20 from view whilst in its undeployed , stowed position in the housing 21 . operation of the embodiment of fig8 a will now be described with particular reference to fig8 b . when the vehicle motion sensor 37 detects that rollover of the vehicle 32 is imminent it generates and transmits a trigger signal to the solenoid switch 22 and to the delay circuit 38 . consequently , the solenoid switch 22 activates the release mechanism 21 and the roll bar 20 commences to move upwards in the direction of arrow b . as the roll bar 20 deploys in this way , it displaces the trim item 39 and continues upwards towards the glass rear window 34 . after a pre - determined time delay corresponding to the time elapsed between generation of the trigger signal by the motion sensor 37 and the roll bar 20 displacing the trim item 39 , the delay circuit relays the trigger signal to the pyrotechnic actuators 23 which fire their pins 30 . as the pins 30 reach their fully deployed position , the end portion 31 of at least one of the pins 30 strikes the window 34 causing the latter to shatter into many fragments 40 . once the roll bar 20 is deployed to its fullest extent , it locks in position just beyond the roof line as defined by the profile of the rear window 34 and clear of the head of any occupant of the seat 35 , thus affording the necessary protection . the alternative arrangement of fig9 shows the roll bar arrangement of fig5 and 6 incorporated in the backrest of the seat 35 rather than being attached to the rear bulkhead . also in this example , the trim item 39 is made of frangible material . otherwise , the constituents of the arrangement illustrated in fig9 are the same as those in fig8 a and 8b , and they operate in the same manner . on deployment of the arrangement of fig9 , as the roll bar 20 is deployed upwards , it first breaks through the frangible trim item 39 . once this is cleared , the actuator pins 30 are deployed and the roll bar 20 continues upwards , whereupon the end portion 31 of at least one of the pins 30 strikes the window 34 causing it to shatter . | 1 |
fig1 shows a lighting rail indicated by 1 , which is screwed to a wall 2 with the help of screws through holes 20 in the upper part of the device . the lighting rail 1 comprises a suspension and conducting rail 3 which forms a whole , a conducting strip 6 , a current insulating profile 7 , a suspension element 28 and a contact portion 26 of a lighting device 25 . the suspension and conducting rail is substantially e - shaped , with an upper leg 12 , a middle leg 13 and a lower leg 14 . the lower leg 14 comprises a raised edge 15 for the suspension element 28 . the middle leg comprises a front panel 16 . the live conducting rail is formed by the upper part of the e . in this upper part the holes 20 are arranged so as to attach the device with screws to the wall 2 . the upper part which is u - shaped in cross section , is open sidewards . the separate part 4 of the conducting rail is arranged in this u . fig1 a shows this separate part 4 . it is substantially u - shaped in cross section , with walls 22 , cheeks 23 facing each other and inward directed lips 24 . the conducting strip 6 and the current insulating profile 7 are contained in this portion 4 . after being attached to the wall the portion 4 is inserted into the upper part and fixed with , for example , double - sided adhesive tape , which operation has proven to be fairly difficult , because it has to be done above the head of the installer . moreover , the adhesive connection is not as reliable as it should be . unintentional release of the rail is possible which constitutes a risk of damage and injury . fig1 shows the attached part 4 with the contact part 26 of the lighting device 25 . the contact part 26 comprises a spherical portion 9 , which is connected to a thickening on the support pipe 30 to the lamp part 27 with the help of an insulating portion 10 , in which a threaded portion 11 is rotatable and slidable on the longitudinal support pipe 30 , which treaded portion 11 is screwed into a clamping plate 8 . in the embodiment of fig1 it is possible to move a suspension element such as a suspension element 28 over the raised edge 15 , such as in fig1 . independent thereof , a lighting device can be moved with the help of the contact part 26 in the live conducting rail by screwing the screw thread portion 11 slightly out of the clamping plate 8 , sliding the contact part 26 in the conducting rail , and then screwing the screw thread portion tight again , as a result of which the clamping plate will rest on the lips 24 of the conducting rail , and the spherical portion 9 will be pushed against the conducting strip 6 . arranging a lighting device in the conducting rail is possible because the clamping plate 8 in narrower than the opening in the conducting rail . the clamping plate can thus be inserted through the opening of the conducting rail , and after a rotation through 90 ° can rest against the lips 24 of the conducting rail . fig2 shows a preferred embodiment of a lighting rail according to the invention , indicated by 101 , which is screwed with screws to the wall 102 . just at the lighting rail according to fig1 the lighting rail 101 which is substantially inverted l - shaped comprises a vertical leg 103 a lower leg 109 with a raised edge 110 for the suspension element 28 , a horizontal tongue 106 with a beaded edge 107 , and in addition a horizontal ledge 105 and an upper leg 140 with a downward directed edge 121 with an inward directed lip 122 for receiving a separate live conducting rail 104 . the vertical leg 103 of rail 101 is on its inner side provided with a wedge - shaped recess 150 , while the conducting rail 104 is provided with a mating wedge projection 120 on its outer base surface . these means constitute a first retaining means for the rail 104 , second retaining means being formed by the hook 121 - 122 and abutting portion of the upper leg of the rail 104 , which fits in the hook . when assembling , the rail 104 can be hooked under hook 121 - 122 and then rotated — as seen in the drawing — clockwise ( a ), so as to snap the lower edge of wedge 120 into the recess 150 . the live conducting rail 104 is shown separately in fig4 and is substantially u - shaped in cross section , having cheeks 115 facing each other along its opening , each of which has an inwardly directed lip 116 . the legs 118 of the live conducting rail both have on their inner side a longitudinal cam 117 for receiving and securing an insulating strip 111 , which is also substantially u - shaped and has inwardly directed cams 112 along its edges , so as to secure a conducting strip 113 , which is also substantially u - shaped in cross section and has rounded edges 114 . this can be seen clearly in fig5 . the conducting rail is constructed to receive a lighting device , the connecting end 129 of which is shown in fig2 . the connecting end 129 of the lighting device has a grip 131 which can be attached , for example , by soldering to clamping plate 132 . the grip and the clamping plate can also be made out of one piece . the grip can be slid over the support pipe 30 . a contact part 133 is secured to the support pipe 30 with the help of an insulating portion 134 and can supply current to the lamp part by way of a thread 136 . in the grip 131 a compression spring 135 is partly accommodated , which rests against the insulating portion 134 . in fig2 it can also be seen that the lighting rail can include a front panel 108 which is attached on the lowest cheek to the conducting rail 104 . fig3 shows the lighting rail 103 which forms a whole , without the conducting rail 104 . fig5 shows another preferred embodiment of the lighting rail 101 which has an l - shaped support portion in which the conducting rail 104 is placed with its open side upwards . in this embodiment the front panel 145 is bent downward to the back , and this front panel has an inwardly directed tongue 146 with beaded edge 147 . fig6 shows a preferred embodiment which is similar to the embodiment of fig1 , but which has a front panel 144 and a tongue 106 with beaded edge 107 , which are taken from the embodiment of fig2 . in fig6 the short upper leg 140 with a downwardly projecting lip 141 can be clearly seen , behind which the live conducting rail 104 has to hook . for a better atachment a wedge - shaped slot 143 is arranged in the middle leg 142 , in which wedge - shaped cam 120 on the base 119 of the live conducting rail 104 ( vide fig4 ) has to snap . here , the hook 140 - 141 is at the upper end of the vertical leg 103 and the wedge - shaped recess 143 is in the horizontal leg 142 . the rail 104 can easily be clicked onto the support by first having the upper end of the left leg under the hook 140 - 141 and then rotating clockwise in b to snap the wedge 120 into the recess 143 . the substantially rectangular clamping plate 132 is provided in the middle with a hole 150 for said attachment to the grip 131 and is provided with slots 151 along its short edges for cooperation with the lips 116 on the cheeks 115 of the live conducting rail 104 . the clamping plate 132 has opposite rounded corners 152 with a radius from the middle of the hole 150 , which is , at most , equal to half the length of the clamping plate . fig7 shows a preferred embodiment of a lighting rail 201 for lighting devices , of which the contact part 26 is shown in fig2 . as the lighting rails of fig2 ff ., this lighting rail does not necessarily comprise a lighting means for suspending prints and other objects to be exposed to view . the lighting rail 201 comprises an in cross section substantially u - shaped support element 203 that can be screwed to the wall 202 with the help of screws through holes in the bottom of the u . inside the u - shaped support element 203 a separate part 204 is arranged , substantially as part 4 is placed in rail 3 in fig1 and inside separate part 204 an insulating strip 205 and a live conducting rail 206 are secured , just as in fig2 . however , the separate part 204 is not attached to support element 203 with double - sided adhesive tape , but by means of outwardly directed protuberances 212 , comparable to the inwardly directed lips 211 that correspond to the cams or ribs 117 of fig4 . see fig7 a for separate part 204 . the protuberances 212 cooperate with corresponding recesses in support element 203 . preferably , the protuberances 212 and recesses are dome - shaped in cross section . in this way , a very simple to use “ click ” system is provided , in which the separate part 204 can be provided with the insulated strip 205 and live conducting rail 206 first , and then can simply be slid and clicked into support element 203 . the separate part 204 can also be simply taken out of the support element 203 , which is advantageous when at a given moment there is no need for a lighting device . the lighting rail can then be closed off by inserting the separate part 204 back to front in support element 204 . this is made possible by designing the support element 203 and the rail 204 such that the distance l 1 between the ribs 212 and the outer end edges of the legs of the rail 204 is equal to or smaller than the distance l 2 between the inside surface of the base of the support element and the recess 213 for the ribs 212 . this gives the lighting rail not used now a closed and unobtrusive appearance . to be able to use the separate part 204 in this way , the protuberances 212 and corresponding recesses have to be situated substantially halfway the legs of the u - shaped support element 203 and separate part 204 . of course , the separate part 204 , as shown in fig7 a , can also be used with lighting rail as shown in fig1 and 2 , but provided with recesses for cooperation with separate part 204 . fig8 shows a preferred embodiment of a lighting rail 230 that is to be used with separate part 204 , provided with recesses 231 . a suspension element can be placed in the lower half of lighting rail 230 , and a cable can be placed on the inwardly protruding tongue 232 . alternatively , the u - shaped conducting rail may be provided with a wedge - shaped cam on the outer surface of each of its legs . the support element has corresponding mating wedge - shaped recesses . fig9 shows a ceiling rail for placing ceiling plates 171 of a system ceiling , the ceiling strip 170 having two edges 172 projecting to both sides , on which the ceiling plates 171 find support . the ceiling strip 170 has in its upper portion a synthetic insulating strip 173 provided with holes 174 to suspend the ceiling strip by hooking . the longitudinal body of the ceiling strip 170 has a lower portion in the shape of a reversed u , provided with recesses 176 which are designed to cooperate with the protuberances of separate conducting rail 204 ( fig7 a ). in this way , the ceiling rail can be used as lighting rail as well , by inserting the separate rail 204 with its opening downwards in the ceiling rail , the rail being provided with an isolating strip 205 and conducting strip 206 . alternatively , the ceiling rail can also be closed off by inserting separate rail 204 upside down in the ceiling rail . as a further alternative , the ceiling rail with the separate rail 204 can also be used to suspend an object , by placing a suspension element on the inwardly directed lips 210 of separate part 204 . in the same way , it is possible to screw lighting rail 201 to a ceiling and to suspend an object by placing a suspension element on the inwardly directed lips 210 of separate part 204 of lighting rail 201 . fig5 also shows that in the suspension rail portion of the lighting rail with a front panel which extends downward to the rear , a paper clamp can be arranged which has the shape of a roll 180 which is annular in cross section behind which paper and the like can be slid and clamped . the roll can also be polygonal . with the device described in the fig2 and 6 the lighting device can easily be placed in the conducting rail . by grasping the connecting end 129 by the grip 131 , the clamping plate 132 can be rotated such that the clamping plate 132 can be inserted between the cheeks 115 of the live conducting rail 104 . the contact part 133 abuts against the conducting strip 113 , and when the grip 131 is pushed further the compression spring 135 is pushed in . the clamping plate 132 can be pushed in so far that it is located beyond the lips 116 on the cheeks 115 of the live conducting rail 104 , and then the grip 131 with the clamping plate 132 can be rotated a quarter of a turn . when releasing the grip 131 the compression spring 135 pushes the grip to the outside , and the clamping plate 132 is pushed against the lips 116 of the live conducting rail . on account of the clamping plate 132 having slots 151 which correspond to the lips 116 , the lips 116 will fall into the slots 151 , as a result of which the clamping plate 132 is locked against undesired rotation of the grip 131 , so that as a consequence the lighting device will not come off the lighting rail by accident . the distance between the legs of the u of the conducting strip correspond to the diameter of the contact part 133 of the lighting device . due to this the contact part 133 will not be able to slide transversely to the conducting strip so that the contact part 129 will not tilt downwards and the lighting device will not come into accidental contact with the object exposed to view , as a result of the tilting . with the lighting rail 201 of fig1 the lighting rail of fig8 and the ceiling rail 170 of fig9 each provided with separate part 204 of fig7 a , the lighting device of which contact part 129 is shown in fig2 can be used in the same way . the conducting rail is now suited for supplying a low voltage current , for example 12 volt , to the lighting device , for example , a halogen lamp . the current is then supplied by the conducting strip and passes through the contact part and a wire in the lighting device to the lamp . the current is discharged through the outside of the lighting device and passes through the clamping plate by way of the clean scraped lips to the outside of the separate conducting rail for closing the circuit . | 7 |
embodiments of the present invention find particular application with a computer system having a plurality of devices which are controlled by device drivers which typically form part of user software executed on a central processor unit . as mentioned above , the devices of the computer system may be divided into groups , each group may contain a single device or a plurality of devices . each group may be incorporated as part of a field replaceable unit ( fru ). a fru is an item of hardware that can be added to or removed from a system by a customer or by a service engineer at a site where a computer system is installed . a computer system could be constructed entirely of frus . a desktop computer system , for example , in its simplest form may have a single fru on which all the hardware devices of the desktop computer are incorporated , except for a monitor and keyboard which may form separate frus . a server however may be constructed of many frus : motherboards , cpu sets , peripherals , disks , for example which are inter connected . the frus of a computer system will typically have an inter - dependent hierarchy , which is related to a hierarchical inter - relationship of the devices of the computer system , although a fru may contain more than one device and so there may not be a direct correspondence between the device hierarchy and the fru hierarchy . within a computer system the kernel software arranges the devices of the system in accordance with the device hierarchy . an example of a computer system with which the present invention finds application is shown in fig1 . in fig1 a cpu 2 , and memory 4 are connected to a host bus h . also connected to the host bus h is a host bus to io bus bridge h 2 io and a graphics device 6 . the host to io bus bridge is connected to a main i / o bus io , to which is connected a network device 8 and an io to l bridge io2l . the network device is representative of a medium bandwidth device . a slow device 12 such as one which may be operating a serial interface is connected to the io to l bridge via a low bandwidth bus l . the devices of the computer system shown in fig1 can be regarded as forming a hierarchical tree structure . at the root of the hierarchy is a node representing the host bus h of the system , which is the bus to which the cpu 2 , and memory 4 are connected . nodes for peripheral devices such as ethernet chips , and serial uarts form the leaves of the tree structure which are attached below nodes representative of the buses to which these devices are attached . the device tree structure for the computer system of fig1 is shown in fig2 . the device tree shown in fig2 represents the data paths between the drivers of the devices of the computer system of fig1 . each device in the hierarchy has an associated device driver . the devices shown in fig2 will be incorporated within one or more frus . the computer system is constructed from these frus . fig3 provides an example mapping of the devices of the computer system shown in fig1 on to four frus 20 , 22 , 24 , 26 . a first fru 20 forms a motherboard of the computer system , a second fru forms a graphics device 26 , a third fru 22 forms a network interface and a fourth fru 24 forms a serial interface 24 . in accordance with the device hierarchy shown in fig2 a relative dependency will be formed upon the frus of the computer system . accordingly for the present example , this is illustrated in fig4 where the fru structure shown in fig3 is illustrated with a relative dependency illustrated by arrows 30 . generally , the relative dependent relationship between the frus and the mapping between fru and device hierarchies is maintained in a library file . embodiments of the present invention provide a facility for readily identifying a fru of the computer system which contains a device which has developed a fault . a fru which contains a device which has developed a fault will be referred to in the following description as a faulty fru . this is provided by an automatic fault response processor . the faulty device may be for example one of the peripheral devices , but may also be one of the connecting buses h , h2io , io2l . as will be explained shortly , the most likely fru which contains the faulty device is identified from fault reports generated by device drivers within the kernel software running on the cpu . in fig5 the afr is shown generally to be connected through bi - directional links 50 to the device drivers graphics , network , h2io , io2l , serial . each of the device drivers is arranged to control the operation of a corresponding one of the devices which are represented in fig2 . the afr processor is also shown communicating with a library file 80 of the kernel . the library file 80 provides the relative dependent relationships between the frus and the mapping between the frus and the device hierarchy . the device drivers are able to monitor the operation of the devices , through for example , a time for responding to commands , an amount of data processed by the device , a number of memory accesses , whether information is being correctly processed and other measures of relative performance . the devices are therefore able to detect a change in relative performance for the device . each of the device drivers graphics , network , h2io , io2l , serial determines the operational status of the device . when there is a change in operational status a fault report is generated . in one example embodiment , the fault reports have the following fields : as will be explained shortly , the fault reports generated by the device drivers are used by the afr processor to identify the fru or frus of the computer system which contain a faulty device , referred to as a faulty fru . however , in addition to the fault reports , the afr utilises information from environment sensors . these may form part of the devices within the frus or may not be associated with any one device but rather monitor environmental conditions on the fru as a whole . the sensors provide data which are representative of the values of the sensed parameters provided by the sensors for generating environmental information . the environmental information provides an indication of the operating status of components within the devices with respect to where the sensors are located . the sensed parameters may be for example , temperature , power consumption , or fan speed . a separate management driver may be provided to interrogate the sensors or to retrieve data produced by the sensor from a cached memory . the management driver may then communicate the environment data to the afr . alternatively , the device driver for a device may retrieve the environment data from a sensor associated with the device driver and pass this to the afr . the operation of the afr processor to detect a faulty fru from fault reports generated by device drivers will now be explained . the afr performs two main functions . the first function is to extract information from the fault reports generated by the device drivers and to log the fault reports . the second function is to perform a diagnosis so as to estimate which of the frus of the computer system is or are faulty . to do this the afr first builds a device tree in its own data space . this is represented by fig5 as device tree dt constructed within the data space ds of the afr . the device tree is constructed by adding or updating nodes for all the devices featured in the data paths of the fault reports collected during a period of time , called an epoch . the tree so constructed is hence not necessarily a complete copy of the full kernel device tree . a new tree is built during each new epoch . a detailed explanation of the formation of epochs will be provided shortly . in some embodiments , the device tree is built by the afr as follows : for each fault report , extract the device data path and use it to search down the current tree for a device node . if no such node exists , create a new one with a state of up and empty fault location information . if a node does exist , update it according to the following rules : if the device node state is up then the location information in the fault report is considered to be the most significant indication of the location of the faulty device . the information is therefore copied into the node in the tree . if the device node is degraded and the fault report declares service to be lost , the node state is changed to down and the location information from the fault report is considered to be the most significant fault location . if the device node is degraded and the fault report declares service to be degraded , or the device node is down and the fault report declares service to be lost , then the location information from the fault report is considered to be more significant if it indicates a fault higher up the device tree i . e . datapath is more significant then device , and the device is more significant than external . if the fault report declares service to be restored then any location information is cleared from the device node and its state is changed to up . the model of the device tree forms the basis of the afr &# 39 ; s analysis . analysis is performed in three phases . the purpose of the phases is , if possible , to identify the faulty fru , with each analysis phase providing a further refinement in the estimation of the identity of the faulty fru . as will be explained shortly , this is effected by assigning a fault probability to the fru containing some or all of the devices in the device tree and declaring a fru as faulty if it has a probability which exceeds a predetermined threshold . the three phases will be explained shortly . the formation of the time epochs will now be described . as explained above the fault reports are analysed within an analysis interval which is referred to in the following description as a ‘ time epoch ’. time epochs are determined from a rate of arrival of the fault reports . this is because the fault reports generated by the device drivers can be correlated . as such , although only a single device may be faulty , other devices may experience a change in operational status so that several fault reports are generated . as a result , the fault reports may be related , and the relationship may be reflected in a time at which the fault reports are generated . the fault reporting can have , therefore , a certain periodicity as a result of specific operations being performed by that device or an access being made to that device . by identifying , according to this periodicity , a time epoch corresponding to a generation cycle of the fault reports , an improvement in the likelihood of correctly locating the faulty device can be provided . this is represented schematically in fig6 . in fig6 the horizontal lines 90 , 92 represent the passage of time going from left to right across the page . each of the boxes 94 between the horizontal line 90 , 92 represents a period during which a fault report or reports may be generated . the fault reports are analysed as mentioned above and used to update the device tree . the reference period is used to identify whether there has been sufficient recent fault report activity to indicate a change in the status of the devices to form the start go and end stop a time epoch 164 . the reference periods are referred to as ticks and are shown in fig7 which provides a graphical illustration of a number of device node changes in each tick with respect to time . in order to identify a time epoch , the afr monitors the device tree model to determine how many new nodes have been added to the device tree model or how many existing nodes have been updated since the previous tick . if there have been no changes since the previous tick but activity on the model has occurred , then an end of epoch is declared , and analysis on the device tree is performed . if there was no quiet period , which corresponds to a tick where there were no changes to the tree , in the last n ticks , then the tick period , t , is halved so that shorter quiet periods can be analysed . the graphical representation provided in fig7 illustrates an analysis period between ends of epochs d_epch , and a period rtck following n ticks without a quiet period act , in which the tick period is halved . the time epochs are identified from the rate of arrival of fault reports , and the changes that these fault reports make to the device tree model . an epoch may continue indefinitely until the device tree changes . once a change has occurred however , the maximum remaining epoch time as the tick period is progressively halved can be expressed generally by the following expression : there is however one exception to this bound on the epoch length . a time epoch which begins at the start of a boot configuration period of the computer system will continue until the boot configuration has been completed . the afr processor operates in a first phase , as explained above to identify the time epoch within which it is assumed that the fault reports are correlated . the fault reports for the time epoch are collected and used to construct a device tree 81 by ‘ decorating ’ the nodes with the current status of the devices . operational states are represented by updating the current state of the node with information from the fault report according to the rules given above . the tree structure allows faults to be related hierarchically . analysis modules of the afr may use this information to modify the information on the tree . having built a device tree representing the possibly faulty devices , the afr proceeds to analyse the device tree in order to attempt to identify the faulty fru which contains the faulty device . this is done in three phases : the afr performs phase i by modifying the nodes of the device tree , which was built during the time epoch to eliminate redundant fault reports . this is achieved in accordance with a set of rules . for example , if a parent node indicates a device fault , any fault indicated by a child node may be a false positive and so it may be desirable to clear the fault information of these child nodes . effectively , the afr processor is preprocessing the device tree in order to remove any fault reports which are redundant . [ 0059 ] fig8 shows that the drivers for both devices a and c have positively identified their device as having a fault , fr . 1 , fr . 2 . in this case the evidence from the driver for device c , fr . 2 is discounted , because the fault report was likely to have been triggered as a result of reading bad data through a , although this could not be determined at the time the fault was reported . in the second phase of the operation the device tree is analysed by the afr to identify a set of faulty frus with a non - zero probability of having a fault . for example , if a device node is down and indicating that it is the location of the fault then there is a 100 % probability that the fru containing that device has a fault . if a device node is down and is indicating a fault in its data path and an ancestor is indicating an external fault then the fault is deemed to lie in a fru containing either of the two devices or a fru in between ( if there is one ). hence a 100 % probability is assigned to a set of frus but not to an individual . in some embodiments the afr is provided with a plurality of analysis modules m n each of which implements a single type of phase i , phase ii or phase iii ( see below ) analysis . in phase ii , for each fru , each module m n ( that implements a phase ii type of analysis ) assigns a ( possibly zero ) probability p n that there is a fault on that fru . the modules can assign probabilities to more than one fru . if a fru receives a non - zero probability of being faulty from more than one module , then the probabilities are combined as follows : therefore the probability that a particular fru is not faulty is the probability that all the modules determine that it is not at fault . after phase iii analysis has been performed which will be described shortly , the probability for each fru is compared with a threshold and if greater than the threshold , then the fru or frus are declared as being faulty . the following examples provide a further illustration of the analysis of the device tree 81 , to identify a possibly faulty set of frus : consider the afr constructed device tree in fig9 . the driver for device a has reported an external fault fr . 3 and the driver for device c has positively identified an internal fault fr . 4 . the device c is unambiguously identified as being in error ( p = 100 %). the fru containing this device is therefore considered to be faulty . [ 0065 ] fig1 shows that the driver for device a has reported an external fault fr . 5 and the driver for device c have reported a data path fault fr . 6 . the analysis modules form a probability metric that one of the frus contains a faulty device , or that the fault lies somewhere between devices a and c ( possibly including the devices themselves ). in this case the fault probability that a fru contains a faulty device is weighted between the number of devices on the fru . for the present example , if the devices a , c are embodied on the same fru , then this fru is assigned a 100 % fault probability . if however the two devices are embodied on different frus then each fru is assigned a fault probability of 50 %. however , if the fault probability metric generated does not exceed the predetermined probability threshold then no conclusion may be drawn as to the faulty fru . an improved estimate of the identity of the faulty fru can be made from analysis performed in accordance with phase iii . in a third phase of the operation of the afr , the list of possibly faulty frus from phase ii is examined further by applying environmental information provided by appropriate sensors . the information from the sensors from each fru is checked for environmental problems such as power - loss , over - temperature , etc . this information is used to adjust the fault probabilities of the frus . as illustrated in the examples given above , in some circumstances , the fault report information may not be conclusive and so the estimate of the faulty fru may only identify a plurality of frus which may be faulty . for this reason the phase iii analysis is operable to apply environmental reports to the device tree in order , if possible , to produce an improved probability estimate of the faulty fru . an example configuration of frus is shown in fig1 , with the associated device tree shown in fig1 . as shown in fig1 the example frus are a mother board mbd , a slot slt and a network card net which are connected to the mother board fru . the device tree shown in fig1 , also includes environment sensors , which provide sensed parameters relating to temperature temp and fan speed fan . in the third phase of the analysis , environmental information provided by the sensors temp , fan from the frus is applied to the fru list . in order to reduce the likelihood of false data being provided from the environmental information , a sensor device path may be used to determine whether the sensor device itself is down , in which case the environmental information is disregarded . the afr processor uses the environment information to improve the estimate of faulty frus which resulted from phase ii analysis . where for example , the phase ii analysis identifies only a group of frus which may be faulty , the environment data can be used to provide a more accurate estimate of the faulty fru , by selecting a fru having an abnormal sensor reading . again , even after the environment information has been applied , it is possible that the estimate of the faulty fru only identifies a group of frus . however it may be sufficient that enough report information has been acquired to identify that one or more frus within a group of frus are suspected as being at fault . this information is therefore valuable to a technician assigned to repair the computer system and to this end this information is generated with the fault reports on a graphical user interface to be accessed by the technician assigned to repair the computer system . when all three phases of analysis are complete , the resultant list of fru fault probabilities is examined and compared against a threshold value , for example , 90 %. any fru having a fault probability in excess of this is deemed to have failed . the afr indicates that a fru is faulty , by marking the fru as such . in some embodiments , a message is generated by the afr , which is written to a non - volatile storage on the faulty fru . the faulty fru may be indicated by causing an led to illuminate on the fru . the operation of the post - analysis phase will now be explained in more detail . if a fru can be positively identified as being faulty , a repair technician can be alerted to this fact and to this end the afr processor may signal that a fru is faulty through an interface which is used to change the state of the fru to faulty . this may be notified to a repair and maintenance organisation . furthermore the fru may carry a ‘ change me ’ led so that the fru can be easily identified by a technician . alternatively , where a group of frus are suspected as being faulty , then each can be signalled as being possibly faulty . accordingly , it will be appreciated that there are various ways for providing an external signal to indicate that a fru is faulty , to a technician . furthermore , the fault diagnosis may be written into a non - volatile storage medium on a board into which the fru is loaded to aid diagnosis when the fru is repaired . in summary , in the three phases the afr processor combines more than one device fault report and / or environmental information reports from different parts of a computer system and automatically determines the most likely area of the system where a faulty fru or device or group of devices is located and the devices which are affected by the fault . if there is sufficient evidence then one of the frus of the computer system may be declared faulty . this provides both an automated and an early recognition of devices which are faulty which can be used by a system administrator to initiate repairs before a device has completely failed . the operation of the afr processor is summarised in the form of flow diagrams which are shown in fig1 , 14 and 15 . fig1 provides a flow diagram which illustrates the operation phase of the afr processor when identifying the time epochs and building the device tree , before the analysis process is performed as shown in fig1 . [ 0074 ] fig1 illustrates the process through which the time epochs are identified . the process starts at process step 300 , following which the afr processor receives the fault reports generated by the device drivers at step 302 for the current tick period , and the ‘ tick ’ advanced . this forms part of a first pre - analysis phase . at process step 304 the afr processor uses the information provided by the fault reports to build a device tree , by adding devices to the tree which are indicated or suspected as being possibly faulty or which detect a fault . at decision step 306 , it is determined whether the device tree has changed from the previous epoch . if the device tree has not changed , then an end of epoch is declared at process step 310 , and at process step 311 , the analysis phase is performed and ends at step 312 . if the device tree has changed , a further decision step 308 is provided in order to determine whether or not it is necessary to adjust the tick period . if the device tree has changed for n consecutive tick periods , then the tick period is adjusted to the effect of making the tick period shorter , so that a temporal resolution of the analysis performed with respect to the tick periods is better matched to the arrival rate of the fault reports . if the device tree has changed for n consecutive periods , then the tick period is adjusted at step 314 . otherwise this step is bypassed . the analysis process is represented by the flow diagram shown in fig1 . in fig1 , the pre - analysis process of generating the device tree dt from the fault report information collected in a time epoch is represented generally as the step 400 . the device tree dt representing the possibly faulty devices is shown as an input to the first analysis phase p . 1 . the afr includes a plurality of analysis modules m n each of the modules being provided for a particular type of analysis , as mentioned above . the analysis modules of the afr perform the phase 1 analysis by removing fault reports which will not be helpful in identifying the faulty fru according to the set of rules explained above . following the phase 1 process p . 1 , an adjusted device tree dt ′ is provided as an input to the second phase of the analysis p . 2 . during the phase 2 analysis p . 2 , the fault probability of the fru containing the devices in the device tree dt ′ is determined from the fault report information provided for the devices in the device tree dt ′. each module m n is operable to calculate the probability p n of a fru being faulty , from information generated by a device embodied within the fru . at this point one or more frus frua , frub may be identified as possibly being faulty . however during phase three p . 3 , the environment information is applied to the identified frus , in order to refine the estimate of which of the frus frua , frub is faulty . as indicated above in some embodiments , this is effected by identifying whether any of the frus frua , frub returns environment data which indicates an abnormal reading . a threshold probability is then applied and , if any fru &# 39 ; s fault probability exceeds the threshold , this fru is then declared as being faulty . after the faulty fru has been identified , the post analysis phase 402 is performed . the post analysis phase is described by the flow diagram shown in fig1 . as shown in fig1 , the post analysis phase starts at node 402 and begins with a decision step 322 , at which it is determined whether the faulty fru has been unambiguously located . if the fru has been unambiguously located , then external signals associated with the fru or group of frus identified as being faulty is or are activated at step 326 , to provide an indication to a technician that these frus are faulty . whether or not the faulty fru or frus have not been unambiguously identified , a fault diagnostic report is generated at step 328 which indicates a plurality of possibly faulty frus . the fault diagnostic report is then displayed at step 330 on a graphical user interface or communicated to a remotely located site at which appropriate action can be taken to either replace all of the suspected faulty frus or to allow a technician to analyse the fault reports and / or environmental data . at this point the process then terminates at step 332 . it will be appreciated that although particular embodiments of the invention have been described , many modifications / additions and / or substitutions may be made within scope of the present invention as defined in the appended claims . furthermore various modifications may be made to the embodiments of the invention herein before described without departing from the scope of the present invention . in particular , it will be appreciated that the embodiments of the invention can be applied to any form of computer system in which the computer system is comprised of a plurality of utility devices connected to a kernel comprising a processor and memory on which the kernel software is executed . furthermore it will be appreciated that either the environmental analysis process corresponding to phase iii of the automatic fault response process could be performed separately and distinct from phase i and ii of the process in which the fault report information is applied to the device tree and a list of frus generated , respectively . more particularly , in other embodiments of the present invention the devices of the computer system may not be embodied within frus . in such embodiments the afr will be operable to identify the device which is most likely to be faulty or a group of devices , from one of several groups into which the devices of the computer system are divided . in other embodiments , fault reports may be discounted in accordance with predetermined rules , when building the device tree . if , for example , a device is identified from past fault reports as being likely to have an intermittent fault , then this information can be used to discount fault reports associated with this or other devices . furthermore field engineers could write modules to discount information from specific devices that are suspected as misbehaving at customer sites so providing a combination of automated fault report discounting and additional overriding fault report discounting introduced by the field engineer . | 6 |
referring to fig3 a circuit 100 is shown incorporating a preferred embodiment of the present invention . the circuit 100 generally comprises a dynamic voltage reference block 102 , a delay block 104 , a nor gate 106 , a nor gate 108 , an inverter 110 and an inverter 112 . the circuit 100 functions in a similar fashion to the conventional delay circuit 30 illustrated in fig2 . the circuit 100 provides an improvement in that the amount of delay realized by the delay block 104 is controlled by the signals vrefp and vrefn generated by the dynamic voltage reference block 102 . the nor gate 106 receives an input signal in which may be presented to the dynamic voltage reference block 102 , the delay block 104 and a first input of the nor gate 108 . the delay block 104 may present a signal to a second input of the nor gate 108 . the nor gate 108 may present an output signal out through the inverters 110 and 112 . the signals vrefp and vrefn are generated such that the output signal out reflects a constant pulse width with respect to the input signal in generally independently of process variations . referring to fig4 a circuit diagram of the dynamic voltage reference block 102 is shown . the dynamic voltage reference block 102 generally comprises a first section 120 and a second section 122 . the input signal in may be presented through an inverter 124 to an input 126 of the first section 120 as well as to an input 128 of the second section 122 . the signal in may also be presented , through an inverter 125 , to an input 130 of the first section 120 as well as to a second input 132 of the second section 122 . the first section 120 generally presents the signal vrefp while the second section 122 generally presents the signal vrefn . the first section 120 generally comprises a transistor mp1 , a transistor mp2 , a transistor mp3 , a transistor mp4 and a transistor mn1 . the signal received at the first input 126 is generally presented to the gate of the transistor mp1 . the source of the transistor mp1 as well as the source of the transistor mp2 are generally coupled to a supply voltage vcc which may be , in one example , 3 . 3 volts . however , other supply voltages , such as a 2 . 5 volt supply , may be used to meet the design criteria of a particular application . the gate of the transistor mp2 as well as the drain of the transistor mp2 may be coupled to a source of the transistor mp3 at a node n3 . the gate and the source of the transistor mp3 are generally coupled to the source of the transistor mp6 at a node n4 . the signal received at the input 130 may be presented to a gate of the transistor mp4 as well as to a gate of the transistor mn1 . the drain of the transistor mp6 is generally coupled to the source of the transistor mn1 and presents the signal vrefp . the drain of the transistor mn1 is generally coupled to ground . the signal vrefp may also be coupled to ground through a resistor r1 . the number of transistors connected between the node n3 and the supply voltage vcc may be increased or decreased accordingly to meet the design criteria of a particular application . specifically , additional transistors may be implemented for operation at higher supply voltages . additionally , a smaller number of transistors may be implemented to operate at lower supply voltages . the second section 122 generally comprises a transistor mp5 , a transistor mn2 , a transistor mn3 , a transistor mn4 and a transistor mn5 . the signal received at the first input 128 is generally presented to the gate of the transistor mp5 as well as to the gate of the transistor mn2 . the drain of the transistor mp5 is generally coupled to the source of the transistor mn2 and presents the signal vrefn . the signal vrefn is also coupled to a supply voltage vcc through a resistor r2 . the source of the transistor mp5 is generally coupled to the supply voltage vcc . the second input 132 is generally coupled to the gate of transistor mn5 . the source of the transistor mn5 is generally coupled to the drain of the transistor mn2 , the source of the transistor mn3 and the gate of the transistor mn3 at a node n5 . the drain and the gate of the transistor mn4 are generally coupled to the source of the transistor mn3 at a node n6 . the source of the transistor mn4 is generally coupled to ground . the number of transistors coupled between the node n5 and ground may be adjusted accordingly to meet the design criteria of a particular application . specifically , the number of transistors may be increased to operate at higher supply voltages . additionally , a smaller number of transistors may be implemented to operate at lower supply voltages . referring to fig5 the delay circuit 104 is shown in greater detail . the delay circuit 104 generally comprises a first section 140 , a second section 142 and a third section 144 . the first section 140 generally comprises a transistor m1 having a gate coupled to the signal vrefp , a transistor 150 , a transistor 152 , a resistor 154 , and a capacitor 156 . the signal in is generally presented to the gates of the transistors 150 and 152 . the resistor 154 is generally coupled between the transistors 150 and 152 and presents a signal to the second section 142 . the capacitor 156 is generally coupled between the resistor 154 and ground . the second section 142 generally receives the signal from the first section 140 at the gates of the transistors 160 and 162 . a resistor 164 is generally coupled between the transistors 160 and 162 which presents a signal to the third section 144 . the capacitor 166 is generally coupled between the resistor 164 and ground . the transistor m2 generally receives the signal vrefn . the third section 144 has a similar configuration as the first section 140 . the transistor m3 has a gate that may receive the signal vrefp . the signal vrefp , which is generally presented to the gate of the transistors m1 and m3 , generally controls the strength of the transistors m1 and m3 respectively . similarly , the signal vrefn which is generally presented to the gate of the transistor m2 , generally controls the strength of the transistor m2 . the number of sections 140 ˜ 144 may be increased , which generally increases the delay between the signal in and the signal out in order to meet the design criteria of a particular application . referring back to fig4 the signal vrefp initially starts at a ground voltage vss and the signal vrefn initially starts at the supply voltage vcc . the resistors r1 and r2 start out shorted with no current flowing in the dynamic reference block 102 since the transistors mp4 and mn2 are generally off . additionally , the diode chains formed by the transistors mp2 and mp3 as well as the transistors mn3 and mn4 are generally shorted . when considering the operation of the first section 120 , when the signal in transitions low , the transistor mp4 is generally turned on and the transistor mp1 turns off . the signal vrefp ( initially at vss ) is connected to the node n4 ( initially at vcc ). the loading on the signal vrefp plus the resistor r1 generally ensures that the voltage at the node n4 drops until the transistors mp2 and mp3 turn on . a voltage is then developed at the signal vrefp that is generally a function of the processing of p - channel transistors , i . e ., the voltage is higher for &# 34 ; fast &# 34 ; processing and lower for &# 34 ; slow &# 34 ; processing . in one embodiment , the design target is for the signal vrefp to equal vss for slow processing and to approximately equal vcc / 2 for fast processing . this generally ensures that the delay chain , created by the sections 140 ˜ 144 , sees no effective voltage change in the signal vrefp during slow processing conditions when the delay chain is active . the signal vrefp is also a function of the resistance of the resistor r1 , but this function has fewer process parameters that affect its value . the resistor r1 may be implemented as a poly resistor where a narrower width equals a faster process and results in the signal vrefp adjusting to a higher voltage , which is generally self correcting . although sheet resistance may work in the opposite direction to that required for process correction , the effect is generally minimized . the circuit 102 is generally reset by a low to high transition by the overall operation of the first section 120 . the second section 122 generates the signal vrefn which generally functions in a similar fashion as the first section 120 . application of the circuit 102 may be in a delay element which requires a single edge to be process corrected . for example delaying clock edges in setup and hold paths , or in clock deskewing . the strength of the transistors changes depending on a number of factors . many of these factors are related to the transistor processing variations . for example , the transistor threshold voltage vt may vary from wafer to wafer . other factors may be environmentally related ( e . g ., temperature and supply voltage ). the circuit 102 may correct for all of these variations to a greater or lesser extent . while the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to the preferred embodiments thereof , it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . | 7 |
exemplary embodiments of the present invention are described below with reference to drawings . fig1 is a perspective , fig2 is a plan view , and fig3 is a side view of a component mounter in the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention . first , the configuration of the mounter in the first exemplary embodiment is described with reference to fig1 and 2 . a transfer rail 2 is disposed in the x - axis direction at the center of a base 1 . the transfer rail 2 transports and positions a substrate 3 onto which components are to be mounted . more than one feeder carriage ( a first feeder carriage 41 and second feeder carriage 42 ) is disposed at both sides of the transfer rail 2 . multiple tape feeders 5 are set on each of the feeder carriages 41 and 42 . each tape feeder 5 stores parts such as electronic components carried on a tape . the feeder carriages 41 and 42 supply each component by feeding the tape at a predetermined pitch . y - axis tables 61 and 62 are disposed on both ends of the base 1 . x - axis tables 71 and 72 are then placed on the y - axis tables 61 and 62 . the x - axis table 71 moves horizontally in the y direction by driving the y - axis table 61 . the x - axis table 72 moves horizontally in the y direction by driving the y - axis table 62 . a mounting head 81 is attached to the x - axis table 71 , and a mounting head 82 is attached to the x - axis table 72 . the head 81 moves horizontally by driving the y - axis table 61 and x - axis table 71 in combination . then , a nozzle 810 ( see fig3 ) picks up a component from the feeder carriage 41 , and mounts it on the substrate 3 . in the same way , the head 82 moves by driving the y - axis table 62 and x - axis table 72 in combination for picking up another component from the feeder carriage 42 with a nozzle 820 ( see fig3 ), and mounts it on the substrate 3 . a first recognizer 91 is disposed on the way from the feeder carriage 41 to the transfer rail 2 , and a second recognizer 92 is disposed on the way from the feeder carriage 42 to the transfer rail 2 . the recognizer 91 recognizes the component held by the head 81 from underneath , and in the same way , the recognizer 92 recognizes the component held by the head 82 from underneath . each component is thus identified and any positional deviation of a component is detected . a transport conveyor 10 is disposed in the y direction over the transfer rail 2 crossing the transfer rail 2 . the conveyor 10 is disposed in a movement area of the heads 81 and 82 . as shown in fig3 a component p picked up by the head 81 from the feeder carriage 41 is placed on the conveyor 10 ( shown by an arrow 100 ). the conveyor 10 is then driven to transport the component p to the other end ( shown by an arrow 200 ). this enables the head 82 originally for the feeder carriage 42 to pick up the component p stored in the feeder carriage 41 . in other words , the component p is passed from the head 81 to the head 82 by means of the conveyor 10 . the above describes the case of passing a component from the head 81 to the head 82 . naturally , components may be passed the other way . the operation of the mounter in the first exemplary embodiment as configured above is described next . as shown in fig2 the substrate 3 on the transfer rail 2 is positioned at a predetermined location . mounting of components then starts . during mounting , the head 81 picks up components from the feeder carriage 41 , and the head 82 picks up components from the feeder carriage 42 . the recognizer 91 recognizes components held by the head 81 , and the recognizer 92 recognizes components held by the head 82 . these components are then mounted on the substrate 3 . if any abnormality in mounting operations occurs with one of the recognizers 91 and 92 , the use of the faulty recognizer is stopped , and a different recognizer is used for recognition . for example , if the operation of the recognizer 91 stops , the component p picked up from the feeder carriage 41 at the side of the recognizer 91 which has been stopped is transported to the other side of the conveyor 10 . then , the head 82 on the other side picks up this component p for recognition using the recognizer 92 on the other side , and mounts it on the substrate 3 . here , the component p is a transferred component . in some cases , the recognizer 91 and recognizer 92 may not have the same function . for example , the recognizer 91 may be used for high precision recognition , and the recognizer 92 for regular precision recognition . if the number of components requiring high precision recognition exceeds the capacity of the feeder carriage 41 at the side of the recognizer 91 , some of these components requiring high precision recognition are also set on the feeder carriage 42 . these components requiring high precision recognition are picked up by the head 82 from the feeder carriage 42 and then passed from the head 82 to the head 81 via the conveyor 10 for recognition by the recognizer 91 . as described above , the present invention makes it possible to maintain efficient and uninterrupted use of a mounter with two or more pairs of mounting heads and feeder carriages without closing down the feeder carriage and mounting head even if breakdown of the recognizer occurs or if a discrepancy appears between the component to be recognized and the recognizer by providing transfer means for passing components between two or more mounting heads . fig4 is a plan view , and fig5 and 6 are side views of a component mounter in the second exemplary embodiment of the present invention . the second exemplary embodiment of the present invention describes another transfer means for passing components without using the transfer conveyor described in the first exemplary embodiment . fig4 illustrates a placement table 11 instead of the conveyor 10 on the mounter shown in fig2 . the table 11 is disposed within the movement area of the mounting heads 81 and 82 so that the component p picked up by the head 81 from the feeder carriage at one side , such as the first feeder carriage 41 , may be placed on the table 11 . this component p is then picked up by the head 82 for passing the component p from the head 81 to the head 82 . accordingly , the table 11 acts as transfer means for passing the component in the second exemplary embodiment . fig6 also shows another transfer means other than the use of a transfer conveyor . in fig6 the head 81 has a rotation mechanism 121 . the head 82 also has a rotation mechanism 122 . as shown in fig6 the heads 81 and 82 are rotatable through 90 degrees on a horizontal axis . the head 81 holding the component p may be rotated to maintain a nozzle 810 of the head 81 horizontally to face a nozzle 820 of the head 82 , also rotated horizontally , so that both nozzles 810 and 820 come into proximity . then , the head 81 stops the vacuum suction holding the component p to release the component p , and the head 82 then holds the component p by suction . this completes the passing of the component p from head 81 to head 82 . in this example , heads 81 and 82 having the rotation mechanisms 121 and 122 themselves are transfer means . the use of such transfer means makes it possible to achieve the same result as described in the first exemplary embodiment . as described above , the present invention is equipped with transfer means for passing components between two or more mounting heads . this makes it possible to increase the efficiency of use of the mounter , even if the operation of one recognizer is halted or one recognizer is not suitable for some of the components , by using another appropriate recognizer for recognizing the components . | 7 |
the present invention is a surgical mesh fabric for reinforcing and closing soft tissue defects , and is particularly indicated for chest wall reconstruction and the repair of inguinal hernias . the mesh fabric is formed of a biologically compatible , flexible and strong implantable material . the dual bar ( two partially threaded guide bars ) warp knit , diamond fabric includes large openings between adjacent yarn columns , ensuring good visibility of the underlying anatomy when the fabric is used in laparoscopic procedures without sacrificing mechanical properties of the mesh . the porous character of the fabric allows tissue infiltration to incorporate the prosthetic . the dual bar construction provides a stable fabric which is resistant to unraveling or running . the knitted fabric is sufficiently strong to prevent pullout of anchoring sutures . the flexible fabric may be collapsed into a slender configuration , such as a roll , which can be supported in , and advanced through , a narrow laparoscopic cannula . when knitted from polypropylene monofilament yarns , the porous prosthetic repair fabric allows a prompt fibroblastic response through the interstices of the mesh , forming a secure fibrous / prosthetic layer . the polypropylene monofilament fabric is inert in the presence of infection , non - wettable and has a low foreign body reaction . the fabric , illustrated in the lapping pattern and photomicrograph of fig1 - 2 , is a two bar warp knit , hexagonal mesh produced by using two partially threaded guide bars to knit the same pattern over three needles in a six course repeat . the column portions are formed by two separate ends of yarn crossing each other on two needles with the crossover portion traversing across a third needle . if one end of yarn breaks , a back up yarn will secure the fabric from at least two yarns away to prevent unraveling of the mesh . a selvage edge may be formed using a double end of yarn and knitting over two empty needle spaces on each side of the band defining the band width . the tension on the yarns may be greater when knitting the selvage as compared to the body of the mesh to encourage the denser selvage to curl over itself in the direction of body of the mesh , forming a rigid edge member which can be grasped with laparoscopic tools during placement to help position the implant relative to the surgical site . although a denser , knitted selvage is described , other arrangements of one or more edges of the fabric may be employed as would be apparent to one of skill in the art . following knitting , the fabric is washed with water and a cleaning agent , such as triton x - 100 , to remove processing lubricant . the mesh is dried at low temperature . the fabric is heat set under tension , in a crochet hoop or tentering frame , to provide the desired pore configuration . preferably , the pores have an elongated diamond to square shape , although other shapes including , without limitation , diamond , square , circular and near - circular , are contemplated so long as the porous fabric provides good visibility when used in laparoscopy while retaining the physical and performance properties necessary for an effective prosthetic repair of inguinal and chest wall defects . although the surgical mesh fabric preferably is knit from monofilament polypropylene , other monofilament and multifilament yarns that are biologically compatible may also be suitable as would be apparent to one of skill in the art . fabric parameters , such as quality , stretch , and yarn size may vary depending upon the application . in a representative embodiment , the fabric is formed of 0 . 006 inch polypropylene monofilament yarn ( 160 denier ) knitted on a 36 gauge machine , although other gauges are contemplated . the mesh sheets may be knitted in twelve inch widths , although other dimensions are contemplated . the surgeon may cut the mesh into smaller pieces or shapes , preferably with heated or ultrasonic instruments , to melt and seal the edges of the fabric . the following examples are illustrative only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention . physical properties of a representative two bar warp knit , hexagonal mesh fabric were evaluated and compared to conventional mesh fabrics . the tested mesh fabric was formed in a mayer rm6 knitter under the following parameters : ______________________________________ # of ends in body 210 # of ends in selvage 14runner length 96 &# 34 ; quality 16 &# 34 ; take - up b / a 56 / 49pattern chain 2 / 0 2 / 4 2 / 0 4 / 6 4 / 2 4 / 6 fb 4 / 6 4 / 2 4 / 6 2 / 0 2 / 4 2 / 0 bbgauge 36width 12 &# 34 ; lubricant mineral oil______________________________________ physical and performance characteristics were tested including mesh thickness , pore size , mesh density , stiffness , tensile strength , suture pullout , burst strength and tear resistance . testing methodology and results appear below . mesh thickness : a 6 &# 34 ;× 6 &# 34 ; sample of mesh was placed on a standard fabric thickness gauge with a 1 . 29 inch diameter pressure foot and 10 oz . weight . the thickness was measured by lowering the foot on the middle of the sample and reading the thickness from the dial gauge , one reading per sample , to the nearest 0 . 001 inch . pore size : a sample of mesh was placed on an optical measurement device . the area of a shape that closely approximated the shape of a pore was calculated following acquisition of several reference points . mesh density ; the weight of a 5 &# 34 ;× 5 &# 34 ; piece of mesh was determined to the nearest 0 . 1 gram . the mesh was then placed in a partially filled graduated cylinder of water . after removal of air bubbles , the volume of displaced water was recorded to the nearest 0 . 1 cc . density was calculated as : minimum suture pullout ( suture tear resistance ): a monofilament polypropylene suture ( size 3 . 0 or larger ) was placed 2 mm from the edge of the sample . the mesh was clamped in the lower jaw and the suture was attached to the upper jaw of an instron tensile tester . the suture was then pulled out of the mesh at a rate of 5 &# 34 ; per minute with an initial jaw separation of 2 - 2 . 5 &# 34 ;. the peak force required to pull out the suture was recorded . each mesh was tested in two directions with the direction of lowest strength being reported here . burst strength : a 6 &# 34 ;× 6 &# 34 ; piece of mesh was clamped in the fixture of a standard mullen burst tester . hydraulic pressure was slowly increased causing a rubber diaphragm to inflate , contact the mesh , and burst the mesh . the peak pressure ( psi ) required to burst the mesh was recorded . minimum tear resistance ; a 3 . 5 &# 34 ; slit was cut parallel to the long dimension of a 3 &# 34 ;× 8 &# 34 ; piece of mesh . the slit was cut at the middle of one 3 &# 34 ; side extending 3 . 5 &# 34 ; into the sample . one &# 34 ; leg &# 34 ; was placed in the lower jaw and one &# 34 ; leg &# 34 ; in the upper jaw of an instron tensile tester . the sample was then pulled and a 3 &# 34 ; tear completed . the peak force ( lbs ) required to tear the sample was recorded . each mesh was tested in 4 different directions with the direction with lowest strength being reported here . minimum tensile strength : a 1 &# 34 ;× 6 &# 34 ; sample of mesh was placed in the jaws of an instron tensile tester with the long axis of the sample vertical . the sample was then pulled to break at a constant rate of traverse of 12 inches / minute with a jaw pressure of 60 psi and a gauge length of 2 inches . the force at break ( lbs ) was recorded . each mesh was tested in both directions with the direction of lowest strength being reported here . stiffness : a 1 &# 34 ;× 6 &# 34 ; sample of mesh was placed in the clamping fixture of a tinius olsen stiffness tester . once the sample had been mounted and the instrument zeroed , a force was applied to the specimen with a metal rod causing the sample to bend . at 10 degree increments of angular deflection , the percent load scale reading was recorded minus the initial percent load scale reading . the load ( lbs ) at each deflection angle was calculated as follows : ______________________________________p = l × m / s where p = pounds load ( lbs ) l = load scale reading (%) m = bending moment ( in lbs ) s = bending span ( in ) ______________________________________ the pounds load at a 40 ° angle was chosen as the value for comparison since it is about mid - way in the range of angular deflection ( 0 °- 90 °). table i__________________________________________________________________________test visilex marlex prolene mersilenen = 30 unless otherwise noted mean ± sd mean ± sd mean ± sd mean ± sd__________________________________________________________________________thickness ( inches ) 0 . 034 ± 0 . 001 0 . 027 ± 0 . 001 0 . 025 ± 0 . 001 not testedaverage large pore area 0 . 0038 ± 0 . 0002 0 . 0008 ± 0 . 0001 0 . 0013 ± 0 . 0001 not tested ( in . sup . 2 ) mesh density ( grams / cc ) 0 . 8 ± 0 . 04 0 . 93 ± 0 . 02 0 . 93 ± 0 . 02 not testedstiffness at 400 bend ( lbs ) 0 . 018 ± 0 . 005 0 . 013 ± 0 . 002 0 . 036 ± 0 . 005 not tested n = 29 n = 6minimum tensile strength 38 . 97 ± 2 . 45 32 . 85 ± 3 . 19 54 . 4 ± 6 . 58 15 . 64 ± 0 . 71 ( lbs . ) minimum suture tear 8 . 32 ± 1 . 32 5 . 25 ± 0 . 78 7 . 53 ± 3 . 42 not testedresistance ( lbs ) burst strength ( psi ) 147 ± 6 162 ± 10 250 ± 9 77 ± 3minimum tear resistance 11 . 64 ± 1 . 11 6 . 63 ± 2 . 38 5 . 42 ± 5 . 87 not tested ( lbs ) __________________________________________________________________________ it should be understood that the foregoing description of the invention is intended merely to be illustrative thereof and that other equivalents , embodiments and modifications of the invention may apparent to those of skill in the art without departing from the scope or spirit thereof . | 0 |
reference will now be made in detail to exemplary embodiments of the invention , examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings . wherever possible , the same reference numbers throughout the drawings refer to the same or like parts . fig6 is a diagram of a system consistent with one aspect of the present invention . a remote terminal 100 is connected through pstn 110 to pbx 155 . any switch that provides the functionality of pbx 155 may be used , however . for example , pbx 155 may include the s8500 / s8700 media server from avaya . pbx 155 is connected to csr stations 671 , 672 , and 679 through lines 165 . in a preferred embodiment , lines 165 correspond to ip or digital connections . although depicted as connected over line 162 , the voice and processing functionality of automated attendant system 640 may be embodied or integrated within pbx 155 , such as is the case with the s8500 / s8700 media server from avaya . voice node 644 and control node 642 are connected to database 645 , which includes the prompts , messages , and other information . as with database 145 ( fig1 ), database 645 in fig6 includes subsets of data associated with particular vdns . for example , a call accessing pbx 155 over pstn 110 using the number 1 - 555 - sample1 may have an associated dnis that is mapped onto dnis / vdn yy1 , and the greeting heard by the caller may be pulled from data set 641 by control node 642 and voice node 644 . likewise , a call accessing pbx 155 over pstn 110 using the number 1 - 555 - sample2 may have an associated dnis that is mapped onto dnis / vdn yy2 , and the greeting heard by the caller in this instance may be pulled from data set 643 by control node 642 and voice node 644 . in addition to assigning different data sets to different dnis / vdns , database 645 includes data sets corresponding to particular menu choices (“ menu vdns ”), and control node 642 includes session interpreter 646 , both of which will be described in more detail below . furthermore , automated attendant system 640 is connected to rules - based session engine 652 and control node 656 over network 651 network 653 , in a preferred embodiment , will be an ip network that may use a communication device or layer ( e . g . cvlan ) running , for example , on a linux server . rules - based session engine 652 and control node 656 may also include an advanced segmentation product from avaya . one type of rules - based system connected to a pbx is also disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 6 , 292 , 550 to burritt , assigned on its face to avaya . consistent with one aspect of the present invention , rules - based session engine 653 and control node 656 access relational database set 650 and may also be configured to access customer database 190 . relational database set 650 may include data sets that are updated during the course of a caller &# 39 ; s interaction with the system of fig6 , as well as data sets that define the rules under which rules - based session engine 652 and control node 656 operate . as before , cti manager 660 may be configured to operate in conjunction with csr stations 671 , 672 , and 679 to access customer database 190 , as well as pull relevant information from relational database set 650 . in one aspect of the invention , relational database set 650 may include call log detail table 1001 , call log master table 1101 , and call flow detail table 1201 . examples of call log detail table 1001 , call log master table 1101 , and call flow detail table 1201 are depicted , respectively , in fig1 , 11 , and 12 , and described in more detail below . fig7 depicts an exemplary process that the system in fig6 can follow consistent with one aspect of the present invention . the numbers “ 1 ,” “ 2 ,” “ 3 ,” “ 4 ,” etc . in fig7 indicate the order in which the exemplary process may be executed . as before , with reference to fig6 , a call from remote terminal 100 may be routed over pstn 110 to pbx 155 . for example , a user at remote terminal 100 may have dialed “ 1 - 555 - sample2 .” when pbx 155 receives the call , it may be programmed to connect the call initially over line 162 to automated attendant system 640 and may map the call to vdn yy2 . with reference to fig6 again , when voice node 644 receives the call with the associated vdn number , it may , under the control of control node 642 , provide an audible message or prompt to the caller . consistent with one aspect of the invention , however , control of the call flow is subsequently handed off to the rules - based session engine 652 and control node 656 , which are external to automated attendant system 640 over network 653 . to manage the call over network 653 , a unique identifier is created and stored in a session record stored in relational database set 650 . this unique identifier is subsequently used to refer and keep track of the call as control is handed off between control node 642 within automated attendant system 640 , and control node 656 external to automated attendant system 640 . the process described above in which a user dials “ 1 - 555 - sample2 ,” and a unique identifier , written to relational database set 650 , is tracked is also represented in fig7 , by the lines labeled “ 1 - 7 ” flowing from pbx 155 to telephony server 710 contained within automated attendant system 640 , between telephony server 710 and call process engine 720 , between call process engine 720 and rules - based session engine and control node 752 , and between rules - based session engine and control node 752 and relational database set 650 . in fig7 , one skilled in the art should appreciate that telephony server 710 and call process engine 720 represent functional modules . such modules are depicted in this manner merely to schematically isolate functions that are performed by the combination , depicted in fig6 , of voice node 644 , control node 642 , and database 645 in automated attendant system 640 . such processes and functions may include a general greeting and a general introduction to certain menu options , the capture of a dtmf signal , the determination as to what extension ( or vdn ) pbx 155 should route the call to , etc ., based upon internal vectoring logic . an exemplary process consistent with one aspect of the invention is further illustrated in fig8 , such as the capture of the caller dnis and ani information and the creation of a unique identifier external to automated attendant system 640 ( step 812 ). specifically , step 800 depicts a call being received by automated attendant system 640 , and , based on the dnis received from pstn 110 , a “ vdn ( dnis )” is assigned ( step 803 ). for example vdn ( dnis ) may be assigned the value “ yy1 .” automated attendant system 640 , through control node 642 , retrieves the greeting associated with vdn ( dnis ) “ yy1 ” ( step 806 ), and plays it to the caller “ welcome to acme bank ” ( step 809 ). consistent with one aspect of the invention , the vdn yy1 routes to a vector that makes an adjunct route request outside of automated . attendant system 640 to rules - based session engine and control node 752 , which requests the creation of a session record for tracking the call and a unique identifier . one skilled in the art should appreciate , for example , that the session record may include a primary key correlated with a unique identifier that is used to reference the call throughout the systems . for example , the session record may contain time and date statistics , an ip address , port identification , unique call identifiers , dnis , ani , and values captured based on the users &# 39 ; input selections . an example of such a record is an electronic data unit ( edu ) as described , for example , in u . s . pat . no . 6 , 934 , 381 to klein et al , and assigned on its face to avaya technology corp . each edu record ( or format ) has an associated unique identifier (“ eduid ”), which may be formed by the concatenation of the unix time the edu record was created ( in hexadecimal format ) with other unique identification , i . e : 424074b9000000000a3c350e23300002 . when called by its eduid , the edu record ( or format ) may contain much of the information referred to above , such as : time and date statistics , an ip address , port identification , unique call identifiers , dnis , ani , values captured based on the users &# 39 ; input selections , etc . the creation of a session record ( edu and eduid ) is depicted in step 812 . in addition , the rules - based session engine and control node 752 are notified that a new call has arrived . the rules - based session engine and control node 752 access call flow detail table 1201 in relational database set 650 . an exemplary call flow detail table 1201 is depicted in fig1 . based upon the vdn ( dnis ) 1030 ( such as “ yy1 ”), the last vdn utilized ( vdn ( monitor ) 1040 in fig1 ), and the last selected menu option ( menu option 1050 in fig1 ), a destination vdn is assigned ( vdn ( dest .) 1060 in fig1 ). in fig1 , for example , and following the example illustrated in fig8 , a situation where the vdn ( dnis ) 1030 is “ yy1 ,” where the last vdn utilized ( vdn ( monitor ) 1040 ) is also “ yy1 ,” and where there has been no menu selection yet ( menu option 1050 =“ 999 ”), call flow detail table 1201 returns a vdn ( dest .) 1060 of “ xy5 .” the destination vdn “ xy5 ” is then written to the session record contained in call log detail table 1001 , shown in fig8 after step 818 , and also depicted in more detail in fig1 . call flow detail table 1001 includes , among other information , eduid 1070 . consequently , call flow detail table 1001 may be later analyzed to determine the exact sequence that the call associated with edu_id “ xx456 ,” for example , took as the caller interacted with the system of fig6 . the destination vdn ( vdn ( dest ) 1060 ) is delivered to automated attendant system 640 , to access a vector and present the appropriate menu options to the caller . according to the example illustrated in fig8 , the destination vdn associated with “ xy5 ” presents a prompt to select english (“ 1 ”) or spanish (“ 2 ”) ( step 830 ). again , consistent with one aspect of the invention , the destination vdn ( vdn ( dest ) 1060 ) makes an adjunct route request outside of automated attendant system 640 to rules - based session engine and control node 752 , beginning yet another cycle between automated attendant system 640 , rules - based session engine and control node 752 , and relational database set 650 . as depicted following step 836 , the vdn ( dnis ) 1030 is still “ yy1 ,” the vdn ( monitor ) 1040 , however , is now “ xy5 ,” and menu option 1060 is “ 1 ” ( for english ). based upon call flow detail table 1201 , such values return a destination vdn ( vdn ( dest ) 1060 ) of “ xy8 .” a new session record is written to call log detail 1001 ( with segment_id 1020 , for example , incrementing to “ 2 ”), and destination vdn “ xy8 ” is returned to automated attendant system 640 . in this way , each transaction identified by the edu_id 1070 , vdn ( dnis ) 1030 , vdn ( monitor ) 1040 , menu option 1050 , etc . is logged into call log detail table 1001 as an individual transaction . the process described above repeats until the call is either terminated or the last vdn describes the final exit point in the call flow detail . call log master table 1101 may be populated at the end of the call when the call is transferred from automated attendant system 640 to another site . for exemplary purposes only , fig1 depicts several individual transactions logged , and involving at least two separate edu_id 1070 values “ xx456 ” and “ xx378 .” as just indicated , call log detail table 1001 may be analyzed after the call is transferred out of the automated attendant system 640 to produce a table such as the call log master table 1101 , depicted in fig1 . in call log master table 1101 , one may include as much or as little of the information about a call identified by edu_id 1070 as one likes . for exemplary purposes only , the table depicted in fig1 includes ani , dnis , the last vdn associated with the call before it exited the system , as well as all of the menu options selected by the caller , in sequence . such a record , for example , may be accessed by cti manager 660 if the call is transferred to a csr station so that the representative is able to view the callers precise journey though the automated system . in another embodiment of the invention , rules - based session engine and control node 752 are configured to access customer database 190 as part of the rules associated with determining the call flow . in this way , automated attendant system 640 may be configured to respond more like an ivr by providing particular information that may be personal to a caller . for example , a caller may be prompted to enter “ pin ” data , which may then be passed as a “ menu option ” string to the rules - based session engine and control node 752 , and which then may be easily validated against information stored in customer database 190 . in the above embodiment , certain confidential or protected information is exchanged between automated attendant system 640 and rules - based session engine 652 and control node 656 . consequently , in practice , it may be useful , but not necessary , to include some form of encryption of this data over network 653 . this may be realized , for example , through the use of public key cryptography , or some other robust encryption scheme that may be implemented , for example , in session interpreter 646 and control node 656 , or otherwise . in another embodiment of the present invention , session interpreter 646 may be configured to provide special handling with certain vdn ( dest .) 1060 values that may be delivered . in this regard , session intepreter 646 is capable of implementing particular functions based upon the workflow design , thereby enabling a plurality of vdn values in the pbx . this is illustrated in fig7 by the process line 5 running from rules - based session engine and control node 752 to session interpreter 646 , contained within call process engine 720 . referring to fig6 , session interpreter 646 interprets the amended session record in order that control node 642 and voice node 644 perform the steps dictated by rules - based session engine 652 and control node 656 , as well as access the appropriate data from database 645 . the remainder of fig7 includes the process flows that may be associated with an ultimate transfer of the call to a csr station , illustrated in process flow steps 15 - 22 . in addition to using an automated attendant system to provide efficient call management in one embodiment , or personalized information , such as would be given by an ivr in another embodiment , one skilled in the art should appreciate that the system of the present invention allows for a seamless update or change of call process flow logic through an update of rules - based session engine 652 and control node 656 . for example , instead of having to update several independent ivr systems , systems and methods consistent with the present invention allow voice response systems to be updated simply through a modification of call flow detail table 1201 , an exemplary illustration of which is depicted in fig1 . call flow detail table 1201 may be located remote from automated attendant systems 640 , but an update or modification of call flow detail table 1201 is all that is required to update a plurality of remotely located automated attendant systems 640 . moreover , as illustrated in fig9 , a system consistent with the present invention allows for the parallel and asynchronous processing of calls by parallel instances of rules - based session engine and control node 953 and 954 . with the improvement in processing architecture , many more calls may be processed simultaneously by rules - based session engine , than may be conventionally processed by a series of parallel ivr systems . multiple simultaneous ip requests consume less physical resources to process any given amount of calls vs . the traditional 1 call to 1 port ivr system . the foregoing description of an implementation of the invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description . it is not exhaustive and does not limit the invention to the precise form disclosed . one skilled in the art should appreciate from the foregoing description that modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be acquired from practicing of the invention . for example , the steps associated with the present invention may be implemented as a combination of hardware and software or in hardware alone . accordingly , the invention is not limited to the above - described embodiments , but instead is defined by the appended claims . | 7 |
the overall construction of the toothbrush is shown m unfolded position in fig1 . there is a left half 1 and a right half 2 . each half has a handle section and set of tufts at one end so that the two halves may be joined to one another to form the whole brush . when the brush is sold , and before the brush is used , the two halves are in the unfolded position shown here . this will minimize the thickness of the brush so that it may be kept in an area with narrow size like that of a wallet or billfold . 8 shows the handle in fig2 . 12 shows a tuft in fig4 that comprises a plurality of bristles . before use , the toothbrush may be stored in this position with the two halves unfolded and joined along the spine 3 so that the left and right halves cam be folded against one another . when in this unfolded position , the toothbrush will present a very narrow thickness ( thickness of a half shown by line d in fig3 ). because of this narrow thickness , the toothbrush can be stored in a very narrow space . it is likely to rest upon the bottom edge of the handle 1 and so remain on a store shelf in an upright position . a large number of such toothbrushes and associated packaging may be stored in this manner , by resting upright , upon a store shelf . such a brush when in the unfolded position would be of such narrow thickness so that it could be carried within the wallet of the user . the brush would preferably be about 3 ″ or 4 ″ in length ( length shown by arrow b in fig2 ) and perhaps an inch or so in width ( width shown by arrow a in fig2 ). however , the thickness of the brush could be made to less than an inch ( arrow d in fig3 ; arrow c in fig4 shows the thickness of the brush when in the folded up position and ready to be used ). each half of the brush may be described as having a tuft end 5 and a handle end 6 . the tuft end contains tufts and the handle end is used to hold the brush . the length of the handle will thus define a line 3 that runs parallel to each of the handles . and the two halves of the brush will pivot along a line that is parallel to this line . so that each brush half will contain both bristles and a handle . it is preferred that the bristle end of each half be a single row of bristles so that when in the stored flat position ( see fig1 ) the toothbrush will only be one bristle thick . in other words it will present a line of single bristles . importantly , each set of bristles 5 on each half will project outward from the handle in the unfolded position . this orientation can be seen in fig1 . when the halves are folded in connection with one another they will form a bristle end that is only two bristles wide ( see fig4 ), in other words each single row of bristles has joined with the other to make a set of bristles two rows wide . in the illustration , each bristle end is a single row of 9 bristles , although the actual number of bristles may vary ( less than or more than 9 ) it is preferred that there only be one row of bristles for each bristle half 5 . when the halves are joined together the two sets of bristles will join to form one bristle head that is used to brush the teeth . again in the illustration , the bristle head as completed is 2 × 9 but other configurations are possible so long as the bristle head is two bristles wide when joined . likewise , the handle ends will join together to form one handle . fig3 shows the action of joining as seen looking down the length of the brush so that one can see each set of bristles joining with the other set so as to form the bristle head . there is a pivoting means shown at 9 . this pivoting means is in connection with both the left and right halve of the toothbrush such a pivot means should allow each halve of the brush to pivot in relation to the other . this connecting means may be referred to as a hinge since it acts in the same manner as a hinge would in allowing the halves to pivot in relation to one another . the connecting means would preferably be in connection with a portion of the handle portion of the brush although it is also possible that the hinge can be connected to the bristle portion of each half . there is a locking means shown as 10 and 11 in fig1 . this means may be as simple as a male and corresponding female shaped portion that will join to one another by friction . the male or pin 10 member should be of size and shape to allow the pin to fit in the hole or female member 11 and to secure the halves into a fixed relationship when the pin is locked into the hole . a male / female type of connection may be used for this locking means or some other means may be used . whatever means is used , it should allow the halves to be joined to one another and locked into place so that , when the halves are connected , the toothbrush will be of rigid form and the two halves will not separate from one another when the toothbrush is in use . the connection formed by 10 and 11 may be unlocked by the user when the toothbrush is not in use . this unlocking may be simply the action of the user pulling apart the two halves and so overcoming the frictional force of the male / female connection used or whatever type of connection is used . it is preferred that the handle of the brush be made of plastic and molded . it is thought that the bristles would be best made of nylon although other types of materials are possible for the handle and bristles without departing from the spirit of the invention . item 12 in fig4 shows a close up view of a single bristle which of course may consist of numerous “ hairs ” or other thread like members . an intermediate portion 15 may be used in addition to the two halves . the intermediate portion would be of similar construction to the halves 6 and 7 , but it would not be in physical connection with them . in this case , it would have a second set of male / female shaped members ( shown as 13 and 14 in fig5 ) that would join to the corresponding male and female members on the halves so that the intermediate section may be joined to the two halves and so construct a tooth brush that is 3 bristles in width and of course would have greater width and thickness than in the case with just the two halves . | 0 |
the example of fig1 is a 6 : 1 reduction objective for a scanner projection exposure apparatus of microlithography , with an image field diameter of 18 . 4 mm , an image side na = 0 . 75 , being telecentric in the object space and the image space . all lenses are made of fluorite caf 2 and the system is adapted for illumination by the f 2 excimer - laser at 157 mm . certainly modifications for other wavelengths with other materials are possible , e . g . 193 nm and quartz glass . the first partial objective s 1 is refractive and has a reduction ratio of − 1 / 4 , 27 . it shows two distinct lens groups lg 1 of four relatively big lenses of about 130 mm diameter , and after the aperture plane a second lens group lg 2 with significantly reduced diameter of about 80 mm and less . here , the only aspheric lens surface is provided on surface 9 immediately subsequent to the aperture plane . subsequent to the first intermediate image imi 1 , the second partial objective s 2 is catadioptric with two opposite concave aspheric mirrors m 1 , m 2 with central holes and two negative meniscus lenses 25 , 26 and 27 , 28 arranged between them . they are passed by the light beams three times . its magnification ratio is − 1 / 0 , 99 . such a magnification ratio near unity allows for a highly symmetric construction and optimal correction of distortions . this arrangement is particularly suitable for chromatic correction and correction of field curvature , too . therefore even with only one lens material caf 2 a relatively wide laser bandwidth of +− 1 . 2 pm of an unnarrowed f 2 - laser is accepted by this objective . subsequent to the second intermediate image im 12 the third partial objective s 3 again is refractive . it takes up the divergent light beam with a strongly bent meniscus 29 , 30 . a positive air lens — i . e . an air space in the form of a positive lens — between the lens surfaces 40 and 41 is characteristic . with its reduction ratio of − 1 / 1 , 42 the overall reduction ratio of the system is reached . the detailed data of table 1 show that the objective is composed of relatively few elements of limited diameters which helps for practical feasibility , as caf 2 is very expensive and of limited availability . also the light path in caf2 is limited , thus reducing the problem of significant absorption at 157 mm . the central obscuration necessitated by the fully coaxial construction of the catadioptric second partial objective s 2 is a certain drawback , as such in principle deteriorates the modulation transfer function of an objective . however , even in common refractive projection exposure objectives a small but distinct central obscuration is entered to accommodate beam paths of alignment systems etc . efforts are taken in the design to keep the central obscuration small , even with mirror diameters of practical size . it was found that the diameter of the holes in the mirrors is minimized when the chief ray height is of equal value at the two holes , but opposite in sign . further the mirror holes are arranged next to the two intermediate images imi 1 and imi 2 , where the beam diameters are at a minimum . also the first partial objective s 1 has substantial image reduction to keep this hole absolutely small , so that also the total mirror diameter is limited to a practical compact value . the mirror holes are sized to be 2 , 0 mm larger in diameter than the closest ray at the edge of the field . it is recommended that a obscuration mask is inserted at the pupil ( aperture ) plane of the second partial objective s 2 — just in front of lens surface 9 . this should be sized 20 , 25 % in diameter — equal to 4 , 1 % in area . then the area obscuration at the edge of the field has the same value as at the center and the mtf curves are completely uniform over the field . the wavefront correction of this example is better than 0 , 011 waves rms over the field of 17 × 7 mm 2 and less than 0 , 009 waves rms over the field of 17 × 6 mm 2 . the distortion is 2 . 4 ppm and the median shift is 10 nm . colour correction reaches chl = 34 nm / pm for longitudinal colour , so that a +− 1 . 2 pm bandwidth of an unnarrowed f 2 - laser can be accepted . the example of fig2 and table 2 has an increased image field of 22 × 9 mm 2 as well as a significantly increased na = 0 , 75 , while the reduction ratio is changed to 5 : 1 . the system is of overall similarity with the first example , but with some significant deviations . the first refractive partial objective s 1 has its aperture plane enclosed by two menisci 209 , 210 and 211 , 212 which are concave towards the aperture plane . here , an obscuring disk od is inserted for the purpose of field - independent obscuration as described above . two lens surfaces 209 and 217 are aspheric , the first is next to the aperture plane to affect angle deviations and the second is more in the field region . the imaging ratio of the first partial objective s 1 is − 1 / 4 , 67 . therefore the catadioptric partial objective can be so small . the second partial objective s 2 again is catadioptric with two aspheric mirrors m 21 , m 22 and two negative meniscus lenses 223 , 224 and 225 , 226 . now their distance has strongly decreased , but angles increased in the beam path . this allows for very limited diameters of only 230 mm at the given large field and large na . the reduction ratio is − 1 // 0 , 97 . in this embodiment , too , the central obscuration is 20 % in diameter constant over the full field . high na of 0 , 7 at the intermediate images to allow for the small holes in the mirrors m 21 , m 22 and a rather strong refractive power of the lenses 223 , 224 and 225 , 226 in between to give the required colour correction are specific to this example . the mirrors m 21 , m 22 are aspheric with maximum deviations from sphere being limited to 150 micrometers , which allows for good production and testing . also on the lenses between the mirrors aspheric surfaces could increase image quality . a third negative lens here would further optimize colour correction , if needed . the third partial objective s 3 shows the characteristic first meniscus lens 227 , 228 to be even more bent than in fig1 . this helps for coma correction . also the second lens 229 , 230 is a meniscus concave on the intermediate image imi side , as the two final lenses 249 , 250 and 251 , 252 are menisci concave towards the image plane im , what is preferred for aplanatism and correction of spherical aberration . the positive air lens arranged between the lens surfaces 238 and 239 corrects the main part of spherical aberration . for this effect it is preferably arranged more in the pupil region of the objective than in a field region . however its arrangement before the pupil plane enables it to affect also the oblique spherical aberration in tangential and sagittal direction . as a meniscus concave toward the pupil plane , lens 245 , 246 together with the air space created in front of it assists to the effects of the aforementioned air space . the imaging ratio of this third partial objective s 23 is − 1 / 1 , 11 near unity . however , the arrangement is far from symmetry to the pupil plane , so that the strongly distorted intermediate image imi can be transformed to a highly corrected image at the image plane im . each partial objective has its part of the burden : s 21 performs the reduction , s 22 makes the colour and petzval correction and s 23 makes the fine tuning of imaging errors . this second embodiment is not finely tuned to best error correction , but gives the principles of feasibility of such a design . the aspheric surfaces of both examples of tables 1 and 2 are described by z = as 2 × h 4 + as 3 × h 6 + as 4 × h 8 + as 5 × h 10 + as 6 × h 12 = as 7 × h 10 the example of fig3 has a purely catoptric partial objective s 31 and a purely refractive partial objective s 32 between object ob and image im , with intermediate image imi . this avoids the big negative lenses f the catadioptric partial objectives of the aforementioned examples . the mirrors m 1 , m 2 now are purely used for petzval correction — correction of field curvature . the chromatic characteristics of the objective are defined by the refractive partial objective s 32 . use of different lens materials allows for achromatization . for duv / vuv excimer laser systems combinations of fluorides , namely calcium fluoride ( fluorspar , fluorite ), barium fluoride , strontium fluoride , naf , lif etc . and / or quartz glass , also in specifically doped versions , are adequate . thus , for microlithography at 157 nm , positive lenses l 1 , l 3 can be made of calcium fluoride and negative lens l 2 can be made of barium fluoride or naf , for example . naturally the refractive partial objective s 32 has more lenses in a realistic microlithography or microscope objective and the lenses l 1 to l 3 shown are only schematic representatives . as the refractive partial objective s 32 of this catadioptric objective as compared to a full refractive system is relieved from the burden of petzval correction , it can be simplified . the waist and bulge configuration with two and more waists of state - of - the - art refractive microlithographic reduction projection objectives is therefore not needed . only one waist of minor beam reduction remains . consequently the refractive partial objective s 32 can be shorter , smaller in diameter and can have less lenses . transmission and contrast are thus increased , while cost is decreased . aspheric lens surfaces further help in this effect . as the catoptric partial objective s 31 is free of lenses , its diameter is not critical : precision aspherical mirrors with diameters of more than one meter are state of the art in astronomy , for example . obviously the arrangement of catoptric and refractive partial objective also can be changed in sequence . then the diameter of the catoptric partial system is reduced in consequence of the imaging ratio of the refractive partial objective . for reasons of good accessibility of object ob and image im and of more design space for correction , it is advantageous if this system also is extended to a first refractive partial objective s 41 , a catoptric partial objective s 42 and a second refractive partial objective s 43 with intermediate images imi 1 and imi 2 , as shown in the example of fig4 . the advantages of the first two embodiments with minimal obscuration and of the third example without big lenses between the mirrors m 1 , m 2 can thus be combined . table 3 gives the design data of this example . this is a 157 nm objective with all crystal lenses , most of lif and some of naf , giving excellent chromatic properties for an unnarrowed f 2 laser with 1 , 5 pm band width . reduction ratio is 1 : 5 , maximum image field height is 11 , 88 mm , na = 0 , 75 . maximum lens diameter is 190 , 5 mm , maximum mirror diameter is 201 mm . the overall length ob - im is 1 , 459 m . the use of crystal lenses in duv to vuv microlithographic objectives is made here in adaptation of the earlier application de 199 29 701 . 0 dated jun . 29 , 1999 ( 99032 p ) ( corresponding to u . s . pat . no . 6 , 683 , 729 issued jan . 27 , 2004 ) of co - inventor schuster and the same assignee . this cited application as a whole shall be part of the disclosure of this application , too . consequently , negative naf lenses are entered , plus one positive naf meniscus 408 , 409 in the first partial objective s 41 , which reduces lateral chromatic aberration , in an overall lif lens system . aspheric surfaces are entered into this design at a number of surfaces , where this is advantageous . consequently , also the mirrors 440 and 441 are aspheric . in the first , reducing partial objective s 41 , the second bulge comprises one asphere , the second waist one asphere , and the third bulge 2 aspheres . in the third partial objective s 43 the first bulge comprises one asphere , while the second of the two bulges comprises 2 aspheres . the aspheric surfaces of the example of tab . 3 are described by p ( h ) = δ * h 2 1 + √ 1 - ( 1 - ex ) * δ 2 * h 2 + c 1 h 4 + … + c n h 2 n + 2 where p is the height deviation as a function of the radius h ( ray height with respect to the optical axis ) with the aspheric constants c 1 to c 6 as given in table 3 . δis the inverse of the radius given in the table . the objective has a high correction quality , as the wavefront error calculated for two lines of 1 pm spectral distance is less than 8 millilambda at the maximum field height and reduces to less than five millilambda on the optical axis . the central obscuration of the system can be designed to need by enlarging distance and diameter of the mirrors 440 , 441 of the catoptric partial objective s 42 . ring sector field imaging is conventional with many catoptric and catadioptric projection exposure systems of generally asymmetric construction . such can also be realized within the invention . then , the mirrors only need an off - axis ring sector opening for entering of the light beam , and consequently the pupil only has a two sector obscuration with further reduced effects compared to the circular central obscuration . fig5 schematically shows a microscope with an objective according to the invention . as such primarily makes sense for a duv / vuv inspection microscope , direct visual observation by an ocular is not shown , but an image detector ccd of any appropriate known sort is provided in the image plane of the objective . the objective is constituted by two refractive partial objectives s 51 , s 53 and the intermediate catoptric or catadioptric partial objective s 52 . the example shows two coaxial opposite mirrors m 1 , m 2 and one negative lens l in it . the design of the objective is generally as shown in the embodiments described above , but with image and object plane exchanged to obtain magnification , and with higher imaging ratio and smaller field . | 6 |
the purpose of the present invention is to protect houses in areas vulnerable to the threats of wildfires . as temperatures around the globe continue to rise , many areas around the world are becoming drier with raising temperatures and low precipitations . as such , home owners living in wildfire prone areas need to think seriously about what they can do to prevent their house being destroyed by fire . methods or device available to them for use to help them protect their house should be considered more of a necessity than an option . it &# 39 ; s unthinkable for those homeowners living under constant threats of wildfires not to do something to effectively prevent their property being destroyed . homebuilders and home owners have often been advised to build houses with fire resistant materials to better stand against fires . while this is a sound advice , the use of fire resistant materials is still not enough , in many cases , to protect a house from destruction by fire . for this reason , the present invention offers a more aggressive protection system . the fire protection system of the present inventions includes a water coating system and a water recycling system . the water coating system involves coating the surface of the house by water from the sprinklers installed on the exterior walls of the house , on the roof of the house , or on the ground around the house , or all of them . the water recycling system involves collecting and delivering the water runoff from the sprinklers to a water recycling pool to be reused again . the combination of the water coating and water recycling systems present an effective and efficient way to protect a house from fire . the water coating system wets the surface of the house and / or the surrounding area of the house to prevent flying fire cinders , flaming debris from starting a fire on the house during a breakout of a large fire nearby . as people who have tried to set up a camp fire can testify , it &# 39 ; s very difficult , if not impossible , to set a piece of damp log on fire , let along trying to start a fire on a piece of wood that is thoroughly wet . the water coating system adopts this basic concept by continually applying water to the surface of a building threatened by wildfire to prevent it from catching fire . fig1 is a flow chart of the fire protection system according to the present invention . the water used for fire protection is recycled as shown in this flow chart . the water used to wet the surface of the house comes from the recycling water pool 103 . the water in the water recycling pool 103 is pumped by a pump 104 to the sprinklers 101 for wetting the surface of the house . the used water then flows to the water collection site 102 and is released back to the recycling pool 103 via the outlet ( s ). the flow chart is a simplified illustration of the water cycle . fig2 illustrates an installation of the present invention on a building . the water coating system includes an engine water pump 104 , a network of sprinklers 101 a and water pipes 201 ( underground ), 202 ( up the wall ), 203 ( around the building ). the water recycling system includes a water collection site 102 , a water recycling pool 103 and a water outlet 206 on one corner of the water collection site . the engine water pump 104 , which is installed near the water recycling pool 103 , pumps the water from the water recycling pool 103 to the water pipes 201 , 202 , 203 . the water pipes 203 are installed all around the building . these pipes 203 are connected with the sprinklers 101 a installed around the edges of the roof . these sprinklers 101 a are designed to be able to rotate in 180 degrees such that they can wet the roof completely . the water pipes 203 are also connected with the sprinklers 101 b installed on the walls for wetting the walls . in the drawing , the water pipes 203 are also connected with the sprinklers 101 c to wet the ground close to the house to create a fire - proof area for extra protection . the water sprinklers can be of different types as long as they are able to cover the areas targeted . the water pipes can be hidden in the wall or under the ground so as not to affect the appearance of a building . in this illustration , the water collected in the water collection site 102 flows to the water recycling pool 103 via an outlet 206 . the water collection site shown in the drawing has a cement bottom with a small fence around the site . together with the fence around , the water collection site functions as a huge pan to keep the water from disappearing into the underground or surrounding areas . the cement bottom can be covered with grass or plants without impacting the function of the water collection site . fig3 illustrates an installation of the present invention on a new building . this drawing shows a water collection site 102 covered with grass 301 . the shape of this water collection site is different from that of fig2 but its function of collecting the runoff from the sprinklers for reuse remains the same . the front area of the house is lower than the backyard , thus the water accumulated in the front runs to an underground channel ( water pipe ) 302 at the edge of the ground and continues to flow to the water recycling pool 103 . there is a tiny ditch 303 running at the front side of the property that leads the water from the driveway 304 and the front lawn 305 to the underground channel ( water pipe ) 302 . the two lateral sides and the rear side of the back yard have fences 306 , 307 , 308 , the water accumulated will be kept inside the water collection site . all the water collected in the backyard goes to the water recycling pool 103 via an outlet 309 to the water recycling pool 103 . an engine water pump 104 pumps the water from the water recycling pool 103 to the underground water pipes 311 , then to the water pipes 312 which are hidden in the wall of the two - story building , and also to the water pipes 313 circling around the house under the roof , hidden in the wall . the water pipes are connected to a network of sprinklers 101 d installed on the roof for wetting the roof . there is also a network of sprinklers 101 e connected to the water pipes 313 for wetting the walls of the building . more sprinklers 101 f are connected to the water pipes 313 to wet the surrounding grounds of the house to create a fire - proof zone for extra protection . the water sprinklers can be of different types as long as they &# 39 ; re able to effectively wet the areas targeted . in this illustration , the water collection site is designed to be suitable to covered by a garden . such design is a great solution for creating minimal impacts to the appearance of a building or its surrounding landscape . fig4 illustrates a water sprinkler network installed on the ground around a house according to the present invention . this figure shows 4 sprinklers ( 101 g , 101 h , 101 i , 101 j ) on the ground in the corners some distance away from the house . the sprinkles can be installed at any desired height . each sprinkler has the ability to rotate 90 degrees for wide coverage . in this design , the roof , the walls and also area surrounding the house will receive water from the sprinklers . the locations and methods of how the sprinklers are installed depend on the structure of the house . the installation configuration illustrated in this figure is simple and yet effective . the bottom of the water collection site is covered by a grass field . there are fences 402 around the water collection site to keep the water inside the site 102 , and there is an outlet 401 coming from the water collection site 102 for transferring the collected water to the water recycling pool 103 . an engine water pump 104 is installed by the water recycling pool 103 . the pump pumps the water from the water recycling pool 103 to the underground water pipes 403 that are connected to the sprinklers in the four corners of the ground . fig5 illustrates a water recycling pool 103 according to the present invention . the water recycling pool 103 has two functions : one is to store a sufficient amount of water for the working of the water coating system ; the other is to filter the water used for recycling . water coming from the water collection site to the recycling pool is likely to be mixed with dirt and debris . the water filters 501 installed in the water recycling pool filters the water coming from the water collection site so the water can be reused without causing blockage in the sprinklers . the water recycling pool is also installed with a small electrical water pump 502 that pumps water out of the pool periodically to prevent the water from becoming stagnant and smelly . the water pumped out from the pool can be used to water the garden or grass . the water recycling pool can stay dry during the seasons when there are no threats of wildfires . one can also connect the water recycling pool to city water line with a water pipe for filling water to the water recycling pool . fig6 illustrates a water recycling pool 103 combined with a swimming pool 601 ( or other types of water pool ). a water pipe 602 on the bottom of the swimming pool 601 ( or other types of water pool ) connects to the bottom of the water recycling pool 103 ( before filter ), this water pipe is connected with a water valve 603 that has a handle 604 above the ground for turning on the valve to transfer water from the swimming pool ( or other types of water pool ) to the water recycling pool start the operation . when a house has a swimming pool ( or other types of water pool ), the water recycling pool will not need to be as large . it can be built smaller to reduce construction costs . the water recycling pool is needed not only for use to store water , but it is also where used water is filtered so it can go the sprinklers . in the above illustrations , we find that there are several methods of installing the water sprinklers . the locations , numbers of sprinklers being installed depended on the lay out of the system which focuses on the efficiency of the protection , but not limited to the above illustrations . in addition , to prevent trash , dirt from getting into the water recycling pool , the outlet ( s ) of the water collection site are equipped with caps to block trash , dirt out of the water recycling pool . the caps can removed out when the fire protecting system is in operation the purpose of the present invention is to protect a house from catching fire during an outbreak of wildfire by continuously wetting the surface of the house . a network of sprinklers and water pipes are installed on and around the house to deliver water . the installation locations of the sprinklers and the types of sprinklers chosen for use depend on the structure of the house . when the surface of the house is wet , the temperature the surface of the house will be low . the damp and cold condition makes it difficult for a fire to develop . the primary purpose of the present invention is not to extinguish a fire , rather the purpose is to prevent a building from catching fire during the approach of a wildfire by preparing the building and its surroundings to be fire - proof . as stated before , this point is the foundation of the theory of the present invention . | 0 |
fig4 a and fig4 b illustrate a method of fabricating a liquid crystal display device according to a first embodiment of the present invention . referring to fig4 a , an alignment film 27 is formed on an upper substrate 21 sequentially provided with a black matrix 23 , color filters 25 and a common electrode 26 . the alignment film 27 formed on the upper substrate 21 has a desired alignment state by a rubbing . furthermore , an alignment film 27 is also formed on a lower substrate 1 provided sequentially with a thin film transistor 34 and a pixel electrode 17 . likewise , the alignment film 27 formed on the lower substrate 1 has a desired alignment state by a rubbing . a material that can be aligned by a rubbing and a photo - alignment method using an ultraviolet ray ( uv ) is used for the alignment film 27 . photo mask 35 are arranged at the upper portions of the upper substrate 21 and at the lower substrate 1 provided with the alignment film 27 . the photo masks are arranged in such a manner as to be spaced at a certain distance from the alignment film 27 . each of the photo masks 35 , provided at the upper substrate 21 and at the lower substrate 1 , include a photo mask substrate 35 a and an opaque metal 35 b , wherein the opaque metal 35 b is formed at a desired portion of the photo mask substrate 35 a . the photo mask 35 is aligned with the upper substrate 21 or the lower substrate 1 , such that the opaque metal area 35 b corresponds to a pixel area provided within the upper substrate 21 and the lower substrate 1 . an ultraviolet ray ( uv ) is irradiated onto the upper substrate 21 and onto the lower substrate 1 arranged with the photo mask 35 . the uv ray irradiated onto the upper substrate 21 and onto the lower substrate 1 transmits onto the alignment film 27 a formed within the black matrix area 23 , and onto the alignment film 27 b , whereas it fails to transmit onto the alignment film 27 formed within the pixel areas . for this reason , an alignment state of the alignment film 27 a formed within the black matrix area 23 becomes different than the alignment state of the alignment film 27 formed within the pixel area . also , an alignment film 27 b of the lower substrate 1 formed within an area corresponding to the black matrix area 23 has an alignment state different from the alignment state of the alignment film 27 within the pixel area . these alignment films 27 a and 27 b act as a seed of the bend structure upon driving of the liquid crystal cell to stabilize the bend structure . in other words , the alignment film 27 a onto which the uv is irradiated has a larger pre - tilt angle than the alignment film 27 onto which the uv is not irradiated . finally , the upper substrate 21 and the lower substrate 1 formed in this manner are correspondingly joined with each other , and then a liquid crystal is injected therebetween . fig5 a and fig5 b illustrate a method of fabricating a liquid crystal display device according to a second embodiment of the present invention . referring to fig5 a , alignment film 37 are formed on an upper substrate 21 provided with a black matrix 23 , color filters 25 and a common electrode 26 and a lower substrate 1 provided with a thin film transistor 34 and a pixel electrode 17 . a material that can be aligned by a rubbing and a photo - alignment method using an ultraviolet ray ( uv ) is used for the alignment film 37 . photo mask 35 are arranged at the upper portions of the upper substrate 21 and the lower substrate 1 spaced at a certain distance from the alignment film 37 . each of the photo masks 35 provided at the upper portions of the upper substrate 21 and the lower substrate 1 includes a photo mask substrate 35 a and an opaque metal 35 b formed at a desired portion of the photo mask substrate 35 a . the photo mask 35 is aligned with the upper substrate 21 or the lower substrate 1 such that the opaque metal area 35 b corresponds to a pixel area provided within the upper substrate 21 and the lower substrate 1 . an ultraviolet ray ( uv ) is irradiated onto the upper substrate 21 and the lower substrate 1 arranged with the photo mask 35 . the uv irradiated onto the upper substrate 21 and onto the lower substrate 1 transmits through the photo mask substrate 35 a onto an alignment film 37 a formed within the black matrix area 23 , and onto the alignment film 37 b . whereas the uv irradiated onto the upper substrate 21 and onto the lower substrate 1 , fails to transmit through the opaque metal 35 b and onto the alignment film 37 formed within the pixel areas . thereafter , the alignment film 37 formed on the upper substrate 21 and the lower substrate 1 undergo a rubbing treatment . for this reason , an alignment state of the alignment film 37 a formed within the black matrix area 23 becomes different from that of the alignment film 37 within the pixel area onto which the uv has not been irradiated . also , an alignment film 37 b of the lower substrate 1 formed within an area corresponding to the black matrix area 23 has an alignment state different from the alignment film 37 within the pixel area . in other words , the alignment film 37 a and 37 b onto which the uv is irradiated have a larger pre - tilt angle than the alignment film 37 onto which the uv is not irradiated . finally , the upper substrate 21 and the lower substrate 1 formed in this manner are correspondingly joined with each other , and then a liquid crystal is injected therebetween . fig6 a and fig6 b illustrate a state of the lcd panel when changing a characteristic of the alignment film formed within the black matrix area by the alignment method using a rubbing and a photo - alignment method . fig6 a and 6b also show joining the upper substrate with the lower substrate , and thereafter injecting a liquid crystal therebetween according with the above - mentioned embodiments . as shown in fig6 a , an alignment state at the pixel area of a liquid crystal 32 injected into a space between the upper substrate 21 and the lower substrate 1 is different from an alignment state at the black matrix area 23 thereof . this is because the alignment film 27 within the pixel area has an alignment state different from the alignment film 27 a within the black matrix area 23 . in other words , the alignment film 27 a within the black matrix area 23 is aligned to have a larger pre - tilt angle than the alignment film 27 within the pixel area by a rubbing and an ultraviolet ray . accordingly , upon injection of the liquid crystal 32 , the liquid crystal 32 injected within the black matrix area 23 has a larger pre - tilt angle ( i . e ., above 50 degrees at the surface thereof ) than the liquid crystal 32 having been injected within the pixel area . meanwhile , as shown in fig6 b , the liquid crystal 32 within the black matrix area 23 re - arranged into a splay structure having a large pre - tilt angle has a more stable state than the liquid crystal 32 within the pixel area having a relatively small pre - tilt angle . for this reason , the liquid crystal 32 within the pixel area adjacent to the liquid crystal 32 arranged at a large pre - tilt angle within the black matrix area 23 is re - arranged to have a large pre - tilt angle . in other words , since the liquid crystal 32 existing within the pixel area has more unstable state than the liquid crystal 32 existing within the black matrix area 23 , it shows a changing property into the liquid crystal existing within the black matrix area 23 . accordingly , the liquid crystal 32 within the pixel area which is adjacent to the liquid crystal 32 existing within the black matrix area 23 begins to change into a stable state and the remaining liquid crystal 32 is gradually changed into a stable state . ultimately , all the liquid crystal 32 within the pixel area becomes stable by such a gradual state change . fig7 shows a unit pixel of the liquid crystal display device depicted by simulation data values measured when the liquid crystal within the black matrix area has been aligned at a pre - tilt angle larger than liquid crystal within the pixel area by about 40 degrees . each portion indicated by the dotted lines in fig7 represents a direction of the liquid crystal . total energy values when increasing a pre - tilt angle of the liquid crystal within the black matrix in a state of fixing a pre - tilt angle of the liquid crystal within the pixel area as shown in fig1 are given the following table : as seen from table 1 , if a pre - tilt angle within the black matrix area is large , the liquid crystal within the black matrix area is easily arranged in a bend state and , simultaneously , the liquid crystal at the pixel area adjacent to the black matrix area is liable to re - arrangement in a stable bend state . in other words , as the liquid crystal within the black matrix area has a larger pre - tilt angle , a total energy of the liquid crystal display device is reduced . accordingly , the liquid crystal within the pixel area keeps a more stable state . as a result , the alignment film within the black matrix area is irradiated by an ultraviolet ray and undergoes a rubbing treatment , thereby allowing a pre - tilt angle within the black matrix area to be larger than a pre - tilt angle within the pixel area . accordingly , upon initialization of the liquid crystal display device , the liquid crystal arranged at a large pre - tilt angle within the black matrix area permits the liquid crystal arranged within the pixel area to be easily arranged in a stable bend structure . also , the liquid crystal within the pixel area adjacent to the black matrix area having a low transfer of an electric field upon driving is not changed into a splay structure , but is kept at the bend structure , so that a stable bend structure can be obtained . as described above , according to the present invention , the liquid crystal within the black matrix area is arranged at a large pre - tilt angle upon initialization of the liquid crystal display device , so that a bend structure can be obtained in a fast and stable manner . although the present invention has been explained by the embodiments shown in the drawings described above , it should be understood to the ordinary skilled person in the art that the invention is not limited to the embodiments , but rather that various changes or modifications thereof are possible without departing from the spirit of the invention . accordingly , the scope of the invention shall be determined only by the appended claims and their equivalents . | 6 |
referring to fig1 , illustrated is an exemplary vehicle lane marker detection system 5 for a vehicle 10 on a highway lane 13 , which for purposes of this example is a highway such as a beltway around a city 20 . the vehicle 10 lane has a left lane marker 11 , which is a single broken line ( e . g ., a conventional painted lane marking on a roadway ) to the left of the vehicle 10 and a single unbroken line at the right lane marker 16 , which changes to a second single broken line 19 at an exit ramp 17 . the vehicle 10 has one or more image capture devices , such as forward facing camera 12 with a left view site line 15 and a right view site line 14 . now with reference to fig2 , which is a detail blocked diagram of the system 5 of fig1 which better illustrates the left lane marker 11 to the left of the vehicle 10 and the single unbroken line right lane marker 16 to the right , which changes to the second single broken line 19 at the beginning of the exit ramp 17 . also shown is a computer 8 , which can also be referred to as an imaging electronic control unit ( ecu ). the computer 8 has at least one processor and memory to store computer instructions , register values , and temporary and permanent variables . the instructions include one or more predetermined detection criteria for a lane marker . the computer 8 may also include an additional special processor , such as an image processor or a digital signal processor ( dsp ) to aid the processor with signal interpretation . the computer 8 is communicatively coupled to the camera 12 , e . g ., via a vehicle communications bus or other vehicle network such as is known . as the vehicle 10 traverses around the highway lane 13 , the camera 12 can substantially continuously capture images of the highway lane 13 ahead . the computer 8 substantially continuously receives images of the highway and the right and left lane markers . the computer 8 includes program instructions to determine the occurrence of a detected transition identifier , for example , when the right lane marker 16 is a solid white line having a width of 50 cm and the left lane marker is a dashed line having a width of 50 cm . several data entries can be recorded into memory when the right lane marker 16 changes to a dashed line with a width of 50 cm , even if there was not a change in the left lane marker 11 . the entries can include , for example , a geolocation of the transition , a lane marker type of change , a change of direction of the vehicle 10 , etc . fig3 is an example of a transition chart 25 which can be assembled from historical data as the vehicle 10 traverses the highway lane 13 . a “ transition ,” as that term is used herein , encompasses an event in which a vehicle 10 changes lanes . for example , when the vehicle 10 approaches a first exit ramp 17 , as indicated in row 27 in the chart 25 as the intersection of i - 85 and main street , the vehicle 10 exited the highway lane 13 twenty - six times of the last fifty times the vehicle 10 identified the exit ramp 17 . however , when the vehicle 10 approached second exit ramp 18 , identified in row 21 , which is at the intersection of i - 85 and central avenue , the vehicle 10 exited the highway lane 13 five times of the last fifty times . therefore , at each transition position , i . e ., an instance in which the vehicle 10 traverses a portion of a highway that can be a subject of the chart 25 , i . e ., a place where the vehicle 10 could be exiting , changing lanes and / or turning , and is identified by , for example , a change in the lane markings , can be represented by the values of the cells in the transition chart 25 . these values are incremented each time the vehicle 10 traverses a transition position . a “ location column ” 22 of the chart 25 identifies the location of the transition position and a “ times exited ” column 23 has a number of times the vehicle 10 exited , changed lanes or took some other identifiable action . a “ total number of trips ” column 24 has a running total of the number of trips the vehicle has taken on a particular route and an “ earliest date ” column 26 keeps track of an earliest date the vehicle 10 has come across the transition position indicated in the column 22 . the earliest date 26 can be used to keep the chart 25 current , for example , any trips recorded that are more than a year old can be removed from the “ times exited ” column 23 and the “ total number trips ” column 24 . fig4 is an example resultant action matrix 30 which can include an entry for each lane transition . a resultant action matrix 30 maps data represented in the aggregate in a transition chart 25 , e . g ., the times exited column 23 from the chart 25 shown for the transition location of the row 27 is shown in detail in the matrix 30 of fig4 . more specifically , the action matrix 30 represents one of the cells of the exemplary transition chart 25 of fig3 of vehicle 10 positions relative to the left lane marker 11 for twenty - eight distance increments ( indexes 1 to 28 along the vertical axis ) as the vehicle 10 approaches the exit ramp 17 . an index 0 is a location on the highway lane 13 designated as a reference location for a transition location ; the indexes may then represent predetermined distance increments , e . g ., 1 meter , 3 meters , 5 meters , etc ., along the highway lane 13 with reference to the 0 index location . ( for example , with 28 rows in the index of the matrix 30 , a transition from one row to the next row represents approximately 3 . 5 meters .) values in each cell in the matrix 30 thus represent a number of times that a vehicle 10 had been at the lateral offset indicated by the left lane offset shown on the vertical axis for each time that the vehicle 10 has passed the transition location &# 39 ; s 0 index , the 0 position for the lateral offset being a leftmost border of a leftmost lane of the highway lane 13 . thus , the matrix 30 provides a history of vehicle 10 passages through the approach to the exit ramp 17 , e . g ., forty different trips in this example . as stated above , each time a transition occurs , the appropriate cells of the resultant action matrix 30 are updated , for example , when the vehicle travels through the transition area , the cells representing the lateral and longitudinal positon at each of the longitudinal indexes 0 to 28 will be incremented by one . the datum in each row and column of the matrix 30 therefore provides a number of times that a response to a lane marking was recorded at a particular lateral position in the lane ( i . e ., at a particular distance from the left lane marker ) at a particular distance index . thus , over time the resultant action matrix 30 will provide a history of travel either through the transition location , where higher numbers represent a higher probability of the vehicle 10 tendency to follow the matrix learned path . for example , with reference to row 31 ( at index 0 ), the value “ 2 ” is provided at the intersection of the lateral position 0 and longitudinal index of 0 , reading from left to right , where each adjacent box represents a segment of the width of the lane of approximately equal to 20 cm ( centimeters ), which can total the width of the highway lane 13 , which in this example is approximately 3 . 2 meters . that is , the vehicle 10 determined that it was at the extreme left of the highway lane 13 two times of the last forty passages through this location on the highway lane 13 . the vehicle was 100 cm from the left lane marker 11 one time of the forty passages . the vehicle was 120 cm from the left lane marker 11 , one time . the vehicle was 140 cm from the left lane marker 11 eight times and the vehicle 10 was 160 cm from the left lane marker 11 thirteen times . continuing , the vehicle 10 was 180 cm away nine times , 200 cm away three times , 220 cm away one time , 280 cm away one time and 300 cm away from the left lane marker 11 one time . in the next row , row 32 , with a longitudinal index of one , it can be seen that the vehicle 10 was 160 cm away from the left lane marker 11 fourteen times , 180 - 220 cm away from the left lane marker 11 eight times and 240 - 320 cm away three times . in the next row , row 34 ( longitudinal index 2 ), it can be seen that the vehicle was 160 cm away from the left lane marker 11 fourteen times , 180 - 220 cm away from the left lane marker 11 eleven times and 240 - 320 cm away two times . at a row 35 ( longitudinal index of 7 ), the vehicle 10 was 160 cm away from the left lane marker 11 thirteen times , 180 - 220 cm away from the left lane marker 11 eleven times and 240 - 320 cm away three times . at a row 36 ( longitudinal index of 9 ), the vehicle 10 was 160 cm away from the left lane marker 11 eleven times , 180 - 220 cm away from the left lane marker 11 ten times and 240 - 320 cm away six times . at a row 38 ( longitudinal index of 11 ), the vehicle 10 was 160 cm away from the left lane marker 11 eleven times , 180 - 220 cm away from the left lane marker 11 eight times and 240 - 320 cm away eight times . at a row 40 ( longitudinal index of 16 ), the vehicle 10 was 160 cm away from the left lane marker 11 twelve times , 180 - 220 cm away from the left lane marker 11 seven times and 240 - 320 cm away seven times . fig4 shows that the vehicle 10 tended to stay in the middle of the highway lane 13 , however , the number of times the vehicle 10 exited the highway lane 13 is apparent by noting the number of times the vehicle 10 had entries in the 140 - 300 cm columns . an arrow 29 is superimposed upon the center columns of fig4 to represent the tendency for the vehicle 10 to stay in the middle of the highway lane 13 . a second arrow 28 is representative of the occasional tendency when the vehicle 10 leaves the highway lane 13 and exits via the exit ramp 17 . when the computer 8 is detecting lane markers and lane maker transitions , the computer 8 can classify the lane markings into an invalid lane category and a valid lane category . the valid lane category can include , for example , a single unbroken line , a double unbroken line , a single broken line , a double broken line , a broken and unbroken line , a wide broken line , a line with surface profile and a single unbroken with single broken line . the invalid lane marker can be , for example , a guide rail or a land mark . the vehicle 10 position can be obtained via several methods including a global navigation satellite system ( gnss ) or a global positioning system ( gps ) receiver , a dead reckoning system , an inertial navigation system and can be calculated using the number of tire rotations to determine the distance from a known start reference point . the gnss is a system of satellites that provide autonomous geo - spatial positioning with global coverage . it allows small electronic receivers to determine their location ( longitude , latitude , and altitude / elevation ) to high precision ( within a few meters ) using time signals transmitted along a line of sight by radio from satellites . the signals also allow the electronic receivers to calculate the current local time to high precision , which allows time synchronization . gps is united states of america term for a space - based navigation system that provides location and time information in all weather conditions , anywhere on or near the earth where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more gps satellites . dead reckoning is the process of calculating one &# 39 ; s current position by using a previously determined position , or “ fix ”, and advancing that position based upon known or estimated speeds over elapsed time and course . the vehicle 10 would obtain a “ fix ” and calculate the direction and distance traveled for a certain time and determine the vehicle 10 new location . the internal navigation system is course plotting aid that uses a computer , motion sensors ( accelerometers ) and rotation sensors ( gyroscopes ) to continuously calculate via dead reckoning the position , orientation , and velocity ( direction and speed of movement ) of a moving object without the need for external references . the geolocation of the vehicle 10 can be in universal transverse mercator ( utm ), coordinate system , a vehicle coordinate system as defined by the international organization for standardization ( iso ) for a vehicle coordinate system , a military grid reference system ( mgrs ) and a universal polar stereographic ( ups ) system . the utm system divides the earth between 80 ° s and 84 ° n latitude into 60 zones , each 6 ° of longitude in width . zone 1 covers longitude 180 ° to 174 ° w ; zone numbering increases eastward to zone 60 , which covers longitude 174 ° to 180 ° e . each of the 60 zones uses a transverse mercator projection that can map a region of large north - south extent with low distortion . by using narrow zones of 6 ° of longitude ( up to 800 km ) in width , and reducing the scale factor along the central meridian to 0 . 9996 ( a reduction of 1 : 2500 ), the amount of distortion is held below 1 part in 1 , 000 inside each zone . the mgrs is the geocoordinate standard used by nato militaries for locating points on the earth . the mgrs is derived from the universal transverse mercator ( utm ) grid system and the universal polar stereographic ( ups ) grid system , but uses a different labeling convention . the mgrs is used for the entire earth . the ups coordinate system is used in conjunction with the universal transverse mercator ( utm ) coordinate system to locate positions on the surface of the earth . like the utm coordinate system , the ups coordinate system uses a metric - based cartesian grid laid out on a conformally projected surface . in addition , the path may be filtered into the driving path using known kalman or other filtering techniques . providing a kalman filter , for example , can compensate for noisy readings which can ‘ jump around ’ rapidly , though always remaining within a few meters of the real position . in addition , since the vehicle 10 is expected to follow the laws of physics , its position can also be estimated by integrating its velocity over time , determined by keeping track of wheel revolutions and the angle of the steering wheel . as discussed above , this is a technique known as dead reckoning . typically , the dead reckoning will provide a very smooth estimate of the vehicle 10 position , but it will drift over time as small errors accumulate . the kalman filter can be thought of as operating in two distinct phases : predict and update . in the prediction phase , the vehicle 10 position will be modified according to the physical laws of motion ( the dynamic or “ state transition ” model ) plus any changes produced by the accelerator pedal and steering wheel . a new position estimate can be calculated and inserted into the transition chart as well as an update to the resultant action matrix . in operation , the vehicle lane marker detection system 5 may erroneously determine that the vehicle 10 is in traveling through a center median . since it is physically impossible to travel through a solid , the erroneous positional determination will be treated as noise and the kalman filter can eliminate and / or suppress such spurious calculated vehicle 10 positions . the kalman filter can use coefficients based upon the vehicle 10 travel history , for example , previous trips on the highway lane 13 . a dead reckoning positional error of the vehicle 10 position is in part , proportional to the speed of the vehicle 10 . this is due to the uncertainty about the accuracy of the dead reckoning position estimates at higher speeds , as a small amount of positional errors grow rapidly at higher speeds than at slower speeds . therefore , once the vehicle 10 detects a “ known position ”, such as a lane marker , the system can correct for any dead reckoning drift form the actual position . other “ known positions ,” for example , can be a lane marker transition , a lane marker at a known intersection , a road sign , a land marks , etc . fig5 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary process 100 of the computer 8 to capture an image of lane markings , determine the vehicle &# 39 ; s relative position in the lane and the vehicle &# 39 ; s geolocation and save the values in a transition matrix . the process 100 begins in a block 105 , which can also follow in a block 115 or in a block 125 . the camera 12 captures a forward facing image ( relative to the vehicle 10 ) of the highway lane 13 . the image is stored in memory on the computer 8 , which can also be known as an imagining electronic control unit ( ecu ), and the right and left lane marker types are identified , e . g ., using image recognition techniques such as are known and that can be included in program instructions in the computer 8 . as discussed above , the lane marker types can include a single unbroken line , a double unbroken line , a single broken line , a double broken line , a broken and unbroken line , a wide broken line , a line with surface profile and a single unbroken with single broken line . the computer 8 can also usually differentiate an invalid image object from a lane marking , for example , the computer 8 can determine that the lane marker is not a lane marker , but rather a guard rail . in a block 110 , a counter is incremented to a next position dicating an image and its characteristics have been loaded into memory . the characteristics can include the right and left lane marker types and the geolocation of the vehicle 10 . next , in the block 115 , the computer 8 determines if the image stored in a most recent iteration of the block 105 is a first image captured , and if it is the first image captured , the system will return to in the block 105 and capture a next sequential image , else the system 100 will continue in a block 120 . next , in a block 120 , the current image characteristics are compared to the previous image &# 39 ; s characteristics , for example , the computer 8 determines that the current right lane marker has changed from a single unbroken to a single broken line . if there is a difference in image characteristics , the process 100 continues in a block 125 , else the process returns to the block 105 . next , in a block 130 , the system 100 determines a lane offset distance of the vehicle 10 with respect to the lane the vehicle 10 is in , for example , if the vehicle 10 is in the center of the highway lane 13 and the lane is three meters wide , the left lane marker offset can be 150 cm to the center of the vehicle 10 . additionally , the vehicle 10 geolocation can be determined from the methods cited above , including a global navigation satellite system ( gnss ) or a global positioning system ( gps ) receiver , a dead reckoning system , an inertial navigation system and can be calculated using the number of tire rotations to determine the distance from a known start reference point . next , a block 135 , the computer stores the left lane marker offset , the left lane marker type , the right lane marker type and a geolocation of the vehicle 10 into a memory . next , in a block 140 , the computer 8 determines if the segment of the trip requiring collecting images and lane marking data is complete , and if it is the process 100 ends , else the process 100 returns to the block 105 . fig6 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary process 200 of the computer 8 for determining the location of the vehicle 10 and an exit ramp . the process 200 begins in a block 205 , which can also follow in a block 220 or in a block 240 . the camera 12 captures a forward facing image ( relative to the vehicle 10 ) of the highway lane 13 . the image is stored in memory on the computer 8 . next in a block 210 , the computer 8 determines the position of the vehicle 10 . the position can be generally determined using gnss or dead reckoning from a known start point next , in a block 215 , the processor compares the captured image characteristics with known geolocations and their characteristics . for example , when the right lane marker 16 changes from the single unbroken line to the second single broken line 19 at the exit ramp 17 . the computer 8 can then determine the vehicle 10 position on the highway lane 13 . next , in the block 220 , the computer 8 makes a determination in any of the recently captured image &# 39 ; s characteristics matches any characteristics of previously stored images in the transition matrix . if there is a match , the process continues to in a block 225 , else the process returns to in the block 205 to capture and process another image from the camera 12 . next , in the block 225 , the process 200 can optionally capture another image from the camera 12 and its lane marking characteristics are extracted . next in a block 230 , the optional image lane characteristics from in the block 225 are checked against the database to verify the positioning of the vehicle 10 . next , profile in a block 235 , the computer 8 sends a control signal to the vehicle 10 to commence the egress of the highway lane 13 onto the exit ramp 17 . if the vehicle 10 is an autonomous vehicle , the vehicle &# 39 ; s onboard control and navigation system will maneuver the vehicle by controlling one or more of steering , braking , and acceleration . if the vehicle is a non - autonomous vehicle , the computer 8 will send an alert to the vehicle 10 and the operator that the vehicle 10 is approaching a desired exit . in other words , if the exit and the highway path have been traveled repeatedly , then there will be a statistical preference of which path is a preferred path and its preferred shape of travel relative to the resultant action matrix 30 , starting at the transition point of the particular transition matrix cell . when a detection of a particular transition is detected then driver can be alerted of the preferred learned decision and take action unless canceled by the driver or passenger . next in a block 240 , the computer 8 verifies that the vehicle 10 is on the exit ramp . this can be accomplished with another image capture of the lane markings or by taking a gnss position . if the vehicle is on the exit ramp 17 , the process continues to in a block 250 , else the process returns to in the block 205 . next , in a block 250 , the computer 8 sends a message to the vehicle &# 39 ; s onboard control and navigation system confirm the egress or a message to the operator . following the block 250 , the process 200 ends . as used herein , the adverb “ substantially ” modifying an adjective means that a shape , structure , measurement , value , calculation , etc . may deviate from an exact described geometry , distance , measurement , value , calculation , etc ., because of imperfections in the materials , machining , manufacturing , sensor measurements , computations , processing time , communications time , etc . computing devices such as those discussed herein generally each include instructions executable by one or more computing devices such as those identified above , and for carrying out blocks or steps of processes described above . computer executable instructions may be compiled or interpreted from computer programs created using a variety of programming languages and / or technologies , including , without limitation , and either alone or in combination , java ™, c , c ++, c #, visual basic , python , java script , perl , html , php , etc . in general , a processor ( e . g ., a microprocessor ) receives instructions , e . g ., from a memory , a computer readable medium , etc ., and executes these instructions , thereby performing one or more processes , including one or more of the processes described herein . such instructions and other data may be stored and transmitted using a variety of computer readable media . a file in a computing device is generally a collection of data stored on a computer readable medium , such as a storage medium , a random access memory , etc . a computer readable medium includes any medium that participates in providing data ( e . g ., instructions ), which may be read by a computer . such a medium may take many forms , including , but not limited to , non - volatile media , volatile media , etc . non - volatile media include , for example , optical or magnetic disks and other persistent memory . volatile media include dynamic random access memory ( dram ), which typically constitutes a main memory . common forms of computer readable media include , for example , a floppy disk , a flexible disk , hard disk , magnetic tape , any other magnetic medium , a cd rom , dvd , any other optical medium , punch cards , paper tape , any other physical medium with patterns of holes , a ram , a prom , an eprom , a flash eeprom , any other memory chip or cartridge , or any other medium from which a computer can read . with regard to the media , processes , systems , methods , etc . described herein , it should be understood that , although the steps of such processes , etc . have been described as occurring according to a certain ordered sequence , such processes could be practiced with the described steps performed in an order other than the order described herein . it further should be understood that certain steps could be performed simultaneously , that other steps could be added , or that certain steps described herein could be omitted . in other words , the descriptions of systems and / or processes herein are provided for the purpose of illustrating certain embodiments , and should in no way be construed so as to limit the disclosed subject matter . accordingly , it is to be understood that the above description is intended to be illustrative and not restrictive . many embodiments and applications other than the examples provided would be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reading the above description . the scope of the invention should be determined , not with reference to the above description , but should instead be determined with reference to claims appended hereto and / or included in a non - provisional patent application based hereon , along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled . it is anticipated and intended that future developments will occur in the arts discussed herein , and that the disclosed systems and methods will be incorporated into such future embodiments . in sum , it should be understood that the disclosed subject matter is capable of modification and variation . | 6 |
hereafter , preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described concretely by referring to accompanying drawing . fig3 a through 3f are sectional views showing a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device according to a first embodiment of the present invention in the order of process . fig4 is its plan view . a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device having at least three wiring layers laminated on a substrate includes the steps of disposing outside box mark ( word lines ) 205 a extending in one direction in a predetermined position when forming the word lines 205 , disposing outside box mark ( bit lines ) 211 a extending in a direction perpendicular to the outside box mark ( word lines ) when forming the bit lines 211 , thereby forming one misalignment measurement mark 205 a and 211 a , disposing an inside box mark 27 on the substrate by using a mask for forming capacity contacts , measuring misalignment values of the misalignment measurement mark and the inside box mark , inputting the values to the aligner as offset values , and forming a pattern of the capacity contacts 214 . in the same way as the conventional example , the first embodiment shows a lithography process for forming a pattern of capacity contacts 214 arranged between word lines 205 and bit lines 211 , after the word lines and the bit lines 211 have been formed on a semiconductor substrate 201 having elements formed thereon . as shown in fig3 a , device isolation regions 202 are first formed on the semiconductor substrate 201 . subsequently , as shown in fig3 b , word lines 205 each having a polycide structure are formed . at this time , an outside box mark ( word lines ) 205 a for automatic misalignment measurement is also formed on scribe lines 204 simultaneously with formation of the word lines 205 . thereafter , as shown in fig3 c , pad polysilicon regions 20 are formed on predetermined areas on the word lines 205 . thereafter , an oxide film 203 having a film thickness of , for example , approximately 800 nm is deposited by using the chemical vapor deposition ( cvd ) method or the like . as occasion demands , reflow , silica etch back , chemical - mechanical polishing ( cmp ), or the like is conducted on the oxide film 203 to planarize the oxide film 203 . as shown in fig3 d , a resist 207 is applied to the surface of the oxide film 203 . by using a mask for forming a contact hole 209 having an inside box mark 21 for automatic overlay measurement added thereto , exposure and development are conducted . thereafter , a misalignment value from the inside box mark 21 formed over the outside box mark ( word lines ) 205 a is read by using an automatic overlay measuring instrument . thereby , a misalignment value between the word line 205 and the contact hole 209 is measured . in succession , the misalignment value is inputted as an offset value of an aligner . a resist 207 is applied on the surface of the oxide film 203 again , and exposure of the contact hole 209 is conducted . subsequently , as shown in fig3 e , a predetermined region of the oxide film 203 is removed , by using the photoresist 207 formed so as to have a predetermined pattern shape , as a mask , and by using anisotropic etching or the like . a contact hole 25 is thus formed . furthermore , by way of a predetermined process , wsi is buried in the contact hole 25 , and in addition , wsi serving as a bit line 211 is deposited . thereafter , in the same way as the word line 205 , exposure and development are conducted by using a mask for forming the bit lines having an outside box mark ( bit lines ) 211 a for automatic overlay measurement added thereto . the bit lines 211 are thus formed , and in addition the outside box mark ( bit lines ) 211 a is formed so as to overlie the outside box mark 205 a formed of word lines . at this time , misalignment of the bit lines 211 is measured by using the outside box mark ( bit lines ) 211 a formed at the time of contact described before . subsequently , as shown in fig3 f , an oxide film 250 having a film thickness of , for example , approximately 800 nm is deposited by using the chemical vapor deposition ( cvd ) method or the like . as occasion demands , reflow , silica etch back , chemical - mechanical polishing ( cmp ), or the like is conducted on the oxide film 250 to planarize the oxide film 250 . thereafter , a photoresist film 213 is applied to the surface of the oxide film 250 . by using a mask for forming capacity contacts having an inside box mark 213 a for automatic overlay measurement added thereto , exposure and development are conducted by using a mask for forming capacity contacts . thereafter , by using the automatic overlay measuring instrument , the #- shaped outside box mark ( 205 a and 211 a ) formed of the word lines 205 and the bit lines 211 , and the inside box mark 213 a are measured . thereby , a misalignment value in the x direction ( the lateral direction of fig3 a through 3f ) is read from the outside box mark 205 a formed of the word lines , and a misalignment value in the y direction ( the depth direction of fig3 a through 3f ) is read from the outside box mark 211 a formed of the bit lines 211 . between wiring lines forming the shape of #, the capacity contacts 214 are thus formed . by referring to fig5 a through 5f , a second embodiment of the present invention will now be described . processes in the second embodiment are basically the same as those in the first embodiment . principally , changed points will now be described . in the second embodiment , device isolation regions 302 are formed on a semiconductor substrate 301 in the same way as fig3 a , and thereafter an outside box mark ( word lines ) 305 a of slit type for automatic overlay measurement is formed on scribe lines simultaneously with formation of the word lines 305 as shown in fig5 b . thereafter , pad polysilicon regions 30 and an oxide film 303 are formed in the same way as fig3 c through 3d . by using a resist 307 formed in a predetermined shape , as a mask , a predetermined area of the oxide film 303 is removed by anisotropic etching or the like and a contact hole 35 is formed as shown in fig5 d and 5e . at this time , the oxide film 303 is buried in the outside box mark ( word lines ) 305 a of slit type for automatic overlay measurement formed on the scribe lines simultaneously with the word lines 305 . thereafter , exposure and development are conducted by using a bit line forming mask having an outside box mark ( bit lines ) 311 a for automatic overlay measurement added thereto . thus , bit lines 311 are formed , and in addition , the outside box mark ( bit lines ) 311 a is formed so as to overlie the outside box mark ( word lines ) 305 a of slit type formed of the word lines 305 . as a result , edges of a #- shaped box mark formed by the outside box mark ( word lines ) 305 a of slit type and outside box mark ( bit lines ) 311 a become sharp . and the overlay measurement accuracy of the automatic overlay measuring instrument is improved . furthermore , by changing the outside box mark ( bit lines ) 311 a as well to a box mark of slit type , a further improvement of the measurement accuracy can be expected . in the embodiments heretofore described , capacity contacts formed between word lines and between bit lines have been described . however , it can be applied between other processes as well in the same way . | 7 |
an apparatus is provided herein for deployment of a marker . the marker is delivered by way of a lumen , such as the working channel of a biopsy device or through the channel formed when performing a biopsy . according to several exemplary embodiments discussed below , the marker deployment device includes an elongated introduction device and a deployment assembly . the deployment assembly deposits the marker through an aperture , and then at least substantially closes the aperture . maintaining the aperture in a substantially closed position reduces the possibility that the marker will fall back into deployment device . in the following description , for purposes of explanation , numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present method and apparatus . it will be apparent , however , to one skilled in the art that the present method and apparatus may be practiced without these specific details . reference in the specification to “ one embodiment ” or “ an embodiment ” means that a particular feature , structure , or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment . the appearance of the phrase “ in one embodiment ” in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment . fig1 illustrates a marker deployment device ( 100 ) coupled to a working channel ( 110 ), such as the working channel of a biopsy device according to one exemplary embodiment . the working channel ( 110 ) has an aperture ( 120 ) defined therein . the deployment device ( 100 ) according to the present exemplary embodiment may include a hub ( 130 ) to which a cannula ( 131 ), ( as best seen in fig2 ) is connected . the cannula is selectively received within the working channel ( 110 ). the deployment device ( 100 ) also includes a push rod ( 140 ), which extends into the hub ( 130 ). in fig1 , a relatively large portion of the hub ( 130 ) is shown in contact with the proximal end of the working channel ( 110 ). this contact prevents further movement of the deployment device ( 100 ) within the working channel ( 110 ). as the movement and location of the deployment device ( 100 ) is thus constrained , the push rod ( 140 ) may then be advanced to deploy a marker . the proximal end of the push rod ( 140 ) may include a plunger ( 141 ) that is relatively large compared to the rest of the push rod ( 140 ), plunger ( 141 ) which may facilitate movement of the push rod ( 140 ) relative to the working channel ( 110 ) as the deployment device ( 100 ) is actuated . other components of the deployment device ( 100 ) will be discussed in isolation with reference to fig2 , while the operation of the deployment device ( 100 ) will be discussed further with reference to fig3 a - 3b . fig2 illustrates a distal end ( 212 ) of the deployment device ( 100 ) in more detail . as used herein , the distal end shall refer to a portion nearer the biopsy site while proximal shall refer to the end opposite the distal end . as shown in fig2 , the marker deployment device ( 100 ) includes the cannula ( 131 ), the push rod ( 140 ), and an expandable member ( 200 ). the expandable member ( 200 ) forms a deployment assembly . the deployment assembly is configured to deposit a marker ( 210 ) while minimizing space between the deployment device ( 200 ) and the device or area used to introduce the deployment device . further as seen in fig2 , the distal end ( 212 ) of the cannula ( 130 ) is open . the distal end of the push rod ( 140 ) is coupled to the expandable member ( 200 ). consequently , translation of the push rod ( 140 ) relative to the cannula ( 131 ) results in movement of the expandable member ( 200 ) relative to the cannula ( 131 ). the expandable member ( 200 ) is configured to receive a marker ( 210 ). in particular , the expandable member ( 200 ) may be compressed by a predetermined amount to form a depression ( 214 ) appropriately sized such that the marker ( 210 ) may be received therein . fig2 illustrates the push rod ( 140 ), expandable member ( 200 ), and marker ( 210 ) retained within the cannula ( 131 ) at a first , pre - deployment position . in this first position , the expandable member ( 200 ) may be compressed within the cannula ( 131 ). as introduced , according to one exemplary embodiment , the deployment device ( 100 ) is delivered through the working channel ( 110 ) of a biopsy device or other surgical device . in particular , the cannula ( 131 ) is sized to slide relative to the working channel of the biopsy device . thus , the distal end ( 212 ) of the deployment device ( 100 ) may be introduced to the proximal end of the working channel ( 110 ). as the deployment device is urged toward the distal end of the working channel ( 110 ), the push rod ( 140 ), the expandable member ( 200 ), and the marker ( 210 ) are maintained in their first position relative to the cannula ( 131 ). the distal end of the deployment device ( 100 ) is urged toward the distal end of the working channel ( 110 ) a predetermined distance . in one embodiment , the hub ( 130 ) comes into contact with the proximal end of the working channel ( 110 ) to serve as a stop member to define the predetermined distance . as hub ( 130 ) comes into contact with the proximal end of the working channel ( 110 ), the cannula ( 131 ) is prevented from advancing further . with the location of the cannula ( 130 ) thus constrained , the push rod ( 140 ) may be actuated to deploy the marker ( 210 ). the actuation of the push rod ( 140 ) is shown in fig3 a - 3b . in particular , fig3 a illustrates the cannula ( 130 ) located within the working channel ( 110 ) of the biopsy device . according to the exemplary embodiment shown in fig3 a , as the push rod ( 140 ) is urged through the distal end of the cannula ( 130 ), the expandable member ( 200 ) contacts a wall ( 216 ) at the distal end of the working channel ( 110 ) adjacent aperture ( 120 ). as the push rod ( 140 ) is further advanced , the expandable member ( 200 ) acts against wall ( 216 ) and the internal surface of working channel ( 110 ) so to expand to fill the working channel ( 110 ). as the push rod ( 140 ) is urged further toward the distal end of the working channel ( 110 ), the expandable member ( 200 ) expands through with the aperture ( 120 ; best seen in fig3 a ) in the working channel ( 110 ). the expandable member ( 200 ) is expanded , thereby substantially filling the aperture ( 120 ). for example , according to one exemplary embodiment , the expandable member ( 200 ) is made of a resilient material that is compressed while in the cannula ( 131 ) and the working channel ( 110 ). such materials may include , without limitation , nitinol , an expandable mesh material , and / or shape memory material . according to other exemplary embodiments , the material may be substantially uncompressed or slightly compressed while in the cannula ( 131 ) and / or the working channel ( 110 ). when the push rod ( 140 ) is advanced sufficiently the expandable member ( 200 ) comes into contact with the wall ( 216 ) at the distal end of the working channel ( 110 ). advancing the push rod ( 140 ) compresses the expandable member ( 200 ) about its length within the working channel ( 110 ). this compression causes the expandable member ( 200 ) to expand in a direction perpendicular to the compression . this expansion causes the expandable member ( 200 ) to expand through the aperture ( 120 ). as the expandable member ( 200 ) expands in a perpendicular direction , it carries the marker ( 210 ) through the aperture ( 120 ) and into the surrounding biopsy cavity . according to the exemplary embodiment shown in fig3 b , the expandable member ( 200 ) may be expanded a predetermined amount to thereby deposit the marker ( 210 ) into the biopsy cavity . thereafter , the expansion of the expandable member ( 200 ) may be reduced slightly to provide spacing between the expandable member ( 200 ) and the deposited marker ( 210 ). the expandable member ( 200 ) remains sufficiently expanded to substantially fill the aperture ( 120 ), thereby sealing the aperture ( 120 ) and preventing the marker ( 210 ) from falling back into the deployment device ( 100 ). further , after deployment the working channel ( 110 ) may be rotated such that the opening ( 120 ) is rotated away from the deployed marker ( 210 ), thereby further preventing that the marker ( 210 ) does not fall back into the working channel ( 110 ). the deployment device ( 100 ) may then be withdrawn , such as by withdrawing the working channel ( 110 ) with the expandable member ( 200 ) expanded to maintain a seal about the aperture ( 120 ). thus , as the deployment device is removed , the aperture remains substantially sealed , thereby minimizing or reducing the possibility that the marker ( 210 ) will fall partially or completely into the working channel ( 110 ) and thus be dragged out . while the marker deployment device ( 100 ) has been described with reference to a working channel ( 110 ), those of skill in the art will appreciate that other configurations are possible . for example , according to one exemplary embodiment , the deployment device ( 100 ) may be introduced to the biopsy site by way of the tissue track created by a biopsy device in creating the biopsy site . other configurations are also possible , as will now be discussed in more detail . fig4 , 5 , and 6 illustrate a deployment device ( 400 ) that includes a cannula ( 410 ), a push rod ( 420 ), a protruding member ( 430 ), a receiving member ( 440 ), and a strip of flexible material ( 450 ). fig4 illustrates the deployment device ( 400 ) in isolation . fig5 illustrates the deployment device ( 400 ) at a first , pre - deployment position relative to a working channel ( 110 ). fig6 illustrates the deployment device ( 400 ) deploying a marker ( 210 ). as shown in fig4 , a seat ( 460 ) is defined in the push rod ( 420 ). a strip of flexible material , hereinafter referred to as a flexible strip ( 450 ), has a first position that is coupled to the receiving member ( 440 ). the receiving member is detachably coupled to a distal end of push rod ( 420 ). the flexible strip ( 450 ) extends from the receiving member ( 440 ), and along the surface of a seat ( 460 ). a second portion of flexible strip ( 450 ) is connected to a portion of push rod ( 420 ), adjacent seat ( 460 ), opposite receiving member ( 440 ). thus , while in the first position , the marker ( 210 ), which is positioned in the seat ( 460 ), rests on the flexible strip ( 450 ) while the marker ( 210 ) is received within the seat ( 460 ). further , as shown in fig4 , the distal end of the cannula ( 410 ) is substantially closed . additionally , a cannula aperture ( 470 ) is defined near the distal end of the cannula ( 410 ). according to the present exemplary embodiment , the protruding member ( 430 ) is disposed at or near the closed distal end of the cannula ( 410 ). the protruding member ( 430 ) is configured to be matingly coupled to the receiving member ( 440 ). in particular , as shown in fig5 , the cannula ( 410 ) may be advanced relative to the working channel ( 110 ) until the distal end of the cannula ( 410 ) comes into contact with the distal end of the working channel ( 110 ). at this position , the cannula aperture ( 470 ) is aligned relative to the aperture ( 120 ) defined in the working channel ( 110 ). thereafter , the push rod ( 420 ) may be advanced until the receiving member ( 440 ) comes into contact and engages with the protruding member ( 430 ). this contact couples the receiving member ( 440 ) to the protruding member ( 430 ). as the receiving member ( 440 ) is coupled to the protruding member ( 430 ), the seat ( 460 ) is aligned relative to the both the cannula aperture ( 470 ) and the aperture ( 120 ) defined in the working channel ( 110 ). thereafter , the push rod ( 420 ) may deploy the marker ( 210 ) while minimizing the possibility that the marker ( 210 ) will fall completely or partially back into the seat ( 460 ), the cannula aperture ( 470 ), and / or the aperture ( 120 ) defined in the working channel ( 110 ). such a configuration is shown in fig6 . in particular , as previously discussed , the protruding member ( 430 ) is coupled to the receiving member ( 440 ). as the push rod ( 420 ) is retracted , the protruding member ( 430 ) retains the receiving member ( 440 ) in contact therewith . as the push rod ( 420 ) is retracted , the first portion of flexible strip ( 450 ) is retained in contact with the receiving member ( 440 ) and the second portion of flexible strip ( 450 ) is retained to a portion of the push rod ( 420 ). consequently , as the distal end of the push rod ( 420 ) is retracted while the flexible strip ( 450 ) remains stationary , a center portion of flexible strip ( 450 ) that is positioned over seat ( 460 ) extends upwardly , carrying marker ( 210 ) through aperture ( 470 ). as the center portion of flexible strip ( 450 ) is driven upward and out of the seat ( 460 ), the marker ( 210 ) is also upwardly displaced . as introduced , when the distal end of the cannula ( 410 ) is in contact with the distal end of the working channel ( 110 ), the cannula aperture ( 470 ) and the aperture ( 120 ) in the working channel ( 110 ) are aligned . as the marker ( 210 ) is driven upward , it is urged through the cannula aperture ( 470 ), through the aperture ( 120 ) in the working channel ( 110 ), and then deposited into the biopsy site . as the marker ( 210 ) is deposited into the biopsy site , the flexible strip ( 450 ) closes the cannula aperture ( 470 ) and minimizes the space between the aperture ( 120 ) in the working channel ( 110 ) and the cannula ( 410 ). thus , as the deployment device ( 400 ) and the working channel ( 110 ) are removed , the flexible strip ( 450 ) minimizes the possibility that the marker ( 210 ) will fall partially or completely back into the working channel ( 110 ) or cannula ( 410 ). while a working channel of a biopsy device has been described in introducing the deployment device to a biopsy site , those of skill in the art will appreciate that the deployment device ( 400 ) may be introduced in other ways , such as by the tract formed by the biopsy device when performing the biopsy . fig7 and 8 illustrate a deployment device ( 700 ) that includes a cannula ( 710 ), a push rod ( 720 ), a platform ( 730 ), and at least one biasing member , such as springs ( 740 ). in particular , fig7 illustrates the deployment device ( 700 ) in isolation while in a first , pre - deployment position . as seen in fig7 , the cannula ( 710 ) has a cannula aperture ( 750 ) defined therein . while in the first position , the push rod ( 720 ) is positioned behind the cannula aperture ( 750 ). in this position , the marker ( 210 ) is carried by the platform ( 730 ). in this position , the springs ( 740 ) associated with the platform ( 730 ) are retained in a compressed position within the cannula ( 710 ) with ends ( 755 , 760 ) of platform ( 730 ) being functionally retained by shoulders ( 770 , 780 ). the push rod ( 720 ) is advanced to actuate the deployment device , as shown in fig8 . as shown in fig8 , the deployment device ( 700 ) may be introduced to a biopsy site with a working channel ( 110 ). more specifically , according to one exemplary embodiment , the cannula ( 710 ) is advanced relative to the working channel ( 110 ) until the distal end of the cannula ( 710 ) comes into contact with the distal end of the working channel ( 110 ). as the cannula ( 710 ) is thus advanced , the push rod ( 720 ) is maintained in the first position described above . further , as the cannula ( 710 ) comes into contact with the distal end of the working channel ( 110 ), the cannula aperture ( 750 ) is aligned relative to the aperture ( 120 ) defined in the working channel ( 110 ). thereafter , the push rod ( 720 ) may be advanced relative to the cannula ( 710 ). for example , the push rod ( 720 ) may be advanced until a distal end ( 790 ) of the push rod ( 720 ) contacts an inner wall ( 795 ) of cannula ( 710 ). in one embodiment , the contact between the inner wall ( 795 ) and the distal end ( 790 ) of push rod ( 720 ) causes the shoulders ( 770 , 780 ) to flex , thereby releasing the platform ( 730 ). in another embodiment , one of the shoulders ( 780 ) is constructed of a compressible material . as the push rod ( 720 ) is advanced relative to the cannula ( 710 ), the compressible shoulder ( 780 ) contacts an abutment that extends downwardly into the cannula ( 710 ) adjacent the cannula aperture ( 750 ) such that the compressible shoulder ( 780 ) compresses , thereby releasing the platform ( 730 ). once the platform ( 730 ) is released , the biasing elements ( 740 ) push the platform ( 730 ) and the marker ( 210 ) carried therein upwardly , thereby deploying the marker ( 210 ) into the biopsy cavity . more specifically , as previously introduced , while in the body of the cannula ( 710 ), the platform ( 730 ) is retained in a compressed position . as the platform ( 730 ) is moved into communication with the cannula aperture ( 750 ), the biasing elements ( 740 ) release the platform ( 730 ) from the cannula ( 710 ). according to one exemplary embodiment , the platform ( 730 ) and the cannula aperture ( 750 ) are slightly larger than the aperture ( 120 ) defined in the working channel ( 110 ). thus , as the platform ( 730 ) is released , it is urged outward until it comes into contact with the working channel ( 110 ). thus , the platform ( 730 ) obstructs the aperture ( 120 ). as the platform ( 730 ) is thus urged outwardly , the marker ( 210 ) is pushed through the aperture ( 120 ) and is thus deposited in the biopsy site . the deployment device ( 700 ) may then be removed . the deployment device ( 700 ) and working channel ( 110 ) may be removed while the platform ( 730 ) remains in position to obstruct the aperture ( 120 ). thus , the deployment device ( 700 ) is configured to deposit the marker ( 210 ) while minimizing the possibility that the marker ( 210 ) will fall partially or completely into the working channel ( 110 ) and / or the deployment device ( 700 ). accordingly , the deployment device ( 700 ) minimizes the possibility of drag out . while a working channel has been described for introducing the deployment device to the biopsy site , those of skill in the art will appreciate that the deployment device ( 700 ) may be introduced by any suitable means , such as through the tract cut by a biopsy device in creating the biopsy site . fig9 , 10 , and 11 illustrate a deployment device ( 900 ) that includes a selectively opening outlet ( 905 ) according to one exemplary embodiment . an exemplary embodiment will be discussed that includes a cannula ( 910 ) with the selectively opening outlet ( 905 ) coupled thereto . a push rod ( 930 ) is received within the cannula ( 910 ). as will be discussed in more detail below , the selectively opening outlet ( 905 ) allows the marker ( 210 ) to be selectively deployed in a biopsy site while minimizing the possibility that the marker will be dragged out as the deployment device ( 900 ) is removed . fig9 illustrates the deployment device ( 900 ) in a first , pre - deployment position within a working channel ( 110 ). as shown in fig9 , the push rod ( 930 ) is sized to translate within the cannula ( 910 ). a ramp ( 940 ) or other inclined surface is formed in the distal end of the inner cannula ( 910 ). in the preliminary position , the marker ( 210 ) is located in a marker staging cavity ( 920 ) defined in the space between the distal end of the cannula ( 910 ) and the distal end of the push rod ( 930 ). in the first position , the selectively opening outlet ( 905 ), and the aperture ( 120 ) defined in the working channel ( 110 ) are aligned . the push rod ( 930 ) is actuated to selectively open the selectively opening outlet ( 905 ) and deposit the marker ( 210 ) in a biopsy site . in particular , fig1 illustrates the push rod ( 930 ) being advanced toward the ramp ( 940 ). the push rod ( 930 ) may be flexible or rigid . alternatively , the push rod ( 930 ) may be formed with a flexible material , but also includes a stiffening sleeve therein . further , the push rod may be formed of any suitable material . suitable materials include , without limitation , plastic and metallic materials . as the push rod ( 930 ) is thus advanced , the distal end of the push rod ( 930 ) contacts the marker ( 210 ) thereby urging the marker ( 210 ) toward the ramp ( 940 ). as the marker ( 210 ) engages the ramp ( 940 ), an end of the marker ( 210 ) is urged into contact with the selectively opening outlet ( 905 ). according to one exemplary embodiment , the selectively opening outlet ( 905 ) is biased to remain in a closed position . for example , the cannula ( 910 ) and selectively opening outlet ( 905 ) may be formed of a resilient material , such as a plastic material . accordingly , the selectively opening outlet ( 905 ) may be biased to remain in a closed position . after the marker ( 210 ) is moved into contact with the selectively opening outlet ( 905 ), continued advancement of the push rod ( 930 ) drives the marker ( 210 ) further up the ramp ( 940 ). in one embodiment , the push rod ( 930 ), which may have at least a distal end portion that has a predetermined degree of flexibility is advanced such that the distal end of the push rod is advanced through the selectively opening outlet ( 905 ) to insure that the marker ( 210 ) fully exits the deployment device ( 900 ). as illustrated in fig1 a , the pushrod ( 930 ) is advanced and bends at the interface of ramp ( 940 ) in a flexion region ( 950 ). the marker ( 210 ) moves further up the ramp ( 940 ) and the marker ( 210 ) deflects the selectively opening outlet ( 905 ) outwardly . thus , the bias which maintains the selectively opening outlet ( 905 ) closed is overcome and the selectively opening outlet ( 905 ) is opened . as illustrated in fig1 b , the push rod ( 930 ) is further advanced until the marker ( 210 ) continues through the selectively opening outlet ( 905 ) through the aperture ( 120 ) defined in the working channel ( 110 ), and into the biopsy site . fig1 c illustrates the deployment device in a final stage of deploying the marker . as introduced , the selectively opening outlet ( 905 ) is biased to stay in a closed position . thus , as the marker ( 210 ) clears the selectively opening outlet ( 905 ), the selectively opening outlet ( 905 ) returns to a closed position relative to the cannula ( 910 ). accordingly , after the marker ( 210 ) has been deposited , the selectively opening outlet ( 905 ) closes , thereby closing off the cannula ( 910 ) while minimizing any space between the cannula ( 910 ) and the working channel ( 110 ). once the marker ( 210 ) has been deposited , the deployment device ( 900 ) and working channel ( 110 ) may be removed without the marker ( 210 ) being dragged out . further , selectively opening outlet ( 905 ) closes behind marker ( 210 ) and prevents marker ( 210 ) from following push rod ( 930 ) back within working channel ( 110 ). as can be seen with fig9 - 11c , the cross section of push rod ( 930 ) is smaller than marker ( 210 ). the difference in size provides for the selectively opening outlet ( 905 ) to “ wipe off ” marker ( 210 ) from the distal end of push rod ( 930 ). this “ wiping off ” action occurs because the bias of selectively opening outlet ( 905 ) follows the smaller cross section of push rod ( 930 ) and allows the selectively opening outlet ( 905 ) to begin closing behind marker ( 210 ). while a working channel has been described for introducing the deployment device to the biopsy site , those of skill in the art will appreciate that the deployment device ( 900 ) may be introduced by any suitable means , such as through the tract cut by a biopsy device when creating the biopsy site . fig1 - 15 illustrate a deployment device ( 1200 ) that includes a flexible strip ( 1210 ) having a first end secured to an internal wall ( 1212 ) of a distal end of a cannula ( 1220 ). fig1 a illustrates the components of the deployment device ( 1200 ) in a first , pre - deployment position . as shown in fig1 a , the deployment device ( 1200 ) also includes a push rod ( 1230 ). in the first position , the push rod ( 1230 ) has a distal end ( 1232 ) that extends over a portion of a proximal end ( 1234 ) of the flexible strip ( 1210 ) thereby depressing a portion of the flexible strip ( 1210 ). the cannula ( 1220 ), according to the present exemplary embodiment , has a cannula aperture ( 1240 ) defined therein . the cannula aperture ( 1240 ) is adjacent the distal end of the cannula ( 1220 ). the distal end of flexible strip ( 1210 ) is secured to the internal wall ( 1212 ) at the distal end of the cannula ( 1220 ) and aligned with the proximal and distal edge of aperture ( 1240 ). in the first position , the flexible strip ( 1210 ) extends away from the distal end of the cannula ( 1220 ) past the cannula aperture ( 1240 ) and beyond the distal end ( 1232 ) of the push rod ( 1230 ). the flexible strip ( 1210 ) is preliminarily and selectively retained in this position by the push rod ( 1230 ). more specifically , fig1 b illustrates a cross sectional view taken along section 12 b - 12 b as shown in fig1 b , in the first position , the proximal end of the flexible strip ( 1210 ) is retained between the distal end ( 1232 ) of the push rod ( 1230 ) and an interior wall of the cannula ( 1220 ). with the flexible strip ( 1210 ) thus retained , the flexible strip ( 1210 ) defines a retaining cavity ( 1250 ) that extends into a flexible ramp . in this position , the marker ( 210 ) rests on the flexible strip ( 1210 ) within the retaining cavity ( 1250 ) near the distal end ( 1232 ) of the push rod ( 1230 ). the deployment device ( 1200 ), according to the present exemplary embodiment , is actuated by advancing the push rod ( 1230 ). as the push rod ( 1230 ) is advanced , the distal end ( 1232 ) of the push rod ( 1230 ) comes into contact with the marker ( 210 ). as a result , when the push rod ( 1230 ) is advanced , the marker ( 210 ) is also advanced . in particular , as shown in fig1 , as the marker ( 210 ) is advanced , it is driven along the flexible strip ( 1210 ), thereby reducing the size of the retaining cavity ( 1250 ). more specifically , the marker ( 210 ) is advanced along the flexible strip ( 1210 ) and up the flexible ramp such that the push rod ( 1230 ) captures an increased length of the flexible strip ( 1210 ). the push rod ( 1230 ) is advanced until the marker ( 210 ) is driven through the cannula aperture ( 1240 ) such that the marker ( 210 ) is deployed in the biopsy site . once the marker ( 210 ) is deployed , the push rod ( 1230 ) may be withdrawn until the push rod ( 1230 ) is behind the flexible strip ( 1210 ) and no longer retaining the proximal end ( 1234 ) of the flexible strip ( 1210 ). as previously discussed , while in the preliminary position and while the marker ( 210 ) is being deployed , the push rod ( 1230 ) depresses the flexible strip ( 1210 ). according to such an exemplary embodiment , the flexible strip ( 1210 ) is formed of a resilient material that is configured to spring back to a shape when not depressed by the push rod ( 1230 ). thus , the push rod ( 1230 ) may temporarily retain the flexible strip ( 1210 ) until it is no longer in contact with the flexible strip ( 1210 ). thereafter , the flexible strip ( 1210 ) will automatically return to its un - depressed state when the push rod is removed , as shown in fig1 . according to the present exemplary embodiment , as the flexible strip ( 1210 ) returns to its un - depressed state , it obstructs the cannula aperture ( 1240 ). with the cannula aperture ( 1240 ) thus obstructed , the flexible strip ( 1210 ) minimizes the possibility that the marker ( 210 ) may fall partially or completely back into the deployment device ( 1200 ). as seen in fig1 a and 15b , the push rod ( 1230 ) may be advanced slightly after the flexible strip ( 1210 ) is released from its depressed state to thereby securely close the cannula aperture ( 1240 ). as seen in fig1 a , as the push rod ( 1230 ) is again advanced , the push rod ( 1230 ) secures the flexible strip ( 1210 ) to the cannula ( 1220 ). more specifically , the push rod ( 1230 ) maintains the proximal end ( 1234 ) of the flexible strip ( 1210 ) on the side of the cannula aperture ( 1240 ). thus , as seen in fig1 b , the flexible strip ( 1210 ) is located between the push rod ( 1230 ) and the cannula ( 1220 ) on the side of the cannula aperture ( 1240 ), thereby securely closing the cannula aperture ( 1240 ). the deployment device ( 1200 ) may thus be withdrawn while minimizing the possibility that the marker ( 210 ) will fall partially or completely into the deployment device ( 1200 ), and thus be dragged out . fig1 illustrates a deployment device ( 1600 ) according to one exemplary embodiment . as shown in fig1 , the deployment device ( 1600 ) includes an arm ( 1610 ) that is pivotally connected to an internal surface of a cannula ( 1620 ). one or more biasing elements ( 1650 ), such as a spring , are secured to the arm ( 1610 ) to move the arm ( 1610 ) from a pre - deployment position to a deployment position ( shown in phantom ). a marker ( 210 ) is positioned on a surface of the arm ( 1610 ). the cannula ( 1620 ) further has a cannula aperture defined therein ( 1630 ), where the aperture ( 1630 ) is positioned over the arm ( 1610 ). the deployment device ( 1600 ) may be introduced through the working channel ( 110 ) of a biopsy device . the deployment device ( 1600 ) further includes a selectively retractable cover ( 1640 ). when the deployment device ( 1600 ) is in a first , pre - deployment position , the cover ( 1640 ) is positioned over the arm ( 1610 ) that is carrying the marker ( 210 ). a slot ( 1642 ) is formed on a bottom portion of cover ( 1640 ) to permit cover ( 1640 ) to pass over the arm ( 1610 ). when the sleeve extends over the arm ( 1610 ), arm ( 1610 ) is held down such that the marker ( 210 ) is retained within the deployment device ( 1600 ). however , the cover ( 1640 ) may be selectively retracted , such that the biasing element ( 1650 ) pivots the arm ( 1610 ) upwardly , protruding the marker ( 210 ) out of the aperture ( 1630 ). once deployed , the cover ( 1640 ) may be slid back over the arm ( 1610 ) and extends past the aperture ( 1630 ) to the distal end of cannula ( 1620 ). thus , the cover ( 1640 ) dislodges the marker ( 210 ) from the arm ( 1610 ) and obstructs the aperture ( 1630 ) thereby preventing the marker ( 210 ) from re - entering the deployment device ( 1600 ). in another embodiment , deployment device ( 1600 ) may be used with a cannula within a cannula system ( e . g ., a cutting instrument ). fig1 further illustrates the cannula with a cannula system wherein the cover ( 1640 ) is embodied as the inner cutting instrument element . the distal end of cover ( 1640 ) may then be used to hold down the arm ( 1610 ). the preceding description has been presented only to illustrate and describe exemplary embodiments . it is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosure to any precise form disclosed . many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching . it is intended that the scope of the disclosure be defined by the following claims . | 0 |
fig1 a - 1d show the cadences of four illustrative signals 100 - 103 . as shown in fig1 cadence of a signal consists of a pattern of energy - on periods and energy - off periods , which pattern may or may not repeat . the on periods are depicted by a measurement p ( n ) and the off periods are depicted by a measurement s ( n ) where n = 1 , 2 . . . n . each measurement p ( n ) and s ( n ) is either a time of duration or a count representative of the time of duration . a cadence consists of a minimum of one p / s pair . a repeating cadence consists of the number of p / s pairs that make up the repeating pattern . a non - repeating cadence consists of an infinite number of p / s pairs . because real - world signals can vary within some predetermined tolerance , each p ( n ) and s ( n ) can have a range of values -- for example , ± 10 % of the normal value . that is , for each p ( n ) and s ( n ) to be considered a valid part of a cadence , its value must fall within the specified range of values . the signals that are sought to be recognized are defined by their cadences via cadence timing table - pairs 200 - 204 shown in fig2 . there are as many cadence timing table - pairs as the maximum number of p / s pairs that are needed to uniquely characterize the cadence of every signal that is sought to be detected . each cadence timing table - pair 200 - 204 corresponds to a different value of ( n ): table - pair 200 corresponds to the p1 / s1 pair ;, table - pair 201 corresponds to the p2 / s2 pair ;, etc . ; and table - pair 204 corresponds to the p ( n )/ s ( n ) pair . each cadence timing table - pair 200 - 204 consists of two tables 210 , 211 . tables 210 define p ( n ) timing characteristics of the signals that are sought to be recognized , and are referred to as the p ( n ) cadence - timing tables , while tables 211 define s ( n ) timing characteristics , and are referred to as the s ( n ) cadence - timing tables . each table 210 , 211 contains a plurality of entries 220 , 221 , respectively . entries 220 , 221 are addressed by the values of the corresponding p ( n ) and s ( n ) measurements , respectively . that is , the measured values of p ( n ) and s ( n ) function as pointers into tables 210 , 211 . each entry 220 , 221 has a plurality of one - bit fields 222 , one for each signal that is sought to be recognized . if the value of p ( n ) or s ( n ) that points to the corresponding entry 220 , 221 characterizes the signal that corresponds to the field 222 , its bit is set ; otherwise it is not set . hence , fields 222 whose bits are set in an entry 220 , 221 identify those signals that are candidates for being the particular signal whose measured p ( n ) or s ( n ) value points to this entry 220 , 221 . to define the signals that are sought to be detected , a system administrator populates cadence timing table - pairs 200 - 204 with the data that define those signals , by setting the appropriate bits of entries 220 and 221 . to change the signals that are sought to be detected , the system administrator changes the data contents of table - pairs 200 - 204 . consequently , the table - pairs 200 - 204 can be easily adapted for use with substantially any cadenced - signal signaling scheme . as was mentioned above , real - world signals can vary within some predetermined tolerance range . this is reflected in table - pairs 200 - 204 by having adjacent entries 210 and 211 that span the allowable range of p ( n ) and s ( n ) values of an individual signal all identifying that signal as a candidate . fig3 shows a functional block representation of a signal - recognition engine 300 that is based on the cadence timing tables of fig2 . while engine 300 may be implemented in hardware , a preferred implementation is in software , via a program that executes on a processor -- for example , on the control processor of a switching system such as a stored - program - controlled private branch exchange ( pbx ). the operation of engine 300 is flowcharted in fig4 . signals that are sought to be detected arrive at engine 300 via an input signal line 301 and enter an energy detector 302 . energy detector 302 monitors signal line 301 for presence and absence of signal energy . when energy detector 302 detects signal energy on signal line 301 , it resets and starts a p counter 303 . p counter 303 then times the duration of the first signal - on period ( p1 ), at step 400 of fig4 . when energy detector 302 ceases to detect signal energy on signal line 301 , it stops p counter 303 and resets and starts s counter 304 . s counter 304 then times the duration of the first signal - off period ( s1 ), at step 402 of fig4 . when energy detector 302 again detects signal energy on signal line 301 , it stops s counter 304 and again resets and starts p counter 303 . p counter 303 then times the duration of the second signal - on period ( p2 ), at step 404 . when energy detector 302 again ceases to detect signal energy on signal line 301 , it again stops p counter 303 and again resets and starts s counter 304 . s counter 304 then times the duration of the second signal - off period ( s2 ), at step 406 . this procedure is repeated for the p3 / s3 pair , etc ., until the received signal is recognized and the operation of engine 300 ends , at step 450 . p and s counters 303 and 304 are respectively connected by selectors 305 , 306 to p cadence timing tables 210 and s cadence timing tables 210 of table - pairs 200 - 204 . when energy detector 302 stops p counter 303 for the first time , selector 305 connects the count of p counter 303 as the measured p1 value to p1 cadence timing table 210 of table - pair 200 ; when energy detector 302 stops p counter 303 for the second time , selector 305 connects the count of p counter 303 as the measured p2 value to p2 cadence timing table 210 of cadence timing table - pair 201 ; etc . similarly , when energy detector 302 stops s counter 304 for the first time , selector 306 connects the count of s counter 304 as the measured s1 value to s1 cadence timing table 211 of table - pair 200 ; when energy detector 302 stops s counter 304 for the second time , selector 306 connects the count of s counter 304 as the measured s2 value to s2 cadence timing table 211 of cadence timing table - pair 201 ; etc . in table - pair 200 , the p1 value is used as a pointer to select an entry 220 of p1 cadence timing table 210 , at step 420 , and the s1 value is used as a pointer to select an entry 221 of s1 cadence timing table 211 , at step 422 . these two selected entries are anded with each other by an and function 307 , at step 424 , and the result is stored in a store 308 . the result is a candidate list that identifies the signals which are candidates for being the signal that is being received on signal line 301 . a single - bit - set detector 309 analyzes the contents of store 308 to determine whether only one bit is set in store 308 , at step 426 . if only one bit is set in store 308 , the signal incoming on signal line 301 has been uniquely identified , at step 448 , and single - bit - set detector causes a selector 310 to output the contents of store 308 as the identifier of the recognized signal at a signal id output 311 . the signal - recognition engine of fig3 then ends its operation , at step 450 . if it is determined at step 426 that more than one bit is set in store 308 , the incoming signal has not yet been uniquely identified , and detector 309 causes selector 310 to provide the contents of store 308 as an input to and function 37 . meanwhile , the measured p2 value is used as a pointer to select an entry 220 of p2 cadence timing table 210 of the next sequential cadence timing table - pair 201 in the sequence of table - pairs 200 - 204 , at step 430 , and the s2 value is used as a pointer to select an entry 221 of s2 cadence timing table 211 of that same one table - pair 201 , at step 432 . these two selected entries 220 , 221 of table - pair 201 are anded with each other and with the contents of store 308 by and function 307 , at step 434 , and the result is again stored in store 308 . detector 309 again analyzes the contents of store 308 to ascertain whether only one bit is set in store 308 , at step 436 . if only one bit is set in store 308 the signal incoming on signal line 301 has been uniquely identified , at step 448 , and detector 309 causes selector 310 to output the contents of store 308 at the signal id output 311 . the operation of signal - recognition engine 300 then ends , at step 450 . if more than one bit is set in store 308 , the procedure described above for the p2 / s2 pair is analogously repeated for the p3 / s3 pair , and so on , until the incoming signal is uniquely recognized . if detector 309 ever determines that no bits are set in store 308 , the incoming signal cannot be recognized , and detector 309 generates an indication to that effect . the above discussion has been greatly simplified by the assumption that a signal received on signal line 301 is always received from its beginning , that is , starting with the beginning of its cadence -- with its p1 / s1 pair . in the real world , that is not always the case , however : a signal may start being received at any point within its cadence -- for example , the p3 / s3 pair of a signal may be the first p / s pair received . for proper signal recognition , its is necessary to start the signal - recognition process with the signal origin , i . e , with the p1 / s1 pair . consequently , the structure and operation of signal - recognition engine 300 of fig3 is made more complex by the need to include therein facilities for detection of the signal origin . such a signal - recognition engine 500 is shown in fig5 . elements thereof which are the same as those of signal - recognition engine 300 are designated with the same numerals as in fig3 . the operation of engine 500 is flowcharted in fig6 a - 6b . signal - recognition engine 500 includes signal line 301 , energy detector 302 , p counter 303 , and s counter 304 , inter - connected in the same way as in fig3 as shown in fig5 and operating in the same way as described in conjunction with fig4 as shown at steps 602 - 606 of fig6 . however , it is not known at this time which p ( n )/ s ( n ) pair is being measured by counters 303 and 304 . selectors 305 and 306 are therefore replaced by distributors 505 and 506 which connect each measured p ( n ) value to p cadence timing tables 210 of all table - pairs 200 - 204 and which connect each measured s ( n ) value to s cadence timing tables 210 of all table - pairs 200 - 204 . in each table - pair 200 - 204 , the first p ( n ) value is used as a pointer to select an entry 220 of p cadence timing table 210 , at steps 610 - 612 , and the first s ( n ) value is used as a pointer to select an entry 221 of s cadence timing table 211 , at steps 614 - 616 . engine 500 includes a plurality of pattern - origin - detection facilities 510 - 514 , which are replicas of each other , for processing the entries selected from table pairs 200 - 204 . there are as many facilities 510 - 514 as there are table - pairs 200 - 204 . each facility 510 - 514 has access at any one time to the two selected entries 220 , 221 from a different table - pair 200 - 204 . a selector 504 of each facility 510 - 514 selects the two entries 220 , 221 from a different one of table - pairs 200 - 204 : selector 504 of facility 510 initially selects entries 220 , 221 from table - pair 200 , selector 504 of the next facility initially selects entries 220 , 221 from table - pair 201 , etc ., and selector 504 of facility 514 initially selects entries 220 , 221 from table - pair 204 . ( each facility 510 - 514 is here said to correspond to the one pair of entries 220 , 221 selected by the initial , ( p ( 1 )/ s ( 1 ), pair that is initially selected by its selector 504 .) the two selected entries 220 , 221 are anded with each other in each facility 510 - 514 by and function 307 and the result in each facility 510 - 514 is stored in a store 308 , at steps 618 - 620 . the results that are stored in stores 308 of facilities 510 - 514 are candidate lists that identify the signals which are candidates for being the signal received on signal line 301 . each facility 510 - 514 has its own cadence count table 508 . as shown in fig7 each table 508 has an entry 517 , for each signal that is sought to be recognized . each signal &# 39 ; s entry 517 initially indicates the number of s / p pairs that are needed to uniquely identify that signal ; the initial contents of all tables 508 are identical . a decrementer 507 in each facility 510 - 514 decrements entries 517 in cadence count table 508 of those signals whose corresponding bits are set in store 308 , at steps 522 - 624 . in each facility 510 - 514 , single - bit - set detector 309 analyzes the contents of store 308 to determine whether only one bit is set in store 308 , at steps 626 - 628 . if only one bit is set in store 308 , detector 309 enables a comparator 509 to compare the contents of store 308 and cadence count table 508 in order to determine whether the decremented count in cadence count table 508 for the signal whose bit is set in store 308 is zero , at steps 630 - 632 . if the signal &# 39 ; s count is zero , the end of one cadence -- and hence the beginning of the next cadence -- of a signal has been identified by this facility . the results of the determinations of comparators 509 of all facilities 510 - 514 are ored by an or function 520 whose output acts as a reset signal for all facilities 510 - 514 of engine 500 , at steps 690 - 692 . hence , if any facility 510 - 514 has identified the beginning of a cadence pattern , as determined at steps 634 - 636 , all facilities 510 - 514 are reinitialized to their starting state . all facilities other than facility 510 then cease their operation , at step 694 , and engine 500 with only facility 510 in operation now proceeds to perform the operations of fig3 to recognize the signal , at step 696 . if detector 309 determines that more than one bit is set in store 308 , at steps 626 - 628 , or if comparator 509 determines that the one candidate signal &# 39 ; s count in cadence count table 508 is not zero , at steps 630 - 632 , the end of one cadence and the beginning of the next cadence of a signal has not been identified by the corresponding facility 510 - 514 . if none of the other facilities also identify the end of one and the beginning of the next cadence of a signal , as determined at steps 634 - 636 , detector 309 of each facility 510 - 514 causes selector 310 to provide the contents of store 308 as an input to and function 307 . meanwhile , the next measured p value , p ( n + 1 ), is used as a pointer to an entry 220 of p cadence timing table 210 of each timing table - pair 200 - 204 , at steps 640 - 642 , and the next measured s value , s ( n + 1 ), is used as a pointer to an entry 221 of s cadence timing table 211 of each cadence timing table - pair 200 - 204 , at steps 646 - 646 , again resulting in selection of a pair of entries 220 , 221 , from each table 200 - 204 . however , selector 504 of each facility 510 - 514 now selects the entries 220 , 221 from the next sequential table - pair 200 - 204 relative to the previously - selected entries &# 39 ; table - pair . thus , for example , selector 504 of facility 510 selects entries 220 , 221 from table - pair 201 , selector 504 of facility 511 selects entries 220 , 221 from table - pair 202 , etc ., and selector 504 of the last facility 514 , which previously selected entries 220 , 221 from table - pair 204 , &# 34 ; wraps around &# 34 ; and selects entries 220 , 221 from table - pair 200 . in each facility 510 - 514 , the selected entries 220 , 221 are anded by and function 307 with the contents of store 308 , and the result is stored in store 308 , at step 648 - 650 . the rest of the operation of each facility 510 - 514 is the same as was described above for steps 622 - 636 , at steps 652 - 666 . the above - described operation of engine 500 is repeated for each p / s pair until one of the facilities 510 - 514 detects the beginning of a cadence . as was already mentioned above , at that point , engine 500 is reset , the operation of facilities 510 - 514 other than facility 510 stops , at step 694 , and engine 500 with only facility 510 operating proceeds to perform the functions of fig3 at step 696 . of course , various changes and modifications to the illustrative embodiment described above will be apparent to those skilled in the art . for example , the signal - recognition engine may be implemented in a field programable gate array . the resulting speed increase could yield more ports of classification on a single board , and thereby yield greater performance per unit of cost . or , noise immunity may easily be built into the signal recognition engine simply by taking the duration ( i . e ., the combined counts of the s and p counters ) of any s / p or p / s pair that results in the selection of two empty entries ( i . e ., no candidate signals ) from the cadence timing tables , and adding this duration to the next count of the s or p counter , respectively ( i . e ., initializing the s or p counter , respectively to this combined count ). the assumption being made is that any s / p or p / s pair that produces no candidates is not a true s / p or p / s pair but is rather a signal - level transition caused by noise . such changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention and without diminishing its attendant advantages . it is therefore intended that such changes and modifications be covered by the following claims . | 7 |
while this invention is susceptible of embodiment in many different forms , there are shown in the drawings and will herein be described in detail specific embodiments , with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered as an example of the principles of the invention and not intended to limit the invention to the specific embodiments shown and described . further , the terms and words used herein are not to be considered limiting , but rather merely descriptive . in the description below , like reference numbers are used to describe the same , similar , or corresponding parts in the several views of the drawings . fig1 is a functional block diagram of a system 100 for performing automated speech recognition according to the preferred embodiment of the invention . audio signals from a transducer ( e . g ., microphone , not shown ) are input at and an input 102 of an audio signal sampler 104 . the audio signal sampler 104 preferably samples the audio signal at a sampling rate of about 8 , 000 to 16 , 000 samples per second and at 8 to 16 bit resolution and outputs a representation of the input audio signal that is discretized in time and amplitude . the audio signals may be represented as a sequence of binary numbers : x n , n = 0 . . . n , where x n is an nth indexed digitized sample , and the index n ranges up to a limit n determined by the length of the audio signal . a finite impulse response ( fir ) time domain filter 106 is coupled to the audio signal sampler 104 for receiving the discretized audio signal . the fir filter 106 serves to increase the magnitude of high frequency components compared to low frequency components of the discretized audio signal . the fir time domain filter 106 processes the discretized audio signal and outputs a sequence of filtered discretized samples at the sampling rate . the each nth filter output may be expressed as : x n l = ∑ k = 0 m c k x n - k where x n l is an nth time domain filtered output , c k is a kth fir time domain filter coefficient , m is one less than the number of fir time domain coefficients ; and x n − k is an indexed digitized sample received from the audio signal sampler 104 . preferably , m is equal to 1 , c 0 is about equal to unity and c 1 is about equal to negative 0 . 95 . other suitable filter functions may be used for pre - emphasizing high frequency components of the discretized audio signal . a windower 108 is coupled to the fir filter 106 for receiving the filtered discretized samples . the windower 108 multiplies successive subsets of filtered discretized samples by a discretized representation of a window function . for example each subset that is termed a frame may comprise about 25 to 30 ms of speech . ( about 200 to 480 samples ). preferably , there is about a 15 - 20 ms overlaps between the two successive blocks . each filtered discretized sample in each frame is multiplied by a specific coefficient of the window function that is determined by the position of the filtered discretized sample in the window . the windower 108 preferably outputs windowed filtered speech samples at an average rate equal to the inverse of the difference between length of each frame and the overlap between frames . each windowed filtered sample within a frame may be denoted : the index f denotes a frame number ; x n f is a nth windowed filtered sample ; and w n is a window coefficient corresponding to the nth position within each frame . applying the windowing function to the discretized audio signal , aids in reducing spectral overlap between adjacent frequency components that are output by a fast fourier transform fft 110 . a hamming window function is preferred . the fft 110 is coupled to the windower 108 for receiving the successive frames of windowed filtered samples . the fft projects successive frames of windowed filtered discretized audio signal samples onto a fourier frequency domain basis to obtain and outputs a plurality of audio signal fourier frequency components , and processes the fourier frequency components to determine a set of power fourier frequency component for each frame . the fft 110 outputs a sequence of power fourier components . the power fft components are given by the following relations : p ( 0 ) = 1 n 2 c 0 2 p ( f k ) = 1 n 2 [ | c k | 2 + | c n - k | 2 ] p ( f n / 2 ) = 1 n 2 c n / 2 2 where , p ( 0 ) is a zero order power fourier frequency component ( equal to an average of power of a frame ); p ( f l ) is an lth power fourier frequency component of the frame ; n is the number of samples per frame ; and c k = ∑ n = 0 n - 1 x n f ⅇ 2 π i n k / n k = 0 , … , n - 1 i is the square root of negative one ; n is a summation index ; n − 1 is the number of samples per frame a mel scale filter bank 112 is coupled to the fft 110 for receiving the power fourier frequency components . the mel scale filter bank includes a plurality of mel scale band pass filters 112 a , 112 b , 112 c , 112 d ( four of which are shown ). each mel scale band pass filter preferably is a weighted sum of a plurality of power fourier frequency components . the mel scale band pass filters 112 a - 112 d preferably have a triangular profile in the frequency domain . alternatively , the mel scale bandpass filters 112 a - 112 d have hamming or hanning frequency domain profile . each mel bandpass filter 112 a - 112 d preferably integrates a plurality of power fourier frequency components into a mel scale frequency component . by integrating plural power fourier frequency components with the mel bandpass filters 112 a - 112 d the dimensionality of the audio signal information is reduced . the mel scale bands are chosen in view of understood characteristics of human acoustic perception . there are preferably about 10 evenly spaced mel scale bandpass filters below 1 khz . beyond 1 khz the bandwidth of successive mel frequency bandpass filters preferably increase by a factor of about 1 . 2 . there are preferably about 10 to 20 mel scale bandpass filters above 1 khz , and more preferably about 14 . the mel scale filter bank 112 outputs a plurality of mel scale frequency components . an mth mel scale frequency component of the mel scale filter bank 112 corresponding to an mth mel bandpass filter is denoted z ( m ). a log - magnitude evaluator 114 is coupled to the mel scale frequency filter bank 112 for applying a composite function to each mel scale frequency component . the composite function comprises taking the magnitude of each mel scale frequency component , and taking the log of the result . by taking the magnitude of each mel scale frequency component , phase information , which does not encode speech information , is discarded . by discarding phase information , the dimensionality of acoustic signal information is further reduced . by taking the log of the resulting magnitude the magnitudes of the mel scale frequency components are put on a scale which more accurately models the response of the human hearing to changes in sound intensity . the log - magnitude evaluator 114 outputs a plurality of rescaled magnitudes of the mel scale frequency components of the form log (| z ( m )|). a discrete cosine transform block ( dct ) 116 is coupled to the log absolute value taker 114 for receiving the rescaled magnitudes . the dct 116 transforms the rescaled magnitudes to the time domain . the output of the dct 116 comprises a set of dct components values ( cepstral coefficients ) for each frame . the zero order component output by the dct is proportional to the log energy of the acoustic signal during the frame from which the component was generated . the dct components output by the dct 116 are preferably of the following form : y p ( k ) = ∑ m = 1 m log ( | z ( m ) | ) cos ( k ( m - 1 2 ) π m ) where y p ( k ) is a kth order dct component output by the dct 116 for a pth frame ; and m in this case is the number of mel scale frequency components . the summation on the left hand side of the above equation effects the dct transformation . the dct components are also termed cepstrum coefficients . the windower 108 , fft 110 , mel scale filter bank 112 , log - magnitude evaluator 114 , and dct 116 operate in synchronism . the dct 116 sequentially outputs sets of dct components corresponding to frames of discretized samples output by the windower 108 . a first buffer 118 is coupled to the dct 116 for receiving successive sets of dct component values . a differencer 120 is coupled to the first buffer 118 for receiving successive sets of dct component values . the differencer 120 operates on two or more successive sets of component values by taking the difference between corresponding dct component values from different sets and outputting sets of discrete differences ( including one difference for each dct component ) of first and / or higher order , for each frame . the discrete differences characterize the time - wise variation of the dct component values . the lth order discrete time difference for the pth frame δ l ( y p ( k )) applied to the sequence of dct components is given by the following recursion relations : δ l ( y p ( k ))= δ l − 1 ( y p + 1 ( k ))− δ l − 1 ( y p − 1 ( k )) the dct component values output for each frame by the dct 116 , along with discrete differences of one or more orders serve to characterize the audio signal during each frame . ( the dct component values and the discrete differences are numbers .) the dct component values and discrete differences of one or more orders are preferably stored in arrays ( one for each frame ) and treated as vectors , hereinafter termed feature vectors . preferably , dct components and the first two orders of differences are used in the feature vectors . the feature vectors for a given frame p are denoted : y p =[ y 1 p , y 2 p , y 3 p , . . . y k p . . . y d p ] where the first k vector elements are dct components , and the ( k + 1 ) th through dth vector elements are discrete differences of the dct components . according to an alternative embodiment the differencer 120 is eliminated , and only the dct components are used to characterize the audio signal during each frame . the first buffer 118 , and the differencer 120 are coupled to a second buffer 122 . the feature vectors are assembled and stored in the second buffer 122 . the above described functional blocks including the audio signal sampler 104 , fir time domain filter 106 , windower 108 , fft 110 , mel scale filter bank 112 , log - magnitude evaluator 114 , dct 116 , first buffer 118 , differencer 120 , and second buffer 122 , are parts of a feature extractor 124 . the function of the feature extractor 124 is to eliminate extraneous , and redundant information from audio signals that include speech sounds , and produce feature vectors each of which is highly correlated to a particular sound that is one variation of a component of spoken language . although a preferred structure and operation of the feature extractor 124 has been described above , other types of feature extractor that have different internal structures , and / or operate differently to process audio signals that include speech sounds , and produce by such processing characterizations of different sub parts ( e . g ., frames ) of the audio signal may be used in practicing the invention . the second buffer 122 supplies feature vectors for each frame to a hidden markov model ( hmm ) 132 . the hmm 132 models spoken language . the hmm 132 comprises a hierarchy of three interconnected layers of states including an acoustic layer 134 , a phoneme layer 136 , and a word layer 138 . the word layers 138 includes a plurality of states corresponding to a plurality of words in a vocabulary of the hmm . transitions between states in the word layer are governed by a word layer transition matrix . the word layer transition matrix includes a probability for each possible transition between word states . some transition probabilities may be zero . the phoneme layer 136 includes a word hmm for each word in the word layer 138 . each word hmm includes a sequence of states corresponding to a sequence of phonemes that comprise the word . transitions between phoneme states in the word layer are also governed by a matrix of transition probabilities . there may be more than one word hmm for each word in the word layer 138 . finally , the acoustic layer 134 includes a phoneme hmm model of each phoneme in the language that the hmm 132 is capable of recognizing . each phoneme hmm includes beginning states and ending states . a first phoneme hmm model 140 and second phoneme hmm model 142 are illustrated . in actuality , there are many phoneme hmm models in the acoustic layer 134 . the details of phoneme hmm models will be discussed with reference to the first phoneme hmm model 140 . a beginning state 140 a and an ending states 140 d are non - emitting which is to say that these states 140 a , 140 d are not associated with acoustic features . between the beginning and ending states of each phoneme hmm are a number of acoustic emitting states ( e . g ., 140 b , 140 c ). although two are shown for the purpose of illustration , in practice there may be more than two emitting states in each phoneme model . each emitting state of each phoneme hmm model ( e . g ., 140 ) is intended to correspond to an acoustically quasi stationary frame of a phoneme . transitions between the states in each phoneme model are also governed by a transition probability matrix . the acoustic layer also includes an hmm model 156 for the absence of speech sounds that occur between speech sounds ( e . g ., between words , and between sentences ). the model for the absence of speech sounds 156 ( background sound model ) 156 is intended to correspond to background noise which predominates in the absence of speech sounds . the background sound model 156 includes a first state 158 that is non - emitting , and a final state 160 that is non - emitting . an emitting state 146 is located between the first 158 and final 160 states . the emitting state 146 represents background sounds . as mentioned above a difficulty arises in asr due to the fact that the background noise varies . feature vectors that characterizes the audio signal that are output by the feature extractor 124 are input into the hmm 132 and used within the acoustic layer 134 . each emitting state in the acoustic layer 134 has associated with it a probability density function ( pdf ) which determines the a posteriori probability that the acoustic state occurred given the feature vector . the emitting states 140 b and 140 c of the first phoneme hmm have associated probability density functions 144 and 162 respectively . likewise , the emitting state 146 of the background sound model 156 has a background sound pdf 148 . gaussian mixture component means for the background sound model 156 , that uses gaussian mixture component means 150 that are described below . the a posteriori probability for each emitting state ( including the emitting state 146 in the background sound model 150 ) is preferably a multi component gaussian mixture of the form : b j ( y p ) = ∑ n = 1 m c j n b j n ( y p ) where , b j ( y p ) is the a posteriori probability that the hmm model 132 was in a jth state during frame p given the fact that the audio signals during frame p was characterized by a feature vector y p ; c j n is a mixture component weight ; and b j n ( y p ) is an nth mixture component for the jth state that is given by : b j n ( y p ) = 1 ( 2 π ) d ∏ i = 1 d σ i j n 2 exp { - 1 2 ∑ i = 1 d ( y i p - μ ijn ) 2 σ ij n } where , μ ijn is a mean of an ith parameter ( corresponding to an ith elements of the feature vectors ), of the nth mixture component of the jth acoustic state 132 ( for a phoneme or for background sounds ) of the hmm model . σ ijn is a variance associated with the ith parameter of the nth mixture component of the jth acoustic state of the acoustic layer . the means μ ijn serve as reference characterizations of a sound modeled by the a posteriori probability . in the operation a seach engine 164 searches the hmm 132 , for one or more sequences of states that are characterized by high probabilities , and outputs one or more sequences of words that correspond to the high probability sequences of states . the probability of sequences of states are determined by the product of transition probabilities for the sequence of states multiplied by the a posteriori probabilities that the sequence of states occurred based on their associated a posteriori probabilities in view of a sequence of feature vectors extracted from the audio signal to be recognized . the a posteriori probabilities evaluating the a posteriori probabilities associated with a sequence of postulated states with an extracted sequence of feature vectors . expressed mathematically the probability of a sequence of states s 1 . . . t given the fact that a sequence of feature vectors y 1 . . . t was extracted from the audio signal is given by : p ( s 1 … t , y 1 … t , θ ) = π s 1 b s 1 ( y 1 ) ∏ t = 2 t a s t - 1 s t b s t ( y t ) π s1 specifies the probability of a first postulated state in the sequence of states . ; a s t − 1 s t specifies the probability of a transition between a first state postulated for a first time t − 1 and second state postulated for the successive time t ; and other quantities are defined above . various methods are know to persons of ordinary skill in the asr art for finding a likely sequence of states without having to exhaustively evaluate the above equation for each possible sequence of states . one known method is the viterbi search method . in the hmm 132 , transitions from various phoneme states to the model for the absence of speech sounds are allowed . such transitions often occur at the end of postulated words . thus , in order to be able to determine the ending of words , and in order to be able to discriminate between short words that sound like the beginning of longer words and the longer words , it is important to be able to recognize background sounds . in training an hmm based asr system that includes a model of non - speech sounds , certain parameters that described the non speech background sounds must be set . for example if an a posterior probability of the form shown above is used then the mixture component weights , the means μ ijn and the variances σ ijn that characterize background sound must be set during training . as discussed in the background section characteristics of the background sound are not fixed . if a portable device that includes an hmm asr system is taken to different locations the characteristics of the background sound is likely to change . when the background sound in use differs from that present during training , the hmm asr is more likely to make errors . according to the present invention a model used in the asr , preferably the model of non - speech background sounds is updated frequently while the asr is in regular use . the model of non - speech background sounds is updated so as to better model current background sounds . according to the present invention , the background sound is preferably measured in the absence of speech sounds , e . g ., between words or sentences . according to the preferred embodiment of the invention the updating takes place during breaks of at least 600 milliseconds , e . g . breaks that occur between sentences . according to the preferred embodiment of the invention , the detection of the absence of voiced sounds is premised on the assumption that speech sounds reaching the input 102 of the asr system 100 have greater power than background sounds . according to the preferred embodiment of the invention the interruptions in speech sounds between sentences are detected by comparing the zero order dct coefficient of each frame which represents the log energy of each frame to a threshold , and requiring that the zero order dct coefficient remain below the threshold for a predetermined period . by requiring that the zero order dct coefficient remain below the threshold it is possible to distinguish longer inter sentence breaks in speech sound from shorter intra sentence breaks . according to an alternative embodiment of the invention an absence of speech sounds is detected by comparing a weighted sum of dct coefficients to a threshold value . the threshold may be set dynamically based on a running average of the power of the audio signal . an inter sentence pause detector 152 is coupled to the dct 116 for receiving one or more of the coefficients output by the dct for each frame . preferably , the inter - sentence pause detector receives the zero order dct coefficient ( log energy value ) for each frame . if the zero order dct , ( alternatively , a sum of dct coefficients , or a weighted sum of the dct coefficients ) remains below a predetermined threshold value for a predetermined time and then goes above the threshold , the inter sentence pause detector 152 outputs a trigger signal . the predetermined time is set to be longer than the average of intra sentence pauses . the trigger signal is output at the end of long ( inter sentence ) pauses . according to the preferred embodiment of the invention adjustment of the non speech sound model is based on background sounds that occur near the end of inter sentence breaks in speech sound . note that inter sentence pause detector 152 may be triggered after long breaks ( e . g ., 15 minutes ) in speech sounds a comparer and updater 154 is coupled to the inter - sentence pause detector for receiving the trigger signal . the comparer and updater 154 also coupled to the second buffer 122 for receiving feature vectors . in response to receiving the trigger signal the comparer and updater 154 reads one or more feature vectors that were extracted from the end of the inter sentence pause from the second buffer 122 . preferably , more than one feature vector is read from the second buffer 122 and averaged together element by element to obtain a characteristic feature vector ( crv ) that corresponds to at least a portion of the inter sentence pause . alternatively a weighted sum of feature vectors from the inter sentence pause is used . weights used in the weighted sum may be coefficients of a fir low pass filter . according to another alternative embodiment of the invention the weighted sum may sum feature vectors extracted from multiple inter sentence pauses ( excluding speech sounds between them ). alternatively , one feature vector extracted from the vicinity of the end of the inter sentence pause is used as the characteristic feature vector . once the characteristic feature vector has been obtained , a mean vector , from among a plurality mean vectors of one or more emitting states of the background sound model , that is closest to the characteristic feature vector is determined . the closest mean is denoted μ jn * =[ μ 1jn , μ 1jn , μ 1jn , . . . μ ijn , . . . μ djn ,] the closest mean belongs to an nth mixture component of a jth state . closeness is preferably judged by determining which mixture component assumes the highest value when evaluated using the characteristic feature vector . alternatively , closeness is judged by determining which mean vector μ jn yields the highest dot product with the characteristic feature vector . according to another alternative , closeness is judged by evaluating the euclidean vector norm distance between the characteristic feature vector and each mean vector μ jn and determining which distance is smallest . the invention is not limited to any particular way of determining the closeness of the characteristic feature vector to the mean vectors μ jn of the gaussian mixture components . once the closest mean vector is identified , the mixture component with which it is associated is altered so that it yields a higher a posteriori probability when evaluated with the characteristic feature vector . preferably , the latter is accomplished by altering the identified closest mean vector so that it is closer to the characteristic feature vector . more preferably the alteration of the identified closest mean vector μ jn * is performed using the following transformation equation : where μ jn new is a new mean vector to replace the identified closest mean vector μ jn * α is a weighting parameter that is preferably at least about 0 . 7 and more preferably at least about 0 . 9 ; and crv is the characteristic feature vector for non speech background sounds as measured during the inter sentence pause . thus as a user continues to use the asr system 100 as the background sounds in the environment of the asr system 100 change , the system 100 will continue to update one or more of the means of the gaussian mixtures of the non speech sound emitting state , so that the at least one component of the gaussian mixtures better match the ambient noise . thus the asr system 100 will be better able to identify background noise , and the likelihood of the asr system 100 construing background noise 100 as a speech phoneme will be reduced . ultimately , the recognition performance of the asr system is improved . the asr system 100 may be implemented in hardware or software or a combination of the two . fig2 is a flow chart of a process 200 for updating a model of background noise according to the preferred embodiment of the invention . referring to fig2 , in process block 202 an hmm asr process is run on an audio signal that includes speech and non speech background sounds . block 202 is decision block that depends on whether a long pause in the speech component of the audio signal is detected . if a long pause is not detected then the process 200 loops back to block 204 and continues to run the hmm asr process . if a long pause is detected , the process continues with process block 206 in which a characteristic feature vector that characterizes the audio signal during the long pause ( i . e ., characterizes the background sound ) is extracted from the audio signal . after process block 206 , in process block 208 a particular mean of a multi - component gaussian mixture that is used to model non speech background sounds that is closest to the characteristic feature vector extracted in block 206 is found . in process block 210 the particular mean found in process block 208 is updated so that it is closer to the characteristic feature vector extracted in block 206 . from block 210 the process 200 loops back to block 202 . fig3 is a high level flow chart of a process 300 of performing automated speech recognition using an hmm . fig3 is a preferred form of block 202 of fig2 . in process block 302 for each successive increment of time ( frame ) a feature vector that characterizes an audio signal is extracted . in process block 304 for each successive increment of time , the feature vector is used to evaluate gaussian mixtures that give the a posteriori probabilities that various states of the hmm result in audio signal characterized by the feature vector . in process block 306 the most probable sequence of hmm states is determined in view of the a posteriori probabilities and transition probabilities that govern transitions between the hmm states . for each subsequent frame i . e ., as speech continues to be processed , the most probable sequence of hmm states is updated . a variety of methods of varying computational complexity are known to persons of ordinary skill in the asr art for finding the most probable sequence of hmm states . fig4 is a first part of flow chart of a process 400 for extracting feature vectors from an audio signal according to the preferred embodiment of the invention . fig4 and 5 show a preferred form of block 302 of fig3 . in step 402 an audio signal is sampled in the time domain to obtain a discretized representation of the audio signal that includes a sequence of samples . in step 404 a fir filter is applied to the sequence of samples to emphasize high frequency components . in step 406 a window function is applied to successive subsets ( frames ) of the sequence of samples . in step 408 a fft is applied to successive frames of samples to obtain a plurality of frequency components . in step 410 the plurality of frequency components are run through a mel scale filter bank to obtain a plurality of mel scale frequency components . in step 412 the magnitude of each mel scale frequency component is taken to obtain a plurality of mel frequency component magnitudes . in step 414 the log of each mel frequency component magnitude is taken to obtain a plurality of log magnitude mel scale frequency components . referring to fig5 which is a second part of the flow chart begun in fig4 , in step 502 a dct is applied to the log magnitude mel scale frequency components for each frame to obtain a cepstral coefficient vector for each frame . in step 504 first or higher order differences are taken between corresponding cepstral coefficients for two or more frames to obtain at least first order inter frame cepstral coefficient differences ( deltas ). in step 506 for each frame the cepstral coefficients and the inter frame cepstral coefficient differences are output as a feature vector . fig6 is a hardware block diagram of the system 100 for performing automated speech recognition according to the preferred embodiment of the invention . as illustrated in fig6 , the system 100 is a processor 602 based system that executes programs 200 , 300 , 400 that are stored in a program memory 606 . the program memory 606 is a form of computer readable medium . the processor 602 , program memory 606 , a workspace memory 604 , e . g . random access memory ( ram ), and input / output ( i / o ) interface 610 are coupled together through a digital signal bus 608 . the i / o interface 610 is also coupled to an analog to digital converter ( a / d ) 612 and to a transcribed language output 614 . the a / d 612 is coupled to the audio signal input 102 that preferably comprises a microphone . in operation the audio signal is input at the audio signal input 102 converted to the above mentioned discretized representation of the audio signal by the a / d 612 which operates under the control of the processor 602 . the processor executes the programs described with reference to fig2 - 5 and outputs a stream of recognized sentences through the transcribed language output 614 . alternatively the recognized words or sentences are used to control the operation of other programs executed by the processor . for example the system 100 may comprise other peripheral devices such as wireless phone transceiver ( not shown ), in which case the recognized words may be used to select a telephone number to be dialed automatically . the processor 602 preferably comprises a digital signal processor ( dst ). digital signal processors have instruction sets and architectures that are suitable for processing audio signal . as will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the pertinent arts , the invention may be implemented in hardware or software or a combination thereof . programs embodying the invention or portions thereof may be stored on a variety of types of computer readable media including optical disks , hard disk drives , tapes , programmable read only memory chips . network circuits may also serve temporarily as computer readable media from which programs taught by the present invention are read . while the preferred and other embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described , it will be clear that the invention is not so limited . numerous modifications , changes , variations , substitutions , and equivalents will occur to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the following claims . | 6 |
fig1 is a high - level block diagram illustrating an architectural overview of one embodiment of the present invention . the system is configured to install one or more components 102 on a client computer 104 . as used herein , the term “ components ” can include any item of executable code or data , or group of such items , that is capable of being processed by a computer . as a non - limiting example , the components 102 can include : a computer program , a dll , an object code module , a data file , a text file , a hyper text markup language ( html ) file . a graphic or multimedia file , a streaming media file , or other such program and / or data . the components 102 may optionally be stored in compressed form . further , although only one client computer 104 is shown in fig1 , the present invention is capable for installing the components 102 on a plurality of client computers 104 numbering in the tens of thousands and upwards . the client computer 104 is connected via a network 108 to a configuration server 112 . furthermore , the client computer 104 and the configuration server 112 are operably connected to a component server 116 . the component server 116 identifies the location of each the components 102 may be installed on a client computer the client computer 104 is also connected via a network 108 to a download server the download server 118 maintains the components 102 . optionally , the configuration server 112 , the component server 116 , the download server 118 , or some combination thereof , may be integrated on a single computer platform . further , it is noted the configuration server 112 , the component server 116 , and the download server 118 may not necessarily be located in the same room , building or complex . in fact , the configuration server 112 , the component server 116 , and the download server 118 could be located in different states or countries . the client computer 104 , the configuration server 112 , the component server 116 , and the download server 118 may each have any conventional general purpose single - or multi - chip microprocessor such as a pentium ® processor , a pentium ® pro processor , a 805 1 processor , a mpsq processor , a power pc ® processor , or an alpha ® processor . in addition , the microprocessor may be any conventional special purpose microprocessors such as a digital signal processor or a graphics processor . furthermore , the client computer 104 , the configuration server 112 , the component server 116 , and the download server 118 may be desktop , sever , portable , hand - held , set - top , or any other desired type of configuration . furthermore , the client computer 104 , the configuration server 112 , and the component server 116 , and the download server 118 each may be used in connection with various operating systems such as : unix , linux , disk operating system ( dos ), os / 2 , windows 3 . x , windows 95 , windows 98 , and windows nt . the network 108 may include any type of electronically connected group of computers including , for instance , the following networks : internet , intranet , local area networks ( lan ) or wide area networks ( wan ). in addition , the connectivity to the network may be , for example , remote modem , ethernet ( ieee 802 . 3 ), token ring ( ieee 802 . 5 ), fiber distributed datalink interface ( fddi ) or asynchronous transfer mode ( atm ). as used herein , the internet includes network variations such as public internet , a private internet , a secure internet , a private network , a public network , a value - added network , an intranet , and the like . the client computer 104 comprises a user interface module 120 , an upgrade manager module 124 , and a setup manager module 126 . as can be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art , each of the modules 120 , 124 , and 126 comprise various subroutines , procedures , definitional statements , and macros . in one embodiment of the invention , each of the modules 120 , 124 , and 126 are made available in a shareable dynamic link library . in another embodiment of the invention , each of the modules 120 , 124 , and 126 are separately compiled and linked into a single executable program . therefore , the following description of each of the modules 120 , 124 , and 126 is used for convenience to describe the functionality of the client computer 104 . however , the processes that are undergone by each of the modules 120 , 124 , and 126 may be arbitrarily redistributed to one of the other modules or combined together in a single module . furthermore , the user interface module 120 , the upgrade manager module 124 , and the setup manager module 126 may be written in any programming language such as c , c ++, basic , pascal , java , and fortran . c , c ++, basic , pascal , java , and fortran are industry standard programming languages for which many commercial compilers can be used to create executable code . the function of the modules in the client computer 104 is as follows . the user interface module 120 contains routines that for handling dialog boxes , message boxes , and other routines for presenting information to the user via a computer display ( not shown ). the upgrade manager module 124 handles the communication between the configuration server 112 and the component server 116 . the upgrade manager module 124 also handles communication protocol , such as tcpiip , between program servers . component downloading , and component authentication . furthermore , the upgrade manager module 124 determines the client conditions of the client computer 104 prior to downloading selected ones of the components 102 . as used herein , the term “ client conditions ” includes , among other things : a preferred operating language , e . g ., french , english , german , etc ., the name of the operating system of the client computer 104 , any version number that may be associated with the operating system , the existence of one or more other components of the client computer 104 , and / or a user identification number . in one embodiment of the invention , the client conditions are permanently stored in a client profile 128 . in another embodiment of the invention , the client profile 128 is dynamically generated upon each upgrade request by the user . the setup manager module 126 handles the installation of the components 102 after the components are transmitted to the client computer 104 . furthermore , if necessary , the setup manager module 126 registers the downloaded components with the operating system on the client computer 104 and performs other installation housekeeping . the configuration server 112 includes at least one configuration file 114 . it is noted that the term “ configuration server ” is used for convenience to describe any computer that can maintain and transmit the configuration file 114 . for example , the configuration server 112 can be any traditional “ web server ” that hosts media content for viewing by users . in one embodiment , the configuration server 112 includes a plurality of web pages that are viewable by a user at the client computer 104 . the web pages are virtual documents that each have embedded links which link portions of the virtual pages to other virtual pages and other data . a user can traverse the virtual pages and download data by “ clicking ”, with a mouse or other input device a predetermined portion of the virtual page . according to this embodiment , at least one of the web pages includes a “ download ” hyperlink or icon that is associated with a configuration file 114 . the configuration file 114 ( fig1 ) contains the configuration information for the installation of one or more components 102 on the client computer 104 . for example , to advertise a word processing component , named “ foobar ,” a download hyperlink is displayed to the user “ receive our latest product , foobar .” if the user is interested in the foobar component , the user can simply “ click ” on the phrase to download the configuration file 114 and initiate the download process . in one embodiment of the invention , each of the configuration files 114 is associated with one of the components 102 . the format of the configuration file 114 can be arbitrary , so long as it is readable by the client computer 104 . one embodiment of the configuration file 114 is set forth below with reference to fig2 . the configuration file 114 is adapted such that it may be copied and stored on other computers . advantageously , if one of the components 102 is freely distributed or is considered “ shareware ”, the configuration file 114 that is associated with such component may be copied and distributed to others , and thereby enable others to download and install the software upon accessing the configuration file 114 . in one embodiment of the invention , before the configuration file 114 is transmitted from the configuration server 112 to the client computer 104 , the configuration server 112 requests various items of information from the user for registration and demographic tracking purposes . the component server 116 manages information about each of the components 102 that are installable on the client computer 104 . to facilitate management and access to the information , the component information may be stored in a component database 135 . in one embodiment of the invention , the components 102 are maintained on the component server 116 . in another embodiment of the invention , the components 102 are maintained on one or more other component servers , such as the download server 118 . the component server 116 includes at least two modules : a connection manager module 130 and an upgrade handler module 134 . similar to the modules described above with reference to the client computer 104 , the processes that are undergone by each of the modules 130 and 134 may be arbitrarily redistributed to one of the other modules , combined together in a single module , or made available in a shareable dynamic link library . in summary , the function of the modules is as follows . the connection manager 130 handles communication with multiple client computers 104 . the connection manager 130 packages requested information for transmission across the network 108 . the upgrade handler 134 is in operable communication with the connection manager module 130 . the upgrade handler 134 identifies components to be downloaded to the client computer 104 based upon the contents of the client profile 128 and the contents of the configuration file 114 . fig2 is a block diagram illustrating the elements of one embodiment of the configuration file 114 ( fig1 ). the configuration file 114 identifies one or more components for downloading to the client computer 104 ( fig1 ). the configuration file 114 may be stored as any type of file , such as , for example : a text file , an ihtml file , or a java archive ( jar ) file . it will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art that the configuration file 114 may contain other information or have a different format . the configuration file 114 includes a configuration file identifier 202 . the configuration file identifier 202 identifies the format of the remainder of the configuration file 114 . in one embodiment of the invention , at least two types of configuration files exist : a client readable configuration file ( cr file ) and a server configuration file ( sr file ). the cr file is configured to be read by the upgrade manager module 124 ( fig1 ), which parses its contents , and subsequently requests the components from the component server 116 . the sr file is not parsed by the client computer 104 ( other than reading the configuration file identifier ), but is instead forwarded unparsed to the component server 116 . advantageously , to be contrasted with the cr file , any changes in format of the sr file requires no corresponding change to the upgrade manager module 124 on each of the client computers 104 . this feature is especially advantageous when used in a system having thousands of client computers and wherein the upgrade manager module 124 of each of the client computers would otherwise have to be upgraded . the configuration file 114 also contains a number of components field 204 and one or more component identifiers 208 . the number of components field 204 identifies the total number of component identifiers 208 that are contained within the configuration file 114 . each of the component identifiers 208 identifies one or more of the components 102 ( fig1 ). the configuration file 114 also includes an expiration time field 212 . the expiration time field 212 contains a time by which the installation process must be completed , otherwise , the component server 116 refuses to complete the transaction . since the configuration file 114 may be copied to other computers , the use of the expiration time can advantageously be used to limit the lifespan of the configuration file 114 , and prevent others from hosting the configuration file 114 . fig3 is a block diagram illustrating the contents of the client profile 128 . the client profile 128 identifies client conditions , such that when one of the components 102 ( fig1 ) is designated for installation , a version of the component that is compatible with the client conditions may be selected . the client profile 128 includes a number of data field elements . the data field elements include : a product information field 304 , an operating system information field 312 , a distribution codes field 316 , a user identification field 320 , a last update field 324 , a language identifier field 328 , a country identifier field 332 , and a state identifier field 336 . it is noted that the data fields of the client profile are presented for exemplary purposes , and that selected data fields of the client profile 128 can be removed and that other data fields may optionally be added . a description of each of the data fields in the client profile 128 is as follows . the production information field 304 contains product information about one or more components that are currently installed in the client computer 104 ( fig1 ). the product information may include a version number and a component serial number for each installed component . the operating system information field 312 identifies the type of operating system that is executing on the client computer 104 as well as any version information that is associated with the operating system . the distribution codes field 316 identifies the distributor of the currently installed components . the user identification field 320 contains a unique identifier that uniquely identifies the client computer 104 . the last update field 324 contains a timestamp which identifies the last time the client computer 104 was updated . the language identifier field 328 contains a language code that is associated with the client computer 104 . for example , a language code of “ 1 ” can designate english , and a language code of “ 2 ” can designate french , and a language code of “ 3 ” can designate german . the country identifier field 332 identifies at least one country that is associated with the client computer 104 . lastly , the state identifier 336 designates one or more states that identify the client computer , e . g ., california , georgia , or alaska . fig4 is a flowchart illustrating a process for installing one or more components 102 on the client computer 104 ( fig1 ). after a starting at a step 400 , the process moves to a step 404 wherein a user at the client computer 104 initiates an upgrade request . in one embodiment of the invention , at this step , the user accesses a configuration server 112 that is hosting one or more configuration files 114 . the configuration server 112 includes a plurality of web pages , one of the pages having information about at least one of the components 102 . in this embodiment , a portion of the screen display representing the component information is enabled as a hyperlink , and the user can click on the information that is hyperlinked to the configuration file 114 ( fig1 ). the clicking of the information causes the configuration server 112 to download the configuration file 114 to the client computer 104 . however , it will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill that other methods exist for receiving the user upgrade request . for example , the user could type in the name of one or more of the components 102 , or alternatively , using voice recognition software ( not shown ), verbally request one of the components 102 . moving to a step 408 , the client computer 404 generates an upgrade request which requests the location of one or more components . the process for generating an upgrade request is described below in further detail with reference to fig5 . however , in summary , the client computer 104 determines the client conditions and forwards the configuration file 114 and the client conditions to the component server 116 . in one embodiment of the invention , the location of a component server 116 is specified in the configuration file 114 . in another embodiment of the invention , the location of the component server 116 is predefined and stored by the upgrade manager module 124 ( fig1 ). continuing to a step 412 , the component server 116 analyzes the upgrade request and sends an upgrade response message to the client computer 104 ( fig1 ). the process for analyzing the upgrade request is described below in further detail with reference to fig6 . however , in summary , the component server 116 uses the client conditions provided by the client computer 104 to determine an appropriate version of the component which was requested by the user . the component server 116 generates an upgrade response message which identifies the locations of the components requested by the client computer 104 . next , at a step 416 , the client computer 104 analyzes the upgrade response message to determine the location of requested components . further , at this step , the client computer 104 downloads and installs the requested components . the process for downloading the requested components is described in further detail below with reference to fig7 . moving to an end step 420 , the installation process is complete . fig5 is a flowchart illustrating in further detail the process for transmitting an upgrade request message from the client computer 104 ( fig1 ) to the component server 116 ( fig1 ). fig5 shows in further detail the acts that occur in step 408 of the embodiment described in relation to fig4 . from a start step 500 , the client computer 104 proceeds to a next step 502 , wherein a user at the client computer 104 ( fig1 ) requests one or more of the components 102 for downloading . further , at the step 502 , the configuration server 112 ( fig1 ) transmits the configuration file 114 ( fig1 ) to the client computer 104 . continuing to a decision step 504 , the upgrade manager module 124 ( fig1 ) determines whether the configuration file 114 is a valid configuration file 114 ( fig5 ). in one embodiment of the invention , the upgrade manager module 124 checks the validity of the configuration file 114 by examining configuration file identifier 202 ( fig2 ) in the configuration file 114 . however , it will be readily appreciated by one of ordinary skill that other methods exist for determining the validity of the configuration file 114 . if the upgrade manager module 124 determines that the 10 configuration file 114 is not valid , for example , by determining that the configuration file identifier is of an unexpected value or format , the upgrade manager module 124 proceeds to a step 508 . at the step 508 , the upgrade manager module 124 stops processing the configuration file 114 . the process flow then ends at a step 510 . referring again to the decision step 504 , if the upgrade manager module 124 ( fig1 ) determines that the configuration file 114 is valid , the upgrade manager module 124 proceeds to a decision step 512 . at the decision step 512 , the upgrade manager module 124 determines whether the configuration file 114 is to be analyzed by the client computer 104 . in one embodiment of the invention , the upgrade manager module 124 determines whether the configuration file is to by analyzed by examining the configuration file identifier 202 ( fig2 ). if the upgrade manager module 124 determines that the configuration file is a cr file , i . e ., readable by client computer 104 , the upgrade manager module 124 proceeds to a step 514 . at the step 514 , the upgrade manager module 124 generates an upgrade request to the component server 116 ( fig1 ). the upgrade request identifies the components specified in the configuration file 114 . furthermore , the upgrade manager module 124 includes in the request the time stamp that is contained in the expiration time field 212 ( fig2 ). however , referring again to the decision step 514 , if the upgrade manager module 124 ( fig1 ) determines that the configuration file ( fig1 ) is a sr file , i . e ., readable by the component server 116 ( fig1 ), the upgrade manager module 124 , in a 30 step 516 , generates a handoff upgrade request to be sent to the component server 116 . at this step , unlike it does with the cr file , the upgrade manager module 124 does not analyze the contents of the sr file ( fig1 ). advantageously , if the format of the sr file 114 is modified , the upgrade manager module 124 does not have to be upgraded so that it understands the format modifications ( so long as the configuration file identifier can be read ), since the upgrade manager module 124 merely forwards the upgrade request to the component server 116 . this feature is especially advantageous as tens of thousands of client computers would otherwise have to be upgraded upon each modification of the configuration file 114 format . from either the step 514 or the step 516 , the upgrade manager module 124 proceeds to a step 520 . at the step 520 , the upgrade manager module 124 determines the client conditions . as discussed above , the term “ client conditions ” includes , among other things : a preferred language , the operating system of the client computer 104 , the version of the operating system , the existence of one or more other components of the client computer 104 , and / or a user identification number that is associated with the user . in one embodiment of the invention , the client conditions are permanently stored in the client profile 128 . in another embodiment of the invention , the client conditions are determined subsequent to each request by the user for one of the components 102 . as will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art , the client conditions can be obtained by a variety of methods . for example , in one embodiment of the invention , the user identification number can be a unique identifier that is associated with each upgrade manager module 124 . in another embodiment of the invention , the user identification number can be a unique identifier that is associated with the microprocessor of the client computer 104 . 111 yet another embodiment of the invention , the unique identifier is a unique identifier that is associated with the operating system of the client computer 104 . as is seen from the foregoing examples , each of the client conditions may be derived from one or more of a variety of sources . proceeding to a step 524 , the upgrade manager module 124 sends the upgrade request ( generated in either the step 512 or the step 516 ) to the component server 116 ( fig1 ). in addition , the upgrade manager module 124 sends the client profile 128 to the component server 116 . the process flow then ends at the step 510 . fig6 is a flowchart illustrating the process for responding to the upgrade request by the component server 116 . fig6 shows in further detail the acts that occur in step 412 of the embodiment described in relation to fig4 . at the step 600 , the connection manager module 130 ( fig1 ) of the component server 116 ( fig1 ) has received an upgrade request from the client computer 104 . further , the connection manager module 130 has passed the upgrade request to the upgrade handler module 134 ( fig1 ). from a start step 600 , the upgrade handler module 134 proceeds to a decision step 604 . at the decision step 604 , the upgrade handler module 134 ( fig1 ) determines whether the upgrade request has expired . in one embodiment of the invention , the upgrade handler module 134 examines the timestamp that is included in the expiration time field ( fig2 ). in this embodiment , if the timestamp is earlier than the current time , the upgrade handler module 134 in the step 604 determines that the upgrade request has expired . if the upgrade request has expired , the upgrade handler module 134 proceeds to a step 609 . at the step 609 , the upgrade handler module 134 denies the upgrade request . the upgrade manager handler module 134 then sends a message to the client computer 104 to inform the client computer 104 that the request was denied . the process flow then proceeds to an end step 624 wherein the upgrade process is completed . referring again to the decision step 604 , if the upgrade handler module 134 determines that the upgrade request has not expired , the upgrade handler module 134 proceeds to a step 612 . at the step 612 , the upgrade handler module 134 selects one or more of the components 102 for transmission to the client computer 104 . the upgrade handler module 134 uses the client conditions to select components that are compatibly operable with the client computer 104 . for example , the upgrade handler module 134 selects components and / or version of components 102 that are in a language which is preferred by the user , i . e ., english , french , german . in addition , the upgrade handler module 134 can optionally determine one or more additional components that are necessary for proper operation in addition to those components 102 requested by the client computer 104 . for example , one of the requested components may be dependent on the existence of another component in the client computer 104 for proper operation . the upgrade handler module 134 can examine the client conditions to determine the existence of the necessary components , and if missing , supply these components in addition to the requested components . in one embodiment of the invention , the dependency information is stored in the component database 135 . further , the upgrade handler module 134 can identify other components that may be needed by the client computer 104 . moving to a decision step 616 , the upgrade handler module 134 ( fig1 ) determines whether the location of the requested components and those other computers that may be required can be identified in the component database 135 ( fig1 ). if the upgrade handler module 134 cannot identify the location of the selected components in the component database 135 , the upgrade handler module 134 proceeds to the step 609 ( discussed above ) to deny the upgrade request . otherwise , if the requested components are identified , the upgrade handler module 134 ( fig1 ) creates an upgrade response message to the client computer 104 , identifying the location of the computers that are hosting the requested components . as was discussed above , in one embodiment of the invention , the components 102 may be stored on the component server 116 . however , the components 102 may alternatively be stored one or more other server computers , such as the download server 118 . the process flow then proceeds to the step 624 wherein the process 134 completes . fig7 is a flowchart illustrating the steps for installing the components that have been identified by the configuration server 112 ( fig1 ). fig7 shows in further detail the acts that occur in step 416 of the embodiment described in relation to fig4 . at the step 700 , the upgrade manager module 124 ( fig1 ) of the client computer 104 ( fig1 ) has received an upgrade response message from the component server 116 . proceeding to a step 704 , the upgrade manager module 124 ( fig1 ) analyzes the upgrade response message to determine whether the component server 116 was able to identify each of the requested components 102 ( fig1 ) and any other components that may be required for proper operation . if the upgrade manager module 124 determines that locations for all of the requested components could not be found , the upgrade manager module 124 proceeds to a step 708 . at the step 708 , the upgrade manager module 124 informs the user that upgrade failed . the process then ends in an end step 712 . referring again to the decision step 704 , if the upgrade manager module 124 determines that the upgrade request message has identified each of the components 102 ( fig1 ) including any necessary for proper operation , the upgrade manager module 124 proceeds to a step 716 . during the steps 716 , 720 , 724 , and 728 , the upgrade manager module 124 performs an iterative process for downloading each of the components that have been identified by the component server 116 . at the step 716 , the upgrade manager module 124 downloads via the network 108 ( fig1 ) the first of the identified components . it will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art that a number of methods exits for transmitting files across a network , e . g ., http , ftp , etc . continuing to a step 720 , the setup manager module 124 authenticates the downloaded component . it is also to be appreciated that a number of methods exist for authenticating components . in one embodiment of the invention , the authentication process adheres to the digital signature algorithm as defined by the national institute of standards and technology ( nist ). however , other forms of signature verification can be used such as elgamal , fiat - shamir , or rsa . proceeding to a step 724 , the upgrade manager module 124 decompresses the downloaded component . the present invention can be compatibly used with any off the shelf decompression , such as pkzip by pkware , inc ., the universal distribution coder by intelligent compression technologies , bzip , or imp by technelysium . it is also to be appreciated that the upgrade manager module 124 can be used with a proprietary protection scheme . moving to a decision step 728 , the upgrade manager module 124 determines whether the current component is the last component identified in the upgrade response message . if additional components need to be downloaded , the upgrade manager module 124 returns to repeat the steps 716 , 720 , 724 , and 728 with respect to another one of the components . however , still referring to the decision step 728 , if the upgrade manager module 124 determines that the last component has been downloaded , the setup manager module 126 proceeds to a step 732 . at the step 732 , the setup manager module 126 installs each of the downloaded components . to install each of the components , the setup manager module 126 moves the components to an appropriate location in the client computer 104 , e . g ., by copying files . furthermore , if necessary , the setup manager module 126 registers the downloaded component with a component registry ( not shown ) that is associated wit11 operating system ( not shown ). the process flow then ends at the step 712 . the present invention advantageously allows users to upgrade software without knowing the hardware and / or software configuration of their computer . the system automatically downloads a software component and automatically selects the appropriate version of software that is compatible with the user &# 39 ; s computer . further , the present invention allows for the association of an expiration time with the configuration files . if an expiration time is set , the component server can ensure that before a component is downloaded , the configuration file was recently supplied from a trusted configuration server . the use of the expiration time ensures that the user provides requested user information to the configuration server , and that the user did not get the configuration file from another computer outside of the control of the provider of the components . while the above detailed description has shown , described , and pointed out novel features of the invention as applied to various embodiments , it will be understood that various omissions , substitutions , and changes in the form and details of the device or process illustrated may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention . the scope of the invention is indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description . all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope . | 6 |
fig7 ( a ), 7 ( a )&# 39 ; through 7 ( f ), 7 ( f )&# 39 ; are views for explaining the steps of making a tft device according to an embodiment of the present invention . a gate electrode 2 is disposed on a glass substrate 1 and made of al , ta , nb or the like as a proper electrode material . this formation may be achieved by mask deposition , lift - off method or wet - etching . the gate electrode 2 is dipped into an ammonium borate solution , for example , to thereby develop a gate insulating coating 3 through anodic oxidation . as an alternative , this insulating coating may be deposited through the evaporation of sio 2 , al 2 o 3 , y 2 o 3 and so forth . then , a semiconductor layer 4 typically of te is formed through lift - off technique . a photo - resist coating ( e . g ., az 1350 by shipley co .) of a thickness of 0 . 3 μm to 0 . 6 μm is deposited , pre - baked and selectively exposed to light which is originated from a 500 w high voltage mercury - arc lamp , for example . development is carried out with a solution which is a dilution of an az developer ( shipley co .) with distilled water . this is followed by rinsing and post - baking . a semiconductor layer of te is formed and subjected to ultrasonic cleaning in acetone for formation of a desired pattern of the semiconductor layer . as shown in fig7 ( a ) and 7 ( a )&# 39 ;, a portion of the gate insulating coating 3 and the te semiconductor layer 4 is provided with a mask 6 through the use of a wire or a strip of fe -- ni -- co alloy , tungsten or stainless steel and a material for the source / drain electrode , for example , au and ni is deposited as indicated in fig7 ( b ) and 7 ( b )&# 39 ;. the mask 6 is removed and a photo - resist coating ( e . g ., az 1350 by shipley co .) 8 having a thickness of 0 . 3 - 0 . 6 μm is disposed on the thus deposited electrode 7 as shown in fig7 ( c ) and 7 ( c )&# 39 ;. after pre - baking , the semiconductor layer is covered with a mask 9 , as shown in fig7 ( d ) and 7 ( d )&# 39 ;, and exposed selectively to light through the use of a 500 w mercury - arc lamp . development is conducted with an az developer diluted with distilled water to form a desired resist pattern 10 as shown in fig7 ( e ) and 7 ( e )&# 39 ;. in the case that the metallic coating for the source / drain electrode is ni , it is etched with an hno 3 -- h 2 o solution for the buildup of a source / drain electrode pattern 5 as shown in fig7 ( f ) and 7 ( f )&# 39 ;. in the case of a au coating , etching takes place in an i 2 -- nh 4 -- h 2 o -- c 2 h 5 oh solution , thus making a desired pattern 5 for the source / drain electrode . since in the above illustrated embodiment the semiconductor layer te is covered or protected by the resist coating as seen from fig7 ( e ) and 7 ( e )&# 39 ;, a tft device can be made without the influence or effect of the ni etchant or au etchant . fig8 ( a ), 8 ( a )&# 39 ; through 8 ( d ), 8 ( d )&# 39 ; depict the manufacture of the tft device according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention . a gate electrode 2 is disposed on a glass substrate 1 and made of al , ta , nb or the like as a proper electrode material . this formation may be achieved by mask deposition , lift - off method , wet - etching or dry - etching . the gate electrode 2 is dipped into an ammonium borate solution , for example , to thereby develop a gate insulating coating 3 through anodic oxidation . as an alternative , this insulating coating may be deposited through the evaporation of sio 2 , al 2 o 3 , y 2 o 3 and so forth . a semiconductor layer and a source / drain electrode may be patterned at the same time through the lift - off technique in the following manner . a photo - resist coating ( e . g ., az 1350 by shipley co .) is disposed to overly the substrate and then subjected to pre - baking , light exposure , development , rinsing and post - baking in the named order . as indicated in fig8 ( a ) and 8 ( a )&# 39 ;, the semiconductor layer and the source / drain electrode are patterned as denoted by 11 . a mask 12 of fig8 ( b ) and 8 ( b )&# 39 ; is disposed for vacuum deposition of a semiconductor material such as te and formation of a vacuum - deposited semiconductor layer 13 . a mask 6 of fig8 ( c ) and 8 ( c )&# 39 ; is used for vacuum deposition of a proper material for the source / drain electrode , for example , ni and au and growth of a vacuum - deposited source / drain layer 7 . ultrasonic cleaning with acetone is conducted to complete the manufacture of a tft device including the semiconductor layer 4 and the source / drain electrode 5 as shown in fig8 ( d ) and 8 ( d )&# 39 ;. the resultant tft device does not have the disadvantage that the semiconductor layer will disappear and cancel tft characteristics as experienced in the step of patterning for the manufacture of the staggered type tft device because an etchant is not used in patterning the semiconductor layer and the source / drain electrode . furthermore , because of simultaneous formation of the patterned semiconductor layer and the patterned source / drain electrode through using mask deposition and lift - off technology , there is no possibility that the semiconductor layer te will dissolve into the developer during patterning of the photo - resist coating for the source / drain electrode of the staggered type tft device through the use of the lift - off technique . thus , simplicity of patterning the electrode is insured . fig9 ( a ), 9 ( b ) through 9 ( e ), 9 ( e )&# 39 ; are views for explaining the steps of making a tft device according to still another embodiment of the present invention . a gate electrode 2 is disposed on a glass substrate 1 and made of al , ta , nb or the like as a proper electrode material . this formation may be achieved by mask deposition , lift - off method , wet - etching or dry - etching . the gate electrode 2 is dipped into a 3 % ammonium borate solution , for example , to thereby develop a gate insulating coating 3 through anodic oxidation . this insulating coating may also be deposited through the evaporating of sio 2 , al 2 o 3 , y 2 o 3 and so forth . then , a semiconductor layer and a source / drain electrode may be patterned through simultaneous etching in the following manner . a mask 12 of fe -- ni -- co alloy , tungsten or stainless steel wire or strip as shown in fig9 ( a ) and 9 ( a )&# 39 ; is disposed to overly a portion of the glass substrate 1 for vacuum deposition of a semiconductor material such as te and formation of a vacuum - deposited semiconductor layer 13 . subsequently , a mask 6 , typically made of a fe -- ni -- co alloy , tungsten or stainless steel wire or strip as shown in fig9 ( a ) and 9 ( b )&# 39 ;, is used for vacuum deposition of a proper material for the source / drain electrode , for example , ni and au and growth of a vacuum - deposited source / drain layer 7 . disposed on the thus deposited layer is a photo - resist coating 8 ( e . g ., az 1350 by shipley co .) and which is shaped into the resist pattern 15 of fig9 ( d ) and 9 ( d )&# 39 ; by a well known method with the use of a photo - mask 14 . the semiconductor layer te is etched in an i 2 -- nh 4 -- h 2 o -- c 2 h 5 oh solution at room temperature for 3 to 5 seconds . an hno 3 -- h 2 o solution is used in the case when the metallic coating is ni . after etching the photo - resist coating is removed with acetone , thus completing the manufacture of tft patterns 4 and 5 . since in the above illustrated embodiment the semiconductor layer te is covered with the resist coating as seen from fig9 ( d ) and 9 ( d )&# 39 ;, a tft device can be made without the influence of the ni etchant or au etchant . moreover , the above mentioned combined use of mask deposition and chemical etching provides simplicity of alignment between the deposition mask and the substrate and significant advantages for mass production of fine - pattern tft devices . fig1 ( a ), 10 ( a )&# 39 ; through 10 ( g ), 10 ( g )&# 39 ; are views for explaining the steps of making a tft device according to another embodiment of the present invention . a gate electrode 2 is disposed on a glass substrate 1 and made of al , ta , nb or the like as a proper electrode material . this formation may be achieved by mask deposition , lift - off method , wet - etching or dry - etching . the gate electrode 2 is dipped into an ammonium borate solution , for example , to thereby develop a gate insulating coating 3 through anodic oxidation . as an alternative , this insulating coating may be deposited through the evaporation of sio 2 , al 2 o 3 , y 2 o 3 and so forth . then , a semiconductor layer and a source / drain electrode of the coplanar type tft device are patterned as follows . a mask 6 of fe -- ni -- co alloy , tungsten or stainless steel wire or strip with a thickness as shown in fig1 ( a ) and 10 ( a )&# 39 ; is disposed to overly the glass substrate 1 and the gate insulating coating 3 for vacuum deposition of a source / drain electrode material such as au and ni and formation of a vacuum - deposited source / drain electrode layer 7 . subsequently , disposed on the thus deposited layer 7 is a photo - resist coating 8 ( e . g ., az 1350 by shipley co .) with a thickness of 0 . 3 - 0 . 6 μm as shown in fig1 ( c ) and 10 ( c )&# 39 ;. by a well known method with the use of a photo - mask 9 light exposure is effected to obtain the same pattern as the photo - mask after development . after post - baking , the resultant device is etched within an hno 3 -- h 2 o solution and the photo - resist is removed with acetone to form the source / drain electrode pattern 5 of fig1 ( d ) and 10 ( d )&# 39 ; in the case that the metallic coating is ni . an i 2 -- nh 4 -- h 2 o -- c 2 h 5 oh solution is used for etching at room temperature for 60 to 90 seconds in the case of au . after etching , the photo - resist coating is removed with acetone thus forming the source / drain electrode pattern 5 . subsequently disposed on the substrate is a photo - resist coating ( e . g ., az 1350 by shipley co .) with a thickness of 0 . 3 to 0 . 6 μm as shown in fig1 ( e ) and 10 ( e )&# 39 ;. after pre - baking light exposure and development follow with the aid of a photo - mask 16 , forming a pattern 20 as shown in fig1 ( f ) and 10 ( f )&# 39 ;. after post - baking a semiconductor layer of te is vacuum - deposited on the patterned photo - resist coating to form a vacuum - deposited semiconductor layer 13 . ultrasonic cleaning with acetone is effected to complete the manufacture of a desired semiconductor layer 4 as shown in fig1 ( g ) and 10 ( g )&# 39 ;. the above illustrated embodiment relying upon the combined use of mask deposition and etching offers the following advantages . in other words , as long as the source / drain electrode is formed merely through chemical - etching or lift - off technique , there is no possibility that the edge portion of the source / drain electrode will bear a sharp undercut and exhibit poor connection with the semiconductor layer and sometimes break . this result is an improvement of yield and fineness of the patterns . fig1 ( a ), 11 ( a )&# 39 ; through 11 ( d ), 11 ( d )&# 39 ; show steps of making a tft device according to still another embodiment of the present invention . a gate electrode 2 is disposed on a glass substrate 1 and made of al , ta , nb or the like as a proper electrode material . this formation may be achieved by mask deposition , lift - off method , wet - etching or dry - etching . the gate electrode 2 is dipped into an ammonium borate solution , for example , to thereby form a gate insulating coating 3 through anodic oxidation . another way to form patterns on the coplanar type tft device according to the present invention will now be described . as seen from fig1 ( a ) and 11 ( a )&# 39 ;, a photo - resist coating ( e . g ., az 1350 by shipley co .) is disposed in a well known manner . subsequently , a mask 6 typically made of a fe -- ni -- co alloy , a tungsten or stainless steel wire or strip as shown in fig1 ( b ) and 11 ( b )&# 39 ; is used for vacuum deposition of a proper material for the source / drain electrode , for example , ni and au and thus growth of a vacuum - deposited source / drain layer 7 . a different mask 17 of fe -- ni -- co alloy , tungsten or stainless steel wire or strip as shown in fig7 ( c ) and 7 ( c )&# 39 ; is disposed for vacuum deposition of a semiconductor material such as te and formation of a vacuum - deposited semiconductor layer 13 . subsequently , the resultant device is subjected to ultrasonic cleaning within acetone twice for the formation of desired patterns of the source / drain electrode 5 and the semiconductor layer 4 in the coplanar type tft device . since the source / drain electrode of the resultant tft device is not formed only by chemical - etching or lift - off techniques , the source / drain electrode does not have the problem that its edge bears a sharp undercut and exhibits poor contact with the semiconductor layer and resulting in breaks therein . furthermore , since the semiconductor layer and the source / drain electrode are formed simultaneously through the combined use of a mask deposition and a lift - off technique , the previously formed gate electrode is protected against damage and simplicity in increasing patterning accuracy and alignment of the deposition mask with respect to the substrate in favor of mass productivity is realized . fig1 ( a ), 12 ( a )&# 39 ; through 12 ( e ), 12 ( e )&# 39 ; further illustrate steps of manufacturing a tft device according to yet another embodiment of the present invention . a gate electrode 2 is disposed on a glass substrate 1 and made of al , ta , nb or the like as a proper electrode material . this formation may be achieved by mask deposition , lift - off method , wet - etching or dry - etching . the gate electrode 2 is dipped into an ammonium borate solution , for example , to thereby develop a gate insulating coating 3 through anodic oxidation . as an alternative , this insulating coating may be formed through evaporation of sio 2 , al 2 o 3 , y 2 o 3 and so forth . then , patterns on the coplanar type tft device are formed in a different manner according to the present invention . a mask 6 typically made of a fe -- ni -- co alloy , tungsten or stainless steel wire or strip as shown in fig1 ( a ) and 12 ( a )&# 39 ; is used for vacuum deposition of a proper material for the source / drain electrode , for example , ni and thus growth of a vacuum - deposited source / drain layer 7 . a different mask of fe -- ni -- co alloy , tungsten or stainless steel wire or strip is disposed for vacuum deposition of a semiconductor material such as te and formation of a vacuum - deposited semiconductor layer 13 . subsequently , a photo - resist coating 8 ( e . g ., az 1350 by shipley co .) is deposited as shown in fig1 ( c ) and 12 ( c )&# 39 ;. after pre - baking , light exposure , development and post - baking are effected to obtain a photo - resist pattern 15 as shown in fig1 ( d ) and 12 ( d )&# 39 ; by a well known method with the use of a photo - mask 14 . the resultant semiconductor layer te is etched in a i 2 -- nh 4 -- h 2 o -- c 2 h 5 oh solution at room temperature for 3 to 5 seconds , whereas the source / drain electrode ni is etched in an hno 3 -- h 2 o solution . the photo - resist coating is removed with acetone to form the source / drain electrode pattern 5 and the semiconductor layer pattern 4 as shown in fig1 ( e ) and 12 ( e )&# 39 ;. since the source / drain electrode of the resultant tft device is not formed by only chemical - etching or lift - off , the source / drain electrode will not experience problems that its edges bears a sharp undercut as depicted in fig6 or exhibit poor contact with the semiconductor layer causing breaks therein . furthermore , since the semiconductor layer te is covered with the resist coating as seen from fig1 ( d ) and 12 ( d )&# 39 ;, the tft device can be made without being influenced by the ni etchant . further , the remarkable advantages of this embodiment are exhibited in the fineness of the resultant patterns and high mass productivity . fig1 ( a ), 13 ( a )&# 39 ; through 13 ( h ), 13 ( h )&# 39 ; show steps of making a tft device according to another embodiment of the present invention . a gate electrode 2 is disposed on a glass substrate 1 and made of al , ta , nb or the like as a proper electrode material . this formation may be achieved by mask deposition , lift - off method , wet - etching or dry - etching . the gate electrode 2 is dipped into an ammonium borate solution , for example , to thereby develop a gate insulating coating 3 through anodic oxidation . as an alternative , this insulating coating may be developed through the evaporation of sio 2 , al 2 o 3 , y 2 o 3 and so forth . another way to form patterns on the coplanar type tft device according to the present invention will be discussed below . after a photo - resist coating 8 ( typically , az 1350 by shipley co .) is disposed and pre - baked as depicted in fig1 ( a ) and 13 ( a )&# 39 ;, light exposure via a pattern 18 , development and post - baking are effected in the named order to form a resist pattern 19 as shown in fig1 ( b ) and 13 ( b )&# 39 ;. then , a masking 6 is effected typically using a fe -- ni -- co alloy , tungsten or stainless steel wire or strip 6 as shown in fig1 ( c ) and 13 ( c )&# 39 ; for vacuum deposition of a proper material for the source / drain electrode , for example , ni and thus growth of a vacuum - deposited source / drain layer 7 . the substrate is subjected to ultrasonic cleaning with acetone to develop a source / drain electrode pattern 5 as depicted in fig1 ( d ) and 13 ( d )&# 39 ;. similarly , after a photo - resist coating 8 ( typically , az 1350 by shipley co .) is disposed and pre - baked as depicted in fig1 ( e ) and 13 ( e )&# 39 ;, light exposure , development and post - baking are effected in the named order with the aid of a photo - mask 16 to form a resist pattern 20 as shown in fig1 ( f ) and 13 ( f )&# 39 ;. then , vacuum deposition of a proper material for the semiconductor layer such as te is carried out to thereby form a vacuum - deposited semiconductor layer 13 . the device is subject to ultrasonic cleaning within acetone to develop a source / drain electrode pattern 5 and a semiconductor layer pattern 4 as depicted in fig1 ( h ) and 13 ( h )&# 39 ;. since the source / drain electrode of the resultant tft device is patterned with masking as depicted in fig1 ( c ) and 13 ( c )&# 39 ;, the source / drain electrode will not be sharply undercut as depicted in fig6 . there is therefore no problem with the electrode exhibiting poor contact with the semiconductor layer te and causing breaks therein . it is obvious to those skilled in the art that the foregoing techniques are also applicable to the coplanar type tft device as shown in fig3 and in fig2 . furthermore , the present invention provides a high density array of tft devices with effectiveness in manufacturing the tft devices as shown in fig1 and 3 . 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 are intended to be included within the scope of the following claims . | 7 |
referring to fig1 and 2 , the invention provides a thermoplastic cable , generally denoted by the numeral 10 , and method of manufacture therefore , for use in electrical systems . cable 10 has a plurality of conductors 11 which generally have an insulation 12 thereon . the conductors are generally copper in the size range of 10 to 18 awg and the insulation is preferably an appropriate polyvinylchloride which is appropriate for the 10 to 18 awg size range and which may be oil resistant . surrounding the insulated conductors is filler 13 . filler material 13 is preferably an appropriate textile that surrounds and fills the spaces between the conductors . preferred fillers are polypropylene fibers , jute , cotton and polyamide fibers , i . e . kevlar . filler 13 is often surrounded by an appropriate paper or fabric separator 14 which is wrapped around the cabled fillers and insulated conductors to provide a non - jacketed cable that is substantially cylindrical . the separator may be applied to the cable during the extrusion process . the non - jacketed cable is subsequently provided with a longitudinally extending jacket or sheath 15 which envelopes or surrounds the non - jacketed cable . jacket 15 includes an annular longitudinally circumferentially extending inner layer 18 and an annular longitudinally extending outer layer 20 . the inner layer 18 is the base material of the jacket and outer layer 20 is the finished appearance material on the exterior of the jacket . the inner layer 18 is preferably a flexible thermoplastic polyvinylchloride which may be oil resistant at a temperature of from about 60 ° c . to about 105 ° c . with about a 0 . 030 inch thickness and which has a 300 volt rating . moreover , inner layer 18 is of a polyvinychloride material rated for indoor or outdoor use by standards organizations such as underwriter &# 39 ; s laboratories . the outer layer 20 is preferably a flexible thermoplastic matte type polyvinylchloride which is generally rated for outdoor use but may be rated for indoor use as well . outer layer 20 may be oil resistant at a temperature of at least about 60 ° c . with about a 0 . 005 - 0 . 008 inch thickness , in conjunction with the inner layer , carries a 300 volt rating . layers 18 and 20 may comprise the same or different materials and may be the same or different colors . regardless of the materials used in the two layers , the overall jacket construction comprises inseparable layers of two integrally formed materials . the thickness of the insulation and jacket generally depend on the size of the cable . however , the conductor insulation 12 is typically from about 0 . 015 inches to about 0 . 075 inches thick , the base jacket 18 is from about 0 . 020 to about 0 . 065 inches thick , and the matte finished skin 20 being from about 0 . 005 to about 0 . 008 inches thick . the preferred jacket 15 has an outer matte finish and the jacket 15 has overall temperature rating of from about 60 ° c . to about 105 ° c . and a voltage rating of 300 volts . the non - jacketed cable 17 ( fig4 ) is jacketed by a co - extrusion process . conventionally , the non - jacketed cable 17 is jacketed by extruding thereon a single jacket of the outdoor rated polyvinylchloride 18 or a single jacket of the indoor rated matte finish polyvinylchloride 20 . the present invention provides an improved cable by co - extruding onto a non - jacketed cable a first base of indoor or outdoor rated flexible polyvinylchloride and a second outer skin of outdoor rated matte finish type flexible polyvinylchloride . a conventional coextrusion die 21 is illustrated in fig3 wherein a first polyvinylchloride composition melt stream and a second polyvinylchloride composition melt streams are fed from two separate extruders ( not shown ) which prepares the appropriate first 18a and second 20a polyvinyl chloride composition melts , as described below . the first melt composition 18a is a polyvinylchloride composition generally acceptable for an outdoor rated cable jacket wherein the polyvinylchloride is flexible , may have oil resistant properties and a temperature rating of at least about 60 ° c . and preferably up to about 105 ° c . when having a 0 . 030 inch thickness and a voltage rating of 300 volts . the first polyvinylchloride composition generally has a glossy finish . the first polyvinylchloride composition also has a higher tensile strength than the second polyvinylchloride composition . the second melt 20a is a polyvinylchloride composition generally acceptable for an outdoor rated cable jacket . the second polyvinylchloride composition is flexible , may have oil resistant properties and a temperature rating of less than about 105 ° c . and preferably about 60 ° c . when having a 0 . 005 - 0 . 008 inch thickness . the second polyvinylchloride composition generally would have a matte finish and a tensile strength which is less than the tensile strength of the first polyvinylchloride composition . referring to fig3 a non - jacketed cable 17 is fed into the coextrusion die 21 . the non - jacketed cable 17 ( see fig4 ) has a plurality of conductors 11 having insulation 12 thereon . the conductors are generally of the size range 10 to 18 awg and are preferably of copper . surrounding the insulated conductors is a filler 13 . the filler , as noted above , is preferably a textile filler that surrounds and fills the spaces around the insulated conductors . surrounding the filler and insulated conductors is an appropriate paper or fabric separator 14 . the non - jacketed cable 17 generally passes through the center of the coextrusion die 21 . a first polyvinylchloride composition 18a ( shown schematically ) is fed to the die 21 via inlet 24 . the inlet 24 feeds into a cylindrical extruder die mouth to extrude a first cylindrical polyvinylchloride composition onto the separator 14 of the non - jacketed cable 17 . a second polyvinylchloride melt 20a ( shown schematically ) is fed into the coextrusion die via extruder inlet 26 which feeds into the cylindrical extruder mouth to extrude a second cylindrical layer of the second composition onto the first cylindrical layer . since both the first and second compositions contain a compatible composition they adhere to each other without the necessity of a separate binder or adhesive . the first polyvinyl extruder die mouth is set to extrude the first cylindrical layer on the separator 14 having a thickness of from about 0 . 020 to about 0 . 065 inches and preferably from about 0 . 020 to about 0 . 050 inches . the second die mouth is sized and positioned to extrude the second cylindrical layer on the first cylindrical layer . the second cylindrical layer has a thickness of from about 0 . 005 to about 0 . 008 inches . the cable leaving the extruder is cable 10 which is delivered to appropriate cooling zones to solidify the first and second polyvinyl chloride layers . the foregoing description is for purposes of illustration , rather than limitation of the scope of protection accorded this invention . the latter is to be measured by the following claims , which should be interpreted as broadly as the invention permits . | 7 |
hereinafter , embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings . fig1 to 17 are schematic cross - sectional views showing examples of a three - terminal ferromagnetic tunnel element ( hereinafter , referred to as a “ three - terminal tmr element ”) of the invention . the three - terminal tmr elements shown in fig1 to 17 each have a basic structure of a half - metallic ferromagnetic layer , an insulating barrier layer , a ferromagnetic metal layer , an insulating barrier layer and a half - metallic ferromagnetic layer laminated in this order on a substrate . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing one example of the three - terminal ferromagnetic tunnel element of the invention . this three - terminal tmr element includes an antiferromagnetic layer 32 ( 30 nm ), a half - metallic ferromagnetic layer 12 ( 30 nm ), an insulating barrier layer 22 ( 2 nm ), a ferromagnetic metal layer 41 ( 10 nm ), an insulating barrier layer 21 ( 2 nm ), a half - metallic ferromagnetic layer 11 ( 30 nm ) and an antiferromagnetic layer 31 ( 30 nm ) laminated in this order on a substrate . an electrode terminal is formed in each of the half - metallic ferromagnetic layers 11 and 12 to form an electric closed - circuit between the layers 11 and 12 ( a bias voltage applied by this closed - circuit is defined as v 1 ) while an electrode terminal is formed in each of the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 and the half - metallic ferromagnetic layer 12 to form an electric closed - circuit between the layers 41 and 12 ( a bias voltage applied by this closed - circuit is defined as v 2 ). this element was produced by sputtering or deposition technique , and photolithography . arrows in the figure represent directions of currents provided to the element , which may be vice versa as long as the relative relationship of the directions remains the same . specifically , when the direction of a current of the bias voltage v 1 is reversed with respect to the arrow in fig1 , the direction of the current of the bias voltage v 2 should also be reversed . the v 2 circuit may be formed between the half - metallic ferromagnetic layer 11 and the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 . hereinafter , materials used for the respective layers of the above - described three - terminal tmr element will be described . the half - metallic ferromagnetic layers 11 and 12 are made from half - metallic ferromagnets with a very high degree of spin - polarization including fe 3 o 4 , cro 2 , la 0 . 7 sr 0 . 3 mno 3 , sr 2 femoo 6 and mn compounds such as mnsb . the insulating barrier layers 21 and 22 are made of srtio 3 , but they may also be made of mgo , hfo 2 , tao , nbo , moo , tio 2 or al 2 o 3 . the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is made of cofe alloy , but it may also be made of co or nife . the antiferromagnetic layers 31 and 32 are made of nio . fig2 a shows an applied bias voltage vi dependency of the tmr ratio of the three - terminal tmr element shown in fig1 under v 2 = 0 . fig2 b shows an applied bias voltage v 2 dependency of the tmr ratio of the three - terminal tmr element shown in fig1 under v 1 = v 1 ′. here , v 1 ′ is a value of the applied bias voltage v 1 where the highest tmr ratio is obtained in fig2 a . according to the present example , the bias voltage dependency of the magnetoresistive ratio between the half - metallic ferromagnetic layers 11 and 12 is such that the tmr ratio becomes the highest at about ± 0 . 25 v and decreases at a bias voltage higher than that . by setting v 1 to v 1 and by varying the bias voltage v 2 applied between the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 and the half - metallic ferromagnetic layer 12 , the magnetoresistive ratio can be doubled with a negative bias voltage , thereby reducing the bias voltage dependency . fig3 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing another exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . this three - terminal tmr element has the same structure as that shown in fig1 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 411 , 412 and 413 . this structure eases the magnetization rotation of the ferromagnetic metal layers 411 , 412 and 413 . in each of the following examples described with respect to fig5 to 11 , and 15 to 17 , the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is made from three layers for the same reason . the ferromagnetic metal layers 411 and 413 are made of a co - based alloy ( cofe ), and the ferromagnetic metal layer 412 is made of a ni - based alloy ( nife ). the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig2 a and 2b . fig4 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . this three - terminal tmr element has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layers 31 and 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig2 a and 2b . in this example , a soft magnetic half - metallic ferromagnetic layer can be applied . in the following examples described with respect to fig5 , and 12 to 17 , the antiferromagnetic layers are not provided adjacent to the half - metallic ferromagnetic layers for this reason . fig5 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . this three - terminal tmr element has the same structure as that shown in fig3 without the antiferromagnetic layers 31 and 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig2 a and 2b . fig6 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . this three - terminal tmr element has the same structure as that shown in fig1 except that a non - magnetic metal layer 51 is formed between the insulating barrier layer 21 and the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 . the non - magnetic metal layer 51 may be selected from au , cu , cr , zn , ga , nb , mo , ru , pd , ag , hf , ta , w , pt and bi . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig2 a and 2b . by arranging the non - magnetic metal layer adjacent to the ferromagnetic metal layer , the density of states of the bulk of the ferromagnetic metal layer will contribute to conductance , by which the bias voltage dependency of the tmr ratio can be improved . in the following examples described with respect to fig7 to 17 , non - magnetic metal layers are used for the same reason . fig7 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . this three - terminal tmr element has the same structure as that shown in fig6 except that a non - magnetic metal layer 51 is formed between the insulating barrier layer 22 and the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig2 a and 2b . fig8 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . this three - terminal tmr element has the same structure as that shown in fig1 except that a non - magnetic metal layer 51 is formed between the insulating barrier layer 21 and the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 , and a non - magnetic metal layer 52 is formed between the insulating barrier layer 22 and the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 . similar to the non - magnetic metal layer 51 , the non - magnetic metal layer 52 may be selected from au , cu , cr , zn , ga , nb , mo , ru , pd , ag , hf , ta , w , pt and bi . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig2 a and 2b . fig9 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing another exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . this three - terminal tmr element has the same structure as that shown in fig6 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 411 , 412 and 413 . the ferromagnetic metal layers 411 and 413 are made of a co - based alloy ( cofe ), and the ferromagnetic metal layer 412 is made of a ni - based alloy ( nife ). the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig2 a and 2b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing another exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . this three - terminal tmr element has the same structure as that shown in fig7 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 411 , 412 and 413 . the ferromagnetic metal layers 411 and 413 are made of a co - based alloy ( cofe ), and the ferromagnetic metal layer 412 is made of a ni - based alloy ( nife ). the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig2 a and 2b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing another exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . this three - terminal tmr element has the same structure as that shown in fig8 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 411 , 412 and 413 . the ferromagnetic metal layers 411 and 413 are made of a co - based alloy ( cofe ), and the ferromagnetic metal layer 412 is made of a ni - based alloy ( nife ). the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig2 a and 2b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . this three - terminal tmr element has the same structure as that shown in fig6 without the antiferromagnetic layers 31 and 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig2 a and 2b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . this three - terminal tmr element has the same structure as that shown in fig7 without the antiferromagnetic layers 31 and 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig2 a and 2b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . this three - terminal tmr element has the same structure as that shown in fig8 without the antiferromagnetic layers 31 and 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig2 a and 2b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . this three - terminal tmr element has the same structure as that shown in fig9 without the antiferromagnetic layers 31 and 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig2 a and 2b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . this three - terminal tmr element has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layers 31 and 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig2 a and 2b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . this three - terminal tmr element has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layers 31 and 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig2 a and 2b . in the examples shown in fig3 to 17 , the bias voltage v 2 may be applied between the half - metallic ferromagnetic layer 11 and the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 ( 412 ). in the examples shown in fig1 to 34 , each of the three - terminal tmr elements has a basic structure where a ferromagnetic metal layer , an insulating barrier layer , a half - metallic ferromagnetic layer , an insulating barrier layer and a ferromagnetic metal layer are laminated on a substrate in this order . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other example of the three - terminal ferromagnetic tunnel element of the invention . the three - terminal tmr element of this example includes an antiferromagnetic layer 32 ( 30 nm ), a ferromagnetic metal layer 42 ( 5 nm ), an insulating barrier layer 22 ( 2 nm ), a half - metallic ferromagnetic layer 11 ( 30 nm ), an insulating barrier layer 21 ( 2 nm ), a ferromagnetic metal layer 41 ( 5 nm ), and an antiferromagnetic layer 31 ( 30 nm ) laminated in this order on a substrate . an electrode terminal is formed in each of the ferromagnetic metal layers 41 and 42 to form an electric closed - circuit between the layers 41 and 42 ( a bias voltage applied by this closed - circuit is defined as v 1 ) while an electrode terminal is formed in each of the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 and the half - metallic ferromagnetic layer 11 to form an electric closed - circuit between the layers 42 and 11 ( a bias voltage applied by this closed - circuit is defined as v 2 ). this element was produced by sputtering or deposition technique , and photolithography . arrows in the figure represent directions of currents provided to the element , which may be vice versa as long as the relative relationship of the directions remains the same . specifically , when the direction of a current of the bias voltage v 1 is reversed with respect to the arrow in fig1 , the direction of the current of the bias voltage v 2 should also be reversed . in this example , the bias voltage v 2 may be applied between the half - metallic ferromagnetic layer 11 and the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 . hereinafter , materials used for the respective layers of the above - described three - terminal tmr element will be described . the half - metallic ferromagnetic layer 11 is made from a half - metallic ferromagnet with very high degree of spin - polarization including fe 3 o 4 , cro 2 , la 0 . 7 sr 0 . 3 mno 3 , sr 2 femoo 6 and mn compounds such as mnsb . the insulating barrier layers 21 and 22 are made of srtio 3 , but they may also be made of mgo , hfo 2 , tao , nbo , moo , tio 2 or al 2 o 3 . the ferromagnetic metal layers 41 and 42 are made of cofe alloy , but they may also be made of co or nife . the antiferromagnetic layers 31 and 32 are made of ptmn . fig1 a shows an applied bias voltage v 1 dependency of the tmr ratio of the three - terminal tmr element shown in fig1 under v 2 = 0 . fig1 b shows an applied bias voltage v 2 dependency of the tmr ratio of the three - terminal tmr element shown in fig1 under v 1 = v 1 ′. here , v 1 ′ is a value of the bias voltage v 1 where the highest tmr ratio is obtained in fig1 a . the three - terminal tmr element of this example has the same effect as that described with reference to fig2 a and 2b except that the increase in the magnetoresistive ratio and well bias voltage dependency is obtained with a positive bias voltage due to the arrangement of the material as the ferromagnetic layer . fig2 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the three - terminal tmr element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 except that a non - magnetic metal layer 51 is formed between the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 and the insulating barrier layer 21 . the non - magnetic metal layer 51 is selected from au , cu , cr , zn , ga , nb , mo , ru , pd , ag , hf , ta , w , pt and bi . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 19b . by arranging the non - magnetic metal layer adjacent to the ferromagnetic metal layer , the effects described with reference to fig6 can be realized . in the following examples described with respect to fig2 to 34 , non - magnetic metal layers are arranged adjacent to ferromagnetic metal layers for the same reason . fig2 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the three - terminal tmr element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig2 except that a non - magnetic metal layer 51 is formed between the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 and the insulating barrier layer 22 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 19b . fig2 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the three - terminal tmr element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 except that a non - magnetic metal layer 51 is formed between the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 and the insulating barrier layer 21 , and a non - magnetic metal layer 52 is formed between the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 and the insulating barrier layer 22 . similar to the non - magnetic metal layer 51 , the non - magnetic metal layer 52 may be selected from au , cu , cr , zn , ga , nb , mo , ru , pd , ag , hf , ta , w , pt and bi . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 19b . fig2 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the three - terminal tmr element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from a ferromagnetic metal layer 414 , a non - magnetic metal layer 53 and a ferromagnetic metal layer 415 , and the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from a ferromagnetic metal layer 421 , a non - magnetic metal layer 54 and a ferromagnetic metal layer 422 . this structure eases the magnetization rotation of the half - metallic ferromagnetic layer 11 . in the following examples , the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is also replaced with the tri - layered film for the same reason . the ferromagnetic metal layers 414 , 415 , 421 and 422 are made of a co - based alloy . the non - magnetic metal layers 53 and 54 are made of either ru or cu . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 19b . fig2 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the three - terminal tmr element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig2 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from a ferromagnetic metal layer 414 , a non - magnetic metal layer 53 and a ferromagnetic metal layer 415 , and the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from a ferromagnetic metal layer 421 , a non - magnetic metal layer 54 and a ferromagnetic metal layer 422 . the ferromagnetic metal layers 414 , 415 , 421 and 422 are made of a co - based alloy . the non - magnetic metal layers 53 and 54 are made of either ru or cu . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 19b . fig2 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the three - terminal tmr element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig2 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from a ferromagnetic metal layer 414 , a non - magnetic metal layer 53 and a ferromagnetic metal layer 415 , and the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from a ferromagnetic metal layer 421 , a non - magnetic metal layer 54 and a ferromagnetic metal layer 422 . the ferromagnetic metal layers 414 , 415 , 421 and 422 are made of a co - based alloy . the non - magnetic metal layers 53 and 54 may be made of either ru or cu . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 19b . fig2 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the three - terminal tmr element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig2 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from a ferromagnetic metal layer 414 , a non - magnetic metal layer 53 and a ferromagnetic metal layer 415 , and the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from a ferromagnetic metal layer 421 , a non - magnetic metal layer 54 and a ferromagnetic metal layer 422 . the ferromagnetic metal layers 414 , 415 , 421 and 422 are made of a co - based alloy . the non - magnetic metal layers 53 and 54 may be made of either ru or cu . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 19b . fig2 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the three - terminal tmr element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layers 31 and 32 . this structure allows the use of a soft magnetic half - metallic ferromagnetic layer . in the following examples , the antiferromagnetic layers are not provided adjacent to the half - metallic ferromagnetic layers for this reason . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 19b . fig2 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the three - terminal tmr element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig2 without the antiferromagnetic layers 31 and 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 19b . fig2 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the three - terminal tmr element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig2 without the antiferromagnetic layers 31 and 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 19b . fig3 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the three - terminal tmr element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig2 without the antiferromagnetic layers 31 and 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 19b . fig3 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the three - terminal tmr element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig2 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a double - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 411 and 412 , and the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 is replaced with a double - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 421 and 422 . replacing the ferromagnetic metal layers 41 and 42 with the double - layered structures eases the magnetization rotation , thereby enhancing magnetization sensitivity of the magnetoresistive ratio . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 19b . fig3 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the three - terminal tmr element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig2 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a double - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 411 and 412 , and the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 is replaced with a double - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 421 and 422 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 19b . fig3 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the three - terminal tmr element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig2 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a double - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 411 and 412 , and the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 is replaced with a double - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 421 and 422 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 19b . fig3 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the three - terminal tmr element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig3 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a double - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 411 and 412 , and the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 is replaced with a double - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 421 and 422 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 19b . in the structures shown in fig2 to 34 , the bias voltage v 2 may be applied between the half - metallic ferromagnetic layer 11 and the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 ( 411 , 414 ). in the examples shown in fig3 to 99 , each of the three - terminal tmr elements has a basic structure where a ferromagnetic metal layer , an insulating barrier layer , a ferromagnetic metal layer , an insulating barrier layer and a ferromagnetic metal layer are laminated on a substrate in this order . fig3 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other example of the three - terminal ferromagnetic tunnel element of the invention . the three - terminal tmr element of this example includes an antiferromagnetic layer 32 ( 12 nm ), a ferromagnetic metal layer 43 ( 3 nm ), an insulating barrier layer 22 ( 1 nm ), a ferromagnetic metal layer 42 ( 5 nm ), an insulating barrier layer 21 ( 1 nm ), a ferromagnetic metal layer 41 ( 3 nm ), and an antiferromagnetic layer 31 ( 12 nm ) laminated in this order on a substrate . an electrode terminal is formed in each of the ferromagnetic metal layers 41 and 43 to form an electric closed - circuit between the layers 41 and 43 ( a bias voltage applied by this closed - circuit is defined as v 1 ) while an electrode terminal is formed in each of the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 and 43 to form an electric closed - circuit between the layers 42 and 43 ( a bias voltage applied by this closed - circuit is defined as v 2 ). this element was produced by sputtering or deposition technique , and photolithography . arrows in the figure represent directions of currents provided to the element , which may be vice versa as long as the relative relationship of the directions remains the same . in this example , the bias voltage v 2 may be applied between the ferromagnetic metal layers 41 and 42 . hereinafter , materials used for the respective layers of the above - described three - terminal tmr element will be described . the insulating barrier layers 21 and 22 are made of srtio 3 , but they may also be made of mgo , hfo 2 , tao , nbo , moo , tio 2 or al 2 o 3 . the ferromagnetic metal layers 41 , 42 and 43 are made of cofe alloy , but they may also be made of co or nife . the antiferromagnetic layers 31 and 32 are made of ptmn . fig3 a shows an applied bias voltage v 1 dependency of the tmr ratio of the three - terminal tmr element shown in fig3 under v 2 = 0 . fig3 b shows an applied bias voltage v 2 dependency of the tmr ratio of the three - terminal tmr element shown in fig3 under v 1 = v 1 ′. here , v 1 ′ is a value of the bias voltage where the highest tmr ratio is obtained in fig3 a . in the present structure , v 1 ′ is almost 0 , but an increase in the magnetoresistive ratio can be realized by varying v 2 . with the bias voltage dependency of the present example , a magnetoresistive ratio of 50 % can be obtained when the bias voltage v 2 is + 0 . 5 v . fig3 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig3 except that a non - magnetic metal layer 51 is formed between the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 and the insulating barrier layer 21 . by arranging the non - magnetic metal layer to be adjacent to the ferromagnetic metal layer , the effects described with reference to fig6 can be realized . in the following examples , non - magnetic metal layers are arranged adjacent to ferromagnetic metal layers for the same reason . the non - magnetic metal layer 51 may be selected from au , cu , cr , zn , ga , nb , mo , ru , pd , ag , hf , ta , w , pt and bi . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig3 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig3 except that a non - magnetic metal layer 51 is formed between the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 and the insulating barrier layer 21 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig3 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig3 except that a non - magnetic metal layer 51 is formed between the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 and the insulating barrier layer 22 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig4 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig3 except that a non - magnetic metal layer 51 is formed between the ferromagnetic metal layer 43 and the insulating barrier layer 22 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig4 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig3 except that a non - magnetic metal layer 51 is formed between the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 and the insulating barrier layer 21 , and a non - magnetic metal layer 52 is formed between the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 and the insulating barrier layer 22 . similar to the non - magnetic metal layer 51 , the non - magnetic metal layer 52 may be selected from au , cu , cr , zn , ga , nb , mo , ru , pd , ag , hf , ta , w , pt and bi . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig4 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig3 except that a non - magnetic metal layer 51 is formed between the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 and the insulating barrier layer 21 , and a non - magnetic layer 52 is formed between the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 and the insulating barrier layer 21 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig4 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig3 except that a non - magnetic metal layer 51 is formed between the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 and the insulating barrier layer 21 , and a non - magnetic layer 52 is formed between the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 and the insulating barrier layer 22 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig4 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig3 except that a non - magnetic metal layer 51 is formed between the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 and the insulating barrier layer 21 , and a non - magnetic layer 52 is formed between the ferromagnetic metal layer 43 and the insulating barrier layer 22 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig4 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig3 except that a non - magnetic metal layer 51 is formed between the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 and the insulating barrier layer 22 , and a non - magnetic layer 52 is formed between the ferromagnetic metal layer 43 and the insulating barrier layer 22 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig4 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig3 except that a non - magnetic metal layer 51 is formed between the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 and the insulating barrier layer 21 , and a non - magnetic layer 52 is formed between the ferromagnetic metal layer 43 and the insulating barrier layer 22 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig4 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig3 except that a non - magnetic metal layer 51 is formed between the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 and the insulating barrier layer 21 , a non - magnetic layer 52 is formed between the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 and the insulating barrier layer 21 , and a non - magnetic metal layer 55 is formed between the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 and the insulating barrier layer 22 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig4 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig3 except that a non - magnetic metal layer 51 is formed between the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 and the insulating barrier layer 21 , a non - magnetic layer 52 is formed between the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 and the insulating barrier layer 21 , and a non - magnetic metal layer 55 is formed between the ferromagnetic metal layer 43 and the insulating barrier layer 22 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig4 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig3 except that a non - magnetic metal layer 51 is formed between the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 and the insulating barrier layer 21 , a non - magnetic layer 52 is formed between the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 and the insulating barrier layer 22 , and a non - magnetic metal layer 55 is formed between the ferromagnetic metal layer 43 and the insulating barrier layer 22 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig5 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig3 except that a non - magnetic metal layer 51 is formed between the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 and the insulating barrier layer 21 , a non - magnetic layer 52 is formed between the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 and the insulating barrier layer 22 , and a non - magnetic metal layer 55 is formed between the ferromagnetic metal layer 43 and the insulating barrier layer 22 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig5 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig3 except that a non - magnetic metal layer 51 is formed between the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 and the insulating barrier layer 21 , a non - magnetic layer 52 is formed between the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 and the insulating barrier layer 21 , a non - magnetic metal layer 55 is formed between the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 and the insulating barrier layer 22 , and a non - magnetic metal layer 56 is formed between the ferromagnetic metal layer 43 and the insulating barrier layer 22 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig5 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig3 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 423 , 424 and 425 . this structure eases the magnetization rotation of the ferromagnetic metal layers 423 , 424 and 425 . in the following examples , the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 is also replaced with the tri - layered film for the same reason . the ferromagnetic metal layers 423 and 425 are made of a co - based alloy while the ferromagnetic metal layer 424 is made of a ni - based alloy . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig5 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing another exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig3 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 423 , 424 and 425 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig5 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing another exemplary three - terminal tmr - element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig3 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 423 , 424 and 425 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig5 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing another exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig3 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 423 , 424 and 425 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig5 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing another exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig4 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 423 , 424 and 425 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig5 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing another exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig4 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 423 , 424 and 425 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig5 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing another exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in . fig4 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 423 , 424 and 425 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig5 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing another exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig4 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 423 , 424 and 425 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig6 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing another exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig4 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 423 , 424 and 425 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig6 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing another exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig4 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 423 , 424 and 425 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig6 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing another exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig4 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 423 , 424 and 425 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig6 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing another exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig4 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 423 , 424 and 425 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig6 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing another exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig4 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 423 , 424 and 425 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig6 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing another exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig4 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 423 , 424 and 425 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig6 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing another exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig5 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 423 , 424 and 425 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig6 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing another exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig5 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 423 , 424 and 425 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig6 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig3 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from a ferromagnetic metal layer 414 , a non - magnetic metal layer 53 and a ferromagnetic metal layer 415 , and the ferromagnetic metal layer 43 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from a ferromagnetic metal layer 431 , a non - magnetic metal layer 54 and a ferromagnetic metal layer 432 . the ferromagnetic metal layers 414 , 415 , 431 and 432 are made of a co - based alloy . the non - magnetic metal layers 53 and 54 are made of either ru or cu . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig6 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig3 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from a ferromagnetic metal layer 414 , a non - magnetic metal layer 53 and a ferromagnetic metal layer 415 , and the ferromagnetic metal layer 43 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from a ferromagnetic metal layer 431 , a non - magnetic metal layer 54 and a ferromagnetic metal layer 432 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig7 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig3 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from a ferromagnetic metal layer 414 , a non - magnetic metal layer 53 and a ferromagnetic metal layer 415 , and the ferromagnetic metal layer 43 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from a ferromagnetic metal layer 431 , a non - magnetic metal layer 54 and a ferromagnetic metal layer 432 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig7 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig3 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from a ferromagnetic metal layer 414 , a non - magnetic metal layer 53 and a ferromagnetic metal layer 415 , and the ferromagnetic metal layer 43 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from a ferromagnetic metal layer 431 , a non - magnetic metal layer 54 and a ferromagnetic metal layer 432 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig7 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig4 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from a ferromagnetic metal layer 414 , a non - magnetic metal layer 53 and a ferromagnetic metal layer 415 , and the ferromagnetic metal layer 43 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from a ferromagnetic metal layer 431 , a non - magnetic metal layer 54 and a ferromagnetic metal layer 432 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig7 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig4 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from a ferromagnetic metal layer 414 , a non - magnetic metal layer 53 and a ferromagnetic metal layer 415 , and the ferromagnetic metal layer 43 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from a ferromagnetic metal layer 431 , a non - magnetic metal layer 54 and a ferromagnetic metal layer 432 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig7 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig4 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from a ferromagnetic metal layer 414 , a non - magnetic metal layer 53 and a ferromagnetic metal layer 415 , and the ferromagnetic metal layer 43 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from a ferromagnetic metal layer 431 , a non - magnetic metal layer 54 and a ferromagnetic metal layer 432 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig7 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig4 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from a ferromagnetic metal layer 414 , a non - magnetic metal layer 53 and a ferromagnetic metal layer 415 , and the ferromagnetic metal layer 43 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from a ferromagnetic metal layer 431 , a non - magnetic metal layer 54 and a ferromagnetic metal layer 432 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig7 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig4 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from a ferromagnetic metal layer 414 , a non - magnetic metal layer 53 and a ferromagnetic metal layer 415 , and the ferromagnetic metal layer 43 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from a ferromagnetic metal layer 431 , a non - magnetic metal layer 54 and a ferromagnetic metal layer 432 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig7 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig4 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from a ferromagnetic metal layer 414 , a non - magnetic metal layer 53 and a ferromagnetic metal layer 415 , and the ferromagnetic metal layer 43 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from a ferromagnetic metal layer 431 , a non - magnetic metal layer 54 and a ferromagnetic metal layer 432 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig7 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig4 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from a ferromagnetic metal layer 414 , a non - magnetic metal layer 53 and a ferromagnetic metal layer 415 , and the ferromagnetic metal layer 43 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from a ferromagnetic metal layer 431 , a non - magnetic metal layer 54 and a ferromagnetic metal layer 432 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig7 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig4 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from a ferromagnetic metal layer 414 , a non - magnetic metal layer 53 and a ferromagnetic metal layer 415 , and the ferromagnetic metal layer 43 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from a ferromagnetic metal layer 431 , a non - magnetic metal layer 54 and a ferromagnetic metal layer 432 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig8 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig4 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from a ferromagnetic metal layer 414 , a non - magnetic metal layer 53 and a ferromagnetic metal layer 415 , and the ferromagnetic metal layer 43 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from a ferromagnetic metal layer 431 , a non - magnetic metal layer 54 and a ferromagnetic metal layer 432 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig8 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig4 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from a ferromagnetic metal layer 414 , a non - magnetic metal layer 53 and a ferromagnetic metal layer 415 , and the ferromagnetic metal layer 43 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from a ferromagnetic metal layer 431 , a non - magnetic metal layer 54 and a ferromagnetic metal layer 432 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig8 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig5 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from a ferromagnetic metal layer 414 , a non - magnetic metal layer 53 and a ferromagnetic metal layer 415 , and the ferromagnetic metal layer 43 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from a ferromagnetic metal layer 431 , a non - magnetic metal layer 54 and a ferromagnetic metal layer 432 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig8 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig5 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from a ferromagnetic metal layer 414 , a non - magnetic metal layer 53 and a ferromagnetic metal layer 415 , and the ferromagnetic metal layer 43 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from a ferromagnetic metal layer 431 , a non - magnetic metal layer 54 and a ferromagnetic metal layer 432 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig8 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig6 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 423 , 424 and 425 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig8 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig6 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 423 , 424 and 425 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig8 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig7 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 423 , 424 and 425 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig8 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig7 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 423 , 424 and 425 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig8 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig7 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 423 , 424 and 425 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig8 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig7 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 423 , 424 and 425 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig9 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig7 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 423 , 424 and 425 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig9 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig7 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 423 , 424 and 425 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig9 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig7 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 423 , 424 and 425 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig9 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig7 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 423 , 424 and 425 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig9 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig7 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 423 , 424 and 425 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig9 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig7 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 423 , 424 and 425 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig9 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig8 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 423 , 424 and 425 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig9 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig8 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 423 , 424 and 425 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig9 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig8 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 423 , 424 and 425 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . fig9 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig8 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 423 , 424 and 425 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig3 a and 36b . in the examples shown in fig3 to 99 , the bias voltage v 2 may be applied between the ferromagnetic metal layers 41 ( 414 ) and 42 ( 424 ). in the examples shown in fig1 to 228 , each of the three - terminal tmr elements has a basic structure where a half - metallic ferromagnetic layer , an insulating barrier layer , a ferromagnetic metal layer , an insulating barrier layer and a ferromagnetic metal layer are laminated on a substrate in this order . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other example of the three - terminal ferromagnetic tunnel element of the invention . the three - terminal tmr element of this example includes an antiferromagnetic layer 32 ( 30 nm ), a half - metallic ferromagnetic layer 11 ( 30 nm ), an insulating barrier layer 22 ( 2 nm ), a ferromagnetic metal layer 42 ( 10 nm ), an insulating barrier layer 21 ( 1 nm ), a ferromagnetic metal layer 41 ( 5 nm ), and an antiferromagnetic layer 31 ( 12 nm ) laminated in this order on a substrate . an electrode terminal is formed in each of the half - metallic ferromagnetic layer 11 and the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 to form an electric closed - circuit between the layers 11 and 41 ( a bias voltage applied by this closed - circuit is defined as v 1 ) while an electrode terminal is formed in each of the half - metallic ferromagnetic layer 11 and the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 to form an electric closed - circuit between the layers 11 and 42 ( a bias voltage applied by this closed - circuit is defined as v 2 ). this element was produced by sputtering or deposition technique , and photolithography . arrows in the figure represent directions of currents provided to the element , which may be vice versa as long as the relative relationship of the directions remains the same . in this example , the bias voltage v 2 may be applied between the ferromagnetic metal layers 41 and 42 . hereinafter , materials used for the respective layers of the above - described three - terminal tmr element will be described . the insulating barrier layers 21 and 22 are made of srtio 3 , but they may also be made of mgo , hfo 2 , tao , nbo , moo , tio 2 or al 2 o 3 . the ferromagnetic metal layers 41 and 42 are made of cofe alloy , but they may also be made of co or nife . the half - metallic ferromagnetic layer 11 is made from a half - metallic ferromagnet with a very high degree of spin - polarization including fe 3 o 4 , cro 2 , la 0 . 7 sr 0 . 3 mno 3 , sr 2 femoo 6 and mn compounds such as mnsb . the antiferromagnetic layer 32 is made of nio . fig1 a shows an applied bias voltage v 1 dependency of the tmr ratio of the three - terminal tmr element shown in fig1 under v 2 = 0 . fig1 b shows an applied bias voltage v 2 dependency of the tmr ratio of the three - terminal tmr element under v 1 = v 1 ′. here , v 1 ′ is a value of the bias voltage where the highest tmr ratio is obtained in fig1 a . this example also has the same effect as that described with reference to fig2 a and 2b . although the increase in the magnetoresistive ratio is significant at about 0 v due to the arrangement of the material as the ferromagnetic layer , there is no problem . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 except that a non - magnetic metal layer 51 is formed between the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 and the insulating barrier layer 21 . by arranging the non - magnetic metal layer to be adjacent to the ferromagnetic metal layer , the effects described with reference to fig6 can be realized . in the following examples , non - magnetic metal layers are arranged adjacent to ferromagnetic metal layers for the same reason . the non - magnetic metal layer 51 may be selected from au , cu , cr , zn , ga , nb , mo , ru , pd , ag , hf , ta , w , pt and bi . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 except that a non - magnetic metal layer 51 is formed between the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 and the insulating barrier layer 21 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 except that a non - magnetic metal layer 51 is formed between the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 and the insulating barrier layer 22 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 except that a non - magnetic metal layer 51 is formed between the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 and the insulating barrier layer 21 , and a non - magnetic metal layer 52 is formed between the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 and the insulating barrier layer 21 . the non - magnetic metal layers 51 and 52 may be selected from au , cu , cr , zn , ga , nb , mo , ru , pd , ag , hf , ta , w , pt and bi . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 except that a non - magnetic metal layer 51 is formed between the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 and the insulating barrier layer 21 , and a non - magnetic metal layer 52 is formed between the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 and the insulating barrier layer 22 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 except that a non - magnetic metal layer 51 is formed between the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 and the insulating barrier layer 21 , and a non - magnetic metal layer 52 is formed between the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 and the insulating barrier layer 22 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 except that a non - magnetic metal layer 51 is formed between the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 and the insulating barrier layer 21 , a non - magnetic metal layer 52 is formed between the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 and the insulating barrier layer 21 , and a non - magnetic metal layer 53 is formed between the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 and the insulating barrier layer 22 . similar to the non - magnetic metal layer 51 , the non - magnetic metal layer 53 may be any one of au , cu , cr , zn , ga , nb , mo , ru , pd , ag , hf , ta , w , pt and bi . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 423 , 424 and 425 . this structure eases the magnetization rotation of the ferromagnetic metal layers 423 , 424 and 425 . in the following examples , the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 is also replaced with the tri - layered film for the same reason . the ferromagnetic metal layers 423 and 425 are made of a co - based alloy while the ferromagnetic metal layer 424 is made of a ni - based alloy . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing another exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 423 , 424 and 425 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing another exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 423 , 424 and 425 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing another exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 423 , 424 and 425 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing another exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 423 , 424 and 425 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing another exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 423 , 424 and 425 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing another exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 423 , 424 and 425 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing another exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 42 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 423 , 424 and 425 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing another exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from a ferromagnetic metal layer 414 , a non - magnetic metal layer 53 and a ferromagnetic metal layer 415 . the ferromagnetic metal layers 414 and 415 are made of a co - based alloy . the non - magnetic metal layer 53 is made of either ru or cu . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing another exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from a ferromagnetic metal layer 414 , a non - magnetic metal layer 53 and a ferromagnetic metal layer 415 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing another exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from a ferromagnetic metal layer 414 , a non - magnetic metal layer 53 and a ferromagnetic metal layer 415 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing another exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from a ferromagnetic metal layer 414 , a non - magnetic metal layer 53 and a ferromagnetic metal layer 415 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing another exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from a ferromagnetic metal layer 414 , a non - magnetic metal layer 53 and a ferromagnetic metal layer 415 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing another exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from a ferromagnetic metal layer 414 , a non - magnetic metal layer 53 and a ferromagnetic metal layer 415 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing another exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from a ferromagnetic metal layer 414 , a non - magnetic metal layer 53 and a ferromagnetic metal layer 415 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing another exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from a ferromagnetic metal layer 414 , a non - magnetic metal layer 53 and a ferromagnetic metal layer 415 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing another exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from a ferromagnetic metal layer 414 , a non - magnetic metal layer 53 and a ferromagnetic metal layer 415 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing another exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from a ferromagnetic metal layer 414 , a non - magnetic metal layer 53 and a ferromagnetic metal layer 415 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing another exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from a ferromagnetic metal layer 414 , a non - magnetic metal layer 53 and a ferromagnetic metal layer 415 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing another exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from a ferromagnetic metal layer 414 , a non - magnetic metal layer 53 and a ferromagnetic metal layer 415 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing another exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from a ferromagnetic metal layer 414 , a non - magnetic metal layer 53 and a ferromagnetic metal layer 415 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing another exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from a ferromagnetic metal layer 414 , a non - magnetic metal layer 53 and a ferromagnetic metal layer 415 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing another exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from a ferromagnetic metal layer 414 , a non - magnetic metal layer 53 and a ferromagnetic metal layer 415 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing another exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a tri - layered film made from a ferromagnetic metal layer 414 , a non - magnetic metal layer 53 and a ferromagnetic metal layer 415 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layers 31 and 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . this structure allows an application of a soft magnetic half - metallic ferromagnetic layer . in some of the following examples , the antiferromagnetic layers are not provided for this reason . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layers 31 and 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layers 31 and 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layers 31 and 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layers 31 and 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layers 31 and 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layers 31 and 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layers 31 and 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layers 31 and 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layers 31 and 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layers 31 and 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layers 31 and 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layers 31 and 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layers 31 and 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layers 31 and 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layers 31 and 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a double - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 411 and 412 . the ferromagnetic metal layer 411 is made of a co - based alloy while the ferromagnetic metal layer 412 is made of a ni - based alloy . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a double - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 411 and 412 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a double - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 411 and 412 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a double - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 411 and 412 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a double - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 411 and 412 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a double - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 411 and 412 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a double - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 411 and 412 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a double - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 411 and 412 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a double - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 411 and 412 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a double - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 411 and 412 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a double - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 411 and 412 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a double - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 411 and 412 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a double - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 411 and 412 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a double - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 411 and 412 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a double - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 411 and 412 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 except that the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 is replaced with a double - layered film made from ferromagnetic metal layers 411 and 412 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layer 32 . this structure allows an application of a soft magnetic half - metallic ferromagnetic layer . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layer 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layer 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layer 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layer 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layer 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layer 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layer 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layer 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layer 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layer 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layer 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layer 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layer 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layer 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layer 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layer 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layer 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layer 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layer 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing , other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layer 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layer 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layer 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layer 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layer 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layer 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layer 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layer 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layer 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layer 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layer 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layer 32 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layer 31 . removal of the antiferromagnetic layer 31 eases magnetization rotation of the ferromagnetic metal layer 41 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layer 31 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig1 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layer 31 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig2 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layer 31 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig2 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layer 31 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig2 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layer 31 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig2 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layer 31 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig2 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layer 31 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig2 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layer 31 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig2 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layer 31 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig2 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layer 31 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig2 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layer 31 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig2 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layer 31 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig2 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layer 31 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig2 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layer 31 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig2 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . the element of this example has the same structure as that shown in fig1 without the antiferromagnetic layer 31 . the element had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig2 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . according to this example , the lamination film shown in fig1 is formed on the antiferromagnetic layer 31 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig2 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . according to this example , the lamination film shown in fig1 is formed on the antiferromagnetic layer 31 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig2 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . according to this example , the lamination film shown in fig1 is formed on the antiferromagnetic layer 31 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig2 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . according to this example , the lamination film shown in fig1 is formed on the antiferromagnetic layer 31 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig2 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . according to this example , the lamination film shown in fig1 is formed on the antiferromagnetic layer 31 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig2 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . according to this example , the lamination film shown in fig1 is formed on the antiferromagnetic layer 31 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig2 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . according to this example , the lamination film shown in fig1 is formed on the antiferromagnetic layer 31 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig2 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . according to this example , the lamination film shown in fig1 is formed on the antiferromagnetic layer 31 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig2 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . according to this example , the lamination film shown in fig1 is formed on the antiferromagnetic layer 31 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig2 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . according to this example , the lamination film shown in fig1 is formed on the antiferromagnetic layer 31 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig2 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . according to this example , the lamination film shown in fig1 is formed on the antiferromagnetic layer 31 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig2 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . according to this example , the lamination film shown in fig1 is formed on the antiferromagnetic layer 31 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig2 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . according to this example , the lamination film shown in fig1 is formed on the antiferromagnetic layer 31 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig2 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . according to this example , the lamination film shown in fig1 is formed on the antiferromagnetic layer 31 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig2 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . according to this example , the lamination film shown in fig1 is formed on the antiferromagnetic layer 31 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . fig2 is a schematic cross - sectional view showing other exemplary three - terminal tmr element of the invention . according to this example , the lamination film shown in fig1 is formed on the antiferromagnetic layer 31 . the element of the present example had the same tmr characteristics as those shown in fig1 a and 101b . in the examples shown in fig1 to 228 , the bias voltage v 2 may be applied between the ferromagnetic metal layers 41 ( 414 ) and 42 ( 424 ). fig2 is a schematic perspective view of a magnetic head provided with a magnetic sensor incorporating a three - terminal tmr element 1 of the invention . the magnetic head is provided with the three - terminal tmr element 1 , au electrodes 61 and a nife upper shield / lower core 60 with a thickness of 1 mm on a base 66 . coils 64 and an upper core 65 are further formed thereon . the three - terminal tmr element 1 serves as a reader while the upper core 65 and the upper shield / lower core 60 serve as a writer . an al 2 o 3 insulating layers 62 will prevent an electric leak between the upper magnetic layer and the intermediate magnetic layer of the three - terminal tmr element 1 and an electric leak between the lower magnetic layer and the intermediate magnetic layer of the element 1 . a nife lower shield / electrode 63 is used to form an electrode terminal that is introduced in the lower magnetic layer of the three - terminal tmr element 1 . fig2 is a schematic view showing an exemplary structure of a magnetic read / write device of the invention . a spindle motor 93 rotates a record medium 91 for magnetically recoding information . an actuator 92 guides a head slider 90 on a track of the record medium 91 . specifically , in a magnetic disk device , a read head and a write head formed on the head slider 90 will move near a predetermined writing position on the record medium 91 to sequentially write and read signals . preferably , the actuator 92 is a rotary actuator . the write signals are written on the medium by the write head via a signal processor 94 , and the signals are obtained based on an output from the read head via the signal processor 94 . for moving the read head on a predetermined recoding track , a highly - sensitive output from the read head is used to detect the position on the track and the actuator is controlled to align the head slider . although only a single head slider 90 and a single recoding medium 91 are shown in fig2 , they may be used in multiple . the recoding medium 91 may allow writing information on both sides . when information should be written on both disk faces , the head sliders 90 are arranged on both sides of the disk . the magnetic writing device with the above - described three - terminal tmr element has superior characteristics for coping with a high density than a magnetic writing device provided with a conventional magnetic sensor . the present invention provides a three - terminal ferromagnetic tunnel element whose magnetoresistance has an improved bias voltage characteristic due to a bias voltage applied to one of the tunnel junctions . further , by employing half - metallic ferromagnets in the three - terminal ferromagnetic tunnel element , enhancement of the magnetoresistance to twice the level of conventional ferromagnetic tunnels is stably obtained . | 6 |
the present invention provides a tubular membrane electrode assembly ( mea ) with a leading wire . the materials for the tubular mea are prepared with the followings : 1 . a tubular conductive layer 1 ( or a hole tube ) with leading wire : the present invention uses a conductive carbon - fiber - weaved tubule made through tubular weaving . twenty four streams of the carbon - fiber - weaved tubules are soaked in dupont &# 39 ; s nafion se 5112 or teflon 30b and are dried to form divergent tubes of 4 ˜ 5 mm , which are formed into the tubular conductive layer 1 ( or a hole tube ) with leading wire on an outside surface of a tubular proton membrane . the present invention uses a catalyst electrode , which is usually used in the anode or the cathode of a direct methanol fuel cell ( dmfc ). the catalyst electrode comprises an a node catalyst of pt / ru / c of 60 / 30 / 10 ( johnson matthey , hispec # 6000 ), together with a pt / ru / c of 30 / 15 / 55 ( johnson matthey hispec # 7000 ) and a solution of nafion se 5112 . the weight proportions of the components are 1 : 1 : 10 and the components are evenly well - mixed by an ultrasonic homogenizer to obtain electrode catalyst slurry as an anode catalyst over the outside surface of the tubular proton membrane . the present invention uses the tubular proton membrane 3 , which can be any material that can be made into a proton - exchange membrane . a nafion material ( like r1100 or r1000 ) is melted under 250 ° c . and is extruded to form a ring - shaped mold head of a tubular of r1100 or r1000 to be hollowed inside by blowing nitrogen into a ring - shaped inner tube . after being cooled down and winded up , a tubular proton membrane ( proton exchange membrane ) is obtained . by adjusting the feeding speed of a plastic grain of r1100 or r1000 , the blowing speed of the nitrogen , and the line - bundling speed of the winding up , tubules with a variety of tubular diameters and wall thicknesses can be obtained . the present invention uses r1100 in a form of a ⅛ - inch plastic grain . by a randcastle screw extruder ( model rcp - 0500 ), under a turning speed of 0 . 75 rpm for a feeding spiral rod , a pull speed of 0 . 45 ft / min , and a blowing speed of 3 . 45 cc / min , a tubular proton membrane made by melted and extruded with hollow tubules of 2 mm tubular diameter and 0 . 1 mm wall thickness can be obtained . obtain a 15 cm long of the tubular proton membrane . soak the inner and outside surfaces of the tubular proton membrane under 60 ° c . to 80 ° c . with a 15 % koh and a 35 % dmso for 1 ˜ 4 hours . wash it by a de - ionized water for at least three times . and , repeatedly for two times , soak it with a 15 % hno 3 solution and wash it . finally , a tubular proton membrane is obtained . the present invention uses another catalyst electrode the another catalyst electrode comprises an cathode catalyst of pt / c of 50 / 50 ( johnson matthey # 8000 ), together with a solution of nafion se 5112 . the weight proportions of the components are 1 : 10 and the components are evenly well - mixed by an ultrasonic homogenizer ( sonifier , branson ultrasonics , model 250 ) to obtain another electrode catalyst slurry 4 as an cathode catalyst over the outside surface of the tubular proton membrane . 5 . another tubular conductive layer 5 ( or a hole tube ) with leading wire : the present invention uses another conductive carbon - fiber - weaved tubular made through tubular weaving . sixteen streams of the carbon - fiber - weaved tubular are soaked in nafion se 5112 or teflon 30 b and are dried to form divergent tubes of 8 ˜ 1 . 2 mm , which are formed into another tubular conductive layer 5 ( or a hole tube ) with leading wire on an outside surface of the another tubular proton membrane . the above electrode catalyst slurry , especially including the catalyst used for dmfc and the catalyst with a noble metal , is used for fuel cell . the catalyst with a noble metal can especially be a catalyst with a pt ( platinum ) metal . and , the electrode catalyst slurry can be coated wholly over the tubular conductive layer ; or , it can be coated over a single surface of the tubular conductive layer , which is contacted to a single surface of the tubular proton membrane ; or , it can be coated over an outside surface of the tubular conductive layer and over a tubular internal surface of the tubular proton membrane , and be coated over an outside surface of the tubular proton membrane and over a tubular internal surface of the tubular conductive layer . the above tubular conductive layer is made of a base material with conductivity weaved into a form with holes and meshes for passing gas and blocking non - gas ; and , the tubular conductive layer has a characteristic of being telescopic before being assembled with the tubular proton membrane . hence , a tubular conductive layer with leading wire is obtained . please refer to fig1 to fig3 , which are a front view , a side view and a perspective view of a preferred embodiment according to the present invention . as shown in the figures , electrode catalyst slurry 4 is coated on a tubular internal surface of the tubular proton membrane 3 for obtaining an intermediate product by inserting an inner tube , which is between the tubular conductive layer 5 ( or the hole tube ) with leading wire and the tubular internal surface of the tubular proton membrane 3 . another electrode catalyst slurry 2 is coated between a tubular outside surface of the another tubular proton membrane 3 and the another tubular conductive layer 1 ( or another hole tube ) with leading wire . both end areas of the tubular proton membrane is left without coating any anode catalyst for assembling meas into a fuel cell . insert a mold rod with a diameter of 1 . 5 mm so that the tubular conductive layer 5 ( or the hole tube ) with leading wire is adhered to the tubular internal surface of the tubular proton membrane 3 by enlargement . finally , the intermediate product is put into a heat pressing mold as being evenly heated to a temperature between 120 ° c . and 127 ° c . for 3 ˜ 5 minutes , which is a temperature between a glass transition temperature ( tg ) of the tubular proton membrane and its melting point temperature ( tm ). and then , while the mold pressure is greater then 2 kg / cm 2 , the intermediate product is pressed so that the tubular proton membrane , the electrode catalyst and the tubular conductive layer with leading wire are closely ad he red to obtain the wholly - formed tubular mea with leading wire according to the p resent invention . as shown in fig3 , the leading wires 1 a , 5 a can be cut into smaller wires for further requiring re - joint . the ranges for the outside peripheral diameter and the tubular thickness of the mea are as follow : ( 1 ) the peripheral diameter of the mea is between 1 mm and 5 cm , and the tubular thickness of the mea is between 0 . 1 multiple and 0 . 45 multiple of the peripheral diameter of the mea ; ( 2 ) the peripheral diameter is between 2 mm and 3 cm , and the tubular thickness is between 0 . 1 multiple and 0 . 45 multiple of the diameter or between 0 . 07 mm and 0 . 45 multiple of the diameter ; or ( 3 ) the peripheral diameter is between 3 mm and 2 cm , and the tubular thickness is between 0 . 1 multiple and 0 . 45 multiple of the diameter or between 0 . 1 mm and 0 . 45 multiple of the diameter . the preferred embodiment herein disclosed is not intended to unnecessarily limit the scope of the invention . therefore , simple modifications or variations belonging to the equivalent of the scope of the claims and the instructions disclosed herein for a patent are all with in the scope of the present invention . | 7 |
respective embodiments with respect to the nitride semiconductor device and the production process of the nitride semiconductor device of the present invention are illustrated below in order . firstly , the nitride semiconductor device of the present invention is specifically illustrated referring to hemt which is the iii - v group nitride semiconductor device as an example . fig1 is the cross - section view of hemt which is the iii - v group nitride semiconductor device which is the first embodiment of the present invention . as shown in fig1 , a buffer layer 12 consisting of aluminum nitride ( aln ) with a thickness of about 100 nm , a channel layer 13 consisting of non - doped gallium nitride ( gan ) with a thickness of 2 μm having a smaller energy band gap than that of a charge supply layer described later , a charge supply layer 14 consisting of n - type aluminum gallium nitride ( algan ) with a thickness of 15 nm which forms the two dimensional electron gas being carriers at an interface with the channel layer 13 and a schottky layer 15 consisting of non - doped gallium nitride ( gan ) with a thickness of 10 nm having the crystallinity with minute grains were formed by deposition on a substrate 11 consisting of silicon carbide ( sic ). the gate electrode 16 consisting of a laminate of nickel ( ni )/ gold ( au ) and the like is formed on the schottky layer 15 and the schottky contact is made on the schottky layer 15 . further , the portion of the schottky layer 15 is removed and a source electrode 17 a and a drain electrode 17 b consisting of titanium ( ti )/ aluminum ( al ) which are making ohmic contact with the charge supply layer 14 are formed . a semiconductor layer with high insulating property is formed on the schottky layer 15 consisting of the crystallinity with minute grains by forming a film at a lower temperature by about 500 ° c . than the film forming temperature of the charge supply layer 14 by an mocvd ( metalorganic chemical vapor deposition ) method , an mbe ( molecular beam epitaxy ) method and the like . specifically , the sheet resistance is a high resistance of 10 9 ω /□ or more . fig2 shows the current - voltage characteristic between the gate - source electrodes . in the graph , the horizontal axis shows gate - source voltage vgs ( v ) and the vertical axis shows gate electric current ig ( a ). for comparison , the current - voltage characteristic is shown when a gate electrode having the same structure was formed on the semiconductor layer consisting of non doped aluminum gallium nitride ( algan ) in which the schottky layer 15 was formed under the same temperature and a film forming condition as the charge supply layer 14 . when both are compared , it is grasped that the gate current ( gate leakage current ) is reduced by two orders of magnitude or more because the nitride semiconductor device related to the present embodiment is superior in insulation property . impact ionization at the channel can be suppressed in accordance with the reduction of the leakage electric current , and as a result , off - state breakdown voltage was improved from a conventional 100 v to 170 v . the off - state breakdown voltage of the nitride semiconductor hemt is not derived from thermal runaway but is caused by the impact ionization , and it is reported that it is greatly affected by tunnel current which flows from the schottky electrode to the channel ( international conference on nitride semiconductor , nara , 2003 , tu - p2 . 067 ). fig3 and 4 show respectively the drain current - voltage characteristics of hemt which are the iii - v group nitride semiconductor devices of the present invention and the above - mentioned conventional structure . the sweep voltage of the drain is 0 v to 40 v , and the gate voltage is varied by a step of iv from − 4 v to + 2 v . the measurement cycle is 10 ms , the gate voltage is applied at a pulse width of 300 μsec ., and the drain voltage is raised stepwise from 0 v to 40 v . it could be confirmed according to the comparison of fig3 with fig4 that the nitride semiconductor device of the present invention suppresses greatly the current collapse in comparison with a conventional structure . then , the second embodiment is illustrated . fig5 is the cross - section view of hemt which is the ii - v group nitride semiconductor device which is the second embodiment of the present invention . in like manner as the first embodiment as shown in fig1 , a buffer layer 12 consisting of aluminum nitride ( aln ) with a thickness of about 100 nm , a channel layer 13 consisting of non - doped gallium nitride ( gan ) with a thickness of 2 μm , a charge supply layer 14 consisting of n - type aluminum gallium nitride ( algan ) with a thickness of 15 nm which forms the two dimensional electron gas being careers at an interface with the channel layer 13 and a schottky layer 15 consisting of non - doped gallium nitride ( gan ) with a thickness of 10 nm having the crystallinity with minute grains are formed by deposition on a substrate 11 consisting of silicon carbide ( sic ). the gate electrode 16 consisting of a laminate of nickel ( ni )/ gold ( au ) and the like is formed on the schottky layer 15 and the schottky contact is made with the schottky layer 15 . further , the portion of the schottky layer 15 is removed and a source electrode 17 a and a drain electrode 17 b consisting of titanium ( ti )/ aluminum ( al ) which are making ohmic contact with the charge supply layer 14 are formed . in the present embodiment , a p - type semiconductor region 18 which reaches at the charge supply layer 14 is formed between the gate electrode 16 and the drain electrode 17 b , differing from the first embodiment . the p - type semiconductor region 18 was formed by implanting p - type impurity ion in the portion of the schottky layer 15 . since influence to the channel which is caused by the fluctuation of surface potential which is considered to be generated by electrons which were trapped in the surface states existing on the surface of the schottky layer 15 can be removed by providing the p - type semiconductor region 18 , the frequency dispersion of current - voltage characteristic can be suppressed at the similar level as the drain current - voltage characteristic which was shown in fig3 . fig6 is the cross - section view of hemt which is the iii - v group nitride semiconductor device which is the third embodiment of the present invention . in like manner as the first embodiment as shown in fig1 , a buffer layer 12 consisting of aluminum nitride ( aln ) with a thickness of about 100 nm , a channel layer 13 consisting of non - doped gallium nitride ( gan ) with a thickness of 2 μm , a charge supply layer 14 consisting of n - type aluminum gallium nitride ( algan ) with a thickness of 15 nm which forms the two dimensional electron gas being carriers at an interface with the channel layer 13 and a schottky layer 15 consisting of non - doped gallium nitride ( gan ) with a thickness of 10 nm having the crystallinity with minute grains are formed by deposition on a substrate 11 consisting of silicon carbide ( sic ). the gate electrode 16 consisting of a laminate of nickel ( ni )/ gold ( au ) and the like is formed on the schottky layer 15 and the schottky contact is made with the schottky layer 15 . in the present embodiment , a n - type semiconductor region 19 which reaches at the charge supply layer 14 is formed at the portion of the schottky layer 15 , differing from the first embodiment . the n - type semiconductor region 19 was formed by implanting n - type impurity ion into the portion of the schottky layer 15 . ohmic contact with low contact resistance can be made by forming a source electrode 17 a and a drain electrode 17 b consisting of titanium ( ti ) and aluminum ( al ) which is making ohmic contact with the n - type semiconductor region 19 . since the source electrode 17 a and the drain electrode 17 b can be formed by providing the n - type semiconductor region 19 thus without removing the portion of the schottky layer 15 , it becomes a planar structure , and the yield of the production steps and reliability are improved . fig7 shows the cross - section view of hemt which is the iii - v group nitride semiconductor device which is the fourth embodiment of the present invention . in like manner as the first embodiment as shown in fig1 , a buffer layer 12 consisting of aluminum nitride ( aln ) with a thickness of about 100 nm , a channel layer 13 consisting of non - doped gallium nitride ( gan ) with a thickness of 2 μm , a charge supply layer 14 consisting of n - type aluminum gallium nitride ( algan ) with a thickness of 15 nm which forms the two dimensional electron gas being carriers at an interface with the channel layer 13 and a schottky layer 15 consisting of non - doped gallium nitride ( gan ) with a thickness of 10 nm having the crystallinity with minute grains are formed by deposition on a substrate 11 consisting of silicon carbide ( sic ). the gate electrode 16 consisting of a laminate of nickel ( ni )/ gold ( au ) and the like is formed on the schottky layer 15 and the schottky contact is made with the schottky layer 15 . further , in like manner as the third embodiment , a n - type semiconductor region 19 which reaches at the charge supply layer 14 is formed at the portion of the schottky layer 15 . the n - type semiconductor region 19 was formed by implanting n - type impurity ion into the portion of the schottky layer 15 . a source electrode 17 a and a drain electrode 17 b consisting of titanium ( ti ) and aluminum ( al ) which are making ohmic contact are formed on the n - type semiconductor region 19 . further , the p - type semiconductor region 18 which reaches at , the charge supply layer 14 is formed between the gate electrode 16 and the drain electrode 17 b . the p - type semiconductor region 18 was formed by implanting impurity ion into the portion of the schottky layer 15 . since the source electrode 17 a and the drain electrode 17 b can be formed by providing the n - type semiconductor region 19 thus without removing the portion of the schottky layer 15 , it becomes a planar structure , and the yield of the production steps and reliability are improved . since influence to the channel which is caused by the fluctuation of surface potential which is considered to be generated by electrons which were trapped in the surface states existing on the surface of the schottky layer 15 can be removed by providing the p - type semiconductor region 18 , the frequency dispersion of current - voltage characteristic can be suppressed at the similar level as the drain current - voltage characteristic which was shown in fig3 . then , the nitride semiconductor device of the second invention of the present application is illustrated referring to hemt which is the iii - v group nitride semiconductor device having the structure which was shown in the above - mentioned embodiments 1 to 4 , as an example . firstly , the production process of hemt which is shown in the first embodiment is illustrated . as shown in fig8 , a buffer layer 12 consisting of aluminum nitride ( aln ) with a thickness of about 100 nm is grown on a substrate 11 consisting of silicon carbide ( sic ) by an mocvd method , and then a channel layer 13 consisting of non - doped gallium nitride ( gan ) with a thickness of 2 μm and a charge supply layer 14 consisting of n - type aluminum gallium nitride ( algan ) with a thickness of 15 nm which forms the two dimensional electron gas being carriers at an interface with the channel layer 13 are formed by deposition at a substrate temperature of 1080 ° c . in order . then , the substrate temperature is set at 550 ° c . and a schottky layer 15 consisting of non - doped gallium nitride ( gan ) with a thickness of 10 nm is grown . the schottky layer 15 becomes the crystallinity with minute grains by being grown at a low substrate temperature and becomes a layer superior in insulation property ( fig8 a ). then , the portion of the schottky layer 15 is removed by a usual lithography and an etching method to expose the charge supply layer 14 . hereat , algan and gan can be selectively etched , and the schottky layer 15 can be removed in good controllability . the source electrode 17 a and the drain electrode 17 b which are making ohmic contact with the charge supply layer 14 are formed by depositing a titanium ( ti ) film with a thickness of about 20 nm and an aluminum ( al ) film with a thickness of about 200 nm on the charge supply layer 14 which was exposed , by an electron beam deposition method and the like ( fig8 b ). then , the gate electrode 16 which is making schottky contact on the schottky layer 15 is formed by depositing the laminate of a thickness of 20 nm of nickel ( ni )/ a thickness of 300 nm of gold ( au ) and the like and patterning on the schottky layer 15 by a usual lithography and a lift - off method ( fig8 c ). hemt is completed below according to the usual production steps of a semiconductor device . in the present embodiment , since it is formed only by setting the growth temperature ( film forming temperature ) at a lower temperature ( 550 ° c .) than the growth temperature ( 1080 ° c .) of epitaxial layers such as the channel layer 13 and the charge supply layer 14 as a method of forming the schottky layer 15 with the crystallinity with minute grains superior in insulation property , controllability is good . further , since the production process of the present invention is subjected to the usual production steps of a semiconductor device , controllability is extremely good and the production can be carried out in good yield . then , the production process of hemt which is shown in the second embodiment is illustrated . as shown in fig8 in like manner as the fifth embodiment , a buffer layer 12 consisting of aluminum nitride ( aln ) with a thickness of about 100 nm is grown on a substrate 11 consisting of silicon carbide ( sic ) by an mocvd method , and then a channel layer 13 consisting of non - doped gallium nitride ( gan ) with a thickness of 2 μm and a charge supply layer 14 consisting of n - type aluminum gallium nitride ( algan ) with a thickness of 15 nm which forms the two dimensional electron gas being carriers at an interface with the channel layer 13 are formed by deposition at a substrate temperature of 1080 ° c . in order . then , the substrate temperature is set at 550 ° c . and a schottky layer 15 consisting of non - doped gallium nitride ( gan ) with a thickness of 10 nm is grown . the schottky layer 15 becomes the crystallinity with minute grains by being thus grown at a low substrate temperature and becomes a layer superior in insulation property ( fig8 a ). then , the portion of the schottky layer 15 is removed by a usual lithography and an etching method to expose the charge supply layer 14 . hereat , algan and gan can be selectively etched , and the schottky layer 15 can be removed in good controllability . the source electrode 17 a and the drain electrode 17 b which are making ohmic contact with the charge supply layer 14 are formed by depositing a titanium ( ti ) film with a thickness of about 20 nm and an aluminum ( al ) film with a thickness of about 200 nm on the charge supply layer 14 which was exposed , by an electron beam deposition method and the like ( fig8 b ). then , the gate electrode 16 which is making schottky contact on the schottky layer 15 is formed by depositing the laminate of a thickness of 20 nm of nickel ( ni )/ a thickness of 300 nm of gold ( au ) and the like and patterning on the schottky layer 15 by a usual lithography and a lift - off method ( fig8 c ). hemt is completed below according to the usual production steps of a semiconductor device . then , in the present embodiment , the p - type semiconductor region 18 is formed by implanting magnesium ( mg ) ion into the schottky layer 15 between the gate electrode 16 and the drain electrode 17 b by a usual ion implantation method and activating it by thermal treatment at 1150 ° c . hereat , the schottky layer 15 which was formed by lowering the growth temperature does not damage the insulation property even if thermal treatment is carried out for activation of p - type impurity ion and can provide the nitride semiconductor device superior in characteristics as previously illustrated . also in the production process of the present embodiment , since it is formed only by setting the growth temperature at a lower temperature ( 550 ° c .) than the growth temperature ( 1080 ° c .) of epitaxial layers such as the channel layer 13 and the charge supply layer 14 as a method of forming the schottky layer 15 with the crystallinity with minute grains superior in insulation property , controllability is good . further , since the method of forming the p - type semiconductor region 18 is also subjected to a usual ion implantation method , controllability is extremely good and the production can be carried out in good yield . then , the production process of hemt which is shown in the embodiment 3 is illustrated . as shown in fig9 in like manner as the fifth embodiment , a buffer layer 12 consisting of aluminum nitride ( aln ) with a thickness of about 100 nm is grown on a substrate 11 consisting of silicon carbide ( sic ) by an mocvd method , and then a channel layer 13 consisting of non - doped gallium nitride ( gan ) with a thickness of 2 μm and a charge supply layer 14 consisting of n - type aluminum gallium nitride ( algan ) with a thickness of 15 nm which forms the two dimensional electron gas being carriers at an interface with the channel layer 13 are grown at a substrate temperature of 1080 ° c . in order . then , the substrate temperature is set at 550 ° c . and a schottky layer 15 consisting of non - doped gallium nitride ( gan ) with a thickness of 10 nm is grown . the schottky layer 15 becomes the crystallinity with minute grains by being thus grown at a low substrate temperature and becomes a layer superior in insulation property ( fig9 a ). then , silicon ( si ) ion is implanted into the portion of the schottky layer 15 by a usual ion implantation method , and it is activated by thermal treatment at 1150 ° c . to form the n - type semiconductor region 19 ( fig9 b ). the insulation property of the schottky layer 15 is not damaged by the thermal treatment for activation of the impurity ion implanted . the source electrode 17 a and the drain electrode 17 b which are making ohmic contact with the charge supply layer 14 are formed by depositing a titanium ( ti ) film with a thickness of about 20 nm and an aluminum ( al ) film with a thickness of about 200 nm on the n - type semiconductor region 19 by an electron beam deposition method and the like ( fig9 c ). then , the gate electrode 16 which is making schottky contact on the schottky layer 15 is formed by depositing the laminate of a thickness of 20 nm of nickel ( ni )/ a thickness of 300 nm of gold ( au ) and the like and patterning on the schottky layer 15 by a usual lithography and a lift - off method ( fig9 d ). hemt is completed below according to the usual production steps of a semiconductor device . also in the production process of the present embodiment , since it is formed only by setting the growth temperature at a lower temperature ( 550 ° c .) than the growth temperature ( 1080 ° c .) of epitaxial layers such as the channel layer 13 and the charge supply layer 14 as a method of forming the schottky layer 15 with the crystallinity with minute grains superior in insulation property , controllability is good . further , since the method of forming the n - type semiconductor region 19 is also subjected to a usual ion implantation method , controllability is extremely good and the production can be carried out in good yield . further , since the source electrode 17 a and the drain electrode 17 b can be formed by providing the n - type semiconductor region 19 thus without removing the portion of the schottky layer 15 , it becomes a planar structure , and the yield of the production steps and reliability are improved . then , the production process of hemt which is shown in embodiment 4 is illustrated . as shown in fig9 in like manner as the seventh embodiment , a buffer layer 12 consisting of aluminum nitride ( aln ) with a thickness of about 100 nm is grown on a substrate 11 consisting of silicon carbide ( sic ) by an mocvd method , and then a channel layer 13 consisting of non - doped gallium nitride ( gan ) with a thickness of 2 μm and a charge supply layer 14 consisting of n - type aluminum gallium nitride ( algan ) with a thickness of 15 nm which forms the two dimensional electron gas being carriers at an interface with the channel layer 13 are grown at a substrate temperature of 1080 ° c . in order . then , the substrate temperature is set at 550 ° c . and a schottky layer 15 consisting of non - doped gallium nitride ( gan ) with a thickness of 10 nm is grown . the schottky layer 15 becomes the crystallinity with minute grains by being thus grown at a low substrate temperature and becomes a layer superior in insulation property ( fig9 a ). then , silicon ( si ) ion is implanted into the portion of the schottky layer 15 by a usual ion implantation method , and it is activated by thermal treatment at 1150 ° c . to form the n - type semiconductor region 19 ( fig9 b ). the insulation property of the schottky layer 15 is not damaged by the thermal treatment for activation of the impurity ion implanted . the source electrode 17 a and the drain electrode 17 b which are making ohmic contact with the charge supply layer 14 are formed by depositing a titanium ( ti ) film with a thickness of about 20 nm and an aluminum ( al ) film with a thickness of about 200 nm on the n - type semiconductor region 19 by an electron beam deposition method and the like ( fig9 c ). then , in the present embodiment , the p - type semiconductor region 18 is formed by implanting magnesium ( mg ) ion between the gate electrode 16 and the drain electrode 17 b by a usual ion implantation method and activating it by thermal treatment at 1150 ° c . the insulation property of the schottky layer 15 is not damaged by the thermal treatment for activation of the impurity ion implanted and the nitride semiconductor device superior in characteristics as previously illustrated can be provided . also in the production process of the present embodiment , since it is formed only by setting the growth temperature at a lower temperature ( 550 ° c .) than the growth temperature ( 1080 ° c .) of epitaxial layers such as the channel layer 13 and the charge supply layer 14 as a method of forming the schottky layer 15 with the crystallinity with minute grains superior in insulation property , controllability is good . further , since the method of forming the p - type semiconductor region 18 and the n - type semiconductor region 19 is also subjected to a usual ion implantation method , controllability is extremely good and the production can be carried out in good yield . further , since the source electrode 17 a and the drain electrode 17 b can be formed on the n - type semiconductor region 19 thus without removing the portion of the schottky layer 15 , it becomes a planar structure , and the yield of the production steps and reliability are improved . the embodiments of the present invention were illustrated above , but the present invention is not limited to these embodiments , and can be variously changed . for example , the nitride semiconductor layer in which the impurity was added was made as an active layer ( channel layer ) in place of the nitride semiconductor with the hemt structure , and it can be made as an fet structure in which the above - mentioned schottky layer 15 was formed on the active layer . further , the nitride semiconductor layer is not limited to the gan / algan system , and the second nitride semiconductor layer ( it is corresponding to the schottky layer 15 in the above - mentioned embodiment ) on which the control electrode is formed includes gan , inn or a mixed crystal compound thereof and can be composed by a layer which does not contain aluminum . further , the first nitride semiconductor layer ( it is corresponding to the charge supply layer 14 in the above - mentioned embodiment ) includes gan , inn , aln or a mixed crystal semiconductor thereof and can be composed by a layer which contains aluminum . a sapphire substrate may be used in place of the silicon carbide ( sic ) substrate which was used in embodiments . in such a case , it is preferable to use gallium nitride ( gan ) as the buffer layer 12 . further , a silicon ( si ) substrate may be used in place of the silicon carbide ( sic ) substrate . further , the compositions of the control electrode making the schottky contact with the second nitride semiconductor layer and the electrode is making ohmic contact with the first nitride semiconductor layer or the second nitride semiconductor layer may be appropriately selected in accordance with the kinds of the nitride semiconductor layers used . further , the second nitride semiconductor layer was illustrated as the crystallinity with minute grains , but this is the aggregate of minute crystal grains or a structure which rearranged them . the size of crystal grains , arrangement and the like are varied according to the growth temperature , the composition of atmosphere gas at growth , the kind of a substrate on which growth is carried out , and the like , and obtained by controlling the growth temperature within a range of obtaining a desired insulation property ( gate leakage current which can be permissible ). when the growth temperature of the second nitride semiconductor layer is set at a lower temperature by about 400 ° c . or more than the growth temperature of the first nitride semiconductor layer , it is preferable for forming the control electrode of hemt or fet . | 7 |
an embodiment of an editing apparatus according to the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings . fig1 is a block diagram showing the structure of a recording / reproducing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention . the recording / reproducing apparatus has its main structural components of a hard disk drive ( hdd ) 20 , a disk drive 35 which rotates and drives an optical disk 10 as an information storage medium such as a dvd ( digital versatile disk ) or the like in which video files are structured , and reads and writes information from / to the optical disk 10 , an encoder unit 50 which configures a recording unit , a decoder unit 60 which configures a reproducing unit , and a microcomputer block 30 which controls the operations of the device main structural components . the encoder unit 50 has an analog digital converter ( adc ) 52 , encoders 53 including a video ( v ) encoder , an audio ( a ) encoder and a sub picture ( sp ) encoder , a formatter 56 which makes outputs of the respective encoders a specified format , and a buffer memory 57 . to the analog digital converter 52 , external analog video signals and external analog audio signals from an a / v input unit 42 , or analog tv signals and analog audio signals from a television ( tv ) tuner 44 are input . a data processor 36 , under the control of the microcomputer block 30 , supplies dvd record data output from the encoder unit 50 to the disk drive 35 , and takes in dvd reproducing signals reproduced from the optical disk 10 from the disk drive 35 , and rewrites control information recorded in the optical disk 10 , and deletes data recorded in the optical disk 10 . the microcomputer block 30 includes a micro processing unit ( mpu ), a rom which stores a control program and the like , and a ram which provides work areas necessary to execute programs . the micro processing unit of the microcomputer block 30 , in conformity with a control program of the present embodiment stored in the rom thereof , uses the ram as its work area , and executes editing , fault place detection , non recorded area detection , recorded information recording position setting , udf recording , a / v address setting and so forth . the decoder unit 60 has a separator 62 which separates and takes out audio packs , video packs , and the like from video information having a pack structure , a memory 63 used at execution of pack separation and other signal processes , decoders 64 including a video ( v ) decoder which decodes main picture data separated by the separator 62 , a sub picture ( sp ) decoder which decodes sub picture data separated by the separator 62 , and an audio ( a ) decoder which decodes audio data separated by the separator 62 , and a video processor 66 which appropriately composes sub picture data obtained from the sub picture decoder and main picture data obtained from the video decoder , and outputs menus , subtitles and other sub pictures to be overlapped on main pictures . in the case of digital output , the output of the audio decoder is output via an interface ( i / f ) 75 to the outside , and in the case of analog output , the output is analog converted via a selector 76 by a digital analog converter ( dac ) 77 and output to the outside . the selector 76 , according to a select signal from the microcomputer block 30 , selectively outputs either signals which are input from the tv tuner 44 or the a / v input unit 42 via the analog digital converter 52 , or signals which are input from the decoders 64 . analog audio signals are supplied to an external component ( 2 - channel to 6 - channel multi channel stereo device ) not illustrated therein . a key input unit 11 has buttons of play , stop , record , skip , fast forward , reverse , slow , and enter key and the like , and by pressing down these buttons , a user may operate the present recording / reproducing apparatus , record data to the hard disk drive 20 or the rewritable optical disk 10 , and reproduce and edit recorded video data . fig2 shows the structure of audio / video data ( stream ) that the present recording / reproducing apparatus handles . the structure of audio / video data is the same in both mpeg - 2 ps format and mpeg - 1 ss format , and several pieces of unit called pack configure the data . there are kinds of pack , and a pack in which video is recorded is a video pack , and one in which audio is recorded is an audio pack . fig3 shows the structure of a pack . a pack is structured by a pack header and one or more packets . there are kinds of packet , and in a packet ( called pes packet in mpeg - 2 ) in which video and audio are recorded , following the packet header , an elementary stream as video and audio compressed data is recorded . a padding packet is a packet for adjusting the length of a pack . hereinafter , a method for converting mpeg - 2 ps data into mpeg - 1 ss data by the present embodiment will be explained . herein , explanations are made with an example where in the recording / reproducing apparatus shown in fig1 , audio / video data of the mpeg - 2 ps format recorded in the hard disk drive 20 is converted into audio / video data of the mpeg - 1 ss format and recorded in the optical disk 10 . the mpeg - 2 ps data as the conversion source is assumed to have a data structure where videoes of mpeg - 1 format and audioes of mpeg - 1 format are multiplexed . it is assumed that the mpeg - 2 ps data is structured by video packs and audio packs , and the size of the packs is all 2048 bytes . each pack is assumed to include a pes packet , or a pes packet and a padding packet . the packet header of the pes packet is assumed to be of a data row of the representative pes packet header of mpeg - 2 ps as shown in fig4 . and it is assumed that in the pes packet of the video pack and the audio pack at the start of audio / video data , the value of pes_extension_flag shown in fig4 is always 1 . fig4 shows the structure of a pes packet header of mpeg - 2 ps , fig7 shows that of a pack header of mpeg - 2 ps , fig9 shows that of a packet header of mpeg - 1 ss , fig1 shows that of a pack header of mpeg - 1 ss , and fig1 shows that of a padding packet . fig5 is a flow chart showing the outline of the entire flow of conversion from mpeg - 2 ps data into mpeg - 1 ss data . when audio / video data ( title ) multiplexed by the mpeg - 2 ps format recorded in the hard disk drive 20 is selected by a user , the microcomputer block 30 reads the audio / video data recorded in the hard disk drive 20 via the data processor 36 to the work area ram in unit of pack ( step s 51 ). the main cpu of the data processor 36 analyzes the information in the pack ( step s 52 ), and creates a new pack multiplexed by the mpeg - 1 ss format in the work area ram ( step s 53 ). the created pack is written via the data processor 36 and the disk drive 35 into the optical disk 10 ( step s 54 ). the above operations are performed to all the packs of the audio / video data , thereby , it is possible to convert the data multiplexed by the mpeg - 2 ps format into the data multiplexed by the mpeg - 1 ss format and write the data into the optical disk 10 . the flow chart in fig6 shows the flow to analyze the pack of mpeg - 2 ps read to the work ram ( step s 52 in fig5 ). from the pack header of mpeg - 2 ps having the structure shown in fig7 , the value of 3 - bit scr_base and the value of 22 - bit program_mux_rate are acquired ( steps s 61 and s 62 ). then , the pes packet header of mpeg - 2 ps having the structure shown in fig4 is analyzed . from the pes packet header , the values of stream_id , pes_packet_length , pts_flag , dts_flag , and pes_header_data_length are acquired ( steps s 63 , s 64 , s 65 , and s 66 ). if it is found that pts exists from the value of pts_flag , the value of pts is acquired ( steps s 67 and s 68 ). if it is found that dts exists from the value of dts_flag , the value of dts is acquired ( steps s 69 and s 70 ). if it is found that a pes extension field exists from the value of pes_extension_flag , the values of p_std_buffer_scale and p_std_buffer_size are acquired ( steps s 71 , s 72 and s 73 ). then , the pack analysis is completed . fig8 is a flow chart for calculating the values necessary to configure a pack of mpeg - 1 ss format , by use of the values acquired in the analysis on a pack of mpeg - 2 ps format . an es start address is the first address at which the elementary stream appears in a pack of mpeg - 2 ps , by the position from the start of the pack . the es start address is obtained by adding the pack header ( 14 bytes ) of mpeg - 2 ps shown in fig7 , a field f 41 ( 9 bytes ) in the packet header of mpeg - 2 shown in fig4 , and pes_header_data_length ( step s 81 ). es size is the size of the elementary stream included in a pack of mpeg - 2 ps . the es size is obtained by subtracting the es start address from the sum of the pack header ( 14 bytes ) of mpeg - 2 ps shown in fig7 , the field f 42 ( 6 bytes ) in the packet header of mpeg - 2 shown in fig4 , and pes_packet_length ( step s 82 ) valid size is the size of the other field than a padding area and a stuffing area in a pack of mpeg - 1 ss to be created from now . the valid size is obtained by adding the pack header ( 14 bytes ) and a field f 28 ( 6 bytes ) in fig9 and the es size ( step s 83 ). if the value of pts_flag acquired in step s 65 in fig6 is 1 , it is necessary to insert pts to the packet of mpeg - 1 ss , therefore , 5 is added to the valid size ( steps s 84 and s 85 ). if the value of dts_flag acquired in step s 65 in fig6 is 1 , it is necessary to insert dts to the packet of mpeg - 1 ss , therefore , 5 is added to the valid size ( steps s 86 and s 87 ). if both the pts_flag and dts_flag are 0 , it is necessary to insert a field f 27 in fig9 into the packet of mpeg - 1 ss , therefore 1 is added to the valid size ( steps s 88 and s 89 ). through the above processes , the valid size is obtained . the value obtained by subtracting the valid size from the pack size 2048 bytes becomes invalid size ( step s 90 ). if the invalid size is smaller than 8 bytes , the stuffing area is inserted into the pack of mpeg - 1 ss , thereby the entire pack size is made into 2048 bytes . accordingly , the stuffing size is set to the invalid size , and the padding size is set to 0 ( steps s 91 , s 92 and s 93 ). if the invalid size is 8 bytes or more , a padding packet is inserted into the pack of mpeg - 1 ss , thereby the entire pack size is made into 2048 bytes . accordingly , the stuffing size is set to 0 , and the padding size is set to the invalid size ( steps s 94 and s 95 ). packet length is the value that becomes packet_length of the packet of mpeg - 1 ss . this value is obtained by subtracting the padding size from the value ( 2300 bytes ) obtained by subtracting from the pack length 2048 the pack header ( 12 bytes ) of mpeg - 1 ss shown in fig1 and a field f 28 ( 6 bytes ) of the packet header of mpeg - 1 ss shown in fig9 . through the above processes , the calculations necessary to configure the pack of mpeg - 1 ss is completed . fig1 is a flow chart showing the flow of pack creation of mpeg - 1 ss format ( step s 53 in fig5 ). following the pack header creation ( step s 101 ), the packet header is created ( step s 102 ), and the elementary stream is created ( step s 103 ). if the padding size obtained in step s 93 or s 95 in fig8 is larger than 0 , a padding packet is created ( step s 105 ). the data created herein are to be arranged sequentially from the start in the area of 2048 bytes arranged in the work area ram for a new pack creation . fig1 is a flow chart showing the flow of the pack header creation ( step s 101 in fig1 ). first , pack_start_code shown in a field f 11 in the pack header of mpeg - 1 ss shown in fig1 is created ( step s 111 ). with the value of scr_base acquired in step s 61 in fig6 as scr , a field scr shown in a field f 12 in the pack header of mpeg - 1 ss shown in fig1 is created ( step s 112 ). by use of the value of program_mux_rate acquired in step s 62 in fig6 , the field shown in a field f 13 in the pack header of mpeg - 1 ss shown in fig1 is created ( step s 63 ). fig1 is a flow chart showing the packet header creation of mpeg - 1 ss ( step s 102 in fig1 ). by use of the value of stream_id acquired in step s 63 in fig6 , the field shown in a field f 21 in the packet header of mpeg - 1 ss shown in fig9 is created ( step s 131 ). by use of the packet size acquired in step s 96 in fig8 , packet_length of a field f 22 in the packet header of mpeg - 1 ss shown in fig9 is created ( step s 132 ). if the staffing size calculated in step s 92 or s 94 in fig8 is larger than 0 , stuffing_byte of a field f 23 in the packet header of mpeg - 1 ss shown in fig9 is created for the number of the staffing size ( steps s 133 and s 134 ). by use of p - std_buffer_scale and p - std_buffer_size acquired in steps s 72 and s 73 in fig6 , a field f 24 in the packet header of mpeg - 1 ss shown in fig9 is created . if p - std_buffer_scale or p - std_buffer_size is not included in the original packet of mpeg - 2 ps , the value of the same kind of pack acquired previously is used ( steps s 135 and s 136 ). if the value of pts_flag acquired in step s 65 in fig6 is 1 , then by use of pts acquired in step s 68 in fig6 , a field f 25 in the packet header of mpeg - 1 ss shown in fig9 is created ( steps s 137 and s 138 ). if the value of dts_flag acquired in step s 65 in fig6 is 1 , then by use of dts acquired in step s 130 in fig6 , a field f 26 in the packet header of mpeg - 1 ss shown in fig9 is created ( steps s 139 and s 140 ). if both the values of pts_flag and dts_flag are 0 , a field f 27 in the packet header of mpeg - 1 ss shown in fig9 is created ( steps s 141 and s 142 ). thereafter , the elementary stream area is created ( step s 103 in fig1 ). by use of the es start address and the es size obtained in steps s 81 and s 82 in fig8 , the elementary stream in the original mpeg - 2 ps pack is copied to the elementary stream area of the pack of mpeg - 1 ss . if the padding size obtained in step s 93 or s 95 in fig8 is larger than 0 , a padding packet is created ( steps s 104 and s 105 in fig1 ). fig1 is a flow chart showing the flow of padding packet creation ( step s 105 in fig1 ). then , packet_start_code shown in a field f 31 in the padding packet shown in fig1 is created ( step s 141 ). the packet_length shown in a field f 32 in the padding packet shown in fig1 is created by the value obtained by subtracting the padding packet header length ( 6 bytes ) from the padding size ( step s 142 ). finally , 0xff data is created for the size indicated by the value of packet_length ( step s 143 ). as explained heretofore , according to the present embodiment , when data multiplexed by mpeg - 2 ps is to be converted into data multiplexed by mpeg - 1 ss , the pack header and the packet header of original data are analyzed , and the pack header and the packet header of multiplexed data of mpeg - 1 ss format are configured , and the pack header and the packet header of mpeg - 1 ss are added before the elementary stream of mpeg - 2 ps , and the padding packet is added later if necessary , therefore , it is possible to perform data conversion without changing the pack size before and after the conversion . therefore , it is possible to reproduce multiplexed data encoded by mpeg - 2 encoders by software that operates on a personal computer and corresponds only to mpeg - 1 format . while the description above refers to particular embodiments of the present invention , it will be understood that many modifications may be made without departing from the spirit thereof . the accompanying claims are intended to cover such modifications as would fall within the true scope and spirit of the present invention . the presently disclosed embodiments are therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive , the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims , rather than the foregoing description , and all changes that come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein . for example , the present invention can be practiced as a computer readable recording medium in which a program for allowing the computer to function as predetermined means , allowing the computer to realize a predetermined function , or allowing the computer to conduct predetermined means . | 7 |
it should be understood from the outset that the present invention will be described in connection with a few limited examples which illustrate the best mode of practicing the invention at the time that this application was filed . however , various modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art after having the benefit of studying the text , drawings and claims which follow this detailed specification . with that caveat in mind , the attention of the reader should now be turned to the drawings , especially fig1 . in accordance with the preferred teachings of this invention , a wafer 10 is provided for making electrical connection to the pins 12 of a male electrical connector 14 . male electrical connector 14 mates with a female connector 16 in a manner well known in the art . by way of a specific , although not limiting example , and as shown in more detail in fig2 - 3 , the male / female connectors 14 and 16 are of the type meeting military specification ( c - 38999 ). the male connector is characterized by a cylindrical metal outer shell 18 which is removably connected to a complementary metal shell 20 on the female connector 16 . the removable connection is usually made by a bayonet coupling on the mating surfaces of the shells 18 and 20 , although other such connections can also be made to ensure proper mating of the connectors . the interior of the male connector includes a nonconductive insert 22 that maintains the orientation of the pins 12 and insulates them from the conductive shell 18 . the female connector 16 likewise includes a nonconductive insert 24 and an array of sockets 26 for receiving the pins 12 . the male connector is shown in fig1 as being coupled to electronic equipment 28 . the female connector 16 is mounted on one end of an electrical cable 30 . the cable contains a plurality of wires that carry electrical signals to and from the electronic equipment 28 when the in accordance with the teachings of this invention , the wafer 10 is inserted between the mated connectors 14 and 16 . the wafer 10 has a diameter smaller than the inner diameter of the smallest connector shell and is thin enough to be inserted between the connector pair without interfering with the positive connection therebetween . as shown perhaps best in fig3 wafer 10 includes two generally parallel major surfaces 32 and 34 , along with a peripheral edge 36 . a series of holes 38 are formed between the two major faces of the wafer . holes 38 are aligned with and slightly larger than the diameter of pins 12 . circuitry , generally designated by the numeral 40 , is formed on the wafer 10 and is in electrical contact with one or more of the pins 12 . the circuitry 40 can be any of a wide variety of devices such as active and passive electronic components , as well as more sophisticated microprocessing circuitry . the circuitry 40 is generally designed to perform preselected functions associated with the electrical signals on the pins 12 . these functions include , but are not limited to , radio frequency instrumentation , signal rerouting and interface protection using passive electronic components such as current / voltage monitors , transient limiters and point - to - point wiring . active electronics such as analog and logic circuitry , matrix switches , power management devices and temperature / shock sensors can be utilized to provide discrete event monitoring , integrated built - in test augmentation and diagnostics , signal processing , interface diagnostics and / or signal conditioning . circuitry 40 , on the other hand , may take the form of microprocessing circuitry such as the 68000 variety , and may include static ram and rom as well as non - volatile memory . in that event , the circuitry can provide discrete event recordation and decision based signal conditioning / diagnostics . circuitry 40 is shown in fig6 however , as consisting simply of a plurality of fuses 40 ( a , b , and c ) which are formed by areas of reduced widths in a thin film metal layer 42 formed on surface 32 of wafer 10 . the fuses 40 ( a , b and c ) are connected to the pins and operate , in this example , to sense electromagnetic pulse induced stress on the pins 12 . if , for example , a potentially damaging pulse is received exceeding a predetermined current level then one or more of the fuses will melt causing a change in resistance associated with that pin . the wafer , in this example , takes the form of a silicon substrate 41 and includes a passivation layer 46 , as shown in fig7 . instead of the circuitry 40 being a simple metal fuse formed on the wafer surface , conventional very large scale integration circuit techniques can be used to form active devices within the body of the semiconductor wafer . in any event , some type of electrical connection is also provided between the pins 12 and the circuitry 40 . in this particular example , a metallic disc 50 is provided for each wafer hole 38 . as shown best in fig3 - 5 , each metallic disc 50 includes an aperture 52 whose diameter is slightly smaller than the cross sectional diameter of the connector pin 12 . a plurality of radially extending slits 54 define an array of bendable fingers 56 , the inner portions of which serve to bend under the force of the connector pin being inserted through the wafer holes 38 to thereby make a sliding , removable , yet positive electrical connection with each pin . the non - slitted peripheral rim 58 of the disc 50 is mounted by way of conductive epoxy or solder to conductive circular pads 60 on wafer 10 surrounding holes 38 . the discs 50 are connected by way of metal traces 42 to the circuitry which , in fig5 bears the reference numeral 40 &# 39 ; to represent an active electronic integrated circuit component formed in the surface of semiconductor material serving as wafer 10 . in most applications it is necessary to make electrical connection to the innermost shell of the connector pair which often serves as an electrical ground . in such instances similar wiping electrically conductive fingers 62 can be used for this purpose , as seen in fig3 . fig2 illustrates a somewhat more sophisticated embodiment where bidirectional communication is made between the circuitry 40 on the wafer 10 . in such manner , it is possible to expand the capabilities of the invention . as shown in fig2 the wafer includes a suitable onboard optical transceiver 64 which communicates with a remote transceiver and converter 66 via a light waveguide 68 . transceiver and converter 66 is coupled to a suitable controller 70 which may be provided by way of a host computer . electrical signals from the controller 70 are converted by transceiver / converter 66 into suitable light pulses which are transmitted by waveguide 68 to the transceiver 64 on wafer 10 . the waveguide 68 can be made of suitable material that has sufficient flexibility and integrity to transmit the optical information in a reliable manner . it should be flexible enough so that it can conform with the relatively small pathways left between shells 20 and 18 of the mated connectors , as shown . waveguide 68 can , for example , take the form of a mylar strip which is preferably coated with a reflecting substance on its outer surfaces to increase the efficiency of the optical transmission . optical transceiver 64 converts the optical signal from waveguide 68 into suitable electrical signals which are fed to the circuitry 40 on the wafer 10 . for example , the signals could be used to program a suitable integrated circuit microprocessor which serves as the circuitry 40 . the microprocessor then could communicate with the electronic equipment 28 via the pins 12 in the male connector 14 ( fig1 ). likewise , signals from the electronic equipment 28 can be communicated to the remote controller 70 via the pins 12 , circuitry 40 , optical transceiver 64 , waveguide 68 and optical transceiver / converter 66 . a system of this type can be used for a variety of applications such as advanced signal processing , intelligent instrumentation , real - time data stream monitoring , remotely controlled signal conditioning , switching and processing ; remotely controlled interface diagnostics , transient data recordation and the like . again , these applications are by way of non - limiting examples . depending upon the application and type of circuitry on the wafer 10 , it may be desirable to remove the wafer and test the circuitry thereon . for example , if the circuitry takes the form of the fuses shown in fig6 and 7 , it would be desirable to periodically remove and test the wafer to determine if any of the fuses 40 ( a , b , c ) had melted due to high levels of electromagnetic induced current pulses on the pins 12 . fig8 illustrates a suitable test console 70 for this purpose . console 70 includes a wafer identification unit 72 , a wafer test fixture 74 , a switching matrix 76 , measurement circuitry 78 , threshold verification circuitry 80 and computer control 82 . the identification unit 72 uniquely identifies a wafer 10 by means of an identification tag 84 on each wafer 10 . tag 84 , in this example , is a conventional bar code which can be read by a suitable bar code reader 86 . a wafer extraction tool 88 aids in the insertion and removal of the wafer into the connector 14 and minimizes the risk of wafer damage due to mechanical stress or other events . tool 88 employs a vacuum system 90 with a vacuum head 92 designed to temporarily hold the wafer 10 . during insertion , the head 92 manipulates the wafer so that the pins slide into the wafer holes 38 and make electrical connection to the pin contacts 50 and the shell contacts 62 make connection to the shell 18 ( fig3 ). the male and female connectors 14 and 16 are then mated together in the usual manner with the pins 12 being inserted into the female sockets 26 . as illustrated in the drawings , the wafer 10 is sufficiently thin that it does not disturb the normal mating of the connectors . to remove the wafer 10 , the connectors are disassembled and the vacuum tool 88 is used to extract the wafer 10 from the male connector 14 . the wafers then are placed in the test fixture 74 which generally consists of a bank of the same mil - spec connectors 14 . the test fixture 74 is capable of testing one wafer at a time by placing the wafer in its corresponding connector . an led indicator 94 automatically locates the proper connector to use based on the wafer &# 39 ; s identification code . the switching matrix 76 switches the resistance measurement between any pin on the connector and another pin or the connector shell . it also switches in an onboard switched dc power supply to verify the threshold of any of the fuses 40 ( a , b or c ). the switching matrix 76 is controlled by the computer 82 through a bus interface card . the measurement circuitry 78 makes a resistance measurement that determines which fuses 40 ( a , b or c ), if any , have been blown . an a / d converter with a fast sampling rate is used so that many fuses can be tested in a small amount of time . the threshold verification circuitry 80 includes a programmable switch dc power supply and a source resistant network . it creates a known square pulse with enough amplitude to blow any of the fuses . the pulse level is stepped up slowly and the fuse resistance is read after each pulse to determine when the fuse blows and what its threshold was . computer control 82 controls all of the systems and records the data from the test . the computer is suitably programmed so that it will control all the testing procedure . from the foregoing , those skilled in the art should realize that the present invention provides a simple , yet reliable way to rapidly and unintrusively make electrical connection to pins in electrical connectors and which further enables the user to modify or add a wide variety of functions through the use of the appropriate circuitry on the wafer . as noted from the outset , the invention has been described in connection with a few particular examples . however , various modifications and other applications will become apparent to the skilled practitioner after having the benefit of studying the specification , drawings and following claims . | 8 |
before explaining the disclosed embodiments of the present invention in detail it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its applications to the details of the particular arrangements shown since the invention is capable of other embodiments . also , the terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation . in the summary above and in the detailed description of preferred embodiments and in the accompanying drawings , reference is made to particular features ( including method steps ) of the invention . it is to be understood that the disclosure of the invention in this specification includes all possible combinations of such particular features . for example , where a particular feature is disclosed in the context of a particular aspect or embodiment of the invention , that feature can also be used , to the extent possible , in combination with and / or in the context of other particular aspects and embodiments of the invention , and in the invention generally . in this section , some embodiments of the invention will be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings , in which preferred embodiments of the invention are shown . this invention may , however , be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein . rather , these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete , and will convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art . like numbers refer to like elements throughout , and prime notation is used to indicate similar elements in alternative embodiments . 1 . ceiling fan 10 . ceiling ring 12 . canopy 13 . plate 14 . upper coupler 16 . ball 20 . downrod 21 . upper end 22 . upper pin / screw / fastener 23 . pin hole 26 . threaded lower end 27 . side hole for screw 29 . side opening for clip 30 . coupler for motor housing 31 . internal threads 32 . side hole for screw 34 . side opening for clip 37 . nut under base 38 . base of coupler 39 . side pin / screw / fastener 40 . spring clip 42 . tab end 44 . bent portion 46 . leg 48 . fastener though leg 49 . side screw 50 . motor housing with fan blades fig1 shows an exploded cross - sectional view of a ceiling fan 1 with attached novel coupler 30 spaced from a downrod 20 and a ceiling fan canopy 12 . fig2 is a perspective view of the novel downrod coupler 30 of fig1 attached to the lower end of the downrod 20 . fig3 is a front view of the downrod coupler 30 with attached downrod 20 of fig2 . fig4 is a cross - sectional view of the downrod coupler with attached downrod 20 of fig3 . fig5 is a cross - sectional view of the downrod coupler 30 of fig4 along arrow b . fig6 is a bottom partial ghost view of the downrod coupler 30 with attached downrod 20 of fig3 along arrow 6 x . referring to fig1 , the invention can be used with a ceiling fan 1 having a traditional ceiling ring 10 that attaches to a ceiling on an upper side , and a lower side having a canopy 12 with lower plate 13 that attaches to an upper coupler 14 . a ball 16 attached to the lower portion of the upper coupler 14 is also attached to an upper end 21 of a downrod 20 with pin / fastener 22 inserted through a pin hole 23 , which are known features in the prior art . the downrod 20 with lower threaded end 26 and side hole 27 for pin / screw 39 is modified to have an additional side opening 29 for use with the novel spring clip 40 . referring to fig1 - 6 , the novel lower coupler 30 can include an upper opening having internal threads 31 for mateably receiving the exterior threaded end 26 of the downrod 20 . lower coupler 30 can include a side hole 32 for receiving pin / screw 39 , and a side opening 34 for receiving the bent portion 44 of the spring clip 40 . on the bottom of the coupler 30 can be an enlarged base 38 with nut 37 that attaches to the motor housing 50 of the ceiling fan 1 . the spring clip 40 can include an upper outwardly protruding tab end 42 an inwardly bent portion 44 . a lower vertical leg 46 attaches the spring 40 to the side of the coupler 30 by a fastener 48 , such as a pin or screw . the invention can be practiced after the ceiling ring with canopy 12 , plate 13 , upper coupler 14 with ball 16 and upper end 21 of downrod 20 have been installed in place to suspend below a ceilng . an installer can quickly and securely attach the downrod 20 to the ceiling fan motor 50 using the novel coupler 30 that has been pre - attached to the motor 50 . the installer can thread the lower end 26 of the downrod 20 into the internal threads 31 in the top of the coupler 30 . the inwardly bent portion 44 on the leg 46 of the spring clip 40 is biased to press into the side opening 34 of the coupler 30 and then into the side opening 29 . the lower end 26 of the coupler 20 screws into the coupler 30 until the bent portion 44 of the spring clip 40 engages with the side opening 29 of the downrod 20 . the clip 40 engages the downrod 20 preventing any further rotating movement of the downrod 20 . at this point , the downrod 20 and lower coupler 30 can then be securely fastened to the top of the ceiling fan motor 50 by an additional set screw / pin 39 that passes through a side hole 32 in the coupler 30 and side hole 27 in the downrod 20 . to separate the motor 50 from the downrod 20 , the installer can remove the set screw / pin 39 . next , the bent portion 44 of the spring clip 40 can be disengaged by pulling on tab 42 and unscrewing the coupler 30 from the lower end 26 of the downrod 20 until the coupler 30 becomes separated from the motor 50 . while the drawings show the spring clip attached to the coupler to engage a side opening in the bottom of the downrod , the invention can be practiced where the spring clip is part of the bottom of the downrod which engages an opening in the coupler . although the novel coupler is shown attaching the motor to the bottom of the downrod . the coupler can be used to couple the top of the down rod to the ceiling mount portion . although the invention shows the novel coupler attached to a ceiling fan motor , the novel coupler can be used to attach other downwardly supported lights , and any other products that can attach to a downrod . while the invention has been described , disclosed , illustrated and shown in various terms of certain embodiments or modifications which it has presumed in practice , the scope of the invention is not intended to be , nor should it be deemed to be , limited thereby and such other modifications or embodiments as may be suggested by the teachings herein are particularly reserved especially as they fall within the breadth and scope of the claims here appended . | 5 |
fig1 schematically shows an apparatus for applying a treating liquid 10 to a porous body 11 by the method of the invention . the apparatus comprises a treating chamber 12 having an upper part 14 and a lower part 15 . the upper part 14 is open - topped and may be provided with a removable cover or lid . a sealing member 13 consisting of several sections of elastomeric material is arranged to surround a body 11 to be treated when the body is placed in the treating chamber 12 by inserting it into the open top by means of an automatic handling device ( not shown ). in the case of square or rectangular bodies 11 such as prebaked carbon anodes of aluminium production cells , four sections of elastomeric material can be arranged around the four sides , each section being associated with a series of hydraulic , pneumatic or mechanically actuated cylinders , one such hydraulic cylinder 25 being shown in fig1 . this sealing member 13 , when it is tightened around the body 11 , isolates a space in the upper part 14 of the treating chamber around the part of the body 11 to be treated , from a lower part 15 of the treating chamber around a bottom part of the body 11 which is not to be treated . isolation of the upper and lower parts 14 , 15 of chamber 12 can be achieved by means of a flexible skirt associated with the sections of the sealing member 13 , or by arranging the sections of the sealing member 13 to fluid - tightly protrude from a groove or the like around the chamber wall . a supply conduit 16 for treating liquid leads into the upper part 14 of the treating chamber . conduit 16 leads from a reservoir 32 of treating liquid 10 and has a supply pump 17 by means of which treating liquid 10 can be supplied to the upper part 14 of the treating chamber so as to cover the part of the body 11 to be treated , up to a level determined by a sensor 22 . a venturi or vacuum pump 18 is connected to the lower part 15 of chamber 12 for evacuating the space around the underside of the body 11 . when the venturi or vacuum pump 18 is switched on , air filling the pores of body 11 is evacuated , which causes an amount of the treating liquid 10 in the upper part 14 of chamber 12 to be intaken into the part of the body 11 to be treated . a pressure detector 19 is provided in the lower part 15 of chamber 12 . this detector 19 is sensitive to the change in pressure which occurs when all of the pores of the part of body 11 being treated are filled . an outlet conduit 20 is connected to the bottom of the upper part 14 of the chamber . this conduit 20 leads back to the reservoir 32 and has a pump 21 for returning treating liquid remaining in the chamber at the end of treatment of a body 11 back to the reservoir 32 . a hydraulic system , comprising a hydraulic cylinder 25 controlled by a hydraulic pump 26 , is provided for adjusting the sealing member 13 which is connected to a piston of the hydraulic pump 26 . when this piston is pulled into its cylinder 25 , the member 13 is pulled out to allow a loose fit around a body 11 , permitting insertion and removal of the body 11 into or from the treating chamber 12 . when the piston is pushed out of its cylinder 25 , the sealing member 13 is tightened around the body 11 to provide a sealing fit , by elastic deformation of the elastomeric material making up the sections of sealing member 13 when they are applied against the body 11 under the pressure applied by the hydraulic control . alternatively , it is possible to control the sealing member 13 pneumatically , mechanically or electro - mechanically . a position detector 30 is provided in the lower part 15 of the treating chamber for detecting when a body 11 introduced into chamber 12 reaches a predetermined position . this position depends on the size of the body 11 and corresponds to the level of the bottom of the body 11 when the top of the body to be treated is at a level where it will be covered by treating liquid 10 in the upper part 14 of the chamber . the detector 30 is arranged to actuate the hydraulic pump 26 and hydraulic cylinder 25 to bring the sealing member 13 to sealably engage with the body 11 when the body 11 has reached the given position . the treating chamber 12 comprises a heater 31 for heating the treating liquid 10 in the upper part 14 of chamber 12 . the heater 31 can be an electric heater or can operate by circulating hot air or another heating fluid . this heater 31 can be adjusted to supply an amount of heat which compensates for heat loss due to contact of liquid 10 with body 11 , i . e . depending on the size and temperature of the body 11 and its thermal characteristics , and the operating temperature of the treating liquid 10 . if required , the heater 31 can be replaced by means for maintaining a proper thermal balance . the reservoir 32 supplies hot treating liquid 10 to the top part 14 of the treating chamber and , after the end of the treatment of a body 11 , treating liquid remaining is returned to the reservoir 32 via conduit 20 . the reservoir 32 is externally insulated and is fitted with a heater 33 for maintaining the treating liquid 10 at a selected temperature controlled by a thermostat 37 . a stirrer 34 constantly or intermittently driven by a motor 35 stirs the treating liquid 10 contained in reservoir 32 . in the embodiment shown in fig1 at the top of reservoir 32 is a metering device 36 for adding components of the treating liquid 10 to the reservoir 32 in an amount to compensate for consumption of the treating liquid 10 in the treating process . the reservoir 32 also includes a pressure sensor 38 for monitoring the level of liquid 10 and a sensor 39 measuring the density or the conductivity of liquid 10 , serving to control the metering device 36 . the treating liquid 10 in reservoir 32 is maintained at a selected temperature , say from 60 ° c . to 120 ° c . and contains a treating agent at a concentration well below saturation . an advantageous reservoir for maintaining a supply of non - saturated treating liquid is described below with reference to fig2 . a preferred apparatus comprises a control panel schematically indicated at 40 . this control panel includes controls for all routine adjustments such as temperature of the liquid in reservoir 32 and in the top part 14 of chamber 12 , the liquid level to be controlled by sensor 22 , etc . the control panel also includes an overall control arranged to sequentially perform the following operations : first , the sealing member 13 is actuated ( by the position detector 30 and hydraulic control 26 / 25 ) to sealably engage with the body 11 when the body 11 to be treated has reached the given position . next , the pump 17 is switched on to fill the upper part 14 of the treating chamber 12 with a quantity of hot treating liquid 10 from the reservoir 32 , up to a level controlled by sensor 22 . then , the lower part 15 of the treating chamber is evacuated by switching on the venturi or vacuum pump 18 , which evacuates air from the pores of body 11 and intakes treating liquid 10 into the surface pores . during the vacuum treatment , if required the heater 31 is switched on to heat the treating liquid 10 in the upper part 14 of the chamber 12 in order to compensate for cooling of the liquid 10 by contact with body 11 , so that the treating liquid 10 in contact with the body 11 remains at more - or - less constant temperature above the saturation temperature . in this way , the treating liquid in the circulation system is always maintained non - saturated , thereby avoiding unwanted deposits of the treating agent in the circulation system . when the vacuum is applied , hot treating liquid is intaken into the pores of body 11 which , for example , is at ambient temperature . as it is intaken into the pores , the treating liquid heats the surface part of body 11 , whereas the temperature of the impregnated treating liquid drops . as the pores fill with treating liquid , the deeper the liquid penetrates the cooler it becomes until it deposits precipitated treating agent firstly in some pores . the liquid is then diverted to fill those pores which still remain open . when all pores are full and blocked by deposited treating agent , the impregnation is sufficient and this is signaled by the pressure detector 19 , which immediately or after a given time automatically switches off the venturi or vacuum pump 18 and then actuates pump 21 to remove residual treating liquid 10 from the upper part 14 of the treating chamber . when all of the residual liquid 10 has been removed from the upper part 14 of the treating chamber , the hydraulic pump 26 is actuated to release the sealing member 13 and allow removal of the treated body 11 from the treating chamber 12 by an automatic handling device ( not shown ). a typical body 11 to be treated is a prebaked carbon anode of an aluminium production cell . such bodies usually have a porosity of about 20 - 24 %, of which 10 - 12 % is open porosity . a prebaked anode may weigh of the order of 1000 kg . attached to its upper side of the anode is a steel rod for connection to a suspension device and which also serves as an electrical connection . the treatment of prebaked anodes by known impregnation processes is difficult ( because of the attached rod ) and energy consuming ( because of the need to heat the entire anode to a temperature at which the impregnation process will be effective ). with the method according to the invention , the treatment of prebaked anodes is advantageous , because the anode can be treated with its rodded side up and only the part which needs to be treated ( the upper side shoulders and top ) can be treated without preheating of the anode , in a simple treatment with the anode at ambient temperature and the treating liquid at a convenient temperature , say from 60 ° to 120 ° c . in a treatment lasting only a few minutes . moreover , due to the rapidity of the impregnation process , the treated anode or other body only takes up a small quantity of heat , so the process is very energy efficient . in an alternative embodiment , the operating cycle is slightly modified , by removing used treating liquid from the bottom part 15 of the chamber after releasing the sealing members 13 . in this case , when the sealing members 13 are retracted , the used treating liquid flows down and is collected in the lower part of the treating chamber , in a channel or sump at the bottom of an inclined surface down which the liquid flows . the outlet 20 then leads from this channel or sump for return of the used liquid to the reservoir . particularly when boron - based or phosphorous - based treating liquids are used , a sloping floor ensures continuous draining of the used liquid , which avoids unwanted deposits of the oxidation retardant . this simplifies maintenance of the apparatus and reduces operating costs . fig2 shows the main components of a very advantageous design of a storage vessel or reservoir 52 for supplying the treating liquid 10 via a supply conduit 16 and returning used treating liquid to the reservoir 52 via a return conduit 20 . reservoir 52 is separated by a horizontal inner divider wall 54 into an upper ( or first ) compartment 55 and a lower ( or second ) compartment 56 . the upper compartment 55 contains saturated treating liquid 10 ″ at a temperature t 1 , this saturated treating liquid 10 ″ being in contact with a mass 60 of undissolved treating agent on the divider wall 54 . the lower compartment 56 contains a supply of non - saturated treating liquid 10 which is at the same concentration as that in compartment 55 but is at a temperature t 2 which is higher than t 1 . the reservoir 52 further comprises arrangements for maintaining the hot treating liquid in the compartments 55 and 56 at the respective temperatures t 1 and t 2 . as shown for compartment 55 , such an arrangement comprises an outlet 61 and a return inlet 62 for circulating the hot liquid via a standard type of heat exchanger 63 which heats the circulating liquid to the desired temperature t 1 ( or t 2 ). a similar arrangement ( not shown ) is provided for compartment 56 . these heater / circulating arrangements also serve to stir the liquid in compartments 55 and 56 . additional stirrers can be included if desired . compartment 55 has an outlet 64 and compartment 56 has an inlet 65 via which hot treating liquid 10 ″ from compartment 55 at temperature t 1 can be transferred into compartment 56 where the liquid is maintained at a temperature t 2 above t 1 . heating the liquid from temperature t 1 to t 2 can be done between the outlet 64 and inlet 65 , or in a separate heating / circulating device ( like 61 , 62 , 63 ). the reservoir 52 also has a window 66 in one face , through which the level of the undissolved treating material 60 can be monitored . as shown for compartment 55 , a thermometer 67 and a manometer 68 are provided for monitoring the temperatures t 1 ( or t 2 ) and the pressure in the respective compartment 55 ( or 56 ). at the top of reservoir 52 is a hinged cover 70 which can be manually opened for tipping into the compartment 55 a fresh supply of material 60 when needed , as can be visually ascertained by inspection via window 66 . the material 60 can thus be supplied at convenient times by emptying it , for example from a sack . the cover 70 is fitted with a seal to prevent the escape of fumes . at the bottom of reservoir 52 is an optional manhole - type opening 71 that can be opened for manually removing debris etc . that may accumulate in the lower compartment 56 . for this purpose , the lower compartment is fitted with a perforated dividing wall 76 for restraining the debris . the reservoir further comprises a hot water inlet 72 and a hot water outlet 73 at the top of compartment 55 . it thus possible to include , inside the main compartment 55 of the reservoir 52 , an internal hot water storage tank arranged so that , when needed , the stored hot water can be used to flush the conduits 61 , 62 and the heat exchanger 63 to dissolve any deposits of the treating material deposited from the saturated liquid . also , each of the upper and lower compartments 55 , 56 has a venting device for equalizing pressure therein . this consists of a vent tube 74 , which connects the compartment 56 to the outside , having a spring - actuated closure flap 74 ′ for venting in case of excess pressure in the compartment 56 . likewise , compartment 55 has a vent tube 75 closed by a spring - actuated closure flap 75 ′. the described improved reservoir 52 can be used for supplying hot treating liquid for various processes ; i . e . even without using a vacuum . for instance , it can be used to spray or otherwise apply a topcoating of the treating material onto a treated body . this reservoir 52 is very advantageous from several points of view . by maintaining the treating liquid at a given temperature t 1 in compartment 55 , the treating material therein is maintained dissolved , at a concentration which corresponds to the saturation concentration at that temperature t 1 . this is achieved without any complex control means and without a need to meter in selected amounts of the treating material , simply by maintaining an excess of undissolved treating material 60 , by adequate stirring , and by maintaining the temperature at the desired value t 1 . dissolved at the same concentration as before , but is sufficiently below the saturation concentration that when the liquid is supplied for example to the upper part of chamber 14 , the risk of unwanted deposition of the treating material in the supply arrangement is reduced or eliminated , compared to when a liquid at or near saturation is used . moreover , the concentration of the treating liquid is controlled in a very simple way . the reservoir 52 can be filled manually at convenient intervals with fresh treating material 60 . the simple arrangement with sealed cover 70 avoids the escape of undesirable fumes . instead of increasing the temperature in compartment 56 , the same effect could be achieved by maintaining the treating liquid at the temperature t 1 and adding selected amounts of hot water at temperature t 1 . instead of returning the used treating liquid into compartment 56 via the conduit 70 , it could be returned into compartment 55 . for certain applications of the reservoir 52 , the supplied treating liquid need not be returned to the reservoir . when a solution of boric acid is used for the treatment of the upper parts of pre - baked carbon anodes of aluminium production cells , a saturated solution of boric acid can be contained in compartment 55 at a temperature t 1 in the range 50 ° c . to 110 ° c ., for example . the sub - saturated treating solution 10 can be obtained by heating the solution in compartment 56 to a temperature say about 10 ° c . to 15 ° c . above t 1 . when this sub - saturated solution is impregnated into the surface of a carbon anode 11 at ambient temperature assisted by vacuum , and maintaining the external solution hot by means of the heater 31 , a boron - containing layer precipitates in the pores underneath the surface of the carbon body 11 . during use of the anode , the impregnated layer vitrifies and forms a dense viscous protective layer considerably reducing oxidation of the upper part of the anode which remains as an anode butt . | 2 |
the ability to detect capture and its associated threshold capture in a pacemaker is extremely desirable since delivering pacing pulses that are ineffective may increase a patient &# 39 ; s risks , whereas delivering pacing pulses in excess of the patient &# 39 ; s stimulation threshold is wasteful of the pacemaker &# 39 ; s limited power supply . in determining whether a cardiac stimulator has achieved capture , the physician or the device itself can look at electrical cardiac signals for evidence of an evoked cardiac depolarization in response to a pacing stimulus . in past cardiac stimulating devices , a single electrode has been utilized to both pace and verify capture of this electrode stimulus . problems arise using this method including blind spots due to after potentials , tissue polarization and high stimulating voltage spikes . in monosite cardiac pacing , where there is one stimulation site per part of the heart that is electrically continuous , the resulting depolarization is by definition traveling away from the stimulating electrode so there is no depolarization wave front passing the electrode . passing wave fronts have characteristics that are readily detected by standard sensing circuits . when the depolarization wave front is traveling away from the electrode , the sensing circuit has to detect depolarization through other signal characteristics ( i . e ., from depolarization after potentials or from a resulting t - wave characteristics ). these signal characteristics are less ideal , are of lower frequencies and may be disturbed by the stimulation artifact and its after potential . in multisite cardiac pacing , where there is more than one stimulation site per part of the heart that is electrically continuous , there is additional information available for detection of a depolarization wavefront that is caused by stimulating a given electrode . a second electrode situated elsewhere in the same electrically continuous portion of the heart is utilized to detect depolarization induced by the first electrode , wherein the depolarization wavefront propagates through the muscle tissue and passes the second electrode sometime after the stimulation impulse . the passing of the depolarization wavefront causes a signal which has the characteristic of a &# 34 ; normal &# 34 ; sensing signal as it is known from the detection of intrinsic cardiac activity in monosite cardiac pacing . sensing technology and circuitry of known construction can be used for detection of the depolarization . stimulation artifact and its resulting after potentials are ignored by including in this sensing circuit a timed blanking period and a window of time in which the depolarization wave front is detected by the second electrode . the fact that the passing wave front will not reach the second electrode earlier than after the depolarization conduction time of the cardiac tissue between the two electrodes allows for an appropriate blanking period , without compromising the ability to detect the passing wave front . the electrodes of the present invention may be utilized in conjunction with stimulating the heart &# 39 ; s ventricles either simultaneously or sequentially . such a system is useful in treating patients with congestive heart failure ( chf ). typically a cardiac stimulator utilized in chf patients is programmed to stimulate continuously . during special capture verifications sequences occurring at selected intervals ( i . e ., once per day , once per hour , once every tenth heart beat ) the function of the electrodes switches to a verification state rather than a stimulating function . the auto capture sequence is controlled by the microprocessor based controller coupled to the pulse generator . an appropriately timed blanking period is of a very short duration , on the order of 10 milliseconds , and prevents a detecting electrode from detecting the actual stimulus transmitted to the testing electrode . during this blanking period , the designated detection electrodes are inactive . in a configuration with one or more detecting electrodes , after the preset blanking period , the detection window starts . this window should be long enough to cover the longest possible activation conduction time between the electrodes . without any limitation intended , the time of the detection window could range from 50 - 350 milliseconds . the window of time may further be narrowed by storing in the memory of the microprocessor based controller the amount of time between the test stimulus and the actual detection of capture for the electrodes , over one or several verifications . the data may then be averaged and utilized in later cycles to define the window of time ( to be slightly greater than the average time taken between stimulus and detection ) during capture verification , which enables the test stimulus to be applied as late as possible and thereby minimally interfere with the heart rhythm . when two or more detecting electrodes are present , the microprocessor based controller can also be programmed to check for changes in the relative timing of the sensing events of the multiple sensing electrodes . this may be accomplished by storing the time at which each electrode experiences a sensing event relative to another electrode , or relative to a mean of the moments of sensing on all detecting electrodes , associated with the same cardiac cycle . this set of relative timings is defined to be the reference sensing pattern , which is stored for comparison with the pattern found in a later cycle . then , in a pacing cycle in which the test stimulus is administered , the sensing pattern is collected again and compared with the stored reference sensing pattern . if one or more of the detecting electrodes &# 39 ; relative sensing timings are off more than a pre - determined amount , a change in the relative sensing timing pattern could be declared and the test stimulus be declared to have captured the heart . having generally described the present invention , focus of the description will next be directed to the figures . referring first to fig1 the cardiac stimulator , designated generally by numeral 10 , is shown having lead 12 inserted into a patient &# 39 ; s heart . the cardiac stimulator 10 generally includes a microprocessor based controller 14 , a power supply 16 , a pulse generator 18 , and an external programmer 20 . the first or distal end of the pacing lead 12 is inserted into the patient &# 39 ; s heart and the second or proximal end of the lead is electrically connected generally to the cardiac stimulator 10 , and specifically to the pulse generator 18 and micro processor based controller 14 . those skilled in the art will appreciate that the lead 12 may be of a suitable construction including one or more electrodes . further sense amplifiers of known construction may be incorporated internally within the micro processor based controller circuitry . the micro processor based controller 14 is programmed to operate in any one of a plurality of pacing modes in a manner known to those skilled in the art , including av - sequential pacing . the micro processor 14 further has both ram ( random access memory ) 22 and rom ( read only memory ) 24 for storing programs and data which generally allows the following : the processing of signals from electrogram , controlling the automatic capture verification sequence , controlling the automatic threshold adjustment sequence , storing various information derived from the automatic capture sequence , and changing the preset constants of the program . the microprocessor 14 controls the cardiac stimulating pulses delivered by pulse generator 18 to two or more stimulating electrodes ( not shown ). a cardiac stimulating device 10 capable of telemetering various status information including selecting a pacing mode and other parameters is commercially available from for example , cardiac pacemakers , inc ., st . paul , minn . the details of which are incorporated herein by reference . the external programmer 20 having a micro processor and associated memory transmits information in a conventional way through a telemetry link 26 and transmission receiver 28 of the cardiac stimulators micro processor 14 . using the external programmer 20 and the telemetry link 26 , operating parameter values for the cardiac stimulator 10 can be delivered to it by an operator for setting the cardiac cycle pacing parameter values to be utilized and other various features of the stimulator 10 . fig2 shows a typical waveform 34 propagating through the ventricular muscle mass , wherein the stimulating electrode 32 is positioned within the right ventricle 30 . a graphic comparison of an ecg signal and a right ventricular electrogram is also shown . an ecg and rv egm wave patterns 38 associated with an effective stimulus and wave patterns 40 associated with an ineffective stimulus are represented graphically . fig3 further shows an additional electrode 36 within the left ventricle and positioned for detecting the depolarization wave form 34 . the ecg and rv ( right ventricular ) egm and lv ( left ventricular ) egm are graphically shown for comparison . the lv egm from the left ventricular electrode 36 shows distinct pacing spikes 42 , artifact 44 and depolarization 46 . the information from the lv egm and rv egm can readily be analyzed correctly utilizing an appropriate blanking period 49 and window 48 for detection of depolarization ( see fig3 ). when effective stimulation via the rv electrode occurs , the depolarization 46 is sensed off the left ventricular egm at a time within the detection window 49 . fig4 shows an algorithm suitable for use in conjunction with the present invention . of course , the algorithm is not intended to be limiting , but rather describes a preferred algorithm for verifying the threshold and capture utilizing two electrodes positioned within an electrically continuous area of cardiac muscle . the user first sets the normal pacing parameters ( see block 50 ) and normal pacing occurs for a predetermined number of cardiac cycles ( see block 52 ). the capture verification test then begins , testing an electrode previously selected as the test electrode ( see block 54 ). if capture verification is to be tested during an intrinsic rhythm , then pacing is delayed for n predetermined cycles ( see decision block 56 and block 58 ). if capture verification is not to be tested during intrinsic rhythm , pacing continues during the predetermined n cycles ( see block 64 ). if backup pacing occurs during the delayed pacing , then normal pacing begins for n cycles . at the end of n cycles the microprocessor based controller 14 calculates the cycle length and then stimulates the test electrode , utilizing the other electrode as a detector , at a point in time that is [ the calculated cycle length , minus the duration of the detection window , minus a predeterminable margin ] after the event that defines the end of the previous cardiac cycle ( see decision block 60 and block 62 ). if a depolarization is sensed by the detection electrode ( see decision block 66 ) then capture is verified ( block 70 ) and the test output is decreased a predetermined amount . if a depolarization is not sensed , then the test output voltage is increased ( see block 68 ). once the test output is either increased or decreased then capture is re - verified as at loop 72 . if prior to the verification there was capture and then upon re - verification there was no capture , or vice versa ( see decision block 74 ), then the threshold output is known ( block 78 ) and then the pacing returns to its normal pacing parameters ( loop 80 ). if the upon re - verification there was capture where there was capture before , or no capture where there was no capture before , then capture verification continues ( see loop 76 ) until the threshold is determined ( block 78 ). fig5 shows the positioning of rv electrode 90 , septal electrode 94 and lv electrode 92 together with the depolarization waveform 96 of an intrinsic activation . fig6 shows the depolarization waveform 98 wherein rv electrode 90 is being tested or stimulated . fig6 also illustrates graphically the ecg , rv egm , lv egm and septal ( sp ) egm for intrinsic 100 and induced 104 activation , where the rv electrode is used as the test electrode . as the activation originates from different locations and thus follows different paths in the two situations , the time ( δt ) between the detection of the wavefront via the detecting sp and lv electrodes ( the time t sp of detecting via one detecting electrode , relative to the time t lv of detecting via the other detecting electrode ) is different . note that the time of detection of each electrode could also be related to a mean of times of detection of all detecting electrodes , instead of directly to that of one other as illustrated in fig6 ( not shown ). in a multiple detecting electrode configuration , the time between detections could change between any combination of two electrodes , or could change for each electrode compared with the mean . in the latter case , each electrode would have its own &# 34 ; δt &# 34 ;. fig7 shows an algorithm suitable for use in conjunction with a three electrode pacing system of the present invention within an electrically continuous area of cardiac muscle . the user first sets the normal pacing parameters ( see block 110 ) and normal pacing occurs for a predetermined number of cardiac cycles ( see block 112 ). the capture verification test then begins , testing an electrode previously selected as the test electrode ( see block 114 ). if capture verification is to be tested during an intrinsic rhythm , then pacing is delayed for n predetermined cycles ( see decision block 116 and block 118 ). if capture verification is not to be tested during intrinsic rhythm , pacing continues during the predetermined n cycles ( see block 124 ). if backup pacing occurs during the delayed pacing , then normal pacing begins for n cycles ( see decision block 120 ). at the end of n cycles the microprocessor based controller 14 calculates the cycle length and then stimulates the test electrode , utilizing the other electrodes as detectors , at a point in time equalling [ the calculated cycle length minus the time required in order to allow for detection of a change in sensing pattern , minus a pre - determinable margin ] after the event that defines the end of the previous cardiac cycle ( see decision block 120 and block 122 ). if the sensing pattern , as seen during the n cycles , is different during the test cycle ( see decision block 126 ), then capture is verified ( block 130 ) and the test output is decreased a predetermined amount . if a depolarization is detected ( see decision block 126 ) then capture is verified ( block 130 ) and the test output is decreased a predetermined amount . if a depolarization is not detected , then the test output is increased ( see block 128 ). once the test output is either increased or decreased then capture is re - verified as at loop 132 . if prior to the verification there was capture and then upon re - verification there was no capture , or vice versa , ( see decision block 134 ), then the threshold output is known ( block 138 ) and then the pacing returns to its normal pacing parameters ( loop 140 ). if upon re - verification , there was capture where there was capture before , or no capture where there was no capture before , then capture verification continues ( see loop 136 ) until the threshold is determined ( block 138 ). this 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 devices , and that various modifications , both as to the equipment details and operating procedures , can be accomplished without departing from the scope of the invention itself . | 0 |
the present invention will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings , in which the preferred embodiments of the present invention are shown . in the drawings , the shapes of elements are exaggerated for clarity . in addition , like reference numerals designate like elements throughout the drawings . referring to fig1 the first embodiment of a cleaning apparatus according to the present invention includes one or more sets of cleaning chambers 200 and 300 connected to a central transfer chamber 100 . the transfer chamber 100 sequentially transports and dispenses substrates 400 to be cleaned to the cleaning chambers 200 and 300 . the substrates 400 may be supplied to or withdrawn from a loader ( not shown ) connected to the transfer chamber 100 . a robot ( not shown ) may be provided in the transfer chamber 100 . the substrates 400 are sequentially introduced into the transfer chamber 100 . the robot sequentially transports and loads the substrates 400 into the cleaning chambers 200 and 300 and subsequently withdraws them from the cleaning chambers 200 and 300 into the transfer chamber 100 . the cleaning chambers 200 and 300 provide a place in which contaminants on the surface of the substrate 400 are removed to clean the substrate surface . here , the term “ contaminants ” collectively refers to all kinds of contaminants that may accumulate on the surface of the substrate 400 as the integrated circuits are being manufactured or as the substrate 400 is being transferred , stored or is standing by during the overall manufacturing process . in the context of the present invention , the contaminants can be thought of as being largely divided into two types : particles that are removable by physical force and organic material that is removable by a chemical reaction . the surface of the substrate 400 is cleaned chiefly by a chemical reaction in the first cleaning chamber 200 , whereas the surface of the substrate 400 is cleaned chiefly by physical force in the second cleaning chamber 300 . in this case , the second cleaning chamber 300 is separate and discrete from the first cleaning chamber 200 . accordingly , the cleaning of the surface of the substrate 400 using a chemical reaction is performed independently of the cleaning using physical force . thus , the first cleaning chamber 200 may include a reactant supplier 510 and an ultraviolet light source . the second cleaning chamber 300 may include an aerosol generating nozzle 610 . more specifically , a reactant capable of forming a volatile byproduct with contaminants , in particular , organic contaminants , is directed onto the surface of the substrate 400 to chemically remove the contaminants from the surface of the substrate 400 . the reactant may comprise oxygen gas or ozone . in addition , the reactant may be directed onto the surface of the substrate 400 as a fluid flow . thus , the reactant supplier 510 in the first cleaning chamber 200 may be a nozzle or a gas port disposed above the surface of the substrate 400 . in this case , the nozzle is preferably oriented such that the orifice thereof faces the surface of the substrate 400 , whereby a jet of the reactant gas issuing from the orifice impinges the surface of the substrate 400 . furthermore , the nozzle may be located in the vicinity of the inlet of the first cleaning chamber 200 connected to the transfer chamber 100 . this advantageously causes by - products of the cleaning reaction to be exhausted through an exhaust port 250 because the exhaust port 250 is disposed opposite the inlet of the first cleaning chamber 200 . if oxygen gas is used as the reactant directed onto the surface of the substrate 400 , the oxygen does not readily react with contaminants on the surface of the substrate 400 , in particular , with organic contaminants . therefore , additional activation energy is required to cause the oxygen gas to react with the organic contaminants . the activation energy may be provided by light , such as ultraviolet or infrared light , directed onto the surface of the substrate 400 . for example , ultraviolet light may be generated by a light source ( 700 in fig2 ) such as an hg discharge lamp disposed above the first cleaning chamber 200 . the generated ultraviolet light passes through a quartz window 210 , which constitutes the upper wall of the first cleaning chamber 200 or a chamber dome , and onto the substrate 400 in the first cleaning chamber 200 . the ultraviolet light generated by the hg discharge lamp may have a wavelength of 184 . 9 nm or 253 . 7 nm . if ultraviolet light having a wavelength of 184 . 9 nm is directed onto the surface of the substrate 400 in the first cleaning chamber 200 , the ultraviolet light actually may not be capable of decomposing organic contaminants on the surface of the substrate 400 , but may be absorbed by the oxygen gas contained in the fluid flow of reactant jetted onto the surface of the substrate 400 . the oxygen gas absorbs the ultraviolet light and is activated to produce oxygen radicals or is transformed into activated ozone ( o 3 ). the oxygen radicals or ozone reacts with the organic contaminants to generate volatile by - products ( actually decomposes the organic contaminants ), and the generated by - products are exhausted through the exhaust port 250 , whereby the surface of the substrate 400 is cleaned . in this way , the ultraviolet light having a wavelength of 184 . 9 nm chiefly aids the reaction of the reactant with the organic contaminants . ultraviolet light having a wavelength of 253 . 7 nm may be absorbed directly by organic contaminants on the surface of the substrate 400 to decompose the organic contaminants into co 2 and h 2 o . when the chemical cleaning step performed in the first cleaning chamber 200 involves the use of ultraviolet light , it is desirable to initially have a predetermined soaking time . because the ultraviolet or infrared radiation may heat the aluminum or stainless steel walls of the first cleaning chamber 200 , a cooling system for preventing an increase in the temperature of the walls of the first cleaning chamber 200 may be installed along the outer circumference of the walls . as described above , the surface of the substrate 400 transferred into the first cleaning chamber 200 may be chemically cleaned by a fluid flow including oxygen gas along with ultraviolet radiation . however , even after the surface of the substrate 400 has been cleaned in this way , other types of contaminants , namely particulate material , may remain on the surface of the substrate 400 . contaminants such as particles need to be removed or cleaned by a physical mechanism . to accomplish this , the cleaning apparatus according the present invention includes the second cleaning chamber 300 connected to the first cleaning chamber 200 via the transfer chamber 100 . hence , the substrate 400 , which has been cleaned in the first cleaning chamber 200 , can be successively transferred by the robot to the second cleaning chamber 300 through the transfer chamber 100 . thus , recontamination of the substrate surface is minimized . alternatively , the substrate 400 may be cleaned in the first cleaning chamber 200 after having been cleaned in the second cleaning chamber 300 . that is , after having been cleaned by physical force in the second cleaning chamber 300 , the substrate 400 may be chemically cleaned in the first cleaning chamber 200 . as mentioned above , substrate 400 is cleaned in the second cleaning chamber 300 using physical force . as shown in fig1 and 3 , the physical force is generated by jetting an aerosol onto the surface of the substrate 400 . in this case , the aerosol includes particles in the form of agglomerations of frozen gas particles . the frozen particles are projected onto the surface of the substrate 400 by the gaseous portion of the aerosol . the frozen particles entrained in the gaseous portion of the aerosol collide with contaminant particles remaining on the surface of the substrate 400 , thereby dislodging the contaminant particles from the surface of the substrate 400 . although the aerosol jet is ineffective in removing organic material , it exhibits an excellent cleaning effect on those contaminant particles that are difficult to remove using a chemical mechanism . the frozen particles are produced by a heat exchanger 800 . preferably , an inert gas such as ar is used for producing the aerosol . some of the argon particles are frozen by the heat exchanger 800 and agglomerate . the frozen agglomerations of particles and the non - frozen gas particles flow into the aerosol generating nozzle 610 . this mixture of frozen and gaseous particles is jetted in the form of an aerosol through orifices 615 of the nozzle 610 . preferably , the aerosol is jetted onto the surface of the substrate 400 as it is being transferred into the second cleaning chamber 300 . thus , the aerosol generating nozzle 610 is disposed above an inlet of the second cleaning chamber 300 as shown in fig1 and 3 . in this case , even if the aerosol jet would only envelop a limited region of the surface of the substrate 400 , the aerosol can nonetheless be jetted over the entire surface of the substrate 400 by moving the substrate 400 from the transfer chamber 100 into the second cleaning chamber 300 . to this end , the width of the aerosol jet , at the location of the substrate surface , is preferably no less than the maximum width of the substrate 400 . accordingly , as shown in fig4 the aerosol generating nozzle 610 may include a plurality of nozzle orifices 615 defined in and spaced along a rod - like nozzle body 611 . the length of the nozzle body 611 may be at least the diameter or maximum width of the substrate 400 . the nozzle orifices 615 face the surface of the substrate 400 as the substrate passes below the aerosol generating nozzle 610 , whereupon the aerosol emerging from the orifices 615 impinges the surface of the substrate 400 . the frozen argon particles of the aerosol physically impact contaminant particles on the substrate surface . the impact causes the contaminant particles to be coercively removed from the surface of the substrate 400 . the substrate 400 may be passed back and forth below the aerosol generating nozzle 610 several times to ensure that the surface of the substrate 400 is sufficiently cleaned by the aerosol . floating contaminant particles removed in this way are exhausted through an exhaust port 350 disposed at one end of the second cleaning chamber 300 . meanwhile , before this cleaning process takes place , the second cleaning chamber 300 may be purged by nitrogen gas . the purge gas may be continuously supplied while the cleaning process is being performed . the purge gas may be supplied via a gas port ( not shown ) provided in the second cleaning chamber 300 . alternatively , the purge gas may be supplied via a gas port ( not shown ) provided in the transfer chamber 100 , whereby the purge gas enters the second cleaning chamber 300 via the transfer chamber 100 . the purge gas may also be supplied to the first cleaning chamber 200 . the cleaning apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention , as described above , comprises separate and discrete places in which the substrate surface is physically cleaned by the aerosol jet and is chemically cleaned by a fluid reactant and radiant energy provided by infrared or ultraviolet light . accordingly , the effectiveness of the aerosol jet in cleaning the substrate surface is maximized . alternatively , in a second embodiment of a cleaning apparatus according to the present invention , as shown in fig5 - 7 , the first and second cleaning processes may be performed in the same chamber without reducing the effectiveness of the aerosol jet in cleaning the surface of the substrate . this is made possible by using a laser to provide the activation energy required to execute the chemical cleaning process . referring to fig5 and 6 , the second embodiment of the cleaning apparatus according to the present invention includes one or more cleaning chambers 200 ′ disposed around a transfer chamber 100 . the transfer chamber 100 sequentially transfers the substrates to be cleaned to the cleaning chamber 200 ′. a robot ( not shown ) may be provided in the transfer chamber 100 to sequentially transfer and load the substrates 400 , which have been sequentially supplied to the transfer chamber 100 , into the cleaning chamber 200 ′ and to collect the cleaned substrates 400 from the cleaning chamber 200 ′. the cleaning chamber 200 ′ provides a place in which contaminants on the surface of the substrate 400 are removed . as with the case of the first disclosed embodiment , the term “ contaminants ” collectively refers to all kinds of contaminants that may accumulate on the surface of the substrate 400 as the integrated circuits are being manufactured or as the substrate 400 is being transferred , stored or is standing by during the overall manufacturing process . however , unlike the first embodiment of the cleaning apparatus according to the present invention , the second embodiment of the cleaning apparatus is configured such that physical and chemical cleaning processes are performed in the same cleaning chamber 200 ′. nevertheless , the activation energy , required for facilitating the chemical cleaning process , does not prevent the frozen particles of the aerosol from being formed or from cleaning the surface of the substrate . more specifically , a reactant supplier 510 ( e . g ., a nozzle or a gas port ) and a laser beam generator may be disposed in the cleaning chamber 200 ′ to chemically remove contaminants from the surface of the substrate 400 . the reactant supplier 510 produces a fluid flow comprising a reactant capable of forming volatile by - products through a chemical reaction with contaminants on the surface of the substrate 400 . the reactant may include oxygen or ozone that are effective in removing organic contaminants . the reactant supplier 510 is installed in the cleaning chamber 200 ′ in such a way as to direct the reactant onto the surface of the substrate 400 . preferably , the reactant supplier 510 comprises a nozzle whose orifice is directed toward the surface of the substrate 400 so that a fluid jet of the reactant issuing from the nozzle impinges the surface of the substrate 400 . furthermore , the nozzle may be located in the vicinity of the inlet of the cleaning chamber 200 ′, i . e ., adjacent the location at which the cleaning chamber 200 ′ is connected to the transfer chamber 100 . this advantageously facilitates the exhausting of the by - products of the cleaning reaction through an exhaust port 250 because the exhaust port 250 is disposed opposite the inlet of the cleaning chamber 200 ′. alternatively , the fluid flow comprising the reactant oxygen gas may be provided in the transfer chamber 100 . that is , a reactant supplier such as a gas port is installed in the transfer chamber 100 . the fluid flow comprising the reactant is directed from the transfer chamber 100 towards the cleaning chamber 200 ′, thereby providing the cleaning chamber 200 ′ with the reactant . however , reactant gas , such as oxygen may not readily directly react with contaminants on the surface of the substrate 400 , in particular , organic contaminants . thus , activation energy is required to cause the oxygen to react with the organic contaminants . the activation energy may be provided by a laser beam that irradiates the surface of the substrate 400 . the laser beam may be generated by a laser beam generator including a laser 910 , a lens 950 , and a reflector 930 that reflects the laser beam from laser 910 through the lens 950 . the laser beam is emitted into the cleaning chamber 200 ′ through a quartz window 210 ′ disposed on an upper wall of the cleaning chamber 200 ′. the laser beam is focused by the lens 950 onto a predetermined focal plane , that coincides with the surface of the substrate 400 as the substrate is being transferred into the cleaning chamber 200 ′. the cross section of the laser beam at the focal plane , i . e ., at the substrate surface , can be controlled by the lens 950 . in this case , the laser beam has an elongate cross section at the surface of the substrate 400 , as shown in fig5 . therefore , although the laser beam irradiates a limited region , substantially the entire surface of the substrate 400 can be irradiated with the laser beam by moving the substrate 400 across the path of the beam . in this case , the cross section of the laser beam at the surface of the substrate 400 has a length greater than the width of the substrate 400 in one or more directions . the energy provided by the laser activates the oxygen gas or ozone to produce oxygen radicals or activated ozone ( o 3 ). also , the laser supplies the activation energy required to react the oxygen radicals or activated ozone with organic contaminants on the substrate surface to generate volatile by - products ( actually decomposes the organic contaminants ), and the generated by - products are exhausted through the exhaust port 250 , whereby the surface of the substrate 400 is cleaned . as was mentioned above , the surface of the substrate 400 is also cleaned in the cleaning chamber 200 ′, using physical force . to this end , an aerosol - generating nozzle 610 may be disposed in the cleaning chamber 200 ′. as in the first embodiment , the aerosol includes agglomerations of frozen gas particles , produced using a heat exchanger 800 . again , the gas is preferably argon . the aerosol of gaseous argon and frozen particles of argon issue from the orifices 615 of nozzle 610 . the frozen argon particles that reach the surface of the substrate 400 collide with contaminant particles remaining on the surface of the substrate 400 , thereby dislodging the contaminant particles from the surface of the substrate 400 . floating contaminant particles removed in this way are exhausted through the exhaust port 250 at one end of the cleaning chamber 200 ′. the aerosol - generating nozzle 610 is disposed above an inlet of the second cleaning chamber 300 , as shown in fig5 and 6 , to spray the surface of the substrate 400 with the aerosol as the substrate 400 is being transferred into the cleaning chamber 200 ′ or is being withdrawn from the cleaning chamber 200 ′ into the transfer chamber . in this case , even if the aerosol jet has a cross - sectional area corresponding to only a limited region on the surface of the substrate 400 , the aerosol can be jetted over the entire surface of the substrate 400 . preferably , the width of the cross - sectional area of the aerosol jet is no less than that of the substrate 400 . to this end , the aerosol - generating nozzle 610 may be of the type previously described and shown in fig4 . meanwhile , before this cleaning process takes place , the cleaning chamber 200 ′ may be purged by nitrogen gas . the purge gas may be continuously supplied while the cleaning process is being performed . the purge gas may be supplied via a gas port ( not shown ) provided in the cleaning chamber 200 ′. alternatively , the purge gas may be supplied via a gas port ( not shown ) provided in the transfer chamber 100 , whereby the purge gas enters the cleaning chamber 200 ′ via the transfer chamber 100 . as is clear from the description above , in the second embodiment of the cleaning apparatus according to the present invention , the laser beam and the aerosol are directed at separate locations within the cleaning chamber 200 ′ and hence , impinge discrete areas of the substrate surface at any given moment , as shown in fig5 and 6 . more specifically , as shown in fig7 the laser beam is emitted onto a region on the substrate surface different from that onto which the aerosol jet is directed . the frozen argon particles 655 of the aerosol jet 600 are not exposed to the laser beam before reaching the surface of the substrate 400 because laser beam is a highly directional or near - zero - divergence beam . thus , the frozen argon particles 655 in the aerosol 600 from evaporating into a gas due to heating by laser beam irradiation before colliding with contaminant particles on the substrate surface . furthermore , since the aerosol generating nozzle 610 is not actually exposed to the emitting laser beam , the aerosol generating nozzle 610 is not heated by laser beam irradiation . thus , the formation of an aerosol is not disturbed . furthermore , since the laser beam is highly directional , the heating of the wall of the cleaning chamber 200 ′ due to the laser beam irradiation or a temperature rise in the cleaning chamber 200 ′ can be prevented . accordingly , physical cleaning by the frozen argon particles 655 contained in the aerosol 600 can be effectively performed in the cleaning chamber 200 ′ as described above through chemical cleaning is also performed therein . according to a cleaning method using the cleaning apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention , after the substrate 400 is transferred to the transfer chamber 100 , the substrate 400 is transferred from the transfer chamber 100 to the cleaning chamber 200 ′. there , the aerosol is jetted onto the surface of the substrate 400 as the substrate 400 is moved under the aerosol - generating nozzle 610 to thereby clean the surface of the substrate 400 ( first cleaning process ). subsequently , the surface of the substrate is exposed to a fluid comprising a reactant and then is irradiated with a laser beam ( second cleaning process ). next , the substrate 400 is transferred from the cleaning chamber 200 ′ to the transfer chamber 100 to wherein the aerosol is again jetted onto the surface of the substrate 400 ( third cleaning process ). as a result , contaminants are effectively removed from the surface of the substrate 400 . finally , although the present invention has been particularly shown and described with references to the preferred embodiments thereof , various changes in form and details may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims . | 8 |
the preferred embodiment of the invention is shown in fig1 and fig2 where fig2 is a sectional view of heat pipe 10 taken at section 2 -- 2 . heat pipe 10 is constructed of cylindrical outer casing 12 , casing end caps 14 and 16 , and sintered metal wick 18 . longitudinal liquid flow tunnels 20 are formed integral with wick 18 . fill tube - closure 22 is positioned to pierce both end cap 16 and the end disc 24 of wick 18 so that vapor space 25 of the heat pipe can be pumped free of air and loaded with the appropriate liquid for operation . the process of forming the tunnel wick heat pipe is described in conjunction with fig3 . as shown in fig3 lower guide ring 26 , tunnel - forming rods 28 and outer casing 12 are inserted in fixture base 30 . vapor space mandrel 32 is then inserted into indexing hole 34 in lower guide ring 26 . upper guide ring 36 is placed with its holes 37 over the upper ends 38 of tunnel - forming rods 28 , but it is held some distance above the top of outer casing 12 . metal powder 40 of appropriate composition and particle size is poured into the annular cavity formed between the inside of outer casing 12 and vapor space mandrel 32 . the assembly is gently agitated to settle powder 40 around tunnel - forming rods 28 and eliminate voids . more powder is added as needed , followed by further agitation . when the powder reaches the desired level , marked by shoulder 42 on vapor space mandrel 32 , upper guide ring 36 is lowered until it seats on mandrel shoulder 42 , as shown in fig3 . the assembly is then fired in a furnace for appropriate time and temperature and in the appropriate atmosphere to sinter the grains of powder to form the cylindrical portion of wick 18 as shown in fig1 . upon cooling , the fixtures and tunnel forming rods are removed leaving a free - standing , cylindrical open - ended tunnel wick structure , diffusion bonded to the inner wall of the heat pipe casing . a representative heat pipe , intended for use with water as the working fluid , can be formed from amax type b copper powder ( american metals climax ) in an oxygen - free copper casing . the fixtures can be made from 18 - 8 stainless steel previously oxidized to prevent sticking to the copper powder during firing . a typical firing schedule which will provide a 40 - 70 % sintered density is 900 ° c . for one hour in hydrogen of dew point 60 °- 80 ° f . the high humidity level of the hydrogen serves to sustain the protective oxide on the fixtures . ceramic fixtures can serve as alternates and are particularly appropriate with refractory metal heat pipes which have lower thermal expansion rates and higher melting points than stainless steel . when ceramic fixtures are used , hydrogen humidification may be unnecessary . the fixtures are sized to slip fit at the furnace temperature . contraction during sintering is such as to leave the parts loose for removal at room temperature . a slight taper of 0 . 001 &# 34 ; per foot of mandrel length facilitates mandrel withdrawal . as shown in fig4 end disc 24 of wick 18 is similarly formed by placing metal powder 44 in base 46 and placing weight 48 to form the disc . pin 50 is used to permit placing fill tube - closure 22 in end disc 24 , but is eliminated for the blank end disc of the other end of the wick . for long heat pipes , the tunnel - forming rods may be difficult to keep straight . there is a consequent danger that the tunnel walls will be too thin . in such a case , the apparatus of fig5 is used in the forming process . the fixture is similar to that of fig3 except that upper guide ring 52 is placed on shoulder 42 of vapor space mandrel 32 prior to adding metal powder . upper guide ring 52 is provided with additional holes 54 through which metal powder 40 flows from the funnel 56 . enlarged heads 58 are formed on the tunnel - forming rods 28 to prevent their slipping through the holes 37 in upper guide ring 52 . tunnel forming rods 28 extend through the bottom of fixture base 60 through holes 62 . weights 64 are attached to tunnel - forming 28 rods to pull them straight and are held by set screws 66 . metal powder 40 is then added as before and the assembly fired at the same time , temperature and atmosphere . following the sintering of the cylindrical portion of the wick with tunnels to the casing inner wall , the tunnel ends must be closed . as shown in fig6 blank end cap 14 is placed in fixture base 70 followed by blank end disc 72 previously prepared . a thin layer 74 of the same metal powder used to form the cylindrical wick and end discs is then spread on top of blank end disc 72 to form a continuous layer . a representative thickness is 0 . 010 to 0 . 020 inch . heat pipe casing 12 , with wick and tunnels previously sintered in place , is set so that the cylindrical portion of the wick rests on top of layer 74 of metal powder . a similar layer 76 of powder is placed on top of the tunnel wick 26 . if excessive quantities of powder are lost into the tunnels , a slurry can be made of the metal powder and nicrobraz cement ( wall colmonoy co .) and this painted on the top of the tunnel wick . fill tube end disc 24 , closure end cap 16 , and weight 78 with vent 79 are then put in place . the assembly is fired at the same conditions of time , temperature and atmosphere used in forming the tunnels . after cooling , the fixtures are removed , fill tube 22 inserted , and fill tube 22 , end caps 14 and 16 , and outer casing 12 joined by methods well known to practitioners of the heat pipe art . heat pipe 10 is then given its fluid charge , evacuated of gas , sealed and is ready for use . fig8 shows assembly 88 for constructing a hybrid heat pipe , which has true operational heat pipes with sintered wicks only at the ends . these ends can be very remote from each other , as much as fifty feet or more . in fig8 vapor space mandrel 90 is placed in index recess 92 of end cap 94 . vapor space mandrel 90 is shown here as tubing because of the greater ease of securing long lengths of tubing as opposed to rod . likewise , tunnel mandrels 96 are placed in index holes 98 of end cap 94 . this self - jigging feature eliminates the need for special fixtures , such as lower guide ring 26 shown in fig3 . end cap 94 is then slipped into outer casing 100 and temporarily held in place by conventional means , such as clamps or fixtures ( not shown ). this forms a container into which sintering powder 102 is poured . the sintering powder is added while slightly agitating the assembly until level 104 is reached , which is slightly below the length of active heat pipe desired . liquid conduits 106 are then slipped over tunnel mandrels 96 until the liquid conduits rest on metal powder 102 . metal powder is then added to raise the height of powder to level 108 , sufficient to hold liquid conduits 106 in place after the powder is sintered . near the other end of the hybrid heat pipe , liquid conduits 106 have , attached to their outer surface , shoulders 110 upon which is rested powder retaining disc 112 , after it is slid over the several mandrels as they protrude from outer casing 100 . powder retaining disc 112 then supports more sintering powder 114 which is poured into the cavity formed by outer casing 100 , vapor space mandrel 90 and powder retaining disc 112 . once assembled in this manner , assembly 88 is heated as described previously to sinter the powder and to form a two - part sintered wick bonded to outer casing 100 . when vapor space mandrel 90 and tunnel mandrels 96 are withdrawn and the heat pipe completed as previously described , liquid conduits 106 remain embedded between the sintered wicks , and a continuous liquid transfer path is available between the wicks . this path is completely isolated from the vapor space and thus still permits the hybrid heat pipe to efficiently transfer heat from one end to the other . fig9 depicts an alternate embodiment of the apparatus for constructing a hybrid heat pipe . assembly 120 is there assembled in a similar manner to assembly 88 in fig8 . however , vapor tube 122 is slipped over vapor space mandrel 124 rather than placing liquid conduits around tunnel mandrels 126 . shoulders 128 on the outside surface of vapor tube 122 are then used to support powder retaining disc 130 . the other features of construction are the same as that shown in fig8 . when construction is complete , the embodiment in fig9 operates with vapor traveling through the center core of vapor tube 122 , while liquid travels in the spaces 132 around the outside of vapor tube 122 . it is to be understood that the form of this invention as shown is merely a preferred embodiment . various changes may be made in the function and arrangement of parts ; equivalent means may be substituted for those illustrated and described ; and certain features may be used independently from others without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the following claims . for example , the method of this invention is applicable to a range of materials , wick geometries and fixturing without deviating from the basic principles of forming a tunnel wick structure by sintering of powder in shapes pre - determined by appropriate forming fixtures , and the powder may be metallic or non - metallic . moreover , as shown in fig7 wick 80 can also be formed with rectangular shaped tunnels 82 in direct contact with outer casing 12 . | 1 |
with reference now to the drawings , and in particular , to fig1 through 4 thereof , the preferred embodiment of the new and improved remote car alarm protective device embodying the principles and concepts of the present invention and generally designated by the reference number 10 will be described . specifically , it will be noted in the various figures that the device relates to a remote car alarm protective device for protecting a remote car alarm from being damaged and accidently disarming a car alarm . a protective housing 12 , as illustrated in fig1 through 3 , is adapted for covering a remote transmitter 14 for a car alarm . the protective housing 14 is comprised of a first section 16 and a second section 18 hingedly coupled together along interior edges thereof . note fig1 . the first section 16 covers function buttons 20 of an upper portion of the remote transmitter 14 whereas the second section 18 is fixedly coupled to a lower portion of the remote transmitter 14 . thus , when the user wants to gain access to the function buttons 20 , he / she will simply lift upwardly on the first section 16 causing it to pivot upwardly with respect to the second section 18 thereby allowing the user access to the function buttons 20 . the first section 16 and the second section 18 each have a main panel 22 with downwardly extending opposed side walls 24 . the first section 16 has a downwardly extending top wall 26 for covering an upper end of the remote transmitter 14 . the side walls 24 of the second section 18 each have inwardly extending projections 28 on lower ends thereof whereby the protective housing 12 can be slidably received on the remote transmitter 14 . note fig3 . a second embodiment of the present invention is shown in fig4 and includes substantially all of the components of the present invention further including that the protective housing 12 is comprised of a lower panel 30 having a peripheral side wall 32 extending upwardly therefrom whereby the remote transmitter 14 is positioned on the lower panel 30 with the peripheral side wall 32 surrounding the remote transmitter 14 . the peripheral side wall 32 has inwardly extending upper edges 34 to prevent the remote transmitter 14 from becoming removed from the protective housing . in this embodiment , the protective housing 12 has an open top face to allow access to the function buttons 20 without having to move any parts . for remote transmitters having a crystal transmitter on the front end of the unit , the peripheral side wall 32 will have an opening to accommodate such a variance . as to the manner of usage and operation of the present invention , the same should be apparent from the above description . accordingly , no further discussion relating to the manner of usage and operation will be provided . with respect to the above description then , it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of the invention , to include variations in size , materials , shape , form , function and the manner of operation , assembly and use , are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art , and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by the present invention . therefore , the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention . further , since numerous modification and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art , it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described , and accordingly , all suitable modification and equivalents may be resorted to , falling within the scope of the invention . | 7 |
an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to fig1 through 3 . constituting elements which are the same as in fig4 and 5 or which correspond to those in fig4 and 5 are labeled with the same symbols , and a detailed description of such parts is omitted . as shown in fig1 in the present invention , the computer 21 is provided with a memory 45 in addition to a control circuit 22 , an operating circuit 23 , a reference coordinate register 24 , a load limit value register 25 and a height position counter 26 ; and in this memory 45 , correction current values 46 , which are necessary in order to correct the variation in the driving force of the plate spring 4 and the magnetic flux density received by the coil 8 of the linear motor 7 according to the respective positions a . . . b . . . c . . . d of the bonding arm 2 , and limit current values 47 of the driving current 35 are stored . below , a method for setting the correction current values 46 and the limit current values 47 will be described using fig2 and 3 with reference to fig5 . the relationship between the position of the coil 8 and the driving current 35 in the so - called &# 34 ; no - load state &# 34 ;, in which the load consists only of the spring load of the plate spring 4 , and the actual bonding load is zero , is investigated . in the procedure used in this case , first , the bonding arm 2 is moved to position a shown in fig5 ( a ), and is stopped in this position . the driving force of the plate spring 4 in this case acts so as to push the bonding arm 2 downward , the driving force generated by the coil 8 being an equal force which cancels the driving force of the plate spring 4 . the limit value of the bonding load ( i . e ., the value stored in the load limit value register 25 ) is set at a value which has a margin obtained by raising the upper limit value to some extent so that a driving current 35 which can cancel the driving force of the plate spring 4 is caused to flow to the coil 8 . next , the limit value ( absolute value ) of the driving current 35 is gradually lowered . when this is done , the driving current 35 is reduced so that at a certain point the driving force generated by the coil 8 falls below the driving force of the plate spring 4 , and the height position of the bonding arm 2 drops . accordingly , the height position immediately prior to this drop and the limit value of the driving current 35 are stored in the memory 45 . the limit value stored by means of this procedure is a value which corresponds to the amount of driving current 35 that generates a driving force sufficient to cancel the driving force of the plate spring 4 . next , the bonding arm 2 is moved to position d shown in fig5 ( d ) and is stopped in this position . then , in the same manner as described above , the limit value of the driving current 35 is gradually lowered . when this is done , the height position of the bonding arm 2 rises at a certain point ; therefore , the height position immediately prior to this rise and the limit value of the driving current 35 in this case are stored in the memory 45 . the above - described investigation is performed for a plurality of positions , and values for the regions between these positions are determined by a linear interpolation performed by the operating circuit 23 . this relationship is shown in fig2 . accordingly , the basic amount of current required in order to cancel the driving force of the plate spring 4 can be determined from the set bonding height position . the amount of current obtained by adding the current corresponding to the set bonding load ( actual load current ) to the above - described basic amount of current is the amount of driving current 35 that is actually applied to the coil 8 . in other words , since the driving force of the plate spring 4 with respect to the set height position is canceled out , a bonding load equal to the set value is obtained regardless of the height position . furthermore , since there are no calibration differences due to individual human factors or differences between individual pieces of equipment , a reliable calibration can be performed . here , points a , b , c and d indicate the respective positions shown in fig5 ( a ), 5 ( b ), 5 ( c ) and 5 ( d ). if the results shown in fig2 are substituted into the relationship between the height position of the bonding arm 2 and the driving current 35 , the resulting curve is as shown for the case of no load ( 0 g ) in fig3 . fig3 further shows states in which respective bonding loads of 20 g and 200 g are applied to the bonding tool 1 in addition to the case of no load . fig3 further shows how the driving current 35 varies in accordance to the variation of the height position of the bonding arm 2 . components of the driving current 35 include : the standard current which is used to move the bonding arm 2 to the designated height position ( i . e ., the position command current ), the correction current which compensates for the drop in the driving force caused by the lowering of the magnetic flux density due to the height position ( i . e ., the driving correction current ), the correction current for the height position resulting from the spring load of the plate spring 4 ( i . e ., the spring load correction current ), and the actual load current . the basic current obtained by adding the position command current , driving correction current and spring load correction current constitutes the driving current 35 in the case of no load . furthermore , the current obtained by adding the actual load current to this basic current constitutes the driving current 35 in the case of actual loading . in position a , the driving force drops as a result of a decrease of the magnetic flux density , and the spring load is generated in a direction which causes the bonding arm 2 to move downward . accordingly , the correction current includes a driving correction current and a spring load correction current ; and this driving correction current flows in a direction which drives the bonding arm 2 upward . furthermore , the spring load correction current in this case also flows in a direction which drives the bonding arm 2 upward . in position b , the driving force drops as a result of a decrease of the magnetic flux density ; however , no spring load is generated . accordingly , the correction current in this case consists only of a driving correction current ; and this driving correction current flows in a direction which drives the bonding arm 2 upward . in position c , there is no drop in the magnetic flux density ; however , the spring load is generated in a direction which causes the bonding arm 2 to move upward . accordingly , the correction current in this case consists only of a spring load correction current ; and this spring load correction current flows in a direction which drives the bonding arm 2 downward . in position d , the driving force drops as a result of a decrease of the magnetic flux density , and the spring load is generated in a direction which causes the bonding arm 2 to move upward . accordingly , the correction current includes a driving correction current and a spring load correction current ; and this driving correction current flows in a direction which drives the bonding arm 2 downward . furthermore , the spring load correction current in this case flows in a direction which drives the bonding arm 2 downward . the current directions described above are defined as shown in table 1 , where &# 34 ;+&# 34 ; is the direction that causes the bonding arm 2 to move upward , and &# 34 ;-&# 34 ; is the direction that causes the bonding arm 2 to move downward . table 1______________________________________ position driving spring load actual command correction correction loadposition current current current current______________________________________a + + + - b + + 0 - c 0 0 - - d - - - - ______________________________________ as seen from the above , in the present invention , the driving force of the plate spring is determined from the relationship between the amount of current flowing to a linear motor and the height position of the bonding arm , and the current flowing to the linear motor is controlled so that a correction is made for this driving force . accordingly , an actual bonding load which is equal to the set bonding load can be obtained regardless of the height position of the bonding point . | 7 |
study hoe901 - 1021 was conducted to test the safety , efficacy , and tolerability of lantus ® lantus ( also known as hoe901 and insulin glargine ) in treating individuals with igt , ifg , and mild diabetes . as stated earlier , this patient population is at high risk for cv disease . study hoe901 / 1021 was a randomized , single - blind ( pharmacist - unblinded ), inpatient , dose - titration study designed to examine the safety and efficacy of hoe901 given once a day subcutaneously at bedtime in a novel population : people with impaired glucose tolerance ( igt ) or impaired fasting glucose ( ifg ). it was conceived as a pilot study for a large international trial of hoe901 in a dysglycemic population of igt , ifg , and early type 2 diabetes in order to investigate dosing in the prediabetic ( ifg / igt ) population for the first time . of special interest was the incidence of hypoglycemia during the study . the study was conducted at three centers in the us . after screening tests , including fasting plasma glucose ( fpg ) and post prandial plasma glucose ( ppg ; two hours following a 75 g oral glucose load ) for classification as igt , ifg , diabetic , or normal glucose tolerance ( ngt ), and after satisfying other inclusion criteria including the ability to perform moderate exercise on a stationary bicycle , subjects were admitted to an inpatient study center . they were confined there for the next 15 days , during which time they were randomly assigned to receive either hoe901 once per day subcutaneously in the evening , or matching placebo ( saline ) injections in a 3 : 1 randomization ( hoe901 : placebo ). baseline assessments included a 5 - point ( before each meal , bedtime , and 3 am ) and 8 - point ( 5 - point plus readings 2 hours after each meal ) blood glucose profile on separate days , and 15 minutes of exercise on a stationary bicycle at a level of exertion of “ somewhat hard ” on the borg scale with blood glucose values monitored during and for 3 hours following the exercise . each subject received a 25 kcal / kg diet while confined in the study center . capillary whole blood glucose values were recorded on hemocue devices . episodes of hypoglycemia ( blood glucose ≦ 50 mg / dl [ 2 . 8 mm ] or symptoms with blood glucose ≦ 65 mg / dl [ 3 . 6 mm ]) were recorded . once randomized , subjects &# 39 ; bedtime doses of study drug were titrated to achieve a fasting blood glucose ( fbg ) of 80 - 95 mg / dl [ 4 . 4 mm - 5 . 3 mm ]. dose increases were based on fbg values and were performed every 2 days . subjects remained at the site until the end of the confinement period , regardless of when target fbg levels were achieved . five - point blood glucose profiles were performed every other day , with 8 - point blood glucose profiles performed on alternate days . at endpoint all baseline procedures , including an 8 - point blood glucose profile , and an exercise assessment , were repeated . subjects were treated from 18 feb . 2002 to 17 apr . 2002 . data from the study are still being analyzed , but principal results of the study are summarized below . twenty - one subjects were enrolled into the study . two discontinued before completion : 1 hoe901 subject due to hypoglycemia , who however , never received study drug , and 1 subject withdrew prior to randomization . nineteen subjects completed the study , 15 in the hoe901 group and 4 in the placebo group . the table below summarizes the demographic and baseline characteristics of these subjects . although it was intended to enroll only igt / ifg subjects , difficulties in locating enough of these subjects in the timeframe allotted for enrollment necessitated the inclusion of subjects who were found to be diabetic at screening ( none were known to be diabetic prior to the study ). two subjects were enrolled with ngt ( fpg and ppg of 100 and 133 , and 95 and 135 mg / dl , respectively ). the starting dose following randomization for all subjects was initially set at 6 iu . because of the occurrence of hypoglycemia in 2 subjects at this dose , the starting dose was reduced to 4 iu . the mean dose at endpoint ( day 12 ) was 8 . 4 iu for hoe901 ( 0 . 096 iu / kg ), and 17 . 0 iu ( 0 . 195 iu / kg ) for placebo . all but 2 subjects in the hoe901 group had reached an fpg of 100 mg / dl by day 12 , and all but 4 had reached the fbg target of 95 mg / dl or less . figure i displays the mean blood glucose values on the 8 - point profiles at day - 1 ( baseline ) and on day 12 ( endpoint ). as seen , there were small reductions from baseline to endpoint in mean blood glucose concentrations in the hoe901 group , ranging from 2 . 0 to 13 . 3 mg / dl at different time points . mean fbg was reduced from 98 . 1 to 85 . 6 mg / dl , and mean daylong blood glucose was reduced by 8 . 8 mg / dl , in the hoe901 group . in the hoe901 group the lowering of blood glucose from day - 1 to day 12 was not confined to the fasting time point , but occurred daylong , at each time point . in contrast , in the placebo group mean blood glucose values increased at most time points , with a mean fpg increase from 103 . 8 to 111 . 3 mg / dl and a mean daylong blood glucose increase of 8 . 2 mg / dl . the placebo group mean response was heavily influenced by 1 of the 4 subjects who had large increases in 8 - point blood glucose over the course of the study , for unclear reasons . it is clear from these data and the mean screening values in the table above that there was a drop in mean fasting glucose in the hoe901 group between screening and day - 1 ( baseline ). differences in blood glucose measurements ( plasma at screening , whole blood at day - 1 ) contributed to the observed drop in blood glucose between these two time points , however , the likely reason for most of this difference was the institution of a diet policy in both groups ( in this study a diet similar to what would be prescribed in these subjects in practice ( 25 kcal / kg ) was used ). diet compliance in subjects with dysglycemia is classically poor , but because the subjects were confined in this study , they were perforce adherent to the diet regimen , and it was effective in lowering their blood glucose levels . no such decrease in mean fbg occurred between screening and day - 1 in the 5 subjects taking placebo . mean body weight was reduced in both the placebo group and hoe 901 over the course of the study , by 0 . 25 and 0 . 44 kg respectively . figure ii below illustrates mean blood glucose responses before (− 0 . 25 hr ) and for 3 hours following the 15 - minute stationary bicycle exercise period . as can be seen , mean blood glucose was similar before and after treatment with hoe901 , and did not approach the hypoglycemic range . in the placebo group mean blood glucose showed a notable increase from day - 1 to day 12 , due to 2 of the 4 subjects in that group who demonstrated large increases over baseline by day 12 , for reasons which are unclear but are possibly related to relative physical inactivity over the 2 weeks of confinement , with resultant decreased insulin sensitivity at the time of the assessment on day 12 . it is noteworthy that no hypoglycemic events were reported during exercise for any subject . treatment - emergent adverse events ( teaes ) occurred in 10 subjects in the hoe901 group ( 16 events ) vs . 2 in the placebo group ( 5 events ). each event occurred in only 1 individual except for headache , which occurred in 3 hoe901 subjects . only 2 hoe901 subjects and 1 placebo subject had events that were considered by investigators as possibly related to study drug . the hoe901 events were 2 episodes of headache , and one of hypoglycemia . the two headaches occurred in subjects who had hypoglycemic events on the same days and at approximately the same time as the headaches . there were no serious adverse events during the study . subject 3011 ( who reported dizziness as an adverse event during screening ) was removed from the study by the sponsor prior to receiving any study drug dose because of hypoglycemia that occurred during screening . hoe901 treatment plus modest calorie restriction was effective in lowering blood glucose values in these dysglycemic individuals to target fbg levels . daylong ( 8 - point ) blood glucose profiles were lowered in parallel to fpg in the hoe901 group . a relatively low dose of hoe901 ( mean of only 8 . 4 iu ) was required to achieve the glucose goals under these test conditions . blood glucose profiles in response to exercise fell only modestly over the course of the study in the hoe901 group . blood glucose responses in the placebo group increased over the course of the study in both 8 - point and exercise assessments , but the small size of this group and the atypical responses of 1 or 2 subjects makes drawing conclusions from the placebo responses difficult . only mild hypoglycemia occurred in 4 out of 16 subjects treated with hoe901 in this study . these hypoglycemic events generally occurred before lunch or supper , and resolved promptly with oral caloric intake . no episodes of hypoglycemia occurred in relation to exercise . although the calorie - restricted diet subjects consumed during this study doubtless played a role in the occurrence of these events , the diet was typical in size for what is recommended to these frequently overweight individuals . based on this study in individuals with igt , ifg , or mild untreated type 2 diabetes , the administration of hoe 901 seems safe and well tolerated . hypoglycemia can occur , but is manageable not related to exercise , and detectable with the aid of home glucose monitoring . thus in this study it was possible to use lantus ® lantus ( insulin glargine ) to treat the mildly hyperglycemic subjects to normoglycemic levels without hypoglycemia in relation to exercise . these data have prompted the undertaking of a large intervention trial , the origin study , wherein it is expected that lantus ® lantus ( insulin glargine ) will be shown to be efficacious in reducing cv disease , with low risk for producing hypoglycemic side effects in relation to the exercise which forms a cornerstone of the glucose management of these individuals . the origin study will randomly allocate approximately 10 , 000 subjects with igt , ifg , or early type 2 diabetes at risk for cardiovascular morbidity ( because of a history of previous serious cardiovascular events , or because of significant cardiovascular risk factors ) either to treatment with a single injection of lantus ® lantus ( insulin glargine ) per day , titrated to produce a fpg of 95 mg / dl or less without hypoglycemia , or to standard treatment of each condition . examples of serious cardiovascular events include , but are not limited to , previous myocardial infarction , stroke , angina with documented ischemic changes , previous coronary , carotid or peripheral arterial revascularization , or left ventricular hypertrophy by electrocardiogram or echocardiogram . examples of significant cardiovascular risk factors include , but are not limited to , previous myocardial infarction , stroke , angina with documented ischemic changes , previous coronary , carotid or peripheral arterial revascularization , or left ventricular hypertrophy by electrocardiogram or echocardiogram . this standard treatment plan includes a stepped - care algorithm for the institution of therapy in subjects who are either diabetic at baseline , or who become so during the trial . monitoring of , and treatment intervention in , these control subjects will occur in a manner that is at least as aggressive as that recommended by currently - accepted standards of care ( e . g . ada guidelines ). the morbidity / mortality study will be multicenter , international , randomized , and open - label , with a mean treatment duration of 5 years . the primary outcome variable is a composite cardiovascular endpoint of cardiovascular deaths , nonfatal mi and stroke , revascularization , hospitalization for heart failure chf , and unstable angina . secondary variables include all - cause mortality and rates of development or progression of microvascular disease . a separate investigation will examine the progression to type 2 diabetes in the igt and ifg subjects treated with lantus ® lantus ( insulin glargine ) versus usual care . despite the novelty of the treatment paradigm proposed for the origin study , it is believed that hypoglycemia will be minimal based on several factors : 1 . the 24 - hour plasma insulin profile without a definite peak resulting from lantus ® lantus ( insulin glargine ) administration , decreasing the vulnerability of patients to excessive insulin concentrations which have historically occurred at unpredictable times during the day , and to unpredictable degrees , with other insulin preparations . 2 . the gradual dose titration scheme proposed for the study . lantus ® lantus ( insulin glargine ) doses will start low , from 2 - 6 iu per day and the insulin administered will be distributed over a 24 - hour period . dose increases will be small , and made only after fpg levels from previous doses have reached steady - state . 3 . the goal of lantus ® lantus ( insulin glargine ) titration is a target fpg of 95 mg / dl . this is at the upper end of the normal range for subjects without diabetes . many igt subjects in this trial will have an fpg in the target range from the start of the study , and if assigned to receive lantus ® lantus ( insulin glargine ) will consequently receive the starting dose only . in any case , the risk of nocturnal hypoglycemia resulting from lantus ® lantus ( insulin glargine ) administration which has reduced fpg to the vicinity of 95 mg / dl should be minimal , especially since most of these subjects will exhibit a degree of decreased insulin sensitivity . 4 . subjects will be asked to monitor their blood glucose at home especially during titration , to detect any tendency to hypoglycemia in that setting ( peri - exercise , after missed meals , overnight ). the results of the 1021 study which confirmed the safety and tolerability of lantus ® lantus ( insulin glargine ) in drug - naïve type 2 diabetes patients as well as in prediabetic individuals , also support lantus &# 39 ; lantus &# 39 ; ( insulin glargine ) special usefulness in patients with moderate to severe ddl . insulin has features that make it especially useful in the patient with pronounced diabetic dyslipidemia , as compared to the oral antidiabetic agents usually used as initial pharmacotherapy . the “ treat - to - target ” study ( hoe901 / 4002 ) of lantus lantus ( insulin glargine ) in a type 2 diabetic population inadequately treated with oral drugs was notable in demonstrating the success of lantus lantus ( insulin glargine ) and its comparator , nph insulin , in reducing blood glucose levels to target levels in the majority of randomized patients . nph insulin despite having a prolonged duration of action , has a pronounced peak effect from 3 - 6 hours after injection , rendering it less suitable in the management of the patient with milder diabetes due to the risk for hypoglycemia . indeed even in this more severely diabetic population lantus lantus ( insulin glargine ) demonstrated significant advantages over nph in hypoglycemia , especially nocturnal hypoglycemia . as a consequence of the excellent glycemic control attained , which set the standard for glycemic control in future trials , the 4002 study results are especially useful as an assessment of lantus &# 39 ; s lantus ( insulin glargine ) effects on lipids . the effects of lantus lantus ( insulin glargine ) in the population of the “ treat - to - target ” 4002 study on fasting tg levels increased with the magnitude of baseline tg elevations : reductions of 24 %, 34 %, and 38 % were seen in fasting tg levels with , respectively , all patients ; those with fasting tg in the 300 - 499 mg / dl range ( 13 % of the 4002 population ); and those with elevations of 500 mg / dl or more ( another 8 % of the 4002 population ). it is also notable that highly statistically significant reductions in non - hdl - cholesterol ( see below ) were seen in the two pooled treatments in the 4002 study , greater in magnitude the higher the baseline level of tg . there is evidence from the literature that use of sulfonylurea ( su ) as initial drug treatment of the type 2 patient with ddl exerts a weaker effect on reduction of hypertriglyceridemia , or on increasing hdl - c , than is seen with insulin , and / or that the effects are less durable . in order to compare the effects of lantus lantus ( insulin glargine ) on fasting tg and non - hdl - c levels with oral agents from the sulfonylurea class , the glimepiride ( amaryl ® amaryl ) database at aventis was examined . both multicenter placebo - controlled studies in the amaryl ® amaryl ( glimepiride ) registration database demonstrated a more modest effect of amaryl ® amaryl ( glimepiride ) on both tg and non - hdl - c concentrations than lantus lantus ( insulin glargine ) demonstrated in the 4002 study , despite a prominent effect of amaryl ® amaryl ( glimepiride ) to lower blood glucose . these results are shown in table 1 below for patients with various levels of fasting hypertriglyceridemia . the lipid - lowering effects of metformin are variable depending on the study and clinical setting , but while the tg - lowering and hdl - increasing effects of metformin are generally superior to su , they do not exceed the effects of insulin quoted above . thiazolidinediones ( tzds ) differ in their effects — pioglitazone is associated with notable beneficial effects on the abnormalities of ddl , whereas rosiglitazone seems to have almost no effect on these parameters ( confirmed significantly inferior to lantus lantus ( insulin glargine ) in study 4014 , which compared lantus ® lantus ( insulin glargine ) and rosiglitazone in type 2 diabetic patients already treated with other oral antidiabetic drugs — see table 2 below ). the special advantages of insulin in the treatment of diabetic dyslipidemia , which along with insulin &# 39 ; s established effectiveness in blood glucose control , suggest that it is a preferred treatment compared to available oral antidiabetic drugs . until recently , the drug treatment of blood glucose elevations in drug - naïve diabetic patients has consisted of oral antidiabetic agents because of a fear of hypoglycemia from the use of insulin in this population . the novel development is the availability of lantus ® lantus ( insulin glargine ), the first truly basal insulin , which by virtue of its flat pharmacokinetic profile and 24 - hour duration of action , can supply a steady insulin effect with low risk for hypoglycemia due to the lack of a pronounced peak effect . because of this , insulin treatment of the diabetic patient previously treated with lifestyle measures only , is possible , and thus insulin treatment of patients in this category with pronounced diabetic dyslipidemia is possible , to reduce their elevated blood lipid values as well as their elevated blood glucose values . in view of the data described above , treatment with long acting insulin , particularly insulin glargine , is expected to safely and effectively retard atherosclerosis progression in patients with igf , ifg or type 2 diabetes , particularly early type 2 diabetes by improving glycemic control and by additional mechanisms including decreased free fatty acid production , improved control of dyslipidemia , decreased oxidative stress and increased endothelial nitric oxide availability . treatment with long acting insulin , particularly insulin glargine , is also expected to safely and effectively improve vascular function in patients with igt , ifg or type 2 diabetes , particularly early type 2 diabetes . long acting insulin , particularly insulin glargine , is expected to improve endothelial function based on its effects on smooth muscle cells , endothelial cells , suppression of cytokines , coagulants and increased endothelial nitric oxide synthase . coronary endothelial dysfunction is defined as an impaired vasodilatory response to intracoronary infusion of acetylcholine ( ach ) and is predictive of vascular events . acute studies have shown that a physiological increase in the circulating insulin concentration potentiates ach - induced vasodilation . 43 in another study , after two months of insulin therapy , patients with type 2 diabetes saw an increase in the blood flow response to ach and restored the ability of insulin to acutely potentiate ach - induced vasodilation . 44 finally , patients with diabetes have been shown to have increased left ventricular mass and abnormalities in left ventricular ( lv ) diastolic and systolic function , often referred to as diabetic cardiomyopathy . these abnormalities may extend also to patients with “ mild ” prediabetic hyperglycemic disorders . treatment with long acting insulin , particularly insulin glargine , is expected to prevent an increase in lv mass and improve or prevent an increase in both lv diastolic and systolic function in patients with igt , ifg or type 2 diabetes , particularly early type 2 diabetes . treatment with long acting insulin , particularly glargine , is expected to prevent an increase in carotid intimal thickness of the extracranial carotid artery . measurement of carotid intimal thickness is a highly reproducible technique , which correlates with risk factors for atherosclerosis progression in coronary disease and stroke ( n engl j med . 1999 ; 340 : 14 - 22 ). angiotensin - converting enzyme inhibitors and the insulin sensitizing thiazolidinediones are all agents which have been shown to reduce carotid intimal thickness in placebo controlled trials ( circulation . 2001 ; 103 : 919 - 925 ; j clin endocrinol metab 1998 ; 83 : 1818 - 1820 ; j clin endocrinol metab 2001 ; 86 : 34552 - 3456 ). the amount of long acting insulin necessary to achieve the desired biological effect depends on a number of factors , for example the specific long acting insulin chosen , the intended use , the mode of administration and the clinical condition of the patient . the daily dose of insulin glargine is generally in the range from 2 to about 150 iu per day . more preferred is a daily dose in range in the range of 2 to about 80 iu per day . even more preferred is a daily dose in the range of about 2 to about 40 iu per day . as used herein , the term “ patient ” means a warm blooded animal , such as for example rat , mice , dogs , cats , guinea pigs , and primates such as humans . as used herein , the term “ treat ” or “ treating ” means to alleviate symptoms , eliminate the causation of the symptoms either on a temporary or permanent basis , or to prevent or slow the appearance of symptoms of the named disorder or condition . as used herein , the term “ effective dosage ” means a quantity of the compound which is effective in treating the named disorder or condition . as used herein , the term “ long acting insulin ” is an insulin analog that is a long acting ( up to 24 - hour duration of action ) blood glucose lowering agent . such long acting insulins include , but are not limited to , lantus ® lantus ( insulin glargine ), nph , lente ® lente human insulin zinc suspension ( rdna origin ), ultralente ® ultralente human insulin extended zinc suspension ( rdna origin ), and semilente ® semilente ( prompt insulin zinc suspension ). as used herein , the term “ early type 2 diabetes ” is defined as a fpg ≧ 126 mg / dl ( 7 . 0 mm ) or a ppg ≧ 200 mg / dl ( 11 . 1 mm ), or a previous diagnosis of diabetes , and either : 1 ) on no pharmacological treatment ( while ambulatory ) for at least 10 weeks prior to screening with screening glycated hemoglobin & lt ; 150 % of the upper limit of normal for the laboratory ( e . g . & lt ; 9 % if the upper limit is 6 %) or 2 ) taking one oad ( from among sulfonylureas , biguanides , thiazolidinediones , alpha - glucosidase inhibitors , and meglitinides ) at a stable dose for at least 10 weeks at the time of screening ( or for the 10 weeks prior to hospitalization if identified while hospitalized for a cv event ), with screening glycated hemoglobin & lt ; 133 % of the upper limit of normal for the laboratory ( e . g . & lt ; 8 % if the upper limit is 6 %) if taking this medication at half - maximum dose or greater , and glycated hemoglobin & lt ; 142 % of the upper limit of normal for the laboratory ( e . g . & lt ; 8 . 5 % if the upper limit is 6 %) if taking this medication at less than half - maximum dose . the citation of any reference herein should not be construed as an admission that such reference is available as “ prior art ” to the instant application . various publications are cited herein , the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference in their entireties . figure i depicts mean blood glucose values on the 8 - point profiles at day 1 ( baseline ) and day 12 ( endpoint ). figure ii illustrates mean blood glucose responses before ( 0 . 25 hr ) and for 3 hours following the 15 minute stationary bicycle exercise period . 1 . stamler j , vaccaro 0 , norton j d , wentworth d . diabetes , other risk factors , and 12 - yr cardiovascular mortality for men screened in the multiple risk factor intervention trial . diabetes care 1993 ; 16 : 434 - 44 . 2 . stratton i m , adler a i , nell a w , matthews d r , manley s e , cull c a , et al . association of glycaemia with macrovascular and microvascular complications of type 2 diabetes ( ukpds 35 ): prospective observational study . bmj 2000 ; 321 : 405 - 412 . 3 . coutinho m , wang y , gerstein h c , yusuf s . the relationship between glucose and incident cardiovascular events . diabetes care 1999 ; 22 ( 2 ): 233 - 240 . 4 . khaw k - t , wareham n , luben r , bingham s , oakes s , welch a , et al . glycated haemoglobin , diabetes , and mortality in men in the norfolk cohort of european prospective investigation of cancer and nutrition ( epic - norfolk ). bmj 2001 ; 322 : 15 - 18 . 5 . gerstein h c , yusuf s . dysglycaemia and risk of cardiovascular disease . lancet 1996 ; 347 : 949 - 50 . 6 . expert committee on the diagnosis and classification of diabetes mellitus . report of the expert committee on the diagnosis and classification of diabetes mellitus . diabetes care 1997 ; 20 ( 7 ): 1183 - 97 . 7 . the diabetes control and complications trial research group : the effect of intensive treatment of diabetes on the development and progression of long - term complications in insulin - dependent diabetes mellitus . n engl j med 1993 ; 329 : 977 - 86 . 8 . shichiri m , kishikawa h , ohkubo y , wake n . long - term results of the kumamoto study on optimal diabetes control in type 2 diabetic patients . diabetes care 2000 april ; 23 ( supp2 ): b21 - 9 . 9 . reichard p , nilsson b - y , rosenqvist u . the effect of long - term intensified insulin treatment on the development of microvascular complications of diabetes mellitus . n engl j med 1993 ; 329 : 304 - 9 . 10 . laakso m . glycemic control and the risk for coronary heart disease in patients with non - insulin - dependent diabetes mellitus . annals int med 1996 ; 124 ( 1 pt 2 ): 127 - 130 . 11 . moss s e , klein r , klein b e k , meuer s m . the association of glycemia and cause - specific mortality in a diabetic population . arch int med 1994 ; 154 : 2473 - 9 . 12 . jackson c a , yudkin j s , forrest r d . a comparison of the relationships of the glucose tolerance test and the glycated haemoglobin assay with diabetic vascular disease in the community . the islington diabetes survey . diabetes res clin pract 1992 ; 17 : 111 - 123 . 13 . wei m , gaskill s p , haffner s m , stem m p . effects of diabetes and level of glycemia on all - cause and cardiovascular mortality . the san antonio heart study . diabetes care 1998 ; 21 ( 7 ): 1167 - 72 . 14 . ukpds group . intensive blood - glucose control with sulphonylureas or insulin compared with conventional treatment and risk of complications in patients with type 2 diabetes ( ukpds 33 ). lancet 1998 ; 352 : 837 - 53 . 15 . devegt f , dekker j m , ruhe h g , stehouwer c d a , nijpels g , bouter l m , et al . hyperglycaemia is associated with all - cause and cardiovascular mortality in the hoorn population : the hoorn study . diabetologia 1999 ; 42 : 926 - 931 . 16 . simmons l a , mccallum j , friedlander y , simmons j . fasting plasma glucose in non - diabetic elderly women predicts increased all - cause mortality and coronary heart disease risk . aust nz med 2000 ; 30 : 41 - 7 . 17 . bjomholt j v , nitter - hauge s , erikssen g , jervell j , aaser e , erikssen j , et al . fasting blood glucose : an underestimated risk factor for cardiovascular death . diabetes care 1999 ; 22 : 45 - 9 . 18 . balkan b , shipley m , jarret r j , pyorala k , pyorala m , forhan a . et al . high blood glucose concentration is a risk factor for mortality in middle - aged nondiabetic men . 20 - year follow - up in the whitehall study , the paris prospective study , and the helsinki policemen study . diabetes care 1998 ; 21 : 360 - 367 . 19 . balkan b , bertrais s , dugimetiere p , eschwege e . is there a glycemic threshold for mortality risk ? diabetes care 1999 ; 22 ( 5 ): 696 - 9 . 20 . barzilay j i , spiekennan c f , wahl p w , kuller l h , cushrnan m , furberg c d , et al . cardiovascular disease in older adults with glucose disorders : comparison of american diabetes association criteria for diabetes mellitus with who criteria . lancet 1999 ; 354 : 622 - 5 . 21 . diabetes prevention research group : reduction in the evidence of type 2 diabetes with life - style intervention or metformin . n engl j med 346 : 393 - 403 , 2002 . 22 . passikivi j , walberg f . preventive tolbutamide treatment and arterial disease in mild hyperglycaemia . diabetologia 1971 ; 7 : 323 - 27 . 23 . sartor g , schersten b , carlstrorn s , melander a , norden a , persson g . ten - year follow - up of subjects with impaired glucose tolerance . prevention of diabetes by tolbutamide and diet regulation . diabetes 1980 ; 29 : 41 - 49 . 24 . malmberg k , ryden l , hamsten a , herlitz i , waldenstrom a , wedel h . mortality prediction in diabetic patients with myocardial infarction : experiences from the digami study . cardiovascular research 1997 ; 34 : 248 - 253 . 25 . van den berghe g , wouters p , weekers f , verwaest c , bruyninckx f , schetz m et al . intensive insulin therapy in critically ill patients . n engl j med 2001 ; 345 : 1359 - 67 . 26 . baron a d . vascular reactivity . am i cardiol 1999 ; 84 ( ia ): 25j - 27j . 27 . aljada a , dandona p . effect of insulin on human aortic endothelial nitric oxide synthase . metabolism 2000 ; 49 : 147 - 50 . 28 . taylor p d , oon b b , thomas c r , poston t , poston l . prevention by insulin treatment of endothelial dysfunction but not enhanced noradrenaline - induced contractility in mesenteric resistance arteries from streptozotocin - induced diabetic rats . br j pharmacol 1994 ; 111 ( 1 ): 35 - 41 . 29 . dandona p , aljada a , mohanty p , ghanim h , hamouda w , assian e , ahmad s . insulin inhibits intranuclear nuclear factor kb and stimulates ikb in mononuclear cells in obese subjects : evidence for an anti - inflammatory effect ? j clin endocrin ; luly 2001 ; 3257 - 3265 . 30 . american diabetes association : clinical practice recommendations . position statement , diabetes mellitus and exercise . diabetes care 2001 24 ( suppl 1 ): 551 - 5 31 . diabetes prevention research group : reduction in the evidence of type 2 diabetes with life - style intervention or metformin . n engl j med 346 : 393 - 403 , 2002 . 32 . diabetes prevention research group : reduction in the evidence of type 2 diabetes with life - style intervention or metformin . n engl j med 346 : 393 - 403 , 2002 . 33 . tuomilehto j , lindstrom j , eriksson j g , valle t t , hamalainen h , ilanne - parikka p , keinanen - kiukaanniemi s , laakso m , louheranta a , rastas m , salminen v , uusitupa m ; finnish diabetes prevention study group . ( department of epidemiology and health promotion , national public health institute , helsinki , finland . jaakko . tuomilehtoktl ) prevention of type 2 diabetes mellitus by changes in lifestyle among subjects with impaired glucose tolerance . n engl j . med . 2001 may 3 ; 344 ( 18 ): 1343 - 50 . 34 . murray f t , ziman b , mclean p a , denoga a , albisser a m , leibel b s , et . al . the metabolic response to moderate exercise in diabetic man receiving intravenous and subcutaneous insulin . journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism 1977 4 : 708 - 720 35 . herz m , profozic v , arora v , smircik - duvnjac l , kovacevic i , boras j et al . effects of a fixed mixture of 25 % insulin lispro and 75 % npl on plasma glucose during and after moderate physical exercise in patients with type 2 diabetes . current medical research and opinions 2002 18 : 188 - 93 36 . rabasa - lhoret r , bourque j , ducros f , chiasson , j - l . guidelines for premeal insulin dose reduction for postprandial exercise of different intensities and durations in type 1 diabetic subjects treated intensively with a basal - bolus insulin regimen ( ultralente - lispro ). diabetes care 2001 24 : 625 - 30 37 . hernandez j m , moccia t , fluckey j d , ulbrecht j s , farrell p a . fluid snacks to help persons with type 1 diabetes avoid late postexercise hypoglycemia . medicine and science in sports and exercise 2000 32 : 904 - 10 . 38 . riddle m , rosenstock j , gerich j . the treat - to - target trial . diabetes care 2003 26 : 39 . lepore m , pampanelli s , fanelli c , porcellati f , bartocci l , divincenzo a et al . pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of subcutaneous injection of long - acting human insulin analog glargine , nph insulin , and human ultralente insulin , and continuous subcutaneous infusion of insulin lispro . diabetes 2000 49 : 2142 - 8 . 40 . chiasson j - l , josse r g , gomis r , hanefeld m , karasik a , laakso m . acarbose treatment and the risk of cardiovascular disease and hypertension in patients with impaired glucose tolerance . jama 2003 290 : 486 - 94 41 . cryer p , davis s , shamoon h . hypoglycemia in diabetes . diabetes care 2003 26 : 1902 - 12 42 . the ukpds research group . a 6 - year , m randomized , controlled trial comparing sulfonylurea , insulin , and metformin therapy in patients with newly - diagnosed type 2 diabetes that could not be controlled with diet therapy . ann int med 1998 128 : 165 - 75 43 . taddei s , virdis a , mattei p , natali a , ferrannini e , salvetti a . effect of insulin on acetylcholine - induced vasodilation in normotensive subjects and patients with essential hypertension . circulation 1995 ; 92 : 2911 - 2918 . 44 . rask - madsen c , ihlemann n , krarup t , christiansen e , kober l , nervil k c , torp - pedersen c . insulin therapy improves insulin - stimulated endothelial function in patients with type ii diabetes and ischemic heart disease . diabetes . 2001 ; 50 : 2611 - 2618 . 45 . azen s p , peters r k , berkowitz k , kjos s , xiang a , buchanan t a . ( department of medicine , university of southern california ( usc ) school of medicine 90033 , usa .) tripod ( troglitazone in the prevention of diabetes ): a randomized , placebo - controlled trial of troglitazone in women with prior gestational diabetes mellitus ; control clin trials . 1998 april ; 19 ( 2 ): 217 - 31 . | 0 |
briefly this invention comprises a stand for holding a cut tree in which the tree trunk has the cut end standing in a pan , while the trunk is securely supported by the stand . more particularly , the stand includes a central platform 10 composed of four platform legs 11 disposed in a cross shape and fastened to a plate 9 . each leg has an inverted channel shaped cross section to receive the extended legs 12 which form the support for the device . each of the extended legs 12 is pivotally attached to a platform leg 11 by a pin 13 ( fig4 ) so that it can be moved from the support position shown in full line in fig4 to the shipping or storage position shown by the dotted lines in that same figure . the extended legs 12 are formed with a downward extending portion 14 which terminates in a foot pad 15 adapted to spread the load over a wider area of the floor or floor covering than the end of the leg portion . the elevation of the platform 9 caused by the bending down of the legs provides a substantial space under the platform . preferably this space is sufficient for the placement of a pan 8 holding a substantial amount of water to be supplied to the tree . to hold the tree , a tree - holding bracket 18 is fixed to a pair of adjacent legs 11 and the platform 9 . the bracket 18 depends to a point somewhat above the floor level as defined by the pads 15 , but substantially below the platform 9 . the socket is essentially angle - shaped so that it will support two sides of the trunk of the tree . at its lower end , the bracket 18 has a partial floor 19 ( fig4 ) adapted to support a removable tree support 20 . this support may take the form of a strap having a turned up end 21 ( fig4 ). the end 21 may be hooked through an opening 22 in the bracket 18 so that it will be anchored in place when a tree is set on the support , but can be released by raising the support and pulling the end 21 from the opening 22 . one or more pointed pins 23 may be provided on the support . these pins should extend into the base of the tree trunk to hold the trunk in place on the support . added holding for the trunk is provided by a strap 25 fixed to the bracket 18 and adapted to be wrapped around the trunk of the tree and the bracket 18 . the unfastened end of the strap is engaged in a tightening device adapted to pull the straps tightly around the tree trunk . the tightening device includes a base bar 27 pivoted in the platform 9 at a post 28 . a plate 29 having one edge fixed to the bar 27 extends upwardly from the bar 27 a distance about equal to the width of the strap 26 . this plate has an end 30 extending at a near right angle to the bar 27 , thus forming a pad against which the strap may be pressed . a pressing plate 33 similar in width to the plate 29 is pivoted to the base bar at a pivot 34 . the pressing plate 33 is elongated taking the shape of a metal bar . at one end , relatively close to the pivot 34 , the bar takes the form of the letter &# 34 ; z &# 34 ;. the center of the z - shape forms a pressure pad 35 , and terminates in an end 36 at a right angle to the pad 35 . these forms are located so that when the bar 33 is pivoted around its pivot 34 the pad 35 is in close proximity to the end 30 . the proximity is such that the strap 25 will be pressed between the end 30 and the pad 35 in a tightly - held gripping relationship . the end 36 , then serves both as an added holding device gripping the strap between it and the edge of the holding end 30 , and as a stop to further motion of the bar 33 . the pressing action is actuated by manually pulling on the handle end 37 of the bar 33 . this handle extends substantially from the pivot 34 in a direction away from the pad 35 . a peg 38 may be used as a stop to limit movement of the base bar 27 ( fig3 ). in order to provide for trunks of varying diameters , and for those which may not be exactly straight , an adjustment device is provided . this device is embodied in a pair of multi - sided ( illustrated as hexagonal ) plates 40 pivoted off center . the plates 40 are carried by the platform 9 , and are pivoted near the widest part of the angle - shaped bracket 18 . the plates 40 are relatively thin -- of the order of an eighth of an inch -- so that they can be pressed into the wood of the trunk of the tree being held . it will be apparent that because of the off - centeredness , the position of the trunk at the level of the plates 40 can be adjusted somewhat . because the trunk is pinned on the pins 23 , the result will be a tilting of the trunk or an adjustment for irregularities in the shape of the trunk . in either case , the usefulness in adjusting the tree for display is obvious . to use the trunk holding mechanism it is necessary first to engage the trunk with the pins 23 . this can be done either by drilling a hole into the end of the trunk , or by driving the pin 23 into the trunk with a hammer . the trunk is then erected against the plates 40 and they can be adjusted to hold the trunk in the desired position as nearly as possible . the strap 25 is then pulled around the trunk and between the pads 30 and 35 . the lever 37 is then used to press the pad 35 toward the pad 30 thus clamping the strap therebetween . further pulling of the lever tightens the strap around the trunk to hold the tree in place . in order to hold the lever 37 in that position , a hook 42 is adapted to hook over the lever 37 and to extend through one of a series of holes 43 in the platform 9 . the strap 25 is merely pulled tight and then the hook 42 is placed over the lever and dropped through the particular hole 42 which holds the strap tightest . added adjustment means to keep the tree as near vertical as possible is also provided in connection with the legs . this feature includes a series of wedges 45 having a u - shaped cross section . the base of the u - shape is slidably disposed on the top of each of the legs 12 and the wedge is slidable under the inverted channel of the platform legs 11 ( fig2 and 4 ). a springable tongue 46 on each leg 12 extends into the u - shape of the wedge 45 to hold it in place on the leg 12 . that tongue may also be engaged with the wedge through any of a number of well - known ratchet devices to prevent outward sliding of the wedge after it has been inserted . as an alternative to a ratchet device , the sloping edges of the wedge may also be stepped so that the engagement between the wedge 45 and the platform leg 11 is always vertical . thus , there is no component of force tending to eject the wedge . the use of the wedge 45 in tilting the platform 10 is obvious from the description . the tilting of the tree in response to changes in the platform position will also be obvious . thus , some adjustment of the position of the tree after its erection is readily possible by use of the wedge 45 . | 0 |
aspects of the embodiments overcome the limitations of the prior art by using the wires that carry the interlock signal to also transmit signals that carry the switch status instead of using separate wires or a bus to carry the switch status . fig5 illustrates one aspect of the embodiments . the interlock signal is introduced into the interlock circuit 100 at the circuit input terminal 101 . the interlock signal then passes into a safety interlock switch input terminal 108 . the interlock signal then passes through the safety interlock switch 102 if it is closed and then passes out the safety interlock output terminal 109 . if the safety interlock switch 102 is open , the interlock signal can &# 39 ; t pass . the monitor 301 detects the open safety interlock switch 102 and causes the signal generator 501 to generate a status signal . the status signal passes from the signal generator 501 through the status signal coupler 505 and into the safety interlock circuit at the safety interlock switch output terminal 109 . from that point , the status signal can pass through other safety interlock switches until it eventually reaches the machine 105 . those skilled in the arts of electrical circuitry or electrical signaling are familiar with a vast array of electrical signals , devices for generating those signals , and techniques for coupling those signals into and out of electrical circuits . on contemplation of the embodiments , they could use their skill to produce aspects of the embodiments . another aspect of the embodiments is that the status signal cannot cause the machine 105 to operate ; only the interlock signal can cause the machine 105 to operate . from the machine 105 , the signal passes to the interlock circuit output terminal 107 . however , before the status signal passes out of the safety interlock circuit 100 , a receiver 502 can receive it . the receiver 502 then causes the reporter 503 to report some property or properties of the status signal . some properties of status signals are the presence of the status signal , information that can be used to identify the signal generator that produced the status signal or status information carried by the status signal . the reporter can report by directly displaying information to a person , sounding an alarm , sending a message to a web site for remote display , or otherwise generating an audible , visual , or electrical signal . a signal is something that may be used to carry information . an aspect of the embodiments is transmitting electrical signals over the wires of the safety interlock circuit . the art of communications systems has found many different types of electrical signals . the embodiments do not require any particular type of electrical signal , only that there be an electrical signal . when two or more signals are present , there is a possibility they will interfere . interference is when one signal obscures or degrades another . the art of communications systems has found many ways to avoid interference between signals . for purposes of the embodiments , all types of electrical signal are considered equivalent and techniques for avoiding interference between signals are considered equivalent . techniques for avoiding interference between status signals include , but are not limited to , status signal modulation , time division , collision detection , or collision avoidance in the art of communications systems , modulation is the technique by which signals are caused to carry information . one of the simplest examples is the famed “ one if by land , two if by sea ” leading to the midnight ride of paul revere . a very complicated example is the ieee 802 . 11g standard that governs certain wireless ethernet transmissions . aspects of the embodiments do require modulation of a signal . more specifically , status information is carried by the status signal . all the modulation techniques by which status information , which includes a switch &# 39 ; s open / close position and identity , can be carried by a status signal are considered equivalent for purposes of the embodiments . status information is the information that a status signal carries . an example is a status signal that is present only when a particular safety interlock switch is open . when that status signal is not detected at the receiver 502 , then the status information is that the safety interlock switch is closed . when that status signal is detected at the receiver 502 , then the status information is that the switch is open . another possibility is that a signal generator 501 can generate one status signal when the safety interlock switch 102 is open and a different signal when it is closed . in this manner the status information is that the presence of one signal indicates that a particular switch is open , the presence of the other signal indicates closed , and the absence or presence of both signals indicates an abnormal condition . another aspect of the embodiments is that the status signal must be incapable of causing the machine 105 to operate . only the interlock signal can cause the machine 105 to operate . as previously described , the interlock signal is often also the electric power for the machine , such as ac line current for home appliances or 12 volt dc power from a car battery . historically , there are many instances of signaling via power lines . the methods used to signal via power lines can also be used to for sending and receiving status signals in interlock circuits . however , the embodiments are not limited to any particular signaling method or group of signaling methods . all signaling methods by which an interlock circuit carries both an interlock signal and a status signal are considered equivalent for purposes of the embodiments . a further aspect of the embodiments is coupling the status signal into the wiring of the safety interlock circuit . there are many techniques known in the art of electric circuitry for coupling a signal into a circuit . capacitive coupling , inductive coupling , and direct wiring are examples of coupling techniques . the embodiments do not depend on the application of any one coupling technique or group of techniques . all techniques that couple a status signal from a signal generator 501 into a safety interlock circuit are considered equivalent . a signal generator 501 is a device that produces a status signal . aspects of certain embodiments require that every signal generator 501 produce a unique signal . a unique signal is a signal that is unlike any other signal that is intentionally present in the interlock circuit . the reason unique signals are required is so that signal generators can be identified by the signals they produce . every signal generator in the embodiments is associated with a safety interlock switch . therefore , a unique signal can be used to identify a safety interlock switch . additionally , aspects of certain embodiments require a signal generator to produce 2 different signals . if both signals are unique , they can be used to identify the signal generator and thereby the safety interlock switch . any signal that is not unique can not be used to identify a specific source . in accordance with aspects of certain embodiments , fig6 illustrates an apparatus 600 that associates an identification module 601 with each safety interlock switch 102 in the system . the reason is that every signal generator 501 must produce a unique signal . the identification module 601 is a device such as a block of jumpers , a dip switch or electronically programmable memory by which every signal generator 501 in the system can be adjusted to emit a different signal . the safety interlock circuit of fig5 does not show use of a switch identification , in which case the signal generators 501 must be distinguishable by some other mechanism . in fig6 , the interlock signal passes through the safety interlock switch 102 when it is closed . however , when it is open the monitor 301 detects it and causes the signal generator 501 to produce a signal that is coupled into the interlock circuit at the safety interlock circuit output terminal 109 . the signal generator 501 generates a status signal that is dependent on the identification module 601 . an example is a signal generator that produces a sinusoidal signal wherein the frequency is set based on the signal identification . in this example , the sinusoidal frequency is the status information . the receiver can use the frequency to identify the signal generator 501 and thereby also identify a specific safety interlock switch 102 . a reporter , such as reporter 503 in fig5 , can then be used to report the status of the safety interlock switch 102 . fig6 also illustrates another aspect of certain embodiments , the status signal bypass 602 . the status signal bypass 602 is used to supply a signaling path for status signals but not for interlock signals . an interlock signal cannot pass from the input of the safety signal bypass 602 to the output . a status signal can pass from the input of the status signal bypass 602 to the output . it is possible for a status signal to be present at the safety interlock switch input terminal 108 . an open safety interlock switch 102 will not pass any signal , including a status signal . an example of when this can occur is when more than one safety interlock switch is open . a status signal bypass 602 carries status signals past the safety interlock switch 102 . in this manner , the safety interlock circuit can carry many status signals at once . a receiver 502 can receive all the signals and a reporter 503 can report the status information . an implication of this aspect of the embodiments is that many status signals must be able to coexist without interfering with one another . signaling techniques whereby many signals share the same transmission medium , whether that medium is a wire , the air , or an optical fiber , are common . all the signaling techniques whereby many status signals can share the wires of the safety interlock circuit are considered equivalent for purposes of the embodiments . fig7 , labeled as “ prior art ”, shows a common circuit symbol for a single pole single throw ( spst ) switch 700 . most switches do not have an input terminal or output terminal because they conduct electricity equally in either direction . when the switch 701 is closed , it conducts electricity , in either direction , between terminal 1 702 and terminal 2 703 . the circuit symbol appears to show the switch in the open position , however that is not the case because the symbol does not indicate open or closed , it only indicates that there is a switch . fig8 , labeled as “ prior art ”, shows a common circuit symbol for a single pole double throw ( spdt ) switch 800 . when the switch 701 is in one position , it conducts electricity , in either direction , between terminal 1 801 and terminal 2 802 . when the switch 701 is in the other position , it conducts electricity , in either direction , between terminal 1 801 and terminal 2 803 . the circuit symbol appears to show the switch in one position , however that is not the case because the symbol does not indicate switch position ; it only indicates that there is a switch . fig9 , labeled as “ prior art ”, shows a common circuit symbol for a double pole double throw ( dpdt ) switch 900 . it has a switching mechanism that moves two switches at the same time . when the switching mechanism is in one position , one switch 901 conducts electricity , in either direction , between terminala 1 903 and terminala 2 905 and the other switch 902 conducts electricity , in either direction , between terminalb 1 904 and terminalb 2 906 . when the switching mechanism is in the other position , one switch 901 conducts electricity , in either direction , between terminala 1 903 and terminala 3 907 and the other switch 902 conducts electricity , in either direction , between terminalb 1 904 and terminalb 2 908 . the circuit symbol appears to show the switching mechanism in one position , however that is not the case because the symbol does not indicate switch position ; it only indicates that there is a switch . fig1 shows the apparatus of fig5 adapted to use a spdt switch . the spdt switch 800 is used as both the safety interlock switch 102 and the monitor 301 . terminal 2 802 is connected to the safety interlock switch input terminal 108 and terminal 1 801 is connected to the safety interlock switch output terminal 109 . the closed position of the safety interlock switch 102 corresponds to the spdt switch 800 conducting electricity between terminal 1 801 and terminal 2 802 . the signal generator 501 is connected to spdt switch 800 terminal 3 803 . the open position of the safety interlock safety switch 102 corresponds to the spdt switch 800 conducting electricity between terminal 1 801 and terminal 3 803 . when the safety interlock switch 102 is open , the signal generator 501 is electrically connected to the safety interlock circuit by the spdt switch . fig1 shows the apparatus of fig5 adapted to use a dpdt switch . the dpdt switch 900 is used as both the safety interlock switch 102 and the monitor 301 . terminala 2 905 is connected to the safety interlock switch input terminal 108 and terminala 1 903 is connected to the safety interlock switch output terminal 109 . the closed position of the safety interlock switch 102 corresponds to the dpdt switch 900 conducting electricity between terminala 1 903 and terminala 2 905 and between terminalb 1 904 and terminalb 2 906 . the signal generator 1101 shown here generates two different status signals and sends status signal 1 to the status signal 1 line 1102 that is connected to dpdt switch 900 terminalb 2 906 . it sends status signal 2 to the status signal 2 line 1103 that is connected to dpdt switch 900 terminalb 3 908 . when the safety interlock switch 901 is closed , the interlock signal passes through the dpdt switch 900 and status signal 1 also passes through the switch and it is coupled into the safety interlock circuit via the status signal coupler 505 . the open position of the safety interlock switch 102 corresponds to the dpdt switch 900 conducting electricity between terminala 1 903 and terminala 3 907 and between terminalb 1 904 and terminalb 3 908 . when the safety interlock switch 901 is open , the interlock signal cannot pass through the dpdt switch 900 but status signal 2 does pass through the switch and it is coupled into the safety interlock circuit via the status signal coupler . it will be appreciated that variations of the above - disclosed and other features , aspects and functions , or alternatives thereof , may be desirably combined into many other different systems or applications . also that various presently unforeseen or unanticipated alternatives , modifications , variations or improvements therein may be subsequently made by those skilled in the art which are also intended to be encompassed by the following claims . | 7 |
the arguments of fig1 , 3 a , 3 b and 4 , so as tables 1 , 2 , 3 , and 4 of appendix 1 have already been duly discussed above in the text . [ 0112 ] fig5 shows a block diagram of a mobile station ms / ue suitable to implement the present invention in conjunction with the bss subsystem of fig1 . the mobile station ms / ue includes a transmitting section and a receiving section both controlled through a control processor that further controls a frequency synthesizer & amp ; hopping unit common to the two sections . a duplexer filter conveys to the antenna the rf output signals of the transmitting section and to the input of the receiving section the rf signal received on the antenna . for the sake of simplicity an oscillator and a tdma timing generator are not shown in fig5 . the transmitting section includes the following functional blocks : input devices , speech coder , channel coder , interleaver , ciphering , burst formatter , gmsk / 8 - psk modulator , bb / if / rf up converter , and rf power amplifier . input devices include a microphone with relative a / d converter and a keyboard & amp ; adapter . the receiving section in its turn includes the following functional blocks : image filter , rf amplifier , rf / if / bb down converter , lev , ch filter , a / d converter , correlator and mlse ( viterbi ) estimator , burst disassembler , deciphering , de - interleaver , channel decoder , speech decoder & amp ; voice amplifier , output devices ( earphone , pc monitor , fixed disk , etc .). in conformity with its a , b , or c operative class , the mobile station ms / ue is able to operate with both voice and data input devices , simultaneously or not . class a users have one time slot allocated for speech and one ore more others to the egprs service . dual considerations apply to the output devices . as already mentioned the present invention is prevalently addressed to packet data , so the blocks input devices and output devices will exemplify known data terminals for inputting or outputting data respectively . those terminals include pads and adapter circuits for synchronizing , storing , adapting format and rate of the incoming / outgoing digital blocks . considering the transmitting section at first , channel coder accepts data from input devices and provides a relevant egprs coding scheme , selected from those reproduced on tables 1 and 2 . for this aim a cps - tx - sel signal is outputted from the control processor . channel coder provides for : block code , parity code , convolutional code and fire code ; it further accepts and codifies data - ins signaling rlc blocks ( such as measures ) from the control processor . coded blocks are sent to the cascade of interleaver , ciphering , and burst formatter to perform the relative digital treatments as explained in the introduction . a formatted burst is delivered to the gsm / 8psk modulator which starts performing a differential encoding followed by either a gmsk or 8 - psk modulation . control processor selects the modulation type by sending to the modulator a mod - tx - sel signal , always in respect of the mcs schemes listed in table 2 . the base band analog modulated signal is firstly translated to if frequency and then to rf frequency by means of suitable up conversion mixers ; each conversion stage is followed by a band pass filtering stage . the rf transmission signal reaches the input of a variable gain power amplifier whose output is coupled to a transmission port of a duplexer filter coupled to the mobile station antenna . the downlink rf signal coming from the bts reaches the mobile station antenna and leaves a receiving port of the duplexer filter , crosses an image filter and reaches the input of a reception low noise amplifier whose output is connected to a frequency down converter . the down conversion is carried out by two cascaded stages : a first one converts from rf to if , and the second one from if to base band bb . the second stage also splits the converted signal into the in - phase i and in - quadrature q components . the base band i , q components are filtered by two channel filters ch matched to the transmitted pulse and then analog - to - digital converted . the two copies of the digitalized reception burst arrive at the two inputs of a correlator / synchroniser , acting like a matched filter to the training sequence , which extracts the correlation peak for detecting the initial instant of the transmission . the same correlative process also estimates the pulse response of the channel supplied to an mlse estimator based on the viterbi algorithm . this algorithm acts on a sequentially built - up trellis having as many nodes ( reiterated at each symbol time t ) as the states s = ml of the receiver , corresponding to all the possible combinations generated from m words ( symbols )) of a modulation alphabet over l symbol times ( where l is the significant length of the initially estimated channel pulse response ). starting from a known initial state , the progressive path along the trellis will depend on the effective transmitted sequence . all the possible transmitted sequences are distinguished each other through a respective path metric which constitutes the likelihood function to be gradually maximized by accumulating transition metrics . at every new symbol time m transition metrics a are calculated in correspondence of the m branches departing from each preceding node to reach a number m of successive nodes . a transition metric ( or branch metric ) is the euclidean distance between the level of the received symbol and the level that should have been received in correspondence of a supposed transition on the trellis . among all the branches departing from a node only a survivor one is selected to prolong a trellis path passing through that node , namely that having the maximum actual path metric . so doing , a drastic cut of the complexity is performed because the original number of states is maintained at each step . among all the survived paths at the time t the candidate sequence is the one which has the maximum path metric . going back along the trellis for a certain number of steps it can be appreciate that only a path survives , which is associated to a segment of the transmitted sequence . more precision is obtained delaying the decision of the mlse estimator until the end of the burst . at the output of the mlse estimator a copy of the original burst is reproduced and each bit is accompanied with three bits soft decisions indicating its received level . the estimated burst is delivered to a cascade of the following blocks : burst disassembler , deciphering , de - interleave , and channel decoder ; the last carries out the specified operations in respect of tables 1 and 2 by exploiting soft decisions . control processor generates the following two signals : mod - rx - sel and cps - rx - sel towards mlse estimator and channel decoder respectively . that because modulation and / or code scheme of the received signal can differ from the transmitted ones . mlse estimator operates with either gmsk or 8 - psk modulation , obviously with different trellis and branch metric expression . channel decoder uses soft decisions to carry out convolutional decoding and also takes advantage from the mentioned incremental redundancy strategy supported by an incremental redundancy buffer for temporarily storing rlc blocks to be retransmitted under arq . a buffer overflow activates a signal irout directed to the control processor . decoded rlc signaling blocks , indicated with data - extr , are extracted and sent to the control processor for the correct interpretation and execution ( such as : power control , timing advance , handover , etc .). channel decoder detects and counts errors before error correction and informs the control processor by sending a signal ber having the usual meaning of bit error rate . since decoding is good an ok flag is set . decoded rlc blocks concerning traffic are sent to the appropriate output devices in conformity with the selected a , b or c user class . control processor governs the main operational procedures of the mobile station ms / ue through a first and a second group of signals indicated as transmitting section control and receiving section control , respectively directed to the two sections . among these signals the following three are pointed out : maio , rssi and pc . maio is directed to the frequency synthesiser & amp ; hopping unit in order to provide indication for frequency hopping and handover . signal rssi is generated from a circuit lev which samples , a / d converts , and measures the strength of the received signal , and noise during idle . control processor block includes a memory ram for temporarily store level 2 and level 3 signaling messages . [ 0113 ] fig6 shows a block diagram of a base transceiver station ( bts ) suitable to implement the present invention in conjunction with the bss subsystem of fig1 and the mobile stations ms / ue of fig5 . the mobile bts includes a transmitting section and a receiving section both controlled through a bts control processor that further controls a frequency synthesiser & amp ; hopping unit common to the two sections . the two sections and the bts control processor are connected to an a - bis interface functional block for receiving / outputting one or more pcm link at 2 mb / s or pcu frames incoming from or outgoing to the bsc ( fig1 ). a duplexer filter conveys to the antenna the rf output signals of the transmitting section and to the input of the receiving section the rf signal received on the antenna . for the sake of simplicity a clock generator / extractor and a tdma timing generator are not shown in fig6 . the transmitting section includes the following functional blocks : base band processing 1 . . . n , gmsk or 8 - psk digital modulators 1 . . . n , multicarrier digital transmitter . the receiving section includes the following functional blocks : base band processor 1 , . . . , n , equalizer & amp ; demodulator 1 , . . . , n , multicarrier digital receiver , and an image filter . starting from the transmitting section , the a - bis interface block extracts from the pcm link or pcu frames all the n elementary fluxes concerning ch1 . . . . . chn channels relevant to the n users . ch1 . . . . chn fluxes reach respective base band processors to undergo all the digital treatments as : coding ( parity , convolutional fire ), interleaving , ciphering , burst formatting , and differential coding . convolutional coding provides a relevant egprs coding scheme , selected from those reproduced on tables 1 and 2 . the n coded signals outputted from the base band processors reach as many gmsk / 8 - psk digital modulators to be digitally modulated in respect of the mcs schemes listed in table 2 . the n modulated digital signals reach as many ducs ( digital up converters ) inside the multicarrier digital transmitter . each duc further receives a respective local oscillator signal f if - duc for the translation of its base band input signal to a prefixed position inside the overall intermediate frequency band . for this aim the f if - duc signals are digital sinusoids . the n if digital signals are summed up by a digital adder working at the higher f if - duc frequency , and the multicarrier if resulting signal is d / a converted and wide band filtered before reaching the input of an if / rf mixer piloted by a f ol - tx local oscillator signal to the up conversion at radiofrequency . the rf signal at the output of the mixer is sent to an rf power amplifier . the output of the rf power amplifier is connected to the tx port of the duplexer filter , while the rx port is connected to the image filter placed at the input of the multicarrier digital receiver . the rf filtered signal is amplified and down converted to if by an rf / if mixer piloted by a f ol - rx local oscillator signal . the multicarrier analog if signal is anti - alias filtered and fed to the input of n ddcs ( digital down converters ) inside the multicarrier digital receiver . each ddc further receives a respective local oscillator signal f if - ddc for the translation to base band its input signal relevant to a prefixed position inside the overall intermediate frequency band . for this aim the f if - ddc signals are digital sinusoids . the n digital base band signals reach as many equalizer & amp ; demodulator to be demodulated in respect of the mcs schemes listed in table 2 . the same arguments as the viterbi &# 39 ; s estimator of fig5 are still valid . the demodulated signals are sent to the base band processors to undergoes : burst disassembling , deciphering , de - interleaving , and channel decoding in respect of tables 1 and 2 . finally the decoded data relevant to ch1 , . . . chn channels are delivered to the a - bis interface functional block to be assembled into one 2 m / bit outgoing pcm link or pcu frames . control processor block includes a memory ram for temporarily store level 2 and level 3 signaling messages for all the n users . the bts control processor governs the main operational procedures of the mobile station ms / ue through a first and group of signals indicated as “ transmitting section control ”, “ signaling insertion ”; and a second group of signals indicated as “ receiving section control ”, “ signaling extraction ”. among these signals a maio group is directed to the frequency synthesiser & amp ; hopping unit in order to provide indication for frequency hopping and handover as far as concerns all the duc and ddc circuits . control processor block includes a memory ram for temporarily store level 2 and level 3 signaling messages for all the n users . extracted signaling concerns , for example : measures transmitted uplink by all the mobile stations ( level , ber , c / i , ok flag , etc . ), the statuses of the irout overflow indicators , etc . inserted signaling concerns , for example : power control commands directed to each base band processor , timing advance commands , selection of the individual mcs scheme for transmission and / or reception , etc . the reference frame of a known gsm - egprs system has been completed at this point of the disclosure . so the basis for the introduction of the features typical of the invention are given . the relevant means of the invention to carry out uplink and / or downlink tbf link adaptation constitute a particular combination of known and new means like the following list , in which when not expressly mentioned they are preferably allocated to the pcu and either confined in the firmware or in dedicated circuits : memory matrix tables for memorizing as many sets of digital values intended as bler thresholds ; the tables being managed by the packet control unit ( pcu ). the thresholds being calculated off - line in a way that will be soon illustrate and they are valid both for uplink and downlink adaptation ; means allocated both to the bts and the mobile stations for decoding rlc received blocks , optionally capable of joint decoding incremental redundancy bits ; means allocated both to the bts and the mobile stations for detecting and storing rlc blocks erroneously received ; means allocated both to the bts and the mobile stations for retransmitting erroneously received blocks ; means for calculating bler of an active tbf by filtering a variable indicating the rlc blocks not correctly received ; means for filtering a variable indicating the effectiveness of the incremental redundancy detection ; means for continuously updating the bler thresholds on the basis of said effectiveness variable ; means to compare the calculated bler with the updated bler thresholds in order to obtain a criterion for changing the actual mcs ; means of the pcu to command a new mcs on the basis of said criterion for changing the actual mcs ; means of the bsc for updating the transmission power level of each uplink / downlink channel in order to maintain a fixed target throughput independently on the mcss . with reference to the fig7 to 14 the preliminary off - line simulation step useful for determining the various sets of bler thresholds is now considered . those figures are to be considered two at a time , such as : fig7 and 8 ; 9 and 10 ; 11 and 12 ; 13 and 14 . the arguments relative to the first couple of fig7 and 8 are generally still valid for the other couple of figures . fig7 shows some curves of net throughput ( kbit / s ) in function of c / i ( db ) for several modulation and coding schemes . fig8 shows correspondent curves of bler ( db or %) in function of c / i ( db ) for the same mcss of fig7 . four mcss are represented in fig7 indicated with a , b , c , d ; they respectively coincide with mcs1 , mcs3 , mcs6 , and mcs9 of table 2 . it can be appreciate that the listed mcss is a subset of all the possible mcss constituting a sequence of mcss arranged by increasing nominal throughputs . curves of fig7 are referred to a standard channel tu3 ( typical urban — 3 ray model ) without frequency hopping and without incremental redundancy ( only type i arq is admitted ), they are valid for both uplink and downlink tbfs . the depicted values are the result of a computer simulation refined and validated through on field measures . curves of fig7 are derived from curves of fig8 by using the relation ( 1 ). because of the trends of the various mcs curves of fig7 are not similar to that of parallel lines , six different cross - points are visible in correspondence of as many values of c / i . cross - points are characterized by equal net throughputs for at least two mcs curves . cross - points relevant for the present invention are only the three relative to adjacent mcss in the ordered sequence , namely : a - b , b - c , and c - d . in order to maximize throughput the higher order mcs should be selected at the right of the switching point , while the lower order mcs should be chosen when the rf channel conditions are at the left of the cross point . this behavior is due to the decreasing protection of the higher mcs at the lower c / i and the consequent retransmission of the errored radio blocks . referring to the previous cross - points of fig7 the ‘ ideal ’ switching points between two adjacent mcsi could be the following : mcs a mcs b : c / i ≈ 1 . 5 db mcs b mcs c : c / i ≈ 7 . 5 db mcs c mcs d : c / i ≈ 16 db but c / i values are difficult to estimate in a real network , while other parameters , such as bler , can be calculated directly . the link adaptation algorithm here proposed will then be based on direct bler measurements . the previous calculated ‘ ideal ’ c ./ i switching points now correspond to the following ‘ ideal ’ couples of bler thresholds mapped on the curves of fig8 : mcs a ⇄ mcs b : c / i = 1 . 5 db bler mcs1 → mcs3 = tab , bler mcs3 → mcs1 = tba ; mcs b ⇄ mcs c : c / i = 7 . 5 db bler mcs3 → mcs6 = tbc , bler mcs6 → mcs3 = tcb ; mcs c → mcs d : c / i = 16 db bler mcs6 → mcs9 = tcd , bler mcs9 → mcs6 = tdc . net throughput is then maximized changing the mcs according to these bler threshold values . if actual bler falls below the upgrade threshold ( tab , tbc , tcd ) the algorithm switches to the next ( less protected ) available mcs . if actual bler instead exceeds the downgrade threshold ( tab , tbc , tcd ) the algorithm switches to the previous ( more protected ) available mcs . for example , if bler goes below tbc , while using mcs b , then a change to mcs c will be decided . on the contrary , if bler goes above tba , while using mcs b , then a change to mcs a will be decided . if the rf environment changes , the mcs &# 39 ; s performances curves change as well . therefore the ‘ ideal ’ switching points depend on the actual rf environment . as an example , ‘ ideal ’ switching points may be different if frequency hopping is enabled or disabled in the network . though the possible rf scenarios are virtually infinite , as already anticipated in the introduction , in a typical urban environment , only two different cases can be taken into account : a “ low diversity ” and a “ high diversity ” scenario . the “ low diversity ” scenario corresponds to the family of curves represented in fig7 and 8 and should be selected if the cell is characterized by a low user mobility , such as : pico - cells , indoor cells , etc . without frequency hopping . the “ high diversity ” scenario corresponds to the family of curves represented in fig9 and 10 and should be selected if the cell is characterized by a higher user mobility , such as ≈ 50 km / h mobile speed , or if frequency hopping is enabled . simulation results represented in fig9 and 10 have been obtained in absence of ir . for each specific rf scenario different upgrade switching points and downgrade switching points are derived through simulations and on field measures . these values of the switching points constitute as many sets of thresholds stored in matrix tables . once the particular rf scenario has been assigned , the corresponding matrix table is selected , containing all the ideal switching points ( downgrade / upgrade switching points from / to all mcss ) for that case . the initial mcs has to be defined as said later on . things are further complicated when type ii hybrid arq ( incremental redundancy ) is utilized . in the fig1 , 12 and 13 , 14 simulation results with ir ( and infinite memory ) are presented for the same scenarios described above . more precisely , simulation results represented in fig1 and 12 concern cells characterized by “ low diversity ” in presence of incremental redundancy . in this case it can be seen that mcs d outperforms all others mcs for a wide range of c / i ratios and the setting of the switching points will require some further considerations . simulation results represented in fig1 and 14 concern cells characterized by “ high diversity ” in presence of incremental redundancy . even here further considerations are necessaries . in any case it should be noticed that again , even in presence of incremental redundancy , the resulting performance depends on the actual rf scenario . moreover results depend on the amount of memory available for incremental redundancy . anyway , as a result , when ir is taken into account , different bler threshold values should be considered . even these values should be stored in matrix tables , one for each possible rf scenario . with reference to the fig1 and 16 , the link adaptation method subject of the present invention is discussed . for the sake of simplicity the method is like a flow - chart of a program which controls a microprocessor inside the pcu ( fig1 ). in the reality the various steps of the program interact with the involved protocol procedures and signaling . the previous off - line step for obtaining the bler threshold matrix tables shall be considered as a preliminary part of the method . fig1 concerns a simplified method valid for a packed data scenario without incremental redundancy and either characterized by low or high variability . fig1 differs from fig1 in that incremental redundancy is considered . matrix tables relative to the fig8 , 12 , and 14 have been respectively indicated as table a , b , c , and d . the method of fig1 starts with step s 1 which addresses the tbfs adaptation either uplink or downlink . presently uplink tbfs are considered , successively the modifications for downlink tbfs will be introduced . in the subsequent step s 2 the connection is established and the initial modulation and coding scheme is decided . the initial mcs will be the default one , unless some information is available about the last mcs used for a previous ul tbf characterized by the same tlli . in this case the initial mcs of the new tbf will be set by default or unless some other information is available . in step s 3 at the network side value of bler is continuously updated , at each received radio block , by checking if rlc blocks have been carefully received or not . bler at instant n , for a given tbf connection , is obtained by a digital filter having a pulse response exponentially decreasing with time discrete n as indicated by the following law : bler n = f 1 ( bler n − 1 )+ f 2 ( s n ) ( 2u ) n is the iteration index spanning one radio block period of 20 ms ; s n = 0 if the rlc block at instant n has been correctly received ( and the mcs is the “ commanded mcs ”); s n = 1 if the rlc block at instant n has not been correctly received ; s n = 1 k ∑ k = 1 k s n , k ( 3 u ) if more than one rlc block is received s n is the average of the values calculated for single blocks . de facto more than one rlc block for a given tbf can be received at the same time instant n , due to 1 ) multislot allocation , 2 ) mcss supporting two rlc blocks at a time . f 1 ( bler n − 1 ) is a first weight function of the preceding filtered bler value relative to the “ commanded mcs ” ( i . e . actual mcs ) blocks only , taking values inside the interval 0 - 1 ; f 2 ( s n ) is a second weight function of the variable s n , taking values inside the interval 0 - 1 ; taking into consideration the teaching of standard etsi gsm 05 . 08 about time filtering of quality variables , for analogy , expression ( 2u ) now assumes the following expression : bler n = ( 1 - β · x n r n ) · bler n - 1 + β · x n r n · s n ( 2 u ′ ) n is the iteration index spanning one radio block period of 20 ms ; x n is equal to 1 if “ at least ” one rlc block for the considered tbf with the “ commanded mcs ” is received at time instant n , otherwise is set to 0 ; t avg being the filtering period in multiples of a radio block ; r n denotes the reliability of the nth bler measurement and is expressed as follows : r n = ( 1 − β ) · r n − 1 + β · x n ; r − 1 = 0 ( 4u ) r n is the output of a running average filter that helps to keep track of the reliability of the filtered bler measurements . in fact r n is used in ( 2u ′) to decide the weight between the new measurement ( s n ) and the old measurements ( bler n − 1 ). looking at the formulas , it comes out that at time instants where no measurement exists ( no rlc blocks are received for the considered tbf ), bler n will not be updated . on the contrary , when a measurement exists , bler n will be updated weighting new and old contributions , so to obtain the desired exponentially decreasing ( with discrete time n ) filter impulse response . the reliability filter is initialized at the beginning of a transmission ( n = 0 ) setting r − 1 = 0 . by the comparison of expression ( 2u ) with ( 2u ′) it results that : f 1 ( bler n - 1 ) = ( 1 - β · x n r n ) · bler n - 1 f 2 ( s n ) = β · x n r n · s n . besides the two weight functions f 1 ( bler n − 1 ) and f 2 ( s n ) have balanced weights , so that an arbitrary weight increasing of f 2 ( s n ) also involves an equal weight decreasing of f 1 ( bler n − 1 ), and vice versa . in next step s 4 the presence of frequency hopping is checked . if the answer in step s 4 is negative , the case of low diversity environment is checked in the successive step s 5 . affirmative answer in step s 4 enters step s 6 in which the bler filtered at step s 3 is compared to the upgrade and downgrade thresholds stored in table a . negative answer in step s 4 enters step s 6 ′ where the filtered bler is compared to the thresholds stored in table b . the comparison using table b is also performed if frequency hopping were found active in the preceding step s 4 . thresholds could be generalized in this way : put mcsx the actual mcs , mcsy the next available less protected one , and mcsz the previous available more protected one , then the appropriate thresholds will be : upgrade thresholds ( up_th n ): bler mcsx → mcsy downgrade thresholds ( dn_th n ): bler mcsx → mcsz . reaching the step s 7 either from s 6 or s 6 ′, the occurrence is checked of an mcs switching in consequence of the previous comparisons . if in step s 7 the actual value of bler doesn &# 39 ; t cross any thresholds the subsequent step s 8 performs an unitary increment of index n , then in step s 9 the active state of the actual tbf is monitored . until tbf is active the respective bler is continuously monitored from the cycle of steps s 3 - s 10 to check the conditions for switching from the actual mcs ; if during the cycle the tbf elapses the incoming step s 10 resets bler and r and the program waits for another tbf . if during the cycle s 3 - s 10 the actual bler falls below the value up_th n , then mcsx is switched to mcsy in step s 11 . alternatively , if during the cycle s 3 - s 10 the actual bler exceeds the value dn_th n , mcsx is switched to mcsz in step s 11 . when commanding the new mcs to the ms , in a packet uplink ack / nack or packet timeslot reconfigure message , the pcu can also set the re - segment bit to the proper value . in general , for retransmissions , setting the re - segment bit to ‘ 1 ’ requires the mobile station ms / ue to use an mcs within the same family as the initial transmission and the payload may be split . instead setting the re - segment bit to ‘ 0 ’ requires the mobile station shall use an mcs within the same family as the initial transmission without splitting the payload . tables 5 and 6 of appendix 1 show mcs schemes to use for retransmission after switching to a different mcs . table 5 is valid for re - segment bit = 1 , while table 6 is valid for re - segment bit =‘ 0 ’. according to the invention , in the case under description ( no incremental redundancy mode ), the re - segment bit is always set to “ 1 ”. whenever the modulation and coding scheme is changed , bler and r variable are set to zero in the successive step s 12 and the filtering process is re - started from step s 3 . additional advantages of the disclosed method are mostly due to the filtering step s 3 , they are : considering that at each iteration index n used in digital filter ( 2u ) and ( 2u ′) ( 20 ms ) could not correspond an rlc block for the intended tbf , due to the mac scheduling mechanism , and that , on the contrary , a constant bler filtering window is preferable in expression ( 2u ′), then the reliability filter ( 4u ) provides the way to keep constant the “ actual ” bler filtering window , in that independent on the number of tbfs multiplexed on the same ts . consequently the bler digital filter ( 2u ′) is taken back to the rlc blocks effectively received in order to maintain the right exponentially decreasing impulse response . only blocks encoded with the present mcs contribute to bler calculation . in other words , retransmissions with a different mcs don &# 39 ; t have any impact on bler calculation for the actual mcs . with reference to the fig1 changes in respect to the fig1 are now discussed to be introduced in the link adaptation method due to the incremental redundancy . the first five steps s 1 to s 5 are the same as those of fig1 , in particular the filtering step s 3 . additional problems arise when the actual thresholds for the bler comparison shall be determined . these problems are of different nature and must be checked consequently , so step s 6 ( s 6 ′) is deliberately introduced for this aim . during this step the following routine is executed to set the logic value of a variable ir_check that contributes to the issue of an ir_status variable which gives information about the efficiency of incremental redundancy at the bts : { there has been an header error ( this implies that ir for the expected block ( s ) is useless ), or if memory for ir is exhausted ( no ir is possible for the expected block ( s )), or if soft decisions could not have been stored due to any other reason ( again , no ir for the expected block ( s )) } then ir at time instant n is considered as “ not working ”, ir_check n = 0 else ir at time instant n is considered as “ working ”, ir_check n = 1 . the ir_status is then filtered in step s 7 ( s 7 ′) using the same approach used for bler in step s 3 ; in particular using a digital filter having a response exponentially decreasing with discrete time n as indicated by the following law : ir _status n = f m ( ir_status n − 1 )+ f 2 ( ir _check n ) ( 5u ) were function f 1 and f 2 follow the same laws as used in the bler calculation . the analogy is extended to the most detailed function : ir_status n = ( 1 - β · x n r n ) · ir_status n - 1 + β · x n r n · ir_check n ( 6 u ) where : x n , r n , and β are the same values used in the bler calculation . differently from the preceding method of fig1 , bler thresholds stored in the matrix tables are not immediately usable , since such thresholds depend on the used mcs but on the ir efficiency as well . so the successive step s 8 ( s 8 ′) is charged to calculate suitable thresholds for taking ir into account . the new thresholds are the result of a linear interpolation between two extreme cases , namely : perfect ir ( ir_status = 1 ), and ir totally lacking ( ir_status = 0 ). each case making reference to its own matrix tables . absence of ir needs tables a and b , while perfect ir needs tables c and d , besides tables a and c simulate low diversity channels respectively without and with ir , while tables b and d high diversity channels respectively without and with ir . consequently the linear interpolation in step s 8 taking care of low diversity channels recurs to tables a and c , while the linear interpolation in step s 8 ′ taking care of high diversity channels recurs to tables b and d . indicating with bler mcsx — wir → mcsy — wir , and bler mcsx — wir → mcsz — wir respectively the new upgrade up_th n and downgrade dn_th n thresholds for perfect ir , at the n - th block period , the linear interpolations calculated either in step s 8 or s 8 ′ assume the following expressions : up — th n =( 1 − ir _status n )× bler mcsx → mcsy + ir _status n × ble rmcsx — wir → mcsy — wir ( 7u ) dn — th n =( 1 − ir _status n )× bler mcsx → mcsz + ir _status n × bler mcsx — wir → mcsz — wir ( 8u ) the successive step s 9 is charged to compare bler filtered in step s 3 with the new thresholds ( 7u ) and ( 8u ) either coming from step s 8 or s 8 ′, then in step s 10 the occurrence of an mcs switching in consequence of the previous comparisons is checked . if from the check of step s 10 it results that in step s 9 the actual bler doesn &# 39 ; t cross any up_th n or dn_th n thresholds , the subsequent step s 11 performs an unitary increment of index n , then in step s 12 the active state of the actual tbf is monitored . until tbf is active the respective bler is continuously monitored from the cycle of steps s 3 - s 12 to check the conditions for switching from the actual mcs ; if during the cycle the tbf elapses the incoming step s 13 resets bler and r variables and the program waits for another tbf . if during cycle s 3 - s 12 the actual bler falls below the value up_th n , then in step s 14 mcsx is switched to mcsy . alternatively , if during the cycle s 3 - s 12 the actual bler exceeds the value dn_th n , in step s 14 mcsx is switched to mcsz . when commanding the new mcs to the mobile station , in a packet uplink ack / nack or packet timeslot reconfigure message , the pcu unit can also set the re - segment bit to the proper value . if ir_status n & lt ; 0 . 5 then ir is considered as “ not - properly working ” and the re - segment bit is set to ‘ 1 ’. on the contrary , if ir_status n & gt ; 0 . 5 then ir is considered as “ properly working ” and the re - segment bit is set to ‘ 0 ’. for retransmissions the previous considerations are still valid so as tables 5 and 6 of appendix 1 . whenever the modulation and coding scheme is changed , in the successive step s 15 bler and r variables are set to zero and the filtering process is re - started from step s 3 . additional advantage of the disclosed method is that it is independent on the memory size at the bts . in fact if there is so much memory as the ir_status variable will always be close to 1 , then in step s 9 the “ perfect ir ” thresholds bler mcsx — wir → mcsy — wir and bler mcsx — wir → mcsz — wir will always be used , because they are prevailing in expressions ( 7u ) and ( 8u ). on the contrary , if the bts has as low memory as ir_status variable will always be close to 0 , then in step s 9 the “ no ir ” thresholds bler mcsx → mcsy , and bler mcsx → mcsz will always be used , because they are prevailing in expressions ( 7u ) and ( 8u ). it can be appreciated that through expressions 7u ) and ( 8u ) a sort of automatic switch between the two extreme conditions is performed . the disclosure of how performing uplink adaptation with incremental redundancy carried out with reference to the fig1 ( the most general case ), is nearly completely applicable to the downlink adaptation . downlink adaptation is carried out by the network ( bts , bsc , pcu ), as well as for uplink adaptation , but in case of downlink adaptation the receiving entities are the mobile stations which have to transmit to the network their own surveys on block decoding and the residual state of the ir memory . in practice , once the connection is established , bler is updated at the pcu with the information provided by the egprs packet downlink ack / nack message , reported by the ms upon periodic request ( polling ) from the network . the exploitation by the pcu of the polled information suitable for calculating bler imposes to change the time iteration index n used in the expressions ( 2u ) and ( 2u ′) of the digital filters , and in the other descending expressions . in downlink case , time iteration index n for a given tbf connection must be replaced with reporting instant k for the same connection . so , the most general expression ( 2u ) becomes : bler k = f 1 ( bler k − 1 )+ f 2 ( s k ) ( 2d ) while more detailed expression ( 2u ′) requires a modification of the two weights and of the reliability variable r ( expression 4u ) to consider the greater lasting effect of reporting instant k . in that the following expression is valid for downlink adaptation : bler k = ( 1 - β r k ) · bler k - 1 + β r k s k ( 2 d ′ ) nack_blocks : number of badly received rlc blocks among those sent with the present mcs . sent_blocks : number of blocks sent with the present mcs in the previous polling period . r k denotes the reliability of the filtered bler measurement expressed as in the following : r k = ( 1 − β ) m · r k − 1 + β ; r − 1 = 0 ( 4d ) where m is the number of radio blocks that elapsed since the last egprs packet downlink ack / nack message was received at the pcu . again , r k is the output of a running average filter that helps to keep track of the reliability of the filtered bler measurements . in fact r k is used to decide the weight between the new measurement ( s k ) and the old measurements ( bler k − 1 ). when a new measurement exists ( an egprs packet downlink ack / nack message is received ), bler k will be updated weighting new and old contributions , so to obtain the desired exponentially decreasing ( with discrete time n ) filter impulse response . the reliability filter is initialized at the beginning of a transmission ( k = 0 ) setting r − 1 = 0 . differently from expression ( 4u ) that uses iteration index n , expression ( 4d ) uses iteration index k spanning several time index n , nevertheless the two expression shall perform comparable filtering function on the same filtering window , exponent m used in expression ( 4d ) provides to this task by increasing the effect of the single iteration k in a way to opportunely dampen the old measure and reinforce the new input as if m consecutive rlc blocks were filtered in the meanwhile . considerations about the incremental redundancy , to say expression ( 5u ) and ( 6u ) both pertaining to ir_status and ir_check variables remain formally unchanged by using the reporting instant k . the same applies to the settlement of upgrade and downgrade thresholds through the expressions ( 7u ) and ( 8u ). in particular , when an egprs packet downlink ack / nack message is received , the ms_out_of_memory bit is checked : { this bit is set ( no more memory for ir is available at the ms ) } then ir at instant k is considered as “ not working ”, ir_check k = 0 else ir at instant k is considered as “ working ”, ir_check ks = 1 . the ir status is then filtered using the same approach used for bler : ir _status k = f 1 ( ir _status k − 1 )+ f 2 ( ir _check k ) ( 5d ) were function f 1 and f 2 follow the same laws as used in the bler calculation . the analogy is extended to the most detailed function : ir_status k = ( 1 - β r k ) · ir_status k - 1 + β r k · ir_check k ( 6 d ) where r k ( 4d ) and β have already been introduced . the ir_status variable gives information about the efficiency of incremental redundancy at the ms . linear interpolations for updating all the upgrade and downgrade tabulated bler thresholds associated to each available mcs take now the following expressions at the reporting instant k : up — th k =( 1 − ir _status k )× bler mcsx → mcsy + ir _status k × bler mcsx — wir → mcsy — wir ( 7d ) dn — th k =( 1 − ir _status k )× bler mcsx → mcsz + ir _status k × bler mcsx — wir → mcsz — wir ( 8d ) where : up_th k and dn_th k are the upgrade and downgrade thresholds respectively . additional advantages of downlink adaptation method are still those listed for uplink . with reference to fig1 a modified power control algorithm for pursuing aims as pursued by link adaptation object of the present invention is now disclosed . without limiting the invention the modified power control algorithm attempts to maintain a high data throughput of transmitting entities subjected to link adaptation with incremental redundancy . the modified power control takes part in the off - line preliminary step of link adaptation by making use of the simulation curves of net throughput ( kbit / s ) in function of c / i ( db ) for several modulation and coding schemes . the curve that grants the maximum achievable throughput ( i . e . the envelope of all the curves corresponding to the different mcs in the incremental redundancy case ) is used and reproduced in fig1 target can be derived from the peak throughput qos class requested by the mobile station . be t p the peak throughput , then a peak throughput per timeslot , indicated as t p × ts , is calculated : where n ts is the number of timeslots allocated to the tbf ; i . e . n ts is the minimum between the number of allocable timeslots and the number of timeslots that can be handled by the ms due to its multislot class . once t p × ts is set on the ordinate axis of the curve “ maximum achievable throughput ”, the curve itself associates to the t p × ts point a target c / i target value on the abscissa axis . in other words the couple of points ( c / i target , t p × ts ) is marked on the “ maximum achievable throughput ” curve . c / i target target value constitutes the goal of the modified power control algorithm . traditional power control algorithm attempts to minimize transmission power compatibly with a minimum fixed quality of the transmitted signal checked by the receiving entity . to reach this aim it needs to handle measures included in the measurement channel report . once the measures have been acquired , the traditional power control algorithm starts to increase , or decrease , step by step the transmitted power until the outlined goal on minimum quality has been checked back from the measures . modified power control algorithm works as the traditional one but with a different goal , namely it tries to maintain the c / i target target value for the duration of the whole tbf . the link adaptation algorithm subject of the present invention , on the other hand , continues to adapt to radio conditions , switching from one mcs to another , in order to optimize performance on net throughput . this may happen due to the fact that the power control cannot be “ perfect ” and therefore the actual c / i ratio may be different from the target one . from above it can be argued that the modified power control algorithm works in synergy with the link adaptation , in that resolving the controversy outlined in the prior art . [ 0195 ] table 1 coding parameters for the gprs coding schemes radio block pre - excl . data code coded usf and coded punctured rate scheme rate usf usf bcs bcs tail bits bits kb / s cs - 1 1 / 2 3 3 181 40 4 456 0 9 . 05 cs - 2 ≈ 2 / 3 3 6 268 16 4 588 132 13 . 4 cs - 3 ≈ 3 / 4 3 6 312 16 4 676 220 15 . 6 cs - 4 1 3 12 428 16 — 456 — 21 . 4 [ 0196 ] table 2 coding parameters for the egprs coding schemes rlc blocks raw data header per radio within one data code code modula - block radio tail rat scheme rate rate tion ( 20 ms ) block family bcs payload hcs kb / s mcs - 9 1 . 0 0 . 36 8psk 2 2 × 592 a 2 × 12 2 × 6 8 59 . 2 mcs - 8 0 . 92 0 . 36 2 2 × 544 a 54 . 4 mcs - 7 0 . 76 0 . 36 2 2 × 448 b 44 . 8 mcs - 6 0 . 49 1 / 3 1 592 a 12 6 29 . 6 544 + 48 27 . 2 mcs - 5 0 . 37 1 / 3 1 448 b 22 . 4 mcs - 4 1 . 0 0 . 53 gmsk 1 352 c 17 . 6 mcs - 3 0 . 80 0 . 53 1 296 a 14 . 8 272 + 24 13 . 6 mcs - 2 0 . 66 0 . 53 1 224 b 11 . 2 mcs - 1 0 . 53 0 . 53 1 176 c 8 . 8 [ 0197 ] appendix 1 table 3 - modulation and coding schemes for egprs table 4 - puncturing schemes ( ps ) [ 0198 ] table 4 puncturing schemes ( ps ) ps of last ps of first mcs mcs transmission before transmission after switched from switched to mcs switch mcs switch mcs - 9 mcs - 6 ps 1 or ps 3 ps 1 ps 2 ps 2 mcs - 6 mcs - 9 ps 1 ps 3 ps 2 ps 2 mcs - 7 mcs - 5 any ps 1 mcs - 5 mcs - 7 any ps 2 all other combinations any ps 1 [ 0199 ] table 5 mcs to use for retransmissions when re - segmentation ( re - segment bit set to ‘ 1 ’) is carried out ( specified as a function of the scheme used for the initial transmission ) scheme used for scheme to use for retransmissions after switching to a different mcs initial mcs - 9 mcs - 8 mcs - 7 mcs - 6 - 9 mcs - 6 mcs - 5 - 7 mcs - 5 mcs - 4 mcs - 3 mcs - 2 mcs - 1 transmis - comman - comman - comman - comman - comman - comman - comman - comman - comman - comman - comman - sion ded ded ded ded ded ded ded ded ded ded ded mcs - 9 mcs - 9 mcs - 6 mcs - 6 mcs - 6 mcs - 6 mcs - 3 mcs - 3 mcs - 3 mcs - 3 mcs - 3 mcs - 3 mcs - 8 mcs - 8 mcs - 8 mcs - 6 mcs - 6 mcs - 6 mcs - 3 mcs - 3 mcs - 3 mcs - 3 mcs - 3 mcs - 3 ( pad ) ( pad ) ( pad ) ( pad ) ( pad ) ( pad ) ( pad ) pad ) ( pad ) mcs - 7 mcs - 7 mcs - 7 mcs - 7 mcs - 5 mcs - 5 mcs - 5 mcs - 5 mcs - 2 mcs - 2 mcs - 2 mcs - 2 mcs - 6 mcs - 9 mcs - 6 mcs - 6 mcs - 9 mcs - 6 mcs - 3 mcs - 3 mcs - 3 mcs - 3 mcs - 3 mcs - 3 mcs - 5 mcs - 7 mcs - 7 mcs - 7 mcs - 5 mcs - 5 mcs - 7 mcs - 5 mcs - 2 mcs - 2 mcs - 2 mcs - 2 mcs - 4 mcs - 4 mcs - 4 mcs - 4 mcs - 4 mcs - 4 mcs - 4 mcs - 4 mcs - 4 mcs - 1 mcs - 1 mcs - 1 mcs - 3 mcs - 3 mcs - 3 mcs - 3 mcs - 3 mcs - 3 mcs - 3 mcs - 3 mcs - 3 mcs - 3 mcs - 3 mcs - 3 mcs - 2 mcs - 2 mcs - 2 mcs - 2 mcs - 2 mcs - 2 mcs - 2 mcs - 2 mcs - 2 mcs - 2 mcs - 2 mcs - 2 mcs - 1 mcs - 1 mcs - 1 mcs - 1 mcs - 1 mcs - 1 mcs - 1 mcs - 1 mcs - 1 mcs - 1 mcs - 1 mcs - 1 [ 0200 ] table 6 mcs to use for retransmissions when re - segmentation is not ( re - segment bit set to ‘ 0 ’) allowed specified as a function of the scheme used for the initial transmission ) scheme used for scheme to use for retransmissions after switching to a different mcs initial mcs - 9 mcs - 8 mcs - 7 mcs - 6 - 9 mcs - 6 mcs - 5 - 7 mcs - 5 mcs - 4 mcs - 3 mcs - 2 mcs - 1 transmis - comman - comman - comman - comman - comman - comman - comman - comman - comman - comman - comman - sion ded ded ded ded ded ded ded ded ded ded ded mcs - 9 mcs - 9 mcs - 6 mcs - 6 mcs - 6 mcs - 6 mcs - 6 mcs - 6 mcs - 6 mcs - 6 mcs - 6 mcs - 6 mcs - 8 mcs - 8 mcs - 8 mcs - 6 mcs - 6 mcs - 6 mcs - 6 mcs - 6 mcs - 6 mcs - 6 mcs - 6 mcs - 6 ( pad ) ( pad ) ( pad ) ( pad ) ( pad ) ( pad ) ( pad ) ( pad ) ( pad ) mcs - 7 mcs - 7 mcs - 7 mcs - 7 mcs - 5 mcs - 5 mcs - 5 mcs - 5 mcs - 5 mcs - 5 mcs - 5 mcs - 5 mcs - 6 mcs - 9 mcs - 6 mcs - 6 mcs - 9 mcs - 6 mcs - 6 mcs - 6 mcs - 6 mcs - 6 mcs - 6 mcs - 6 mcs - 5 mcs - 7 mcs - 7 mcs - 7 mcs - 5 mcs - 5 mcs - 7 mcs - 5 mcs - 5 mcs - 5 mcs - 5 mcs - 5 mcs - 4 mcs - 4 mcs - 4 mcs - 4 mcs - 4 mcs - 4 mcs - 4 mcs - 4 mcs - 4 mcs - 4 mcs - 4 mcs - 4 mcs - 3 mcs - 3 mcs - 3 mcs - 3 mcs - 3 mcs - 3 mcs - 3 mcs - 3 mcs - 3 mcs - 3 mcs - 3 mcs - 3 mcs - 2 mcs - 2 mcs - 2 mcs - 2 mcs - 2 mcs - 2 mcs - 2 mcs - 2 mcs - 2 mcs - 2 mcs - 2 mcs - 2 mcs - 1 mcs - 1 mcs - 1 mcs - 1 mcs - 1 mcs - 1 mcs - 1 mcs - 1 mcs - 1 mcs - 1 mcs - 1 mcs - 1 | 7 |
the deflection of light beams reflected by an object is measured with the aid of deflectometric methods . the object itself is not visible , all that can be detected is the optical effect . in reflection , a combination of height and surface normal of the surface to be measured is measured . it follows that no absolute measurement is possible . this is explained in fig1 . a pattern 2 is produced on a screen or luminous display 1 . a camera k 1 images the pattern 2 via the specular surface 3 of the object . an image 4 of the reflected pattern is produced in an image plane 8 of the camera . drawn in as an example for the imaging is a beam 5 a and 5 b that is reflected at a location 6 of the surface 3 . the beam , which is emitted by the screen at a point 7 , is imaged onto a location 9 in the image plane 8 of the camera . when use is made of unique patterns ( in the case of which each point can be uniquely identified ), it is possible to determine for each recorded image point ( the point 9 in the example ) which point of the pattern 2 produced has been imaged ( the point 7 in the example ). suitable patterns or pattern sequences are , for example , gray code , linear , punctiform patterns or the sinusoidal patterns addressed above . combinations of various types of patterns can also be used . in a calibrated system , the position of screen 1 or pattern 2 and camera k 1 is known in the space of the coordinate system 10 . the position of point 7 and point 9 , from which the beam 5 b can be calculated , is therefore also known . nevertheless , it is not possible to determine the position of the point 6 , or a surface normal 11 at the point 6 . the reason for this is that the object surface itself is , after all , not visible , and that another position 6 a of the object point with a suitable surface normal 11 a would likewise image the point 7 onto the point 9 . it follows that the cases indicated by way of example cannot be distinguished . if the position of the location 6 of the surface were known , the normal 11 at this point could be determined in absolute terms with the aid of the reflection law : the normal 11 is the angle bisector at the point 6 of the triangle that is formed by the point 7 in the pattern , the point 9 in the image of the reflected pattern , and the surface point 6 . the information on the local height , in other words on the shape , cannot be determined uniquely . without the local height , however , it is also impossible to make absolute measurements of the inclination . this is of less importance if the aim is only to detect local “ waves ” on the object in qualitative terms , for example dents on a body . it is also possible to take relative measurements against a reference . however , absolute measurement is necessary for many tasks . for example , this is so for the measurement of spectacle lenses where , furthermore , a very high accuracy is required . methods are known that solve this grave problem . in the reference by m . petz und r . tutsch , entitled “ measurement of optically effective surfaces by imaging of gratings ,” in optical measurement systems for industrial inspection ii , munich , germany , proc . spie 5144 , pp . 288 - 94 , 2003 , the screen is displaced in direction 12 , for example , and various images of the reflected pattern are therefore recorded . it is possible thereby to determine the beam 5 a , and thus also the point 6 . the method has the disadvantage , inter alia , that a mechanical displacement is technically complicated and slow . another solution is described in german patent de 100 14 964 c2 . the pattern is imaged to infinity by a collimation lens between the screen and the object . this defines a direction for each point on the screen . in the example of fig1 , such a lens permits only the direction 5 a for beams coming from the location 7 , for example . a direction 5 c from the point 7 would not be possible . the method likewise has a few disadvantages such as strongly curved objects require a large angular region for the incident beams . the exceptionally high requirements placed on the image angle at the required collimation lens are virtually impossible to fulfill in practice . a further , grave disadvantage is that although the normal can be determined , local height cannot be determined in principle , since only the direction of the beam 5 a , but not the location are determined . the disadvantages of the known methods are removed as follows in accordance with the invention : a description is given of how it is possible to determine the local height ( the “ shape ”) and also , with high accuracy , the surface normals in the case of specular objects in a quick and technically uncomplicated way . in the case of a calibrated system , it is possible to determine from the recorded images the normal that the surface would have if the reflection had taken place at the location 6 , 6 a or at any other point of the line of sight 5 b . this can also be achieved for all other lines of sight that are defined by the recorded image , as is shown in fig2 : every image point , for example 13 a , 13 b , 13 c defines a line of sight 14 a , 14 b , 14 c . the potential normals n 1 ( x , y , z ) can be determined in the entire measuring space 15 for each potential surface point ( x , y , z ) from the images recorded by the camera k 1 . in fig2 , the object 3 is situated as depicted . however , this position is not yet known , rather it is to be determined . this is rendered possible , according to the invention , by the method illustrated in fig3 and 5 : a second calibrated camera k 2 likewise records the reflected patterns . these patterns 16 have a different configuration , because the viewing angle is a different one . fig4 outlines the result for a given object 3 in the measuring space 15 . the potential normals n 2 ( x , y , z ) are likewise determined for all points ( x , y , z ) from the images on the camera k 2 . the normals n 1 differ from the normals n 2 in a large zone of the measuring space . however , at the locations ( x i , y i , z i ), at which the surface was actually situated during the measurement , it holds that : n 1 ( x i , y i , z i )= n 2 ( x i , y i , z i ) . thus , if the locations ( x i , y i , z i ) can be determined , then both the local height (“ shape ”) and the actual surface normals are found . a stereo method using two cameras is likewise described in the reference by a . c . sanderson , l . e . weiss and s . k . nayar , entitled “ structured highlight inspection of specular surfaces ,” ieee transactions on pattern analysis and machine intelligence 10 ( 1 ), pp . 44 - 55 , 1988 . however , with this method it is not the reflected images of surface patterns that are recorded , but the reflected images of n shining points . the method is decidedly weak . for it to function , it is necessary for both cameras each to observe a reflection at the same surface point . however , this will only be the case by chance for a pattern of discretely shining points . measuring errors occur in a real measurement . consequently , the normals n 1 and n 2 are generally not exactly equal . in this case , it is possible to look for points in the measuring space at which the normals have the least deviation from one another . when searching for the locations ( x i , y i , z i ), it is possible to use a priori information such as the size of the object or neighborhood relationships . for example , it is possible to select on a straight line 18 through the measuring space a finite number of raster points 19 a , 19 b , 19 c . . . at which the potential normals are calculated . if the point 19 c with the least difference between the calculated normals has been found , it is possible to look for further surface points in the surroundings of this point . neighboring points are situated approximately in the tangential plane that is defined by the point found and the surface normal . since the raster points found are usually not situated exactly at the location at which the surface actually was , it is expedient to interpolate between the raster points . however , the method also functions on discontinuous surfaces , since the measuring space can be searched through even without neighborhood relationships . for example , it is possible to search through the entire measuring space on many straight lines that are parallel to the straight line 18 . the accuracy of the method can be raised by observing not only from two directions , but also from several directions using several cameras k 1 , k 2 . . . k m . an additional advantage of several cameras results in the fact that strongly curved surfaces generally cannot be covered completely by one camera . using several cameras , it is possible to ensure that one sub - region of the surface can be measured using in each case two or more cameras , and another sub - region using other cameras . the measured data obtained can be used to determine further parameters of the surface with high accuracy . such parameters are , for example , the curvature ( mean , minimum , maximum curvature and astigmatism ), the surface torsion or derivatives of higher order . fig5 outlines an apparatus according to the invention with the aid of which the above - described method can be carried out . the cameras k 1 , k 2 . . . k m are mounted such that they image the patterns reflected at the object from various directions v 1 , v 2 . . . v m . it is preferred to use electronic cameras ( ccd , cmos ) whose images can be processed electronically . in this case , a large angle between the observation directions leads to a more accurate determination of the surface 3 . it is also conceivable to use a single camera and to use it to take measurements sequentially from different locations , or to move several cameras . it is expedient for the purpose of producing patterns on the screen 1 not to use a fixed system , but an electronically controllable system 20 . it is possible here , for example , to use a controllable slide or video projector ( for example with an lcd , lcos , dmd modulator ) together with a ground glass screen . however , it is also possible to make direct use of a display or other controllable pattern generator instead of the screen 1 . it is expedient to synchronize the production of patterns and the recording of images . a very cost - effective solution is to use fixed patterns that are , for example , displaced between the recordings . the fixed patterns can either be projected onto the screen , or else be applied directly to the screen . it is possible either to illuminate the screen by reflection and observe it , or to illuminate it in transmitted light and observe it . it is also possible to use a cambered screen la with the aid of which strongly curved objects can be measured . all unique patterns or pattern combinations can be used , in principle . however , as described in published , non - prosecuted german patent application de 19944354 a1 , it is advantageous to use patterns with a sinusoidal intensity profile . these patterns yield the lowest measurement uncertainty by comparison with other patterns . the patterns can be driven , and the processing of the recorded patterns , can be carried out centrally using a computer 21 . ideally , the production of the patterns with the aid of the apparatus 20 and the recording with the cameras k 1 . . . k m are synchronized in order to be able to measure as quickly as possible . in the case of the method described , the measurement object can be positioned freely in the measuring space 15 . the use of the apparatus is therefore very variable , since the objects need not be clamped in to the apparatus , nor be moved during the measurement . the apparatus can be used , for example , on a production line . on the other hand , it is also possible to use an object holder 22 with the aid of which the object can be displaced , rotated and tilted . this is helpful in the case of very curved surfaces . the surface of the object can then be measured successively from various directions . these partial measurements can optionally be combined to form an overall measurement . it is possible to use both the information obtained in relation to the object shape and the measured surface normals for the purpose of correct combination . it is indispensable to calibrate the system as accurately as possible so that the surface 3 is also found with satisfactory accuracy . the calibration of the system can be broken down into three steps : the calibration of the screen , the calibration of the cameras and the calibration of the geometry of the overall system . the calibration of the screen permits every point of the patterns to be assigned a defined location on the screen . the calibration can be performed , for example , by a precise perforated mask that is positioned at the location of the ground glass screen . the pattern is measured in the holes whose position is known . the assignment of pattern and screen is defined thereby . the calibration of the cameras can be performed by known photogrammetric methods ( bundle adjustment ). the calibration of the cameras is simplified if use is made of telecentric objectives for imaging . the result of calibrating the cameras is that each point in the image plane of the camera is assigned a line of sight in the camera coordinate system . the third step of the calibration combines the coordinate systems of the screen and of the cameras into a world coordinate system . the calibration operation can be carried out with the aid of plane mirror with applied marks that is placed in the measuring space . the position of the cameras can be determined by resection with reference to the marks . the position of the ground glass screen can be determined , in turn , by resection with reference to the calibrated patterns that are reflected by the known specular surfaces . the use of more than two cameras results in over determination of the system of equations for determining the calibration parameters of the overall system ( pattern distortion , objective distortion , position of the cameras and of the screen ). self - calibration methods can be applied in this case . the calibration is rendered more robust by the use of telecentric observation . it must be stressed that this method requires no diffusely scattering marks on or next to the object . a reflecting freeform surface can be placed freely in the measuring space and measured . if diffusely scattering marks , or other marks that can be detected in images of intensity , phase , contrast or uncalibrated inclination are present , known methods for the triangulation of the height can be used in support . further surface points can be found in accordance with the above - described method starting from these triangulated points . it is also possible to determine the local height of the surface at suitable interpolation points by use of mechanical stops or feelers . many surface defects are clearly to be identified in the contrast image , in particular , which arises as a byproduct during the phase evaluation of sinusoidal patterns . the contrast image is a measure of the modulation in the images of the displaced reflected patterns . in addition to scratches , dust , dirt or fingerprints , the detectable defects also include , for example , artificially applied engravings or stamps . the contrast image can therefore also be used to carry out a “ cosmetic ” inspection of the surface in parallel with measurement of the surface . this application claims the priority , under 35 u . s . c . § 119 , of german patent application no . 10 2004 020 419 . 5 , filed apr . 23 , 2004 ; the entire disclosure of the prior application is herewith incorporated by reference . | 6 |
fig1 shows the structure of a compression stocking 10 according to the invention . this compression stocking is manufactured as a knee - high stocking or ad stocking consisting of an understocking 10 a and an overstocking 10 b , each with a leg section 11 a , 11 b , and each with a foot section 12 a , 12 b , which can be applied and worn over each other . to clarify the component parts of each stocking , fig1 shows the understocking 10 a and the overstocking 10 b separately on the same leg . when used , these stockings are put on or worn over each other in such a way that the top edge of the stocking top 4 of the overstocking corresponds to the bottom edge of the stocking top 3 of the understocking ( shown by the dotted line in fig1 ). the understocking 10 a has a pressure relief area 5 at the top end of the foot section 12 a , bordering the leg section 11 a . this pressure relief area 5 is integrally and seamlessly formed at the foot section 12 a and integrally and seamlessly formed at the leg section 11 a . the foot section 12 a of the understocking 10 a is shown with a closed toe 6 , with this toe being made of reinforced material in comparison to the rest of the foot section . the overstocking 10 b also has a pressure relief area 7 . this relief area 7 completely encloses a reciprocated heel 8 provided here and is integrally and seamlessly formed at a leg section 11 a and integrally and seamlessly formed at the reciprocated heel 8 . the pressure relief area is v - shaped as shown here or y - shaped ( not shown ) in the lateral view , depending on the size of the heel . the foot section 12 b of overstocking 10 b is shown with an open toe , wherein the foot section has a stocking top 9 at its end . both the understocking 10 a and the overstocking 10 b are shown as circular knit fabric , wherein each stocking has a wave pattern in its respective leg section 11 a , 11 b . this wave pattern is enabled by different types of knitting , with two different knits being used . the wave pattern is designed in a way that the two knitting types follow each other in turns . the knitting pattern of the understocking 10 a in the leg section 11 a is shown in the laying patterns in fig2 and fig3 . fig2 shows the laying pattern of the areas 20 ( fig1 ). accordingly , two different knitting threads 21 , 22 and an insertion thread 23 are used in these areas . the understocking has a 1 : 1 insertion thread and alternating knitting threads . fig3 illustrates the knit of the areas 30 ( see fig1 ). accordingly , the same knitting threads 21 , 22 ( compared with fig2 ) and the same insertion thread 23 are used in these areas . in contrast to the areas 20 , however , the insertion thread is used as a 2 : 2 insertion thread in the areas 30 . both the pressure relief area 5 of the understocking and the pressure relief area 7 of the overstocking are manufactured using the same materials as the respective leg sections 11 a , 11 b of the two stockings . in these areas , the insertion thread is used as a 3 : 2 insertion thread . the laying patterns of the corresponding areas 40 and 50 in the overstocking 10 b correspond to the laying patterns illustrated in fig2 and 3 , with the difference being that only one knitting thread and one insertion thread are used in the entire leg section 11 b of the overstocking ( not shown here ). the following example specifies the materials for understocking and overstocking . the numbering refers to fig1 , 2 and 3 . a ) 44 dtex el lycra ® ( core )— enwound with a double layer of b ) 78 dtex el lycra ® ( core )— enwound with a double layer of knitting thread 41 in leg 11 b , foot 12 b and pressure relief area 7 : a ) 44 dtex el lycra ® ( core )— enwound with a double layer of insertion thread 42 in leg 11 b , foot 12 b and pressure relief area 7 : a ) 570 dtex el lycra ® ( core )— enwound with a double layer of i ) 44f13 / 1 dtex pa 6 . 6 and ii ) staple fiber yarn nm170 / 1 knitting thread heel 8 and stocking top 9 ( open toe ): a ) 78 dtex el lycra ® ( core )— enwound with a double layer of a ) 78 dtex el lycra ® ( core )— enwound with a double layer of knitting thread 21 , 22 in leg 11 a and pressure relief area 5 : a ) 44 dtex el lycra ® ( core )— enwound with a double layer of b ) 44 dtex el lycra ® ( core )— enwound with a double layer of i ) 44f34 / 1 dtex pa 6 . 6 and ii ) staple fiber yarn nm170 / 1 insertion thread 24 in leg 11 a and pressure relief area 5 : a ) 156 dtex el lycra ® ( core )— enwound with a double layer of i ) 44f13 / 1 dtex pa 6 . 6 and ii ) staple fiber yarn nm170 / 1 b ) 44 dtex el lycra ® ( core )— enwound with a double layer of a ) 78 dtex el lycra ® ( core )— enwound with a double layer of el refers to elastane and nm to “ nummer metrisch ” ( metric number ). furthermore , an elastane core enwound with a double layer is enwound with a first yarn i ) as a first layer and with a second yarn ii ) as a second layer or with the first yarn i ) as a second layer over the first layer , with the threads intersecting . the yarn supplier for the enwound yarns is the company zimmermann , weiler simmerberg , germany . the staple fiber yarn has the following composition : 75 % cotton , 25 % seacell ®, seacell ® contains 8 % through 12 % algae incorporated in cellulose . the yarn is supplied by seacell gmbh , rudolstadt , germany . in addition , fig4 and 5 below show pressure progression for the overstocking and the understocking . the measuring of compression and fitting of the clamps is carried out according to ral - gz 387 , wherein the understocking ( fig4 ) has a largely constant compression pressure in the area between b and b 1 after a slight initial pressure drop . the double dotted lines define the admissible area according to the ral norm ( ral - gz 387 ). as can be seen here , the understocking is not a stocking as defined by the ral norm ( ral - gz 387 ), as it leaves the stipulated area between measuring points c and d . the depiction of the overstocking ( fig5 ), however , shows that this stocking essentially corresponds to the pressure progression stipulated for a norm stocking under the ral norm ( ral - gz 387 ). the compression pressure is measured by means of a compression testing device using the hohenstein system ( nosy ), a detailed description of which can be read in the “ hohensteiner forschungsbericht ” of january 1982 and “ phlebol and proktol .” 11 : 34 - 41 ( 1982 ). other advantages and properties of the invention are described in the other application documents . a compression stocking or support stocking can be provided in the above - mentioned way , which is very well suited to be used for treating diseases where open wounds and skin lesions must be covered by a wound dressing within the compression area . | 0 |
the present invention will now be described more specifically with reference to the following embodiments . it is to be noted that the following descriptions of preferred embodiments of this invention are presented herein for the purposes of illustration and description only ; it is not intended to be exhaustive or to be limited to the precise form disclosed . please refer to fig1 a , 1 b and 1 c , which are diagrams showing the fabricating process of a solid tunable micro - optical device according to a first embodiment of the present invention . a simple planar fabrication process is established to fabricate the solid tunable micro optical device and further to integrate with other optical components . as shown in fig1 a , the process starts on a silicon - on - glass ( sog ) wafer , wherein the glass substrate 10 and the silicon layer 11 is used for fabricating micro components . a photomask pattern 12 for the micro components is formed on the sog wafer by a photolithography process and the silicon layer 11 is etched by a deep reactive ion etching ( drie ). after the photomask pattern 12 is removed , the micro components such as heaters 13 and a conducting ring 14 are formed on the glass substrate 10 , as shown in fig1 b . a polymer polydimethylsiloxane ( pdms ) is selected as the material for the micro - lens 15 of this embodiment and is dispensed into the space enclosed by the conducting ring 14 . as shown in fig1 c , a spherical surface of the micro - lens 15 is automatically formed due to the surface tension of the pdms . the spherical surface of the micro - lens 15 is a convex surface in this embodiment ; however it could be a concave surface as well . the final step is to cure the pdms at 150 ° c . for 15 min for turning the pdms to a solid state . please refer to fig2 a and 2b , which are diagrams showing the top view and the side view of a solid tunable micro - optical device according to the first embodiment of the present invention , respectively . the device made by the fabricating process shown in fig1 a - 1c comprises a conducting ring 14 , a micro - lens 15 with a spherical surface configured on the conducting ring 14 , and a pair of heaters 13 . the heaters 13 are electrically connected to a power source 16 for actuating the heaters 13 . applying electric power to the heaters 13 may changes the temperature of the conducting ring 14 and the micro - lens 15 . hence , the micro - lens 15 is deformed and results in a variation of a radius of curvature ( roc ) of the micro - lens 15 . please refer to fig2 a and 2b again . when a current is applied to the solid tunable micro - lens device , as illustrated in fig2 a , the heaters 13 increase the temperature of the conducting ring 14 and the micro - lens 15 . according to the difference of the thermal expansion and the stiffness between the conducting ring 14 and the micro - lens 15 , a thermal deformation is induced , which leads to the variation of the radius of curvature ( roc ) of the micro - lens 15 , as well as the focal length of micro - lens 15 . the variation is easily controlled by managing the current input to the device . however , besides the heaters 13 mentioned in this embodiment , the temperature of the conducting ring 14 or the micro - lens 15 could also be controlled by other temperature - adjusting devices . according to the first embodiment of the present invention , the driving current could be reduced and the tunable range could be increased through the optimal design of the conducting ring 14 and the heaters 13 . in sum , the solid tunable micro optical device of the present invention has simple and reliable thermal expansion of the solid material , and the phase transition is not required during operation . please refer to fig3 a and 3b , which are diagrams showing the top view and the side view of a solid tunable micro - optical device according to a second embodiment of the present invention . the solid tunable micro - lens device in the first embodiment can be integrated with at least one optical component , such as a grating or a fresnel lens . the second embodiment is performed by integrating a fresnel lens 37 into the solid tunable micro - lens device in the first embodiment to form a compound micro - lens . in this embodiment , the fresnel lens 37 is simultaneously fabricated and integrated with the conducting ring 14 and the heaters 13 without additional masks or processes , and an alignment during the fabrication is unnecessary as well . besides the arrangement of the fresnel lens 37 in this embodiment , the fresnel lens 37 can be configured on one side of the glass substrate 10 by sputtering or other thin - film forming methods as well . the added fresnel lens 37 can further shorten the focal length of the micro - lens 15 to form a two - lens system with a higher numerical aperture ( na ). the fresnel lens in this embodiment could be a multi - focus lens , which can provides the compound lens with a higher na and more focal points . please refer to fig4 a and 4b , which are diagrams showing the top view and the side view of a solid tunable micro - optical device according to the third embodiment of the present invention . the third embodiment is similar to the first embodiment except that the conducting ring 44 of the third embodiment has an asymmetric central aperture . in the third embodiment , the asymmetry aperture leads to different variations of the roc of the micro - lens 45 in x - plane and y - plane in response to a temperature change . therefore , controlling temperature tunes the astigmatism of the micro - lens 45 . consequently , the third embodiment of the present invention can compensates an astigmatism existing in an optical system by an asymmetric deformation of the micro - lens 45 with different roc along the x - plane and the y - plane . please refer to fig5 a and 5b , which are diagrams showing the top view and the side view of a solid tunable micro - optical device according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention . compared with the first embodiment of the present invention , the fourth embodiment comprises a further conducting ring 54 and a further micro - lens 55 inside or outside the original conducting ring 14 and micro - lens 15 in the first embodiment of the present invention . the original micro - lens 15 and the further micro - lens 55 form a compound lens . when a current is applied to the solid tunable micro - lens device , as illustrated in fig5 a , the heaters 13 increase the temperature of the conducting ring 14 and the heat also conducts to the micro - lens 15 , the further conducting ring 54 or the further micro - lens 55 . the surface deformation of the micro - lens 15 and / or the further micro - lens 55 changes the roc as well as the focal length of the compound micro - lens . the present embodiment employs this concept to tune the focal length of the compound micro - lens by varying the temperature of the compound micro - lens , which is easily controlled by managing the current input to the device . please refer to fig6 , which is a diagram showing the side view of a solid tunable micro - optical device according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention . the fifth embodiment is performed by coating a reflective material 66 or an anti - reflective material onto the surface of the micro - lens 65 for reflecting light or allowing a much higher percentage of light to pass through the micro - lens . the reflective material 66 can be made by silver , gold , optical thin films or any reflective materials , and the anti - reflective material is preferably a optical band gap material or a optical thin film . the concept of the present invention is to tune a micro - lens by heat , especially by heat adjusted by an input current . any form of heaters and the shapes of the conducting ring should all be included in the protecting scope of the present invention . while the invention has been described in terms of what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments , it is to be understood that the invention needs not be limited to the disclose embodiments . therefore , it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims , which are to be accorded with the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar structures . | 6 |
the invalid support apparatus of the present invention is shown in its various configurations in the figures . fig1 depicts the collapsible tripod mounted system , which offers the advantage of mobility in that the system may be delivered where needed . making reference to fig1 the collapsible tripod system 11 is described as follows . three legs 21 , 22 and 23 provide support for the system . legs 21 and 22 are the left and right outer legs , respectively , and are detachably connected to the center leg 23 which becomes the rear leg in use by support members 27 . the three legs 21 , 22 and 23 are also connected at the top by pivot bolt 31 about which the legs 21 , 22 and 23 may pivot as required . from pivot bolt 31 is also a pivotally mounted support 41 for a center pulley 42 through which a flexible line , or cable 51 may be passed . separators 44 are placed appropriately in order to permit the pivoting legs 21 , 22 and 23 and pivoting support 41 to freely pivot without mutual interference . together , the support members 27 and the three tripod legs 21 , 22 and 23 define a tripod enclosed space 24 which is open on one side 25 . this open side 25 permits the tripod system 11 to be easily position , by sliding , so that its pivot bolt 31 and center pulley 42 are directly above a toilet 72 , fig3 or other desired fixture or area . the open side 25 further facilitates the entry and exit of the invalid to and from the tripod enclosed space 24 . additionally , near the top of the tripod system 11 are provided means for stabilizing the device . each tripod leg 21 , 22 and 23 is adapted with an outward extending hook 12 , 13 which can receive a desired link 14 of a chain 15 . at least one hook 13 is large enough to receive two links 14 of the chain 15 . accordingly , the chain 15 may be positioned around the tripod legs 21 , 22 and 23 by placing the desired link 14 within each hook 12 , 13 so that the expansion of the tripod system 11 is regulated and stabilized . attached to said cable 51 at an end suspended from said center pulley 42 is a harness apparatus 55 comprising a means 56 for connecting said harness apparatus 55 to said cable 51 and a harness loop 57 adapted with a padded sleeve 58 . making reference now to fig2 on which is a provided detailed view of the pivot bolt 31 apparatus with pulley 42 and support 41 , the operation of the device can be better explained . additionally , reference should be made to fig4 a and 4b , which are expanded views of the cable locking means 45 and explain its operation as will be detailed later . the cable 51 is , from the harness apparatus 55 , passed through the pulley 42 and from there through a cable locking mechanism 45 , such as the &# 34 ; neverslip . . . anchor rope lock &# 34 ;®, more fully depicted in fig4 a and 4b . this cable lock mechanism 45 permits the cable to pass freely through in the direction raising the harness apparatus 55 but said cable 51 may only pass through said locking mechanism 45 in a direction lowering said harness means 55 if the pivoting locking arm 96 is manually pulled into the position 47 from the locked position 48 . reference is again made to fig1 . while the locking mechanism 45 is held in the open position 47 the cable 51 can pass freely through the pulley 42 and locking mechanism 45 so that the harness apparatus 55 may be raised or lowered to any desired level . if , however , the cable 51 is allowed to pass , unattended , through the locking mechanism 45 , the pivoting locking arm line guide 96 will immediately assume the locked position 48 and the harness apparatus 55 will be locked in its position . making brief reference now to fig3 an invalid person 61 can be inserted into the device by fitting the padded portion 58 of the harness apparatus 55 across their chest and under the arms of said invalid person 61 . while the locking arm line guide 96 is in the locked position 48 , the invalid will be held in the same position by the harness apparatus 55 . an attendant will therefore be free to work with the invalid with both hands as the stabilizer holds the invalid upright . if it becomes necessary to change the position of the invalid person 61 , then the attendant may , with one hand , pull on the cable 51 in a manner so as to cause the locking arm line guide 96 to be held in the open position 47 while assisting the invalid person 61 to obtain the desired new position with the other hand . upon achieving the desired new position , the cable 51 can be released by the attendant , permitting the locking arm line guide 96 to automatically assume the locked position 48 . this will prevent any further motion of the cable 51 and hold the invalid person 61 into position . referring now to fig4 a and 4b a suitable line locking mechanism is depicted . such a device is available on the market and known as &# 34 ; neverslip . . . anchor rope lock &# 34 ;® by the morelan manufacturing co . it comprises a bracket 97 , a guiding pulley 95 and a pivotally mounted line guide 96 through which the flexible line 51 may be passed . when allowed to pivot freely and when the line is permitted to pass through the line guide 96 towards the pulley 95 , the line guide 96 will be rotated towards the mounting bracket base 97 until the line guide 96 compresses the line 51 and locks the line 51 into place against the mounting bracket base 97 . fig4 a depicts this apparatus in the locked position and fig4 b depicts the apparatus opened to permit the passage of the flexible line 51 . in order to release the line 51 , it is necessary only to pull up on the line 51 away from the mounting bracket base 97 so that the line 51 may freely pass through the line guide 96 . an alternate embodiment of the device is depicted in fig5 . it depicts such an apparatus which has been mounted to a wall 99 and suspended above a toilet 72 . in this embodiment , the center pulley 42 is replaced by first pulley 49 and second pulley 43 mounted to the horizontal arm 73 of the mounting frame 71 in order to permit the cable 51 to be directed through a useful path , such as over a toilet 72 , ( as depicted in fig5 ) sink , or vanity ( not depicted ). the locking mechanism 45 is now mounted upon a support brace 74 such that the cable 51 is easily within the reach of an attendant working with an invalid 61 . this alternative embodiment additionally demonstrates that any number of pulleys can be used in order to permit the cable 51 to be routed in the desired manner . additionally , the pulleys could be replaced with another acceptable means for guiding the cable , or line , such as a shroud or eyelets . a further alternate embodiment is depicted by fig6 . this embodiment is designed to make use of the existing room features for support and comprises a permanently fixed , single location embodiment of the invention . in an example of this embodiment , bolt 83 are used to mount a support beam 76 to a ceiling 88 . the pulleys 43a and 49a are fixed to the support beam 76 with pulley mounts 75 and placed at appropriate locations 77 and 78 along the beam 76 , which is adapted with a mount 79 for the locking mechanism 45 . the cable 51 is then directed from an invalid stabilization region to any convenient tie off location 80 . in another form of this embodiment , pulley 43a could be fastened directly to the ceiling , much as a light fixture is installed . the locking mechanism 45 could be secured directly to a wall 99 , fig5 or a nearby sink or vanity ( not depicted ). as demonstrated in the drawings , the cable 51 is directed from a beginning point of locking through one or more pulleys 43 , 43a , 49 or 49a and is suspended from a pulley positioned above the stabilization area . the various pulleys are used to guide the cable 51 from a convenient locking point to a useful invalid stabilization region . an alternative means of locking the line into place is depicted in fig7 a and 7b . a bracket 90 comprising an opening 91 with a notch 92 is depicted . the opening 91 is of adequate diameter to permit the easy passage of the flexible line 51 in which a know 93 has been tied as shown in fig7 a . the notch 92 however , is of adequate diameter to permit the passage of only the flexible line 51 without the knot 93 , as shown in fig7 b . by mounting the bracket to a suitable position on the support means ( not depicted in fig7 a or 7b ) such that the notch 92 is above the opening 91 the line 51 can be locked into position at the knot 93 and held there by the weight of the invalid . it is also possible to consider the stabilizing chain 15 alone as sufficient to stabilize the tripod system 11 without the support members 27 . the use of both the chain 15 and the support members 27 is depicted in fig1 through 3 . the use of the stabilizing chain 15 alone offers the advantages of leaving all paths between the tripod legs 21 , 22 and 23 open while providing stabilization from all sides . the optional use of the support members 27 may offer an invalid person an additional means of support as well as providing the apparatus with additional stability . a further alternative locking mechanism 100 for the line 51 is set forth in fig8 a and 8b . the locking mechanism 100 has a forward roller 102 supported on a frame member 106 . a pivoting line guide 104 is supported at the rear of frame member 106 . in the free running position 8b , the line guide 104 interior channel 103 is co - axial with line 51 . in the locked position 8a the line guide 104 squeezes line 51 between end plates 105 and the interior base 107 of frame 106 . the line 51 is locked in position whenever the attendant allows slack to occur in line 51 with frame 106 . in an alternative wall mount seen in fig9 an &# 34 ; h &# 34 ; frame having a horizontal leg 119 and a vertical leg 122 joined together in an invented l shape is bolted to a wall 99 by wall bolts 140 and 142 through a web 134 of the vertical leg 122 . a horizontal portion 118 of the &# 34 ; h &# 34 ; frame horizontal leg 119 supports a pair of crescent mounting brackets 112 and 114 . these brackets in turn support pulleys 43a and 49a respectively . a square tube brace 128 is bolted to the &# 34 ; h &# 34 ; frame horizontal leg 119 by through bolt 130 and to the vertical leg 122 by bolt 132 . a slot 136 in the brace 128 allows the line 51 to pass through . an angle brace 138 with bolts connects the horizontal 119 and vertical 122 legs . the line locking mechanism 100 shown in fig9 is positioned on line 51 as shown in fig8 b . the end of line 51 is draped over the brace 128 when the harness apparatus 55 is not in use . modification and variation can be made to the disclosed embodiments without departing from the subject and spirit of the invention as defined in the following claims . such modifications and variations , as included within the scope of these claims are meant to be considered part of the invention as described . | 8 |
“ absorbent articles ” as referred to herein are primarily sanitary napkins , pantiliners , or incontinence pads that are worn in the crotch region of an undergarment . it is even conceivable that baby diapers , adult incontinence diapers , and human waste management devices benefit from the present invention even though they are conventionally not worn in conjunction with an undergarment . the term ‘ color ’ as referred to herein include any primary color , i . e ., white , black , red , blue , violet , orange , yellow , green , and indigo as well as any declination thereof or mixture thereof . the term ‘ non - color ’ or ‘ non - colored ’ refers to the color white which is further defined as those colors having an l * value of at least 90 , an a * value equal to 0 ≠ 2 , and a b * value equal to 0 ≠ 2 . the term ‘ disposable ’ is used herein to describe absorbent articles that are not intended to be launched or otherwise restored or reused as absorbent articles ( i . e ., they are intended to be discarded after a single use and , preferably to be recycled , composted or otherwise disposed of in an environmentally compatible manner ). non - limiting examples of panty liners and sanitary napkins which may be provided with a multi - tone signal that operates to create depth perception include those manufactured by the procter & amp ; gamble company of cincinnati , ohio as : always ® pantiliners with driweave ® manufactured according to u . s . pat . nos . 4 , 324 , 246 ; 4 , 463 , 045 ; and 6 , 004 , 893 ; always ® ultrathin slender maxi with wings manufactured according to u . s . pat . nos . 4 , 342 , 314 , 4 , 463 , 045 , 4 , 556 , 146 , b1 4 , 589 , 876 , 4 , 687 , 478 , 4 , 950 , 264 , 5 , 009 , 653 , 5 , 267 , 992 , and re . 32 , 649 ; always ® regular maxi ; always ® ultra maxi with wings ; always ® maxi with wings ; always ® ultra long maxi with wings ; always ® long super maxi with wings ; and always ® overnight maxi with wings , each aforesaid publication being incorporated by reference herein . [ 0023 ] fig1 provides a perspective view of the absorbent article 10 . fig2 provides a planar view of the absorbent article of fig1 . the absorbent article 10 herein has an upper surface 13 , a lower surface 14 ( not seen ) and a periphery 12 comprising a topsheet 25 having a bottom surface 27 ( not shown ) and a viewing surface 28 positioned opposite to the bottom surface 27 . the viewing surface 28 faces upwardly towards the upper surface 13 of the absorbent article 10 . the absorbent article 10 further comprises a backsheet 15 ( not shown ) having a garment facing surface 16 ( not shown ) and a user facing surface 17 ( not shown ) positioned oppositely to the garment facing surface 16 , the backsheet 15 being joined to the topsheet 25 . the absorbent article 10 also comprises an absorbent core 20 having a top surface 21 and a bottom surface 22 ( not shown ) that is positioned opposite to the top surface 21 . the absorbent core 20 is positioned between the topsheet 25 and the backsheet 15 . in the embodiment shown in fig1 the absorbent article 10 has at least two portions , i . e ., a colored portion 40 and a non - colored portion 50 . the colored portion 40 and the non - colored portion 50 are viewable from the viewing surface 28 of the topsheet 25 . the colored portion 40 has at least two shades , a first shade 42 and a second shade 44 . preferably , but not necessarily , and as is shown in fig1 the first shade 42 is positioned substantially within the second shade 44 . the second shade 44 is different , either in lightness , darkness , and / or color , from the first shade 42 . the multi - shades operate to create a perception of depth within the absorbent article by a user looking upon the viewing surface 28 of the topsheet 25 . in one embodiment herein , the first shade 42 of the color is darker than the second shade 44 of the color . alternatively , the first shade 42 is lighter than the second shade 44 . the lightness and darkness of the shades , whether two or greater than two shades , are configured to create a perception of depth by a user looking upon the viewing surface 28 of the absorbent article 10 . the color of the first shade 42 and the second shade 44 of the colored portion 40 and the non - colored portion 50 are measured by the reflectance spectrophotometer according to the colors &# 39 ; l *, a *, and b * values . the l *, a *, and b * values are measured from the viewing surface 28 of the topsheet 25 inboard of the absorbent article &# 39 ; s periphery 12 . the color differences between the colored portion 40 and the non - colored portion 50 are measured at a first point 100 , a second point 110 , and a third point 120 on the viewing surface 28 of the topsheet 25 inboard of the periphery 12 of the absorbent article 10 . preferably , each one of the points 100 , 110 , and 120 resides fully within the periphery 12 of the absorbent core 20 . for example , the first point 100 is measured within the first shade 42 , the second point 110 is measured within the second shade 44 , and the third point 120 is measured within the non - colored portion 50 of the absorbent article 10 . the color differences are calculated using the l *, a *, and b * values by the formula δe =[( l * x · − l * y ) 2 +( a * x · − a * y ) 2 +( b * x − b * y ) 2 ] 1 / 2 . herein , the ‘ x ’ in the equation may represent points 1 , 2 or 3 . y may represent points 1 , 2 or 3 . x and y should never be the same two points of measurement at the same time . in other words , x ≠ y . where greater than two shades of a color ( s ) are used , the ‘ x ’ and ‘ y ’ values alternately include points of measurement in them also . the key to the δe calculation herein is that the ‘ x ’ and ‘ y ’ values should not stem from the same measured point on the viewing surface . in those instances where there is effectively no non - colored portion 50 within the confines of the measurement area , the ‘ x ’ values should flow from a point different in spatial relationship to the ‘ y ’ values , but within the confines of the absorbent core periphery ( see fig4 ). the difference in color ( δe *) between the first shade 42 and the second shade 44 should be at least 3 . 5 . the difference in color between the first shade 42 and the non - colored portion 50 is at least 6 . the difference in color between the second shade 44 and the non - colored portion 50 is at least 3 . 5 . preferably , the size of the colored portion 50 ranges from about 5 % to about 100 % of the viewing surface 28 of the topsheet 25 . also preferably , the first shade 42 of the colored portion 50 is positioned substantially centrally in relation to the second shade 44 of the colored portion 50 . however , so long as the shades are in proper spatial relationship to one - another such that the depth perception phenomena is created , any suitable positioning of the shades is foreseeable by one of skill in the art and are therefore acknowledged as suitable alternative embodiments of the invention . in one embodiment herein , the colored portion 40 may be an insert positioned between the topsheet 25 and the absorbent core 20 . in another embodiment , the colored portion 40 forms a part of the topsheet 25 . in yet another embodiment herein , the colored portion 40 forms a part of the absorbent core 20 whereby the colored portion 40 is viewable from the viewing surface 28 of the topsheet 25 . alternatively , the colored portion 40 may be a multi - layered insert positioned beneath the topsheet 28 . any topsheet material that allows the colored portion to be readily seen from the viewing surface 28 of the topsheet 25 is suitable . for example , formed film material , nonwovens , or combinations thereof are suitable . in an alternative embodiment herein , the absorbent article 10 provides a colored portion 40 wherein the viewing surface 28 of the topsheet 25 is substantially without a non - colored portion . by the term ‘ substantially without a non - colored portion ’ it is meant herein that color white is less than or equal to 5 % of the total surface area of the viewing surface 28 . fig3 provides an absorbent article wherein the first shade 42 is lighter and the second shade 44 is darker . also alternatively is an embodiment in which a color different from the color of the first shade 42 and the second shade 44 operates as a boundary between the two shades . in other words , this boundary 48 ( not shown ) rings the outer perimeter of the second shade 44 and separates the second shade 44 from the first shade 42 . the color scale values , utilized herein to define the darkness / lightness of the materials of the absorbent articles according to the present invention , is the widely accepted cie lab scale . measurements are made with a hunter color reflectance meter . a complete technical description of the system can be found in an article by r . s . hunter , ‘ photoelectric color difference meter ’, journal of the optical society of america , vol . 48 , pp . 985 - 95 , 1958 . devices specially designed for the measurement of color on the hunter scales are described in u . s . pat . no . 3 , 003 , 388 to hunter et al ., issued oct . 10 , 1961 . in general , hunter color “ l ” scale values are units of light reflectance measurement , and the higher the value is , the lighter the color is since a lighter colored material reflects more light . in particular , in the hunter color system the “ l ” scale contains 100 equal units of division . absolute black is at the bottom of the scale ( l = 0 ) and absolute white is at the top of the scale ( l = 100 ). thus in measuring hunter color values of the materials used in the absorbent articles according to the present invention , the lower the “ l ” scale value , the darker the material . the absorbent articles herein , and hence the materials of which the absorbent articles are made of , might be of any color provided that the l hunter value defined herein is met . colors can be measured according to an internationally recognized 3d solid diagram of colors where all colors that are perceived by the human eye are converted into a numerical code . the cie lab system is similar to hunter l , a , b an is based on three dimensions , specifically l *, a *, and b *. when a color is defined according to this system l * represents lightness ( 0 = black , 100 = white ), a * and b * independently each represent a two color axis , a * representing the axis red / green (+ a = red , − a = green ), while b * represents the axis yellow / blue (+ b = yellow , − b = blue ). fig4 shows the proper representation of the l , a , and b axes . a color may be identified by a unique δe value ( i . e ., different in color from some standard or reference ), which is mathematically expressed by the equation : δ e *=[( l * x · − l * y ) 2 +( a * x · − a * y ) 2 +( b * x − b * y ) 2 ] 1 / 2 ‘ x ’ represents the standard or reference sample which may either be a ‘ white ’ sample or a ‘ colored ’ sample , e . g ., one colored shade may be compared to another colored shade . it is to be understood that the tristimulus color values and δe * considered herein are those measured on the materials of interest ( e . g ., the colored and non - colored portions on the viewing surface of the topsheet disclosed herein ). the hunter color meter quantitatively determines the amount ( percent ) of incident light reflected from a sample onto a detector . the instrument is also capable of analyzing the spectral content of the reflected light ( e . g ., how much green is in the samples ). the hunter color meter is configured to yield 3 values ( l *, a *, b * and δe * which is total color ). the l * value is simple the percent of the incident ( source ) light that is reflected off a target sample and onto the detector . a shiny white sample will yield an l * value near 100 while a dull black sample will yield an l * value of about 0 . the a * and b * value contains spectral information for the sample . positive a * value indicates the amount of green in the sample . testing is conducted using a lab scan xe 45 / 0 geometry instrument to measure the different shaded options for the visual signal zone . the hunter color in cie lab scale 2 ° c . was measured on each pad in 3 portions . a 0 . 7 inch diameter port was used having a 0 . 50 inch area view , which was the largest size able to measure each zone discretely ; i . e ., this 0 . 5 inch area view is important for the purposes these measurements and should not be made smaller than the 0 . 5 inch area view prescribed . the instrument was calibrated using standard white and black tiles supplied by the instrument manufacturer . for measuring the l *, a *, and b * values for the invention herein , a standard , industry - recognized procedure is used . the topsheet color is measured using a reflectance spectrophotometer in accordance with method astm e 1164 - 94 , “ standard practice for obtaining spectrophotometric data for object - color evaluation ”. this standard method is followed but specific instrument settings and sampling procedure are given here for clarity . sample color is reported in terms of the cie 1976 color coordinate standard as specified in astm e 1164 - 94 and astm d2264 - 93 , section 6 . 2 . this consists of three values ; l * which measures sample “ lightness ”, a * which measures redness or greenness , and b * which measures yellowness or blueness . apparatus reflectance 45 °/ 0 ° hunter labscan xe , or equivalent spectrophotometer hunterlab headquarters , 11491 sunset hills road , reston va 20190 - 5280 tel : 703 - 471 - 6870 fax : 703 - 471 - 4237 http :// www . hunterlab . com . standard plate sandard hunter white tile source : hunter color . illumination type c standard observer 2 ° geometry 45 / 0 ° measurement angle port diameter 0 . 70 inch viewing area 0 . 50 inch ( and no smaller ) uv filter : nominal 2 . calibrate the spectrophotometer using standard black and white tiles supplied with the instrument according to manufacturer &# 39 ; s instructions before beginning any testing . 1 . unwrap , unfolded and lay the product or pad samples flat without touching or altering the color of the body facing surface . 2 . areas on the body - facing surface of the product should be selected for measurement and must include the following : the colored portion of the topsheet ; including the two or more shaded portions . any other portions of the topsheet above the absorbent core having a visibly or measurably different color from the first shaded zone . embossed channels and folds should not be included in zones of measurement as they may skew the proper results . measurements should not be made overlapping the border of two shaded portions . 2 . pads should be measured laying flat over the 0 . 70 inch aperture on the instrument . a white tile should be placed behind the pad . 3 . the pad should be placed with its long direction perpendicular to the instrument . 4 . measure the same zones selected above for at least 3 replicate samples . 3 . take the average l *, a *, b * for each zone measured . 4 . calculate δe * between different shaded portions and δe * between each shaded portion and the non - colored portion where the non - colored portion exists . the human sensitivity threshold for the lightness of a dark green color is a δe * of about 1 . 0 . for a dark green color , if only the a * and b * change , human sensitivity is a δe * of 2 . 4 . in the context of an absorbent article herein ( e . g ., a sanitary napkin ) it is highly likely that many people would not see a color difference if the δe * is less than 2 . this sensitivity is described in the following reference : “ the measurement of appearance ”, by hunter and harold , 2nd edition , 1987 , ( isbn 0 - 471 - 83006 - 2 ). chapter 4 of hunter &# 39 ; s book describes human color sensing and chapter 9 is about color scales . by making side - by side comparison , humans can differentiate up to 5 to 10 million different colors . in the 1940s , a researcher named macadam did human chromaticity discrimination experiments . he found the thresholds of sensitivity and showed these depend on the color . later work by brown and macadam came up with a logarithmic lightness dimension scale for human sensitivity to go with the earlier color scale . based on the reduction to practice of the invention , experimentation and the foregoing work by brown and macadam , it has been found herein that a δe ≧ 3 . 5 is the preferred range to effect proper differentiation between the shades that provides the proper appearance of depth . however , where the δe is as small as about 1 and still operates to provide a perception of depth between the shades , this δe is also contemplated and included herein . an example where δe may be between at last two shades of one or more colors may be found in an alternative embodiment that provides a multi - color and / or shade gradient of a color across the viewing surface of the absorbent article . chart i sample number topsheet type colored options δe * 23 δe * 12 δe * 13 1 formed film two - tone inner / outer 6 . 10 10 . 83 16 . 86 color 2 formed film one - tone color 0 . 25 8 . 60 8 . 80 3 non - woven one - tone color 0 . 22 10 . 63 10 . 81 4 non - woven two - tone inner / outer 5 . 98 11 . 03 16 . 92 color 5 formed film two - tone light outer 10 . 01 2 . 88 12 . 80 color / inner dark color 6 formed film two - tone medium outer 7 . 51 6 . 37 13 . 61 color / inner dark color 7 formed film two - tone darker outer 5 . 60 19 . 16 14 . 22 color / inner dark color 8 formed film two - tone ( secondary 4 . 58 6 . 00 8 . 06 topsheet colored outer color )/( core colored dark color ) 9 formed film one - tone outer color 0 . 21 8 . 90 8 . 84 as has been noted previously , the difference in color between the first shade and the second shade should be at least 3 . 5 . the difference in color between the first shade and the non - colored portion is at least 6 . the difference in color between the second shade and the non - colored portion is at least 3 . 5 . through experimentation and reduction to practice of the invention , it has been determined that the preferred creation of depth perception happens at about and above these set parameters . for products substantially not having a non - colored portion within the measurement zone ( i . e ., a gradient or fully colored product ), the above criteria for the shaded portions ( i . e ., δe *≧ 3 . 5 ) remains the preferred standard . chart i above clearly shows the δe * s obtained between multi - tone ( e . g ., two tone ) and single tone signals . formed films and nonwovens useful for the invention herein are those which will allow the sufficient penetration of light therethrough such that the shaded portions may be clearly discerned and such that such discernment produces the depth perception effect . the color may be any suitable color fitting within the parameters herein for δe * between colored portions and non - colored portion ( where it exists ). for example , the colors green , blue , red , yellow , orange , purple and any other color within the color spectrum are suitable for the purposes described herein . sample nos . 1 and 2 are clearly distinct in their δe * 23 . specifically , the δe * 23 ( which is 6 . 10 ) is greater than 3 . 5 . this δe 23 indicates that there is a perceptible difference in color or lightness / darkness between the two points of measurement ; i . e ., between the second shaded portion and the non - colored ( or white ) portion ( see fig4 ). as noted above for human perception , sample no . 2 &# 39 ; s δe * 23 of 0 . 25 would not be perceptible to the human eye . this indicates that the signal is only a one or single tone signal ( i . e ., color portion ). all documents cited in the detailed description of the invention are , are , in relevant part , incorporated herein by reference ; the citation of any document is not to be construed as an admission that it is prior art with respect to the present invention . while particular embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated and described , it would be obvious to those skilled in the art that various other changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . it is therefore intended to cover in the appended claims all such changes and modifications that are within the scope of this invention . | 0 |
the invention preferably embodies an upholstered arm chair 10 , including a solid rectangular frame 11 , having a front wall 12 and side walls 13 , which are connected together by a horizontal flat plate 14 at their rear ends . extending upwardly from rear end portions of said side walls are side frame members 15 which are connected together at their upper ends by a cross member 16 to form a chair back frame 17 . extending forwardly from the vertical side frame members 15 and downwardly to the seat level of the rectangular wooden frame 11 , are arm rest frames 18 . fixed to the bottom of the four corners of the arm chair frame 11 are casters 19 for rollably supporting the chair 10 . suitably supported within the upper portion of the wooden base frame 11 is a rectangular water heating tank 20 . mounted in a suitable recess provided in upper horizontal back cross member 16 is a manifold reservoir 25 to which hot water is delivered through a vertical plastic tube 26 which connects to the discharge end of an electric motor rotary pump unit 27 which is secured to the bottom horizontal back cross plate 14 . the tank 20 is provided with two electric heating elements 28 and 29 which are automatically controlled by electronic thermostats 30 and 31 respectively . the tank 20 is provided with upwardly extending return drain pipes 32 which make tightly sealed connections with the tank and extend upwardly therefrom along both side and back edges of said tank . the chair back frame 17 includes horizontal bars 33 which are penetrated with a series of horizontal holes in which are mounted horizontal plastic tubes 34 on the forward ends of which are fixed five plastic tubes 35 which flexibly support a rearwardly inclined polyethylene bag containing porous packing material so as to form a back heating pad 40 . each of the arm rest frames 18 embodies a bag supporting grid 41 similar to the grid formed by the plastic tubes 34 and 35 of the chair back frame 17 . mounted on the arm rest frames 18 to overlie the bag supporting grids 41 are arm heating pads 42 . incorporated within upper edge portions of the heating pad 40 and the heating pads 42 are perforated copper tubes 43 , the outer ends of which connect respectively with hot water delivery tubes 44 , 45 and 46 which connect with and receive hot water from the manifold reservoir 25 . the lower edges of back heating pad 40 and arm heating pads 42 make tight sealed connections with the upper ends of return water drain pipes 32 through which water deliverd into the upper ends of pads 40 and 42 drains back downward into the water heating tank 20 . connecting water tank 20 to the inlet of pump 27 is a pipe 50 . resting on top of the tank 20 and the frame front wall 12 is a thin fabric - covered spring cushioned seat 48 which readily transmits heat radiating upwardly from tank 20 to a patient sitting on said seat . the open back side of the inner structure of the arm chair 10 shown in fig3 is mostly coverd by upper , middle and lower aluminum trim sheets 55 , 56 and 57 , the latter of which sheets has an inwardly bent wide upper flange 58 . formed centrally in an upper portion of the middle trim plate 56 is a slot 59 . fixed to the rear surface of said middle plate is a vertical guide 60 having a central slot 61 in which a spring scale 62 is slideably mounted . pivotally mounted in axially offset but co - planar relation to the back face of middle plate 56 is a pair of flanged pulleys 63 and 64 . fixed centrally on flange 58 is a socket 65 , while formed co - axially with said socket in top cross member 16 of the chair back fraame 17 are guide holes for rotatably receiving upper and lower telescopically sliding tubes 66 and 67 of a telescopic mast 68 . fixed on the upper end of the upper telescopic tube 66 is a boom 69 having mounted therein co - planar flanged pulleys 70 and 71 . the telescopic mast 68 is provided with a vertical series of latch holes 72 which are adapted to be engaged by spring biased buttons 73 for the purpose of latching the upper telescopic tube 66 in any desired vertical position within the lower telescopic tube 67 . it is also to be noted in fig3 that a recess 74 is provided in the upper face of chair back frame 17 to conceal the boom 69 when the upper telescopic tube 66 is swung into alignment with the chair back and properly lowered as shown in fig3 . fixed on the trim plate flange 58 is a small manually actuated ratchet winch 75 which is connected by a light wire cable 76 to the lower end of spring scale 62 . the upper end of said scale is connected to a light wire cable 77 which is trained upwardly around flanged pulleys 63 and 64 , 70 and 71 and is then connected at its outer end to a head traction harness 78 which is adapted to be secured to the head of the patient 49 . preferably mounted on the front face of one of the arm rest frames 18 and shown in fig1 are three manual switches 85 , 86 and 87 which individually control the electric circuits for turning on or off respectively the electric motor driven pump unit 27 , electric water heating unit 28 and the electric water heating unit 29 . when the structure of the arm chair 10 of the invention has been completed as above described , it is covered in its entirety with a suitable upholstering fabric exactly in the same manner as an ordinary overstuffed arm chair . when this is done , it is not possible to distinguish the overstuffed chair 10 from one of the other of the styles of overstuffed chair commonly in use in office and homes , excepting for the fact that the chair 10 necessarily requires that it be connected by an electric cord with a wall service outlet for electrifying the same . in preparing the chair 10 of the invention for use by a patient 49 , it is preferable to reheat the chair for approximately a half hour by setting the thermostats 30 and 31 at the desired temperatures and turning on the electric switches 85 , 86 and 87 . this heats the water in the tank 20 rapidly and also distributes water through the manifold reservoir 25 to upper ends of the back heating pad 40 and the two arm heating pads 42 . with the patient now seated in the chair , leaning backwardly against the back heating pad 40 , the telescopic mast 68 is adjusted for height with the boom 69 extending forwardly over the head of the patient after which the spinal traction harness 78 is fitted under the chin and back of the head of the patient as shown in fig2 . the ratchet winch 75 is now manually actuated to pull down on the spring scale 62 until this registers the desired tension to be applied by the harness 78 to the spine of the patient or until the patient indicates that the maximum degree of tension which is comfortable has been thus applied . while the treatment is going on , the patient rests his or her arms on the arm heating pads 42 and if desired is furnished with a covering blanket to retain the heat close around the body and legs and arms throughout the therapy treatment . should it be more comfortable to the patient , an ottoman is provided for supporting the legs of the patient horizontally or at a slight inclination during the course of the treatment , although such an ottoman is not shown in the drawings . access to the operative elements of the equipment visible in fig4 is made available by suitable openings provided in the fabric covering the back of the chair 10 , and preferably controlled by zippers . | 0 |
illuminating said surface with light , with a retroreflective material returning light reflected from said surface such that it is re - reflected from said surface , 2 . a method of detection of defects in a surface comprising the steps of ; imaging said zone of light on said screen , reflected via said surface , onto an image position sensing detector , determining , from changes in the position of said zone image as said beam is swept across said screen , any defects in said surface . 3 . a method of detection of defects on a surface comprising the steps of ; imaging said illuminated line by reflection from said surface onto a photodetector , analyzing the signals from said photodetector to determine deviations in the position of said image of said illuminated line across a portion of said surface , and in addition , disclosed is apparatus to make visible form defects in surfaces comprising at least one light source means to illuminate said surface and retroreflective material means to redirect light reflected from said surface such that the rereflected light from said surface can be visually observed . apparatus is also disclosed to reduce the embodiments of the invention in a practical manner . an embodiment of the line image scan type is shown in fig1 . a grid or line section , the latter being shown , is placed horizontal to the surface of the panel and deviations of portions of the line are read as the sensor is moved relative to the panel defects . this system can employ a scanning mirror or a robot to move the sensor back and forth , or the panel can move under the sensor as well . in this case a linear lamp 1 enclosed in housing 2 having a slit opening 3 is used as an illumination line or slit source for a surface of a panel 5 to be examined ( e . g . a sheet metal car hood or door ). the slit source is viewed by solid state tv camera 6 containing a lens 8 and a photo detector unit , e . g . matrix diode array 9 , connected to a processing unit 12 . a suitable array is a ge tn2500 . on a good panel , the deviation of points on any one line image and indeed between successive lines as the panel is scanned relative to the sensor is small in any local zone except in areas where contour lines or other known features of the panel exist . the scan of a good panel is shown in fig1 a . however , when a low spot , ding , dimple or what have you appears , the lines distort as is shown in fig1 b . this distortion can be characterized by determining slopes or positioned changes of the deviated line image . defect parameters are put on as a function of the slope of the panel distortion , and / or its width , lengths , etc . such defect indications can be obtained from the width &# 34 ; w &# 34 ; of the distorted lines or the change of frequency of the lines , or the like . in this particular mode , it is very convenient to move the panel underneath the sensor ( comprising the line source and detector ) or conversely to move the sensor over the panel . for example , if the sensor is attached to a robot , it can be programmably scanned over panels . in the robot program , one can ignore certain sections such as where contour lines exist , at the edges of the panel , etc . as shown in fig1 there are some other aspects to this embodiment . first of all , the line need not be horizontal , i . e . parallel to the panel as shown but could be projected at an angle as by lamp 20 ( shown in phantom ). the 45 ° projection shown in phantom makes an excellent choice in many cases . indeed in some cases , it is desirable to rotate the line over a sequence of angles ( e . g . 0 °- 60 °), for example to the new positon of lamp 20 in order to obtain the best result . for example , the rotated line image version as shown in fig1 has a sharp discontinuity that is made much much more visible on certain types of flaws when the line ( or grid , see below ) is angled to the panel ( i . e . not at a zero angle parallel to the surface ). the good panel scan using a rotated line is shown in fig1 c while a flaw detected scan is shown in fig1 d . the line can also be perpendicular to the surface ( 90 °). in this case , sensitivity is least but contrast is best . to cover an area , a grid of lines is required . because of the different angles of view at which flaws appear best , and in fact one can be looking across a panel or lengthwise on a panel and obtain different impressions of a defect depending on just what its form is , it is often desirable to program the robot to come at the panel from different approach angles . for example , the robot could look first along the panel length , then across its width , at 45 ° or anything else that tends to make certain defects visible . it is characteristic of many stamping defects that certain types always occur in certain places on a particular panel due to die error , etc . thus , one can program only to look in these areas or at different view angles depending on what flaw it is . because of the relationship between the distances l1 and l2 of the light source and of the camera to the panel , respectively , it is desirable in some cases to have this distance programmable . in this case , separate robot arms such as robot arm 31 holding the light source and robot arm 30 holding a camera can be individually programmed to vary the angles of incidence , θ1 and θ2 as well as the distances l1 and l2 from the panel . generally speaking , the larger l1 and l2 are , the more resolution is obtained but the contrast of the defect drops ( especially true for l1 ). therefore , very large distances are effective only when a smooth highlighted surface is available , as on good painted panels , well highlighted ( oiled ) metal panels , etc . small angles θ also help create a smooth surface view , but cause a reduction in sensitivity . at extreme angles ( e . g . θ under 5 °) contrast is sufficient even on raw metal panels if l1 is short , but operation is difficult . it should be noted that a single line is quite usefel but requires a mechanical scan of the sensor relative to the panel to map out the complete panel . this could be done by moving the panel , the sensor units , or both . alternatively or additionally , however , a grille of parallel lines ( e . g . grille 21 ) or a grid of crossed lines can be employed in place of a single line . in this case , one can obtain the reading simultaneously using the 2 axis scanning capabilities of the tv camera . however , the lighting angles and the like are not quite as good from the multiple grid locations as they could be from a single angle of incidence from the surface and indeed the total optical system can be enchanced for the single line more than it can for the grid or grille . basic problems , if any , with this fig1 embodiment are the relative lack of contrast on poorly oiled panels and the requirement to utilize relatively low angles of incidence in order to get good useable contrast , i . e . θ in the range of 30 degrees or less . this makes a more difficult scanning requirement given the different types of slopes in panels . it is also generally desired to have light incident more normal ( e . g . θ & gt ; 50 °) to the panel to facilitate the programming of the system as well as to keep the sensor package small such that one might be able to utilize the light source and detector unit in the same package . it is clear that for use of the single line above , one needs to store in memory the individual line description and compare it sequentially with other lines . a similar system has been disclosed in a recent copending patent application by the inventors relative to contrast based ( as opposed to geometric based as herein ) surface flaw detection , including systems for doing so in real time which is necessary for high speed parts inspection ( u . s . ser . no . 525 , 801 ). u . s . pat . no . 4 , 305 , 661 is also a reference for flaw detection of this type as well as along a single scan line . in the present system , as in the other system disclosed above in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 394 , 683 , surface preparation on raw sheet metal panels is generally required using coatings such as highlighted oil applied onto the surface ( or other surface conditioning ) such that the surface appears suitably reflective . in - line this is best done in such a way that the ripples in the oil , if any , remain parallel in the direction of scan . a system of this type for in - line has been shown in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 394 , 683 in fig1 . note that a programmable rotation motor 24 can be utilized to rotate the line grid , or grille light source into the positon of lamp 20 in a programmable way such that movement is linked to the inspections by the camera which then looks for maximum defect indication . for example , on a certain defect viewed with line angles of 30 °, a maximum line distortion might be indicated . this angle of maximum effect can also be used to describe the defect too . different types of defects have different angles of maximum effect in any one view . there are several other inspection rationales relative to this system and those described in subsequent embodiments . for example , on most panels one knows where the defects can exist . therefore , one can go immediately to those areas and look with the most effort , perhaps approaching the panel from different directions at different angles relative to the panel length axis at different standoffs l1 and / or l2 and with different grid rotational positions . any or all of these and other parameters can be varied to suit the task at hand . it is also contemplated that one can have different types of lines and grids interchangeably on a turret which can be interchanged with a single light source or with multiple light sources . this allows grids or grilles at different angles and spacings to be repetatively viewed and the best description of panel defects obtained . another embodiment of the invention replaces , in essence , the line source of fig1 with a single point laser scan . this occurs in two modes . in the first mode , shown in fig2 a point 100 produced by a laser 102 and a rotating mirror 103 is sequentially swept across a ground glass screen 110 . this creates in time sequence the &# 34 ; line &# 34 ; of fig1 . each point on that screen is then imaged sequentially onto a tv camera 130 viewing the screen through reflection off of a panel 131 . in place of tv camera 130 , one can use a synchronizing mirror scan ( not shown ) maintaining the point 100 image on a linear diode array ( or an analog positon sensing detector such as a udt pin 2d or sc10 -- the analog sensors provide often more speed or range ). a crt has also been used to generate a flying spot which worked well but intensity is weak unless highly sensitive detectors are used . while mainly of use on geometric distortions of the panels , it is clear that the camera of such a system can be used to see scratches and other sharper deformities of the panel as well using the same light source or additional supplementary light sources to illuminate the panel surface . where a grid or grille is desired such as shown by grille 21 in fig1 it is also possible to have a scanning unit mounted on a robot such that the robot only has to place the sensor unit in various fixed positions relative to the panel . this makes it easier to program the robot since it does not have to make sweeps in a uniform manner . however , even a sweep of a line across the panel over let &# 39 ; s say a four inch zone can be provided by the end of an arm tooling having a separate sweep scan on it . one can also use a mirror type system to sweep this back and forth on the surface of the part . these possibilities are described relative to the analogous cases in the embodiments described below . a two axis analog point ( spot ) image position detector such as a udt sc10 can also be used in place of a raster scan tv sensor 130 to obtain a much higher frequency response ( e . g . 2 khz ) than the relatively limited 30 scans / sec of a conventional tv . high speed tv cameras at 400 scans / sec can also be used as can random axis tv scans such as advanced forms of the ge cid ( solid state ) cameras which allow only the zone where the point exists to be scanned . a version using a synchronized scan with a linear diode array is capable of 1000 array scans and therefore 1000 data points / sec . using 200 data points across a 10 &# 34 ; panel strip , this represents 0 . 050 &# 34 ; width per point which is capable of resolving most geometric defects of interest . at 7000 scans / sec , this is 5 sweeps / sec . across the 10 &# 34 ; panel strip . actually , 0 . 1 &# 34 ; spot image zones are often sufficient , giving 10 sweeps / sec . this allows a forward scan speed of at least one inch / sec ., but ofter higher scan speeds are possible as 100 % coverage is not required to detect geometric form flaws which are usually much larger in their effect than 0 . 1 &# 34 ;. thus , a scan rate of 5 inches / sec . is typically possible . in practicing the above embodiment , however , a more advantageous version was found which was totally unexpected . a sheet of retroreflective material was used as the light &# 34 ; source &# 34 ;. a laser ( or other ) beam was scanned from the same side as the image sensor such that the scanned beam was returned by retroreflection to the image sensor . while bearing similarity to fig2 this functions much better and needs some explanation . considering now the embodiment depicted in fig3 a substantially collimated &# 34 ; beam &# 34 ; of light 200 from a laser 201 is directed by means of a scanning mirror 202 to a retroreflective sheet 203 by first bouncing it off the test panel 205 in question . two typical scans which are reflected from the panel to the screen are shown in fig3 &# 39 ;. the oppositely angled slopes at the dent are caused by the slope on one side of the dent which is opposite to the slope on the other side of the dent . because the retroreflecting material is not perfect , not all of the light returns along the same path . instead some of the light returns over a range of solid angles that spreads a small amount relative to the input beam . a lens 210 images the &# 34 ; cone &# 34 ; of returning light from the retroreflecting object material via a mirror ( having a hole for initial beam transmission through it ) or beam splitter 213 . an image position detector 215 senses variations in the ` spot ` shaped image position which is indicative of a local perturbation 220 in the panel 205 . note that the laser makes an excellent source allowing high speed scans , but the invention will function with non - laser sources . the image positon detector can be a split or bicell detector ( e . g . udt corporation pin 2d ), a single axis continuous detector such as a udt lc5 , a two axis continuous detector such as a udt sc10 , a discrete detector with a mask , a linear diode array , a two dimensional diode array , or a tv camera , for example . in order to consider a larger area of the panel , the beam can be raster scanned with another scanning mirror to scan perpendicular to the sweep direction . &# 34 ; noise &# 34 ; in the form of light scattered by the surface and reflected directly back from the panel ( i . e . not passing to and from the retroreflector material ) can be eliminated ( as is highly desirable for best results ) by using a polarized laser beam and a polarizer 230 which is &# 34 ; crossed &# 34 ; ( i . e . 90 °) to the incident beam polarization blocking the polarized direct reflection from the panel . an appropriate ( e . g . 1 / 8 wave ) retardation plate 233 will permit the light returning from the retroreflector and the panel to pass this polarizer ( as it is rotated 90 ° after passing through twice ). such objectionable reflection is worse on white or light colored painted panels and highlighted unpainted panels . ( signals can be up to 3 times , for example , the retroreflected levels .) it is minimal on black or dark painted panels . other polarizer retardation arrangements are possible to accomplish the same goals . another means to remove the direct reflection includes sensing the direct reflection using a second detector ( not shown ) slightly off axis from the beam splitter 213 and subtracting that signal from the spot position sensor output . the transit time difference from direct reflection from the panel as opposed to light that is returning from the retroreflector path can also be used to differentiate this noise signal but this is extremely difficult due to the short time interval represented ( a few nano seconds ). an additional advantage of this embodiment of the invention is that the light coming from the retroreflector returns on approximately the same path as the incident beam . a very high power utilization results , and a bad surface then will deflect this beam so that the electronics is just looking for a local change in position due to local form errors ( e . g . a flat spot on a curved surface , or a curved depression on a quasi - flat surface ). if a split detector 216 ( e . g . udt pin 2d ), having two elements a and b as shown in fig3 a , is sensing the position of the beam , then it is the difference a minus b which gives the information . the difference a minus b divided by the sum a plus b gives a normalized output . this tolerates a wider variation of part reflectivity without causing difficulty with the signal . the sum a + b is the returned light intensity proportional to the reflectivity of the panel . fig3 b illustrates another embodiment of the invention . in this embodiment , a light beam 300 is reflected from the normal surface of the panel 301 , reaches reflective screen 302 producing a zone 310 ( e . g . a spot ), and is re - emitted . lens 320 , with aperture width d , can image the spot on the screen over all areas of the surface within its field of view which subtends a zone of the surface considerably larger than the incident beam . for example , if the beam is directed at the screen via the normal surface portion a , one can image from the normal surface the spot on the screen which includes a portion from the sloped area of a large dent b . there are then two images , a &# 39 ; and b &# 39 ;, formed on the detector 330 as shown in fig3 c . for more moderate slopes , the two images come together to form a blurred image which &# 34 ; grows &# 34 ; in one direction or the other as the beam is scanned over the sloped sides of the dent . the direction of shift is opposite depending on slope direction -- up dents being reverse of down dents for any given scan direction . this is illustrated in fig5 a - 5e , where it is also noticed that the maximum signal amplitude from the analog spot position detector corresponds to the maximum slope of the part surface . since both positive and negative slopes occur in scanning across a dent for example , the signal can go plus to minus . in the center of the dent , the image can grow in both directions ( at some point resulting in no centroid shift ). thus , the image of the spot on the screen can be formed through the undisturbed portion of the surface adjacent the dent plus both oppositely sloped sides of the dent . especially for large beam sizes ( e . g . 0 . 5 cm ), the beam itself can break up as it crosses the dent causing 2 beams ( or even 3 ) to appear on the screen . this can result in more image formation . the above function is , however , modified by the action of the retroreflective material chosen for the screen 302 . such material is very directional in its nature reflecting only a small angular cone ( typically ) of light around the axis of the beam on its surface . light can only be imaged from surface zones illuminated by the light returning from the retroreflector , i . e . returning from a small cone or other angular zone of light about the incident beam direction or axis taken to the retroreflector . for example , at l1 = 2 meters , such a cone at the lens aperture is typically 30 mm in diameter where a high quality glass bead retroreflective material is used . since the retroreflector is needed to allow useable light levels to be attained at the photodetector or human eye , this then means that only imaging of spots on the screen can be made over small angular zones . for large dents , the surface slope can thus direct the re - reflected light completely off the lens for l2 large and / or d small . for this reason , it is preferable to have d as large as possible for any given choice of l2 . indeed , one can use no lens at all but just large detectors to one side or the other of the incident beam axis to detect the shift in position of the re - reflected cone of light from the retroreflective material . where a lens is used , it is desirable to make the object distance equal l1 + l2 especially if one is to separate the undesired direct back reflected light from that returning via the retroreflector . however , one can operate over a wide range of object distances and still obtain good results . as noted earlier , the returning angle of light from the retroreflector can be somewhat larger than the outgoing beam . this is due to characteristics of the retroreflector itselt , i . e . it is not a perfect retroreflector but a retroreflecting screen composed of myriads of minute elements ( usually glass beads ). furthermore , the panel ( die , model , etc .) surface itself is not a perfect mirror in which case it has somewhat spread the light from its surface anyway . thus the ` spot ` on the detector is formed by viewing through a larger area of panel surface than the reflector . where variations occur locally between this larger area and the instantaneous surface deflecting the beam , spot distortions or spot movements occur . lens aperture can accept light returning over larger angular zones than the incident beam and this allows the detector to view image zones of the retroreflective material through the surface from an axis . in other words , one is now looking at the retroreflector not directly along the beam path but slightly displaced from it -- which works as long as the angular displacement is a few degrees or less , i . e . within the return cone of the retroreflector . for example , if one scans across a section of surface of the part with no local slope distortion , the image on the bicell detector is symetrical . this example is depicted schematically in fig3 d . if , however , there is such a distortion with the slope as let us say locally first downward ( i . e . a down ding ) and the beam hits it , it is deflected to the retroreflector and displaced from its original position . this example is depicted schematically in fig3 e . this is picked up as a direct displacement since the detector unit is essentially viewing the surface from behind , i . e . through the actual unsloped portion of the surface . in other words , we have created a local reference system wherein the &# 34 ; normal &# 34 ; surface near the defect is used as a reference ( geometric in this case ) against the deviated surface . this is indicative of the signals seen . clearly , as it goes to the other side , the reverse occurs . we are viewing the surface through the sloped area but the beam is now bouncing off the normal surface . it should be noted that we can shift detector axis position above or below the defect as well causing the detector to see in a different way the defects that are scanned across various slopes . in short , it is the distortion or shifting of the image of the beam spot on the detector , due to the centroid shift created by an averaging around the instantaneous points hit by the incident beam and the comparison of those points to other points either in advance or behind , above or below the instantaneous point , that causes the essential change in position data that creates the signal . these various parameters can be adjusted to provide the best results for any types of panels , defects , etc . all of the above works as long as the panel is relatively reflective , such as painted panels or panels which have been highlighted ( that is coated with a light , free flowing oil film typically kerosene based ). any other wetting type film that makes it appear mirror - like would be suitable as well . indeed , heavier oils such as wd - 40 have been used successfully . the retroreflective embodiments can operate at much higher angles of incidence than the embodiments shown in fig1 or 2 and still give good signal to noise , the noise being determined by the roughness of the surface , the oil film , etc . this is of use in utilizing a robotic positioning system as shown below . the flaw itselt can be characterized by looking at this normalized signal ( and / or a processed version thereof to remove both dc and / or high frequency , e . g . highlighted or paint ripple ) and evaluating the width of the flaw and its amplitude in a given scan and also the extent of this flaw as measured in the scanning direction . indents and outdents are also normally identifiable ( see fig5 below ). it is noted that reflective defects , i . e . a dark spot on a light surface or a dull paint or highlight job , desirably show up as surface light reflectivity variations , not as shifts in image position . accordingly , these conditions can be differentiated from true defect conditions . typical values used in an extremely successful working example of the above embodiment are : it is noted that with this large beam size , the unit even operates on overly thick highlight oil conditions ( e . g . wd - 40 ) that have excessive streaking . it is further noted that best results occur for large lens apertures which can collect the maximum amount and spread of returned light . the previous embodiment of fig2 essentially images a point on a ground glass or other screen through the surface of the panel onto the image detector unit . clearly , if the surface of the panel had a slope to it , it would throw the light off at another angle resulting in an image spot shift on the detector . in the fig3 embodiment of the retroreflector with the light source on the same side as the detector , the light impacts a point of the panel and ostensibly comes back from the retroreflector along the same path . therefore , one still gets nearly full light power back -- a big plus and a huge signal improvement over the fig2 apparatus which loses most of the light generated . however , on the face of it , one would think that the return beam would not move since it would seemingly follow the same path on its return as outgoing to the retroreflector . in fact , however , it does move , and in a very pronounced way . this is because the retroreflective screen which essentially re - emits with a large number of small emitters , is broader in its re - emission angle than the angle of light projection through the panel . therefore an image can be formed using areas of the surface not directly illuminated and one can get a localized comparison of the instantaneous spot to the area around the instantaneous spot including a sloped surface of the panel . one can also compare a trailing or leading area of the panel to the instantaneous point , or an area offset higher or lower as well simply by changing the placement of the sensor viewing axis relative to the output beam axis . in fact , one can use multiple detectors each comparing to a different zone and compare those . the orientation of the retroreflecting material to the incident beam is preferably normal to it , but neither this angle or the material position is particularly important -- a big advantage for practical use on complex contoured panels with robots , etc . ( it is much better than the fig1 or fig2 apparatus in this regard .) however , the sensitivity of the panel defect detection is dependent on the distance l1 of the retroreflective material ( e . g . scotchlite by 3m company ) away from the panel , the distance l2 to the sensor , as well as the incidence angle θ to the panel . the farther away or the larger ( i . e . more normal ) θ , the more sensitivity to panel geometric distortions . the panel in question or the total inspection areas can be surrounded by the retroreflective material such that it can accommodate reflection from various panel types and slopes of the panel itself . alternatively , the retroreflective material can be carried with the sensor portion , attached to the same member or moved in concert ( e . g . by a second robot ). a major advantage of this invention is that the sensor , including the laser ( or other light generating means ) can be held less rigidly or indeed carried by a continuously moving robot as the retroreflector keeps the light on the optical path for most orientations . indeed , the retroreflector itself can be tilted substantially relative to the panel surface and still keep the light returning on its optical path . this is of crutial importance as many panels have substantial curvature causing reflections to be directed at numerous ( compound ) angles as one scans . this makes the invention extremely practical in its implementation . another advantage is that a sensor can be constructed to project and receive light close to normal incidence ( i . e . perpendicular ) to the panel surface implying that the sensor package itself can be small and light and easily carried by a robot if necessary . in order to facilitate this , the retroreflecting material must surround the inspection area and be located at all angles necessary to accommodate the various reflections off the surface . a working system operating at θ = 70 ° has been constructed . another advantage is that analog spot position detectors such as bicell detectors ( e . g . udzt pin 2d ) are very fast , low in cost , and have low noise so that inspection time can be fast . differential measurement of two detector elements sensing the positon of the imaged spot of light give the necessary information assuming the spot does not move too much off one detector element . when the output is divided by the sum of the detector outputs , the sensor is normalized and less sensitive to general reflectivities of the panels which can change with color , oil film , etc . such normalization can also be accomplished with continuous analog sensors such as udt sc - 10 , pin 5d , lc10 etc . another advantage is that this system will work on panels which are painted or unpainted . in the latter case , the unpainted panels are sprayed , wiped or otherwise lightly coated with an oil film to smooth over the natural surface roughness of the surface itself . it is preferred to wipe the oil film in a direction parallel to the lateral scan direction so that the scan does not cross the ripples in the oil ( which are geometric in nature and can appear as &# 34 ; defects &# 34 ; or increase greatly the background noise level ). on plastic panels , the natural surface finish is often high enough to require no oil coating , at least at lower incidence angles . using illumination angles closer to the grazing angles will make the surface appear to look smoother which allows one to work with rougher surfaces . however , it also can produce less sensitivity to defects , depending on the defect type in question . this invention will operate on plastic panels ( e . g . rim , smc ) without oil , but require angles generally under 45 °. another embodiment of the invention modifying fig3 is shown in fig3 f . in this case , a collimated or converged beam using a cylinder lens 280 is shown . ( a long focal length spherical lens can also be used , as can a cylindrical or spherical mirror .) this allows the package to be folded around while still maintaining a good sized beam sweep ( e . g . 10 &# 34 ;) on the surface and while limiting the size of the quarter wave material required . this is occasioned by the fact that quarter wave material is difficult to obtain in sizes larger than 12 inches . this also makes it possible to have a smaller width retroreflector and therefore can desirably reduce the size of the unit . ( with no lens , such as lens 280 , the reflected beam from a convex curved surface typical of an outer automative body panel , such as a fender , diverges , requiring a larger expanse of retroreflective material than the beam sweep width would indicate . this causes excessive sensor package size .) as shown , a large lens 280 ( or for that matter curved mirror ) is placed such that the scanning mirror 202 is approximately at its focal length f l . this collimates , or as shown , slightly converges the swept beam onto the surface of the part in one direction . the lens 280 is preferably a cylinder lens but can be a spherical lens of a long focal length ( which effectively acts like a cylinder lens over its central portion covered by the beam and does not do much to the beam shape itself other than slightly focus it which is okay if not too finely focused on the part surface ). the beam then hits the surface of the panel , and goes through the quarter wave material 233 which now can be located at the retroreflector 203 while still allowing a full 12 &# 34 ; swath , w 1 say . it is noted that if this is not used to obtain a 12 inch swath with a limited 12 inch retroreflector piece , one has to locate it near the surface of the panel which can create a difficult constructional problem . when , as shown , the beam sweep is converged to the retroreflector , if the lens then is placed near the panel , the actual sweep w 1 , on the panel can be , let us say , 16 inches while still preserving a 12 inch retroreflector and quarter wave material . the beam path can also be folded in order to make an easily manageable sensor unit which can be utilized on the end of robots or stacked side by side without undue space requirements . note that when stacked side by side , a common sheet of retroreflective material and quarter wave material can be used if desired , with only the scan and detection units duplicated . there are many additional points to mention . first of all , consider the question of highlight oil condition and paint finish . for example , consider fig4 a to 4d which illustrate the signal of a single scan of the fig3 apparatus across a panel with fig4 a showing good highlighting , fig4 b showing a relatively standard paint finish , or fig4 c showing two cases of bad highlighting where the oil has either not been applied or applied much too coarsely . a fifth example shown in fig4 d is that where the highlight oil is in streaks which are not running parallel to the direction of scan as in fig4 a but instead run perpendicular to the direction of scan causing the maximum distortion . this is , of course , to be avoided if possible . plastic should also be scanned parallel to its &# 34 ; grain &# 34 ;, if present ( e . g . as on smc ). first , some interesting things to point out . a well highlighted panel with the streaks of the highlight oil which had been rubbed on the panel running in a direction parallel to the scan actually looks better than some painted panels . second , it is felt that since the sensor unit is seeing geometric distortions , the ripples in the painted panel can be considered to be the paint finish or in extreme cases &# 34 ; orange peel &# 34 ; and therefore the amplitude of the ripples can be used to analyze the quality of paint . the third thing is clearly that when one gets a minimum ripple background surface on a highlighted panel , one knows that the correct amount of highlighting has been applied . naturally , if a plastic panel or some other panel without requirements for highlighting is present , of course such highlighting is not required . for example , a plastic panel with no highlight is similar to fig4 a or fig4 b and sufficient for operation . sometimes plastic can exhibit excess background noise ( like fig4 d ) due to a condition called &# 34 ; elephant hide &# 34 ; which is desirable to detect . clearly , however , when the magnitude of the ripples becomes too great , a poor ( i . e . heavy , streaky ) highlight paint finish or &# 34 ; elephant hide &# 34 ; condition can be signaled simply from the ac component of the detector signal during a sweep using known techniques . in some cases the component within a certain frequency and / or level band is chosen to represent the highlight oil ( or paint finish ) contribution . a second determinant for improper conditions is when the signal amplitude is simply low , obviously indicative of poor reflective qualities of the surface as in the case of no highlight at all on a steel panel . when used with highlighted panels , both of these conditions can be used to flag areas which can create invalid data due to highlight condition . such &# 34 ; flags &# 34 ; can be fed to a computer to cause one or more things to occur : 1 . the whole panel can be rejected and a re - look made after suitable highlighting . 2 . the system can be used to help evaluate whether the highlight job is correct before making an analysis . 3 . particularly in 100 % inspection in - line , the zone where the bad highlighting occurs can be blocked out of the computer memory and simply ignored so that the panel is not rejected for what probably is no problem with the actual surface , only the highlight . indeed a special notation can be made such that the next panel is purposely inspected in this particular sector so that statistical data can still be built up . naturally , if bad conditions could occur in this particular sector repeatedly in an in - line case ( for example where an automatic highlight system is used such as shown in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 394 , 683 , fig1 , or otherwise ) it can be then ascertained that something has gone wrong with the automatic highlighter as is clogged nozzles , broken brushes and the like and these conditions corrected . fig5 a to 5e illustrate signals of different flaws produced by the fig3 apparatus . as can be seen , the type of dent in or out from the normal surface can be found from the signal direction . for the larger defects such as an approximately 5 - 10 cm wide low spot , the signal is spread out in the direction of scan . knowledge of what magnitude , size and defect type ( s ) is present is invaluable in correcting process defects . fig5 a also illustrates processing steps according to the invention . in the apparatus of fig3 two signal processing steps are used . in the first , the signal is ac coupled to remove the dc frequency component of the surface . next , the threshold v t is set above the maximum value v n max of the frequency components of background &# 34 ; noise &# 34 ;. these components are indicative of the paint surface or the highlight surface surrounding the defect and , if excessive , can indicate an invalid signal reading in the area affected if the threshold is set at normal limits . conversely , they can also be used to measure the quality of paint , finish or highlight . for example , the value of the average noise signal v na gives an average value of the surface finish in the zone of interest . orange peel ripple etc ., can be detected when the signal exceeds some threshold v t . the image seems to have in fig5 a a positive going rise followed by a zero crossing and a negative portion . this is for an out ding . an in ding is the reverse ( for a given scan direction ) as shown in fig5 b . in order to determine immediately the case at hand , there are two pieces of data , the height amplitude v d of the signal ( with only those signals accepted above the background surface noise threshold v t ) and the width of the defect . the latter can be obtained from the trace or by looking at the number of successive scan lines where the defect appeared . since this is for any one scan as we scan down a part , we can map out in essence the defects , by storing for each given scan the amount of defects shown in terms of a code as to where on the panel they appeared and coded to the type they are , the severity , and the width and / or length . in this way a table can be built up in the computer which can be printed out . in a typical example on a black painted hood with the fig3 apparatus , v a varied from 8 ( small dirt in die ) to 25 ( severe dent ) and v n was 2 illustrating the excellent signal to noise indication . a variation is to take the derivative of the signal to obtain the rate of change of the slope of the part . this is easy to obtain as a signal and also gives a distinct output proportional to the severity of the defect . other processing approaches are sometimes possible for large low spots , recoils etc . shown in fig5 c is the signal from a defect which is wide but shallow and which does not provide the sharp second derivative signal . one processing technique in this case is to correlate the characteristic curve produced to stored low spot signatures . a scope trace ( fig5 e ) shows the correlation peak ( phase delayed ) indicative of a typical low spot on the front of a hood . by tuning the frequency of the correlation , a maximum correlation signal for any low spot ( or other defect ) can be obtained . since such tuning takes time , it can be desirable to identify such defects and come back to them , or to correlate such signals ( in hardware or software ) after the fact by storing them . by using a longer illumination light source wavelength , into the infra red for example , one can eliminate the requirement for using a highlighting oil on the surface as the longer wavelength will not be as sensitive to the natural surface roughness of most materials of interest , e . g . steel , plastic , or aluminum . for example , at 10 . 6 μm ( co2 laser wavelength ) a steel panel looks 20 times smoother than it does at 6328 a ( hene laser ). for example , consider that a waveguide co2 laser such as a 20 watt laackman type could be utilized in the fig3 drawing together with suitable ir retroreflective material ( e . g . glass beads to 3 μm , machined metal at 10 . 6 μm ; or in the fig2 drawing with suitable dispersive material , such as ir &# 34 ; ground glass &# 34 ;) and suitable infra red optics to form the image on a pyroelectric vidicon having a pair of adjacent ir detectors ( arranged like 216 ), etc . at these wavelengths , the surface is fully reflecting and no special oil films would be required . this is a big plus in practice . ir can also be used as the light source in the embodiments depicted in fig6 / 7 as well . solid state or other efficient point ir sources can also be used . an advantage of the invention is that the operator can view the scanned reflected information coming back from the retroreflector , either through the beam splitter or by viewing slightly off axis of the incident beam . this permits him to visually see exactly what the detector is looking at , to confirm what the electronics is seeing . in this case , it is often advantageous to slow the mirror scan down . for some flaws , it is desirable to rotate the sensor scan direction and pass over the flaw again to confirm its existance and description . it is noted that in fig3 the scan on the panel surface need not be back and forth , but can for example be circular , spiral , x shaped , etc . the circular scan offers an advantage in that it produces a smooth signal output with no turnaround point which is useful for taking derivatives . a circular sweep , for example , can get close to certain panel features and has no signal discontinuities which are disturbing to sensitive circuits . however , a rotating faceted mirror or oscillating mirror scan is the preferred means of generating scans in general , which are preferably parallel to one of the major axes of the panel . all wavelengths visible , uv and ir of electromagnetic radiation are possible for an illumination source . hene or semiconducting diode lasers are preferred but conventional sources or other lasers can be used . a further advantage results from the fact that the light can be focussed or defocussed via optional lens 240 onto the panel to a greater or lesser degree depending on what size flaw resolution is necessary . a raw laser beam ( e . g . 0 . 050 &# 34 ; wide ) may be sufficiently small to detect high frequency variations due to &# 34 ; orange peel &# 34 ; in the painting process itself or to discern scratches , small pits and pimples , etc . a defocussed beam will only resolve slower changes in the panel and provide more signal to noise for low spots etc .-- at a price of dimished scratch determination . this permits the system to be optimized for the case at hand . often , a dual system is desirable . such a dual system could utilize two beams having different spot sizes , or use a single beam to make one complete panel analysis and then change the spot size of the single beam and rescan . in addition , sequential scans can be with different sizes by turning lasers on and off . in an embodiment utilizing two simultaneous beams and two detector units , the two beams are each of a different wavelength such that filters in front of each detector unit can separate one from the other . alternatively , they can be staggered in position such that one detector only sees one or the the other . ( one beam is slightly ahead of the other but driven by same scanner -- if sufficiently far ahead , no wavelength discrimination is required . indeed , both could be derived from the same laser .) a different lens can be utilized to form each beam , one for example to blow the beam up a little bit to cause it to average over ripples in the surface due to orange peel etc . and the other one focussed down in order to see scratches . therefore , not only can two spatial sensitivities be defined during a simultaneous scan , but the beam and detector channel looking at the larger surface zone can be used as a reference level detection for the smaller detected zone if they are both looking at the same section of the surface at the same time ( or suitably time delayed to create the same effect ). note that a line array of light emitting diode light sources or fiber optic light sources can be used instead of a sweep for illumination . since these would likely be fixed in location , the resolution would be a function of the spacing . however , flaw discrimination is still possible . for this version , a tv or other 2 axis scan camera is required since the sources are displaced , as is then the retroreflection . a crt spot swept across its faceplate also provides such a source . an important alternative embodiment in this invention is a manual version depicted in fig6 a . this embodiment uses a substantially point light source 500 , such as a fiber optic end connected to a halogen bulb ( not shown ) at the other end , near the operator &# 39 ; s eyes 502 for illuminating the panel 505 . the operator views the light returning from the retroreflector 510 and off of the panel . with one eye , defects appear as dark spots on the panel . with 2 eyes , a kind of stereo occurs . for maximum results , two illumination light sources ( e . g . 500 and 501 ) are arranged above or below each of the operator &# 39 ; s eyes . this permits him to have the highest signal levels at each eye ( since there is no angular difference between such source and the respective eye ). the retro effect is so directional that the two sources don &# 39 ; t interfere . the effect produced is truly startling . to a die or stamping person it is much like when one sees a hologram for the first time . from a distance l2 of say 3 meters and l1 = 2 meters on a painted or well highlighted panel , all of the low spots and other localized geometric distortions and imperfections in the panel appear instantly visible -- even ones that are less than 0 . 01 mm deep this effect has far reaching implications besides the use on panels themselves . for example , it can immediately be used to analyze painted cars on the line in final inspection . second , it can be used on suitably prepared wood die models or clay models to see such distortions before they are scanned for cad data . third , it can be used to analyze dies and molds , male or female , and instantly see where material needs to be removed to make a smooth , good looking surface . substantially point light sources can be , for example , led &# 39 ; s , incandescent bulbs ( e . g . a grain of wheat &# 34 ; bulb &# 34 ;) or fiber optic ends with remoted light sources . broad light sources such as florescent tubes can less preferably be used . these work if the tube is parallel to the surface . the retroreflecting screens or painted retroreflecting surfaces preferably surround the inspection zone for minimum inconvenience in the inspection process and to maximize signal to noise levels . the inspector seeks the maximum defect sensitivity position and can move his viewing angle to achieve the best signal to noise response . note that the light source ( s ) can be located on glasses , a helmet or a head fixture so as to easily move with the operator while keeping the sources near the eyes to allow for maximum retroreflective operation . measuring reticles such as 535 ( see fig6 b ) or other aids superimposed in the operator &# 39 ; s vision can aid in defect size evaluation . fig6 b illustrates a pair of eyeglasses provisioned according to the invention . the frame 530 has holes in it for vision with the eye 529 ( only one eye shown for clarity ). light source 531 is located on the rim as is an optional second or other additonal source 532 for this eye . optionally , a ring light source ( s ) surrounding the ( or each ) eye can be used which gives the most even illumination . where highlight oil is used on bare metal , it is often desirable to polarize the outgoing light from source 531 with a polarizer 540 and to use a crossed polaroid 541 in front of the eye . by virtue of quarter wave plate 550 ( shown in fig6 a ), only retroreflected light is substantially allowed to be seen . element 541 can also represent a defocussing or blurring device to smooth the image of minor droplet deviations in the highlight oil as discussed below . fig7 illustrates a version of fig6 a operating on a female panel die in which the eye is replaced by a tv camera 600 . in this case , a single light bulb souce 601 essentially illuminates the retroreflective screen 602 via die surface 603 and the tv camera views the retroreflective screen through reflection from the die . as in the human eye case , this is different than the version of fig3 even though the retroreflector is used . in this case , it &# 39 ; s not the beam position that varies since there is no beam per se . due to the same geometric distortion factors , it is the concentration or diffusion of light due to the multiple individual &# 34 ; beams &# 34 ; from the point source that causes the image to be either dark or bright in certain areas depending on whether the flaw is or is not present . for example , if there is no flaw present ( e . g . a high spot 616 which should be removed ) virtually all of the light going out from the point source hits the retroreflector ( at an angle due to the compounding effect spreading from the light source and of the curvature of the panel ) and comes back along the same path creating a nearly uniform light field image of the retroreflective screen on the tv camera . if , however , there is a defect as shown at high spot 616 , the light does not come back in quite the same way and certain areas of the defect appear darker or lighter than the surrounding area . the degree of light field modification is proportional to the defect and the shape and the area of the defect can be immediately determined since the tv camera is capable of scanning the intensity field in two axes . alternatively , a line scan camera can be moved relative to the surface just as in the case of the laser scan shown in fig3 creating the same effect in time sequence . for automatic detection , it is desirable to compare light in the defect ( instantaneous level ) to its surroundings . a means for doing this is described in a u . s . pat . no . 4 , 305 , 661 and configurations thereof . it is noted again that the tv camera system has less apparent ability ( at least with a modest signal processor ) to determine defects than a human which is quite good at seeing subtle light intensity gradients and the like . therefore , the background reflections from the surface itself can be a problem . in this case , crossed polarizers and a retardation plate can be used as in fig3 and 6b to kill the direct back reflection from the panel . as in fig3 this may limit the field of view of the camera since retardation plates larger than let us say one foot in diameter are relatively rare . optics as in fig3 f can be used to expand the field . other techniques such as discussed above relative to the fig6 b can also be used . just as in the visual case , a second tv camera unit 630 can be used to obtain a sort of binocular stereo image of the defect . in this case , each point of radiation in one image is correlated to the same point in the other image particularly in the defect zone . this can be used to automatically calculate the depth of the flaw condition . it is noted that the commercially available image processor computer 640 hooked to the tv camera can be used to analyze the area , shape , and intensity characteristics of the defect images in order to determine defect parameters . the tv camera can also be used with the visual inspection and then bore sighted with the direction of view of the visual inspection to provide a digitized analysis and quantitative output of the defect being observed ( as in a gunsight reticle ). in this mode , the operator looks at the panel with glasses as shown in fig6 b and the tv camera then automatically digitizes those flaws desired just by &# 34 ; looking &# 34 ; at them . a suitable image processing computer to find display or quantify flaw areas , shapes , parameter outlines , and other parameters is a machine intelligence co . model 100 , a machine vision international co . genesis 2000 , or a ge optimation ii processor . the latter two are high speed and capable of realtime operation . for high speed measurement on moving parts ( e . g . paint cans moving on a line ), strobe illumination using a flashed xenon source for example can be used to &# 34 ; freeze &# 34 ; the image for later analysis . note too that a videotape unit 660 can be optionally used to record panels or cars passing a line location for later analysis either visually or automatically . this allows a more relaxed human analysis ( e . g . in an office ) or a higher power large remote computer to be brought to bear on the image defect analysis -- e . g . on the 3rd shift so statistical data would be available in the morning on the previous day &# 39 ; s production . another embodiment of the invention related to fig1 but using the retroreflective idea presented in fig3 etc . is also shown in fig7 . in this optional case , however , one or more edges of a grid or grille of parallel opaque lines or dots 620 are utilized . the grid or grille is placed in front of the retroreflector 602 , or conversely the grid or grille is made out of retroreflective material and is used as the retroreflector . this grid then acts very much [ for example , at least in the grille or grid case ] like the grille or grid described in fig1 except for the fact that it is illuminated retroreflectively through the panel . the dots simply represent the grid intersection points . there is a statistical evidence that dot image centroid shifts due to defects can be better defined than lines . the line or grid embodiment of fig7 while related to the fig2 embodiment , differs in that it uses the point of light being directed back from the surface . the point of light is seen as coming from a side opposite from the sensor , but it is actually being illuminated from the sensor side . in short , while it is related to the fig1 embodiment , it however is vastly simpler and more efficient to produce such an effect . contrast is also much better . one needs only to have a small light source and a retroreflective screen with grids and indeed in this case the screen can be one of the walls of a particular area surrounding the place where the analysis is to take place . no particular lighting structure or anything else is required and the power levels required are quite small . this is because the light and the camera unit are at substantially the same location . light is thus not required to light the whole room in order to be seen from a camera unit . deviations in the panel are also enhanced by the effects of the double reflection . the edge points shift similar to the spot image of fig3 . note that the edge deflections are easy to monitor with a tv camera . just as in fig6 a , if one is 10 ft . away , the whole panel can be seen superimposed over what are the grid lines which are geometrically distorted locally in the presence of defects in surface form . fig8 illustrates one mechanism for defect determination in the embodiments of fig6 a and 7 . as shown in fig8 light is incident on a defect [ in this case ] whose extension is illustrated as being substantially in the direction of illumination rather than in the direction transverse thereto as was shown in previous embodiments . light source 700 illuminates panel 702 along axis 703 via beam splitter 704 . human eye 710 views light from retroreflector 711 re - reflected back from panel 702 including defect 713 thereon . as can be seen , light from the defect area is deflected away from the direct reflectance angle θ by the sloped walls of the defect . this results in a darker area ` d ` on the screen than would otherwise have been the case , and with light redistributed to create a brighter area around the dark area . because the distance l2 of the source to the defect is typically much larger than the defect size itself , the subtended illumination angle of the defect area is typically smaller -- i . e . the illumination is nearly parallel . thus little &# 34 ; filling in &# 34 ; of the dark or light zones so created occurs , and the eye or other detector sees this effect . the zone ` d ` is not completely black , however , as the eye is coincident with the illumination axis and the only light not returning to the eye is that which is re - emitted by the screen over a nonzero angle γ and which hits the normal surface , for example , rather than passing right back through the same sloped surface of the defect . the same sort of effect also occurs in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the drawing . now let us consider the effect of placing the light source off the angle of view as with light source 720 . in this case , much less light from the sloped edge of the defect farthest from the eye can reach the edge and it thus appears darker , accentuating the indication . this is desirable in many cases . let us think now of how the automatic sensing of the invention can be utilized in stamping , molding or body plants . fig1 of the referenced u . s . pat . no . 4 , 394 , 683 illustrates panels coming along the line . this is a typical arrangement for fixed sensors looking at panels coming off a press . in other installations , however , the panel might be in stationary motion or moving and a robotic arm is used to position the sensor unit . the checking of panels of this type can be done in two ways according to the present invention . the arm can actually sweep the sensor unit if it is capable of good uniform motion or conversely motorized tooling at the end of the arm can be used to make the sweep with the robot actually in a fixed position ( which can be easier to program ). similarly , because of the properties of the retroreflective material , a two axis sweep can be utilized where the unit scans the surface with a 2 mirror sweep that raster scans . for example , motor 260 drives a planar mirror 261 ( dotted lines ) in fig3 to provide a sweep in the y direction as well . fig9 to 12 illustrate several applications to plant use . depicted in fig9 is a robot 730 ( in this case a gantry type westinghouse 6000 ) and a scanned single sensor unit 732 comprising a retroreflective material sender and receiver along the lines of fig3 . this sensor can optionally further employ a scanning capability in the y axis using a 2 axis mirror scan or conversely a motor drive on the end effector tooling of the robot . the robot can be programmed using programming consol 734 to inspect numerous different types of panels 736 . the signal data from the sensor can be fed back to help maintain the standoff distance from the part or additional sensors added for this purpose if necessary . fig1 illustrates a multiple fixed sensor unit according to either fig3 or fig7 in which car doors 750 move on a conveyor 751 underneath the sensor unit ` nest ` 752 on frame 753 . in this case , an automatic highlighter 755 is employed using a combined spray 760 and brush 765 operation . also illustrated in this figure is an automatic reject of defective panels to a robotic repair station 800 . a robot 801 , taking signals from the defect readout 802 , picks up a disc grinder 805 or other tool and grinds down and feathers the defect 810 . after doing so , the panel is fed back to the inspection station and reinspected to determine if it is now okay . fig1 a and 11b illustrate the use of robot mounted units 902 and 904 to scan a complete body - in - white 908 at a fixed position on - line . a robot highlighter 906 is employed using a brush / spray end effector 910 coordinated with the scan to always present ` streaks ` if any , parallel to the direction of scan . a similar version can operate on finish painted cars where no highlight is required . note that inspection of panel gap and mismatch can also be accomplished using a light section triangulation sensor carried by the robot as well . fig1 illustrates an in - line version of the present invention for use on finished ( painted ) cars comprising fixed sensors 920 positioned to view the car 922 in - line . the large standoff and range of the retroreflective sensor types is a big advantage here allowing line motion to be cleared in most cases . it is noted that this invention is useable not only on car body , appliance , and other panels to see defects thereon , but also on the dies , the wood models , clay models , molds and other formed parts or artifacts that are used in the sheet metal plastic and body building process . the invention is used to determine defects in form of these products and keep them from being propagated into the final product -- e . g . the painted car . clearly , if one can see the small flat spots and other minute localized errors of form in the dies , one knows therefore where to take off the material , and how much to take off in the quantitive sense to make the die right . the same holds true even before the die process where wood models are used so that the models themselves can be checked to make sure that they don &# 39 ; t have any errors which are then traced into machines that make the dies and resulting in great waste . clearly , to make the invention work , one has to have the surfaces sufficiently reflective . this means coating the wood , clay or metal with something , either oil , wax , reflective paper or some other material that can make it sufficiently reflective . generally , it is desired also that the coating material be easily removeable . it is particularly interesting to see the local form errors of dies and then look at the panels that are produced by them to correlate the defects , etc . in the fig6 and 7 apparatus , it is further noted that to suppress the effect of ripple on the surface whether it be from orange peel , highlight oil , elephant hide on plastic , grain on plastic , or whatever , one can do several things : 1 . purposely blur the image as through defocussing . this is not necessarily effective in all cases as some of the depth of focus is very large in this system . 2 . utilize an oscillating glass to purposely mechanically blur the image by moving it . this effectively smears over the highlight on the screen making an average signal . however , it also can clearly move the radiant images as well as can the previous blurring . 3 . use a diffusing screen through which the images are viewed and which does not allow one to focus clearly on the highlight droplets . 4 . utilize ( as in the fig3 apparatus ) computer filtering and processing to process the signals . for example , all lower frequency signals can be removed through ac coupling and all high frequency signals can be removed except those exhibiting certain characteristics , for example , showing the typical look of either a large deviation or a one sided or bi - directional slope of a dent . in utilizing the invention , one can also make a rapid scan of the surface in hardware to identify that there is a suspected presence of a defect and then analyze the same signal which has been digitized through a software program at a relatively more leisurely pace to make a better evaluation . this can be going on while continued further sections of the panel are being scanned since one does not expect to find too many defects during the total scan . conversely , one can simply scan the panel and come back to those areas with suspected defects and simply dwell on them . this in effect then does not require a memory since one can just sit over the defect once it &# 39 ; s found and analyze it . since computer memory nowadays is cheap , however , it seems just as logical to read it in and keep going while analyzing it as the other data is being streamed in . it is important to think of the possible ways of looking at this data . as one comes up next to a flawed area near a character line or what have you on the panel that one does not wish to see , one has to have some way of stopping the scan of the unit so that this is not picked up as a flaw . this can be done by simply storing the computer coordinates of the zones on the panel which are not to be looked to and blocking those out in the memory after one reads the scan in . the other thing that can be done is to simply use the edge of the scan to see such flaws and come in with a precise triangle wave fed signal that allows one to back right up against the surface . alternatively , one can rotate the sensor head so that the scan is parallel to the character line or what have you and scan across a flaw in that direction coming up right next to it . it is noted that with good highlighting or paint finish , one does not have to worry too much about the scan direction and such rotation is quite feasible . it &# 39 ; s only in the case where the highlighting is poor and streaky that one really needs to scan parallel to the streaks . to help the cause of highlight oil spreading out , one should , wherever possible , have a time delay built in between the application of highlight oil and the inspection , preferably at least 10 seconds or more . it is noted that the retardation plates and polarizers are not as necessary at the lower angles as they are at the higher angles utilized for best performance . in other words , at low angles direct reflection back from the panel surface , be it paint or whatever , is less . the processing described in fig5 a for seeing the rate of change of slope has been successfully used in finding low spots as shallow as 0 . 0002 inches ( 0 . 005 millimeters ) in depth . such low spots are , however , typically in the range of 0 . 0002 to 0 . 0025 inches in depth and generally the size of between one inch ( 2 . 5 cm ) and 4 inches ( 10 cm ) in overall width . in operating the invention , it has been found that spreading the beam in the scan direction using a cylinder lens , such as the optionally provided lens 240 shown as dotted lines in fig3 spreads the beam in the scan direction and helps to improve the performance on low spots while providing a further averaging effect on the highlight conditions . however , at the same time , use of such a cylinder lens tends to mask smaller defects such as small dirt pimples and the like . in this case , it can be desirable to have a system which makes a scan in one pass using a cylinder lens ( or another method of spreading the beam ) and on the return pass does not use it , thereby giving two sensitivities , or optical intergrations , in the direction of scan . such a programmable device can be a solenoid to simply pull the cylinder lens in and out , or , at higher speed , an acousto - optical modulator to spread the beam on one pass and do nothing to it on the next . it is also possible to provide such signal averaging manipulations in hardware circuits or computer software 290 as shown in fig3 . hardware signal averaging can be used like that of u . s . pat . no . 4 , 305 , 661 using tapped analog delay lines which allow the instantaneous signal to be compared to the average of sections of signal spaced ahead and / or behind in time . a programmable correlator can also be used to correlate the signals of the different defects to actual signals . for example , low spots , dings , and dents all have the positive and negative going slope signals but at different widths . therefore , while the second derivative circuit works on those where the slope is high , those of less slope can be obtained from correlation , either using a hardware correlator or preferably one tuneable at different frequencies to allow the right match to the signal in question to be obtained . in addition , a computer software correlation can be made if time permits . correlation is not the only way to see such signals but it does allow the known signatures of the defect to be matched . relative to the visual and tv versions of fig6 and 7 , it has been found that in some cases with the observer looking directly through with the lights , either surrounding the eye or placed very near the eye , that this does not give as good a view as with the light slightly displaced , for example , in the vertical direction looking at the panel hood in fig6 a . for example , with a vertical displacement h as shown in fig6 b , let us say with the light for example 2 inches above or below the eye , the light power coming back from the retroreflector is considerably decreased at let us say l2 = 10 feet away because one is off the retro angle somewhat . however , there is a definite shadowing effect that takes place under these conditions which tends to accentuate the defects , often providing a clearer view ( as the direct view can wash out in some cases ). for some purposes , it could be desirable to switchably view the flaw with the light along the axis and at an off - axis position . in this case , two sets of lights can be used : one central , and one off axis . the two sets of lights are then simply switched . this switching can be automatic or manual . conversely , two tv cameras can be used with a single light with the two cameras spaced , for example , and switched . fig1 illustrates a circuit capable of defect discrimination in the fig3 embodiment , which is used to generate the readout of fig1 . as shown in fig1 , the returned laser light is imaged on the udt pin spot 2d photodetector ( photodetector 215 in fig3 ) typically forming a spot . the detector &# 39 ; s output currents are converted to voltage in the first ad644 halves . the voltages are then amplified by the second set of 644 &# 39 ; s as well as being combined . two outputs applied to the 4291 h divider are the &# 34 ; sum &# 34 ; of the light striking the detector , and the &# 34 ; difference &# 34 ; between the halves of the detector . the divider &# 39 ; s output ( difference / sum ) is the power compensated &# 34 ; position &# 34 ; of the light spot on the detector . the spot position signal and the beam steering mirror &# 39 ; s ( mirror 202 in fig3 ) position signal are both sent to the rack board for further processing . the mirror &# 39 ; s position is differentiated to give the cos of mirror position . this signal is then applied to a zero crossing detector to obtain a mirror &# 34 ; direction &# 34 ; signal . the original sin signal is sent to an analog to digital converter ( adc ) so that the computer can read the position of the mirror . a &# 34 ; position balance &# 34 ; potentiometer is used to correct for small delays through the differentiator and the &# 34 ; enable width &# 34 ; control allows digitization of only a part of the mirror &# 39 ; s swing . the image spot position signal is sent to a zero crossing detector as well as a differentiator . the zero crossing signal is sent to a pair of monostables , used to generate a pulse on every zero - crossing no mater which direction . the differentiated spot position signal is sent to an absolute value amplifier . this stage &# 39 ; s output is applied to an adc to allow the computer to read the apparent &# 34 ; severity &# 34 ; of the defect on the surface being inspected . this &# 34 ; severity &# 34 ; signal is then compared to a threshold which is computer generated from a dac . the comparator &# 39 ; s output is then used to gage the zero crossing pulses . only when the spot position signal is crossing through zero and the differentiated position is sufficiently large , does the &# 34 ; defect found &# 34 ; flip flop get set . the computer then reads the &# 34 ; mirror position &# 34 ; and the &# 34 ; severity &# 34 ; from the circuit , and stores these values as well as the &# 34 ; polarity &# 34 ; and scan line number into a data array for further processing . the &# 34 ; polarity &# 34 ; signal is generated by exclusive or - ing the &# 34 ; mirror direction &# 34 ; and a signal generated by comparing the &# 34 ; differentiated spot position &# 34 ; with zero volts . because of the quirk in the inner workings of the adc &# 39 ; s it is necessary to apply two pulses in quick succession to their clock inputs in order to cause a conversion , hence the extra monostables and gates . the computer generates a list of flaws giving the x and y locations , the severity , the type ( in or out dents ) the flaw length and a rating based on length &# 34 ; severity &# 34 ;. the &# 34 ; severity &# 34 ; is then plotted against xy coordinates . | 6 |
in the following description , and for the purposes of explanation , numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the various aspects of the invention . it will be understood , however , by those skilled in the relevant arts , that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details . in other instances , known structures and devices are shown or discussed more generally in order to avoid obscuring the invention . in many cases , a description of the operation is sufficient to enable one to implement the various forms of the invention , particularly when the operation is to be implemented in software . it should be noted that there are many different and alternative configurations , devices and technologies to which the disclosed inventions may be applied . the full scope of the invention is not limited to the examples that are described below . as mentioned above , this invention has to do with ar style rifles and particularly the safety selector carried in the lower receiver of an ar style rifle . this type of lover receiver has a pair of aligned holes or apertures , one on each side to the lower receiver . these holes accommodate the safety selector on all ar style rifles . the placement of the holes is to position the safety selector slightly above the tail extension or trigger tail ( also known as the top surface of the rear portion of the trigger ) of the ar style trigger . this invention is carried in those two holes and has its center section , including the “ safe shelf ” or smaller diameter section of the second end of the sliding safety device that restrains the trigger from firing the ar style rifle . the sliding safety selector is thus positioned slightly above the trigger tail in just the same position as a lever or rotary safety selector . turning to fig1 and 2 there is shown a projected view of the sliding safety selector and the detent pin used with the sliding safety selector . these two components are all that are needed to replace a rotating safety selector in a civilian ar lower receiver . the sliding safety selector 12 includes a first end 16 , which is cylindrical in cross section and makes up about a third of the length of the sliding safety selector . the diameter of these elements are selected to be compatible with the mil - spec dimensions of the holes in the lower receiver that accommodates them . for instance , they can have a diameter range of 0 . 375 +/− 0 . 010 inches , in one embodiment they are 0 . 371 inches in diameter . a connecting rod 18 extends from the first end 16 to a second end 20 . in a preferred embodiment the connecting rod is round in cross - section but can have any cross - sectional shape that acts as a connector between the two ends of the sliding safety connector . the second end 20 of the sliding safety connector has a body portion 22 that is the same diameter as the diameter of the first end 16 . a smaller diameter section 24 , of about 0 . 325 +/− 0 . 010 inches , in one embodiment the measurement is 0 . 322 inches , is formed on the sliding safety selector inboard of the body portion 22 of the second end 20 and is also connected to the connecting rod 18 . there is a small circumferential groove 26 formed in the smaller diameter section 24 at the juncture of the smaller diameter section 24 and the body portion 22 of the second end 20 of the sliding safety selector 12 . near the top of the outboard end of the body portion 22 there is a second circumferential groove 28 . carried in this groove 28 is a highly visible colored o - ring 30 , in one example this o - ring would be red . the o - ring 30 is used to display that the sliding safety selector is positioned in the “ fire ” position and the ar can be fired . if the o - ring 30 isn &# 39 ; t visible when the sliding safety selector is slid into a bore of a lower receiver of the ar the rifle is in the “ safe ” mode . since the red o - ring is nested in the receiving bore of the lower receiver , the safety is “ on ” and the rifle can &# 39 ; t be fired . the red o - ring can be any color that helps show that the sliding safety is in the fire position . furthermore , the end of the body portion can be painted or anodized to be distinctive . for night use it would be helpful to have a highly visible finish on the end of the body portion , such as , but not limited to , a glowing or phosphorescent coating . in another embodiment of the invention no circumferential groove is provided but the body portion of the second end is treated to be highly visible . the ends of the sliding safety selector may have a pattern of concentric ridges or grooves formed on the ends of one or both of the first and second ends . alternatively other friction enhancing surface treatments , such as but not limited to , graphic indicia . a detent pin 14 restrains the movement of the sliding safety selector through the bores of the lower receiver . bores in the lower receiver portion of ar style rifles are formed transverse to the major axis of the lower receiver . these bores are of a standard size and will accommodate the sliding safety selector 12 presented here . the intent of the inventor is to present a sliding safety selector that is a direct replacement of the rotating safety selector used on all modern civilian ar style rifles . thus no machining of the lower receiver is necessary to fit the sliding safety selector in place of a rotating safety selector removed from an assembled civilian ar style rifle . the detent pin 14 has one end 32 that is generally rounded and a second end 34 with a diameter slightly larger then the diameter of the longitudinal body 44 of the detent pin 14 . there is a circumferential groove 36 between the body of the detent pin and the slightly larger diameter at the non - rounded end of the detent pin . the detent pin 14 is carried in and is spring loaded in a preexisting bore in the lower receive previously used to contain a similar detent pin used with the rotating safety selector . the pin 14 of the sliding safety selector simply replaces a similar pin used with the rotating style safety selector that is being replaced with the sliding safety selector 12 . the rounded end of the detent pin 14 is spring loaded ( spring not shown , it is one of the two dozen or so parts of a conventional ar style lower receiver and is the same spring and same spring mounting location as used in an ar style lower receiver with a rotating safety selector ) to detent the sliding safety selector as the rounded end 32 of the pin 14 interfaces with a machined slot or longitudinal chamber 38 formed in the body portion of the second end of the sliding safety device . as best seen in fig1 , the base of this longitudinal chamber 38 has first 40 and second depressions 42 , or pin receiving dimples , to accommodate the rounded end 32 of the pin 14 when the pin 14 is in one or the other of two displacements , either in the “ fire ” position or in the “ safe ” position . between the first 40 and second 42 depressions the floor of the longitudinal chamber there is an incline 46 that extends upwardly from the edge of the first depression 40 toward the second depression 42 and when the incline 46 is midway between the first depression 40 and the second depression 42 the incline extends downwardly toward the second depression 42 . the sides of the longitudinal chamber 38 are not parallel but have contours extending toward each other with the closest point between the sides of the longitudinal chamber proximate the highest point of the upward and downward sloping incline between the first and second depressions . this is a result of the tool , normally a ball end mill , used to form the depressions being moved away from the major axis of the sliding safety selector after forming the first depression and cutting the longitudinal groove 38 as the ball mill tool moves toward the location of the second depression on a downward direction . the incline thus formed assists in allowing the rounded end of the detent pin to move smoothly from one depression to the other depression . the generally flat ends of the cylinders 16 and 20 may have a series concentric circles formed on the ends of the cylinders as shown in fig1 . once the sliding safety selector , generally 10 , has been installed in the lower receiver of an ar style rifle the portion of the selector between the two ends 12 and 14 will contact the upper portion of the trigger assembly when the sliding safety selector is in the “ safe ” position . when the selector is in the safe position the end of the top surface of trigger will ride on the smaller diameter 24 of the selector . in this position the rifle can &# 39 ; t be fired . to allow the safety selector 10 to be in position to allow the rifle to fire , the sliding safety selector 10 will be urged by the operator pressing on the exposed end surface of the first end of 16 of the sliding safety selector to the fire position . in this position the second end 22 of the sliding safety selector 10 will project outwardly from the side of lower receiver . the red o - ring will be exposed indicating that the sliding safety selector 10 is no longer in contact with the extension on the trigger thus allowing the weapon to be fire . in this position the trigger extension will be off the smaller diameter 24 section of the selector and will be adjacent the connecting rod 18 but not in contact with it . installing the sliding safety selector in the lower receiver of an ar style rifle is uncomplicated . of course the rifle has to be cleared to make sure there is no ammo in the rifle so it is not fired accidently . first the rotating safety selector has to be removed . the lever or rotating safety selector is simply pushed out of the lower after the retaining detent pin is removed and the new sliding safety selector is pushed into place and the detent pin is replaced . the selector detent pin is urged into contact with the selector by a selector spring held in place under the pistol grip . the pistol grip is attached to the lower by a pistol grip screw and a locking washer . the pistol grip is removed to get access to the selector spring and the selector detent . they will both just fall out of the lower receiver with the pistol grip removed . after the selector detent is removed the hammer is cocked back to the half - cocked position and the selector can be removed . installation of the sliding safety selector is basically the reverse of the removal process . with the rifle &# 39 ; s hammer in the half - cocked position the sliding selector is pushed through the lower receiver from either the left or right until it is in the fire position with the red o - ring showing on the right side of the lower . the selector detent is positioned in its bore and the selector spring is positioned against the outboard end of the selector detent pin . the sliding safety selector is rotated in the selector apertures on each side of the lower receiver until the selector pin engages the slot or longitudinal chamber in the sliding selector . at this point the pistol grip can be reinstalled and secured using the pistol grip screw and washer to retain the selector spring in compression between the pistol grip and the outboard end of the selector pin . the sliding safety selector is now tested to make sure it locks the hammer in “ safe ” when the sliding safety selector is pushed to the safe location with the red o - ring hidden in the lower receiver . in summary the invention comprises a component for an ar style lower receiver . the component is a sliding safety selector that replaces the lever operated rotating safety selector in the lower receiver of ar style rifle . no ar style rifle uses a sliding safety selector . as far as the inventor knows all ar style rifles use a rotating safety selector . in further summary the invention is a sliding safety selector for use in a lower receiver of an ar style semi - automatic rifle the sliding safety selector includes at least a cylindrical first end with an inboard surface and an outboard surface . a cylindrical connecting rod is attached to the inboard surface of the first end . the connecting rod has a major axis , a first end , and a second end . the connecting rod is carried on the inboard surface of the cylindrical first end , the connecting rod aligned with the major axis of the cylindrical connecting rod . a cylindrical second end is connected to the second end of the connecting rod . this cylindrical second end has a safety selector shelf of a first diameter and a body section having diameter larger than then diameter of the safety selector shelf . the cylindrical second end also has an outboard surface . a longitudinal chamber is formed in the safety selector shelf and the body section of the cylindrical second end . this chamber extends longitudinally along the cylindrical second end of the sliding safety selector . there are also first and second detent recesses formed in the longitudinal chamber . an incline is formed , must easily using a ball end mill , between the first and second detent recesses . the incline has an upward slope portion and a downward slope portion . the cylindrical first end of the sliding safety selector has a length greater than its diameter . similarly the body portion of the second end of the selector has a length greater than the diameter of the cylindrical second end . it is desireable to have a circumferential groove formed in the body portion of the cylindrical second end of the sliding safety selector . this circumferential groove can be given a highly visible surface treatment . alternatively , an o - ring , having a highly visible color , such as red , can be carried in the circumferential groove . an alternative to the circumferential groove , although it can be used as well , is to have the body portion of the cylindrical second end of the sliding safety selector comprising a highly visible surface . in one embodiment of the invention a narrow circumferential groove is formed in the safety shelf immediately inboard of the body portion of the second end where the body portion of the second end attaches to the safety shelf . as this device is generally interfacing with a human hand or finger it is advantageous to provide the sliding safety selector with friction - improving surfaces at each end of the device . this can be a series of concentric grooves , or in one embodiment , a graphic indicia , such as a company logo . the sliding safety selector has a two depressions or dimples that are provided to receive a detent pin . the detent pin is engageable with the first and second detent recesses of the longitudinal chamber . the detent pin will also track along an in the inclined recess formed between the two detents in the longitudinal chamber of the main body . the pin is always , ( when properly installed ) in spring loaded seated contact with one of the depressions and when not seated in a depression the pin is contained in the longitudinal chamber . this prevents the main body of the sliding safety selector from sliding out of the host ar style lower receiver . while the invention is described herein in terms of preferred embodiments and generally associated methods , the inventor contemplates that alterations and permutations of the preferred embodiments and methods will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading of the specification and a study of the drawings . accordingly , neither the above description of preferred exemplary embodiments nor the abstract defines or constrains the invention . rather , the issued claims variously define the invention . each variation of the invention is limited only by the recited limitations of its respective claim , and equivalents thereof , without limitation by other terms not present in the claim . | 5 |
the basic structrual elements of an amusement device formed in accordance with the present invention are hexaflexagons . fig1 show a strip element 10 of ten equilateral triangle elements 11 with two end triangles 13 , and 13 and the triangles are hingedly connected at adjacent edges 12 and each element 11 has an edge 14 that is not used as a hinge edge . progress to fig2 which shows the first fold 16 of one of the hinges 12 . fig2 shows two other hinges 12 which still need to be folded to make the trihexaflexagon element . fig3 now shows that two folds 16 have been made . fig4 shows the final fold 16 at a fold hinge 12 along with the other two folds 16 and 16 that have already been made . finally fig5 shows how the tenth end triangle element 13 is glued or fixedly attached by other means such as staples , weld or tape to the other end triangle element 13 to form the single ninth triangle element 19 . the strucutre illustrate in fig5 is the loop element 15 and is a trihexaflexagon . the loop element 15 is a twisted continuous loop of hingedly connected triangles where the twist is obtained by the way the hinges are folded before the ends of the strip are finally connected to form the continuous loop element 15 . in order to build any hexaflexagon loop element it is necessary that enough twist exist in the loop to restrict the loop to a hexagon shape of 6 triangles on both sides when it is laid out flat . higher order hexaflexagons , such as hexahexaflexagons made from longer strips of hingedly connected triangles , may also be used to build embodiments of my invention , and these kinds of higher loop elements must also satisfy the requirement of just the right amount of twist . for instance trihexaflexagons may be linked to hexahexaflexagons in many different ways , and hexahexaflexagons may be linked to other hexaflexagons to create puzzles of great difficulty and interest . fig5 also shows three arrows leading away from three of the inner vertices of the trihexaflexagon loop element 15 . these three vertices , indicated by the arrows in fig5 are to be separated by first bringing the vertices 40 downward and together to form a radially pinched structure shown in fig6 . in fig6 the three arrows are again shown and the three folded hinges 16 are also shown along with the vertices 40 . finally , fig7 shows how the pinched structure in fig6 has been opened out as indicated by the arrows in fig6 and once again forms into a hexagonal shape but has acquired the three new folded hinges 16 whereas the previous folded hinges 16 in fig6 have now become unfolded hinges 12 in fig7 . the trihexaflexagon loop element 15 can now be linked to another loop element 15 by inserting a strip 10 between one of the folds 16 &# 39 ; in fig8 and then folding the inserted strip 10 into a new loop elements 15 as explained previously for fig5 . fig8 shows the first fold 16 being made upon the inserted strip 10 . fig9 shows the linked 2 - loop structure 30 . the two linked loop elements 15 and 15 have three folds 16 in one element 15 and three folds 16 &# 39 ; in the other element 15 . fig9 also shows a slipagon diagram that represents 30 indicated by the node element 18 and the link line element 17 . the node elements 18 represent loop elements and the link line elements 17 represent the way the loops are linked together . other figures in this specification will also contain slipagon diagrams where appropriate to show how the elements 15 are linked at a glance and to provide a convenient means for discussion of methods of creating slipagons of many different kinds . fig9 represent the simplest slipagon possible since it is formed on only two linked loop elements 15 . fig9 also shows two arrow indicia 20 fixedly marked on each of the two loop elements 15 . this arrow indicia in fig9 can be moved about by sliping or sliding the elements 15 by choosing one of the slide directions shown by the dotted arrows in fig9 . the arrow indicia in fig9 can also be moved by flexing either one or both of the loop elements 15 as previously described by the description of the fig5 , and 7 . a puzzle that is not too difficult is to get the arrow indicia back as shown in fig9 after they are moved about with respect to one another by several slips and folds of the elements 15 . most slipagon puzzles can be either slipped or flexed or both . there may be several positions that a slipagon can be gotten into where either slipping or flexing becomes highly restricted . getting the slipagon back to a normal position may then become extremely difficult . fig1 is a chain slipagon puzzle 31 of four linked elements 15 and also shows the slipagon diagram for these four linked elements . the four arrows in fig1 are indicia fixedly marked upon each of the four loop elements 15 . these arrows can be moved about in many ways with respect to each other by flexing and or slipping the four loop elements 15 in fig1 . it is a pleasant puzzle figuring out how to restore the indicia to their original positions after moving them about at random by flexing and or slipping the four loop elements 15 in fig1 . fig1 illustrates a loop puzzle 32 of four linked loop elements 15 and its slipagon diagram appears with it as four nodes connected by four line links to form a square . fig1 shows the puzzle 32 as a regular tetrahedron but the puzzle 32 can assume many other forms by the operations of slipping and flexing as previously explained , and it can be exceedingly difficult to restore it to the tetrahedral form if it is gotten into a much different form . the three arrow indicia in fig1 are to be complemented by a fourth arrow behind the middle arrow in fig1 and on the opposite side of the puzzle 32 . fig1 is a perspective sketch of another loop puzzle 33 of four linked loop elements 15 along with its slipagon diagram . the slipagon diagram in fig1 appears identical to the slipagon diagram in fig1 but the puzzle 33 pictured in fig1 is a distinctly different structure from the puzzle 32 shown in fig1 . the reason for this is that a different twist was given to the chain of four linked loop elements 15 before it was connected into a loop in the same manner that different twists may be given to moebius bands before connecting them into loops . the structure 33 illustrated in fig1 is flexible , and the four arrow indicia may be mixed up and then restored . the puzzle 33 in fig1 also has several forms different from the octahedral cap illustrated in fig1 , and some of these forms can be very difficult to return from , to the octahedral cap form . fig1 is an overhead sketch view of a loop 34 of six linked loop elements 15 along with it &# 39 ; s slipagon diagram . the six arrow indicia shown on the loop elements 15 of the loop puzzle 34 can be thoroughly mixed up and then restored but restoration can be very difficult . the puzzle 34 has a great many different forms . loops of six linked loop elements 15 can be connected in several distinctly different ways not shown in any of the figures . fig1 shows five different slipagon diagrams of other structures that can be made by linking the elements 15 as indicated by the diagrams a , b , c , d and e . the diagram a in fig1 shows a basic branched slipagon structure . the diagram b in fig1 shows the maximum number of branches possible at a single loop element 15 by linking the loop elements 15 to it . the diagram c in fig1 shows a cubic method of linking the loop elements 15 . the structure indicated by diagram c has been made by the present inventor and it can be collapsed and then opened back out to a three dimensional form in a new position . a deceptive puzzle could be made by eliminating one of the connecting link lines in diagram c thereby obtaining a structure that could be gotten into many positions that the puzzle of diagram c could not be gotten into and making it appear that the structure was still the same as that of diagram c . a slipagon puzzle with the slipagon diagram of fig1 d was made by the present inventor . it has proven to be one of the most difficult slipagon puzzles so far discovered and it can be gotten into positions from which it may take a person hours to get back to some simple starting position . the structure of diagram e shows how many other slipagons can be made simply by designing diagrams and then checking out all possible ways of building the structures represented by a single diagram of linking and looping the loop elements 15 , or by linking and looping more complicated hexaflexagon loop elements . fig1 shows a perspective view of a portion of a self hinging plastic strip with triangle elements 11 &# 39 ; and hinge elements 12 &# 39 ;. strips of this kind can easily be made with appropriate press rollers having dies for creating the hinge depressions as the plastic strip is pressed and rolled between the rollers . several very good , well known , readily available , cheap , self hinging plastics exist and would work well to build the many embodiments of my invention . fig1 shows a plan view of the two ends of a strip of ten equilateral triangle elements 11 &# 34 ; with hinge elements 12 &# 34 ; and end triangles 13 &# 39 ;. the end triangles 13 &# 39 ; in fig1 illustrate how a self hinging plastic strip or other , suitable kind of strip of triangle elements 11 &# 34 ; could be provided with notch elements 21 &# 39 ; in one end element 13 &# 39 ; to mate with notch elements 21 in the other end element 13 &# 39 ; so as to provide a loop element 15 , as previously described , that can be quickly disassembled and unlinked from other loop elements 15 and then reassembled and linked in new ways to other loop elements 15 to create many different kinds of slipagon structures . fig1 shows a simple way to manufacture hinged strips of triangles by means of adhesive tape elements 22 and 22 &# 39 ;, rollers 23 and 23 &# 39 ;, press roller 24 , hopper 26 containing triangles 11 &# 34 ; in alternate orientatiions , and roller 27 under the hopper 26 . the apparatus works by pulling the tape band 25 under the hopper 26 causing one edge of the triangle elements 11 &# 34 ; to fall to the adhesive surface of the tape band 25 as can be seen in the partial frontal section of the hopper bottom in fig1 . after the tape band 25 passes under the hopper 26 and collects triangle elements 11 &# 34 ; with hinge elements 12 &# 34 ; it passes through tape roller 23 &# 39 ; and press roller 24 and recieves another adhesive tape band 25 &# 39 ; on its top from tape roll 22 &# 39 ; completing the assembly of a long strip of hingedly connected equilateral triangles . the hinges are made extra strong from the contact of the adhesive surfaces of the two tape bands 25 and 25 &# 39 ;. the width of the hinge elements 12 &# 34 ; can be varied by changing the speed at which the tape band passes under the hopper 26 . the finished strip of hingedly connected triangles may then be cut into smaller strips , which smaller strips are then used to build the puzzles described by the present invention . while certain specific embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed as typical , the invention is of course not limited to these particular forms , but rather is broadly applicable to all such variations as fall within the scope of the appended claims . | 0 |
with regards to fig3 - 11 , various embodiments of a holding arrangement used to secure intravenous fluid containers to an iv pole 20 according to the present invention are discussed . referring to fig3 at a first end 23 of an elongated pole 22 , a first embodiment of the holding device 21 includes a head 24 , and a plunger 26 with a cap portion 28 . the head 24 includes at least a pair of projections 30 opposed two each other and integrally formed with the head 24 . the pair of projections 30 extends upwardly from a land area 32 of the head 24 and are shaped and sized to provide attachment points such that conventional iv fluid containers may be hung thereon . the head 24 further includes a butt portion 34 by which the head 24 mounts to the pole 22 with a tube and butt engagement , as illustrated by fig4 . alternatively , the head 24 may mount to the pole 22 with a male and female engagement , wherein a male extension of the head 24 maybe inserted into the inner diameter of the pole 22 . a plunger guide hole 36 is formed within the land area 32 of the head 24 between the projections 30 . a stem portion 38 of the plunger 26 is slidably mounted within the plunger guide hole 36 , wherein the plunger is movable between an extended position , illustrate by fig3 and a retracted position , illustrated by fig4 . in the extended position , the cap portion 28 of the plunger 26 is held a distance above the height of the projections 30 to allow iv fluid containers to be hung upon the projections . pushing downwardly on the cap portion 28 , vertically moves the stem portion 38 of the plunger 26 within the plunger guide hole 36 to place the plunger in the retracted position . in the retracted position , a seating surface 40 of the cap portion 28 is proximate to the projections 30 such that removal of iv fluid containers hung on the projections is substantially prevented . it is to be appreciated that the holding device 21 provides for a safer holding arrangement due to the holding device &# 39 ; s smooth circumferential profile and the protected vertical attachment points , which minimizes the chance of the upper portion of the iv pole 20 getting snagged on an obstacle during transport . various actuator mechanisms may be used to maintain and / or move the plunger 26 of the holding device 21 to the extended and retracted positions . in the embodiment of the holding device 21 illustrated by fig4 showing the head 24 partially cut away , the plunger 26 is conventionally mounted at an end to a flexible membrane 42 . the flexible membrane 42 is housed within a chamber 44 of the head 24 that is in communication with the plunger guide hole 36 . the membrane 42 is flexibly deformable to an up position ( not shown ) and a down position as illustrated , which maintains the plunger 26 in the retracted position . deforming the membrane 42 to the up position maintains the plunger 26 in the extended position illustrated by fig3 . manually pushing or pulling on the cap portion 26 deforms the membrane 42 , and situates the plunger 26 in the retracted and extended position , respectively . in the embodiment of the holding device 21 illustrated by fig5 a , 5 b , and 6 , a pop - up feature for the plunger 26 will be described . as for the embodiments illustrated by fig5 a and 5 b , the major difference between these embodiments is the manner by which the plunger 26 is retained or latched in the retracted position by an engagement member . it is to be appreciated that for other embodiments other latching methods may be used . in the embodiments of fig5 a , 5 b , and 6 , the same features that were mentioned in regards to the embodiment of fig3 and 4 , are labeled with like numbers , and for convenience , only the differences in this embodiment will be discussed . in the embodiments shown by fig5 a and 5 b , the plunger 26 is part of a spring - loaded plunger subassembly . in these embodiments , the plunger 26 is mounted to a plate portion 46 of a guide rod 48 and is slidable with the guide rod against the bias of a guide rod spring 50 . the plate portion 46 , in addition to supporting the plunger 26 , is sized such that it acts as stop preventing the stem portion 38 of the plunger 26 to exit completely from at least the plunger guide hole 36 , which is best shown by fig5 a . the guide rod spring 50 is sized such that it is accommodated in chamber 44 and retained on the guide rod 48 between the plate portion 46 and a guide rod hole 52 . in the embodiment illustrated in fig5 b , the guide rod spring 50 is accommodated in a recess provided in the butt portion 34 of the head 24 such that the plate portion 46 of the guide rod 52 retracts in close proximity to the butt portion 34 within the chamber 44 . the guide rod hole 52 is provided in the butt portion 34 of the head 24 in axial alignment with the plunger guide hole 36 . the guide rod 48 extends from the guide rod - hole 52 coaxially through the spring 50 to the plunger 26 . with the plunger 26 in the extended position , a portion of the guide rod 48 remains positioned in the guide rod hole 52 , which is illustrated by the dashed - lines in fig5 a . as previously mentioned , the plunger 26 and guide rod 48 are slidably movable against the bias of the guide rod spring 50 . for the embodiment shown by fig5 a , manually compressing the guide rod spring 50 by pushing on the cap portion 28 of the plunger 26 , engages the plate portion 46 of the guide rod 48 with a latching projection 54 provided on the interior surface of a push - button 56 . the push - button 56 is mounted pivotally to the head 24 and biased against a spring ( not shown ) toward a retaining position . the latching projection 54 includes a sloping ridge 58 and an undercut 60 . the sloping ridge 58 is angled such that the plate portion 46 of the guide rod 48 may slide over and slightly move the latching projection 54 away as the guide rod spring 50 is compressed with minimal resistance . as the plate portion 46 is moved below the latching projection 54 , the push - button 56 retains the plunger 26 in the retracted position with the plate portion 46 engaged by the undercut 60 as illustrated by fig6 . when the push - button 56 is actuated , the undercut 60 of the latching projection 54 moves away from the plate portion 46 , releasing the plunger to pop - up to the extended position . a thumb depression 62 may be provided to the exterior surface of the push button 56 for more convenient gripping . for the embodiment shown by fig5 b , the plate portion 46 of the guide rod 48 is provided with a perimeter groove 64 . the latching projection 54 of the push - button is accommodated in a horizontal through - bore 66 that opens in the cavity 44 of head 24 . the latch projection 54 is biased against a spring 68 , which maintains the latching projection 54 engaged in the groove 64 of the plate portion 46 holding the plunger 26 in the illustrated retracted position . accordingly , pressing the push - button moves the latching projection 54 from the retaining position to a release position , which by releasing the guide rod spring 50 permits the plunger 26 to pop - up to the extended position as illustrated by fig6 . in using the holding device 21 in the extended position ( fig5 a ), the cap portion 28 of the plunger 26 is held a length above the height of the projections 30 to allow iv fluid containers to be hung upon the projections . pushing down on the cap 28 will place the plunger 26 in the retracted position ( fig6 ) with the latching projection 54 of the push - button 56 releasably engaging the plate portion 46 of the guide rod 48 , thereby resetting the pop - up feature of the holding device 21 . in the retracted position , the cap portion 28 either rests or is proximate to the projections 30 securing the iv fluid containers therein . pressing the push - button , releases the latching projection 54 thereby springing the plunger 26 , by the spring 50 expanding , to the extended position . with regards to fig7 - 11 , various embodiment of the iv pole 20 according to the invention are discussed . in the embodiment of the iv pole 20 shown by fig7 the holding device 21 is provided at the end 23 of the elongated pole 22 . the elongated pole 22 comprises an inner tube 70 , an outer tube 72 , a manually operable adjusting sleeve 74 , and a socket assembly 76 located at the lower end of the outer tube 72 . the outside diameter of the inner tube 70 is slightly smaller than the inside diameter of the outer tube 72 thereby permitting the inner tube to slide freely within the outer tube . the adjustable sleeve 74 at a lower portion 78 is mounted over the upper end of the outer tube 72 . an upper portion 80 of the adjustable sleeve 74 is flexible along a portion of its circumference due to a slit 82 defining the upper portion into a pair of flexible radial arms 84 and 86 . a lever 88 is pivotally mounted to the free ends of the arms 84 , 86 and is used to releasably secure the inner tube 70 in place when located in a first position substantially parallel to the outer tube 72 . rotating the lever 88 from the first position to a second position substantially perpendicular to the sleeve 74 , indicated by the dashed line , increases the circumference of the sleeve in the upper portion 80 such that the inner tube 70 may slide up or down freely . rotating the lever 88 back down to the first position , draws the arms 84 and 86 of the sleeve 74 closer together thereby squeezing the inner diameter of the upper portion 80 of the sleeve 74 tightly against the outer circumference of the inner tube 70 securing the tube in place . accordingly , the adjustable sleeve 74 is used to releasably secure the inner tube 70 in a selected vertical position with respect to the outer tube 72 . the socket assembly 76 , which supports the pole 22 by its lower end in at least an upright condition , comprises a mounting plug 90 , and a generally cylindrical collar 92 with preferably an integral dovetail base 94 . for other embodiments , other conventionally known base configurations , such as for example a stand , may be used to support the iv pole 20 in the upright condition . the collar 92 has a cutout 96 extending into it from its upper edge diametrically across the collar . the cutout 96 is generally concave in shape and defines a pair of opposed walls 98 . a bolt 100 is disposed in a pair of first holes 102 provided in the opposed walls 98 at a location above the bottom of the cutout such that the shank of the bolt extends approximately diametrically across the collar at approximately the midsection of the cutout . the mounting plug 90 has near its center a radially outwardly projecting annular flange 104 . extending upwardly from the annular flange 104 is a very short cylindrical stub 106 having an outside diameter substantially equal to the inside diameter of the lower end of the outer tube 72 . the stub 106 is disposed within the lower end of outer tube 72 such that the flange 104 is disposed against the lower end of the outer tube 72 . the mounting plug 90 also includes an elongate projection 108 that extends downwardly from the flange 104 . the projection is generally rectangular , and has a width that is slightly less than the distance between the opposed walls 98 of the collar 92 . the outer edges 110 of the projection 108 is slightly rounded , and the projection 108 has a lengthwise slot 112 opening transversely through it such that the shank of the bolt 100 is slidably received within the slot . when the pole 22 is in its upright condition , the annular flange 104 rests against the upper edge of the collar 92 with the shank of bolt 100 near the upper end of the slot 112 and spaced from the lower end 62 of slot 58 . a first securing pin 114 a is disposed in a second pair of holes 116 . it is to be appreciated that the hole 116 on the unshown side is the same . the holes 116 are provided in the opposed walls 98 in a location below the first pair of holes 102 and above the bottom of the cutout 92 such that the shank of the pin 114 a may pass through the slot 112 of the plug 90 with the flange 104 resting against the upper edge of the collar 92 . accordingly , cooperation of bolt 100 , the pin 114 a , and slot 112 prevents rotation of the outer tube 72 . the dovetail base 94 releasably mounts to a docking port 118 by sliding the collar 92 into an oppositely shaped mounting socket 120 . positioning second and third securing pins 114 b and 114 c , respectively , in holes 121 provided in a side wall 123 of the docking port 118 releasably secures the dovetail base 94 within the mounting socket 120 . in one embodiment , the docking port 118 is mounted directly to a structural member 122 , such as a side rail 125 of a stretcher or emergency cot , as illustrated in fig8 . as shown in fig8 a support bracket 124 that easily clips onto the side rail 125 with a flexible c - clamp portion 127 may be used to provide extra support for the iv pole 20 when folded down parallel to the structural member in a stowed condition . with reference to fig9 a and 9 b , embodiments of removably providing the docking port 118 to the structural member 112 according to the present invention are shown . for the embodiment of fig9 a , the docking port 118 is provided integral to an o - type clamping arrangement 126 . the o - type clamping arrangement 126 is formed of two halves 128 and 130 that interlock via a tongue and groove fitting 132 , and held tightly on the structural member 112 by a pair of bolts 134 . the advantage of this type of arrangement is the docking port 118 may be retrofitted and provided semi - permanently to structural members 112 of a structure , such as for example , various emergency cots , stretchers , vehicles , crash carts , hospital beds , and the like . referring to fig9 b , the docking port 118 is provided integral to a c - type clamp device 136 that permits the docking port 118 to be slidably engaged onto the structural member 112 . moving a handle 138 from a first position , shown by fig9 b , to a second position , indicated by a dashed - line , will cause a holding surface 140 of the c - type clamp device 136 to lift and to contact firmly against the structural member 112 thereby releasably securing the docking port 118 in place . an upper portion 142 of the c - type clamp 136 pivots relative to a lower portion 144 such that the c - type clamp may be easily removed from the structural member by positioning the handle 138 in the first position and pivoting the first portion 142 away from the structural member 112 relative to the lower portion 144 . the advantage of such a clamping device is that the docking port may be easily and conveniently provided to and repositioned on structural members of various types of emergency cots , stretcher , crash carts , transport vehicles , hospital bed and the like . referring to fig1 , another embodiment of an iv pole 20 according to the present invention is shown . for this embodiment , at a lower end of a tubular support member 146 the dovetail support assembly 76 is provided such that the docking port 118 as previously mentioned releasably secures the iv pole 20 to the structural member 112 . the support member 146 provides an integral cross bracket portion 148 which mat be used to hang intravenous fluid containers and other medical equipment . in still another embodiment of the iv pole 20 according to the present invention , a tubular bar 150 is provided which spans between two structural members 112 a and 112 b , as illustrated by fig1 . at each end of the bar 150 a dovetail support assembly 76 is provided in the same manner as explained above such that the ends of the bar 150 may by releasably secured in docking ports 118 a and 118 b provided on the structural members 112 a and 112 b . in the foregoing specification , the invention has been described with reference to specific exemplary embodiments thereof it will , however be appreciated that various modifications and changes , such as replacing the conventional holding brackets on conventional iv poles with the holding device of the invention , may be made thereto without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims . the specification and drawings are , accordingly , to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense . | 0 |
the present invention provides a process which converts a linear olefin - containing hydrocarbon feedstream to an iso - olefin rich product at high iso - olefin selectivity over a catalyst comprising zsm - 35 under skeletal isomerization conditions . for present purposes , &# 34 ; zsm - 35 &# 34 ; is considered equivalent to its isotypes , which include ferrierite ( p . a . vaughan , acta cryst . 21 , 983 ( 1966 )); fu - 9 ( d . seddon and t . v . whittam , european patent b - 55 , 529 , 1985 ); isi - 6 ( n . morimoto , k . takatsu and m . sugimoto , u . s . pat . no . 4 , 578 , 259 , 1986 ); monoclinic ferrierite ( r . gramlich - meier , v . gramlich and w . m . meier , am . mineral . 70 , 619 ( 1985 )); nu - 23 ( t . v . whittam , european patent a - 103 , 981 , 1984 ); and sr - d ( r . m . barrer and d . j . marshall , j . chem . soc . 1964 , 2296 ( 1964 )). preferably the catalyst comprises zsm - 35 in its hydrogen - exchanged form , hzsm - 35 . the skeletal isomerization reaction of the present invention is carried out at temperatures between 250 and 750 ° c . ; weight hourly space velocity based on linear olefin in the feed between 5 and 500 whsv ; and linear olefin partial pressure between 12 and 500 kpa . the preferred conditions are temperatures between 325 and 600 ° c ., more preferably between 390 and 550 ° c ., whsv between 10 and 400 , more preferably between 30 and 250 ; and a linear olefin partial pressure between 30 and 300 kpa , more preferably between 50 and 150 kpa . under these conditions the conversion of linear olefin , e . g ., n - butene , can be at least 10 %, preferably at least 25 % and more preferably at least 35 %. the selectivity to iso - olefin , e . g ., isobutene , is at least 75 %, preferably at least 85 %, 90 %, 95 % or even 99 %. the present invention is especially suited to processes carried out at high linear olefin to iso - olefin selectivity , e . g ., at least 92 % at relatively low conversion temperatures and high linear olefin partial pressures . such processes can maintain selectivities of at least 90 , 92 or 95 % at a conversion temperature less than or equal to 550 , 400 or even 350 ° c ., and linear olefin partial pressures above 2 psia ( 14 kpa ), e . g . above 5 psia ( 34 kpa ). such processes can be carried out at an overall conversion of linear olefins of at least 30 wt %. preferred feedstreams include c 4 or c 4 + hydrocarbon feedstreams . linear olefins suited to use in the present invention may be derived from a fresh feedstream , preferably comprising n - butenes and / or n - pentenes , or from the effluent of an iso - olefin etherification reactor which employs alkanol and c 4 or c 4 + hydrocarbon feedstock . typical hydrocarbon feedstock materials for isomerization reactions according to the present invention include olefinic streams , such as cracking process light gas containing butene isomers in mixture with substantial amounts of paraffins including n - butane and isobutane . the c 4 components usually contain a major amount of unsaturated compounds , such as 10 - 40 % isobutene , 20 - 55 % linear butenes , and small amounts of butadiene . also , c 4 + heavier olefinic hydrocarbon streams may be used , e . g . c 4 to c 10 , preferably c 4 to c 6 olefinic hydrocarbon streams . zsm - 35 is more particularly described in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 016 , 245 , the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference . an example of a piperidine - derived ferrierite is more particularly described in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 343 , 692 , the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference . other synthetic ferrierite preparations are described in u . s . pat . nos . 3 , 933 , 974 ; 3 , 966 , 883 ; 4 , 000 , 248 ; 4 , 017 , 590 ; and 4 , 251 , 499 , the entire contents of all being incorporated herein by reference . further descriptions of ferrierite are found in bibby et al , &# 34 ; composition and catalytic properties of synthetic ferrierite ,&# 34 ; journal of catalysis , 35 , pages 256 - 272 ( 1974 ). the zeolite catalyst used is preferably at least partly in the hydrogen form , e . g . hzsm - 35 , but other cations , e . g . rare earth cations , may also be present . when the zeolites are prepared in the presence of organic cations , they may be quite inactive possibly because the intracrystalline free space is occupied by the organic cations from the forming solution . the zeolite may be activated by heating in an inert atmosphere to remove the organic cations e . g . by heating at over 500 ° c . for 1 hour or more . the hydrogen form can then be obtained by base exchange with ammonium salts followed by calcination e . g . at 500 ° c . in air . other cations , e . g . metal cations , can be introduced by conventional base exchange or impregnation techniques . the zsm - 35 may be incorporated in another material usually referred to as a matrix or binder . such matrix materials include synthetic or naturally occurring substances as well as inorganic materials such as clay , silica and / or metal oxides . the latter may be either naturally occurring or in the form of gelatinous precipitates or gels including mixtures of silica and metal oxides . naturally occurring clays which can be composited with the zeolite include those of the montmorillonite and kaolin families , which families include the subbentonites and the kaolins commonly known as dixie , mcnamee , georgia and florida clays or others in which the main mineral constituent is halloysite , kaolinite , dickite , nacrite or anauxite . such clays can be used in the raw state as originally mined or initially subjected to calcination , acid treatment or chemical modification . in addition to the foregoing materials , the zeolites employed herein may be composited with a porous matrix material , such as silica , alumina , zirconia , titania , silica - alumina , silica - magnesia , silica - zirconia , silica - thoria , silica - beryllia , silica - titania as well as ternary compositions such as silica - alumina - thoria , silica - alumina - zirconia , silica - alumina - magnesia and silica - magnesia - zirconia . the matrix can be in the form of a cogel . a mixture of these components could also be used . of all the foregoing materials , silica may be preferred as the matrix material owing to its relative inertness for catalytic cracking reactions which are preferably minimized in the instant isomerization processes . the relative proportions of finely divided zsm - 35 and inorganic oxide gel matrix vary widely with the zeolite content ranging from about 1 to about 90 percent by weight and more usually in the range of about 30 to about 80 percent by weight of the composite . the regeneration of spent zeolite catalyst used in the isomerization reaction is carried out oxidatively or hydrogenatively employing procedures known in the art . the catalyst of the present invention can be readily reactivated without significantly reducing selectivity for isobutene by exposing it to hydrogen for a suitable period , e . g . overnight . in order to obtain desired linear olefin skeletal isomerization activity / selectivity , zsm - 35 , preferably in the hydrogen form , should have an alpha value of at least 5 , preferably at least 50 when used in the catalyst of the present invention . alpha value , or alpha number , of a zeolite is a measure of zeolite acidic functionality and is more fully described together with details of its measurement in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 016 , 218 , j . catalysis , 6 , pp . 278 - 287 ( 1966 ) and j . catalysis , 61 , pp . 390 - 396 ( 1980 ). the experimental conditions cited in the latter reference are used for characterizing the catalysts described herein . 1 . 18 parts of aluminum sulfate ( 17 . 2 % al 2 o 3 ) were added to a solution containing 9 . 42 parts h 2 o and 1 . 38 parts of 50 % naoh solution in an autoclave . 0 . 03 parts of zsm - 35 seeds and 3 . 20 parts of hi - sil precipitated silica were added with agitation , followed by 1 . 0 part of pyrrolidine . ______________________________________ sio . sub . 2 / al . sub . 2 o . sub . 3 21 . 5 oh . sup .- / sio . sub . 2 0 . 11 h . sub . 2 o / al . sub . 2 o . sub . 3 13 . 5 r / al . sub . 2 o . sub . 3 6 . 45______________________________________ where r = pyrrolidine . the mixture was crystallized at 105 ° c . for 74 hours with stirring . the zsm - 35 product was filtered , washed with deionized water , and dried at 120 ° c . the chemical composition of the product was , in weight percent : ______________________________________ sio . sub . 2 76 . 7 al . sub . 2 o . sub . 3 6 . 4 na 0 . 84 c 7 . 26 n 2 . 03 ash @ 1000 ° c . 85 . 5______________________________________ with a silica / alumina ratio for the product , in moles , of 20 . 3 / 1 . the as - synthesized zsm - 35 of example 1 was calcined in nitrogen for 3 hours at 538 ° c ., then exchanged two times at room temperature with 1 n nh 4 no 3 solution to convert it to the ammonium form , dried at 120 ° c ., and calcined in air for 6 hours at 538 ° c . to convert it to the hydrogen form . the zeolite was dry mixed with a precipitated silica , in proportion to give 65 % zsm - 35 / 35 % silica after calcination , formed into pellets , and calcined in air for 3 hours at 538 ° c . a catalyst was prepared by dry mixing the as - synthesized zsm - 35 of example 1 with precipitated silica , in proportion to give , after calcination , 65 % zsm - 35 / 35 % silica in the catalyst . a solution containing 2 % naoh ( based on solids ) was added to the mix to create an extrudable mull , the mix was extruded to 1 / 16 inch ( 1 . 6 mm ) diameter and dried at 120 ° c . the extrudate was exchanged two times with 1n nh 4 no 3 solution at room temperature , rinsed with deionized water , dried at 120 ° c . and calcined in nitrogen for 3 hours at 538 ° c . it was again exchanged with 1n nh 4 no 3 solution two times at room temperature , dried at 120 ° c ., and calcined in air for 9 hours at 538 ° c . a catalyst was prepared by dry mixing the as - synthesized zsm - 35 of example 1 with precipitated silica . colloidal silica , in proportion to give 65 % zsm - 35 / 35 % silica after calcination , and water were added to the dry mix to obtain an extrudable mull . the mull was extruded to 1 / 16 inch ( 1 . 6 mm ) diameter , dried at 120 ° c ., calcined in nitrogen for three hours at 538 ° c ., and then in air for 6 hours at 538 ° c . the extrudate was exchanged two times with 1n nh 4 no 3 solution at room temperature , dried at 120 ° c . and calcined in nitrogen for 3 hours at 538 ° c . isomerization of 1 - butene with zsm - 22 , zsm - 23 and zsm - 35 at 550 ° c . zsm - 22 was prepared by charging 48 . 2 parts water to an autoclave followed by 5 . 0 parts koh solution ( 45 % by weight ), 1 . 0 part aluminum sulfate ( 17 . 2 % al 2 o 3 ) and 0 . 45 parts seeds . after mixing thoroughly , 8 . 2 parts of ultrasil vn3 precipitated silica ( nasilco ), then 3 . 6 parts of ethylpyridinium bromide ( 50 % by weight ) were added and mixed thoroughly . after aging the reaction mixture for 16 hours at 93 ° c . while stirring , the temperature was increased to 160 ° c . and maintained until crystallization was complete . the product was identified as zsm - 22 by x - ray diffraction . the slurry was filtered , washed and dried . a portion of the zeolite was calcined in flowing nitrogen for 3 hours at 538 ° c . and 3 hours in air at the same temperature . the cooled zeolite was exchanged with 1 n nh 4 no 3 ( 5 cc / g zeolite ) at room temperature for one hour then washed with water . the exchange procedure was repeated and the catalyst dried at 120 ° c . the zeolite was then calcined in flowing air for 3 hours at 538 ° c ., then blended 65 parts zeolite and 35 parts ultrasil vn3 and pelleted . the pellets were sized 14 / 24 mesh and recalcined at 538 ° c . in flowing air for 3 hours . zsm - 23 was prepared by charging 85 . 5 parts water to an autoclave followed by 2 . 64 parts koh solution ( 45 % by weight ), 1 . 0 part aluminum sulfate ( 17 . 2 % al 2 o 3 ) and 0 . 5 parts zsm - 23 seeds ( 100 % basis ). after mixing thoroughly , 14 . 5 parts of ultrasil vn3 precipitated silica ( nasilco ), then 5 . 1 parts of pyrrolidine were added and mixed thoroughly . the autoclave was heated to 160 ° c . with stirring and maintained at these conditions until crystallization was complete . the product was identified as zsm - 23 by x - ray diffraction . after flashing the pyrrolidine , the slurry was cooled , washed , filtered and dried . eight parts of the dried zsm - 23 were combined with 1 part ultrasil vn3 and 1 part ludox colloidal silica ( dupont ), mulled and extruded to form 1 / 16 inch pellets which were dried at 120 ° c . the pellets were then calcined in flowing nitrogen for 2 hours at 538 ° c . and 3 hours in air at the same temperature . the cooled catalyst was exchanged with 1n nh 4 no 3 ( 5 cc / g catalyst ) at room temperature for one hour then washed with water . the exchange procedure was repeated and the catalyst dried at 120 ° c . the exchanged extrudate was then calcined at 538 ° c . in flowing air for 3 hours . the above - prepared zsm - 22 and zsm - 23 , and zsm - 35 prepared in accordance with example 3 above were used in butene skeletal isomerization reactions . the approximate experimental conditions were : ______________________________________temperature 550 ° c . pressure 177 kpa1 - butene whsv 65 hr . sup .- 1n . sub . 2 / butene in feed 3 vol / vol______________________________________ fig1 graphically depicts the respective conversions and products obtained for zsm - 22 , zsm - 23 and zsm - 35 . under these conditions selectivities of 83 5 %, 88 2 % and 95 % respectively , were obtained . isomerization of 1 - butene with zsm - 22 , zsm - 23 and zsm - 35 at 400 ° c . zsm - 22 and zsm - 23 prepared in accordance with example 5 , and zsm - 35 prepared in accordance with example 3 above were used in butene skeletal isomerization reactions . the approximate experimental conditions were : ______________________________________temperature 400 ° c . pressure 177 kpa1 - butene whsv 65 hr . sup .- 1n . sub . 2 / butene in feed 3 vol / vol______________________________________ fig2 graphically depicts the respective conversions and products obtained for zsm - 22 , zsm - 23 and zsm - 35 . under these conditions selectivities of 54 . 3 %, 51 . 1 % and 93 . 2 %, respectively , were obtained . zsm - 35 maintains selectivity above 90 % even at temperatures which significantly reduce selectivities for zsm - 22 and zsm - 23 . zsm - 22 and zsm - 23 prepared in accordance with example 5 , and zsm - 35 prepared in accordance with example 3 above were used in 1 - butene skeletal isomerization reactions at 400 ° c . and varying n - butene conversions over a wide range of process conditions . fig3 is a selectivity / conversion plot comparing the performance of the two catalysts . at 30 to 40 % conversion , selectivity of zsm - 23 ranges between 30 and 80 %. in contrast , selectivity of zsm - 35 ranges from 90 to 99 %. indeed , selectivity of zsm - 35 remains relatively flat at greater than 85 % all the way from about 2 to 40 % conversion . the zsm - 35 - containing catalyst of example 2 was used to process a 1 - butene feed under four sets of skeletal isomerization conditions comprising two temperatures and two relatively low 1 - butene partial pressures . the conditions and compositions of the product streams from runs 1 to 4 are set out in table 1 below . selectivity for isobutene ranged from 93 . 2 to 99 %. table 1______________________________________butene skeletal isomerization using zsm - 35 / sio . sub . 2 mixcatalyst : zsm - 35 / silica mixed ( 65 / 35 ), silica / alumina = 20 , catalyst alpha = 96feed : 1 - butene / nitrogenrun number : 1 2 3 4______________________________________feed 1 - butene whsv : 76 75 21 21feed nitrogen / 1 - butene 3 3 10 10 ( vol / vol ) temperature (° c .) 400 550 400 550pressure ( kpa ) 163 170 156 163hours on stream 2 6 9 14 . 5composition of the product stream (%) normal butenes 61 . 9 62 . 9 66 . 8 62 . 2isobutene 35 . 5 35 . 2 32 . 9 36 . 2propene 1 . 1 0 . 6 0 . 2 0 . 4pentenes 0 . 8 0 . 3 0 0other c . sub . 5 - 0 . 7 0 . 9 0 . 1 1 . 2c . sub . 6 + 0 0 . 1 0 0n - butene conversion (%) 38 . 1 37 . 1 33 . 2 37 . 8isobutene selectivity (%) 93 . 2 95 99 95 . 6______________________________________ the zsm - 35 - containing catalyst of example 3 was used to process a 1 - butene feed under four sets of skeletal isomerization conditions comprising two temperatures and two relatively low 1 - butene partial pressures . the conditions and compositions of the product streams from runs 1 to 4 are set out in table 2 below . a comparison of tables 1 and 2 shows that silica binding has no significant deleterious effect on performance between silica - bound zsm - 35 and zsm - 35 / sio 2 mix catalysts . table 2______________________________________butene skeletal isomerization using silica - bound zsm - 35feed : 1 - butene / nitrogenrun number : 1 2 3 4______________________________________feed 1 - butene whsv : 65 . 9 65 . 5 18 . 4 18 . 5feed nitrogen / 1 - butene 3 3 10 10 ( vol / vol ) temperature (° c .) 400 550 400 550pressure ( kpa ) 161 171 158 165hours on stream 2 . 5 6 . 5 9 . 5 14 . 5composition of the product stream (%) normal butenes 65 63 . 3 64 . 5 63isobutene 32 . 8 34 . 8 35 . 1 36 . 0propene 0 . 84 0 . 6 0 . 2 0 . 48pentenes 0 . 65 0 . 25 0 0other c . sub . 5 - 0 . 62 0 . 94 0 . 2 0 . 55c . sub . 6 + 0 . 1 0 . 13 0 0n - butene conversion (%) 35 36 . 7 35 . 5 37isobutene selectivity (%) 93 . 7 95 98 . 9 97 . 2______________________________________ 1 - butene was converted over the hzsm - 35 catalyst of example 4 under the following conditions : ______________________________________temperature 400 ° c . pressure 200 kpa1 - butene whsv 20 to 65 hr . sup .- 1total whsv 40 to 130 hr . sup .- 1n . sub . 2 / butene 1 ( vol / vol ) ______________________________________ the results of this conversion are depicted in fig4 and show that zsm - 35 , unlike zsm - 22 and zsm - 23 , performs well , particularly respecting selectivity , even at high whsv , low temperatures and high butene partial pressures . 1 - pentene was converted over the zsm - 35 / sio 2 catalyst of example 3 under the following conditions : ______________________________________temperature 400 ° c . pressure 200 kpa1 - pentene whsv 123 hr . sup .- 1hours on stream 10 . ______________________________________ ______________________________________total c4 - 1 . 72 - methyl - 1 - butene 19 . 42 - methyl - 2 - butene 51 . 53 - methyl - 1 - butene 0 . 11 - pentene 2 . 2trans - 2 - pentene 14 . 9cis - 2 - pentene 9 . 6total c6 + 0 . 7ic5 =/ nc5 = in product 2 . 66 . ______________________________________ the above results indicate that linear pentene is converted to branched pentenes ( to near equilibrium ) over zsm - 35 with excellent selectivity . while the instant invention has been described by specific examples and embodiments , there is no intent to limit the inventive concept except as set forth in the following claims . | 1 |
referring to fig1 radiation from an area containing the target is passed to the interior of a missile by means of an optical systems indicated at 6 as a simple convex positive lens . the pre - photocell optical system 7 focuses the radiation from the target area upon a reticle 8 positioned along the optical axis from pre - photocell optics 7 . thus , lens 6 and pre - photocell optics 7 , together , comprise an acceptance optical system . by relative movement of pre - photocell optics 7 and reticle 8 , together with the motion of the missile , the image of a target appearing in the field of view of lens 6 is caused to be chopped or otherwide interrupted by the action of reticle 8 . this chopping action is conventional in the art and may be affected by movement of either pre - photocell optics 7 or reticle 8 . the chopped optical signal is detected by a photocell symbolically indicated at 9 . the output of the photocell is connected to missile target detection and guidance electronics as is conventional in the art and also connected to a background rejection circuit 11 . because the target is of small angular dimensions its image is abruptly occulted by reticle 8 , whereas radiation from objects having a relatively large angular extent pass characteristic radiation patterns which are relatively unaffected by the fine line structure of reticle 8 . as is well understood by those in the electronics arts , the abrupt turning off and on of the illumination from the small angular target as seen by photocell 9 produces an electrical output which is rich in harmonic content of the interruption frequency whereas the relatively more continuous illumination afforded by objects of large angular dimensions in the background produce little high frequency harmonics . the invention circuit utilizes the presence of these high frequency harmonics to indicate the presence and give some idea of the relative size of the target . in order to aid operational personnel to position the target within the acceptance field of the acceptance optical system an audio tone is conventionally utilized to indicate the presence of such a target . background rejection circuit 11 serves this purpose of accentuating the signal produced by the small angle target while leaving the background , or non - target , radiation relatively unaffected . referring to fig2 a block diagram indicates a preferred fashion for accomplishing these desirable objectives . as shown , the alternating current from photocell 9 is connected to the input of a bandpass filter 12 . bandpass filter 12 is a sharply tuned , narrow - band filter which passes only the high frequency harmonics produced by the small angle target . the output of filter 12 is connected to a demodulator circuit 13 . demodulator circuit 13 produces an output which is coupled to a summing amplifier 15 . the output from demodulator 13 , although previously used to generate an audio signal to be used as a target acquisition signal , has a low amplitude because of the relatively small amount of power in the high frequency harmonics when the target is weak . therefore , the amplification of this signal by itself produces little background rejection because of the noise always present with this type of device . this is because the harmonic content of a weak signal is low . to overcome this problem , an internal audio signal from the guidance portion of the missile is also fed to amplifier 15 by means of a suitable demodulator 14 . the guidance system audio , abbreviated gcs audio , is conventionally present in many missile systems but , for the purpose of this application , need be considered only as a source of audio frequency electrical energy . in practice , the frequency is commonly derived from a commentator like signal associated with the relative movement of the pre - photocell optics 7 and reticle 8 . of course , other sources of audio energy may be utilized . for strong signals , the harmonic content is high and the detected signal provides the necessary enhancement , a modulating signal . amplifier 15 has a threshhold adjustment such that the gcs audio signal fed to it by demodulator 14 is insufficient , by itself , to produce an output . however , in the presence of a signal from demodulator 13 , an output is produced . of course , such an output is present only when a target having the necessary high frequency harmonics is processed . the output of summing amplifier 15 is further processed by a spin frequency filter 16 which is a synchronous filter utilizing the up and down guidance control signals from the guidance and control section of the missile to produce a relatively smooth sinusoidal wave having a frequency associated with the reticle - optical spin rate . this frequency is termed “ spin frequency ” and is a characteristic of most modern electro - optically guided missiles . the spin frequency output , which is readily recognized by operational personnel familiar with the missile electronics , is fed to a multiplier 17 which may be conceptionalized as a non - linear modulator along with an audio energy signal indicated as agc audio to produce a modulated audio tone output which may be further amplified and processed by a suitable amplifier 18 . thus , the system provides a circuit producing the familiar tone of the spin frequency and produces such a tone without the annoying presence of background generated tonial information such that it may be clearly recognized by operational personnel when at a low level and in high noise environment . because the enhanced target audio signal is unnecessary once guidance has been obtained , that is the missile has “ locked - on ” the target , the circuit of fig2 has been constructed to receive a gyro cage sensing signal from the guidance and control system of the missile to cut off the passage of the enhanced audio signal when the gyro guidance signal is in the condition that it is tracking the target . this provides an operational convenience and an audible indication to operational personnel that “ lock - on ” has occured . referring to fig3 a schematic representation of an actual implementation of the circuit of fig2 is illustrated . as shown , active filter 12 comprises two operational amplifiers 121 and 122 with frequency limiting feedback circuity to provide for the requisite narrowpass - band . the output is capacitively coupled to an operational amplifier 123 for amplitude and impedance control . the output of amplifier 123 constitutes the output of filter 12 and is connected to a diode demodulator 13 . the output of diode 13 is connected to summing amplifier 15 which includes an operational amplifier 151 together with a resistive signal integrator comprising resistors 152 , 153 , 154 , and 155 . the gcs audio signal is connected via diode 14 to resistor 152 which is in series with resistor 153 to constitute a voltage divider , the output of which is capacitively coupled to amplifier 151 . similarly , resistor 154 is connected in series with resistor 153 and provides a similar voltage dividing function for the output of demodulator diode 13 . the gain of the amplifier is controlled by the appropriate selection of the values of the resistors including resistor 155 in the feedback control circuit of amplifier 151 . the output of summation amplifier 15 , as previously explained , is connected to a spin frequency filter 16 . spin frequency filter 16 is an active filter and includes operational amplifiers 165 and 166 which are connected in series . the output is fed to amplifier 165 by means of a conventional resistance coupling network and a plurality of solid state devices indicated at 161 , 162 , 163 , and 164 . these transistors serve as synchronizing inputs for the guidance signals such as the right - left reference signal connected to transistors 163 and 164 and the up - down reference signals connected to transistors 161 and 162 . as shown , the polarity construction of the transistor pairs associated with the right - left guidance signal and the up - down guidance signal are opposite to allow for each pair to process signals having positive and negative voltage polarities . of course , if a single polarity were used for this purpose , a single transistor having the requisite construction could provide for this bias control . multiplier 17 which receives the output of spin frequency filter 16 includes an operational amplifier 171 which is connected as a pulse width modulator . the output of amplifier 171 is connected to an operational amplifier 172 , via a transistor 173 , to provide for a polarity inversion and necessary impedance matching . amplifier 172 is connected as a conventional difference amplifier and receives an agc audio signal on one terminal and the output of pulse width modulator 171 to produce an output in accordance with the average difference of the voltage on these two terminals in the well understood fashion . this signal then corresponds to a tone modulation of the agc audio signal in the pattern determined by the output of pulse width modulator 171 . the output from multiplier 17 is connected to an amplifier 18 which includes an operational amplifier 181 connected as a straight amplifier and a plurality of impedance matching and gain controlling transistors 182 and 183 . transistors 182 and 183 serve to provide the necessary audio power and impedance matching characteristics for utilization by the system in the well understood fashion . when “ lock - on ” is obtained , the output from circuit 11 is squelched by means of a bias control system . this control system selectively applies a bias to operational amplifier 166 and spin frequency filter 16 and to pulse width modulator 171 and multiplier 17 . this switching is performed by a plurality of transistors 22 - 23 in response to a cage sense signal connected to the gates thereof . transistor 21 is used to change the level at which the carrier amplifier ( front end ) agc operates . the audio circuit requires a reduction or limiting of the agc audio signal , which is the output of the front end . when the seeker is caged , the cage sense signal is low . this turns transistor 21 on and biases the agc so as to limit agc audio at a lower level than normal . this replaces , and is more accurate than , an earlier circuit which used a diode clipper circuit to limit agc audio . when the seeker is uncaged , transistor 21 is turned off and the agc operates normally . when the seeker is uncaged , modulation of missile audio is undesirable , so the modulating signal is shorted out by transistor 22 . at the same time transistor 23 turns on . this allows the agc control signal ( a dc level ) to control the volume of missile audio so a hotter target , which produces a higher level at agc control , will produce a higher volume at the missile audio output . the aforegoing circuit shows how the desired objects of the invention may be implemented in a conventional missile environment by the utilization of conventional components and circuity techniques . as will be recognized by those versed in the art , such as circuit may be miniaturized such that it occupies a minimal space in the compact guidance system of a modern aerial missile . of course , using well understood engineering tradeoffs , circuit modifications may suggest themselves to those versed in the art . the foregoing description taken together with the appended claims and drawings constitute a disclosure such as to enable a person skilled in the electronics and aerial missile arts and having the benefit of the teachings contained therein to make and use the invention . further , the structure herein described meets the objects of invention and generally constitutes a meritorious advance in the art unobvious to such a worker not having the benefit of these teachings . | 6 |
a circuit for linear image scanning is shown in plan schematic view in fig1 and in sectional view in fig2 . the circuit is monolithically integrated on a semiconductor substrate 1 which is covered with an electrically insulating layer 2 . the semiconductor substrate 1 may consist , for example , of p - conductive silicon and the insulating layer 2 may consist , for example , of silicon dioxide . the insulating layer 2 has thin film zones which are disposed within the dashed lines 3 and 4 and has thick film zones beyond those lines . if a silicon dioxide layer is used , the areas between the dashed lines 3 and 4 are designated as gate oxide zones and the areas beyond those lines are field oxide zones . the circuit has a plurality of sensor elements se1 through sen which in fig1 and 2 consist of photodiodes and are formed by oppositely doped n - conductive zones 5 disposed at the boundary surface of the semiconductor substrate 1 . the light - sensitive portion of the circuit , that is the sensors designated by the zones 5 , is bounded by apertures in a metal film layer covering the entire remaining arrangement . next to the row of sensor elements se1 through sen , a transfer gate tg is disposed which is separated from the boundary surface of the semiconductor substrate 1 by the insulating layer 2 and which is connected through a terminal to a clock pulse voltage φ tg . adjacent to the transfer gate tg are the transfer electrodes of a readout charge transfer device arrangement which operates in four - phase mode . those electrodes cover the charge transfer device transfer channel which is laterally bounded by the dashed lines 3 . the transfer electrodes referenced at 6 , 7 , 8 and 9 are respectively connected at their terminals with clock pulse voltages φ1 , φ2 , φ3 and φ4 and form a charge transfer device transfer stage e1 . the succeeding transfer electrodes 10 , 11 , 12 and 13 form the transfer stage e2 and it will be understood that the charge transfer device has further identical transfer stages which are not shown in detail in fig1 which are also connected to the phases φ1 through φ4 . at the last transfer stage en is connected a charge transfer device output stage 14 of the type known to those skilled in the art which is provided with an output terminal 15 . one transfer electrode in each transfer stage , such as electrodes 6 and 10 , slightly overlap the marginal zones of the transfer gate tg and are separated from the gate tg by an intermediate insulating layer 2a . at the side of the sensor elements se1 through sen away from the gate tg is disposed an overflow gate abg which is also separated from the boundary surface of the semiconductor substrate 1 by the insulating layer 2 . next to the gate abg is disposed an oppositely doped overflow drain zone 16 which in the present example is an n - conductive zone disposed at the boundary surface of the substrate 1 . the overflow gate abg is connected at a terminal 18 with a clock pulse voltage source 19 and the overflow drain zone 16 is connected at a terminal 17 to a constant supply voltage u dd . operation of the circuit shown in fig1 and 2 will be described in conjunction with the voltage / time diagram of fig3 and the surface potential diagram for the substrate 1 shown in fig2 . an integration cycle t1 begins with the trailing edge 20 of a clock pulse φ tg1 supplied to the transfer gate tg . the sensor elements se1 through sen are thereby separated from the inputs of the associated transfer stages e1 through en by a potential threshold p10 . as a result of a previously connected clock pulse φ abg1 having an amplitude u &# 34 ; which is connected to the transfer gate abg , a potential value p21 will exist beneath the overflow gate abg which is greater than or equal to the potential p51 at which the zone 5 lies at the commencement of the integration cycle t1 . in fig2 the potential profile which is present at the beginning of the integration cycle t1 at approximately the time t1 is represented by the solid line referenced as φs . as long as the high potential value p21 exists , the optically generated charges indicated at 21 in fig2 can flow into the overflow zone 16 . at a time t2 which coincides with the occurrence of the trailing edge of the pulse φ abg1 , the potential barrier p20 occurs beneath the overflow gate abg which corresponds to a lower pulse amplitude u &# 39 ; supplied by the clock pulse voltage source 19 . the amplitude u &# 39 ; is selected so that only the excessive charge carriers 21 occurring as a result of excessively strong exposure of the sensor element reach the zone 16 through the barrier p20 . such carriers would otherwise penetrate adjacent sensor elements and falsify the image data . at the time t2 , the integration time ti of the sensor elements se1 through sen begins during which optically generated charge carriers are collected in the zone 5 . upon the occurrence of a clock pulse φ tg2 , the time span ta commences for the readout of the collected charge 21 into the potential well p61 which is formed by a pulse φ11 supplied to the extended transfer electrodes such as electrodes 6 and 10 . the integration time ti encompasses this readout . upon the occurrence of the trailing edge of the pulse φ tg2 at the time t3 the readout time ta and the integration time ti terminate and a new integration cycle t2 simultaneously commences . after the time t3 the clock pulse voltages φ1 through φ4 are connected , as indicated in fig3 by the several pulses φ1 . the charge packets 21 which were read out from the sensors se1 through sen and which represent the image data of an entire image line are then sequentially supplied to the output stage 14 through the transfer channel of the charge transfer device . the output stage 14 derives in a known manner a line signal which occurs at the output terminal 15 . the clock pulse voltage source 19 , which alternates between the amplitudes u &# 34 ; and u &# 39 ; effects in the time period t1 to t2 a flow of the optically generated charge carriers 21 from the sensor elements se1 through sen beneath the overflow gate abg and , in the time period t2 through t3 , effects a so - called &# 34 ; anti - blooming &# 34 ; function of the gate abg . the integration time ti represents only a partial section of the integration cycle t1 so that a following portion td exists between two successive integration times ti . in the case of continuous movement of an image to be scanned there is thus present between two successively analyzed image lines a constant interval determined by the length of the equal pulses φabg1 , φabg2 and further sequential pulses . fig4 is a sectional view of a second embodiment of the circuit shown in fig1 and 2 which differs only in the composition of the sensor elements . as shown therein , each sensor element consists of a photodiode region 5 and a metal - insulator - semiconductor capacitor formed by the substrate 1 , the insulating layer 2 , and an external electrode sg which has a terminal supplied with a clock pulse voltage φk . circuit elements common to fig2 and 4 are otherwise identically referenced . the light - sensitive zone which is determined by the apertures in the opaque film layer covering the remaining parts of the circuit includes the zone 5 and may include the semiconductor zones covered by the electrodes sg in which case those electrodes will be transparent . the operation of the embodiment shown in fig4 is explained by the voltage / time diagram of fig5 wherein an integration cycle t1 &# 39 ; begins with the leading edge 22 of a clock pulse φk1 occurring at a time t4 . the potential profile φ s at this time beneath the various circuit components is shown in the solid line in the substrate in fig4 . upon the occurrence of the trailing edge 23 of the clock pulse φtg1 &# 39 ;, the sensor elements were separated from the inputs of the charge transfer device arrangement beneath the transfer electrodes 6 and 10 by the potential threshold p10 . the clock pulse φ abg1 &# 39 ; having an amplitude u &# 34 ; generates the potential p21 beneath the gate abg which is greater than the potential p51 of the zone 5 of the sensor element se1 &# 39 ; beneath the electrode sg . optically generated charges flow off to the zone 16 . at a time t5 which coincides with the occurrence of the trailing edge of the pulse φ abg1 &# 39 ; the potential barrier p20 results corresponding to the voltage value u &# 39 ;. the integration time ti &# 39 ; thus begins at the time t5 . upon the occurrence of the clock pulse φ tg2 &# 39 ; there begins at time t6 the time span ta &# 39 ; for the readout of the collected charge packets 21 into the potential well p61 which is formed beneath the extended electrodes such as electrode 6 by the supply of a clock pulse φ11 &# 39 ; thereto . the integration time ti &# 39 ; is terminated by the trailing edge 24 of the pulse φk1 . following the occurrence of a new clock pulse φ abg2 &# 39 ; and at the end of the pulse φ tg2 &# 39 ; , or at the end of the readout time ta &# 39 ;, a new integration cycle t2 &# 39 ; commences with the next pulse φk2 . at this time the clock pulse voltages φ1 through φ4 are connected as is shown in fig5 which transfer the charge packets which have been generated to the output stage 14 of the charge transfer device . as also shown in fig5 the integration time ti &# 39 ; represents only a portion of the integration cycle t1 &# 39 ; so that between two successive integration times ti &# 39 ;, two portions td1 and td2 are disposed . in the case of a continuous movement of an image to be scanned , a constant interval is present between two successively analyzed image lines . moreover , the embodiment shown in fig4 may be further modified by omission of the zones 5 representing the photodiodes so that the sensor element se1 &# 39 ; is comprised solely of the metal - insulator - semiconductor capacitor having the external electrode sg . in this embodiment , the overflow gate abg and the overflow drain zone 16 in fig4 are shifted to the right so that the overflow gate abg and the electrode sg are directly adjacent to each other . the operation of this circuit corresponds to the above - described operation for fig4 . a further embodiment of the invention is shown in fig6 wherein the linear image sensor contains two parallel rows of sensor elements se1 &# 39 ; through sen &# 39 ; and se1 &# 34 ; through sen &# 34 ;. each sensor element consists of an oppositely doped zone respectively referenced at 5 and 5 &# 39 ; which represent a photodiode , and a metal - insulator - semiconductor capacitor . the capacitors for the sensor elements se1 &# 39 ; through sen &# 39 ; are formed by those portions of an electrically conductive strip coating 25 disposed above thin film regions such as 27 , 28 and 29 of the insulating layer 2 . the capacitors for the sensors se1 &# 34 ; through sen &# 34 ; are formed by an electrically conductive strip coating 26 disposed above thin film regions such as 30 , 31 and 32 in the insulating layer 2 . the strip 25 is connected at a terminal to the clock pulse voltage φk and the strip 26 is connected at a terminal to the clock pulse voltage φk &# 39 ;. the sensor elements se1 &# 39 ; through sen &# 39 ; are divided into two groups with those in the first group referenced at b and those in the second group referenced at r in alternating fashion . all sensor elements in group b are covered with color filters of a first type one of which is shown in fig6 referenced at f b . all sensor elements in group r are covered with color filters of a second type , one of which is shown in fig6 referenced at f r . the color filters are alternatingly disposed above the strip 25 . all sensor elements se1 &# 34 ; through sen &# 34 ; comprise a third sensor group w which are covered with color filters of a third type , one of which is referenced in fig6 at f w . the light - sensitive zones of the circuit shown in fig6 which are determined by apertures in an opaque layer covering the remaining circuit elements include the zones 5 and may include as well the semiconductor zones covered by the external electrodes sg , in which case the electrodes sg are transparent . the sensors se1 &# 39 ; through sen &# 39 ; are disposed next to the transfer gate tg which is identical to that shown in fig1 and which has a terminal 5a to which is supplied a clock pulse voltage φ tg . a charge transfer device ctd1 , corresponding to the charge transfer device shown in fig1 is disposed next to the transfer gate tg and has an extended electrode such as electrode 6 in each transfer stage thereof . the extended electrode extends above the marginal areas of the transfer gate tg as well as above marginal areas of a second transfer gate tg &# 39 ; which is supplied at a terminal with a clock pulse voltage φ tg &# 39 ; . in addition , a clock pulse voltage φ111 is supplied to those extended electrodes in ctd1 which are in registry with sensor elements in group r , and a clock pulse voltage φ112 is supplied to those extended electrodes in ctd1 in registry with sensor elements in group b . a second charge transfer device ctd2 is disposed on the opposite side of the second transfer gate tg &# 39 ;, which device ctd2 has a plurality of successive transfer stages e1 &# 39 ;, e2 &# 39 ;, e3 &# 39 ; through en &# 39 ; each having four transfer electrodes respectively supplied with clock pulse voltages φ1 through φ4 . one transfer electrode such as electrode 6 &# 39 ; in each transfer stage in registry with a sensor in group b is extended above a marginal portion of the second transfer gate tg &# 39 ; and is separated therefrom by an intermediate insulating layer . those extended electrodes are supplied with an additional clock voltage φ21 . the charge transfer device ctd2 terminates in an output stage 30 of a type known to those skilled in the art which has an output terminal 31 . the overflow drain zone 16 is identical to that shown in fig1 and is connected to a supply voltage u dd . the overflow zone 16 is surrounded on one side by an overflow gate abg &# 39 ; which is supplied with a clock pulse voltage φ abg &# 39 ; by the clock pulse voltage source 19 for transfer of charge from the regions 5 into the overflow drain zone 16 . at its opposite side , the drain zone 16 is surrounded by a second overflow gate abg &# 34 ; which is supplied with a clock pulse φ abg &# 34 ; from a clock pulse voltage source 42 for transfer of charge from the regions 5 &# 39 ; to the overflow zone 16 . a third transfer gate tgz is disposed next to the strip 26 and slightly overlaps a marginal edge thereof and is supplied at a terminal with a clock pulse voltage φ z . the strip tgz also overlaps an electrically conducting strip 33 which is supplied at a terminal with a clock pulse voltage φ sp . those portions of the strip 33 which cover thin film areas represented by the dashed lines form the external electrodes of memory capacitors and are referenced at sp . the gate tgz is separated from the strips 26 and 33 by intermediate insulating layers . a fourth transfer gate tg &# 34 ; is disposed next to the strip 33 and overlaps a marginal portion thereof and is separated therefrom by an intermediate insulating layer and is supplied with a clock pulse voltage φ tg &# 34 ; . a third readout charge transfer device ctd3 is arranged next to the fourth transfer gate tg &# 34 ; and has a plurality of successive transfer stages e1 &# 34 ;, e2 &# 34 ; through en &# 34 ; covering the transfer channel thereof . each transfer stage has four transfer electrodes therein respectively supplied with clock pulse voltages φ1 through φ4 . one electrode such as 6 &# 34 ; in each transfer stage extends above a marginal portion of the gate tg &# 34 ; and is additionally supplied with a clock pulse voltage φ31 . the device ctd3 terminates in an output stage 34 of a type known to those skilled in the art which has an output terminal 35 . the color filters f b and f r exhibit different spectral sensitivity curves which may correspond , for example , to the primary colors blue and red whereas the color filters f w exhibit sensitivity curves which comprise approximately the entire spectral range of visible light , however , have a range of maximum sensitivity in the spectral range of the primary color green . the color filters f w may , however , have a sensitivity curve which lies only in the spectral range of the primary color green . the operation of the circuit shown in fig6 will be described in detail utilizing the voltage / time diagram shown in fig7 which generally corresponds to that shown in fig5 . an integration cycle t1 &# 39 ; again begins at a time t4 with the occurrence of clock pulses φk and φk &# 39 ;. before the termination of the pulses φk and φk &# 39 ;, at a time t5 the pulses φ abg &# 39 ; and φ abg &# 34 ; change in amplitude from u &# 34 ; to u &# 39 ; thereby blocking further transfer of charge from the regions 5 and 5 &# 39 ; into the overflow drain zone 16 . the optically generated charge is then simultaneously transferred from the sensor elements se1 &# 34 ; through sen &# 34 ;, all in group w , into the memory capacitors sp which are supplied with a clock pulse φ sp2 for this purpose . the transfer is enabled by the occurrence of a pulse φ tz which overlaps the trailing edge of the pulse φk and the leading edge of the pulse φ sp2 . the transfer is referenced at arrow 38 . simultaneously , a transfer of the optically generated charge from the sensors se1 &# 39 ; through sen &# 39 ;, comprising the groups b and r are transferred beneath the extended electrodes of the device ctd1 by the occurrence of a pulse φ tg2 &# 39 ; beginning at time t6 supplied to the gate tg . during this transfer the extended electrodes such as electrodes 6 in ctd1 are alternatingly supplied with clock pulse voltages φ112 and φ111 . the duration of φ112 is shorter than that of φ111 so that upon the occurrence of a pulse supplied to the gate tg &# 39 ;, transfer of charge from those electrodes in registry with the sensors of group b occurs into the second charge transfer device ctd2 , which has extended electrodes supplied with the clock pulse voltage φ21 for this purpose . charge transfer in ctd1 and ctd2 then occurs by the application of clock pulse voltages φ1 through φ4 in a known manner . previously , those charge packets from the sensors in group w from the preceding integration period , which were retained in the memory capacitors sp by the application of a pulse φ sp1 are transferred upon the occurrence of the trailing edge 34 of that pulse into the third readout device ctd3 by the occurrence of a pulse applied to the gate tg &# 34 ; and a pulse φ31 supplied to the extended electrodes such as electrode 6 &# 34 ; of ctd3 . this transfer is represented by the arrow 40 in fig7 . upon arrival in the device ctd3 , the charge packets are transferred therein by the successive application of clock pulses φ1 through φ4 in a manner known to the art to the output stage 34 . during the preceding integration cycle , not illustrated in fig7 a specific image line of a color image to be scanned was aligned or oriented to the row of sensor elements se1 &# 34 ; through sen &# 34 ;, those in group w , whereby from the latter image line the signals from the sensors in group w were derived and intermediately stored in the storage capacitors sp . during the succeeding integration cycle t1 &# 39 ;, illustrated in fig7 as a consequence of the continuous movement of the color image to be scanned , the same line is then aligned to the row of sensor elements se1 &# 39 ; through sen &# 39 ;, whereby from the latter line sensor signals from sensors in groups b and r are derived and read out into the devices ctd1 and ctd2 . simultaneously , the intermediately stored sensor signals from group w are also read out from the memories sp into the device ctd3 . at the commencement of the integration cycle t2 &# 39 ;, the clock pulse voltages φ1 through φ4 are connected which separately supply the signals from the sensors in groups w , r and b in the form of charge packets to the output stages 34 , 14 and 30 . at the output stages , voltage signals corresponding to each group are then derived which are available at the terminals 35 , 15 and 30 . from these voltage signals , so - called color value signals can be derived which control the brightnesses of the primary colors in a color television picture tube . as further shown in the circuit of fig7 the integration time ti &# 39 ; is only a partial section of every integration cycle t1 , so that between two successive integration times ti &# 39 ;, constant time sections td1 and td2 are interposed , which guarantee a constant interval between two successively analyzed image lines of the color image to be scanned . in the embodiments discussed above , it has been assumed that the semiconductor substrate 1 is of a p - conductive type and the indicated voltage potentials exhibit positive polarity signs compared with the reference potential of the circuit at which the semiconductor substrate 1 lies . if the conductivity types of the semiconductor zones are replaced by types of opposite conductivity , it will be understood that the inventive concept herein can be practiced with voltages of correspondingly reversed polarity . although the charge transfer devices in the embodiments shown above were designed as surface charge coupled devices ( sccd ) the inventive concept disclosed herein can be realized with any known charge transfer device arrangement such as are described , for example , in the text by sequin and tompsett entitled : &# 34 ; charge transfer devices , &# 34 ; academic press , new york , 1975 at pages 1 through 18 . such charge transfer device arrangements may , depending upon individual needs , function in , for example , two -, three -, four - or multi - phase operation . the periods referenced at zd in fig3 and 7 correspond to the line duration in a reproduction device utilizing a scanning electron beam . this is the time span in which the sensor signals , corresponding to an image line , are emitted at the outputs 15 , 31 and 35 under the influence of the clock pulse voltages φ1 through φ4 . the period zd is preferably selected to correspond to the time span which the electron beam of the image display device requires in order to write one image line . within a line duration zd , the line signal , obtained in the immediately preceding integration cycle , is read out from the inventive circuit . the period al , disposed between two periods zd , is known as the blanking interval . in this period the electron beam writing the line signal in a reproduction device is blanked and conveyed from the line end to the line beginning of the next line . in the case of a reproduction in standard television apparatus , the period zd is 52 microseconds and the period al is 12 microseconds . 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 modifications and changes as reasonably and properly come within the scope of their contribution to the art . | 7 |
it is to be understood that the figures and descriptions of the present invention have been simplified to illustrate elements that are relevant for a clear understanding of the present invention , while eliminating , for the purpose of clarity , many other elements found in typical pressure sensing systems and methods of using the same . those of ordinary skill in the art may recognize that other elements and / or steps are desirable and / or required in implementing the present invention . however , because such elements and steps are well known in the art , and because they do not facilitate a better understanding of the present invention , a discussion of such elements and steps is not provided herein . according to an aspect of the present invention , two substantially identical piezoresistive absolute pressure sensors may be provided such that separate pressures may be applied to them . an additional absolute pressure sensor can be employed to compensate for the effect of line pressure variance on the measurement . more particularly , two independent absolute pressure transducers , each electrically coupled as half of a wheatstone bridge , may be employed . this approach has been commonly used on pressure transducers with limited line pressure variance . each transducer can be preferably formed in accordance with the teachings commonly assigned u . s . pat . no . 5 , 286 , 671 , entitled , “ fusion bonding technique for use in fabricating semiconductor devices ” the entire disclosure of which is also incorporated by reference as if being set forth in its entirety herein . briefly , each transducer may include a deflectable diaphragm and four piezoresistors electrically coupled in a wheatstone bridge configuration formed on or therein . two piezoresistors each decrease with positive normal stress and two piezoresistors each increase with positive normal stress in response to deflection of the diaphragm as is well known . the piezoresistors may be formed of highly doped p + silicon . the circuit nodes of the wheatstone bridge may take the form of four oversized p + silicon electrical contact areas or fingers , which are mainly located in non - active areas of the wafer . it should be understood the active portions of the wafer may be defined as that portion defined by the diaphragm , as this portion deflects in response to an applied pressure as is well known . the remaining portions are referred to as the non - active regions . alternatively , any conventional wafer processing technique which enables dielectically isolated piezoresistive sensor elements to be formed on semiconductor material using dielectric films of sio 2 or the like could also be used . referring now to fig1 a , there is shown a schematic representation of a differential bridge sensor circuit 10 formed from the two individual absolute sensors ( not pictured ) according to an aspect of the present invention . each sensor includes at least two resistive elements ( 20 , 30 in the case of the first absolute sensor and 40 , 50 in the case of the second absolute sensor ) arranged in an open set of two uncoupled half - bridges . each resistive element in each sensor may exhibit a substantially same percentage change of resistance when exposed to an identical pressure . the circuit 10 may also include a plurality of contacts or pins , such that each resistive element of each half - bridge can be connected to a contact . it should be recognized that depending on the particular configuration of each sensor , different resistive element will either be subjected to compression or tension forces . each half - bridge from each sensor can be interconnected to a half - bridge of the other sensor giving a full bridge , which depending on which half - bridges are used , either represents the sum or the difference of the pressures applied to each sensor . such a sensor is disclosed in commonly assigned u . s . pat . no . 6 , 612 , 179 , the entire disclosure of which is also hereby incorporated by reference herein . fig1 b illustrates a non - linearity of output voltage versus applied pressure for the low and high side pressure sensing assemblies . fig1 c illustrates the relative linearity of output voltage versus applied force for the composite full bridge formed from the two half bridge sensing structures . fig1 d illustrates a graphical representation of output voltage versus applied force for 1 , 3 , 6 and 9 times ratios of differential pressure to line pressure . thus , as is shown , errors in measured pressure may result from variations in line pressure . that is , as the ratio of line pressure variance to differential pressure increases , error may be induced by the non - linearity of each individual sensor ( as is shown in fig1 b ), therefore limiting it &# 39 ; s usefulness for measuring small differential pressures over widely variant line pressures . this error is believed to be an unfortunate consequence of providing sufficient output from the coupled independent half bridges over the differential pressure measured . according to an aspect of the present invention , an additional independent absolute pressure sensor element can be employed to compensate for the effect of line pressure variance on the measurement . for example , a differential pressure may be measured between first and second ports , while an absolute pressure is measured from the second port . this absolute pressure measurement may be used to determine the line pressure . given an accurate measure of line pressure , an appropriate algorithm can be employed to compensate for the inaccuracy in the differential measurement due to non - linearity of the individual half bridge sensors ( as is shown in fig1 d , for example ). this algorithm correction can be accomplished either internally with active electronics in the pressure transducer or externally on the aircraft utilizing the full authority digital engine control ( fadec ) or similar control and / or suitable computer instructions in the form of code , for example . an exemplary configuration is shown in fig2 . referring now to fig2 , apparatus 200 includes a composite differential full - bridge sensor 210 formed from two half - bridge absolute pressure sensors . system 200 further includes an absolute pressure sensor 220 . an electronic circuit 230 receives output voltages from the sensors 210 , 220 . by comparing the outputs , the ratio of differential pressure to line pressure may be determined . a correction factor , acquired from a lookup table , or electrically induced upon the output of sensor 210 , may be applied dependently upon the determined ratio to compensate for the experienced error . by way of non - limiting example only , the differential pressure may be determined by electrically subtracting outputs from first and second sensors , each being associated with a first and second port , respectively . the absolute line pressure may then be determined by direct measurement of a third sensor also associated with the second port . the differential pressure reading may then be corrected for the influence of line pressure as measured by the third sensor . this may be accomplished either by using an active electronic circuit or interface , or by using correction factors / lookup tables in downstream software . in summary , a highly rugged media compatible pressure transducer capable of accurately measuring small differential pressures over varying line pressures can be manufactured by the use of two independent absolute pressure sensor half - bridges electrically coupled and an independent absolute pressure sensor used to actively correct for non - linearity errors . those of ordinary skill in the art may recognize that many modifications and variations of the present invention may be implemented without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention . thus , it is intended that the present invention covers the modifications and variations of this invention provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents . | 6 |
with a reference to the aforesaid figures , the joint according to the present invention comprises two elements or pipes , namely the male element 1 and the female element 2 . the joint is formed by an internal part 20 wherein the fluids flow , for example natural gas or oil or another analogous fluid under pressure , and an external part 30 which can also be filled with different fluids or liquids , usually also pressurized . the external diameter 3 of pipe 2 in the joint area having the maximum diameter with a dimension d ′ is slightly larger than the external diameter 4 of pipe 2 in the central area far away from the joint , with a dimension d ″. the two aforesaid pipe areas having different diameters 3 and 4 are connected in a gradual way . dimension d ′ is larger than dimension d ″ of a value equal to or smaller than 3 %. the female element 2 of the joint has an internal threading divided into two portions , or steps , 8 and 9 with a conical generatrix at an angle to the pipe axis . said two parts 8 and 9 are radially offset and the threading can be perfect for its entire length or can have an imperfect portion . said embodiment is shown in fig1 and 2 . in another embodiment of the present invention shown in fig4 and 5 , the threading portions 7 and 8 can respectively have ends with an imperfect threading . said two portions 8 and 9 have the same conicity , with values comprised between 6 . 25 and 12 . 5 %. this range turned out to be optimal , because on the one hand lower values would involve too long threadings and a difficult coupling , and on the other end higher values would involve a reduced number of teeth and therefore an insufficient bearing capacity of the threading . in the connecting area between the threaded part and the internal surface of the pipe , away from the joint , the female element is provided with an area 12 ″ having a cone - shaped surface with respect to the pipe axis . the conicity of this surface is comprised between 12 . 5 % and 25 % in order to ensure a good tightness with the corresponding contacting surface of the male element , thus reducing the sliding time during the screwing step . this range turned out to be optimal with respect to the threading conicity value and was able to reduce the negative influence of traction loads . in the connecting area between the two threaded portions 8 , 9 , the female element is provided with a shoulder 5 ″ substantially lying on a perpendicular plane with respect to the joint axis , whose area is not less than 25 % of the area of the section of the pipe . between the shoulder 5 ″ and the beginning of the threaded part 8 there is provided a cavity 15 which extends along the whole internal circumference of the female element 2 . the cavity ensures an expansion tank for the fat used to lubricate the joint , which is present in the two threaded portions 8 , 9 and is entrained by the push generated by the sliding of the elements 1 and 2 during the screwing . said solution limits the development of an excessive fat pressure , caused by the presence of a double metal seal at the ends of the joint , with a following reduced stress of the joint . at its end the female element 2 is provided with a spherical surface 13 ″ which , contacting a cone - shaped area 13 ′ which it faces after its screwing with the male element 1 , ensures the tightness of the joint to the external pressure . the threading tooth profile is of the “ hooked ” type , with a loading flank 10 having a negative α angle with values comprised between 0 and − 10 ° and an entering flank 11 having a positive β angle with values comprised between 10 and 30 °. these ranges of values have remarkable advantages though maintaining an easy installation of the joint . a loading flank with negative angle allows an efficient coupling of the two elements of the joint and reduces the danger of a possible withdrawal of the joint because of too high traction loads . an entering flank with positive but not too large angle allows an efficient co - operation of the threading to the resistance to compression loads . in the area of the external surface close to the threaded portion of the female element , the male element 1 is provided with a threading placed in a perfectly reciprocal way , having portions shaped in an exactly analogous way with respect to said threading portion of the female element . the element 1 is provided with two threaded portions 6 , 7 separated by a shoulder 5 ′ and by a circumference cavity 14 , between said shoulder 5 ′ and the beginning of the threaded portion 7 . the presence of the two fat expansion cavities 14 and 15 allows to limit the pressure increase of the fat after the screwing of the joint , thus avoiding an excessive stress on the joint and improving its functionality . the connecting area between the external surface of element 1 and the beginning of the threaded portion 7 has a cone - shaped surface 13 ′ with a conicity comprised between 12 . 5 and 25 %. this surface exerts pressure against the surface 13 ″ after the screwing of the joint and the dimensions and tolerances are selected so that the metal - metal contact guarantees the necessary tightness to avoid the entering of the liquid or fluid under pressure outside the joint . analogously , at its end , the male element i has a spherical surface 12 ′ which , after the screwing with the female element 2 , exerts pressure against the conical surface 12 ′ of said female element . also in this second area a pressure is generated by the metal - metal contact between the two elements which ensures the necessary tightness against the pressure of the fluid inside the pipe . the choice of two areas at the ends of the joint where metal seals are provided which have , respectively , corresponding spherical and conical surfaces , according to the invention , makes the joint less sensitive to pressure loads and turned out to be optimal for thin pipes . in fact , considering the slimness of the ends provided with the sealing surfaces 12 ′ and 13 ′, the pressure , respectively internal or external to the pipe , acting on the aforesaid ends easily causes their bending . therefore , a spherical sealing surface is able to keep an optimal contact , unlike a truncated cone - shaped seal , which , in this case , because of the rotation imposed by the bending of the end , does not keep the contact on the whole sealing part . the shape of the thread of the male element 1 is the same as the aforesaid one of the female element 2 . advantageously , the thread has a perfect profile . in the other embodiment according to the present invention and shown in fig4 and 5 , an end of one or two of both threaded portions 6 , 7 of the male element , for example the area 6 ′ close to the shoulder 5 ′, can have a thread with an imperfect profile . the corresponding part 8 of the female element on the side of the shoulder 5 ″ facing area 6 ″ has a perfect threading . the area 8 ′ at the end of the threaded portion 8 axially opposite to the area 6 ′, namely the one close to the sealing surface 12 ″, also has a thread with an imperfect profile . however , this area can also be provided with a perfect thread . the same kind of proceeding can also be applied to the threaded portions 7 and 9 , wherein portion 7 is provided with a perfect thread on the side of shoulder 5 ′ and part 9 is provided with an area 9 ′ having an imperfect thread on the side of shoulder 5 ″. in combination or alternatively to this embodiment , also part 7 can be provided with an area 7 ′ having an imperfect thread on the side of the sealing surface 13 ′ and part 9 can be provided with a perfect thread on the side of the sealing surface 13 ″. from the aforesaid it is clear which are the advantages of the joint according to the present invention , which , though having diametrical dimensions smaller than those of the “ semi - flush ” type of the prior art and only slightly larger than those of the “ flush ” type , ensures optimal performances and working efficiency . | 5 |
hereinafter , embodiments of the invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings . an embodiment relates to an ultrasound diagnosis device that transmits a transmit pulse to a subject and receives a reflected echo from an ultrasound contrast agent injected into the subject by an ultrasound probe to form an image . the device has a configuration that efficiently excludes a linear tissue echo component for a fundamental component of the transmit pulse and a sum frequency component and a difference - frequency component generated by the nonlinear interaction between frequency components of the transmit pulse during the process of propagating the transmit pulse in the subject due to the acoustic nonlinearity of the subject , that is , a nonlinear tissue echo component . by doing this , it is possible to significantly improve an intensity ratio of an echo from the ultrasound contrast agent and an echo from a body tissue ( referred to as contrast - to - tissue ratio or ctr ) which is an important index indicating an image quality of an ultrasound contrast image . first , referring to fig1 , an ultrasound diagnosis device according to an embodiment will be described . the ultrasound diagnosis device 1 includes a probe 20 , a main body 100 of the device , an external interface 2 , and an image display 3 . the probe 20 converts a transmit signal from the main body 100 into a transmit acoustic signal at the time of transmission and then transmits an ultrasound wave to a subject 30 . thereafter , the probe 20 converts a reflected echo signal from the subject 30 into a received electric signal and transmits the signal to the main body 100 . in a blood vessel 31 inside the subject 30 , an ultrasound contrast agent 32 is intravenously injected in advance . the probe 20 generally has a one or two dimensional array structure and may focus or steer a transmit beam and a receive beam . the main body 100 includes a waveform generator 112 that generates a transmit waveform transmitted from the probe 20 , a transmit amplifier 111 that amplifies the transmit waveform from the waveform generator 112 , a receive amplifier 114 that amplifies a received signal from the probe 20 , a transmit and receive ( t / r ) switch 113 that electrically connects the transmit amplifier 111 and the probe 20 at the time of transmission and electrically connects the receive amplifier 114 and the probe 20 at the time of reception , an a / d converter 115 that converts an analog signal amplified by the receive amplifier 114 into a digital signal , a receive delay circuit 116 that applies a predetermined time delay to the received signal to form a receiving beam , a signal processor 117 that performs a signal processing which will be described in detail below on the receiving beam , an image processor 118 that constructs image data from an output from the signal processor 117 , and a controller 120 that controls a transmit and receive timing , the transmit waveform , a receive amplifier gain , the time delay , and the signal processing for the above - mentioned components 110 of the main body . the output from the image processor 118 is displayed as a video image such as a two dimensional tomographic image or a three dimensional image on the image display 3 . an operator allows the controller 120 to control the components on the main body 100 or the image display 3 using the external interface 2 . further , even though the external interface 2 is not provided , the imaging may be performed under a predetermined control condition . next , a transmitting and receiving operation of a pulse and a processing sequence in the signal processor 117 in the ultrasound diagnosis device according to the invention will be described with reference to fig5 and 6 . in the ultrasound diagnosis device of the present invention , as illustrated in fig5 and 6 , one receive data is obtained by transmission and reception at least two pulse sequences . fig5 illustrates a transmit and receive sequence at the time of ultrasound contrasting of the ultrasound diagnosis device according to a first aspect of the invention and fig6 illustrates a transmit and receive sequence at the time of ultrasound contrast imaging of the ultrasound diagnosis device according to a second aspect of the invention . further , a frequency band of a transmit pulse which is a feature of the invention will be described in detail below . first , in the waveform generator 112 , a predetermined transmit pulse waveform is formed by the controller 120 and a first transmit pulse p 1 is irradiated onto the subject 30 from the probe 20 through the transmit amplifier 111 and the transmit and receive switch 113 . the first transmit pulse p 1 causes a waveform distortion by a nonlinear acoustic effect of a tissue inside the subject 30 and is propagated in portions having different acoustic impedances while repeating the reflection and the transmission . further , due to the presence of the ultrasound contrast agent 32 inside the blood vessel 31 , the first transmit pulse p 1 is reflected or scattered by the ultrasound contrast agent 32 . further , in the ultrasound contrast agent 32 , nonlinear vibration is excited by the first transmit pulse p 1 . if the first transmit pulse p 1 is irradiated from the probe 20 , the transmit and receive switch 113 electrically connects the receive amplifier 114 and the probe 20 in accordance with the instruction from the controller 120 . an echo reflected from the subject 30 continuously reaches the probe 20 as a first received echo r 1 in the order of positions closer to the probe 20 and the transmission and reception of a first pulse sequence is completed after a time when the first receive echo r 1 is considered to return from the deepest portion of a capturing area elapses . the first receive echo r 1 is transmitted to the signal processor 117 through the transmit and receive switch 113 , the receive amplifier 114 , the a / d converter 115 , and the receive delay circuit 116 and temporarily stored in a temporary memory provided in the signal processor 117 which is not illustrated . after completing transmission and reception of the first pulse sequence , the transmit amplifier 111 and the probe 20 are electrically connected again by the transmit and receive switch 113 . next , the waveform generator 112 forms another transmit pulse waveform and transmits the transmit pulse waveform to the probe 20 through the transmit amplifier 111 and the transmit and receive switch 113 and a second transmit pulse p 2 is irradiated onto the subject 30 from the probe 20 . in the ultrasound diagnosis device according to the first aspect of the present invention , as illustrated in fig5 , the second transmit pulse p 2 is a waveform which has a size equal to 1 / n ( n & gt ; 0 ) of an amplitude of a waveform of the first transmit pulse p 1 . further , in the ultrasound diagnosis device according to the second aspect of the present invention , as illustrated in fig6 , the second transmit pulse p 2 is a waveform which is obtained by substantial inversion phase of the waveform of the first transmit pulse p 1 and has a size equal to 1 / n ( n & gt ; 0 ) of the amplitude of a waveform of the first transmit pulse p 1 . the waveform generator 112 , for example , may include a unit that removes electrical distortion generated in the transmit amplifier 111 or influence of a phase rotation depending on the frequency characteristic of the probe 20 and adjusts at least one of the first transmit pulse p 1 and the second transmit pulse p 2 . the second transmit pulse p 2 is propagated in portions having different specific acoustic impedances by repeating reflection and the transmission while generating a waveform distortion by a nonlinear acoustic effect of a tissue inside the subject 30 . further , due to the presence of the ultrasound contrast agent 32 inside the blood vessel 31 , the second transmit pulse p 2 is reflected or scattered by the ultrasound contrast agent 32 . further , in the ultrasound contrast agent 32 , nonlinear vibration is excited by the second transmit pulse p 2 . if the second transmit pulse p 2 is transmitted from the probe 20 , the transmit and receive switch 113 electrically connects the receive amplifier 114 and the probe 20 in accordance with the instruction from the controller 120 . the echo reflected from the subject 30 continuously reaches the probe 20 as a second received echo r 2 in the order of positions closer to the probe 20 and the transmission and reception of a second pulse sequence is completed after a time when the second receive echo r 2 is considered to return from the deepest portion of a capturing area elapses . the second receive echo r 2 is transmitted to the signal processor 117 through the transmit and receive switch 113 , the receive amplifier 114 , the a / d converter 115 , and the receive delay circuit 116 and temporarily stored in a temporary memory provided in the signal processor 117 which is not illustrated . in the signal processor 117 , the following signal processing is performed using the first receive echo r 1 and the second receive echo r 2 stored in the temporary memory . specifically , in the ultrasound diagnosis device according to the first aspect of the present invention , as illustrated in fig5 , a receive echo r is obtained by subtraction of the first receive echo r 1 and a second receive echo r 2 ′ obtained by multiplying n to the second receive echo r 2 . further , in the ultrasound diagnosis device according to the second aspect of the present invention , as illustrated in fig6 , the receive echo r is obtained by addition of the first receive echo r 1 and a second receive echo r 2 ′ obtained by multiplying n to the second receive echo r 2 . the above - mentioned first receive echo r 1 is a reflected echo of the first transmit pulse p 1 from the subject 30 and the reflected echo component is formed of a linear tissue echo component of the first transmit pulse p 1 from a body tissue or blood vessel that forms the subject 30 , a nonlinear tissue echo component generated during the process of propagating the first transmit pulse p 1 in the subject 30 , and a contrast echo component generated by nonlinear vibration of the ultrasound contrast agent 32 excited by the first transmit pulse p 1 or reflection and scattering of the first transmit pulse p 1 by the ultrasound contrast agent 32 . the second receive echo r 2 is a reflected echo of the second transmit pulse p 2 from the subject 30 . the reflected echo component is formed of a linear tissue echo component of the second transmit pulse p 2 from a body tissue or blood vessel that forms the subject 30 , a nonlinear tissue echo component generated during the process of propagating the second transmit pulse p 2 in the subject , and a contrast echo component generated by nonlinear vibration of the ultrasound contrast agent 32 excited by the second transmit pulse p 2 or reflection and scattering of the second transmit pulse p 2 by the ultrasound contrast agent 32 . among these , the linear tissue echo component exhibits linear behavior caused by inversion of the waveform or n times of the waveform amplitude . therefore , by the processing sequence illustrated in fig5 or 6 , the linear tissue echo component is removed from the receive echo r . in the meantime , if n is m - th power of 2 ( m is an integer ), digital processing of the multiplication of n may be performed by a bit shift , which lowers an operation cost and improves the processing speed . further , n is multiplied to the second receive echo r 2 in order to remove the linear tissue echo component by subtraction or addition of the first receive echo r 1 and the second receive echo r 2 ′. since n is multiplied to the second receive echo r 2 after passing through the a / d converter 115 , n which is multiplied to the second receive echo r 2 may be optimally adjusted so as to fully remove the linear tissue echo component including a quantization error . next , a frequency band of the first transmit pulse p 1 and the second transmit pulse p 2 which are the feature of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to fig4 . this embodiment has frequency bands of the frequency component 220 and the frequency component 221 as fundamental components of the first transmit pulse p 1 at the first pulse sequence and the second transmit pulse p 2 at the second pulse sequence , respectively . a frequency component of the receive echo of the first transmit pulse p 1 immediately before being received by the probe 20 is configured by a linear tissue echo component 320 for the fundamental component , a sum frequency tissue harmonic echo component 420 generated by nonlinear interaction of the frequency components 220 in the subject 30 that form the first transmit pulse p 1 , a difference - frequency tissue harmonic echo component 520 generated by nonlinear interaction of the frequency components 220 in the subject 30 that form the first transmit pulse p 1 , and a contrast echo component 620 generated by nonlinear vibration of the ultrasound contrast agent 32 excited by the first transmit pulse p 1 or reflection and scattering of the first transmit pulse p 1 by the ultrasound contrast agent 32 . further , a frequency component of the receive echo of the second transmit pulse p 2 immediately before being received by the probe 20 is configured by a linear tissue echo component 321 for the fundamental component , a sum frequency tissue harmonic echo component 421 generated by nonlinear interaction of the frequency components 221 in the subject 30 that form the second transmit pulse p 2 , a difference - frequency tissue harmonic echo component 521 generated by nonlinear interaction of the frequency components 221 in the subject 30 that form the second transmit pulse p 2 , and a contrast echo component 621 generated by nonlinear vibration of the ultrasound contrast agent 32 excited by the second transmit pulse p 2 or reflection and scattering of the second transmit pulse p 2 by the ultrasound contrast agent 32 . in order to obtain a high ctr ultrasound contrast image , it is considered to efficiently capture the contrast echo components 620 and 621 and efficiently suppress or exclude the linear tissue echo components 220 and 221 or nonlinear tissue echo components 420 , 520 , 421 , and 521 . the best feature of the present invention is to suppress the nonlinear tissue echo components 420 , 520 , 421 , and 521 , which cannot be removed using a linear operation such as the pulse inversion technique , by the probe sensitivity band 10 of the probe 20 . specifically , the first transmit pulse p 1 and the second transmit pulse p 2 are transmitted so as to exclude the sum frequency tissue harmonic echo components 420 and 421 from the high frequency band of the probe sensitivity band 10 and remove the predetermined difference - frequency tissue harmonic echo components 520 and 521 out of the low frequency band of the probe sensitivity band 10 . the linear tissue echoes 320 and 321 for the fundamental components of the first transmit pulse p 1 and the second transmit pulse p 2 show a linear behavior caused by the inversion of the waveform or the n times of the amplitude of the waveform . therefore , as described above , the linear tissue echoes 320 and 321 may be removed by the linear operation of the first receive echo r 1 and the second receive echo r 2 . in contrast , the sum frequency tissue harmonic echo components 420 and 421 or the difference - frequency tissue harmonic echo components 520 or 521 are not removed by the multiplication of n , subtraction , or addition . if there is no band limitation by the probe sensitivity band 10 of the probe 20 , the sum frequency tissue harmonic echo components 420 and 421 or the difference - frequency tissue harmonic echo components 520 or 521 may remain even when using the subtraction or addition of the first receive echo r 1 and n times of the second receive echo r 2 as a sum frequency tissue harmonic echo component 422 and a difference - frequency tissue harmonic echo component 522 . however , in the present invention , the first transmit pulse p 1 and the second transmit pulse p 2 are formed so as to exclude any of the sum frequency tissue harmonic echo components and the difference - frequency tissue harmonic echo components out of the frequency band of the probe sensitivity band 10 . therefore , these nonlinear tissue echo components are removed by being received by the probe 20 . as described above , in addition to the band limitation in the probe sensitivity band 10 , in order to suppress the nonlinear tissue echo component , the relationship of the amplitudes or the phases of the first transmit pulse p 1 and the second transmit pulse p 2 may be set to be further equal to each other . the nonlinear tissue echo is represented by the waveform distortion accompanied with the nonlinear acoustic propagation in the tissue in the subject 30 and the sum frequency component and the difference - frequency component are generated based on the phase relationship of the fundamental transmit pulse . for example , a second harmonic component which is represented as the sum frequency component is generated with the same phase as the fundamental transmit pulse and the waveform distortion is accumulated during the propagation . the distortion amount of the waveform distortion specifically depends on an acoustic pressure . therefore , an energy conversion to a nonlinear component is significant as the acoustic pressure is increased so that an amount of the waveform distortion is increased . therefore , in the first transmit pulse p 1 and the second transmit pulse p 2 , the phases or amplitudes of the nonlinear tissue echoes to be generated become equal to each other as the phases are equal and a ratio n of the amplitudes of both pulses is close to 1 . in this case , since the phases of the first transmit pulse p 1 and the second transmit pulse p 2 become equal to each other by the subtraction of the first receive echo r 1 and the second receive echo r 2 ′, the processing sequence after reception performs the subtraction illustrated in fig5 . by the transmit and receive sequence , the nonlinear tissue echo is suppressed by the subtraction after reception in addition to the probe sensitivity band 10 so as to increase the ctr . further , as described above , in order to reduce the operation cost or improve the processing speed , n may be m - th power of 2 ( m is an integer ). with this consideration , as n which is closest to 1 , n = 2 may be used . specifically , if an amplitude of the first transmit pulse p 1 is p 0 , an amplitude of the second transmit pulse p 2 may be p 0 / 2 . the probe 20 , which is generally used for the ultrasound diagnosis device , has an array structure in which electro - acoustic conversion elements such as piezoelectric elements are arranged in a plurality of channels . therefore , ultrasound beam is focused in a desired scanning direction at the time of transmission and reception to improve an s / n ratio of a transmit and receive signal . in this case , the condition that the amplitude of the first transmit pulse p 1 is p 0 and the amplitude of the second transmit pulse p 2 is p 0 / 2 is satisfied when a ratio of the amplitudes of the acoustic pressure to the ultrasound beam by the transmit focused first transmit pulse p 1 and the ultrasound beam by the second transmit pulse p 2 is 2 . a method that forms the first transmit pulse p 1 and the second transmit pulse p 2 from the probe 20 with this array structure will be described with reference to fig1 and 11 . fig1 is a schematic view illustrating an array aperture amplitude apodization when the ultrasound diagnosis device according to the invention transmits an ultrasound wave . in the probe 20 , electro - acoustic conversion elements 21 a to 21 z such as piezoelectric elements are , for example , one - dimensionally arranged as illustrated in fig1 . the waveform generator 112 has a function that selectively changes an applied voltage or delay time of each channel of the electro - acoustic conversion elements 21 a to 21 z and an applied voltage is applied to each channel through the transmit amplifier 111 and the transmit and receive switch 113 . as illustrated in fig1 , first , at the first pulse sequence , the first transmit pulse p 1 having a sound pressure amplitude p 0 is transmitted from the electro - acoustic conversion elements 21 a to 21 z used to focus the transmit beam . next , at the second pulse sequence , the second transmit pulse p 2 having a sound pressure amplitude p 0 / 2 is transmitted from the electro - acoustic conversion elements 21 a to 21 z used to focus the transmit beam . by these transmit sequences , the amplitude ratio of the sound pressure to the ultrasound beam by the first transmit pulse p 1 and the ultrasound beam by the second transmit pulse p 2 may be 2 . further , the waveform generator 112 may include a unit that corrects or adjusts an irregularity of the transmit sensitivity of the electro - acoustic conversion elements 21 a to 21 z or a pulse shape ( center frequency or fractional bandwidth of the transmit pulse ). further , as a result of the subtraction of the first receive echo r 1 and the second receive echo r 2 ′, the linear tissue echo may be corrected or adjusted so as to be mostly suppressed . the sensitivity , the center frequency , or the fractional bandwidth may be corrected or adjusted at a level of the first receive echo r 1 or the second receive echo r 2 . for example , the receive delay circuit 116 that forms the receive beam may have a correcting or adjusting function . fig1 is a schematic view illustrating another array aperture amplitude apodization when the ultrasound diagnosis device according to the invention transmits an ultrasound wave . in fig1 , in order to set the amplitude ratio of the sound pressure to the ultrasound beam by the first transmit pulse p 1 and the ultrasound beam by the second transmit pulse p 2 to be 2 , the transmit areas at the first pulse sequence and the second pulse sequence are changed . specifically , the first transmit pulse p 1 at the first pulse sequence is transmitted from all electro - acoustic conversion elements 21 a to 21 z with a sound pressure amplitude p 0 and the second transmit pulse p 2 at the second pulse sequence is transmitted such that the sound pressure amplitude for every channel is repeated between p 0 and 0 . by such a transmit sequence , a transmit area of the ultrasound beam by the second transmit pulse p 2 is half the transmit area at the first pulse sequence . therefore , the amplitude ratio of the transmit sound pressure may be 2 at a level of the ultrasound beam . also in this case , the waveform generator 112 has a function that selectively changes an applied voltage or delay time of each channel of the electro - acoustic conversion elements 21 a to 21 z and may have a configuration in which an applied voltage is applied to each channel through the transmit amplifier 111 and the transmit and receive switch 113 . by this transmit sequence , the same conditional voltage is applied to the electro - acoustic conversion element which transmits a sound wave at the first pulse sequence and the second pulse sequence so that the influence of the voltage dependent waveform distortion on the electro - acoustic conversion elements 21 a to 21 z or the transmit amplifier 111 may be removed . further , the waveform generator 112 may include a unit that corrects an irregularity of a transmit and receive sensitivity of the electro - acoustic conversion elements 21 a to 21 z . as a result of the subtraction of the first receive echo r 1 and the second receive echo r 2 ′, the irregularity of the transmit and receive sensitivity may be corrected so as to mostly suppress the linear tissue echo . the sensitivity , the center frequency , or the fractional bandwidth may be corrected or adjusted at a level of the first receive echo r 1 or the second receive echo r 2 . for example , the receive delay circuit 116 that forms the receive beam may have a correcting or adjusting function . in the meantime , the ultrasound contrast agent 32 has a configuration similar to a microcapsule that includes a cavity therein and shows a nonlinear response ( expansion and contraction ) with respect to the ultrasound excitation from the surroundings . the nonlinearity means that the sound pressure or the phase of the surrounding ultrasound wave is nonlinear . the contrast echo components 620 and 621 for the first transmit pulse p 1 and the second transmit pulse p 2 basically have different amplitude or phase relationship . further , even though the first transmit pulse p 1 and the second transmit pulse p 2 are perfectly same transmit pulse , the transmit and receive timings are temporally deviated at the first pulse sequence and the second pulse sequence . therefore , aggregative shapes of the ultrasound contrast agent 32 may be varied at the time of transmitting and receiving the first transmit pulse p 1 and at the time of transmitting and receiving the second transmit pulse p 2 . therefore , the contrast echo component by the reflected wave or scattered wave from the aggregate of the ultrasound contrast agent 32 may be also varied at the time of transmitting and receiving the first transmit pulse p 1 and at the time of transmitting and receiving the second transmit pulse p 2 . accordingly , even though the contrast echo component 620 and n times of the contrast echo component 621 are subtracted or added , the contrast echo component 622 remains as a signal . therefore , even though a band is limited by the probe sensitivity band 10 , specifically the response for the fundamental component of the transmit pulse is captured as a main contrast echo component . as described above , according to the ultrasound diagnosis device of the present invention , a contrast signal is obtained from the contrast echo component 622 through the probe sensitivity band 10 and the linear tissue echo component for the fundamental wave is suppressed by the linear operation processing of the linear tissue echo component 320 obtained at the first pulse sequence and the linear tissue echo component 321 obtained at the second pulse sequence and is removed by the band limitation by the probe sensitivity band 10 mainly using the difference or sum frequency tissue harmonic echo component . therefore , it is possible to obtain a high ctr ultrasound contrast image . next , a transmit pulse condition that generates the sum frequency tissue harmonic echo components 420 and 421 and the difference - frequency tissue harmonic echo components 520 and 521 out of the frequency band of the probe sensitivity band 10 will be described in detail . first , it is assumed that the frequency band of the probe sensitivity band 10 is f p1 to f p2 and the frequency band of the first transmit pulse p 1 or the second transmit pulse p 2 is f t1 to f t2 . here , the frequency band is generally defined as − 6 db bandwidth . however , in the present invention , the frequency band is a frequency bandwidth having sensitivity or intensity which may affect the final ultrasound contrast image but is not limited to − 6 db bandwidth . the frequency band of a transmit sum frequency component generated by the nonlinear acoustic propagation of the first transmit pulse p 1 or the second transmit pulse p 2 whose frequency band is f t1 to f t2 is determined as a sum frequency component of all frequency components which forms the first transmit pulse p 1 or the second transmit pulse p 2 to be 2f t1 to 2f t2 . further , the frequency band of a transmit difference - frequency component generated by the nonlinear acoustic propagation of the first transmit pulse p 1 or the second transmit pulse p 2 whose frequency band is f t1 to f t2 is determined as a difference - frequency component of all frequency components which forms the first transmit pulse p 1 or the second transmit pulse p 2 to be dc to f t2 - f t1 . the sum and difference frequency tissue harmonic echo components 420 and 520 for the first transmit pulse p 1 or the sum and difference frequency tissue harmonic echo components 421 and 521 for the second transmit pulse p 2 are the reflected echo components for the transmit sum frequency component and the transmit difference - frequency component . therefore , the frequency bands of the sum frequency tissue harmonic echo components 420 and 421 are 2f t1 to 2f t2 and the frequency bands of the difference - frequency tissue harmonic echo components 520 and 521 are dc to f t2 - f t1 . therefore , a condition that generates the sum frequency tissue harmonic echo components 420 and 421 and the difference - frequency tissue harmonic echo components 520 and 521 out of the frequency band of the probe sensitivity band 10 is as follows : therefore , as a condition that obtains a high resolution image , in order to obtain the first transmit pulse p 1 or the second transmit pulse p 2 having a maximum frequency band , the frequency band of the first transmit pulse p 1 or the second transmit pulse p 2 becomes f p2 / 2 to f p1 + f p2 / 2 . here , if the frequency band condition f p1 to f p2 of the probe sensitivity band 10 is represented by the center frequency and the fractional bandwidth and the center frequency is f pc and the fractional bandwidth is b p , the following relational expressions are established . if the frequency band condition f p2 / 2 to f p1 + f p2 / 2 of the first transmit pulse p 1 or the second transmit pulse p 2 is rewritten using these relational expressions , ( f p2 / 2 to f p1 + f p2 / 2 )→(( 2 + b p ) f pc / 4 to ( 6 − b p ) f pc / 4 ). further , if the frequency band condition f t1 to f t2 of the first transmit pulse p 1 or the second transmit pulse p 2 is rewritten with the center frequency f tc (=( f t1 + f t2 )/ 2 ) and the fractional bandwidth b t (=( f t2 − f t1 )/ f tc ), the following relational expression for the center frequency f tc is obtained : in other words , the center frequency f tc of the first transmit pulse p 1 or the second transmit pulse p 2 becomes to be equal to the center frequency of the probe sensitivity band 10 . next , the following relational expression for the fractional bandwidth b t is obtained : from the above expressions , for example , if the fractional bandwidth b p of the probe 20 is 80 %, the fractional bandwidth of the first transmit pulse p 1 and the second transmit pulse p 2 becomes 60 %. further , if the fractional bandwidth b p of the probe 20 is 100 %, the fractional bandwidths of the first transmit pulse p 1 and the second transmit pulse p 2 become 50 %. generally , since the fractional bandwidth b p and the fractional bandwidth b t has a relationship of b p ≧ b t , bp ≧ ⅔ from the relationship with the above expression and the probe sensitivity band 10 may have a fractional bandwidth of 67 % or more . as the transmit pulse p described above , for example , the following 100 % amplitude modulated wave may be considered . in the above expression , p ′ indicates an amplitude of the transmit pulse p , f s indicates a modulated frequency of the transmit pulse p and f s =( 2 − b p ) f pc / 4 . if the probe 20 to be used is determined , the probe sensitivity band 10 of the probe 20 is determined and the center frequency f pc and the fractional bandwidth b p are determined . therefore , the condition of the first transmit pulse p 1 or the second transmit pulse p 2 in the ultrasound diagnosis device of the present invention is determined . the waveform generator 112 performs waveform shaping so that a pulse transmitted from the probe 20 through the transmit amplifier 111 and the transmit and receive switch 113 becomes a transmit pulse having a center frequency of f pc and a fractional bandwidth of ( 2 − b p )/ 2 . by the first transmit pulse p 1 or the second transmit pulse p 2 transmitted as described above , it is possible to generate the sum frequency tissue harmonic echo components 420 and 421 and the difference - frequency tissue harmonic echo components 520 and 521 out of the frequency band of the probe sensitivity band 10 . as illustrated in fig5 , in the ultrasound diagnosis device according to the first aspect of the present invention , a ratio of the amplitude p 1 ′ of the first transmit pulse p 1 and the amplitude p 2 ′ of the second transmit pulse p 2 is n (= p 1 ′/ p 2 ′& gt ; 0 ) and the waveform shaping is performed by the waveform generator 112 so as to transmit the transmit pulses from the probe 20 to receive the first receive echo r 1 for the first transmit pulse p 1 at the first pulse sequence and the second receive echo r 2 for the second transmit pulse p 2 at the second pulse sequence . the first receive echo r 1 and the second receive echo r 2 are stored in a temporary memory provided in the signal processor 117 which is not illustrated and after completing the transmission and the reception at the first pulse sequence and the second pulse sequence , the subtraction of the first receive echo r 1 and a second receive echo r 2 ′ obtained by multiplying n to the second receive echo r 2 is performed to obtain the receive echo r . further , as illustrated in fig6 , in the ultrasound diagnosis device according to the second aspect of the present invention , a ratio of the amplitude p 1 ′ of the first transmit pulse p 1 and the amplitude p 2 ′ of the second transmit pulse p 2 is n (= p 1 ′/ p 2 ′& gt ; 0 ) and the second transmit pulse p 2 is an inversion waveform of the first transmit pulse p 1 . the waveform shaping is performed by the waveform generator 112 so as to transmit the transmit pulses from the probe 20 to receive the first receive echo r 1 for the first transmit pulse p 1 at the first pulse sequence and the second receive echo r 2 for the second transmit pulse p 2 at the second pulse sequence . the first receive echo r 1 and the second receive echo r 2 are stored in a temporary memory provided in the signal processor 117 which is not illustrated and after completing the transmission and the reception at the first pulse sequence and the second pulse sequence , the addition of the first receive echo r 1 and a second receive echo r 2 ′ obtained by multiplying n to the second receive echo r 2 is performed to obtain the receive echo r . further , in the ultrasound diagnosis device of the first aspect and the second aspect , even though the second receive echo r 2 is multiplied by n , an object of this operation is to suppress the linear tissue echo component for the fundamental wave with a ratio of intensities of the response for the first transmit pulse p 1 and the response for the second transmit pulse p 2 of 1 : 1 . for example , if the operation allows the intensity ratio to be 1 : 1 similar to 1 / n times of the first receive echo r 1 , is 1 / n times , the operation is not limited to the examples of the above - described aspects . in the ultrasound diagnosis device of the first aspect and the second aspect of the invention , the receive echo r obtained as described above is detected by the signal processor 117 and the output thereof is transmitted to the image processor 118 . the image processor 118 constructs image data from output from the signal processor 117 and the output from the image processor 118 is displayed on the image display 3 as a video image such as a two dimensional tomographic image or a three dimensional image . since the tissue echo component is substantially suppressed , the video image obtained as described above may be a high ctr image in the ultrasound contrast image and sharply visualizes the vascular structure so that it is possible to provide an ultrasonic diagnosis image having a high clinical value . in the above embodiment , the sum and difference frequency tissue harmonic echo components are removed by the probe sensitivity band 10 . however , as illustrated in fig7 to 9 , the sum and difference frequency tissue harmonic echo components may be removed by the combination with a filter in accordance with the frequency bandwidth of the transmit pulse . specifically , the sum and difference frequency tissue harmonic echo components ) are generated so as to be removed from the frequency bandwidth of the transmit pulse rather than the probe sensitivity band . further , the receive echo r may be filtered by a filter of a pass band which is equal to the frequency bandwidth of the transmit pulse which is provided in the signal processor 117 but is not illustrated . hereinafter , a transmit pulse condition that generates the sum and difference frequency tissue harmonic echo components so as to be removed from the frequency bandwidth of the transmit pulse will be described . as described above , the frequency band of a sum frequency component generated by the nonlinear acoustic propagation of the first transmit pulse p 1 or the second transmit pulse p 2 whose frequency band is f t1 to f t2 is determined as a sum frequency component of all frequency components which forms the first transmit pulse p 1 or the second transmit pulse p 2 to be 2f t1 to 2f t2 . further , the frequency band of a transmit difference - frequency component generated by the nonlinear acoustic propagation of the first transmit pulse p 1 or the second transmit pulse p 2 whose frequency band is f t1 to f t2 is determined as a difference - frequency component of all frequency components which forms the first transmit pulse p 1 or the second transmit pulse p 2 to be dc to f t2 − f t1 . therefore , a condition that generates the sum frequency tissue harmonic echoes 420 and 421 and the difference - frequency tissue harmonic echoes 520 and 521 out of the frequency band of the probe sensitivity band 10 is as follows : from the relational expression , the frequency bandwidth of the first transmit pulse p 1 or the second transmit pulse p 2 is f t1 to 2f t1 at most . as long as the frequency band , which is f t1 to 2f t1 overlaps the frequency bandwidth of the probe sensitivity band 10 , the center frequency is not specifically limited . if it is represented by the fractional bandwidth b 1 of the transmit pulse , b t =( f t2 − f t1 )/ f tc =( 2 f t1 − f t1 )/(( f t1 + 2 f t1 )/ 2 )= ⅔ . in other words , a transmit pulse of ⅔ of the fractional bandwidth ( approximately , 67 %) may be the first transmit pulse p 1 or the second transmit pulse p 2 . a frequency bands of the first transmit pulse p 1 and the second transmit pulse p 2 according to other three embodiments of the present invention that generate the sum or difference - frequency tissue harmonic echoes so as to be removed from the frequency band of the transmit pulse will be described with reference to fig7 to 9 . ( case when center frequency of transmit pulse is substantially equal to center frequency of probe sensitivity band ) fig7 is a frequency spectrum illustrating a relationship of the transmit and receive pulse band and the ultrasound probe sensitivity band in the ultrasound diagnosis device of third and fourth aspects of the present invention . in this embodiment , the center frequency of the first transmit pulse p 1 or the second transmit pulse p 2 is substantially equal to the center frequency of the probe sensitivity band 10 and the fractional bandwidth of the first transmit pulse p 1 or the second transmit pulse p 2 is ⅔ ( approximately , 67 %). frequency bands of the frequency component 230 and the frequency component 231 are provided as fundamental components of the first transmit pulse p 1 at the first pulse sequence and the second transmit pulse p 2 at the second pulse sequence . a frequency component of the receive echo of the first transmit pulse p 1 immediately before being received by the probe 20 of the probe sensitivity band 10 is configured by a linear tissue echo component 330 for the fundamental component , a sum frequency tissue harmonic echo component 430 generated by nonlinear interaction of the frequency components 230 in the subject 30 that form the first transmit pulse p 1 , a difference - frequency tissue harmonic echo component 530 generated by nonlinear interaction of the frequency components 230 in the subject 30 that form the first transmit pulse p 1 , and a contrast echo component 630 generated by nonlinear vibration of the ultrasound contrast agent 32 excited by the first transmit pulse p 1 or reflection and scattering of the first transmit pulse p 1 by the ultrasound contrast agent 32 . further , a frequency component of the receive echo of the second transmit pulse p 2 immediately before being received by the probe 20 is configured by a linear tissue echo component 331 for the fundamental component , a sum frequency tissue harmonic echo component 431 generated by nonlinear interaction of the frequency components 231 in the subject 30 that form the second transmit pulse p 2 , a difference - frequency tissue harmonic echo component 531 generated by nonlinear interaction of the frequency components 231 in the subject 30 that form the second transmit pulse p 2 , and a contrast echo component 631 generated by nonlinear vibration of the ultrasound contrast agent 32 excited by the second transmit pulse p 2 or reflection and scattering of the second transmit pulse p 2 by the ultrasound contrast agent 32 . in order to obtain a high ctr ultrasound contrast image , it is considered to efficiently capture the contrast echo components 630 and 631 and efficiently suppress or exclude the linear tissue echo components 230 and 231 or nonlinear tissue echo components 430 , 530 , 431 , and 531 . however , in this embodiment , the first transmit pulse p 1 or the second transmit pulse p 2 is transmitted so as not to overlap the frequency band 230 of the first transmit pulse p 1 or the frequency band 231 of the second transmit pulse p 2 and the nonlinear tissue echo components 430 , 530 , 431 , and 531 , which cannot be removed using a linear operation such as the pulse inversion technique , and the received signal is filtered by a band pass filter having a frequency band 41 equal to the frequency band 230 of the first transmit pulse p 1 or the frequency band 231 of the second transmit pulse p 2 . specifically , the first transmit pulse p 1 and the second transmit pulse p 2 are transmitted so as to generate the sum frequency tissue harmonic echo components 430 and 431 out of the high frequency band of the first frequency band 230 of the first transmit pulse p 1 or the second frequency band 231 of the second transmit pulse p 2 and predetermined difference - frequency tissue harmonic echo components 530 and 531 out of the low frequency band of the first frequency band 230 of the first transmit pulse p 1 or the second frequency band 231 of the second transmit pulse p 2 and the sum or difference - frequency tissue harmonic echo components are filtered and removed from the obtained receive echo r . in the ultrasound diagnosis device of the third aspect of the invention , the second transmit pulse p 2 has an amplitude which is equal to that of a transmit pulse which is 1 / n times ( n & gt ; 0 ) of an amplitude of the first transmit pulse p 1 and as illustrated in fig5 , the receive echo r is obtained by the subtraction of the first receive echo r 1 and the second receive echo r 2 ′. further , in the ultrasound diagnosis device according to the fourth aspect of the invention , the second transmit pulse p 2 is equal to a transmit pulse obtained by inversing the first transmit pulse p 1 ( phase is rotated at 180 degrees ) with an amplitude obtained by multiplying 1 / n ( n & gt ; 0 ) to the amplitude of the first transmit pulse p 1 and as illustrated in fig6 , the receive echo r is obtained by the addition of the first receive echo r 1 and the second receive echo r 2 ′. the receive echo r obtained as described above is composed of components in which any of the linear tissue echo components 330 and 331 are removed by the linear operation and the sum frequency tissue harmonic echo component 432 , the difference - frequency tissue harmonic echo component 532 , and the contrast echo component 632 are filtered in the probe sensitivity band 10 . however , in the frequency band corresponding to the frequency band 230 or 231 of the first transmit pulse p 1 or the second transmit pulse p 2 , only the contrast echo component 632 is present . by filtering the contrast echo component 632 by the band pass filter having a signal pass band 41 , it is possible to obtain a high ctr received signal . simultaneously , it is possible to suppress electric noise because the band limitation by the band pass filter is applied also in the probe sensitivity band 10 . therefore , the sn ratio with respect to the electric noise may be increased and a high ctr ultrasound contrast image may be obtained . ( case when lower limit frequency of transmit pulse is substantially equal to lower limit frequency of probe sensitivity band ) fig8 is a frequency spectrum illustrating a relationship of a transmit and receive pulse band and an ultrasound probe sensitivity band in the ultrasound diagnosis device according to a fifth aspect of the invention . in this embodiment , the lower limit frequency of the first transmit pulse p 1 or the second transmit pulse p 2 is substantially equal to the lower limit frequency of the probe sensitivity band 10 and the fractional bandwidth of the first transmit pulse p 1 or the second transmit pulse p 2 is ⅔ ( approximately 67 %). frequency bands of the frequency component 240 and the frequency component 241 are provided as fundamental components of the first transmit pulse p 1 at the first pulse sequence and the second transmit pulse p 2 at the second pulse sequence . a frequency component of the receive echo of the first transmit pulse p 1 immediately before being received by the probe 20 of the probe sensitivity band 10 is configured by a linear tissue echo component 340 for the fundamental component , a sum frequency tissue harmonic echo component 440 generated by nonlinear interaction of the frequency components 240 in the subject 30 that form the first transmit pulse p 1 , a difference - frequency tissue harmonic echo component 540 generated by nonlinear interaction of the frequency component 240 in the subject 30 that form the first transmit pulse p 1 , and a contrast echo component 640 generated by nonlinear vibration of the ultrasound contrast agent 32 excited by the first transmit pulse p 1 or reflection and scattering of the first transmit pulse p 1 by the ultrasound contrast agent 32 . further , a frequency component of the receive echo of the second transmit pulse p 2 immediately before being received by the probe 20 is configured by a linear tissue echo component 341 for the fundamental component , a sum frequency tissue harmonic echo component 441 generated by nonlinear interaction of the frequency components 241 in the subject 30 that form the second transmit pulse p 2 , a difference - frequency tissue harmonic echo component 541 generated by nonlinear interaction of the frequency component 241 in the subject 30 that form the second transmit pulse p 2 , and a contrast echo component 641 generated by nonlinear vibration of the ultrasound contrast agent 32 excited by the second transmit pulse p 2 or reflection and scattering of the second transmit pulse p 2 by the ultrasound contrast agent 32 . in order to obtain a high ctr ultrasound contrast image , it is considered to efficiently capture the contrast echo components 640 and 641 and efficiently suppress or exclude the linear tissue echo components 240 and 241 or nonlinear tissue echo components 440 , 540 , 441 , and 541 . in this embodiment , the first transmit pulse p 1 or the second transmit pulse p 2 is transmitted so as not to overlap the frequency band 240 of the first transmit pulse p 1 or the frequency band 241 of the second transmit pulse p 2 and the nonlinear tissue echo components 440 , 540 , 441 , and 541 , which cannot be removed using a linear operation such as the pulse inversion technique , and the received signal is filtered by a low pass filter having a signal pass band 42 in which the upper limit frequency of the frequency band 240 of the first transmit pulse p 1 or the frequency band 241 of the second transmit pulse p 2 is a cut off frequency . specifically , the first transmit pulse p 1 and the second transmit pulse p 2 are transmitted so as to generate the sum frequency tissue harmonic echo components 440 and 441 out of the high frequency band of the frequency band 240 of the first transmit pulse p 1 or the frequency band 241 of the second transmit pulse p 2 and predetermined difference - frequency tissue harmonic echo components 540 and 541 out of the low frequency band of the first frequency band 240 of the first transmit pulse p 1 or the frequency band 241 of the second transmit pulse p 2 , and the sum or difference - frequency tissue harmonic echo component is removed from the obtained receive echo r by filtering or band limitation by the probe sensitivity band 10 . further , instead of the low pass filter , a band pass filter having the same signal pass band as the frequency band 240 of the first transmit pulse p 1 or the frequency band 241 of the second transmit pulse p 2 may be used for filtering . in the ultrasound diagnosis device according to the fifth aspect of the invention , the second transmit pulse p 2 is equal to a transmit pulse having an amplitude which is 1 / n times ( n & gt ; 0 ) of an amplitude of the first transmit pulse p 1 . similarly to the third or fourth aspect of the invention , the receive echo r is obtained by the subtraction processing of the first receive echo r 1 and the second receive echo r 2 ′ if the first transmit pulse p 1 and the second transmit pulse p 2 have the same phase . in contrast , if the first transmit pulse p 1 and the second transmit pulse p 2 have inverse phases , the receive echo r is obtained by the addition processing of the first receive echo r 1 and the second receive echo r 2 ′. from the receive echo r obtained as described above , any of the linear tissue echo components 340 and 341 are removed by the linear operation and the difference - frequency tissue harmonic echo component 542 is removed by the band limitation of the probe sensitivity band 10 . therefore , the receive echo r is composed by components obtained by filtering the sum frequency tissue harmonic echo component 442 and the contrast echo component 632 in the probe sensitivity band 10 . however , in the frequency band corresponding to the frequency band 240 or 241 of the first transmit pulse p 1 or the second transmit pulse p 2 , only the contrast echo component 642 is present . by filtering the contrast echo component 642 by the low pass filter having a signal pass band 42 , it is possible to obtain a high ctr received signal . simultaneously , it is possible to suppress electric noise because the band limitation by the low pass filter is applied also in the probe sensitivity band 10 . therefore , the sn ratio with respect to the electric noise may be increased and a high ctr ultrasound contrast image may be obtained . further , the contrast echo signal is obtained at the low frequency band side of the probe sensitivity band 10 so that an ultrasound contrast image having an excellent depth penetration may be obtained . ( case when upper limit frequency of transmit pulse is substantially equal to upper limit frequency of probe sensitivity band ) fig9 is a frequency spectrum illustrating a relationship of a transmit and receive pulse band and an ultrasound probe sensitivity band in the ultrasound diagnosis device according to a sixth aspect of the invention . in this embodiment , the upper limit frequency of the first transmit pulse p 1 or the second transmit pulse p 2 is substantially equal to the upper limit frequency of the probe sensitivity band 10 and the fractional bandwidth of the first transmit pulse p 1 or the second transmit pulse p 2 is ⅔ ( approximately 67 %). frequency bands of the frequency component 250 and the frequency component 251 are provided as fundamental components of the first transmit pulse p 1 at the first pulse sequence and the second transmit pulse p 2 at the second pulse sequence . a frequency component of the receive echo of the first transmit pulse p 1 immediately before being received by the probe 20 of the probe sensitivity band 10 is configured by a linear tissue echo component 350 for the fundamental component , a sum frequency tissue harmonic echo component 450 generated by nonlinear interaction of the frequency components 250 in the subject 30 that form the first transmit pulse p 1 , a difference - frequency tissue harmonic echo component 550 generated by nonlinear interaction of the frequency components 250 in the subject 30 that form the first transmit pulse p 1 , and a contrast echo component 650 generated by nonlinear vibration of the ultrasound contrast agent 32 excited by the first transmit pulse p 1 or reflection and scattering of the first transmit pulse p 1 by the ultrasound contrast agent 32 . further , a frequency component of the receive echo of the second transmit pulse p 2 immediately before being received by the probe 20 is configured by a linear tissue echo component 351 for the fundamental component , a sum frequency tissue harmonic echo component 451 generated by nonlinear interaction of the frequency components 251 in the subject 30 that form the second transmit pulse p 2 , a difference - frequency tissue harmonic echo component 551 generated by nonlinear interaction of the frequency components 251 in the subject 30 that form the second transmit pulse p 2 , and a contrast echo component 651 generated by nonlinear vibration of the ultrasound contrast agent 32 excited by the second transmit pulse p 2 or reflection and scattering of the second transmit pulse p 2 by the ultrasound contrast agent 32 . in order to obtain a high ctr ultrasound contrast image , it is considered to efficiently capture the contrast echo components 650 and 651 and efficiently suppress or exclude the linear tissue echo components 250 and 251 or nonlinear tissue echo components 450 , 550 , 451 , and 551 . in this embodiment , the first transmit pulse p 1 or the second transmit pulse p 2 is transmitted so as not to overlap the frequency band 250 of the first transmit pulse p 1 or the frequency band 251 of the second transmit pulse p 2 and the nonlinear tissue echo components 450 , 550 , 451 , and 551 , which cannot be removed using a linear operation such as the pulse inversion technique , and the received signal is filtered by a high pass filter having a signal pass band 43 in which the lower limit frequency of the frequency band 250 of the first transmit pulse p 1 or the frequency band 251 of the second transmit pulse p 2 is a cut off frequency . specifically , the first transmit pulse p 1 and the second transmit pulse p 2 are transmitted so as to generate the sum frequency tissue harmonic echo components 450 and 451 out of the high frequency band of the frequency band 250 of the first transmit pulse p 1 or the frequency band 251 of the second transmit pulse p 2 and predetermined difference - frequency tissue harmonic echo components 550 and 551 out of the low frequency band of the frequency band 250 of the first transmit pulse p 1 or the frequency band 251 of the second transmit pulse p 2 . the sum or difference - frequency tissue harmonic echo component is removed from the obtained receive echo r by filtering or band limitation by the probe sensitivity band 10 . further , instead of the high pass filter , a band pass filter having the same signal pass band as the frequency band 250 of the first transmit pulse p 1 or the frequency band 251 of the second transmit pulse p 2 may be used for filtering . in the ultrasound diagnosis device according to the sixth aspect of the invention , the second transmit pulse p 2 is equal to a transmit pulse having an amplitude which is 1 / n times ( n & gt ; 0 ) of an amplitude of the first transmit pulse p 1 . similarly to the third or fourth aspect of the invention , the receive echo r is obtained by the subtraction processing of the first receive echo r 1 and the second receive echo r 2 ′ if the first transmit pulse p 1 and the second transmit pulse p 2 have the same phase . in contrast , if the first transmit pulse p 1 and the second transmit pulse p 2 have inverse phases , the receive echo r is obtained by the addition processing of the first receive echo r 1 and the second receive echo r 2 ′. from the receive echo r obtained as described above , any of the linear tissue echo components 350 and 351 are removed by the linear operation and the sum frequency tissue harmonic echo component 452 is removed by the band limitation of the probe sensitivity band 10 . therefore , the receive echo r is composed of components obtained by filtering the difference - frequency tissue harmonic echo component 552 and the contrast echo component 652 in the probe sensitivity band 10 . however , in the frequency band corresponding to the frequency band 250 or 251 of the first transmit pulse p 1 or the second transmit pulse p 2 , only the contrast echo component 652 is present . by filtering the contrast echo component 652 by the high pass filter having a signal pass band 43 , it is possible to obtain a high ctr received signal . simultaneously , it is possible to suppress electric noise because the band limitation by the high pass filter is applied also in the probe sensitivity band 10 . therefore , the sn ratio with respect to the electric noise may be increased and a high ctr ultrasound contrast image may be obtained . further , the contrast echo signal is obtained at the high frequency band side of the probe sensitivity band 10 so that an ultrasound contrast image having an excellent spatial resolution may be obtained . in order to check of the effect of the high ctr by the ultrasound diagnosis device according to the present invention described above , an ultrasound pulse response simulation of the ultrasound contrast agent based on a keller - miksis equation which considers a compressibility of surrounding fluid and nonlinear acoustic propagation simulation based on a kzk equation ( khokhlov - zabolotskaya - kuznetsov equation ) are performed . a signal component represented by the contrast echo is evaluated by the former simulation and a noise component represented by the tissue echo is evaluated by the latter simulation to compare the ctrs obtained by the related art illustrated in fig3 and the method of the present invention illustrated in fig4 . the result thereof will be described below . first , the probe sensitivity band is defined as if a filter in a hanning window is created under the assumption of a frequency band in which the center frequency is 3 mhz and a fractional bandwidth is 100 %. further , in the related art , as a transmit pulse condition , it is assumed that the center frequency is 2 mhz and a wave number of a hanning weight is 4 ( fractional bandwidth 50 %), and a maximum sound pressure amplitude is 212 kpa . in contrast , in the present invention , as a transmit pulse condition , it is assumed that the center frequency is 3 mhz and a wave number of a hanning weight is 4 ( fractional bandwidth 50 %), a maximum sound pressure amplitude of the first transmit pulse p 1 is 520 kpa , a maximum sound pressure amplitude of the second transmit pulse p 2 is 260 kpa , and the phase of the first transmit pulse p 1 is equal to that of the second transmit pulse p 2 . the above condition is assumed such that a value of a mechanical index mi which is used as an index of a safety of the ultrasound wave for a biological body is the same in the method according to the related art and the method according to the present invention . in other words , mi is defined as mi = p 0 /√ f c from the center frequency f c ( mhz ) of the transmit pulse and a maximum sound pressure amplitude p 0 ( mpa ) of a negative pressure and mi = 0 . 3 both in the method according to the related art and the method according to the present invention under the above - mentioned condition . as the ultrasound contrast agent , sonazoid is assumed . as for the sonazoid , it is assumed that a radius is 1 μm , a shell thickness is 10 nm , a shell shear modulus is 50 mpa , a shell viscous coefficient is 0 . 8 pa · s . further , as for gas in the contrast agent , it is assumed that a density is 1 . 61 kg / m 3 , a thermal conductivity is 26 . 2 × 10 − 3 w / mk , a thermal capacity is 1007 j / kgk and a ratio of specific heats is 1 . 4 . as for the surrounding fluid , a blood is assumed ( a density is 1 , 025 kg / m 3 , a viscous coefficient is 4 × 10 − 3 pa · s , and a speed of sound is 1 , 570 m / s ). under this condition , in the method according to the related art , as for each of the first transmit pulse p 1 and the second transmit pulse p 2 , a response for one ultrasound contrast agent is obtained by a simulation and after performing an addition processing of the response waveform for the first transmit pulse p 1 and the response waveform for the second transmit pulse p 2 , the first transmit pulse p 1 and the second transmit pulse p 2 are filtered under the condition of the above - mentioned probe sensitivity band to obtain a contrast echo component . in contrast , in the method according to the present invention , as for each of the first transmit pulse p 1 and the second transmit pulse p 2 , a response for one ultrasound contrast agent is obtained by the simulation and after performing a subtraction processing of the response waveform for the first transmit pulse p 1 and a waveform obtained by increasing two times the response waveform for the second transmit pulse p 2 , the first transmit pulse p 1 and the second transmit pulse p 2 are filtered under the condition of the above - mentioned probe sensitivity band to obtain a contrast echo component . further , in the nonlinear acoustic propagation simulation , a uniform acoustic medium which is similar to the physical property of the biological body is assumed and it is assumed that the speed of sound is 1 , 540 m / s , the density is 1 , 000 kg / m 3 , a nonlinear parameter b / a is 7 , and a frequency dependent absorption coefficient is 0 . 7 ( db / cm / mhz ). in this nonlinear acoustic propagation simulation , two dimensional plane of the acoustic medium is assumed and a sound pressure waveform at a focal point is obtained by the simulation with an aperture of the probe of 10 mm and a focal distance of 80 mm . in contrast , in the method of the present invention , an aperture amplitude apodization of the first transmit pulse p 1 and the second transmit pulse p 2 , as illustrated in fig1 , uses all apertures so that a sound pressure of the second transmit pulse p 2 is half of a sound pressure of the first transmit pulse p 1 . with this condition , in the method of the related art , the nonlinear acoustic propagation waveform for each of the first transmit pulse p 1 and the second transmit pulse p 2 is obtained by the simulation and after performing an addition processing of a waveform for the first transmit pulse p 1 and a waveform for the second transmit pulse p 2 , the first transmit pulse p 1 and the second transmit pulse p 2 are filtered under the condition of the above - mentioned probe sensitivity band to obtain a nonlinear tissue echo component . in contrast , according to a method of the present invention , after performing the subtraction processing of the waveform of the first transmit pulse p 1 and a waveform obtained by increasing two times the waveform of the second transmit pulse p 2 , the first transmit pulse p 1 and the second transmit pulse p 2 are filtered under the condition of the above - mentioned probe sensitivity band to obtain a nonlinear tissue echo component . first , a response of the ultrasound contrast agent will be described with reference to fig1 . fig1 is a frequency dependence view illustrating a contrast echo component of the ultrasound contrast agent according to methods in the related art and the present invention . in fig1 , a frequency band ( normalized with a maximum sensitivity ) corresponding to the probe sensitivity band and frequency bands ( each normalized with a maximum strength ) corresponding to the first transmit pulses p 1 in the methods of the related art and the present invention are illustrated . since a sound pressure level for a response for one ultrasound contrast agent is very low , for the convenience of the display , the sound pressure level for the response for the ultrasound contrast agent is increased by 140 db to be displayed . from this result , it is appreciated that the contrast echo component in the method of the present invention has slightly lower sound pressure level than that in the method of the related art , but the contrast echo component is generated all over the probe sensitivity band . specifically , it is understood that the signal is significantly distributed toward the low frequency and formed of very broad band signal . in other words , according to the method of the present invention , the contrast echo component becomes broader , which improves the spatial resolution and the depth penetration of the ultrasound contrast image . next , a nonlinear tissue echo component obtained by the nonlinear acoustic propagation simulation will be described with reference to fig1 . fig1 is a frequency dependence view illustrating nonlinear tissue echo components in methods according to the related art and the present invention . in fig1 , a frequency band ( normalized with a maximum sensitivity ) corresponding to the probe sensitivity band and frequency bands ( each normalized with a maximum strength ) corresponding to the first transmit pulses p 1 in the methods of the related art and the present invention are illustrated . from this result , it is understood that a sound pressure level of the nonlinear tissue echo component in the method of the present invention is suppressed to be much smaller than that in the related art . in other words , in the method of the related art , since a region corresponding to a second harmonic wave of the transmit pulse is used to form an image , the nonlinear tissue echo component of the second harmonic area inevitably becomes larger . in contrast , in the method of the present invention , the first transmit pulse p 1 and the second transmit pulse p 2 are formed so as to generate a region corresponding to the second harmonic wave ( sum frequency component ) out of the high frequency band of the probe sensitivity band and a difference - frequency component generated region out of the low frequency band of the probe sensitivity band . therefore , it is possible to entirely remove the nonlinear tissue echo component and obtain a high ctr ultrasound contrast image . in order to find an effect for the ctr of the method of the present invention as compared with the method of the related art , from the above - mentioned simulation result , an envelope maximum amplitude of a waveform of the contrast echo component and an envelope maximum amplitude of a waveform of the nonlinear tissue echo component according to the methods in the related art and the present invention are compared and the result is illustrated in fig1 . as illustrated in fig1 , if the contrast echo components are compared for the methods of the related art and the present invention , the envelope maximum amplitudes are − 157 . 36 db in the method of the related art and − 162 . 06 db in the method of the present invention . the contrast echo component , which becomes a signal in the ultrasound contrast image , is by 4 . 7 db lower in the method of the present invention than in the method of the related art . further , if the nonlinear tissue echo components are similarly compared , the nonlinear tissue echo component are − 25 . 65 db in the method of the related art and − 46 . 38 db in the method of the present invention . therefore , the nonlinear tissue echo component which becomes noise in the ultrasound contrast image is by 20 . 7 db lower in the method of the present invention than in the method of the related art . accordingly , if the ctrs are compared using the relative comparison of both the signal and the noise , the method of the present invention has the improved ctr as follows : therefore , the high ctr effect according to the method of the present invention is confirmed . a specific example of the operation at the time of ultrasound contrast diagnosis performed with the above - described configuration and under the condition will be described with reference to the drawings . fig1 is an operational conceptual view illustrating an embodiment of the ultrasound diagnosis device according to the invention . the ultrasound diagnosis device 1 includes a main body 100 of the device , a cable 22 , a probe 20 , an image display 3 , and a manipulation panel 101 that allows a user to input capturing conditions . before intravenously injecting the ultrasound contrast agent , if an operator touches the subject 30 with the probe 20 , a captured image 702 is displayed on a display screen 701 of the image display 3 . in this case , a position of the representative area is indicated by a marker 703 so that the user manipulates the manipulation panel 101 to select the representative area . on the display screen 701 , brightness information in the representative area of the captured image 702 indicated by the marker 703 is displayed on a number display 704 . in the manipulation panel 101 , transmit waveform adjusting units 103 and 104 are manipulated to adjust the center frequency or the fractional bandwidth of the first transmit pulse p 1 or the second transmit pulse p 2 to change the transmit pulse waveform . in the manipulation panel 101 , an adjusting unit for an amplitude ratio n of the first receive echo r 1 and the second receive echo r 2 may be provided . first , the user manipulates the marker 703 for the captured image of the subject 30 before intravenously injecting the ultrasound contrast agent using a trackball 102 and display a brightness of the tissue echo on the number display 704 . if the tissue echo is not sufficiently suppressed , the user manipulates the transmit waveform adjusting units 103 and 104 to adjust the transmit pulse so as to lower the brightness to be displayed on the number display 704 . by doing this , it is possible to set an optimal transmit pulse condition for the subject 30 so as to sufficiently suppress or exclude the tissue echo before obtaining the ultrasound contrast image . after determining the condition where the tissue echo is sufficiently suppressed , the ultrasound contrast agent is intravenously injected into the subject 30 to capture the ultrasound contrast image . further , at the time of capturing the ultrasound contrast image , the transmit waveform adjusting units 103 and 104 are manipulated to search for better capturing conditions . by the operation of the ultrasound diagnosis device as described above , an optimal ctr ultrasound contrast image may be obtained and a high quality diagnosis image may be obtained by fixing the setting condition even when the patient - dependency is strong . 200 , 210 , 211 , 220 , 221 , 230 , 231 , 240 , 241 , 250 , 251 frequency component of transmit pulse 300 , 310 , 311 , 320 , 321 , 330 , 331 linear tissue echo component 400 , 410 to 412 , 420 to 422 , 430 to 432 , 440 to 442 , 450 to 452 sum frequency tissue harmonic echo component 500 , 510 to 512 , 520 to 522 , 530 to 532 , 540 to 542 , 550 to 552 difference - frequency tissue harmonic echo component 600 , 610 to 612 , 620 to 622 , 630 to 632 , 640 to 642 , 650 to 652 contrast echo component | 6 |
the products of the present invention are clumping animal litters composed of a plurality of discrete , dual - component , artificial granules . the coated litter granules of this invention are depicted schematically in fig1 which shows a cross - section of a granule 10 that comprises a core 11 surrounded by a coating 12 . the granules of this invention deliver excellent levels of malodor absorption , adsorption , and prevention . they agglomerate with neighboring granules when wet , forming cohesive clumps that are strong enough mechanically to be easily scooped away from a litter box for disposal . this invention provides an animal litter granule that has the form of a coated core . the core component is made up of 15 - 45 weight -% dry cellulose fine fibers , 40 - 80 weight -% dry mineral filler , and 0 . 5 - 10 weight -% binder . the coating component contains 65 - 99 weight -% clumping agent , 1 - 25 weight -% zeolite , and / or 1 - 3 weight -% of a urease inhibitor , which is generally a boron compound such as boric acid . the coating component may also contain up to 30 weight -% dry cellulose fine fibers . in the granules of the present invention , the coating component has a mass that may range from half to twice the mass of the core . typically , however , the mass of the coating component in a granule is very roughly approximately equal to the mass of the core component in the granule . the term “ granule ,” as used herein , refers to any particulate form of matter such as particles , chips , pellets , and the like . the granules of the present invention generally have a mean particle size in the range of about 0 . 25 to about 4 . 75 millimeters , that is , from about 60 mesh to about 4 mesh , u . s . sieve series . for a tabulation of u . s . sieve series screen nomenclature , see perry &# 39 ; s chemical engineering handbook , 6th ed ., mcgraw - hill , inc ., new york , n . y . ( 1984 ), p . 21 - 15 ( table 21 - 6 ). the functional role of the core in the litter granules of this invention is to provide structural support for the coating component of the granules . the core also serves to absorb liquid excretions as well as to chemically bind malodor - producing nitrogen and sulfur compounds deposited in a body of litter . the core is made of a dry mix of fine fibers , minerals , and binder . the small particle size of these ingredients optimize their mixing within the core , creating a homogenous structure . in addition to these basic core components , other malodor suppression materials such as iuka and / or cyclodextrenes may be included within the core . the cellulose fibers serve both as a structural skeleton as well as being highly absorbent materials . the cellulose fibers are very effective malodor reducers , due to their low ph ( below 6 . 0 ) and to their high binding capabilities with sulfur compounds . they also contribute to the formation of cavities ( pores ) within the cores , thus reducing product weight . the fiber size distribution of the cellulose fibers in the core should be such that the combination of short and long fibers will contribute to the development of a strong yet open structure that will allow liquids to penetrate into the core . the dry cellulose fine fibers in the core and any cellulose fibers in the coating generally have a length of at most 5 millimeters , typically from 1 - 3 mm , and have a moisture content of less than 15 weight -%. generally , the dry cellulose fine fibers are wood dust , paper fibers , organic fibers , and mixtures thereof . any absorptive fiber , natural or artificial , though , may in principle be used for this purpose . however , wood or paper fibers , particularly those recovered from waste sources , function well and often have cost advantages . the mineral in the core is a filler which gives the granule its desired specific weight . fillers that may be used include kaolin , titanium dioxide , calcium carbonate , sodium bicarbonate , and mixtures thereof . in a preferred embodiment of the invention , this filler is a lime derivative , e . g ., lime itself , fly ash , dolomite , calcium carbonate , and mixtures thereof , although any inert , low ph mineral , that has a high specific weight , is white or light in color , and is capable of supplying fine particles , will do . calcium carbonate is currently preferred . generally , the dry mineral filler has a particle size range within the range 10 to 150 microns , and has a moisture content of less than 12 weight -%. preferably , at least 75 % of the mineral filler particles pass through 200 mesh u . s . sieve series . the binder assists the cellulose fibers in providing structural form to the granule cores , and also increases the absorbency thereof . one or more than one binder material may be used . binders may be selected from amongst organic binders , synthetic binders , and polymeric binders including superabsorbent polymers . typical binders that may be used in this invention include starch , acrylic polymer , polyvinyl acetate , guar gum , and mixtures thereof . it is currently preferred to employ a starch that dissolves well in cold water as the binder . more preferably , the binder is constituted of unmodified starch granules , at least 70 % of which pass through 200 mesh u . s . sieve series . the function of the coating complex in this invention is to enable quick initial liquid absorption and solid clumping and to lock in malodors arising from the liquid - soaked core once a clump is created . in addition , the coating complex functions to prevent malodor through urease inhibition and malodor adsorption . the coating is made of a dry mix of fine particles , which may include one or more of clumping agents , odor adsorption minerals , urease inhibitors , ph buffers , and cellulose fibers . in accordance with the present invention , the coating component may comprise 75 - 99 weight -% clumping agent and 1 - 25 weight -% zeolite , or 97 - 99 weight -% clumping agent and 1 - 3 weight -% of a urease inhibitor , or 65 - 94 weight -% clumping agent and 5 - 30 weight -% dry cellulose fine fibers and 1 - 15 weight -% zeolite and / or 1 - 3 weight -% of a urease inhibitor . a particularly preferred coating complex of the present invention comprises sodium bentonite , wood fibers , zeolite , and boric acid . the clumping agent in the coating formulation herein is preferably selected from the group consisting of bentonite clay , starch , and superabsorbent polymer , with bentonite clay being particularly preferred . typically , the bentonite clay is a sodium montmorillonite having a particle size distribution such that 80 % of the particles pass through 200 mesh u . s . sieve series and having a moisture content of less than 12 weight -%. this particle size and moisture profile facilitates binding of the coating complex to the humid fibrous core during the coating application stage in the manufacturing process . the fine bentonite powder acts as a malodor control agent as well as a clumping agent . a key innovation embodied in the present invention is that it requires the use of substantially less clumping agent such as bentonite than do prior art clumping litters where bentonite is the primary absorption substrate . the reduction in the amount of the relatively costly bentonite constituent of the litter product without corresponding loss of clumping effectiveness provides substantial economic benefits . also in accordance with the present invention , clumping performance can be controlled in advance by varying the relative amount of bentonite or other clumping agent in the granules produced . relatively solid , hard clumps will require a higher proportion of clumping agent , while clumps designed to be flushable ( that is , to disintegrate during a flushing operation ) well require a lower proportion of clumping agent . other key innovations that characterize the present invention include longer useful life and better odor control due to reduced clump size and increased absorption speed , and improved adsorption of sulfur compounds due to the structure and cellulose fiber content of the granules of this invention . a urease inhibitor such as boric acid may be mixed into the coating complex to prevent hydrolysis of urine to urea and volatile ammonia , which occurs when urease - producing bacteria are present . in accordance with this aspect of the present invention , the boron compound in the coating is boric acid having a particle size range within the range 10 to 100 mesh , u . s . sieve series , and having a moisture content of less than 10 weight -%. zeolites have high cation exchange capacities as well as natural capabilities to act as molecular sieves . in this invention , they may be used to trap and bind ammonium ions . in the present invention , therefore , zeolite may be used to complement the role of boric acid as a urease inhibitor , by trapping and absorbing volatile ammonia and preventing it from evaporating into the environment where the animal litter is deployed . a zeolite that is especially useful in the present invention is clinoptilolite having a particle size range within the range 10 to 100 microns and having a moisture content of less than 12 weight -%. low ph cellulose fibers , used in the coating complex of the present invention , are preferably wood fibers . they provide a multitude of benefits to the overall performance : 1 ) they serve as a channeling mechanism to better convey liquids from the coating to the core . 2 ) they reduce the amount of bentonite or other clumping agent needed for the creation of a solid clump . 3 ) they reduce air - borne dust in the finished product . 4 ) they reduce coating ph . 5 ) they bind sulfur compounds , thus reducing sulfur malodors . the ph of sodium bentonite is approximately 9 - 10 . at this ph , ammonia tends to be present in its volatile gaseous form rather than in the form of non - volatile ammonium ions . the use of a ph buffer such as baking soda ( sodium bicarbonate ) is intended to maintain the ph at a low level , that is , ph 8 . 1 or lower , thus reducing the amount of gaseous ammonia present . coating complexes made in accordance with the present disclosure , for instance of sodium bentonite , zeolite , boric acid , and cellulose fibers , achieve very high functional efficiency . each portion of the homogeneous coating acts to clump and to fight the formation of malodors . these additives are all relatively costly , but the present invention provides for their application in small quantities , applied as they are in the outer layers of the absorbent granules of the present invention , and thereby obtains maximum benefit from the materials employed . the present invention also contemplates a method of making an animal litter granule as described above . the method of the invention includes the steps of : preparing a homogenous core mixture comprising dry cellulose fine fibers , dry mineral filler , and binder ; wetting and agglomerating that mixture to prepare wet agglomerated core particles ; preparing a homogenous coating mixture comprising bentonite clay and zeolite and / or a boron compound ; applying the coating mixture to the wet agglomerated core particles to prepare coated wet agglomerated core particles ; and drying the coated particles to prepare the desired animal litter granules . [ 0049 ] fig2 is a block diagram depicting an overall manufacturing process for making the coated litter granules of the present invention . in fig2 a homogenous core mixture is prepared in block 21 and is subsequently wetted and agglomerated to prepare the wet core particles of block 22 . separately , a homogenous coating mixture is prepared in block 23 , and then in block 24 is applied to the wet core particle to prepare coated wet particles . finally , the coated wet particles of block 24 are dried to prepare the granules of the invention in block 25 . an optional variant of the present invention includes a step making pelletized cores that can be used in the manufacture of the coated litter granules of the invention . in this variant , a homogenous core mixture is prepared and then is palletized and the pellets are screened . more specifically , this invention contemplates a method for making a core pellet suitable for use in manufacturing an animal litter granule , which method includes the steps of : forming a mixture comprising 15 - 45 weight -% dry cellulose fine fibers , 40 - 80 weight -% dry mineral filler , and 0 . 5 - 10 weight -% binder ; pelletizing the mixture in a disc pelletizer to form substantially spherical pellets ; and screening the pellets to select pellets which , for instance , pass a 6 mesh screen but are retained on at 30 mesh screen . referring to the overall manufacturing process of this invention as described above , the core pellets can be used to prepare the wet core particles . the process of this invention includes several manufacturing stages , namely : dry blends preparation ; agglomeration ; wet screening ; coating ; drying ; dry screening ; recycling ; and spraying . dry blends preparation . in this stage , a bulk mixture of components in the desired weight ratios is prepared . both the core components and the coating components are prepared , separately of course , in this way . each scheduled component is dosed in its turn from a weighing station into a hopper . once all of the components are in the hopper , the unmixed batch is conveyed to a mixer . the components , which at this point differ in bulk density and texture , require intensive mixing to achieve a good mix . a typical mixing procedure mixes each batch for from 90 to 120 seconds in a plowshare high - speed mixer . once well mixed , each batch is conveyed to a surge and combined with other batches having the same component weight ratios . the coating mixture can be mixed in a continuous mixture to be fed directly to the pre - mix auger . agglomeration . this stage creates core granules from a dry blend of core components . dry blend is dosed continuously into a pin mixer . at the same time , water is injected into the pin mixer at several different locations . high - speed rotation of the wetted blend within the pin mixer creates “ seeds ” or small particles of the blended materials . the wetted blend is then transferred to an agglomeration pan , where agglomeration is completed . in the agglomeration pan , more material accumulates around each seed , creating a core granule . parameters such as granule size and weight can be controlled in this stage by changing the blend / water ratio as well as by changing the speed and / or inclination of the pin mixer and / or the agglomeration pan . wet screening . by the time the smaller core granules are large enough for further processing , it is often found that some of the core granules have generally become too large for use in the present invention . in this case , all of the granules are passed through a screener in order to screen out the oversized particles . measures known to those skilled in the art can be employed to ensure that the screener is not “ blinded ” by the wet granules . this step can be omitted when the percentage of oversized granules is small . the oversized granules are crushed and then recycled to the agglomeration stage . coating . in this stage , the core granules are coated with the clumping agent - based coating complex to provide dual - component coated granules in accordance with the present invention . the core granules , still wet , are fed into a high - speed pre - mix auger together with a dry blend coating complex mixture which has been prepared as described above . from the auger , the mixed product , consisting of core granules and dry blend coating mixture , are transferred into a coater . the coater is for instance a horizontal drum rotating around its axis . the internal walls of the drum have helical , screw - like threads . the mixed products falls into the rotating threads and rolls , which causes the coating mixture to wrap the granule . moisture present in the granules from the agglomeration stage causes the dry blend coating mixture to stick to the granules . as the mixed product moves through the coater , more and more coating adheres to each granule until the desired mass ratio of coating to core is achieved . parameters including the speed and angle and feeding location of the pre - mix auger and the coating drum are controllable and can be optimized by those skilled in the art . drying . in this stage , wet coated granules are dried to reach their final moisture level . perforated belt dryers are employed to remove the necessary amount of moisture from each granule . the desired final moisture content , generally from about 7 % to about 12 %, is achieved by controlling the air temperature and granule throughput in the dryer . dry screening . once dried , the batch of granules of this invention is screened to remove both oversized granules and undersized granules , and to provide a litter product having a uniform granule size profile . those skilled in the art are familiar with appropriate screening technology and the use of such devices as vibrating and rolling machines . the oversized and undersized granules are recycled to the dry blend preparation stage . spraying . additives such as de - dusting agents , antimicrobial agents , perfumes , deodorizers can be spayed onto the finished product to improve dust control , shelf life , and product odor profile . spraying is generally conducted in an enclosed spray chamber . typical specific formulations are set forth below . those skilled in the art will recognize that the specific ingredients recited and their relative amounts can be varied widely while still making available the benefits provided by the present invention . [ 0061 ] percentages in in core core product wood fibers 35 % 19 . 25 % calcium carbonate 61 % 33 . 55 % unmodified starch 4 % 2 . 2 % total 100 % 55 % percentages in in coating coating product sodium bentonite 95 % 42 . 75 % zeolite ( clinoptilolite ) 5 % 2 . 25 % total 100 % 45 % core coating weight ratio between core and 55 % 45 % coating [ 0062 ] percentages in core in core product wood fibers 32 % 19 . 2 % calcium carbonate 64 % 38 . 4 % unmodified starch 4 % 2 . 4 % total 100 % 60 % percentages in in coating coating product sodium bentonite 88 % 35 . 2 % zeolite ( clinoptilolite ) 5 % 2 . 0 % wood fibers 7 % 2 . 8 % total 100 % 40 % core coating weight ratio between core and 60 % 40 % coating the product of the present invention is characterized by long lasting odor control , high absorbency , good clump integrity , low cost , and light weight . as such , it is superior to conventional animal litters . | 0 |
fig1 is a schematic diagram of a 50 km link as part of a qkd cascaded network 5 , wherein the network includes qkd relays (“ boxes ”) 10 and 30 that each includes qkd stations alice a and bob b . qkd boxes 10 and 30 are operably connected via fiber link f 1 . in the operation of the qkd network , the alice of one box communicates with the bob in the adjacent box in the cascaded network . if the qkd network 5 requires redundancy and self - checking , then another qkd box 20 is added in between boxes 10 and 30 , as illustrated in fig2 . now , fiber link f 1 is divided into two sections f 1 a and f 1 b . for the purpose of discussion , it is assumed that the distance from box 10 to box 20 and the distance from box 20 to box 30 is 25 km . also , in an example embodiment , boxes 10 , 20 and 30 have respective enclosures 12 , 22 and 32 , and the boxes are designed to be tamperproof . with reference now to fig3 and 4 , a 2 × 2 optical switch 50 is added to each qkd box 10 , 20 and 30 and is optically coupled to input ports pi of each box . in an example embodiment , 2 × 2 optical switch is a prism - based switch made by dicon fiberoptics , such as the optical switch described at : http :// www . diconfiberoptics . com / products / scd0009 / index . htm . note that each box 10 , and 30 includes the same internal components and that only the internal components of box 20 are shown in detail for ease of illustration . in an example embodiment , optical switch 50 has a single control input that switches the device between two configurations ( states ) based on a 0v or 5v input signal s 50 . in an example embodiment , optical switch 50 is operatively connected to either controller ca and / or controller cb of alice a or bob b , respectively , via an electrical line 51 . controller ca or controller cb provides input signal s 50 to optical switch 50 to control the network system configuration . optical switch 50 has four ports , p 1 , p 2 , p 3 and p 4 . optical switch 50 is connected to alice via fiber link 52 at port p 1 and to bob via fiber link 54 at port p 2 . the remaining two ports p 3 and p 4 are connected to optical fiber sections f 1 a and f 1 b , respectively . optical switch 50 has two positions , as shown respectively in fig3 and fig4 . with reference first to fig3 , in a first ( open ) position , the switch allows for cascaded communication between adjacent boxes in the network , as illustrated by the double - ended arrows 70 . in fig3 , qkd stations a and b share access to their key databases and are now communicating them to the adjacent qkd boxes 10 and 20 , with qkd station a in box 30 communicating with qkd station b in box 10 and qkd station b in box 20 communication with qkd station a in box 30 . with reference to fig4 , in a second ( closed ) position , switch 50 acts to bypass box 20 , so that box 10 can communicate directly to box 30 through box 20 , as indicated by double - ended arrow 80 . at the same time , box 20 can perform diagnostics on its qkd stations a and b without fear of outside interference from the externally accessible fiber links . this optical connection between alice a and bob b within qkd relay 20 is referred herein as “ loop back ,” and is indicated by double - ended arrow 90 . in the loop - back configuration associated with the second position of optical switch 50 , alice a and bob b are optical coupled via fiber links 52 and 54 through the optical switch . in an example embodiment , controllers ca and cb are connected to similar controllers in boxes 10 and 30 ( not shown ) and coordinate the mode of operation ( i . e ., the position of optical switch 50 ). for example , the network may be configured so that on a regular basis optical switch 50 is placed in bypass mode for a given diagnostic time period pre - agreed in the network . after the diagnostic time elapses , optical switch 50 is returned to the position shown in fig3 . in another example embodiment , information about the desired position of optical switch 50 is transmitted from a controller in box 10 ( not shown ) to controller ca , then via electrical line 51 to controller cb , from controller cb to a controller in box 30 ( not shown ), etc . controllers ca and cb can be connected to similar controllers in boxes 10 and 30 ( not shown ) and coordinate the mode of operation ( i . e ., the position of optical switch 50 ). for example , the network may be configured so that on a regular basis optical switch 50 is placed in bypass mode for a given maintenance time period pre - agreed in the network . after the maintenance time elapses , optical switch 50 is returned to the position shown in fig3 . in particular , the diagnostic loop - back testing of the alice ( a ) and bob ( b ) qkd stations within the qkd relay includes , for example , checking the function of one or more of the various elements ( not shown ) of each qkd box , such as the output power of the laser , the calibration of both variable optical attenuators ( voa &# 39 ; s ), confirming the function and calibration of a watchdog detector at alice , the calibration of the modulators , and the calibration and operation of single photon detectors . all of these functions are normally set during a system turn up . however , when the fiber path is in loop back mode , there is no access to the fiber for an eavesdropper to insert herself into the optical loop . in an example of performing diagnostic testing in the loop - back configuration , the laser output is calibrated as a function pulse width . this is accomplished , for example , by using a calibrated pin diode detector pre - installed into the qkd stations , and placing all of the voas in each box to minimum attenuation . with a wide laser pulse , each voa is varied to check the calibration . the average photon level μ is then calculated and used to calibrate the single - photon detectors . when qkd relay 20 is added as an extra node , one disadvantage is extra network cost . however , when qkd relay 20 is not bypassed ( i . e ., when the optical switch is in the first position ), the key rate is increased , so that the added cost provides an added benefit . also , the optical switch can be configured so that when the electronics in one qkd relay totally fail , as in the case of a power failure , the system places the optical switch in the second position so that the failed qkd relay is bypassed without active intervention . also , the ability to perform diagnostic testing and / or calibration of each box is an important aspect of creating a commercially viable qkd network system . the present invention allows for two other network redundancies to be realized . with time multiplexing , the same fiber link f 1 a can be used to connect system 10 to system 20 and to connect system 10 to system 30 . secondly , since multiple boxes work with keys transmitted in the same path , more information is available to remotely determine whether a fault is in a system on the fiber or in the fiber itself . in the foregoing detailed description , various features are grouped together in various example embodiments for ease of understanding . the many features and advantages of the present invention are apparent from the detailed specification , and , thus , it is intended by the appended claims to cover all such features and advantages of the described apparatus that follow the true spirit and scope of the invention . furthermore , since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those of skill in the art , it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction , operation and example embodiments described herein . accordingly , other embodiments are within the scope of the appended claims . | 7 |
referring to the drawings and particularly to fig1 and 2 , one form of the treatment , or support platform of the present invention for supporting an individual in a prone position is there shown and generally designated by the numeral 22 . platform 22 here comprises a supporting frame 24 that includes an upper frame 24 a to which a pair of forward , transversely spaced , downwardly extending legs 24 b is connected and to which a pair of rearward , transversely spaced , downwardly extending legs 24 c is connected . connected to and supported by supporting frame 24 is an elongated , resilient body cushion 26 having opposing upper and lower surfaces 26 a and 26 b . as best seen in fig1 of the drawings , upper surface 26 a of the body , or cushion is provided with a receiving chamber 28 for receiving the breasts of the individual being treated . forming an important aspect of the treatment platform 22 of the present invention is a control assembly 30 for controllably positioning a breast cushion 32 that is disposed within receiving chamber 28 . control assembly 30 here includes a breast cushion positioning mechanism generally designated by the numeral 34 for moving the breast cushion 32 within receiving chamber 28 from a first elevated position to a second lowered position . as indicated in the drawings , apportion of the breast cushion positioning mechanism 34 is connected to the inner sidewalls 36 and 37 of receiving chamber 28 ( fig2 ) and is disposed below the upper surface 26 a of the resilient body cushion 26 . breast cushion positioning mechanism 34 here comprises a pair of readily commercially available linear motor assemblies 38 that include elongate tracks or slides 38 a that , in the manner shown in fig2 , are interconnected with the side walls 36 and 37 respectively of the cushion receiving chamber 28 . each of the linear motor assemblies also comprises a combination electric motor and moving carriage 38 b that is connected to a selected one of the tracks . breast support cushion 32 is carried by a cushion support plate 40 that is positioned between and interconnected with the carriage 38 b . when the linear motors are energized through operation of a switch 44 that is mounted on the side of the cushion 26 and interconnected with the motors by a conduit 46 , the breast support cushion can be controllably moved upwardly and downwardly within the chamber 28 manner to provide optimum support to the breasts of the patient . the linear motor assemblies 38 can be obtained from a number of sources , including the parker hannifin corporation of rohnert park , calif . and the tecnotion , b . v . company of the netherlands . in using the apparatus of the invention shown in fig1 and 2 of the drawings , the linear motor assemblies 38 are operated in a manner to move the breast support cushion downwardly within chamber 28 . this done , the patient can lay prone on the support cushion 26 with the breasts located within chamber 28 . through operation of the switch 44 , the breast support cushion 32 can be raised to a position wherein the breasts of the patient are comfortably supported by the cushion 32 . with the patient thusly positioned on the support table , massage or similar therapeutic manipulation of the patient can be accomplished without undue pressure being exerted upon the breasts of the patient . turning next to fig3 and 4 of the drawings , an alternate form of the treatment platform of the present invention for supporting an individual in a prone position is there shown and generally designated by the numeral 50 . platform 50 is similar in many respects to the earlier described platform 22 and like numerals are used in fig3 and 4 to identify like components . platform 50 here comprises a supporting frame 24 that substantially identical in construction and operation to the supporting frame previously described and functions to support an elongated resilient body cushion 52 having opposing upper and lower surfaces 52 a and 52 b . as best seen in fig3 of the drawings , upper surface 52 a of the cushion 52 is provided with a receiving chamber 54 for receiving the breasts of the individual being treated . forming an important aspect of this latest embodiment of the invention is a control assembly 56 that it is positioned within receiving chamber 54 of cushion 52 in the manner indicated in fig3 . control assembly 56 here includes a breast cushion 58 and a breast cushion positioning mechanism generally designated by the numeral 60 for maintaining the breast cushion 58 at an optimum position within receiving chamber 54 . as been seen in fig4 of the drawings , the breast cushion in positioning mechanism 60 here comprises a yieldably deformable , generally elliptically shaped fluid containing bellows 62 and an elongated tube 64 connected to the bellows . in a manner presently to be described , the upper surface of bellows 62 that supports the breast cushion 58 is movable from a first extended position to a second collapsed position . also forming a part of the control assembly of this latest form of the invention is a plenum chamber 66 of conventional construction to which air tube 64 is interconnected in the manner shown in fig4 . in the preferred form of the invention , bellows 62 is pressurized with air that is transferred to the plenum chamber 66 via tube 64 when the bellows is collapsed due to a downward pressure being exerted thereon by the breasts of a patient lying prone upon the body support cushion 52 . with this construction , air under pressure within the plenum chamber 66 will resist collapsing of the bellows so that the breast support cushion 58 will be continuously urged into gentle contact with the breasts of the patient thereby comfortably supporting the breasts during the massage or therapeutic manipulation . the construction of the elliptical bellows 62 , the construction of the plenum chamber 66 and the manner of their interconnection by tube 64 is well understood by those skilled in the art . referring now to fig5 and 6 of the drawings , still another form of the treatment platform of the present invention for supporting an individual in a prone position is there shown and generally designated by the numeral 70 . platform 70 is also similar in many respects to the earlier described platform 22 and like numerals are used in fig5 and 6 to identify like components . platform 70 here comprises a supporting frame 24 that is substantially identical in construction and operation to the supporting frame previously described and functions to support an elongated resilient body cushion 72 having opposing upper and lower surfaces 72 a and 72 b . as best seen in fig5 of the drawings , upper surface 72 a of the cushion 72 is provided with a receiving chamber 74 for receiving the breasts of the individual being treated . forming an important aspect of this latest embodiment of the invention is a control assembly 76 that it is positioned within receiving chamber 74 of cushion 72 in the manner indicated in fig6 . control assembly 76 here includes a breast cushion 78 and a breast cushion positioning mechanism generally designated by the numeral 80 for positioning the breast cushion 78 at an optimum position within receiving chamber 74 . as been seen in fig6 of the drawings , the breast cushioning positioning mechanism 80 here comprises a lever operated cam assembly 82 that includes an elongated , transversely extending cam member 84 and an operating lever that is connected to and extends from cam member 84 in the manner indicated in fig6 of the drawings . the operating lever here includes an elongated shaft 88 to which a hand gripping member 90 is connected . rotation of the hand gripping member in the manner indicated by the arrow 91 of fig6 will cause the cam member 84 to act upon the breast support cushion 76 to controllably raise it from a lowered position to the elevated position shown in fig6 . through operation of the cam assembly 82 , the breast support cushion 78 can be raised to a position wherein the breasts of the patient are comfortably supported by the cushion . with the patient thusly positioned on the support table , massage or similar therapeutic manipulation of the patient can be accomplished without undue pressure being exerted upon the breasts of the patient . turning next to fig7 and 8 of the drawings , yet another form of treatment platform of the present invention for supporting an individual in a prone position is there shown and generally designated by the numeral 94 . platform 94 is also similar in many respects to the earlier described platform 22 and like numerals are used in fig7 and 8 to identify like components . platform 94 here comprises a supporting frame 24 that is substantially identical in construction and operation to the supporting frame previously described and functions to support an elongated resilient body cushion 96 having opposing upper and lower surfaces 96 a and 96 b . as best seen in fig7 of the drawings , upper surface 96 a of the cushion 96 is provided with a receiving chamber 98 for receiving the breasts of the individual being treated . forming an important aspect of this latest embodiment of the invention is a control assembly 100 that it is positioned within receiving chamber 98 of cushion 96 in the manner indicated in fig7 . control assembly 100 here includes a breast cushion 102 and a breast cushion positioning mechanism generally designated by the numeral 104 for positioning the breast cushion 102 at an optimum position within receiving chamber 98 ( fig8 ). as been seen in fig8 of the drawings , the breast cushioning positioning mechanism 104 here comprises a belt and roller assembly 106 that includes an elongated , yieldably deformable , transversely extending belt 108 and a hand operated roller member 110 . connected to roller member 110 and extending there from is a hand operated wheel 112 . rotation of the hand operated wheel 112 will cause the belt 108 to be wound around the roller 110 thereby foreshortening the belt and causing controlled upward movement of the breast support cushion in the direction of the arrow 114 of fig8 . through operation of the belt and roller assembly 106 , the breast support cushion 102 can be raised to a position wherein the breasts of the patient are comfortably supported by the cushion . referring now to fig9 and 10 of the drawings , still another form of treatment platform of the present invention for supporting an individual in a prone position is there shown and generally designated by the numeral 118 . platform 118 is also similar in many respects to the earlier described platform 22 and like numerals are used in fig9 and 10 to identify like components . platform 118 here comprises a supporting frame 24 that is substantially identical in construction and operation to the supporting frame previously described and functions to support an elongated resilient body cushion 120 having opposing upper and lower surfaces 120 a and 120 b . as best seen in fig9 of the drawings , upper surface 120 a of the cushion 120 is provided with a receiving chamber 122 for receiving the breasts of the individual being treated . forming an important aspect of this latest embodiment of the invention is a control assembly 124 , the portion of which is positioned within receiving chamber 122 of cushion 120 in the manner indicated in fig1 . control assembly 124 here includes a breast cushion 126 and a breast cushion positioning mechanism generally designated by the numeral 130 for positioning the breast cushion 126 at an optimum position within receiving chamber 122 ( fig1 ). as been seen in fig1 of the drawings , the breast cushioning positioning mechanism 130 here comprises a pair of spaced apart , generally cylindrically shaped inflatable capstans 132 about which a plurality of tensioning straps 134 are wrapped in the manner best seen in fig1 . with this construction , when the capstans are inflated by means of a small electrical pump 136 that is supported by supporting frame 24 and interconnected with the inflatable capstans by means of lengths of tubing 137 , each of the capstans uniformly expand causing the tensioning straps to controllably foreshorten . as shown in the drawings , breast cushion 126 rests upon the tensioning straps so that it is controllably raised as the tensioning straps are foreshortened by expansion of the inflatable capstans . in using this latest form of the invention , energization of the electrical pump 136 will cause the capstans 132 to controllably expand so that the breast support cushion 126 can gradually be raised to a position wherein the breasts of the patient are comfortably supported by the cushion . turning next to fig1 through 16 of the drawings , yet another form of treatment platform of the present invention for supporting an individual in a prone position is there shown and generally designated by the numeral 140 . unlike the previously described platforms , platform 140 is collapsible in the manner illustrated in fig1 c so that it can be easily transported and stored . platform 140 here comprises a novel , collapsible supporting frame 142 that functions to support an elongated resilient body cushion 144 having a forward portion 146 and a rearward portion 148 . forward portion 146 includes opposing upper and lower surfaces 146 a and 146 b , while rearward portion 148 includes opposing upper and lower surfaces 148 a and 148 b . as best seen in fig1 , 13 and 14 of the drawings , upper surface 146 a of the forward portion 146 of the cushion is provided with a receiving chamber 150 for receiving the breasts of the individual being treated . forward portion 146 also includes forwardly extending head support cushion 151 that is movable from the extended position shown in fig1 into the folded position shown in fig1 c . collapsible supporting frame 142 includes a forward portion 152 that supports the forward portion 146 of the cushion and includes a rearward portion 154 that supports the rearward portion of the cushion . as best seen in fig1 , 12 and 12 a , forward portion 152 of the supporting frame includes a pair of front legs 155 , each of which has an upper portion 155 a and a lower telescoping portion 155 b . forward portion 152 also includes a pair of foldable brace assemblies 157 that are pivotally connected to the forward legs . each brace assembly includes a pair of forward struts 160 that are pivotally connected to the upper portions of the pair of front legs 152 proximate their central portion . forward struts 160 are , in turn , pivotally connected to a pair of rearward struts 162 ( see also fig1 ). as illustrated in fig1 a , with this construction the front legs 155 are pivotally movable from the first position shown by the phantom lines in fig1 a into the second , partially collapsed position shown by the solid lines in fig1 a . turning to fig1 b , it can be seen at that following the removal of the outwardly extending handgrip wheel 164 , the purpose of which will presently be described , the forward portion of the support frame can be collapsed into the substantially planar configuration shown in fig1 b . as best seen in fig1 of the drawings , rearward portion 154 of the supporting frame includes a pair of rear legs 166 , each of which has an upper portion 166 a and a telescoping lower portion 166 b . upper portion 166 a of each leg is pivotally connected to the supporting frame via connectors 163 in the manner shown in fig1 c . pivotally connected to the pair of rear legs 166 proximate their central portion is a pair of forwardly extending struts 170 and pivotally connected to the pair of forwardly extending struts 170 is a pair of elongate struts 172 ( fig1 c ). as illustrated in fig1 c , with the construction described in the preceding paragraphs , the rearward portion 148 of the support cushion can be folded downwardly and into engagement with the forward portion 146 of the support cushion and the head support cushion 151 can be folded downwardly in the manner shown so as to form a compact collapsed unit of the character depicted in fig1 c that can be easily transported and stored . forming an important aspect of this latest embodiment of the invention is a control assembly 180 that it is positioned within receiving chamber 150 of the forward portion 146 of the support cushion . as best seen in fig1 and 14 of the drawings , control assembly 180 here includes a breast cushion 182 and a breast cushion positioning mechanism generally designated by the numeral 184 for positioning the breast cushion 182 at an optimum position within receiving chamber 150 ( fig1 ). as illustrated in fig1 , 15 and 16 of the drawings , the breast cushioning positioning mechanism 184 here comprises a conventional scissors lift 186 that raises and lowers the breast cushion 182 by extending and collapsing scissors linkages 188 and 190 . as shown in fig1 and 14 , breast cushion 182 is supported for reciprocal vertical movement on a pair of generally parallel scissor linkages 188 a and 188 b . each of the scissor linkages 188 includes vertically - interconnected crossed scissor arms 193 and 195 . similarly , each of the scissor linkages 190 includes vertically - interconnected crossed scissor arms 197 and 199 . the arms of each scissor arm pair are connected together at respective approximate midpoints for pivotal movement about a common scissor axis . the upper end of each of the arms 193 and 195 is pivotally connected to a load platform 186 a and the breast cushion 182 is connected to the load platform for vertical movement between a first lowered position and a second upper position . the lower end of arm 197 of the lowermost scissor arm pair of each linkage is pivotally connected to a base member 201 that is carried by platform base 202 in the manner shown in fig1 . similarly , the lower end of arm 199 is connected to base member 201 for horizontal reciprocal movement toward and away from the lower end of the pivotally connected arm 197 and perpendicular to the scissor axis . the breast cushion 182 can be controllably raised and lowered by rotation of the previously identified handgrip wheel 164 . as best seen in fig1 , handgrip wheel 164 is connected to one end of a threaded shaft 204 the other end of which is operably interconnected with the central portion of the scissors lift 186 in the manner illustrated in fig1 . with this construction , rotation of the handgrip wheel 164 controllably expands and collapses the scissors linkages in a manner well understood by those skilled in the art . through operation of the scissors lift 186 in the manner thus described , the breast support cushion 182 can be raised to a position wherein the breasts of the patient are comfortably supported by the cushion . turning next to fig1 and 18 of the drawings , yet another form of the treatment platform of the present invention for supporting an individual in a prone position is there shown and generally designated by the numeral 210 . platform 210 is similar in many respects to the earlier described collapsible platform 140 and like numerals are used in fig1 and 18 to identify like components . platform 210 here comprises a supporting frame that is substantially identical in construction and operation to the collapsible supporting frame previously described in connection with the embodiment of the invention shown in fig1 through 16 and functions to support an elongated resilient body cushion 144 having forward and rearward portions 146 and 148 respectively . as before the forward portion 146 of the support cushions is provided with a receiving chamber 150 for receiving the breasts of the individual being treated . forming an important aspect of this latest embodiment of the invention is control assembly 214 , a portion of which is positioned within receiving chamber 150 of the forward portion 146 of the support cushion . control assembly 214 here includes a breast cushion 216 and a breast cushion positioning mechanism generally designated by the numeral 218 for maintaining the breast cushion 216 at an optimum position within receiving chamber 150 . the breast cushion positioning mechanism 218 of this latest form of the invention comprises an inflatable , deflatable housing 220 that is movable from the deflated configuration shown in fig1 to the inflated configuration shown in fig1 . operably interconnected with housing 220 via a length of tubing 222 is a conventional , readily commercially available electric pump 224 that is carried by portion 146 of the supporting cushion and is usable to inflate the housing into the configuration shown in fig1 and by the phantom lines of fig1 . with this construction , activation of the electric pump will inflate chamber 220 in a manner to continuously urge the breast support cushion 216 into gentle contact with the breasts of the patient thereby comfortably supporting the breasts during the massage or therapeutic manipulation . turning lastly to fig1 and 20 of the drawings , still another form of the treatment platform of the present invention for supporting an individual in a prone position is there shown and generally designated by the numeral 230 . platform 230 is similar in many respects to the earlier described collapsible platform 210 and like numerals are used in fig1 and 20 to identify like components . platform 230 here comprises a supporting frame that is substantially identical in construction and operation to the collapsible supporting frame previously described in connection with the embodiment of the invention shown in fig1 through 16 and functions to support an elongated resilient body cushion 234 having a forward portion 234 a . as before , the forward portion 234 of the support cushions is provided with a receiving chamber 236 for receiving the breasts of the individual being treated . as before , an important aspect of this latest embodiment of the invention is a control assembly 214 that is substantially identical in construction and operation to the control assembly described in connection with the embodiment of fig1 and 18 of the drawings . as in the earlier described embodiment of the invention , control assembly 214 includes a breast cushion 216 and a breast cushion positioning mechanism generally designated by the numeral 218 for maintaining the breast cushion 216 at an optimum position within receiving chamber 236 . as before , the breast cushion positioning mechanism 218 comprises an inflatable , deflatable housing 220 that is movable from the deflated configuration shown by the solid lines in fig2 to the inflated configuration shown by the phantom lines in fig2 . operably interconnected with housing 220 via a length of tubing 222 is a conventional , readily commercially available electric pump 224 that is usable to inflate the housing into the configuration shown by the phantom lines in fig2 . a unique feature of the apparatus of this latest form of the invention resides in the fact that the breast cushion positioning mechanism 218 is carried within a generally elliptically shaped carrier 240 that for ease of portability of the apparatus , is readily removable from chamber 236 . in this regard ; the upper portion 240 a of carrier 240 is generally annular in shape and includes a circumferentially extending recess 240 b that is adapted to receive a circumferentially extending rim 242 that is formed proximate the upper extremity of chamber 236 . with this construction , following disconnection of tubing 222 from chamber 220 , carrier 240 , along with inflatable chamber 220 can readily be removed from chamber 236 for transport or storage . when the apparatus of this latest form of the invention is once again erected from its collapsed configuration and the carrier 240 reinserted into chamber 236 , activation of the electric pump will inflate chamber 220 in a manner to continuously urge the breast support cushion 216 into gentle contact with the breasts of the patient thereby comfortably supporting the breasts during the massage or therapeutic manipulation . having now described the invention in detail in accordance with the requirements of the patent statutes , those skilled in this art will have no difficulty in making changes and modifications in the individual parts or their relative assembly in order to meet specific requirements or conditions . such changes and modifications may be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention , as set forth in the following claims . | 0 |
the key signal generator 10 shown has two chroma inputs , namely an input 12 for the r - y component signal and an input 14 for the b - y signal , and a luma input 16 for the luma signal . all three inputs comprise 8 bit samples in accordance with ccir recommendations 601 and 656 . a first programmable read - only memory ( prom ) 20 constituting a programmable lookup table is connected to the inputs 12 and 14 to receive the two chroma inputs . the prom 20 has 64 k or 65536 locations which can be addressed by the two 8 - bit inputs , and is 8 bits &# 34 ; deep &# 34 ;, i . e . each location contains an 8 - bit word which is applied to the prom output 22 when that location is addressed . a second prom 24 also having 64 k locations each of 8 bits is connected to receive 8 bits from the luma input 16 and 8 bits from the output 22 of the prom 20 . the second prom 22 provides an 8 - bit key signal output 26 . each of the proms 20 and 24 may be constituted by a static random access memory ( sram ) such as the hitachi hm6208hp - 35 , 64 k × 4 , 35 ns access time sram . two such devices are neded for each lookup table to give the full eight bits depth . sram &# 39 ; s are used as they can conveniently be updated from time to time by a microprocessor . purely for the purposes of illustration the bottom half of the figure shows a simple compositing system . two video signals a and b are received at inputs 40 and 42 and applied to respective multipliers 44 and 46 . multiplier 44 receives the keying signal directly from prom 24 , and interprets the 8 - bit signal as a fraction a where a varies from 0 to 1 as the key signal varies from 0 to 255 . the keying signal is also applied to a complementing circuit 48 which takes the complement of a with respect to one , giveing 1 - a . this signal is applied to multiplier 46 . the outputs of multipliers 44 and 46 are then added in an adder 50 to produce a video output signal on an output 52 . by cascading two lookup tables in this way it is possible to provide a very large number of very complex keys . in operation , the first table 20 uses the two chroma signals as an address to generate a chroma key , with one 8 - bit key value programmed into each location of the table . the table can be considered to be a map of &# 34 ; chroma space &# 34 ;, with say r - y horizontal and b - y vertical . thus every possible combination of r - y and b - y has its own key value programmed into the chroma map . this key is programmable and can thus be set up in any way the user wants . for example it can be interpreted as a linear key taking the values 0 to 255or as 8 separate keys to operate 8 quite separate switches in on / off mode , and so on . the second lookup table 24 combines the chroma key with the luma signal . it is identical in physical construction to the chroma lookup table , but is programmed separately . this then provides a unique key output for each of the 64 k possible combinations of luma and chroma map key in &# 34 ; luma - chroma - key &# 34 ; space . this final output can also be interpreted in any way the user wishes . the key generator illustrated provides arbitrary , user alterable , real - time key generations for digital video signals , such as in accordance with ccir recommendations 601 and 656 . the arbitrary transformation is accomplished with two banks of 65 , 536 words of high - speed static ram to produce an eight - bit key signal . a major advantage of the system illustrated is its flexibility . we have found it to be a particularly convenient tool for enabling the generation of a very wide range of possible types of key signal . nevertheless it is very simple in construction and is thus not expensive or difficult to make even though it is capable of real - time working . proms of appropriate size capable of operating at video rates are readily available . a number of examples of how the system may be used will now be given . the luma key is the simplest of the applications . this generates a key which is derived only from the luma component of the signal , e . g . the key is on for all colors darker than a threshold . for this use , the chroma map is filled with a constant value , or alternatively the luma map is filled with 256 copies of the one map , so that the chroma value is ignored . a hard - edged chroma key can be set up so that a region of chroma space ( the chroma key colors ) is programmed with 255 ( full on ), with all other areas ( non - chroma key areas ) programmed to 0 . this is the same as normal aliased ( hard - edged ) chroma keying . note that it is only necessary to distinguish the key area from the non - key area , so one bit of the 8 is sufficient , and the other 7 bits can be ignored . at the same time , the luma map can be set up , for example , to ignore the darkest and lightest of colors . for example , if the chroma key color is mid blue , then very dark blue and very pale blue should not generate a key output . the output of this map ( either 1 bit or more ) is a hard - edge chroma key defined both by a chroma space and by a luma range . in an extension of this principle , using all 8 bits of keys , the chroma map can be set up so that there are up to 256 independent chroma regions , with the output of the chroma lookup table being defined as the region in which the chroma of that pixel falls . each of these regions can be defined independently can arbitrarily , provided that they do not overlap . this key is then fed to the luma map , which is programmed to output an 8 - bit key ( which is interpreted any way the user wishes which is programmable for each color region , with a luma profile attached . the simplest application of this is to define a certain number of the 256 color regions as chroma - key regions , and the others as non - key regions , then use the usual luma profiling ( remove dark and bright ) to generate a one - bit key which is true for all pixels within the defined regions . it is also possible to form 8 independent one - bit keys out of this map , or simply output the region number if it was in the right luma range . similar extensions will be apparent to those skilled in the art . a soft - edged ( anti - aliased ) chroma key can be set up so that a region of chroma space ( the chroma key colors ) is programmed with 255 ( full on ), a surrounding region is programmed in the range 1 to 254 , fading out to 1 as it goes outwards , with all other areas of ( non - chroma key areas ) programmed to 0 . there is no reason to limit this to one region as it is feasible to define blue - green and yellow as both chroma - key regions , for example . as well as this , the profile of the fall - off from key to non - key need not be linear ( or even monotonic ), but can be whatever the user desired . at the same time , the luma map can be set up , for example to ignore the darkest and lightest of colors by multiplying the first key by a profile . for example , if the chroma key color is mid blue , then very dark blue and very pale blue should not generate a key output . of course , the profile of the fall - off from key to non - key need not be linear ( or even monotonic ), but can be whatever the use desired . the output of this map is a soft - edged chroma key defined both by a chroma space ( or spaces ) and by a luma profile . one of the major advantages of this technique for generating keys is its immense flexibility . the effects above can be combined : for example with a multiple - region linear key . in this example , the aim is to show a figure of a news reader ( who is filmed in front of a chroma - key background ) in front of a pre - recorded backdrop , and at the same time make the eyes ( a dull grey color ) bright blue . one thing that is necessary for this is that the key signal be encoded with the information as to whether each pixel is in the newsreader , the chroma - key background , or the eyes . this can be defined in the following way : one bit determines whether the key applies to the eyes or the background , while the other 7 bits are a linear key identifying the match of the color with the chroma - key color or eyes . the key signal can therefore be readily produced . the chroma map is programmed to generate a linear key as described for the two regions . this key is then sent to the luma map , where the one - bit key is passed straight through while the 7 - bit key is modified by a luma profile ( different for the two color regions , of course ). this means that the two color regions have been uniquely defined in three - dimensional color space . | 7 |
fig1 is a schematic illustration of a computer system 100 adapted to implement techniques to manage access to computer components . in the illustrated embodiment , computer system 100 may be embodied as a hand - held or stationary device for accessing the internet , a desktop pcs , notebook computer , personal digital assistant , or any other processing devices that have a basic input / output system ( bios ) or equivalent . computer system 100 includes a computer 108 and may include one or more accompanying input / output devices 106 such as , e . g ., a display 102 having a screen 104 , a keyboard 110 , other i / o device ( s ) 112 , and a mouse 114 . the other device ( s ) 112 include a touch screen , a voice - activated input device , a track ball , and any other device that enables the system 100 to receive input from a developer and / or a user . the computer 108 includes system hardware 120 commonly implemented on a motherboard and at least one auxiliary circuit boards . system hardware 120 including a processor 122 and a basic input / output system ( bios ) 126 . bios 126 may be implemented in flash memory and may comprise logic operations to boot the computer device and a power - on self - test ( post ) module for performing system initialization and tests . in operation , when activation of computer system 100 begins processor 122 accesses bios 126 and shadows the instructions of bios 126 , such as power - on self - test module , into operating memory . processor 122 then executes power - on self - test operations to implement post processing . in some embodiments , computer system 100 includes at least one component disable module comprising logic instructions stored on a computer readable medium . in the embodiment depicted in fig1 , bios 126 includes a component disable module 128 , which may be embodied as logic instructions stored in the computer - readable medium which stores the bios . in some embodiments the component disable module 128 may be stored in a different memory location , such as in memory 130 or in file store 180 . for example , in some embodiments , computer system 100 may include a component disable module 166 that resides in memory 130 , which may be executed during operations of computer system 100 . computer system 100 further includes a file store 180 communicatively connected to computer 108 . file store 180 may be internal such as , e . g ., one or more hard drives , or external such as , e . g ., one or more external hard drives , network attached storage , or a separate storage network . in some embodiments , the file store 180 may include one or more partitions 182 , 184 , 186 . memory 130 includes an operating system 140 for managing operations of computer 108 . in one embodiment , operating system 140 includes a hardware interface module 154 that provides an interface to system hardware 120 . in addition , operating system 140 includes a kernel 144 , one or more file systems 146 that manage files used in the operation of computer 108 and a process control subsystem 148 that manages processes executing on computer 108 . operating system 140 further includes one or more device drivers 150 and a system call interface module 142 that provides an interface between the operating system 140 and one or more application modules 162 and / or libraries 164 . the various device drivers 150 interface with and generally control the hardware installed in the computer system 100 . in operation , one or more application modules 162 and / or libraries 164 executing on computer 108 make calls to the system call interface module 142 to execute one or more commands on the computer &# 39 ; s processor . the system call interface module 142 invokes the services of the file systems 146 to manage the files required by the command ( s ) and the process control subsystem 148 to manage the process required by the command ( s ). the file system ( s ) 146 and the process control subsystem 148 , in turn , invoke the services of the hardware interface module 154 to interface with the system hardware 120 . the operating system kernel 144 can be generally considered as one or more software modules that are responsible for performing many operating system functions . the particular embodiment of operating system 140 is not critical to the subject matter described herein . operating system 140 may be embodied as a unix operating system or any derivative thereof ( e . g ., linux , solaris , etc .) or as a windows ® brand operating system , for example . fig2 is a flowchart illustrating operations in one embodiment of a method to manage access to computer components . in one embodiment the operations of fig2 may be implemented by the component disable module 128 of bios 126 and / or in the component disable module 166 , alone or in combination with other components of the operating system when the computer system 100 is booted . in other embodiments , the operations of fig2 may be implemented by any other process invoked during the boot operation of computer system 100 . for example , the operations of fig2 may be implemented as a portion of the boot loader process or as a component of the operating system 140 . referring to fig2 , at operation 210 , bios 126 initiates boot operations in the computer system . at operation 215 a query is initiated to determine whether either the amt or the asf management protocols are enabled on computer system 100 . for example , in one embodiment the component disable module 128 may query a management engine service that executes in a controller coupled to processor 122 , e . g ., the memory controller hub ( mch ). an enable / disable signal is received , at operation 220 , indicating whether the amt or asf services are enabled or disabled on the computer system 100 . if the amt or asf services are not disabled at operation 225 , then bios process is completed ( operation 245 ). by contrast , if the amt or asf services are disabled at operation 225 , then a component disable interface is presented on a user interface ( operation 230 ). for example , in one embodiment a nic disable interface is presented on the display 102 of computer system 100 . the nic disable interface presents an option for a user to enable or disable at least one nic in the computer system 100 and receives ( operation 235 ) one of a component enable signal or a component disable signal from a user of the computer system 100 . at operation 240 the component disable module 128 enables or disables a component in accord with the enable signal or disable signal received from the component disable interface . for example , the component disable module 128 may enable or disable a nic in accord with the signal received from the component disable interface . bios process may then be further executed and / or completed ( operation 245 ). the methods described herein may be embodied as logic instructions on a computer - readable medium . when executed on a processor , the logic instructions cause a general purpose computer device to be programmed as a special - purpose machine that implements the described methods . the processor , when configured by the logic instructions to execute the methods recited herein , constitutes structure for performing the described methods . reference in the specification to “ one embodiment ” or “ an embodiment ” means that a particular feature , structure , or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least an implementation . the appearances of the phrase “ in one embodiment ” in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment . | 6 |
fig1 depicts the image capture and processing components of the present invention . a brief review of these components will be provided while a detailed discussion of the components can be found in the related integral photography application previously mentioned . the first component , an image generation system 10 , captures an actual three - dimensional scene 12 photographed by conventional ( photographic or electronic ) cameras 14a , 14b , 14c each aligned beforehand by the photographer on , e . g ., separate carriages 16 affixed to a slide rail 18 to simultaneously capture different perspective of the scene . the slide rail 18 allows the carriages 16 , and the cameras 14a , 14b , 14c associated therewith , to be positioned or translated in a horizontal direction normal to the direction of the desired scene 12 . other scene capture arrangements such as a slidable single camera on a camera with multiple lenses can be used . in the second image conversion component 20 the resulting negatives ( or , in the case of an electronic sensor , the image - related charge on the picture elements ) from the cameras are electronically converted to digital image signals representing digital bit - maps 22a , 22b , 22c of the actual images provided at each actual perspective by the respective cameras 14a , 14b , and 14c . each bit map is a representation of the image in which each picture element ( pixel ) is represented by bits stored in memory . a negative converter such as the nikon ls3500 scanner available from nikon is preferred when film negatives are being converted . lenticular image generation involves the generation 30 of a composite print file 32 , the printing 40 of that file , and the display 50 of the resultant copy . in the fourth component 40 a composite bit - map file 42 is compiled from the actual image signals . the composite file contains strips of data elements corresponding to the strips of photographic elements from the different perspectives that make up the ultimate lenticular photograph . the operations performed component 20 - 40 are preferably performed by a computer such as the vax 4000 available from digital equipment corporation . in the fifth component 50 , a print emulsion or other hard copy media ( transparent or reflective ) is exposed by an electronic or optical printer which projects pixels or otherwise exposes pixels on the print media in correspondence to the signals in the composite print file 32 . an electronic printer has an advantage over the optical printing of the prior art since aberrations in the lenticule do not affect printing spot size . the preferred printer is the lvt model 1620b available from eastman kodak co . other printers such as the cymbolic science international fire 100 printer can of course be used . in the sixth component 50 the print ( or duplicate thereof ) is displayed through a series of lenticules with a spatial pitch typically equal to the maximum number of views times the pixel pitch on the print media . the lenticular faceplate or overlay is positioned in a confronting relationship to the print and can be clamped or glued in place . the thickness of the overlay and the spacing or pitch of the lenticules vary from manufacturer to manufacturer . a print produced for one thickness or pitch overlay will not project a good image when the thickness or pitch of the overlay actually used is different . further , since the means of displaying the composite print image depends on the lenticular faceplate , and because the effectiveness of the display depends on providing as many alternative perspectives as possible while simultaneously not exceeding the spatial pixel density of the printer - media combination or the like lenticule resolution , as well as keeping the lenticules small to reduce the distraction of their features , a review of the basic mathematics and geometry of the lenticular display is appropriate . the geometry of a single lenticule is shown in fig2 . the thickness t of each lenticule 58 is equal to its focal length f . this is achieved by molding or embossing a curved surface 62 of appropriate radius r on the front surface of a plastic sheet 64 of index of refraction n . the radius r and thickness t are governed by : where f = t . the width of the lenticule is p and is analogous to spatial pitch . at the center of the lenticule , an imaginary line a - a &# 39 ;, at a distance p / 2 from either edge , can be drawn normal to the flat back surface 65 of the faceplate 64 . this intersection point with the back surface 65 is labelled point i . line a - a &# 39 ; intersects the curved surface 62 on the front surface at point ii and is normal to the curved surface at point ii . by geometry , the center of the curvature of the curved surface 62 will lie on line a - a &# 39 ;. a second imaginary line b - b &# 39 ; parallel to a - a &# 39 ; can be drawn from the left edge of the curved surface at the point where this lenticule ends and the nominally identical adjacent lenticule begins . line b - b &# 39 ; intersects the flat back surface 64 &# 39 ; at point iii . if an optical ray is drawn from point iii to point ii , it forms an angle with line a - a &# 39 ;. by snell &# 39 ; s law this optical ray will be refracted to a new angle which is related to the input angle of incidence α as follows : where n is the index of refraction of the sheet 64 . by trigonometry : results in the angle θ as illustrated in fig2 . the angle θ is the maximum angle through which the lenticular material 64 can project photographic image components contained directly behind any given lenticule . this in turn , in accordance with the teachings of okoshi , § 4 . 3 . 3 , helps define the maximum displacement between the respective cameras 14a , 14b , 14c on the slide rail 18 for orthoscopic viewing ( see fig1 ). the region 63 of the recording media on which the images to be projected by the curved surface 62 of the lenticule is called the primary visual field 63 . this region in fig2 is defined as iii - iii &# 39 ;. the primary projection field 61 of each lenticule is a portion of the curved surface through which the images can be projected to a viewer . in fig2 the primary projection field 61 for the visual field 63 is typically defined by iv - iv &# 39 ; which aligns with the edges of the refracting surfaces of the lenticule . in barrier or ronchi ruling displays the primary projection field is defined by the centers of the opaque barriers . in fig2 the primary projection field 61 and the primary visual field 63 are of the same width and aligned . fig3 illustrates a typical section of lenticular faceplate material 64 as seen from a cross - section normal to the cylindrical axes of the lenticules 66 . the lenticules are all of the same nominal focal length and thickness as derived from equation ( 4 ) and the print media 68 is positioned behind the lenticular array 64 at an optical distance substantially equal to this focal length . lines are drawn from the points vi and vii at edges of the lenticular faceplate 64 at angles θ and - θ , respectively , and intersect at point d in front of the faceplate 64 . the lines correspond to the center points ii of fig2 for the last lenticule to the extreme left and right of the display , respectively . a line d - d &# 39 ; perpendicular to the back surface 65 of the faceplate is drawn from this intersection . point d then is the best absolute viewing position . however , if d &# 39 ; is considered the zero point on a distance scale measured from the faceplate 64 and if both of the viewer &# 39 ; s 70 are placed anywhere between the lines d - vi and d - ii at a distance beyond d , unique information can be displayed to each eye from any point on the faceplate , with the consequent potential of depth perception and look around capability . the generation of the composite print file used for lenticular faceplate viewing can be visualized by considering the concept of a scene window . consider that the original object scene was being viewed through a window in an otherwise opaque wall . the multiple camera perspectives represent information of the object scene as would be seen from different angular positions in front of the scene window . information available from the various image files for anything other than falling within the window apertures would be discarded . if the lenticular print were now placed in the aperture of the scene window and was the same size as the scene window , a unity model of the object scene would result if the information behind each lenticule was properly printed from all of the camera perspectives . each point in the scene window would have an infinite number of angular lines of sight possible , while each point in the lenticular print has a finite number of angular lines , limited by the spatial pitch of the pixels of the display media and the spatial pitch of the lenticules . fig4 shows the eyes 80 and 82 of a human observer viewing a lenticular print . if the observer is to gain a depth perception experience of a scene , it is necessary that his right eye 80 see contiguous image lines of a right perspective of the scene while the left eye 82 see contiguous images lines of a left perspective of the same scene . considering lenticules 84 and 86 which are the extreme righthand and lefthand lenticules , respectively , in the lenticular print , lines can be from the from the front nodal points of the eyes to the centers of these respective lenticules . these lines represent optical rays along which the waves of light progress . these rays are refracted at the cylindrical surfaces as discussed earlier by amounts determined by snell &# 39 ; s law and intersect the photographic emulsion which is maintained in contact with the rear surface of the lenticular faceplate . the optical ray between the right eye 80 and the rightmost lenticule 84 intersects the emulsion at point 88 , the ray between eye 80 and the lenticule 86 intersects the emulsion at point 90 , and similarly rays between the left eye 82 and lenticules 84 and 86 intersect the emulsion at points 92 and 94 , respectively . it is important to note that the rays which traverse to the right eye consistently intersect the emulsion to the left of the intersections of rays which traverse to the left eye . this geometric analysis can be performed for any of the unnumbered lenticules falling between lenticules 84 and 86 and in each case the rays traversing the right eye would intersect to the left of the rays traversing the left eye . since each lenticule is contiguous with the ones to its right and left , the scene will be contiguous for each eye if the information recorded on the emulsion at points 88 , 90 , 94 , 92 and the similar ray intersections from the unnumbered lenticules has been sampled from the original right and left perspectives in an unreversed manner . the sampling structure matches the number of lenticules present in the lenticular print . consequently , if the lenticular print is intended to encompass m lenticules then the right and left perspective images must be sampled m times . one method which will accomplish this result is to count the number of scan or image lines s falling between the window limits in a perspective image ( having previously scanned the image at a scan line density greater than the lenticule density ), and determine the quotient : the sampling structure f ( s ) would be to use the data in scan lines : the sampled information from the right perspective views will always fall to the left of the sampled information from the left perspective views and can be visualized in fig5 which is a closeup view of lenticule 84 , but by analogy is typical of any of the lenticules . sampled and recorded image lines from right and left perspectives are located at the intercepts 88 and 94 respectively . the widths of these recorded image lines are determined by the number of scan lines used to create an image line and the writing dot widths of the film printer used . the unexposed space 104 between the image lines 88 and 94 is available for recording other perspectives which could be seen from a vantage point between eye positions 80 and 82 of fig5 . these vantage points become visible when the observer moves laterally , e . g ., if the observer is moved slightly to the right , the left eye will move into a vantage point between positions 80 and 82 . as already discussed earlier , the order of recording these additional vantage points on the emulsion would be inverse to the scene information and because current film recorders work at a constant printing pitch ( also called printing resolution ), the number of internal views that can be recorded and even the exact separations of image lines 88 and 94 are subject to printing resolution constraint . fig5 also illustrates a situation which seems to contradict the earlier suggestion that the emulsion lying directly behind a given lenticule will be reserved for that lenticule . notice that image line 94 lies to the right of the lenticule 84 through which the image line 94 is projected . fig5 illustrates a situation in which the primary visual field extends outside of or is displaced with respect to the primary projection field . that is , the primary visual field is not aligned with the lenticule 84 . an offset of the distance e exists between the primary visual field and the primary projection field . if the display is intended for the observer to move his head laterally to left of eye vantage points 80 and 82 , this would require additional information to be recorded even further right than line 94 of fig5 . it has been determined that the first order display angles θ and - θ of fig2 can be exceeded by recording with a printing pitch multiple which exceeds the lenticular pitch as long as the conditions of display are taken into account . letting the number of perspectives or views to be recorded per lenticule equal k , then the first order lenticule width will be : where u is the width of one recorded image line or scan line if a single scan line is used to create an image line . fig6 is similar to fig2 except that v , angles β and - β of fig6 are greater than angle θ and - θ of fig2 . this creates the need to record information for at least one lenticule on the emulsion at a point which lies laterally beyond that which is directly behind that lenticule . the advantage of this display is that the observer can move closer to the image and still see complete perspective views with both eyes , i . e ., distance d - d &# 39 ; can be reduced . the angle β is governed by : where w is the width of the lenticular print and d is the distance ( minimum desired distance ) between points d and d &# 39 ; of fig6 . an optical ray intersecting a lenticule at angle β will be refracted to angle β &# 39 ;: the amount that the last recorded line of information associated with an outermost lenticule is located beyond the extend of the lenticule is shown in fig5 as e : where f equals the thickness t of the lenticule and is a result of a gradual accumulation of phase difference between the lenticular pitch and the printing pitch necessary for the reduced viewing distance such that : where p &# 39 ; is final lenticular pitch which will provide a display which can be viewed completely from the closer distance d . the final lenticular pitch p &# 39 ; is : of the above equations equation 10 can be used to determine the position or drift associated with each lenticule , thereby providing a non - linear position or drift for each set of image lines associated with a lenticule . a number of ways exist which can be used to adjust the relative position between image lines to allow an image line to be positioned outside the lenticule through which it projects and before or while making hard copy representations of a print file . one way is to provide a print head held in close proximity to the photosensitive film emulsion . such a head as that provided by nutec inc . of new jersey comprising a line of the output ends of optical fibers each of which is individually illuminated at its input end by a tungsten source , led &# 39 ; s , or a specific pixel location on a crt screen . a relative motion perpendicular to the print head line is imparted between the film emulsion carrier and the print head while changes are made to the illumination sources in accordance with the print file densities at each location along the print head line . a second method is to direct laser beams , modulated by the image information of the print file , onto a rotating polygon of plano - optical facets which causes the reflected beam to repeatedly scan across the photosensitive material while the material is slowly advanced through an exposure gate . adjustment of the mirror position to allow differential image line spacing is also accomplishable by those of skill in the art . a third and preferred method for this application is electronic scan printing using the eastman kodak co . printer previously mentioned . in this method , a combination of red , blue , and green optical beams is combined by mirrors and beamsplitters into a single beam which is focused onto the photosensitive surface by a high quality ( or diffraction limited ) lens , like a microscope objective . the photosensitive surface , such as the emulsion layer . of photographic film , is moved relative to the focussed , three - color beam as the optical power emitted from the lens is modulated in accordance with the print file . in some systems , the combination of red , green and blue is accomplished by temporal sequencing rather than optical combination , but the result is similar because exposure is accumulative . the scan printing method offers the greatest control for scan line straightness and position accuracy , both of which are necessary for accurate angular display of the information when placed behind the lenticular faceplate . a technique for providing the desired displacement of the image lines using the preferred scan printer is described in the related print spacing application previously mentioned . from a practical point of view calculating the position of each image line for position d of fig6 is very time consuming . in practice , it is more practical to determine the position of the center image line for the outermost lenticule that provides the maximum displacement and a positioning adjustment is provided for the entire set of image lines for each lenticule that provides a linear change or displacement between the sets . this linear adjustment results in a center image line for the lenticule in the center of the display being positioned at position i of fig2 . the center image line position or displacement for the sets between the center lenticule and the outermost lenticule changes linearly . an even more practical approach is to determine a desired displacement between a zero displacement and the maximum , and provide a displacement adjustment to all image line sets to the left and right of the center lenticule equal of the desired displacement . the lenticular display that is constructed may be useful for either transmissive or reflective viewing . in either case , the recording media or material printed in the printing step 40 is developed and , as necessary , fixed , into an unalterable hard copy ( i . e ., a photographic material is developed into a print or transparency , an electrostatic copy is toned and heat fused , etc .). as shown in fig3 the hard copy ( print media 68 ) is subsequently affixed to a lenticular faceplate or overlay 64 comprised of a clear optical material ( glass , plastic , etc .) having an array of generally convex refractive optical surfaces embossed or otherwise formed on the display side thereof . the faceplate or overlay 64 has a thickness , as measured to the hard copy surface , equivalent to the focal length of the refractive optical surfaces . faceplates with lenticular densities ranging from 50 to 180 lenticules per inch can be obtained from fresnel technology incorporated , fort worth , tex . if the hard copy material is transparent , the assemblage is illuminated from the side opposite to the faceplate by using a light box of high equivalent color temperature and good uniformity . if the hard copy material includes an underlying light - reflective layer , the assemblage is illuminated from the viewing side of the faceplate by reflected light passing through the faceplate , reflecting from the reflective layer , and passing back through the image - containing hard copy material and the lenticular faceplate . the method of affixing the developed film to the back of the lenticular faceplate or overlay 64 can be by mechanical clamping , such as using a spring - loaded decorative display frame ; or by laminating the film to the faceplate with a transparent adhesive layer such as sealeze optimount - uv as made by seal products , inc . naugatuck , conn . when lamination is the method of affixing , the actual thickness of the lenticular faceplate should be made thinner than the lenticule focal length by the thickness of the adhesive layer . since alignment of the recorded image pattern to the lenticules is important , a multi - step manual process as follows can be used . 1 . the print is loosely clamped in contact with the rear surface of the lenticular faceplate along one lateral edge . &# 34 ; loosely clamped &# 34 ; implies that the print can be repositioned on the rear surface by a mechanical sliding force . 2 . the print is repositioned until the alignment of the image is visually satisfactory . this may be facilitated by using a light table as a source of back illumination . 3 . the clamping mechanism is tightened to prevent inadvertent repositioning of the film . 4 . the affixing means is applied . if lamination is used , the print sheet is rolled back from the free edge and the adhesive layer inserted . the laminating rollers are then applied from the clamped edge first and the assemblage advanced toward the free edge . a suitable automated alignment method has been disclosed in the related aligning application previously discussed . in the preferred embodiment , the adjustment of printing densities and lenticular densities is made in preference to the printing densities , but is not a limitation of this technique . for example , the lvt film recorder has a standard printing resolution option of res 48 ( or 48 lines / millimeter ). if it is desired to display a specific number of different views such as 23 , then this would indicate a faceplate or overlay with 53 lenticules / inch , such as sold as standard option by fresnel technology , would not be viewable at distances closer than 26 . 33 inches without displaying an image break within the view . however , if a special mold can be made with 53 . 13484 lenticules / inch , this image would be compatible with normal reading distance . the calculation to determine the proper lenticular pitch for a particular viewing distance is easily done using a spreadsheet , an example of which is set forth below . ______________________________________1 . print line density = res & gt ;& gt ; 48 lines / mm 1219 . 2 lines / inch line width ( u ) = 0 . 00082 inches / line2 . picture width & gt ;& gt ; w 8 inches3 . lenticule radius : r = t *( n - 1 )/ n thickness & gt ;& gt ; t 0 . 095 inch refractive index & gt ;& gt ; n 1 . 53 radius : r 0 . 032908 inches4 . lineset : k & gt ;& gt ; 23 lines / lent5 . nominal lenticular density : p = 1 /( u * k ) lent / mm = ( 25 . 4 * res )/ k = 53 . 0087 lents / inch num lenticules in display : m = p * w 7606 . maximum half - angle ( within material ): tan β = n /( 2 * t * p ) half angle : 5 . 654828 degrees display angle : φ 8 . 637848 degrees7 . minimum viewing distance & gt ;& gt ; d = w /( 2 * tan ( φ ) 26 . 33 inches8 . desired min . viewing 16 inches distance & gt ;& gt ; desired display angle : β 15 . 65 degrees desired internal angle : β &# 39 ; 10 . 169 . offset ( k = m / 2 ) = t * tan ( β &# 39 ;) = e offset ( 380 ) = 0 . 017018 inches10 . edge lenticule number : m / 380 m / 2 *[ 1 / p )-( 1 / p &# 39 ;)] = e11 . corrected lenticular density p &# 39 ; = 1 /[( e +( 1 / p &# 39 ;)] p &# 39 ; = 53 . 13484 lents / inch______________________________________ molds with special lenticular densities such as determined above can be made by companies like fresnel technology when requested . when multiple copies of any given image are wanted , the use of the electronic printing technique is not necessary for each and every copy . contact prints can also be made from &# 34 ; master &# 34 ; images which are electronically printed . contact printing is accomplished by mechanically clamping unexposed film emulsion against a developed film emulsion and exposing the assemblage to light passing through the developed film emulsion to the unexposed film emulsion . the unexposed film emulsion thereby becomes exposed in different amounts over its surface area inversely corresponding to the optical densities in the &# 34 ; master &# 34 ; image and can be chemically developed to render the image visible . since it is desirable when contact printing to have the unexposed film emulsion in very close proximity to the developed film emulsion on the &# 34 ; master &# 34 ; image , it is necessary that the &# 34 ; master &# 34 ; image be printed with one left - to - right inversion of features , or as if often described , a mirror image . for the sake of convenience , it may also be desirable to print the &# 34 ; master &# 34 ; as a negative image so that high density areas of the image correspond to higher light levels in the original scene . these matters of image and density reversal are very easy to accomplish in the construction of electronic image files . the present invention has been described with respect to adjusting viewing position for a lenticular type depth display . a person of skill in the art will recognize that the same techniques can be applied to barrier displays as well as integral displays . the many features and advantages of the invention are apparent from the detailed specification and , thus , it is intended by the appended claims to cover all such features and advantages of the invention which fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention . further , since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art , it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation illustrated and described , and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to , falling within the scope of the invention . | 6 |
before providing the detailed description , it is useful to review some terminology reference compound : a compound with observed or inferred biological activity , usually but not always against a known biological target . the reference compound is used as the basis for subsequent lead optimization . the reference compound is assumed to be in one or more fixed conformations and possibly in one or more fixed poses . biological target : a compound that interacts with the reference compound . typically a biological target is a large naturally occurring compound that mediates one or more biochemical processes in a living organism and whose function can be modulated by interaction with other compounds , either naturally occurring or man - made . in drug discovery , a biological target is usually a receptor or an enzyme . pose : a defined conformation of a compound , together with its position and orientation with respect to a biological target . scaffold hopping : the search for compounds with similar bioactivity to a reference compound but with a different molecular framework . core hopping : a form of scaffold hopping where the effort is focused on finding a replacement for the core of a reference compound . core : the central part of a compound that is replaced during a core - hopping exercise , or the new central part that replaces it . side chain : a connected group of atoms attached to the periphery of a core . usually , a core bears several side chains . attachment bond : a chemical bond that connects the core or central portion of a compound with a side chain or with a peripheral atom or peripheral molecular fragment . when an attachment bond is referred to as a vector , the implied directionality is always from base to tip atom . base atom : the atom of an attachment bond that is part of the central portion of a compound ; for example , the core of a reference compound or protocore compound , the core - containing portion of an augmented protocore compound , or the linker portion of a linker compound . tip atom : the atom of an attachment bond that is part of the peripheral portion of a compound ; for example , the side chain of a reference compound . protocore compound : a compound whose core is a candidate for replacing the core of the reference compound . a protocore compound may have many attachment bonds , which are candidates for alignment with the attachment bonds of the reference compound . when linkers are in use , we sometimes refer to the protocore compound as the “ original protocore compound ”, to distinguish it explicitly from the augmented protocore compound created by the addition of linkers . though , for convenience , we refer to a protocore compound as a chemical compound throughout , a protocore compound may also be specified as a central molecular fragment ( core ), lacking peripheral atoms or peripheral fragments . if so , its attachment bonds are to be understood as vectors pointing in the directions where the peripheral bonds of a true chemical compound possessing this central fragment would point , and the associated tip atoms are to be understood as points in space located along those vectors . augmented protocore compound : a compound derived from a protocore compound by addition of linkers into its attachment bonds . this procedure creates multiple attachment bonds for each attachment bond in the protocore compound , some lying out along the chain or tree of linkers added . when linkers are in use , an augmented protocore compound , rather than an original protocore compound , is used in core hopping . though , for convenience , we refer to an augmented protocore compound as a chemical compound throughout , an augmented protocore compound may also be specified as a central molecular fragment , lacking peripheral atoms or peripheral fragments . if so , its attachment bonds are to be understood as vectors pointing in the directions where the peripheral bonds of a true chemical compound possessing this central fragment would point , and the associated tip atoms are to be understood as points in space located along those vectors . branch : in an augmented protocore compound , the set of linker atoms and associated attachment bonds resulting from insertion of a linker or linkers into a single attachment bond of the original . root base atom : in a branch of an augmented protocore compound , the base atom of the attachment bond on the original protocore compound that the linkers were inserted into to form the branch . final protocore compound : a compound derived from an original protocore compound or an augmented protocore compound by selection of a subset of its attachment bonds that align well with corresponding attachment bonds on a reference compound . if derived from an augmented protocore compound , only those linkers that lie between each selected attachment bond and the core of the original protocore compound are retained in the final protocore compound ; the other linkers are deleted . a single protocore compound or augmented protocore compound can give rise to multiple final protocore compounds distinguished by possessing differing sets of selected attachment bonds or differing correspondences of their selected attachment bonds with those of the reference compound . the final protocore compound , minus the tip atoms of the selected attachment bonds , is the entity that replaces the core of the reference compound . optimized compound : a compound derived from a final protocore compound by attaching the side chains of the reference compound to the final protocore compound &# 39 ; s selected attachment bonds . each selected attachment bond in the final protocore compound receives the side chain that is attached to the corresponding attachment bond in the reference compound . each final protocore compound gives rise to a single optimized compound , which may then be accepted or rejected depending on how well it aligns with the reference compound and possibly how well it is predicted to bind to a binding partner of the reference compound , typically a biological target . the optimized compound is the full molecule that is a candidate for replacement of the reference compound . linker : an atom or connected group of atoms added between a core and a side chain . in core hopping with linkers as disclosed here , the linkers are added into the attachment bonds of the protocore compounds to form augmented protocore compounds . linker compound : a compound whose central portion can be used as a linker . a linker compound always has exactly two attachment bonds separating the linker portion from peripheral atoms . though , for convenience , we refer to a linker compound as a chemical compound throughout , a linker compound may also be specified as a central molecular fragment ( linker ), lacking peripheral atoms or peripheral fragments . if so , its attachment bonds are to be understood as vectors pointing in the directions where the peripheral bonds of a true chemical compound possessing this central fragment would point , and the associated tip atoms are to be understood as points in space located along those vectors . the form of core - hopping we consider here holds the reference compound fixed in its active conformation . if its active conformation is not known , and it is desired to sample its degrees of conformational freedom , then the procedure described here may be carried out separately for the chemically reasonable conformations of the reference compound . the user specifies attachment bonds within the reference compound . these define the core and the side chains , as shown in fig1 a and 4 a . the reference compound &# 39 ; s core need not be a rigid or nearly rigid entity ; it is merely the central region whose replacement is desired . in fact , one use of core hopping is to replace a flexible core with a more rigid core derived from a protocore compound . in this situation , the attachment bonds specified in the reference compound by the user may define a rather flexible core . since the reference compound is held fixed , its attachment bonds form a fixed array of vectors in space . we then attempt to find final protocore compounds with sets of attachment bonds that can be well aligned , geometrically , with the attachment bonds specified in the reference compound . the protocore compounds may come from a pre - formed library of structures or may be provided in some other manner . the protocore compounds are compounds whose central portions the user desires to consider as candidates to replace the core of the reference compound . by default , bonds connecting this central portion to hydrogen atoms are taken as the attachment bonds ; however , the user may instead designate specific bonds to be so taken . the set of attachment bonds defines the core and the peripheral portions of a protocore compound . the effort , then , is to find some set of attachment bonds in the protocore compound or in the derived augmented protocore compound that aligns well with the attachment bonds of the reference compound . this set of selected attachment bonds defines the final protocore compound . we first describe rules that a set of attachment bonds must meet in order to divide a compound into a central portion and peripheral atoms or peripheral molecular fragments . the central portion is termed a core if the starting compound is a reference compound or a protocore compound , or a linker if the starting compound is a linker compound . the peripheral atoms or molecular fragments are called side chains if the compound is a reference compound . following this , we describe our core - hopping method , which can be used with or without addition of linkers , and then describe below automatic linker addition , which can be used either in our core - bopping method or in other core - hopping methods . the following rules ensure that a set of attachment bonds divides a compound into a central portion and peripheral atoms or peripheral molecular fragments , such that each attachment bond has a unique peripheral atom or peripheral molecular fragment associated with it : 1 . each attachment bond is a chemical bond with specified base and tip atoms . 2 . no attachment bond is in a ring . 3 . if any attachment bond were cleaved , the molecular fragment containing its tip atom would not contain the base or tip atom of any other attachment bond . a modification of these rules is described below for the situation when linkers are in use . the method described as follows , starting with step 2 , is carried out for each protocore compound . 1 . reference - compound specification . the reference compound is provided in a known conformation and , optionally , a pose based on its conformation when docked to a binding partner , and its attachment bonds are selected . as shown in fig1 a , this divides the reference compound into a core region ( the aromatic region in fig1 a ) and the side chains ( the r groups in fig1 a ). 2 . conformational sampling . though the reference compound is considered rigid , the protocore compound may be flexible , and if so , the following steps are carried out for each chemically reasonable conformation . 3 . spatial sampling . the protocore compound in its current conformation is placed in a large number of positions and orientations in the vicinity of the reference compound . this may be done in a variety of ways ; for example a grid may be defined that encloses the reference compound and the centroid of the protocore compound then placed at the various grid positions and oriented in various directions . 4 . base - atom selection . the base atom of each attachment bond in the reference compound is paired with a base atom of the protocore compound using the atom - selection algorithm described in the next section . usually , there are more base atoms in the protocore compound than there are in the reference compound , and if so , a subset of the protocore compound &# 39 ; s base atoms is selected . however , it is also possible that the protocore compound may have fewer base atoms than does the reference compound , or the same number . the number of protocore compound base atoms we select is always the smaller of the number on the protocore compound and the number on the reference compound . 5 . protocore compound alignment . we alter the position of the protocore compound so as to optimize the alignment of its selected base atoms to the corresponding base atoms on the reference compound . this can be done in several ways ; for example : a . rigid - body superposition of the protocore compound onto the reference compound , minimizing the root - mean - square interatomic displacement of the paired base atoms ; b . energy minimization of the protocore compound with constraints in place so as to minimize distances between paired base atoms ; c . energy minimization as in ( b ), but in the binding pocket of a biological target in which the reference compound is known to bind , thus eliminating alignments inconsistent with protocore compound poses that fit the pocket ; d . energy minimization as in ( c ), requiring the satisfaction of additional constraints , such as hydrogen - bonding or hydrophobic patterns believed to be important for biological activity , thus eliminating protocore compounds and protocore compound alignments that cannot satisfy these constraints . 6 . base - atom acceptance . if the aligned paired base atoms meet a geometric criterion , we proceed to the next step . otherwise , we proceed to the next spatial sample . typical criteria are root - mean - square or worst interatomic displacement of paired base atoms . 7 . tip - atom selection . if any of the reference compound &# 39 ; s or protocore compound &# 39 ; s base atoms serves as the base for more than one possible attachment bond , as in fig3 , the best aligned of tip atoms are selected for such base atoms , as described in the next section . once tip - atom selection is complete , each attachment bond on the reference compound has been paired with a corresponding attachment bond on the protocore compound . 8 . attachment - bond acceptance . if the paired attachment bonds meet a geometric criterion , we proceed to the next stage . otherwise , we proceed to the next spatial sample . typical criteria are root - mean - square or worst interatomic displacement of corresponding base and tip atom pairs ( where fictitious and equal attachment - bond lengths are used in the computation ), or average or worst angular differences between corresponding attachment bonds , considered as vectors pointing from base to tip . 9 . sidechain optimization . the side chains of the reference compound are attached to the corresponding attachment bonds of the protocore compound . the conformations of the side chains are then optimized , using chemically reasonable rotations about bonds , to match the corresponding side chains in the reference compound as well as possible . optionally , this optimization is carried out in the binding pocket of a biological target , which allows avoidance of clashes with the structure of the biological target . if a good alignment can be obtained , the structure is saved ; otherwise , we proceed to the next spatial orientation . 10 . evaluation . a figure of merit is computed that can be used to rank - order the compounds produced by the above procedure . this can be purely geometric , based on criteria such as goodness of alignment of side chains , but if carried out in the binding pocket of a biological target , additional criteria such as fulfillment of desired constraints and a docking score , such as that described by [ friesner , r . a ., et al . and halgren , t . a ., et al ., cited earlier ] can also be included . the net effect of the above procedure is that a protocore compound might give no good alignments , one good alignment , or multiple good alignments with the reference compound , and the resulting compounds , consisting of the protocore compounds with reference compound &# 39 ; s side chains added in various positions , are presented to the user in ranked order . usually , a protocore compound has more potential attachment bonds than have been specified on the reference compound , and in such cases we identify a base atom on the protocore compound with each base atom on the reference compound , thus selecting a subset of the base atoms of the protocore compound . however , the algorithm works in the same manner when the protocore compound has fewer attachment bonds than the reference compound , or the same number . the procedure is as follows : 1 . for each base atom on the reference compound and the protocore compound , initialize a counter with the number of attachment vectors it is associated with . 2 . compute the distance between each base atom on the reference compound and each base atom of the protocore compound . if there are n base atoms on the reference compound and m on the protocore compound , there will be n × m such distances . 3 . sort the list of distances , maintaining a record of which base - atom pair each is associated with . 4 . traverse the list of distances from smaller to larger distances . a . if either base atom &# 39 ; s counter is zero , skip this distance . b . otherwise , add the base pair associated with this distance to the growing list of base - atom pairs and decrement each base atom &# 39 ; s counter by one . 5 . terminate when the size of the assembled list of base - atom pairs is equal to the smaller of the number of base atoms on the reference compound and the number on the protocore compound ; or , if those numbers are equal , that number . this algorithm gives preference to base - atom pairs ( one each on the reference compound and the protocore compound ) that are closest together and accommodates situations , such as that shown in fig3 , where some base atoms on the reference compound or the protocore compound or both are associated with multiple attachment bonds . when either or both base atoms in a corresponding pair , one from the reference compound and one from the protocore compound , are associated with multiple attachment bonds , a modification of the method described above is used to determine which tip atom ( s ) associated with the reference compound &# 39 ; s base atom are to be paired with which on the protocore compound . the method is carried out separately for each such base - atom pair . no counters are needed , since each tip atom is connected to a single base atom . the list of distances is created using the tip atoms from the two base atoms in the pair ; if the reference compound &# 39 ; s base atom bears n attachment bonds and the protocore compound &# 39 ; s base atom bears m , there will be n × m distances in the list . the method then proceeds as described above , except that step 1 is omitted and in step 4 , no distances are skipped . in step 5 , the method terminates when the number of tip atoms already selected is equal to the smaller of the number of attachment bonds associated with the two base atoms in the pair currently under consideration . we now describe the use of linkers . linkers may be used with the core hopping method described above , but they may also be used more generally with other core hopping methods . for concreteness , we describe their use in the context of the above core hopping method . when linkers are to be used , regardless of the specific core hopping method used , the user specifies the maximum number of linkers that may be accepted in any attachment bond . this maximum number is inserted into every attachment bond on each protocore compound , forming an augmented protocore compound . in fig1 b , benzene is shown as a sample protocore compound . in fig1 c , two methylene linkers have been inserted into each bond to hydrogen , replacing each hydrogen with an ethyl group . this is the augmented protocore compound . in practice , the user may specify that only specific bonds in the protocore compound are to be considered attachment bonds , but the default is to use all bonds to hydrogen as shown . fig2 elaborates fig1 c by making the hydrogens explicit , and for one ethyl group resulting from the insertion of two linkers , the full structural formula is shown . for this ethyl group , each atom is shown with a label using a scheme that facilitates atom - pair selection when linkers are in used , as described below . this defines a tree of attachment bonds that replaces each attachment bond of the original protocore compound . only one ethyl group is shown in full in fig2 , with its labels . the attachment bonds are shown with arrows drawn from each attachment bond &# 39 ; s base atom to its tip atom . the other ethyl groups have similar structures and labels , differing only in the first component of the labels ( the number that appears to the left of the first decimal point ). these are as shown in fig2 for the base atoms on the central portion of the protocore compound . as shown in fig2 , in each branch of attachment bonds , some atoms can serve only as tip atoms , some can serve as either base or tip atoms , and one — namely , the root base atom of the original attachment bond into which the linkers have been inserted — can only serve as a base atom . given an atom in an augmented protocore compound and its label using the scheme shown in fig2 , the label of its root base atom will be the first component of its label ; that is , the part that appears before the first decimal point . its branch is denoted by the first two components of its label ; that is , the part that appears before the second decimal point ( or the entire label if there is only one decimal point ). all attachment bonds in an augmented protocore compound contained within a linker tree derived from insertion into a given attachment bond on the original protocore compound share the same branch . since no root base atoms in fig2 bear multiple attachment points , each base atom in fig2 gives rise to only a single branch ; however , the base atom in fig3 that bears side chains r ′ and r ″ would give rise to two branches upon insertion of linkers . when linkers are used , we attempt , as before , to align the attachment bonds on the reference compound with a set of those on the protocore compound , but now there are many more possibilities . the benzene molecule shown in fig1 b has six attachment bonds ; once linkers are added , there are 21 , as implied by fig2 . furthermore , if we are trying to match a reference compound that has three attachment bonds , such as the one shown in fig1 a , subsets of three attachment bonds sampled from the 21 shown in fig2 present a richer range of sizes and geometries than subsets of three taken from the six associated with the benzene molecule in fig1 b . thus , addition of linkers allows an augmented protocore compound to match a wider variety of reference compounds than the original protocore compound could match . the following rules ensure that when linkers are used , a set of attachment bonds divides a compound into a central portion and peripheral atoms or peripheral molecular fragments , such that each attachment bond has a unique peripheral atom or peripheral molecular fragment associated with it : 1 . each attachment bond is a chemical bond with specified base and tip atoms . 2 . no attachment bond is in a ring . 3 . if any attachment bond were cleaved , the molecular fragment containing its tip atom would not contain the base or tip atom of anv other attachment bond in a different branch the protocore compound alignment and selection method described above does not change when linkers are used . as a matter of terminology only , augmented protocore compounds , rather than protocore compounds , are used when linkers are present . the atom - pair selection method , however , is altered slightly . the base atoms used from the protocore compound are all the eligible base atoms in all the linker chains . as described above for use without linkers , each base atom gets a counter which is initialized to the number of attachment bonds it is associated with . when linkers are in use , only the root base atoms get such counters . in addition , for each branch in the augmented protocore compound , we track whether a non - root base atom has already been selected from that branch . if so , we do not use another one from the same branch . this results in modifications of steps 1 and 4 of the atom - pair selection method described earlier , as follows : a . for each base atom on the reference compound and each root base atom on the augmented protocore compound , initialize a counter with the number of attachment vectors it is associated with . b . for each branch on the augmented protocore compound , initialize a boolean variable to false , indicating that the branch has not yet been used . a . if the counter of either the reference compound &# 39 ; s base atom or the current augmented protocore compound &# 39 ; s root base atom is zero , skip this distance . b . otherwise , if the augmented protocore compound &# 39 ; s base atom is not a root base atom and its branch &# 39 ; s boolean variable is true , indicating that the branch has already been used , skip this distance . c . otherwise , add the pair of base atoms associated with this distance to the growing list of base - atom pairs , decrement the counters associated with the reference compound &# 39 ; s and the current augmented protocore compound &# 39 ; s root base atoms by one , and , if the augmented protocore compound &# 39 ; s current base atom is not a root base atom , set its boolean variable to true . this method ensures that only a single base atom on any linker tree in the protocore compound will be used in a given alignment against the reference compound . an exception is made for root base atoms which , as before , can be used more than once . in addition , a root base atom can be used along with base atoms on its branches , in order to accommodate situations like the one shown in fig3 , where some base atoms have multiple branches . the tip - atom alignment method changes in only a minor way when linkers are used . if one selected base atom is a root base atom and another is a non - root base atom on a branch associated with the selected root base atom , the root base atom &# 39 ; s tip atom may not be selected to be on that branch . this accommodates situations such as that shown in fig3 , where a single root base atom is associated with multiple branches , when linkers are in use . when carried out in the context of the protocore compound alignment and selection method described above , use of linkers does not require a combinatorial traversal of possible linker or base - atom combinations . for each protocore compound , only a single compound , the augmented protocore compound , is used for alignment to the reference compound . each alignment selects , in a single step , the set of base atoms that is optimal in the sense of the atom - pair selection method described above , and the atom - pair selection method scales linearly ( not combinatorially ) with the number of attachment bonds . the selected set of base atoms defines which linkers , if any , are used in the current alignment . the avoidance of a combinatorial search over base atoms or linker subsets recommends the disclosed method of linker addition in the context of the disclosed protocore compound alignment and selection method , which also avoids combinatories . however , the same method of linker addition and the same atom - pair selection method can also be used in the context of other protocore compound alignment and selection methods , including methods that are combinatorial in nature , such as that of lauri and bartlett cited earlier . this example demonstrates both aspects of this invention : the use of linkers and the use of our core - hopping method . the effect of the algorithm is illustrated by the following example , which finds a replacement for the flexible central portion of a triazine modulator of estrogen receptor beta activity . the crystal structure used for the study was inde , described in [ henke , b . r ., et al ., “ a new series of estrogen receptor modulators that display selectivity for estrogen receptor beta ”; j . med . chem ., 2002 , 45 , 5492 - 5505 ]. we obtained the coordinates of the inde structure from the protein data bank [ berman , h . m ., et al ., “ the protein data bank ”, nucleic acids res ., 2000 , 28 , 235 - 242 )]. fig4 a through 4 f show core regions in the same frame of reference , defined by the surrounding rectangles , and are projections of three - dimensional views . fig4 a shows the structure of the triazine modulator . the bonds shown as heavy lines separate the side chains from the central core portion that the user wishes to replace . the core thus defined contains a total of ten rotatable bonds : four on the chain connecting the triazine ring to the phenolic group , five on the chain connecting the triazine ring to the chlorophenyl group , and one connecting the triazine ring to the piperazine ring . the goal of the study was to find a replacement for this central section that would have fewer rotatable bonds . fig4 b shows the structure of indazole , which was included in the protocore compound library that we screened against the triazine reference compound shown in fig4 a . when performing this screen , we used the default choice for candidate attachment bonds ; namely , bonds to hydrogen . these are shown explicitly . in this study , we requested that a maximum of two linker methylenes be allowed in each attachment bond . fig4 c shows the augmented protocore compound that results . hydrogen atoms are explicitly displayed as unlabeled terminal atoms . the carbon atoms of the added methylene linkers are shown as filled circles . fig4 d depicts the final protocore compound that resulted from selecting attachment bonds in the augmented protocore compound that optimally align with those of the reference structure . linkers that do not intervene between these bonds and the core of the augmented protocore compound have been deleted . the only hydrogens shown are those that serve as tip atoms in the selected attachment bonds . the selected attachment bonds are displayed with heavy lines and carbons derived from methylene linkers are shown as filled circles . fig4 e is the optimized compound that was obtained by adding the side chains of the reference compound to the corresponding attachment bonds of the final protocore compound and optimizing side - chain degrees of freedom so as to optimize the alignment of the side - chains with those of the reference compound . linker carbon atoms are again shown as filled circles . fig4 f shows the optimized compound superimposed on the reference compound inside a surface representation of the i nde binding site . the optimized compound is displayed as in fig4 e whereas the reference compound is displayed with light grey tube bonds . heteroatoms are not labeled but can be identified by comparison with fig4 a and 4 e . the algorithm selected four of the six linkers from the augmented protocore compound shown in fig4 c for use in the final protocore compound shown in fig4 d . two each were used to connect the indazole core to the phenol and chlorophenyl rings ; none was used in the connection to the piperazine ring . the algorithm selected the orientation of the indazole core with respect to the core of the reference compound : it selected which core atoms on the indazole to use as root base atoms for ultimate attachment of linkers and side chains in the optimized compound . the structure shown in fig4 e has seven rotatable bonds , three in each of the chains connecting the original indazole core to the aromatic rings and one connecting it to the piperazine ring . there were ten in the original triazine modulator shown in fig4 a . thus , the goal of replacing the core of the original modulator with a less flexible core , while still positioning the side chains correctly , has been achieved . evaluation of the docked conformation shown in fig4 e with glide [ friesner , et al . and halgren , et al ., cited earlier ] indicates a good likelihood that this compound will bind well . this is a further indication of success . 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 . | 6 |
fig1 , 2 and 3 are figures explaining the prior art and in particular explain and show the potential results of using the prior art unit described in u . s . pat . no . 6 , 325 , 708 by jody w . miles patented on dec . 4 , 2001 under the title device for sanding a drywall corner fig1 shows schematically an inside wall board corner 102 which includes two wallboards 104 which abut each other at joint gap 106 to form wallboard corner 108 . normally a paper and / or mesh screening and / or some reinforcements means is placed in corner 108 such as paper 110 as shown in fig1 in order to reinforce joint gap 106 . paper 110 as well as the entire joint is then covered with drywall compound 112 as shown schematically in fig1 . once drywall compound 112 is dried , it is then ready for sanding into a smooth corner joint . fig2 shows schematically the miles device u . s . pat . no . 6 , 325 , 708 namely sanding tool 103 deployed into a inside wallboard corner 102 wherein a left wall 120 and a right wall 122 of sanding tool 103 subtends an angle of less than 90 degrees in accordance with the prior art discussion and teaching in u . s . pat . no . 6 , 325 , 708 . left wall 120 and right wall 122 together form base 124 which has an outer sanding surface 126 . one will note from the diagram that due to the fact that most interior corners in residential and commercial construction are more or less at 90 degrees , the smaller angle subtended by left wall 120 and right wall 122 creates a large gap 130 on one side and smaller gap 132 on the other side of sanding tool 103 as shown in fig2 . this gap results purely out of the fact that the angular relationship between left wall 120 and right wall 122 is less than 90 degrees and is also depicted in fig4 of u . s . pat . no . 6 , 325 , 708 . in this manner the sanding tool 103 more aggressively sands in the wall board corner 108 and less aggressively sands away from the corner namely in the area of large gap 130 as shown in fig2 . this is what is described in the prior art and claimed to the be the inventive feature of the patented device in u . s . pat . no . 6 , 325 , 708 . referring now to fig3 using the prior art depicted in fig2 and described in u . s . pat . no . 6 , 325 , 708 may result in a finished corner contour as schematically depicted in fig3 . fig3 and 4 show schematically in exaggerated fashion the corner geometry after sanding . one side of the sanding tool 103 may create or cause paper thinning 144 as shown in fig3 and due to the fact that the left wall 120 and right wall 122 do not impinge with equal pressure on either side of the wall , one would tend to get ridges 140 forming which run vertically up and down the wall near the corner and / or valleys 142 near the drywall compound corner 109 which again run vertically up and down along the wall parallel to the corner . these ridges 140 , valleys 142 and paper thinning 144 is highly undesirable in that the contractor and the manufacturers of the finished walls preferably would like to have a very smooth and unnoticeable transition between the two adjacent wall boards and a very smooth corner joint . the reader will also note that the gap or the distance between the wallboard corner 108 and the drywall compound corner 109 which is depicted is roughly the thickness of the paper 110 results in impingement of the sanding tool 103 onto the paper 110 . sanding of the paper is undesired in that it creates a very rough and non - uniform surface . preferably one would like to leave a uniformly even film of drywall compound in and around corner 108 which provides for a smooth transition from the corner to the outward portions of each of the wallboards . fig4 is a schematic cross sectional view of an inside wallboard corner showing the results of sanding with the presently described device namely corner sander base 200 and / or corner sander 201 and / or corner sander 203 . the reader will note that two wallboards 104 abut each other in perpendicular arrangement thereby producing the 90 degree inside corner as is normally the case in residential or commercial construction . there usually is a small joint gap 106 created between the wallboards 104 where they intersect at wallboard corner 108 which is the corner in behind paper 110 . as previously discussed normally paper 110 is placed into wallboard corner 108 to cover up joint gap 106 and thereafter drywall compound 112 is applied . once it has been applied and sanded one ends up with finished corner as shown in fig4 . in this case the corner configuration shown would be created using the presently described device namely corner sander base 200 and / or corner sander 201 or 203 described later on herein . the reader will note that there is a substantial amount of drywall compound and / or thickness between wallboard corner 108 and drywall compound corner 113 . the amount of drywall compound feathers uniformly away as one moves away from wallboard corner 108 . in other words the thickness of the drywall compound is greatest at drywall compound corner 113 and becomes subsequently thinner and tapers away to nothing as one moves away from wallboard corner 108 . ideally this will ensure that there is no damage of paper 110 or impingement of the abrasive and / or sandpaper onto paper 110 and that there is a uniform amount of drywall compound left in drywall compound corner 113 and a smooth transition away until one only sees outer wall surface 111 of each of wallboards 104 . preferably there is a smooth transition area shown as 115 where the drywall compound ends and the outer wall surface 111 begins . this smooth transition will almost be invisible to the naked eye due to the very subtle feathering and transitioning from drywall compound corner 113 away from the corner . now referring to fig5 which is a schematic cross sectional view of an inside wallboard corner 102 together with the presently described device namely corner sander base 200 shown deployed against each of the wall boards . fig5 shows two wallboards 104 abutting at approximately perpendicular angles to each other at wallboard corner 108 together with corner sander base 200 shown deployed against each of the wallboards 104 . referring now to fig6 as well corner sander base 200 preferably includes a tip 216 , a sanding surface 210 , a forward section 220 , a transition section 222 and a rear section 224 . corner sander base 200 is comprised of a first member 230 and a second member 232 which are joined at a juncture 291 where they form a tip 216 . fig5 shows that there is a very small right gap 214 and left gap 212 , both of these gaps being roughly the same amount . in practice however , there likely will be little or no gap on either the left side or the right side due to the fact that the rear section 224 of both of the first member 230 and the second member 232 subtend an angle of approximately 90 degrees which is equivalent to the angle of the corner as constructed . the reader will note that there is a substantial tool gap 217 between tip 216 and wallboard corner 108 which is purposely introduced to allow for a predetermined amount of drywall compound 112 to be left behind thereby ensuring that paper 110 which is placed in the corner is not damaged due to the sanding process . referring now to fig6 which shows corner sander base 200 in cross sectional view which preferably includes a tip 216 , a first member 230 which is connected to a second member 232 at tip 216 or juncture 291 to form a v shaped corner base 200 . both first member 230 and second member 232 include a forward section 220 a transition area 222 and a rear section 224 . the two members joined together form a v shaped corner sander base 200 which defines an outer sanding surface 210 and a base inner surface 262 . the reader will note that the two forward sections of both first member 230 and second member 232 subtends a forward angle 382 greater than 90 degrees and preferably between 91 and 95 degrees and more preferably at approximately 93 degrees . beyond the transition moving away from tip 216 , the rear sections 224 of each of first member 230 and second member 232 subtends a rear angle 384 of approximately 90 degrees as shown in fig6 . the relationship between forward angle 382 and rear angle 384 being such that a tool gap 217 is maintained . in other words the angular relationship is dimensioned to ensure that tip 216 does not contact wallboard corner 108 but rather has a standoff shown as tool gap 217 . the transition portion is oriented along the longitudinal direction 292 and defines the portion of the first member and second member which joins together the forward and rear . it is preferably a smooth curved transition when viewed in cross section through the radial direction as shown in fig7 but may also be a well defined longitudinally running edge as depicted in fig5 or 6 for example . the transition section would preferably be smoothed out so that it is barely noticeable to the eye and sanding will not leave a noticeable line or ridge on the wall in the vertical longitudinal direction parallel to the corner . referring now to fig7 which shows in cross section corner sander base 200 together with a frame portion 277 . first member 230 and second member 232 defines a sanding surface 210 which can be covered with abrasive material 272 . the abrasive material can be attached to corner sander base 200 using gluing and / or any other conventional means including hook and loop type fasteners . furthermore , preferably the distal ends furthest away from tip 216 of first member 230 and second members 232 include a small rear flair 270 such that the members taper away from the wallboard when it is positioned into a corner . this provides for a smooth transition of the corner sander base 200 away from the wall and ensures that there are no vertical streaks and / or ridges which form as a result of sanding . fig8 and 9 show the corner sander base connected to a handle 300 as shown in fig8 and / or a frame 302 and a pole attachment 304 as shown in fig9 . the handle 300 and pole attachment 304 are well known devices in the art of corner sanders . the diagrams define the longitudinal direction 292 which is normally a direction which the corner sander 201 is urged in , in order to effect sanding , namely up and down vertically along the corner of the inside wall board corner . radial direction 260 is shown in fig8 . first member 230 and second member 232 are shown in cross section in the radial plane in fig6 and fig7 . sanding surface 210 is the outer surface defined by the first and second members 230 and 232 as shown in fig8 . sanding surface 210 includes portion of the outer surfaces defined by forward section 220 , transition section 222 and rear section 224 as shown . as shown in fig9 alternatively the corner sander base 200 could be attached to a frame 302 which in turn is attached to a pole attachment 304 for use as a pole sander into the corner . it should be apparent to persons skilled in the arts that various modifications and adaptation of this structure described above are possible without departure from the spirit of the invention the scope of which defined in the appended claim . | 1 |
in the following detailed description , for purposes of explanation and not limitation , representative embodiments disclosing specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present teachings . descriptions of known systems , devices , materials , methods of operation and methods of manufacture may be omitted so as to avoid obscuring the description of the example embodiments . nonetheless , systems , devices , materials and methods that are within the purview of one of ordinary skill in the art may be used in accordance with the representative embodiments . in general , the disclosed embodiments relate to systems and methods that can be used to characterize the phase or group delay response of a frequency translating device such as a mixer or converter . these embodiments allow a phase response or group delay of a receiver to be characterized independent of other components and using traceable standards . in certain embodiments , a network analyzer is calibrated by performing phase response measurements , scattering parameter ( s - parameter ) measurements , and power measurements . in the phase response measurements , an independent phase calibration is performed on input and output receivers of the network analyzer , using a harmonic comb generator as a phase reference device to determine a phase transfer response . the phase response measurements , the s - parameter measurements , and the power measurements are traceable to national standards . accordingly , the network analyzer can perform a traceable measurement of phase response or group delay of a mixer . in contrast to conventional systems , the disclosed embodiments allow a system to be calibrated and deployed without the use of a calibration mixer or reference mixer . in addition , the disclosed embodiments can be used over a wide lo frequency range , radio frequency ( rf ) range , and intermediate frequency ( if ) range with a single calibration . the disclosed embodiments can be applied in a variety of contexts and systems using modulation techniques that benefit from accurate phase response calibration . examples of such systems include satellite communication equipment , cellular phones , wireless internet devices , and others . for explanation purposes , certain embodiments will be presented in the context of a vector network analyzer ( vna ) in which a receiver response is calibrated in order to measure the phase response of a mixer or converter . however , those skilled in the art will recognize that these embodiments can be modified for use in other contexts . the disclosed embodiments find application in both simple and complex environments . for instance , some embodiments can be used to characterize a simple frequency mixer performing a single frequency conversion without any embedded lo , amplifier , or filter . meanwhile , some embodiments can be used to characterize a complex frequency converter having one or more frequency mixers , filters , isolators and amplifiers , and at least one embedded lo . in one embodiment , for instance , a satellite communication system sends a variety of channels through the same frequency converter , requiring characterization using many different lo frequencies . as used in many communication systems , the phase response of a mixer or converter should be linear and the group delay should be relatively flat across the modulation bandwidths , which are becoming increasingly large . accordingly , certain embodiments are designed to measure the phase response of these devices over a variety of input and output frequency ranges , with a variety of lo frequency drives . fig1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a measurement system 100 for characterizing a mixer in accordance with a representative embodiment . measurement system 100 can be used to measure an absolute phase change of a reference or test device across a span of frequency of an input or output signal . accordingly , it can be used to directly measure the magnitude and phase responses of input and output waves of a mixer . referring to fig1 , measurement system 100 comprises a vna 105 connected to a dut 110 . dut 110 is located in a device measurement path between an “ a ” receiver 115 and a “ b ” receiver 125 . a reference receiver 120 is located in a reflection path of “ a ” receiver 115 . vna 105 has an integrated source and receivers , where both the source and receiver frequencies are determined by a pair of frequency synthesizers . one synthesizer provides a source stimulus signal and the other synthesizer provides a local - oscillator signal for the receivers . a difference between these two signals represents an if frequency from the receiver , which is sampled by an integrated digital if . the synthesizers in vna 105 use a high - modulus fractional - n synthesizer with an integrated phase accumulator . when programmed to a sweep frequency , the phase accumulator accumulates a certain amount of additional phase each clock cycle to provide a synthesized phase sweep coherent with a system clock . the digital if and a digital signal processor ( dsp ) are also locked to the system clock , so each source and lo and the digital if have a deterministic phase relationship throughout a data sweep acquisition . with this setup , measurement system 100 is able to measure an absolute phase change across a span of frequency on dut 110 , which can be , for instance , a reference or test mixer . consequently , measurement system 100 can directly measure magnitude and relative phases of “ a ” waves input to dut 110 and “ b ” waves output by dut 110 . fig2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a frequency mixer 200 in accordance with a representative embodiment . frequency mixer 200 is one example of a dut that can be placed in the device measurement path of measurement system 100 . referring to fig2 , frequency mixer 200 receives input signals in an if range and performs a frequency conversion to generate output signals in an rf range . frequency mixer 200 is a two - port system with input port signals a if and b if and output port signals a rf and b rf . the input / output relationship of frequency mixer 200 can be represented using s - parameters and related error terms corresponding to imperfect conversion loss and phase distortion . for instance , the following equation ( 1 ) can be used to represent the input / output relationship between the “ b ” waves and “ a ” waves of frequency mixer 200 . the phase of the rf signals depend on both the phase of a lo signal , the phase of the if signals , and a mismatch term that depends on the reflected rf signal at the output . accordingly , applying the model of equation ( 1 ) to measurement system 100 , “ b ” receiver 125 of fig1 receives a signal b rf defined by the following equation ( 2 ). b rf = a lo s 21 if · a if + s 22 rf · a rf ( 2 ) during typical operation , measurement system 100 is able to directly measure a if and b rf . using the measurements of b rf and a if , the conversion response can be measured from the following equation ( 3 ). in equation ( 3 ), γ l and γ s are load match and source match of measurement system 100 respectively , and b tr and a tr are the tracking response errors associated with the “ b ” receiver 125 and reference receiver 120 , respectively . during typical operation , measurement system 100 corrects tracking response errors b tr and a tr in two parts . in a first part , the magnitude responses of “ a ” receiver 115 and “ b ” receiver 125 are separated by measuring their responses independently using a power meter as a reference . in the second part , a calibration mixer is added and the overall response of measurement system 100 is measured . the source and load match of measurement system 100 are measured , and finally a value for the phase of b tr / a tr is computed by solving equation ( 3 ), and the amplitude of b tr / a tr is computed independently using the power meter calibrations . in the above method , the calibration mixer has known values of b if / a rf . moreover , the calibration mixer is tuned to a particular lo frequency . other choices of lo frequency require a new calibration and new determination of b if / a rf of the calibration mixer for that particular frequency . accordingly , to avoid these problems , an alternative method , illustrated in fig3 , performs calibration on measurement system 100 without the use of a calibration mixer . fig3 illustrates a method of calibrating measurement system 100 in accordance with a representative embodiment . in the description that follows , example method steps will be indicated by parentheses ( sxxx ) to distinguish them from device or system features . referring to fig3 , the method first determines a transmission tracking term s 21 ( tracking ) of measurement system 100 ( s 305 ). the transmission tracking term can be determined in a variety of ways , including conventional techniques such as agilent &# 39 ; s ecal . the transmission tracking term s 21 ( tracking ) is related to tracking terms a tr and b tr associated with “ a ” receiver 115 and “ b ” receiver 125 according to the following equation ( 4 ), for a case with zero lo offset as in measurement system 100 . according to equation ( 4 ), if one of tracking terms a tr or b tr can be determined independently , then the other transmission tracking term can be determined from the one term and the transmission tracking term s 21 ( tracking ). accordingly , the method next determines tracking term b tr of “ b ” receiver 125 independent of “ a ” receiver 115 ( s 310 ). this can be accomplished , for instance , using a method described below with reference to fig4 . finally , after determining the tracking term b tr , the method determines tracking term a tr from tracking term s 21 ( tracking ) and tracking term b tr ( s 315 ). fig4 illustrates a method of determining tracking term b tr of “ b ” receiver 125 in accordance with a representative embodiment . in the method of fig4 , the tracking term b tr is determined independent of any other receiver in measurement system 100 . in the method of fig4 , measurement system 100 obtains the phase response of “ b ” receiver 125 by measuring the phase of a single channel response . to do so , a harmonic comb generator is used as a phase reference device to generate a stimulus signal for measuring the response of “ b ” receiver 125 . the stimulus signal is generated with a known phase in a fundamental and several harmonic frequencies . the method of fig4 is related to a calibration approach that has been used in the field of non - linear vector network analyzers ( nvna ). this approach measures the magnitude and phase of a stimulus signal and its harmonics using a harmonic comb generator as a phase reference device in an additional channel . the method compares the phase of the stimulus signal and its harmonics to the phase of a known comb function generated by the harmonic comb generator , as described , for instance , in “ mixer - based , vector - corrected , vector signal / network analyzer offering 300 khz - 20 ghz bandwidth and traceable phase response ,” d . gunyan , j . scott , mtt - s ims digest , 12 - 17 jun . 2005 . thus , the waveform of the stimulus signal can be accurately reconstructed from the fundamental and harmonics of the stimulus signal . in this method , the signal reconstruction is facilitated by knowledge of the relative phases of the harmonics of the comb function . the phase of these harmonics can be accurately measured and traced to national standards with relatively small errors . but this method may require that a second phase reference be used on a third receiver to provide a continuous phase standard for the fundamental and each of the harmonics . referring to fig4 , the method begins by generating a phase reference signal using the phase reference device and applying the phase reference signal to “ b ” receiver 125 ( 405 ). the phase reference device has a measurable phase response φ response over the fundamental and harmonic frequencies of the phase reference signal due to the use of the harmonic comb function . next , the method measures a phase response b response of “ b ” receiver 125 using the phase reference signal ( 410 ). finally , the phase response of the phase reference device is removed from the measured phase response b response of “ b ” receiver 125 to produce the tracking term b tr ( 415 ). this is accomplished by dividing the measured phase response b response by the phase response φ response of the phase reference device as in the following equation ( 5 ). in one embodiment , the method of fig4 is performed with an input signal applied to the phase reference device from 10 mhz oscillator in measurement system 100 and an output of phase reference device connected to “ b ” receiver 125 . the output signal is varied from 10 mhz to 26 . 5 ghz , and measurements are performed at each 10 mhz interval to generate phase response data at 2650 points . fig5 illustrates a phase response of the phase reference device in accordance with a representative embodiment . in this example , the phase reference device is an agilent u9391c comb generator . in fig5 , raw phase response measurements are indicated by data points 505 illustrated with a first type of shading . smoothed phase response measurements are indicated by data points 510 illustrated with a second type of shading . finally , a result of fitting the phase response measurements to a polynomial curve is indicated by a reference number 510 . in this example , the raw measurements include a significant amount of noise , so smoothing the phase reference output can improve the results of using the method of fig3 . fig6 is a graph illustrating a raw amplitude and phase response of “ b ” receiver 125 driven from the phase reference device in accordance with a representative embodiment . the raw amplitude and phase response illustrated in fig6 represent a combination of the phase response of the phase reference device and the phase response of “ b ” receiver 125 , including a directional coupler response in front of “ b ” receiver 125 . referring to fig6 , “ b ” receiver 125 has a power response of approximately − 50 to − 60 dbm , as indicated by a curve 605 , and a phase response going from 0 degrees to more than − 160 , 000 degrees , as indicated by a curve 610 . as such , it is more convenient to show the phase response in terms of either group delay or deviation from linear phase . fig7 is a graph illustrating phase deviation and group delay of the phase reference device and “ b ” receiver 125 in accordance with a representative embodiment . in fig7 , a curve 705 represents the phase deviation and a curve 710 represents the group delay . the group delay of the phase reference device is very small and very flat across frequency , with a phase delay deviation less than 10 picoseconds . accordingly , the delay response in fig7 , which has a mean value of − 22 nanoseconds , is almost entirely due to the response of “ b ” receiver 125 . further , the fine grain response of the delay is commensurate with the amplitude response variation measured on “ b ” receiver 125 . the phase response of “ b ” receiver 125 is divided by the phase reference response φ response of the phase reference device to produce tracking term b tr , as described above . thereafter , tracking term a tr is computed from tracking term b tr and tracking term s 21 ( tracking ) according to equation ( 4 ). after the a tr and b tr are computed , the responses are segmented according to the input frequency range for the a tr and the output frequency range for the b tr . fig8 illustrates phase tracking errors of “ a ” receiver 115 over the input frequency range and “ b ” receiver 125 over the output frequency range as measured by the above process . in fig8 , a curve 805 represents phase tracking errors of “ a ” receiver 115 , a curve 810 represents phase tracking errors of “ b ” receiver 125 . as illustrated by fig8 , both curves have discrete jumps at the same frequency . this implies a common cause to the jumps in delay between the reference and test receivers . the common factor is a common lo used to drive both receivers . because the phase response of the individual receivers is relatively flat , the response of a receiver can be computed for any frequency between the calibration points using interpolation . this removes any restriction that the measurements must be done on the same frequencies that the phase reference uses to calibrate . fig9 is a graph illustrating a tracking response of “ a ” receiver 115 and “ b ” receiver 125 as a function of frequency in accordance with a representative embodiment . in fig9 , a first curve 905 illustrates the tracking response of “ a ” receiver 115 , and a second curve 910 illustrates the tracking response of “ b ” receiver 125 , with the responses overlaid on so that the first point of 905 aligns with the first point of 910 . curve 915 represents the combined correction term of a tr / b tr . a mixer under test behaves according to the response of equation ( 2 ), so its phase response also contains any response from the lo . in the example of fig8 , the lo is created by multiplying and dividing a base 2 - 4 ghz oscillator . after each multiplication path is a filter , so it is reasonable to expect discrete changes at the multiplier bands , as shown in fig8 . fig1 is a graph illustrating a raw and corrected group delay response of a mixer in accordance with a representative embodiment . in fig1 , a first curve 1005 indicates the raw group delay response , and a second curve 1010 indicates the corrected group delay response . the group delay response is corrected according to the tracking terms illustrated in fig9 by curve 815 . in the example of fig1 , the mixer is corrected to a value of 250 picoseconds delay , with residual ripple of less than 50 picoseconds . this correction was performed without a calibration mixer and is similar to the results obtained by methods using a calibration mixer . as indicated by the foregoing , the disclosed embodiments provide methods that do not require a calibration mixer or a reference mixer for measurement or correction . moreover , certain embodiments use a phase reference device that can be traced to national standards labs , combined with traceable s - parameter and power calibration , to generate a traceable measurement of the phase response and group delay of a mixer . in certain embodiments , the calibration relies on a network analysis system that can make single receiver phase measurements . the calibration can be generalized to allow a single calibration of the system to measure any of a variety of mixer setups , including changing rf , if and lo frequencies , provided the initial calibration covers all the frequency ranges . this embodiment uses a pulse generator as a phase reference , but any signal with a known phase response between frequency elements can be used as a phase reference . in view of this disclosure it is noted that the methods and apparatuses can be implemented in keeping with the present teachings . further , the various components , devices , configurations and parameters are included by way of illustration and example only and not in any limiting sense . in view of this disclosure , the present teachings can be implemented in other applications and components , devices , configurations , parameters and equipment useful in implementing these applications can be determined , while remaining within the scope of the appended claims . | 7 |
with reference to the drawings , this section describes particular embodiments of various electrical connectors and their detailed construction and operation . throughout the specification , reference to “ one embodiment ,” “ an embodiment ,” or “ some embodiments ” means that a particular described feature , structure , or characteristic may be included in at least one embodiment of an electrical connector . thus appearances of the phrases “ in one embodiment ,” “ in an embodiment ,” or “ in some embodiments ” in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment . furthermore , the described features , structures , and characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments . in view of the disclosure herein , those skilled in the art will recognize that the various embodiments can be practiced without one or more of the specific details or with other methods , components , materials , or the like . the following describes example embodiments of an electrical connector system with pairs of mating connectors ( e . g ., mating connectors 100 , 200 , mating connectors 300 , 400 , or mating connectors 500 , 650 ). the electrical connector systems may be used to connect two cable segments together for high - speed data transfer , for example , data transferred at rates of 1 gigabit per second and faster by signals generated at frequencies ranging from approximately 100 mhz to approximately 600 mhz and faster . in the following description , particular components of each of the electrical connectors are described in detail . it should be understood that in some instances , well - known structures , materials , or operations are not shown or not described in detail to avoid obscuring pertinent aspects of the embodiments . in addition , although the embodiments may reference electrical connectors having a specific arrangement or number of pin and socket connectors ( and contacts ), other embodiments may include differently configured components adapted to house more or fewer pin connectors . with reference to fig1 - 4 , an electrical connector 100 includes a housing 138 having a central housing base 140 and a pair of interlocking exterior shells 160 for retaining pin connectors 176 , 178 in a ganged , co - aligned configuration . additional details relating specifically to housing 138 are discussed below with particular reference to fig2 . electrical connector 100 also includes a spacer 118 sized to fit between the pin connectors 176 , 178 for physically separating the pin connectors 176 , 178 from one another and aligning the pin connectors 176 , 178 in a desired orientation to properly engaging a mating connector 200 ( see fig5 ). the spacer 118 includes a central bore 122 that receives and secures a plug insert 102 . to help retain the mating connectors 100 , 200 in an interlocked configuration , a pin head 104 protruding from the plug insert 102 mates with a socket 208 of the mating connector 200 , as described in further detail below . fig3 - 4 illustrate detailed views of the plug insert 102 and the spacer 118 , respectively . with particular reference to these figures , the plug insert 102 includes a cylindrically shaped central shaft 106 having a pin head 104 on one end . the pin head 104 includes an elongated channel 108 extending axially along a side surface of the pin head 104 . channel 108 receives a corresponding ridge 210 on a plug insert 206 of mating connector 200 ( see fig7 ) to help secure the connection and proper orientation between the connectors 100 , 200 when mated . central shaft 106 further includes a ridge 110 sized to slidably fit in a channel 120 formed within a central bore 122 of the spacer 118 . the plug insert 102 and the spacer 118 each include a plurality of blades 112 , 128 , respectively , fanning outwardly in a radial direction from the central shaft 106 and central bore 122 , respectively . a pocket 116 , 132 is formed between each of the blades 112 , 128 to physically separate and accommodate the pin connectors 176 , 178 as described previously . each of these blades 112 , 128 includes an opening or aperture 114 , 130 sized to receive a screw , pin , or other suitable fastener ( not shown ) for securing the plug insert 102 against the spacer 118 when the connector 100 is assembled . in an assembled configuration , a back end ( not shown , but opposite pin head 104 ) of the central shaft 106 on plug insert 102 is inserted through central bore 122 of spacer 118 such that ridge 110 aligns with and slides into channel 120 . in such a configuration , plug insert 102 rests against or is flush with spacer 118 , with pin head 104 extending outwardly from spacer 118 and blades 112 and apertures 114 aligning with and overlying blades 128 and apertures 130 , respectively . to secure the plug insert 102 to spacer 118 , a screw or other fastener is inserted through apertures 114 , 130 . preferably , the plug insert 102 and spacer 118 are each made of metal ( e . g ., aluminum ), plastic , or other suitable material . the plug insert 102 and / or the spacer 118 may also be electroless nickel plated to help prevent corrosion and wear . in some embodiments , instead of the plug insert 102 and spacer 118 being formed as separate components that are thereafter attached to one another , the two components may be formed as a single monolithic structure . the following sections describes additional details of the housing 138 with particular reference to fig2 . as illustrated in the exploded view , housing 138 may include a central housing base 140 and a pair of housing shells 160 . in one embodiment , housing base 140 includes four generally u - shaped seats 142 , with two seats on a top side 144 and two seats on a bottom side 146 . each seat 142 has a plurality of channels 148 extending transversely across the seat 142 to accommodate the pin connectors 176 , 178 when in a fully assembled configuration as further described below . housing base 140 includes a central bore 150 extending axially through the housing 138 and sized to receive a fastener 172 ( see fig2 ) for securing the components of the electrical connector 100 together . housing base 140 further includes mounting apertures 152 positioned on each of top and bottom sides 144 , 146 and sized to receive a boss 170 for securing the housing shells 160 ( as further described below ) thereto . the housing shells 160 each include a pair of seats 162 having transversely oriented channels 166 ( similar to seats 142 and channel 148 ) and a dividing wall 164 separating the seats 162 . shells 160 further include fastener apertures 168 corresponding in size and location to fastener apertures 154 of central housing base 140 . housing 138 may be made of metal , such as aluminum , plastic or other suitable materials , including insulating materials . in an assembled configuration , one of housing shells 160 is positioned on top side 144 of housing base 140 and the other housing shell 160 is positioned on bottom side 146 of housing base 140 . thereafter , the bosses 170 on housing shells 160 are snapped into apertures 152 on housing base 140 and screws 174 ( see fig2 ) are threaded through the fastener apertures 154 , 168 to complete assembly of housing 138 . with general reference to fig2 - 4 , the following description relates specifically to an example process for attaching spacer 118 to housing 138 to align pin connectors 176 , 178 according to one embodiment . as shown in fig4 , spacer 118 includes a channel 124 formed within a cylindrical shaft 126 . with reference to fig2 , a cylindrical stem 156 extends from a front end of the housing base 140 and bears a ridge 158 sized to slide within and sit in channel 124 of spacer 118 . in an assembled configuration , spacer 118 is inserted into stem 156 such its shaft 126 wraps around stem 156 and ridge 158 slides into channel 124 to retain spacer 118 against stem 156 . it should be understood that in other embodiments , the particular mating components of the electrical connector 100 may be reversed . for instance , in other embodiments , ridge 110 on plug insert 102 may instead be a channel and channel 124 on spacer 118 may instead be a mating ridge . the previous sections provided some description regarding assembly of particular components of the electrical connector 100 ( e . g ., assembly of the housing 138 , and mounting the plug insert 102 and spacer 118 together ). the following section describes an example assembly of an electrical connector 100 . in one assembly method of an electrical connector 100 , prior to assembling the housing 138 as previously described , the pin connectors 176 , 178 are positioned on or against seats 142 of central housing base 140 . once pin connectors 176 , 178 are properly aligned on seats 142 , housing shells 160 are positioned around housing base 140 to enclose pin connectors 176 , 178 therein in a ganged , coaligned configuration . thereafter , housing 138 is assembled as previously described to secure pin connectors 176 , 178 in position . after the pin connectors 176 , 178 are seating in the housing 138 , spacer 118 is fitted between pin connectors 176 , 178 , with blades 128 separating the individual pin connectors 176 , 178 from one another . when spacer 118 is properly aligned , pin connectors 176 , 178 rest against pocket 132 of spacer 118 and are held against a collar 134 of spacer 118 ( see fig4 ). plug insert 102 may thereafter be mounted onto spacer 118 as previously described to complete assembly of the electrical connector 100 . it should be understood that the assembly order described herein is for illustration purposes only and not intended as limiting . for instance , in other assembly methods , spacer 118 and plug insert 102 may be mounted together prior to fitting spacer 118 onto central housing portion 140 . fig5 - 7 illustrate an embodiment of an electrical connector 200 configured to mate with the electrical connector 100 of fig1 . electrical connector 200 may include a similar or substantially identical spacer 202 and housing 204 components as described with reference to electrical connector 100 . in addition , these components may be assembled in the same or similar process as described in relation to electrical connector 100 . accordingly , to avoid repetition , similar components will not be further described in detail with respect to electrical connector 200 . as illustrated in fig7 , electrical connector 200 includes a plug insert 206 that has a few similar components as the plug insert 102 of electrical connector 100 ( e . g ., fanned out blades with mounting apertures ), but also includes a socket 208 instead of the pin head 104 . the socket 208 is sized to receive pin head 104 when the connectors 100 , 200 are mated . in addition , the socket connectors 212 of the electrical connector 200 include a socket 214 sized to engage pins 180 , 182 of pin connectors 176 , 178 . in such a configuration , electrical connector 100 may be inserted into mating connector 200 . once inserted , a latch mechanism 35 ( described below in further detail with reference to fig8 ) locks connectors 100 , 200 in position . fig8 is a cross - sectional view illustrating an integrated latch mechanism 35 of the electrical connector 100 for latching together electrical connectors . the latch mechanism 35 includes lock pawls 50 that engage a corresponding structure ( not shown ) on the mating connector ( e . g ., connector 200 ) for retaining the connectors in a locked configuration . in some embodiments , pin connectors 178 of electrical connector 100 may include a latch release button 198 to disengage the lock pawls 50 and provide for easy release of electrical connector 100 from a mating connector 200 when needed . with particular reference to fig8 , pin connector 178 includes a central shaft 15 having a first channel 20 and a second channel 25 thereon . when release button 198 is depressed downwardly toward shaft 15 , an engagement bulb 30 at the end of button 198 moves into the first channel 20 and urges shaft 15 to retract inwardly against spring 45 . when shaft 15 retracts , a groove 40 on a latch mechanism 35 slides into the second channel 25 and the latch mechanism 35 collapses downward , thereby releasing pin 178 from mating connector 200 and allowing easy removal . other latching mechanisms actuated by a side - mounted button or other means are also contemplated within the scope of the present disclosure . additional details of example embodiments for latch mechanism 35 are described in u . s . app . pub . no . 2012 / 0171884 , the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference . in some embodiments , only some of the pin connectors ( e . g ., pin connector 178 ) of electrical connector 100 will incorporate latch mechanism 35 and latch release button 198 , while other pin connectors ( e . g ., pin connectors 8 ) will not have such locking / unlocking components . in such configurations , it may be easier to decouple electrical connector 100 from mating connector 200 since only two latch release buttons 198 will need to be depressed instead of requiring simultaneous actuation of four latch release buttons 198 . in still other embodiments , electrical connector 100 may include only one pin connector with a latch mechanism and three connectors without a latch mechanism . it should be understood that in other electrical connectors , any number of pin connectors may include a latch mechanism . in some embodiments , a grip bracket 186 may be fitted on electrical connector 100 to provide easier access to and actuation of release buttons 198 ( see fig2 ). grip bracket 186 includes a round base 188 that encircles a base of pin connectors 176 , 178 and may include pockets 189 for accommodating the pin connectors 176 , 178 . the grip bracket 186 includes a pair of cantilevered arms 190 extending outwardly from base 188 to provide a spring - return effect . each of arms 190 includes an outward facing end with a textured or grooved surface 196 for enhancing user grip when pinching release buttons 198 . in some configurations , a bottom surface 194 of grip bracket 186 may loosely contact ( without fully depressing button 198 inwardly ) or may instead overlie release buttons 198 with a small gap / clearance to separate the components . grip bracket 186 may be formed of a plastic material or other material having suitable durability and strength characteristics . in an example operation , release button 198 may be actuated by grasping and squeezing textured surface 196 on grip bracket 186 , such as between a user &# 39 ; s thumb and forefinger . the applied force depresses the arms 190 and actuates / depresses button 198 downwardly , which retracts shaft 15 in pin connector 178 to release latch mechanism 35 as described above . in other embodiments , electrical connector 100 may comprise four pin connectors ( similar to pin connectors 178 ) each having a latch mechanism 35 and a release button 198 . in such embodiments , therefore , electrical connector 100 comprises four pin connectors 178 with four latch release buttons 198 . to accommodate as design with the four release buttons 198 , grip bracket 186 may include additional cantilevered arms ( similar or identical to arms 190 ) so that one cantilevered arm 190 is positioned over each of the latch release button 198 to provide a convenient grasping mechanism for depressing all four latch release buttons 198 simultaneously . for instance , in an example operation , a user may grasp the grip bracket 186 in one hand and depress all four cantilevered arms at once to actuate all four latch release buttons 198 . thereafter , the user can pull apart and disengage the electrical connectors . in some embodiments , grip bracket 186 may provide an additional structure for securing spacer 118 . for instance , grip bracket 186 may include a mounting aperture 192 ( see fig2 ) sized to engage a corresponding aperture 136 on spacer 118 ( see fig4 ). in such embodiments , a fastener 184 may be threaded through apertures 192 , 136 to fasten spacer 118 to grip bracket 186 . fig9 illustrates a perspective view of a different embodiment for an electrical connector 300 and fig1 is an exploded view of the electrical connector 300 . with particular reference to fig1 , electrical connector 300 includes a plug insert 302 , a spacer 304 , and a housing 306 , all of which may include similar and / or identical functionality and components arranged as previously described with respect to electrical connector 100 . in some embodiments , the housing 306 may include different upper and lower housing portions 308 to accommodate a shell 310 for different electrical connector types / configurations . for instance , in some embodiments , shell 310 may be compliant with a mil - dtl - 38999 connector . in some embodiments , the electrical connector 300 may include a shell - retention mechanism to secure shell 310 against the housing 306 . fig1 is a cross - sectional view of the electrical connector of fig9 illustrating an example embodiment of a shell - retention mechanism . in such embodiments , the spacer 304 of the electrical connector 300 includes at least one cantilevered tang 312 ( also shown in fig1 ) having a locking pawl 314 for receiving and locking the shell 310 in position . in an example assembly , shell 310 is threaded or otherwise inserted into housing 306 . once shell 310 is in proper position , a locking screw 316 is inserted and threaded through an aperture 136 ( e . g ., see fig4 ) on tang 312 . threading screw 316 into aperture 136 urges tang 312 and toward a shoulder 318 of shell 310 . screw 316 is threaded into aperture 136 until locking pawl 314 of tang 312 is pushed far enough outward to abut and arrest shoulder 318 of shell 310 . in such a configuration , tang 312 and locking pawl 314 resist movement of shell 310 away from electrical connector 300 and housing 306 ( i . e ., to inhibit disengagement of the shell 310 ). to remove shell 310 , screw 316 is unscrewed , which relaxes tang 312 and collapses locking pawl 314 away from shoulder 318 . fig1 - 13 illustrate an embodiment of an electrical connector 400 ( e . g . mil - dtl 38999 connector ) configured to mate with electrical connector 300 of fig9 . mating connector 400 includes a plug insert 402 , spacer 404 , and connectors 414 which may include the same or similar features as previously described with respect to electrical connector 200 . housing 406 may be similar to housing 306 of electrical connector 300 . a shell 408 , including a rotatable locking ring / nut 410 may be retained by electrical connector 400 via spacer 404 and tang 412 in a similar fashion as described with respect to shell 310 as illustrated in fig1 . shell 408 is sized to engage shell 310 of electrical connector 300 when mating connector 400 and electrical connector 300 are linked . locking ring 410 is threaded or provided with other means , such as a bayonet mount feature , for engaging and releasably joining shells 310 and 408 . fig1 - 24 illustrate another embodiment of a pair of mating electrical connectors 500 , 650 designed to provide increased electrical contact density for each connector 500 , 650 for improved performance of high - speed data transfer . in the electrical connector system , an electrical connector 500 interfaces with an electrical connector 650 to create an electrical connection between two cables ( not illustrated for clarity ). the following description proceed with details of the components of the electrical connector 500 , followed by details of the electrical connector 650 ( which preferably includes a number of identical parts as the electrical connector 500 ), and a description of an example coupling process of the connectors 500 , 650 . fig1 - 15 illustrate perspective views of the electrical connector 500 , and fig1 illustrates an exploded view of the electrical connector 500 according to one embodiment . with reference to fig1 - 16 , the electrical connector 500 includes multiple socket contacts 502 housed in an electrically insulating ( or electrically non - conductive ) sheath 504 to physically separate the socket contacts 502 from one another . the sheaths 504 are grouped together ( shown in groups of four in fig1 ) and seated within an electrically conductive shield ferrule 532 . the electrical connector 500 further includes a shield housing 550 suited to receive and compress the shield ferrules 532 and align the socket contacts 502 for insertion into a plug insert 506 . additional details regarding the insulating sheaths 504 , the shield ferrule 532 , the shield housing 550 , and the plug insert 506 are provided below . as briefly described above , the insulating sheath 504 houses the socket contacts 502 . in one embodiment , the insulating sheath 504 includes an interior chamber ( not shown ) with a pair of longitudinal channels running along a length of the sheath 504 , the channels separated from each other by a dividing wall . a socket contact 502 is seated and secured in each of the channels , with the socket contact 502 positioned along a front face of the sheath 504 . in such embodiments , each sheath 504 houses a pair of socket contacts 502 and maintains the socket contacts 502 physically separate from one another and properly aligned for mating with the electrical connector 650 . in one embodiment , each insulating sheath 504 is molded or machined from a polymeric material , for example , fiber reinforced or unreinforced amorphous thermoplastic polyetherimide resin such as ultem ® 1000 , sold by sabic innovative plastics ip b . v . company of the netherlands , or other suitable insulating material . additional details of example embodiments for insulating sheaths 504 for retaining contacts are described in u . s . app . pub . no . 2012 / 0171884 , the disclosure of which has been previously incorporated by reference . with reference to fig1 , the electrical connector 500 includes a plug insert 506 for housing and arranging the sheaths 504 and socket contacts 502 . the plug insert 506 includes a plurality of cavities 508 arranged into distinct groups ( four groups of cavities 508 are illustrated in fig1 ). each cavity 508 extends in an axial direction entirely through the plug insert 506 and has a rear opening 510 proximate a rear face 512 of the plug insert 506 , and an opposite front opening 514 in a front face 516 of the plug insert 506 ( see fig1 ). the plug insert 506 further includes a conductive central core 518 extending in the axial direction through the plug insert 506 for each group of cavities 508 . conductive fins 520 radiate from the core 518 to physically separate adjacent cavities 508 from one another and to separate the sheaths 504 when inserted into the plug insert 506 as further described below . preferably , the cavities 508 are sized and dimensioned to accommodate and surround a substantial portion of each insulating sheath 504 when the electrical connector 500 is assembled . when the sheaths 504 are inserted into the plug insert 506 , socket contacts 502 held by sheath 504 are aligned with the front openings 514 of the cavity 508 so that the socket contacts 502 can receive pin contacts 678 of the electrical connector 650 ( see fig2 ). when the sheaths 504 are housed in the cavities 508 , the conductive core 518 may provide additional physical support to retain and secure the sheaths 504 in a desired alignment within the cavities 508 . in some embodiments , the number and arrangement of cavities 508 within the plug insert 506 will vary depending on a number and arrangement of sheaths 504 that will be housed therein and the size of the connectors 500 , 650 . for instance , fig1 - 16 illustrate one embodiment for a mil - dtl - 38999 size 19 connector designed to accommodate a total of sixteen sheaths 504 ( and 32 total electrical contacts ) separated into four groups of four . to accommodate the sheaths 504 , the cavities 508 are also separated into four groups of four . in other embodiments , such as for a mil - dtl - 38999 size 25 connector , the plug insert may be larger and capable of housing thirty - two sheaths ( and 64 total electrical contacts ) separated into eight groups of four . in still other embodiments , other arrangements and configurations are possible depending on the size and dimensional constraints of the connectors . for instance , fig2 illustrates another embodiment of an electrical connector 800 . the electrical connector 800 includes a shell 802 and a plug insert 804 with a plurality of cavities ( not shown ) similar to the plug insert 506 described previously with reference to fig1 . the plug insert 804 includes a single conductive central core 806 with radiating fins 808 for receiving and retaining a group of four sheaths 810 , each sheath 810 housing electrical contacts ( not shown ). the connector 800 further includes a shield ferrule 812 and a shield housing 814 for retaining the sheaths 810 in a ganged , co - aligned configuration as further described in detail below with reference to the electrical connector 500 illustrated in fig1 . the shell 802 and a coupling nut 816 retain the components of the electrical connector 800 in place after assembly ( as further described below with reference to fig1 ). in some embodiments , the shell 802 may be sized for a mil - dtl - 38999 size 9 connector . as illustrated , the size 9 connector is designed to accommodate a total of four sheaths 810 ( and 8 total electrical contacts ). turning back to fig1 , preferably , the plug insert 506 includes a plurality of cantilever members or tangs 522 formed on the sides of an exterior surface 524 thereof , each tang 522 having a radially outwardly projecting portion or catch 523 located proximate a free end of the tang 522 . in some embodiments , the plug insert 506 may include a total four tangs 522 on the exterior surface 524 , with each tang 522 facing an opposite tang 522 . when the electrical connector 500 is assembled , the plug insert 506 is inserted into the shell 526 , and the catch 523 of the tang 522 snaps into a corresponding notch or slot 528 on an interior surface of the shell 526 to hold the plug insert 506 in position at a desired configuration . the flexibility of the tangs 522 allow for a less restrictive engineering tolerance of the dimensions of the plug insert 506 with respect to the shell 528 . in addition , the tangs 522 also serve as guides for arranging the plug insert 506 within the shell 528 to ensure that the socket contacts 502 align with pin contacts 652 of the mating connector 650 ( see fig2 ). in other embodiments , the plug insert 506 may not have tangs 522 and the plug insert 506 may instead be press fit into the shell 528 . in such embodiments , the engineering tolerance between the plug insert 506 and the shell 528 may be more restrictive to ensure a proper fit of the plug insert 506 . in some embodiments , the plug insert 506 includes a recessed surface 530 on the exterior surface 524 , the recess 530 extending on the exterior surface 524 from the front face 516 toward the tangs 522 . in some embodiments , the tangs 522 may be aligned with the recesses 530 , where the tangs 522 are centered with respect to the recess 530 ( as shown in fig1 ), but other configurations are possible . as further described in detail below with reference to fig2 - 24 , when the connectors 500 , 650 are mated , the interference fit between the cantilevered fingers 676 of the electrical connector 650 ( see fig2 ) and the recess 530 provide a solid mechanical connection between the connectors 500 , 650 and maintain shielding at the mating junction against external electromagnetic interference that may otherwise interfere with the cables terminated by the connectors 500 , 650 . with particular reference to fig1 and 18 - 19 , the electrical connector 500 further includes an electrically conductive , annular shield ferrule 532 for retaining the insulating sheath 504 in a ganged , co - aligned configuration . in some embodiments , as illustrated in fig1 , the shield ferrule 532 may retain four individual sheaths 504 . in other embodiments , the ferrule 532 may retain more or fewer sheaths 504 as desired . with reference to fig1 - 19 , the shield ferrule 532 includes a plurality of recesses 534 formed on an internal surface proximate a front end 536 . each recess 534 is sized to receive an end ( or other portion ) of the sheath 504 . when assembled , each sheath 504 may snap into or otherwise sit within the recesses 534 to retain the sheaths 504 in a ganged alignment within the cavities 508 of the plug insert 506 . in some embodiments , a radiused or chamfered surface 538 surrounds each recess 534 to accommodate the sheaths 504 and facilitate encircling the sheaths 504 with the shield ferrule 532 . the shield ferrule 532 further includes a plurality of cantilevered beams 540 formed on a back end 542 , and a waist portion 544 positioned between the front and back ends 536 , 542 of the shield ferrule 532 . the waist portion 544 preferably has a smaller outer diameter than each of the ends 536 , 542 . in some embodiments , longitudinal slots 546 formed on the shield ferrule 532 may create the cantilevered beams 540 and provide clearance for flexing the rear end 542 of the shield ferrule 532 . additional details relating to the function / characteristics of the cantilevered beams 540 are described below with relation to the interaction between the shield ferrule 532 and the shield housing 550 in an assembled electrical connector 500 . with reference to fig1 and 20 - 21 , a shield housing 550 includes a lower base 552 , an upper head 558 , and an annular lip 554 between the lower base 552 and the upper head 558 . the shield housing 550 further includes a plurality of barrels 556 projecting in an axial direction from a surface of the upper head 558 . with particular reference to fig2 - 21 , a cavity 560 extends entirely through the shield housing 550 ( and the barrels 556 ) in the axial direction , the cavity 560 having an opening in a rear face 564 of the shield housing 550 , and an opposite opening in a front face 568 of the shield housing 550 . with particular reference to fig2 , the lower base 552 includes an internal wall 570 that tapers inwardly to gradually narrow the size of the cavity 560 . in some embodiments , the internal wall 570 may constantly taper inwardly from the rear face 564 to a narrow point 572 of the cavity 560 . in other embodiments ( as illustrated in fig2 ), the internal wall 570 may have no taper at the rear face 564 , but begin tapering inwardly at a point distal from the rear face 564 . when the electrical connector 500 is assembled , the shield ferrules 532 are inserted through the cavity 560 along the rear face 564 of the shield housing 550 . as the shield ferrules 532 are inserted , the sloped internal wall 570 urges the beams 540 to flex radially inwardly and constrict or narrow the back end 542 and the waist portion 544 of the shield ferrule 532 . as described previously , the shield ferrules 532 retain a back end of the sheaths 504 . when the sheaths 504 are inserted into the plug insert 506 and the shield ferrules 532 are inserted into the cavity 560 of the shield housing 550 , this constriction of the waist portion 544 urges forward movement of the sheaths 504 within the cavity 508 so that the socket contacts 502 are urged forward against the front opening 514 of the cavity 508 ( see fig1 ). the radially inward flexure of the cantilever beams 540 may also cause beams 540 to clamp around wires / cables of the electrical connector 500 running through the shield ferrule 532 . internal grooves 548 on each of the cantilever beams 540 facilitate gripping these wires / cables and provide strain relief as the cantilever beams 540 are flexed inwardly . in some embodiments , the shield housing 550 may include a seal 574 retained in an internal channel 576 underneath the lip 554 ( see fig2 ). the seal 574 functions to hinder moisture , dust , or other contaminants from entering the electrical connector 500 . as is further described in detail below , to help retain the seal 574 in position , the seal 574 may be compressed into the channel 576 by the rear face 512 of the plug insert 506 when the electrical connector 500 is assembled . in addition ( or in an alternative embodiment ), each of the barrels 556 include a plurality of circumferential grooves 578 on the exterior surface . a moisture ingress resistant seal may be formed over the barrels 556 by an adhesive - lined heat - shrink tube ( not shown ) that forms o - ring like seals in grooves 578 when the adhesive melts and re - solidifies . with particular reference to fig1 , the electrical connector 500 further includes a coupling nut 580 and a backshell 596 , which , together with the shell 526 , house the components of the electrical connector 500 . the coupling nut 580 includes a threaded interior surface 582 proximate a rear end 584 . the threaded interior surface 584 is threaded to a pitch size that corresponds to a threaded external surface 586 of the shell 526 . a plurality of external teeth 588 are formed along an external circumference of the coupling nut 580 adjacent a front end 590 thereof . the teeth 588 may be regularly spaced - apart features , such as a series of evenly spaced vertical grooves , ridges , or other suitable features . in some embodiments , the teeth 588 are formed at approximately 5 - degree intervals along the external circumference of the front end 590 of the coupling nut 580 for a total of 72 evenly - spaced teeth . in other embodiments , the coupling nut 580 may include more or fewer teeth that may be spaced apart at different intervals as desired . as is further described in detail below , the teeth 588 rest within an internal channel 606 of the backshell 596 and help prevent undesired rotation of the coupling nut 580 . the coupling nut 580 also includes a grip surface 592 , which may have a series of recessed portions or flats 594 or other suitable elements , to provide a gripping surface for tightening the coupling nut 580 onto the shell 526 during assembly of the electrical connector 500 as is further described in detail below . as illustrated in fig1 , the backshell 596 preferably includes two clamshell housing sections 598 that may be fastened or mounted together , such as by inserting and securing fasteners 600 in the mounts 602 . the housing sections 598 may each have identical features that cooperate with one another to create various components of the backshell 596 as further described below . with particular reference to fig1 , the backshell 596 includes an opening 603 on a front face 604 and the circumferential internal channel 606 ( with each housing section 598 forming half of the channel 606 ) is formed adjacent to and recessed relative to the opening 603 . the backshell 596 includes a pinhole slot 605 on each of the front faces 604 of the housing sections 598 , and a second slot 607 on an interior wall 609 . the pinhole slots 605 , 607 are coaxially aligned relative to one another and configured to receive and retain a lock pin ( not shown ). with reference to fig1 and 17 , when the electrical connector 500 is assembled , the housing sections 598 of the backshell 596 are positioned around either side of the front end 590 of the coupling nut 580 . the housing sections 598 are brought together so that the teeth 588 of the coupling nut 580 are positioned within the internal channel 606 of the backshell 596 and may rest against the internal wall 609 . when the housing sections 598 are brought together , the lock pins move into position between a corresponding pair of teeth 588 ( e . g ., the lock pin sits in a valley between adjacent teeth 588 ). in this configuration , the lock pins arrest the coupling nut 580 and prevent undesirable loosening and / or rotation of the coupling nut 580 ( such as may occur in response to vibrations or other external forces ) after it has been tightened onto the shell 526 . preferably , the clamshell housing 596 includes an integrally formed strain relief 608 ( with each housing section 598 forming half of the strain relief 608 ) adjacent a rear end 610 to provide a biting engagement against cables or other wiring of the electrical connector 500 . as illustrated in fig1 , strain relief 608 may provide an exit pathway oriented at 90 - degrees ( relative to a central axis of the electrical connector 500 ) for a cable or other wiring ( not shown ). in other embodiments , strain relief 608 may provide a differently angled exit pathway , such as 30 - degrees , 45 - degrees , 60 - degrees , or another angle as desired . alternatively , the strain relief 608 may provide a straight exit pathway ( i . e ., aligned with the central axis of the electrical connector 500 ). preferably , plug insert 506 , shield ferrule 532 , shield housing 550 , coupling nut 580 , and clamshell housing 596 are each made from an electrically conductive material , such as silver plated t6 - 7075 aluminum , for example . other suitable materials , such as gold , nickel , aluminum alloys , steel , copper may also be used to coat or plate these components . in some embodiments , the components may be made from an insulating material , such as polyetherimide or other suitable engineering plastics , that is coated or plated with an electrically conductive material , such as silver , gold , or nickel . in a preferred embodiment , the plug insert 506 , shield ferrule 532 , shield housing 550 , and coupling nut 580 are each machined or otherwise manufactured ( e . g . molded , injection molded , casted , etc .) as single , monolithic structures . the following description relates to an example assembly operation of the electrical connector 500 , according to one embodiment . it should be understood that the described assembly steps are for illustration purposes only and do not intend to delineate any particular order for assembling the electrical connector 500 . with particular reference to fig1 , the sheaths 504 bearing the socket contacts 502 are inserted into the cavities 508 of the plug insert 506 . the front face of the sheath 504 is inserted into the cavity 508 so that the socket contact 502 is aligned with the front opening 514 on the front face 516 of the plug insert 506 ( see fig1 ). to ensure that the sheaths 504 are inserted in a proper orientation , the sheaths 504 and cavities 508 may have matching cross sections ( e . g ., matching kidney - shaped cross sections ) or other keyed features . once all sheaths 504 have been inserted , each group of sheaths 504 ( illustrated as a group of four in fig1 ), are banded together with an individual shield ferrule 532 ( a total of four shield ferrules 532 are used in this embodiment ). each sheath 504 is inserted into the recess 534 on the front end 536 of the shield ferrule 532 ( see fig1 ). when fully assembled , the shield ferrule 532 may sit against the rear face 512 of the plug insert 506 . the shield housing 550 is thereafter positioned over the shield ferrules 532 to retain the four ferrules 532 in position . as described previously with respect to fig1 - 20 , the cantilever beams 540 of the shield ferrule 532 are inserted into the cavities 560 of the shield housing 550 . the cantilever beams 540 are constricted by the tapering internal wall 570 , which in turn constricts the waist portion 544 to urge the sheaths 504 forward into the cavities 508 of the plug insert 506 as previously described . the subassembly comprising of the plug insert 506 and the shield housing 550 are then inserted and pushed into the shell 526 until the tangs 522 of the plug insert 506 snap into the notches 528 on the interior of the shell 526 . in some embodiments , the shield housing 550 may be dimensioned with respect to the interior of the shell 526 so that there is a slight interference fit ( e . g ., 0 . 001 - 0 . 002 inches ) when the shield housing 550 is inserted into the shell 526 . once the subassembly is latched and retained within the shell 526 , the coupling nut 580 is threaded onto the shell 526 . in some embodiments , the coupling nut 580 may first be threaded by hand , and then a tool ( e . g ., a wrench ) may be used to apply a desired amount of torque to tighten the coupling nut 580 . once the coupling nut 580 is threaded onto and secured to the shell 526 , the clamshell housing sections 598 are positioned on either side of the coupling nut 580 so that the teeth 588 of the coupling nut 580 are seated within the internal channel 606 of the backshell 596 to prevent rotation or loosening of the coupling nut 580 . the clamshell housing sections 598 are then secured via the fasteners 600 to complete the electrical connector 500 . fig2 - 24 collectively illustrate an embodiment of an electrical connector 650 that mates with the electrical connector 500 . in some embodiments , electrical connector 650 includes many identical or substantially similar components as the electrical connector 500 and may be assembled in an identical fashion . for instance , with particular reference to fig2 , the electrical connector 650 includes insulating sheaths 652 , shield ferrules 654 , a shield housing 656 , and a coupling nut 658 , each preferably having identical features and arranged in an identical configuration as the corresponding components of the electrical connector 500 . to avoid repetition , details relating to these components of the electrical connector 650 may not be further described . the following description highlights certain components and features of the electrical connector 650 that are different from the electrical connector 500 . with reference to fig2 , the electrical connector 650 includes a plug insert 660 that is similar to the plug insert 506 of the electrical connector 500 . for instance , plug insert 660 includes cavities 662 separated by a central core 664 and radiating fins 666 in an identical arrangement as described with respect to plug insert 506 . in addition , plug insert 660 includes tangs 668 for snapping the plug insert 660 into position within the shell 670 , which is preferably a mil - dtl - 39999 size 19 connector shell . plug insert 660 , however , does not include recesses 530 , but instead includes tongues 672 extending from a front end 674 of the plug insert . the tongues 672 may be divided or sectioned to form a plurality of cantilevered fingers 676 with a corresponding length to bear against the conductive recesses 530 of the plug insert 506 ( see fig1 ). preferably , the fingers 676 engage the recesses 530 with an interference fit of approximately 0 . 001 - 0 . 002 inches to provide a solid mechanical connection between the connectors 500 , 650 and maintain shielding at the mating junction against external electromagnetic interference that may otherwise interfere with the cables terminated by the connectors 500 , 650 . with reference to fig2 , the insulating sheath 652 of the electrical connector 650 houses pin contacts 678 with at least a portion of the pin contacts 678 extending forwardly from an end of from the sheath 652 so that the pin contacts 678 can be inserted into the socket contacts 502 when coupling the connectors 500 , 650 . the electrical connector 650 includes a backshell 680 that preferably has similar features to backshell 596 , including the strain relief 682 , and the internal channel 684 for retaining the coupling nut 658 in position . the following section describes an example coupling of the electrical connectors 500 , 650 according to an example embodiment . with particular reference to fig1 , electrical connector 500 includes a plurality of splines 612 on an interior surface 614 of the shell 526 . similarly , electrical connector 650 includes a plurality of channels 686 on an interior surface 688 of the shell 670 ( see fig2 ). to couple the connectors 500 , 650 , the splines 612 of the electrical connector 500 are aligned with the channels 686 of the electrical connector 650 . the splines 612 and the channels 686 are positioned on the respective connectors 500 , 650 to ensure that the connectors 500 , 650 are properly oriented relative to one another so that the pin contacts 678 are aligned with the socket contacts 502 and the cantilevered fingers 676 are aligned with the recesses 530 . once the splines 612 and channels 686 are aligned , the connectors 500 , 650 are pushed together toward one another until the pin contacts 678 are inserted into the socket contacts 502 and the fingers 676 bear against the recesses 530 . the connectors 500 , 650 may be disengaged by pulling the respective connectors 500 , 650 in opposite directions . fig2 - 26 collectively illustrate another embodiment of an electrical connector 700 . in some embodiments , the electrical connector 700 may be a pcb connector and include many substantially similar components as the electrical connector 500 . for instance , with particular reference to fig2 , the electrical connector 700 may include a plug insert 702 ( similar to plug insert 506 ) that has a plurality of cavities 704 extending axially through the plug insert 702 ( similar to cavities 508 of plug insert 506 ) for receiving sheaths 706 that house pcb contacts 708 . the plug insert 702 further includes conductive central cores ( not shown ) similar to the cores 518 of the plug insert 506 . the plug insert 702 includes a plurality of cantilever members or tangs 710 formed on the sides of an exterior surface 712 thereof , each tang 710 having a radially outwardly projecting portion or catch 714 located proximate a free end of the tang 710 . when the electrical connector 700 is assembled , the plug insert 702 is inserted into the shell 716 , and the catch 714 of the tang 710 snaps into a corresponding notch or slot 718 on an interior surface of the shell 716 to hold the plug insert 702 in position . in addition , the electrical connector 700 includes a coupling nut 720 with a threaded interior surface 722 that may be threaded onto the shell 716 in a similar fashion as described with reference to fig1 and electrical connector 500 . to avoid repetition , details relating to these components of the electrical connector 700 may not be further described . with reference to fig2 and 26 , the electrical connector 700 includes a pcb contact isolator 724 for retaining and isolating the sheaths 706 and pcb contacts 708 in a ganged , co - aligned configuration . the pcb contact isolator 724 includes a plurality of conductive central cores 726 each extending in the axial direction from a surface of the pcb contact isolator 724 . conductive fins 728 radiate from the core 726 and physically separate adjacent pairs of pcb contacts 708 from one another around the central core 726 ( see fig2 ). the following description relates to an example assembly operation of the electrical connector 700 , according to one embodiment . it should be understood that the described assembly steps are for illustration purposes only and do not intend to delineate any particular order for assembling the electrical connector 700 . with reference to fig2 - 26 , the sheaths 706 bearing the pcb contacts 708 are inserted into the cavities 704 of the plug insert 702 . once all sheaths 706 have been inserted , the pcb contact isolator 724 may be positioned over the sheaths 706 so that the sheaths are inserted through the openings 730 of the pcb contact isolator 724 . in this configuration , each pair of pcb contacts 708 is positioned between two fins 728 of the conductive core 726 ( see fig2 ). the subassembly comprising of the plug insert 702 and the pcb contact isolator 724 are then inserted and pushed into the shell 716 until the catch 714 of the tangs 710 snap into the notch 718 on the interior of the shell 716 . once the subassembly is latched and retained within the shell 716 , the coupling nut 720 is threaded onto the shell 716 to complete the electrical connector 700 . in some embodiments , the coupling nut 720 may first be threaded by hand , and then a tool ( e . g ., a wrench ) may be used to apply a desired amount of torque to tighten the coupling nut 720 . for clarity , fig2 only illustrates two groups of sheaths 706 that may be inserted into cavities 730 of pcb contact isolator 724 . however , in the embodiment illustrated in fig2 ), the pcb contact isolator 724 may be able to accommodate eight groups of sheaths 706 ( for a total of 32 sheaths and 64 pcb contacts ). it should be understood that in different embodiments , the pcb contact isolator 724 may accommodate more or fewer sheaths and pcb contacts as desired . other embodiments are possible . although the description above contains much specificity , these details should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention , but as merely providing illustrations of some embodiments of the invention . it should be understood that subject matter disclosed in one portion herein can be combined with the subject matter of one or more of other portions herein as long as such combinations are not mutually exclusive or inoperable . the terms and descriptions used above are set forth by way of illustration only and are not meant as limitations . it will be obvious to those having skill in the art that many changes may be made to the details of the above - described embodiments without departing from the underlying principles of the invention . | 7 |
as regards the fluoropolymer , this denotes any polymer having in its chain at least one monomer chosen from compounds that contain a vinyl group capable of opening in order to be polymerized and that contains , directly attached to this vinyl group , at least one fluorine atom , a fluoroalkyl group or a fluoroalkoxy group . as examples of monomers , mention may be made of vinyl fluoride ; vinylidene fluoride ( vdf ); trifluoroethylene ( vf3 ); chlorotrifluoroethylene ( ctfe ); 1 , 2 - difluoroethylene ; tetrafluoroethylene ( tfe ); hexafluoropropylene ( hfp ); perfluoro ( alkyl vinyl ) ethers , such as perfluoro ( methyl vinyl ) ether ( pmve ), perfluoro ( ethyl vinyl ) ether ( peve ) and perfluoro ( propyl vinyl ) ether ( ppve ); perfluoro ( 1 , 3 - dioxole ); perfluoro ( 2 , 2 - dimethyl - 1 , 3 - dioxole ) ( pdd ); the product of formula cf 2 ═ cfocf 2 cf ( cf 3 ) ocf 2 cf 2 x in which x is so 2 f , co 2 h , ch 2 oh , ch 2 ocn or ch 2 opo 3 h ; the product of formula cf 2 ═ cfocf 2 cf 2 so 2 f ; the product of formula f ( cf 2 ) n ch 2 ocf ═ cf 2 in which n is 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 or 5 ; the product of formula r 1 ch 2 ocf ═ cf 2 in which r 1 is hydrogen or f ( cf 2 ) z and z is 1 , 2 , 3 or 4 ; the product of formula r 3 ocf ═ ch 2 in which r 3 is f ( cf 2 ) z — and z is 1 , 2 , 3 or 4 ; perfluorobutylethylene ( pfbe ); 3 , 3 , 3 - trifluoropropene and 2 - trifluoromethyl - 3 , 3 , 3 - trifluoro - 1 - propene . the fluoropolymer may be a homopolymer or a copolymer ; it may also include non - fluorinated monomers such as ethylene . homopolymers and copolymers of vinylidene fluoride ( vdf ) preferably containing , by weight , at least 50 % vdf , the copolymer being chosen from chlorotrifluoroethylene ( ctfe ), hexafluoropropylene ( hfp ), trifluoroethylene ( vf3 ) and tetrafluoroethylene ( tfe ); homopolymers and copolymers of trifluoroethylene ( vf3 ); and copolymers , and especially terpolymers , combining the residues of chlorotrifluoroethylene ( ctfe ), tetrafluoroethylene ( tfe ), hexafluoropropylene ( hfp ) and / or ethylene units and optionally vdf and / or vf3 units . advantageously , the fluoropolymer is a poly ( vinylidene fluoride ) ( pvdf ) homopolymer or copolymer . preferably , the pvdf contains , by weight , at least 50 %, more preferably at least 75 % and better still at least 85 % vdf . the comonomer is advantageously hfp . advantageously , the pvdf has a viscosity ranging from 100 pa · s to 2000 pa · s , the viscosity being measured at 230 ° c . and a shear rate of 100 s − 1 using a capillary rheometer . this is because these pvdfs are well suited to extrusion and to injection molding . preferably , the pvdf has a viscosity ranging from 300 pa · s to 1200 pa · s , the viscosity being measured at 230 ° c . with a shear rate of 100 s − 1 using a capillary rheometer . thus , pvdfs sold under the brand name kynar ® 710 or 720 are perfectly suitable for this formulation . it is not excluded for the fluoropolymer to have polar functional groups introduced directly by copolymerization with a suitable monomer . in this case , what would be obtained after the radiation grafting is a fluoropolymer having polar functional groups resulting both from the copolymerization and from the method according to the invention . with regard to the graftable compound , this possesses at least one c ═ c double bond , and at least one polar functional group that may be one of the following functional groups : carboxylic acid ; sulfonic acid ; carboxylic acid anhydride ; epoxide ; carboxylic acid ester ; silyl ; carboxylic amide ; hydroxyl ; isocyanate . the polar functional group is not a carboxylic acid salt functional group . the following examples of graftable compounds may be mentioned : methacrylic acid , acrylic acid , undecylenic acid , crotonic acid , itaconic acid , maleic anhydride , dichloromaleic anhydride , difluoromaleic anhydride , itaconic anhydride , crotonic anhydride , glycidyl acrylate or glycidyl methacrylate , allyl glycidyl ether , vinylsilanes , such as vinyltrimethoxysilane , vinyltriethoxysilane , vinyltriacetoxysilane , γ - methacryloxypropyltrimethoxysilane , monoethyl maleate , diethyl maleate , monomethyl fumarate , dimethyl fumarate , monomethyl itaconate and diethyl itaconate . because of the presence of a c ═ c double bond in the graftable compound , it is not excluded for the graftable compound to polymerize , in order to give polymer chains either grafted onto the fluoropolymer , or free , that is to say not attached to the fluoropolymer . the term “ polymer chain ” is understood to mean a chain sequence of more than 10 units of the graftable compound . within the context of the invention , to improve the adhesion properties of the modified fluoropolymer , it is preferable to limit the presence of grafted or free polymer chains , and therefore to try to obtain chains consisting of fewer than 10 units of the graftable compound . preferably the limit is chains consisting of fewer than 5 units of graftable compounds , and even more preferably fewer than 2 units of graftable compound . likewise , it is not excluded for there to be more than one c ═ c double bond in the graftable compound . thus , for example , graftable compounds such as allyl methacrylate , trimethylolpropane trimethacrylate or ethylene glycol dimethacrylate may be used . however , the presence of more than one double bond in the graftable compound may cause crosslinking of the fluoropolymer , and therefore a modification in the rheological properties , or even the presence of gels , which is undesirable . it may therefore be difficult to achieve a good level of grafting , while limiting crosslinking . thus , graftable compounds containing only a single c ═ c double bond are preferred . the preferred graftable compounds are therefore those possessing a single c ═ c double bond and at least one polar functional group . carboxylic acid anhydrides are preferred as they have little tendency to polymerize , or even to give rise to crosslinking , and give good adhesion properties . among these , maleic anhydride is most particularly preferred . in the blend resulting from step a ), the content of graftable compound is 0 . 1 to 10 %, preferably 0 . 1 to 5 % of graftable compound per 99 . 9 to 90 %, preferably 99 . 9 to 95 %, of fluoropolymer . a combination of the two types of stabilizer may also be envisaged . this combination may consist either in blending a graftable metal salt and an antioxidant with the fluoropolymer before the irradiation , or in blending a graftable metal salt before the irradiation and an antioxidant after the irradiation . preferably , the stabilizer is an antioxidant , used by itself , that is to say not in combination with a graftable metal salt , and added preferably after the irradiation . with regard to the graftable metal salt , this has a single c ═ c double bond and a carboxylic acid functional group . it may be represented by one of the following formulae : where q denotes an optionally substituted , linear or cyclic , aliphatic or optionally substituted aromatic group and m denotes a metal cation of valence n , which may be chosen from ca 2 + , na + and zn 2 + . as examples , mention may be made of zinc , calcium or sodium undecylenates , zinc acrylate , zinc methacrylate and sodium methacrylate . zinc , calcium or sodium undecylenates are preferred . the preferred metal cation is zn 2 + . among the graftable metal salts containing the zn 2 + cation , zinc undecylenate is most particularly preferred . in the blend , the content of graftable metal salt after step a ) is 0 . 1 to 10 %, preferably 0 . 1 to 5 %, of graftable metal salt per 99 . 9 to 90 %, preferably 99 . 9 to 95 %, of fluoropolymer . with regard to the antioxidant , this may be a phenolic antioxidant . for example , it may be an alkylated monophenol such as 2 , 6 - di - tert - butyl - 4 - methylphenol , 2 , 6 - di - tert - butylphenol ( irganox ® 140 ), 2 - tert - butyl - 4 , 6 - dimethylphenol , 2 , 6 - di - tert - butyl - 4 - ethylphenol , 2 , 6 - di - tert - butyl - 4 - n - butylphenol , 2 , 6 - di - tert - butyl - 4 - isobutylphenol , 2 , 6 - di - cyclopentyl - 4 - methylphenol , 2 -( β - methylcyclohexyl )- 4 , 6 - dimethylphenol , 2 , 6 - di - octadecyl - 4 - methylphenol , 2 , 4 , 6 - tri - cyclohexylphenol , 2 , 6 - di - tert - butyl - 4 - methoxymethylphenol , o - tert - butylphenol , 2 , 6 - dinonyl - 4 - methylphenol , 2 , 4 - dimethyl - 6 -( 1 ′- methylundecyl ) phenol , 2 , 4 - dimethyl - 6 -( 1 ′- methylheptadecyl ) phenol , tetrakis ( 3 -( 3 , 5 - di - tert - butyl - 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) propionyloxymethyl ) methane ( irganox ® 1010 ), thiodiethylene bis ( 3 , 5 - di - tert - butyl - 4 - hydroxyhydrocinnamate ) ( irganox ® 1035 ), octadecyl - 3 , 5 - di - tert - butyl - 4 - hydroxyhydrocinnamate ( irganox ® 1076 ). it may also be an alkylated hydroquinone , such as for example 2 , 6 - di - tert - butyl - 4 - methoxyphenol , 2 , 5 - di - tert - butylhydroquinone , 2 , 5 - di - tert - amylhydroquinone and 2 , 6 - diphenyl - 4 - octadecyloxyphenol . it may also be an alkylidene bisphenol such as , for example , 2 , 2 ′- methylene - bis ( 6 - tert - butyl - 4 - methylphenol ), 2 , 2 ′- methylene - bis ( 6 - tert - butyl - 4 - ethylphenol ), 2 , 2 ′- methylene - bis ( 4 - methyl - 6 -( α - methylcyclohexyl ) phenol ), 2 , 2 ′- methylene - bis ( 4 - methyl - 6 - cyclohexylphenol ), 2 , 2 ′- methylene - bis ( 6 - nonyl - 4 - methylphenol ), 2 , 2 ′- methylene - bis ( 4 , 6 - di - tert - butylphenol ), 2 , 2 ′- ethylidene - bis ( 4 , 6 - di - tert - butylphenol ), 2 , 2 ′- ethylidene - bis ( 6 - tert - butyl - 4 - or - 5 - isobutylphenol ), 2 , 2 ′- methylene - bis ( 6 -( α - methylbenzyl - 4 - nonylphenol ), 2 , 2 ′- methylene - bis ( 6 -( α , α - dimethylbenzyl )- 4 - nonylphenol ), 4 , 4 ′- methylene - bis ( 2 , 6 - di - tert - butylphenol ), 4 , 4 ′- methylene - bis ( 6 - tert - butyl - 2 - methylphenol ), 1 , 1 - bis ( 5 - tert - butyl - 4 - hydroxy - 2 - methylphenol ) butane , 2 , 6 - di -( 3 - tert - butyl - 5 - methyl - 2 - hydroxybenzyl )- 4 - methylphenol , 1 , 1 , 3 - tris ( 5 - tert - butyl - 4 - hydroxy - 2 - methylphenyl )- 3 - n - dodecyl ) mercaptobutane , ethylene glycol - bis [ 3 , 3 - bis ( 3 ′- tert - butyl - 4 ′- hydroxyphenyl ) butyrate ], bis ( 3 - tert - butyl - 4 - hydroxy - 5 - methylphenyl ) dicyclopentadiene , bis [ 2 -( 3 ′- tert - butyl - 2 ′- hydroxy - 5 ′- methylbenzyl )- 6 - tert - butyl - 4 - methylphenyl ] terephthalate . it may also be a benzyl compound such as 1 , 3 , 5 - tri ( 3 , 5 - di - tert - butyl - 4 - hydroxybenzyl )- 2 , 4 , 6 - trimethylbenzene , bis ( 3 , 5 - di - tert - butyl - 4 - hydroxybenzyl ) sulfide , 3 , 5 - di - tert - butyl - 4 - hydroxybenzylmercaptoacetic acid - isooctyl ester , bis ( 4 - tert - butyl - 3 - hydroxy - 2 , 6 - dimethylbenzyl ) dithiolterephthalate , 1 , 3 , 5 - tris ( 3 , 5 - di - tert - butyl - 4 - hydroxybenzyl ) isocyanurate , 1 , 3 , 5 - tris ( 4 - tert - butyl - 3 - hydroxy - 2 , 6 - dimethylbenzyl ) isocyanurate , 3 , 5 - di - tert - butyl - 4 - hydroxybenzylphosphonic acid dioctadecyl ester and 3 , 5 - di - tert - butyl - 4 - hydroxybenzylphosphonic acid monoethyl ester . it may also be an acylaninophenol such as , for example , 4 - hydroxylauric acid anilide , 4 - hydroxystearic acid anilide , 2 , 4 - bis ( octylmercapto - 6 -( 3 , 5 - di - tert - butyl - 4 - hydroxyanilino )- s - triazine or n -( 3 , 5 - di - tert - butyl - 4 - hydroxyphenyl ) carbamic acid octyl ester . the antioxidant may also be a phosphite or a phosphonite , for example triphenyl phosphite , a diphenyl alkyl phosphite , a phenyl dialkyl phosphite , tris ( nonylphenyl ) phosphite , trilauryl phosphite , trioctadecyl phosphite , distearyl pentaerythritol disphosphite , tris ( 2 , 4 - di - tert - butylphenyl ) phosphite , diisodecyl pentaerythritol diphosphite , bis ( 2 , 4 - di - tert - butylphenyl ) pentaerythritol diphosphite , bis ( 2 , 6 - di - tert - butylmethylphenyl ) pentaerythritol diphosphite , bisisodecyloxypentaerythritol diphosphite , bis ( 2 , 4 - di - tert - butyl methylphenyl ) pentaerythritol disphosphite , bis ( 2 , 4 , 6 - tri - tert - butylphenyl ) pentaerythritol diphosphite , tristearyl sorbitol triphosphite , tetrakis ( 2 , 4 - di - tert - butylphenyl )- 4 , 4 ′- biphenylenediphosphonite , 6 - isooctyloxy - 10 - tetra - tert - butyl - dibenzo [ d , f ][ 1 , 3 , 2 ] dioxaphosphepin , 6 - fluoro - 2 , 4 , 8 , 10 - tetra - tert - butylmethyl - dibenzol [ d , g ][ 1 , 3 , 2 ] dioxaphosphocin , bis ( 2 , 4 - di - tert - butylmethylphenyl ) methyl phosphite , and bis ( 2 , 4 - di - tert - butylmethylphenyl ) ethyl phosphite . it may also be a compound of the nitroxide type represented by the general formula : in which r 1 , r 2 , r 3 , r 4 , r 5 and r 6 denote : c 1 - c 20 , preferably c 1 - c 10 , linear or branched alkyl groups , such as methyl , ethyl , propyl , butyl , isopropyl , isobutyl , tert - butyl , neopentyl , whether substituted or not ; c 6 - c 30 aryl groups , whether substituted or not , such as benzyl or c 1 - c 30 saturated cyclic aryl ( phenyl ) groups , and in which the r 1 and r 4 groups may form part of an r 1 — cnc — r 4 cyclic structure optionally substituted , possibly chosen from : among the antioxidants described above , alkylated monophenols are most particularly preferred , and more particularly irganox ® 1010 from ciba - geigy . these may also be a mixture of several antioxidants chosen from the antioxidants described above , for example an alkylated monophenol and a phosphite . the antioxidant content is 0 . 001 to 2 %, preferably 0 . 001 to 1 %, per 99 . 999 to 98 %, preferably 99 . 999 to 99 %, of fluoropolymer . with regard to the modified fluoropolymer , this retains the good chemical resistance properties of the fluoropolymer . thanks to the radiation grafting , it may be bonded to or combined with other structures . if the stabilizer is an antioxidant , what is therefore obtained after irradiation is a fluoropolymer onto which a graftable compound is grafted , said fluoropolymer being stabilized by one or more antioxidants . the content of graftable compound grafted , that is to say linked to the fluoropolymer via a covalent bond , is 0 . 1 to 5 %, preferably 0 . 1 to 2 . 5 %, per 99 . 9 to 95 . 0 %, preferably 99 . 9 to 97 . 5 %, of fluoropolymer . the antioxidant content is 0 . 001 to 2 %, preferably 0 . 001 to 1 %, per 99 . 999 to 98 %, preferably 99 . 999 to 99 %, of fluoropolymer . if the stabilizer is a graftable metal salt , what is therefore obtained after irradiation is a fluoropolymer onto which a graftable compound is grafted , said fluoropolymer being stabilized by a graftable metal salt . the content of graftable compound grafted , that is to say linked to the fluoropolymer via a covalent bond , is 0 . 1 to 5 %, preferably 0 . 1 to 2 . 5 %, per 99 . 9 to 95 . 0 %, preferably 99 . 9 to 97 . 5 %, of fluoropolymer . the content of grafted metal salt , that is to say that links to the fluoropolymer via a covalent bond , is 0 . 1 to 5 %, preferably 0 . 1 to 2 . 5 %, per 99 . 9 to 95 . 0 %, preferably 99 . 9 to 97 . 5 %, of fluoropolymer . a combination of the two types of stabilizer may also be envisaged . the combination may be obtained either by blending a graftable metal salt and an antioxidant with the fluoropolymer before the irradiation , or by blending a graftable metal salt before the irradiation and an antioxidant after the irradiation . what is therefore obtained after the irradiation is a fluoropolymer onto which a graftable compound has been grafted , said fluoropolymer being stabilized by a graftable metal salt and by one or more antioxidants . the content of graftable compound grafted , that is to say linked to the fluoropolymer via a covalent bond , is 0 . 1 to 5 %, preferably 0 . 1 to 2 . 5 %, per 99 . 9 to 95 . 0 %, preferably 99 . 9 to 97 . 5 %, of fluoropolymer . the content of grafted metal salt , that is to say that links to the fluoropolymer via a covalent bond , is 0 . 1 to 5 %, preferably 0 . 1 to 2 . 5 %, per 99 . 9 to 95 . 0 %, preferably 99 . 9 to 97 . 5 %, of fluoropolymer . the antioxidant content is 0 . 001 to 2 %, preferably 0 . 001 to 1 %, per 99 . 999 to 98 %, preferably 99 . 999 to 99 %, of fluoropolymer . preferably , the modified fluoropolymer is a fluoropolymer onto which maleic anhydride and a graftable metal salt have been grafted . even more advantageously , this is a fluoropolymer onto which maleic anhydride and zinc undecylenate have been grafted . with regard to the actual grafting , this is carried out in several steps . according to one form of the invention , the stabilizer is added to the fluoropolymer before the irradiation . this first form of the invention therefore relates to a method for the radiation grafting of a compound that can be grafted onto a fluoropolymer , so as to prevent destabilization of the fluoropolymer , in which : a ) the fluoropolymer is melt - blended with a graftable compound and with a stabilizer ; b ) the blend obtained at a ) is formed into films , sheets , granules or powder ; c ) the products from step b ) are subjected to photon ( γ ) or electron ( β ) irradiation with a dose of between 0 . 5 and 15 mrad ; and d ) optionally , the products from step c ) are subjected to a washing and / or a degassing operation . the stabilizer may be an antioxidant , a graftable metal salt or else a combination of the two . according to another form of the invention , if the stabilizer is an antioxidant this may be added after the irradiation . this other form of the invention therefore relates to a method for the radiation grafting of a compound that can be grafted onto a fluoropolymer , so as to prevent destabilization of the fluoropolymer , in which : a ) the fluoropolymer is melt - blended with a graftable compound ; b ) the blend obtained at a ) is formed into films , sheets , granules or powder ; c ) the products from step b ) are subjected to photon ( γ ) or electron ( β ) irradiation with a dose of between 0 . 5 and 15 mrad ; d ) an antioxidant is added to the products from step c ); and e ) optionally , the products from step d ) are subjected to a washing and / or a degassing operation . it is not excluded in this other form of the invention for a graftable metal salt to be blended with the fluoropolymer and with the graftable compound . according to one or other form of the invention , step a ) is carried out in any blending device , such as extruders or mixers used in the thermoplastics industry . after step a ), it is possible that certain of the more volatile compounds are entrained in the extruder or mixer ( entrainment of these compounds possibly ranging up to 50 % by weight of the initial quantity introduced ) and are recovered in the vending circuits . with regard to step c ), the products recovered after step b ) are advantageously packaged in polyethylene bags , the air is expelled and then the bags are sealed . as regards the method of irradiation , it is possible to use without distinction electron irradiation , more commonly known as beta - irradiation , and photon irradiation , more commonly known as gamma - irradiation . advantageously , the dose is between 0 . 5 and 6 mrad and preferably between 0 . 5 and 3 mrad . grafting using a cobalt bomb is most particularly preferred . the grafting is carried out through the thickness of the polymer and not on its surface . one of the advantages of radiation grafting is that it is possible to obtain higher contents of grafted graftable compounds than with the conventional grafting methods using a radical initiator . thus , typically with the radiation grafting method , it is possible , if this is desirable , to obtain contents of greater than 1 % ( 1 part of graftable compound per 99 parts of fluoropolymer ), or even greater than 1 . 5 %, whereas with a conventional grafting method in an extruder , the content is around 0 . 1 to 0 . 4 %. another advantage of radiation grafting is that it is carried out “ cold ”, typically at temperatures below 100 ° c ., or even below 70 ° c ., so that the fluoropolymer / graftable compound blend is not in the melt state , as in the case of a conventional grafting method in an extruder . one essential difference is therefore that , in the case of a semicrystalline fluoropolymer ( such as for example pvdf ), the grafting takes place in the amorphous phase and not in the crystalline phase , whereas homogenous grafting takes place in the case of grafting in an extruder . the graftable compound is therefore not distributed over the fluoropolymer chains in the same way in the case of radiation grafting and in the case of grafting in an extruder . the modified fluoropolymer therefore has a different distribution of the graftable compound over the fluoropolymer chains than with a product obtained by grafting in an extruder . during this irradiation step , a relatively large quantity of hf is formed , which acts in destabilizing the fluoropolymer , doubtless in a similar manner to that which occurs with pvc . without being tied to any one explanation of this exact role of the graftable metal salt that can be used as stabilizer , the applicant envisages that hf is likely to interact with the graftable metal salt in order to give the corresponding metal fluoride and the corresponding carboxylic acid . for example , in the presence of zinc undecylenate , a reaction of the following type may occur : this reaction is not complete so that there still remains a graftable metal salt linked to the fluoropolymer . in addition , the presence of grafted undecylenic acid obtained by the reaction with hf may enhance the adhesion properties of the fluoropolymer . the products resulting from step c ) ( 1st form of the invention ) or from step d ) ( other form of the invention ) may optionally be washed and / or degassed . they may be washed with solvents of the chlorobenzene type or else with acetone . more simply , they may be vacuum - degassed , possibly while being heated . the modified fluoropolymer may be used in various types of structures , being bonded to or combined with other materials . as examples of structures according to the invention , mention may be made of that comprising , in succession , an inner layer in contact with the fluid to be transported or stored , consisting of the fluoropolymer modified by radiation grafting according to the invention and , directly attached thereto , a polyolefin outer layer . the polyolefin may be polyethylene or an ethylene / alpha - olefin copolymer , or polypropylene or a polypropylene / alpha - olefin copolymer . the preferred polyolefin is polyethylene or an ethylene / alpha - olefin copolymer . this structure is useful for automobile fuel tanks . according to one variant , this structure comprises a layer of fluoropolymer , preferably pvdf , placed beside the fluoropolymer modified by radiation grafting , that is to say the structure comprises , in succession , a layer of fluoropolymer , preferable pvdf , a layer consisting of the fluoropolymer modified by radiation grafting according to the invention and , directly attached to it , a polyolefin outer layer as defined above . the layer of fluoropolymer modified by radiation grafting is a tie layer between the pvdf layer and the polyolefin layer . in the above structures , a functionalized polyolefin layer may be placed between the layer of fluoropolymer modified by radiation grafting and the polyolefin layer , said functionalized polyolefin having functional groups capable of reacting with the functional groups grafted onto the fluoropolymer . for example , if maleic anhydride has been grafted onto the fluoropolymer , the functionalized polyolefin layer may for example be a layer of a copolymer of ethylene , glycidyl methacrylate and possibly an alkyl acrylate , said copolymer being optionally blended with polyethylene . in the above structures , the inner layer in contact with the fluid to be transported or stored may contain carbon black , carbon nanotubes or any other additive capable of making the structure conducting in order to prevent the build - up of static electricity . as examples of structures according to the invention mention may also be made of that comprising , in succession , a layer consisting of the fluoropolymer modified by radiation grafting according to the invention placed between two polyolefin layers as defined above . this structure is useful for automobile fuel tanks . in the above structures , a functionalized polyolefin layer may be placed between the layer of fluoropolymer modified by radiation grafting and one or both of the polyolefin layers , said functionalized polyolefin having functional groups capable of reacting with the functional groups grafted onto the fluoropolymer . for example , if maleic anhydride has been grafted onto the fluoropolymer , the functionalized polyolefin layer is for example a layer of a copolymer of ethylene , glycidyl methacrylate and possibly an alkyl acrylate , said copolymer being optionally blended with polyethylene . as another example of structures according to the invention , mention may be made of that comprising , in succession , an inner layer in contact with the fluid to be transported or stored , consisting of the fluoropolymer modified by radiation grafting according to the invention and , directly attached thereto , a polyamide outer layer . this structure is useful for automobile fuel pipes or hoses . according to one variant , this structure comprises a layer of fluoropolymer , preferably pvdf , placed beside the fluoropolymer modified by radiation grafting . that is to say the structure comprises , in succession , a layer of fluoropolymer , preferably pvdf , a layer consisting of the fluoropolymer modified by radiation grafting according to the invention and , directly attached to the latter , a polyamide outer layer . the layer of fluoropolymer modified by radiation grafting is a tie layer between the pvdf layer and the polyamide layer . in the above structures , a functionalized polymer layer may be placed between the layer of fluoropolymer modified by radiation grafting and the polyamide layer , said functionalized polymer having functional groups capable of reacting with the functional groups grafted onto the fluoropolymer , this functionalized polymer being compatible with the polyamide . in the above structures , the inner layer in contact with the fluid to be transported or stored may contain carbon black , carbon nanotubes or any other additive capable of making the structure conducting in order to prevent the build - up of static electricity . as another example of structures according to the invention , mention may be made of that comprising , in succession , an outer layer of the fluoropolymer modified by radiation grafting of the invention and , directly attached thereto , a layer of a substrate . the layer of fluoropolymer modified by radiation grafting is used as a protective layer for the substrate . the substrate may be a body element of an automobile or an architectural element . according to a variant , this structure comprises a layer of fluoropolymer , preferably pvdf , placed beside the fluoropolymer modified by radiation grafting . that is to say the structure comprises , in succession , a layer of fluoropolymer , preferably pvdf , a layer consisting of the fluoropolymer modified by radiation grafting according to the invention and , directly attached thereto , the layer of a substrate . the layer of fluoropolymer modified by radiation grafting is a tie layer between the pvdf layer and the substrate layer . in the above structures , a functionalized polymer layer may be placed between the layer of fluoropolymer modified by radiation grafting and the substrate layer , said functionalized polymer having functional groups capable of reacting with the functional groups grafted onto the fluoropolymer , this fluoropolymer being compatible with the substrate . the modified fluoropolymer may also be used as anticorrosion coating for a metal surface , which optionally will have been coated beforehand with an adhesion primer . the fluoropolymer modified by radiation grafting or the pvdf used as protective layer for a substrate may contain the usual uv stabilizer additives and / or radiation - absorbent fillers . these structures may be produced by standard techniques such as extrusion , coextrusion , coextrusion blow molding , coating , extrusion coating . kynar ® 720 : a pvdf homopolymer from atofina , with an mvi ( melt volume index ) of 10 cm 3 / 10 min ( 230 ° c ./ 5 kg ). a blend based on 97 % kynar ® 720 , 1 % zinc undecylenate and 2 % maleic anhydride was prepared by melt blending at 210 ° c ., with a throughput of 100 kg / hour , in a werner 58 extruder rotating at 200 rpm . the blend thus prepared was then put into a bag , the air being expelled by flushing it with argon , and then irradiated by a cobalt 60 source with a dose of 30 kgray at a dose rate of 1 . 6 kgray / hour . after this irradiation step , the amount of hf present in the atmosphere in the bag was measured to be 0 . 5 ppm . after this irradiation step , the product was degassed at 240 ° c . with a throughput of 100 kg / hour in a werner 58 extruder rotating at 400 rpm , while incorporating , during this degassing under 50 mbar , 0 . 5 % irganox ® 1010 from ciba - geigy . the product after this degassing step had a very slight beige color . what was thus obtained was a pvdf which contained 0 . 5 % irganox ® 1010 and onto which 1 % maleic anhydride and 0 . 5 % zinc undecylenate had been grafted . the product obtained was then coextruded in a mcneil extruder in order to produce a 29 / 32 tube . the tube was made up of layers in the following order , from the outside inward : a 2 . 6 mm layer of hd polyethylene with a density of 0 . 94 ; a 0 . 1 mm layer of lotader ® ax 8840 from arkema ; and a 0 . 3 mm layer of the product according to the invention . the adhesion obtained was around 45 n / cm just after the extrusion and more than 100 n / cm after 2 days . the permeability of the tube to the 42 . 5 % isooctane / 42 . 5 % toluene / 15 % methanol mixture at 40 ° c . was around 1 g / m 2 · day after 180 days of testing and when permeation equilibrium was obtained . the tube obtained had a milky white color . a blend based on 98 % kynar ® 720 and 2 % maleic anhydride was prepared by melt blending at 210 ° c ., with a throughput of 100 kg / hour , in a werner 58 extruder rotating at 200 rpm . the blend thus prepared was then put into a bag and irradiated by a cobalt 60 source with a dose of 30 kgray and a dose rate of 1 . 6 kgray / hour . after this irradiation step , the amount of hf measured in the atmosphere in the bag was 110 ppm . after this irradiation step , the product was degassed under 50 mbar at 240 ° c . and with a throughput of 100 kg / hour in a werner 58 extruder rotating at 400 rpm . the product after this degassing step had a dark brown color . what was thus obtained was a pvdf onto which 1 % maleic anhydride had been grafted . the product obtained was then coextruded in a mcneil extruder in order to produce a 29 / 32 tube with the following order of layers : a 2 . 6 mm layer of hd polyethylene with a density of 0 . 94 ; a 0 . 1 mm layer of lotader ® ax 8840 from arkema ; and a 0 . 3 mm layer of the material prepared . the adhesion obtained was around 46 n / cm just after the extrusion and more than 98 n / cm after 2 days . the permeability of the tube to the 42 . 5 % isooctane / 42 . 5 % toluene / 15 % methanol mixture at 40 ° c . was around 1 . 2 g / m 2 · day after 180 days of testing and when permeation equilibrium was obtained . the tube obtained had a brown color . | 1 |
while the claims are not limited to the illustrated embodiments , an appreciation of various aspects of the present invention is best gained through a discussion of various examples thereof . referring now to the drawings , illustrative embodiments will be described in detail . although the drawings represent the embodiments , the drawings are not necessarily to scale and certain features may be exaggerated to better illustrate and explain an innovative aspect of an embodiment . further , the embodiments described herein are not intended to be exhaustive or otherwise limiting or restricting to the precise form and configuration shown in the drawings and disclosed in the following detailed description . fig1 illustrates a basic principle circuit diagram of a touch sensing device of this disclosure . as shown in fig1 , the device comprises a sensing point 1 , a charge transfer device 2 , a comparator 3 , a counter 4 , a processor 5 and a third switch s 3 . the sensing point 1 for sensing the proximity - related capacitance between a different environment and the ground ( gnd ) is to produce a sensing capacitor cs . the sensing point or spot 1 is formed by a pcb wire which can be made into shapes as shown in fig3 or fig4 to form an accurate sensing capacitor and guarantee the reliability of the sensing action . the capacitance of the sensing capacitor cs produced at the sensing point 1 is very small and the quantity of the transferred charge each time is small , so the measurement of charge is difficult . this disclosure provides a charge transfer device 2 which can accumulate the charge , and the sensing point 1 is charged continuously and the charge on it is transferred and converted into voltage which can be measured . the charge transfer device 2 comprises a first switch s 1 , a second switch s 2 and a capacitor cc 21 . the first switch s 1 and the second switch s 2 which can be realized using a mos ( metal - oxide semiconductor ) tube , triode , relay or optical coupler are controlled by a non - overlapping clock signal as shown in fig2 . therefore , by closing and opening the switches s 1 and s 2 , the capacitor cs on the sensing point 1 accumulates enough quantity of the charge which is completely transferred to the capacitor cc 21 to make the voltage vcc large enough to be measured . upon consumption that the charging voltage of the capacitor cs is vdd , then the quantity of the charge is csv dd , therefore , after the charging and discharging for the first time , the equation ( cs + cc ) v 1 = csv dd is gained , where v 1 is the voltage on the cc . the working process is as follows : when the switch s 1 closes , the sensing capacitor cs at the sensing point 1 is charged through the charging voltage vdd ; when the switch s 1 opens , the switch s 2 closes because of the control of the non - overlapping clock signal , so the charge on the capacitor cs at the sensing point 1 is transferred to the capacitor cc 21 . after the charge transfer of several periods , the charge accumulated on the capacitor cs at the sensing point 1 is completely transferred to the capacitor cc 21 . the charge on the capacitor cc 21 is converted into voltage which is put into the comparator 3 , and the input end of the comparator 3 is the reference voltage v ref which is compared with the voltage vcc on the capacitor cc 21 , the result of the comparison produces a control signal to the counter 4 . the reference voltage v ref is realized by the voltage - dividing resistors r 1 and r 2 as shown in the fig5 . when the comparator 3 overturns , it produces a turnover signal and sends it to the third switch s 3 and the counter 4 . after receiving the turnover signal , the third switch s 3 closes to discharge the second capacitor and opens after the discharge . after receiving the turnover signal , the counter 4 stops counting and sends the count value to the processor 5 ; after receiving the count value , the processor 5 judges whether the sensing point is in a touch state , at the same time , it returns a signal to clear the counter , and then the counter starts to count again . in this embodiment , the reference voltage v ref produced at the input end of the comparator 3 is designed to be less than half of the charging voltage of each time , namely less than vdd / 2 . this is because if the reference voltage is too high , certain system error will be introduced . if touch action happens , the sensing point 1 will sense the capacitance between the body and the ground , likewise , according to the above - described method , the charge is accumulated on the weak sensing capacitor cs and converted into voltage vcc on the capacitor cc 21 continuously . if vcc exceeds the reference voltage vref , the comparator 3 overturns and sends a stopping signal to the counter 4 , then counter 4 stops counting and obtains a new count value which is the new charging count value of the capacitor . the count value of the counter 4 is entered into the processor 5 , the processor 5 calculates the difference between the input count value and the non - touching charging count value set in advance . if the difference exceeds the predetermined standard difference , the processor 5 judges that the sensing point is in a touching state . one of skill in the art in this field can understand that this standard difference can be set according to the hardware parameters of the device . therefore , whether there is touching action is judged by detecting the change of the count value of the counter . the sensing capacitor cs produced at the sensing point 1 varies with temperature and humidity of the environment . therefore , the charging time of the sensing point 1 changes accordingly . so , the factual non - touching charging count value t nkn changes slowly with the change of the environment . however , if this difference of change exceeds a standard difference , touching action is mistaken . and for the same reason , in a touching state , the environment still affects the count value of the counter , which changes the value of the counter into the non - touching value . in order to guarantee accurate triggering and higher sensitivity , the change of the sensing capacitor cs produced at the sensing point 1 is evaluated , and the non - touching charging value is adjusted continuously , and the sensitivity of the standard difference both in a touching state and in a non - touching state are set . therefore , an optimized solution is that the touching sensing device of the second embodiment has self - adapting ability . the judgment of the touching action is done by refreshing the non - touching count value and the touching count value continuously through calculating the difference of charging time of two times on the sensing point 1 of two times and comparing the difference with a predetermined threshold . in the second embodiment , a solution is provided that the non - touching charging count value t nkn always varies with the change of environment to make the new set non - touching charging count value t nkn always equals or approaching the factual one to realize the self - adapting of the sensing point . where t nkn is the new non - touching charging count value , t nkn 0 is the last non - touching charging count value and t nkn 1 is the current non - touching charging count value . where t nkn is the new touching charging count value , t nkn 0 is the last touching charging count value and t nkn 1 is the current touching charging count value . in order to achieve the above object , when the comparator overturns and the counter stops counting , the processor 5 of the touching sensing device performs the following steps as shown in the fig6 : in step 1 , the count value of the counter 4 is read and saved . in step 2 , the count value of the counter is compared to the previous value of the counter to determine if the count value exceeds the last value of the counter ; if so , the process proceeds to step 3 if not , the process proceeds to step 4 . in step 3 , a determination is made as to whether the sensing point was in a touching state the last time . if so , the process proceeds to step 5 ; if not , a self - adapting refreshing of the non - touching count value using is employed to set the new sensing point state to be a non - touching state . the process then returns to step 1 . at step 4 , a determination is made as to whether the sensing point is in touching state . if so , the sensing point touching count value is refreshed with a new count value , then returns to step 1 . if not , the process performs step 6 . at step 5 , the difference between the current count value and the last touching count value , is calculated , and a determination is made as to whether the difference exceeds a predetermined non - touching state standard difference . if so , the sensing point is in a touching state and the process returns to step 1 . if not , the sensing point is in a non - touching state , then the non - touching count value is refreshed with the current count value and the process returns to step 1 . at step 6 , the difference between the current count value and the last touching count value is calculated , and a determination is made as to whether the difference exceeds the predetermined touching state standard difference . if so , the sensing point is in the touching state , and the process refreshes the touching count value with the current count value directly . if not , the sensing point is in a non - touching state , and the process returns to step 1 . in the above - described embodiments , in practice , the scale of the counter is 100 ˜ 65500 . the scale of the touching standard difference and the non - touching standard difference is 10 - 500 . in one embodiment , the touching standard difference is set to be 100 and the non - touching standard difference is set to be 90 . the foregoing description of various embodiments of the invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description . it is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise embodiments disclosed . numerous modifications or variations are possible in light of the above teachings . the embodiments discussed were chosen and described to provide the best illustration of the principles of the invention and its practical application to thereby enable one of ordinary skill in the art to utilize the invention in various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated . all such modifications and variations are within the scope of the invention as determined by the appended claims when interpreted in accordance with the breadth to which they are fairly , legally , and equitably entitled . | 7 |
in fig6 the biochip reader comprises a light source 101 for emitting laser light ( or other types of excitation light ), a lens 102 for causing the light to be parallel , a dichroic mirror 103 , an objective lens 106 , a sample s , a grating g , a lens 108 , and an optical detector 109 . the excitation light emitted by light source 101 is made to travel in parallel beams by lens 102 , reflected by dichroic mirror 103 , condensed through objective lens 106 and irradiated onto sample s . the irradiation causes sample s to emit fluorescent light , whose wavelength differs from that of the excitation light . the fluorescent light then traces the path followed by the excitation light and passes through objective lens 106 and reaches dichroic mirror 103 , and then is diffracted by grating g . the diffraction angle of the fluorescent light is relative to its wavelength . the fluorescent light thus diffracted by grating g is condensed onto optical detector 109 through lens 108 . the optical detector 109 may comprise , for example , a camera . if , for example , spots of four samples s 1 - s 4 are arranged on a biochip , such as shown in fig7 spectroscopic images , or spectra , with wavelengths of λ1 - λn are formed for the respective samples in spatially different positions on the optical detector 109 , as shown in fig8 . the spectroscopic images are spectroscopic information and can be measured with a monochrome camera . as can be seen from the drawing , gaps between the spots are used in the invention . although the embodiment is based on use of a biochip on which spots are disposed in arrays , the invention is not so limit d . fluorescence patterns of electrophoresis arranged in linear arrays may also be used . in this case , for example , images shown in fig9 are obtained . that is , spectroscopic images with wavelengths of λ1 - λn are formed for the electrophoresis pattern of each lane ( e . g . along the longitudinal axis ) in spatially different positions along the lateral axis . [ 0068 ] fig1 shows another embodiment , wherein two gratings are arranged so that their directions of diffraction are at right angles to each other . according to the embodiment , two dimensional spectra are obtained as shown in fig1 . if , for example , the spectral pattern is graduated in 100 nm increments laterally ( e . g . x - axis direction ) and in 10 nm increments longitudinally ( e . g . y - axis direction ), it is possible to perform measurement with a wider dynamic range and higher precision . [ 0069 ] fig1 shows an embodiment wherein dichroic mirrors 31 - 33 are used in place of the gratings g in fig1 . these dichroic mirrors 31 - 33 may be combinations of optical filters with optical shift means . as shown in fig1 , dichroic mirrors ( e . g . optical filters ) 31 , 32 and 33 with different transmission wavelengths are stacked on the optical axis . in this embodiment , the angle of each dichroic mirror is determined so that light is reflected by the dichroic mirror at the same angle as it would have been diffracted with a grating ( i . e . equivalent to the optical shift means ) [ 0070 ] fig1 is an embodiment wherein non - moving fourier spectrometer 81 , such as a savart or a michelson model , is used in place of the gratings g of fig1 , or dichroic mirrors 31 - 33 of fig1 . in this embodiment , images formed at the optical detector 109 are not spectra per se but are images of interference fringes . hence , spectra can be obtained by using computation means ( not shown ) and submitting the image to a fourier transform process . it should be noted that the measurement resolution can be further improved using a confocal microscope or a 2 photon microscope instead of a regular fluorescent substance or a camera . the quantity of measurement is also improved because the slice effect of the confocal method allows measurement of a constant volume of samples always even when the thickness of each sample is varied . in the embodiment of fig1 , the confocal microscope may be of the non - scanning type . as shown in fig1 , noise , such as from self - emission , whose wavelength differs slightly from that of the original fluorescent light can be removed easily because the properties of the reagent being used are known . if necessary , a signal spectrum may be separated using a regression method . with this approach , it is possible to achieve high precision and high sensitivity with the invention . for spectroscopy , it is necessary to restrict the area of measurement using a shield means , such as slits . if the area of the shield means is greater than the area of the sample , dead spaces are produced in the imaging area of an optical detector . conversely , if the area of the shield means is smaller than the area of the sample , dead spaces are produced in the area of the sample . for these reasons , as shown in fig1 ( a ) and ( b ), an aperture a may be optically aligned with the area of sample s 1 or with part of sample s 1 , for example . this arrangement provides effective use of both the area of sample s 1 and imaging area of the optical detector . this arrangement also eliminates errors due to non - uniformity in the edges of a sample . the shape of the aperture need not be circular ; a rectangular shape is acceptable , for example . the aperture may be used as a pin hole or slit for a non - scanning confocal microscope . with this approach , it is possible for even a small and inexpensive microscope to achieve high resolution and other properties of a confocal microscope and quantativeness due to the slice effect . in the embodiment of fig1 ( a ) and ( b ), the detection means is not limited to use of a spectroscopy method , as shown in fig6 but may also be a regular filter method . luminous energy can be increased further by attaching a microlens array to the light source side of an aperture . use of the microlens array eliminates the need for the aperture since light beams are condensed onto the focal point of each microlens . ( 1 ) multiple wavelengths of fluorescence can be measured concurrently without having to change the filter and / or optical detector . a compact biochip reader is realized with the invention . ( 2 ) a monochrome camera may be used to photograph spectra displayed on an optical detector ; hence , economical analysis is provided . ( 3 ) spectra displayed on an optical detector can be easily changed to two dimensional spectra ; hence , higher precision is attained . ( 4 ) the given area of a biochip can be most effectively used by aligning the aperture of excitation light or spot of light condense microlens array with a sample to be analyzed . [ 0081 ] fig1 shows a biochip reader , wherein components indicated by numerals 1 to 3 and 5 to 7 are the same as in fig2 and number 8 indicates a dna chip using a plastic or glass substrate which is transparent and allows excitation light and fluorescent light to be passed therethrough . components indicated by symbols cl 11 to cl 13 are cells , such as those described with reference to samples of dna segments of the same type being arranged . the symbols ds 11 and ds 12 indicate dust particles adhering to the cell cl 12 on dna chip 8 . light emitted as excitation light from light source 1 is reflected by dichroic mirror 2 and condensed onto a cell on dna chip 8 by objective lens 3 . at this point , the excitation light is irradiated from the side opposite to the side where the cells are arranged , as depicted . for example , excitation light is irradiated at the cell cl 12 through the transparent substrate of dna chip 8 . fluorescent light produced by the excitation directed at the cell , is transmitted and made parallel through objective lens 3 , and passed through the dichroic mirror 2 . the fluorescent light is then condensed by lens 6 onto optical detector 7 through a filter 5 . at this point the fluorescent light produced by the excitation light at the cell passes through the dna chip 8 and is outputted through the side opposite that where the cells are arranged . the dna chip 8 is scanned by a drive means which is not shown . for example , the dna chip 8 is scanned in directions shown by arrows mv 1 so that the excitation light is irradiated also at cells cl 11 and cl 13 in addition to cell cl 12 liquid in which unknown dna segments are hydridized is flowed onto the side where the cells , such as cell cl 12 , are arranged . the dust particles ds 11 and ds 12 adhere to the side of the dna chip 8 where the cells are arranged . on th other hand , no foreign matter , such as dust particles ds 11 adheres to the side opposite to the side where the cells are arranged on dna chip 8 . thus , fluorescent light resulting from the dust particles , and being a noise factor , is reduced by irradiating the excitation light from the side of chip 8 opposite to the side whereat the cells are arranged . for example , the excitation light is irradiated at the area of a boundary between the substrate of the dna chip 8 and a cell . in addition , advantageously , a simple optical system can be used as the biochip reader without any need for hermetically sealing the chip . hence , the cost of the biochip reader is reduced . also , it should be noted that although only a dna chip is shown as an example of a biochip , the invention is not so limited . the biochip may incorporate , for example , array segments of ribonucleic acid ( rna ), protein or sugar chain placed on a transparent chip . with respect to the rna segments , such rna segments also undergo hydridization , while the protein and sugar chain segments are submitted to an antigen antibody reaction . in either case , segments of known samples combine with segments of unknown segments marked with a fluorescent substance . although the objective lens shown for example in fig1 is of the non - immersion type , the objective lens may also be of the immersion type , such as water immersion or oil immersion lens . fig1 is a partially enlarged view of cell cl 12 shown in fig1 with an immersion lens 3 being used . components labeled 3 , 8 and cl 12 in fig1 are the same as those in fig1 . in fig1 , symbol lq 11 indicates a fluid , such as water or oil , filled into the gap between the objective lens 3 and dna chip 8 . in this arrangement , the numerical aperture ( na ) is improved , thereby improving further the signal to noise ( s / n ) ratio , because of the refractive index of fluid , such as water or oil . for this arrangement , however , the method of scanning is to scan the beams of excitation light per se rather than scanning the dna chip 8 or the objective lens 3 . [ 0088 ] fig1 shows a partially enlarged view of cell cl 12 of fig1 wherein a solid immersion lens ( called “ sil ”), which has the same effect as an immersion lens , is used . in fig1 , components indicated by symbols 8 and cl 12 are the same as those in fig1 , and number 9 indicates &# 39 ; a solid immersion lens . also , in this arrangement , the numerical aperture na is improved by the solid immersion lens , thereby improving the s / n ratio still further . if the substrate of the dna chip 8 is required to be conductive , transparent electrodes made , for example , of an indium tin oxide ( called “ ito ”) film may be placed on the transparent substrate . hybridization can be accelerated by applying a positive voltage to the electrodes because the dna is charged with negative electricity . an anti - reflection coating , which may also comprise indium tin oxide , may be placed on the surface of the dna chip 8 opposite to that on which the cells are arranged . fig1 ( a ) and ( b ) show a comparison between dna chips with an anti - reflection coating , and without such coating , wherein in fig1 ( a ) components indicated by 8 and cl 12 are the same as those in fig1 , and anti - reflection coating 200 is provided . the structure of the dna chip 8 shown in fig1 ( a ) is the same as the one shown in fig1 . in fig1 ( b ) the anti - reflection coating 200 is formed on one side of the substrate of the dna chip 8 opposite the the side on which the cells , e . g . cl 12 , are arranged . in the case of fig1 ( a ), the ratio of reflected light rl 01 to incident light il 01 is approximately 4 %. in the case of fig1 ( b ), however , the ratio of reflected light rl 11 to incident light il 11 is reduced to be as small as approximately 0 . 5 %. thus , the luminous energy of excitation light irradiated at cells cl 12 on the dna chip 8 is increased , which also improves the s / n ratio . the side of the chip 8 on which the cells cl 12 are arranged may be dry . also , the same side may be wetted with hybridization liquid . also , although a laser is shown , other types of excitation light sources may be used , such as an led lamp , a zenon lamp , a halogen lamp , or other white light sources . moreover , if a confocal optical system is used with the biochip reader , fluorescent light produced by dust particles , if any , can be removed more effectively . hence , it is possible to further improve the s / n ratio , as compared with biochip readers using a non - confocal optical system . ( 1 ) the s / n ratio is improved by irradiating excitation light from one side of a transparent biochip opposite to that on which samples are arranged . hence , cost is reduced . ( 2 ) the numerical aperture na can be improved by using an immersion lens or a solid immersion lens as the objective lens , whereby s / n ratio is further improved . ( 3 ) the s / n ratio is still further improved , as compared with use of non - confocal optical systems , by using a confocal optical system as the biochip reader . ( 4 ) the luminous energy of the excitation light irradiated at the samples increases because an anti - reflection coating formed on a side of the chip opposite the side on which the samples are arranged . this further increases the s / n ratio . ( 5 ) transparent electrodes may be formed on the transparent chip to accelerate hybridization by applying a positive voltage thereto since the dna is charged with negative electricity . ( 6 ) when samples used with the biochip reader are either dna or rna segments , known samples having a complementary sequence combine by hybridization with unknown samples marked with a fluorescent substance . consequently , identification can be readily made of the sequence of the unknown samples . ( 7 ) when samples used with the biochip reader are either protein segments or sugar chain segments , known samples combine by antigen antibody reaction with unknown samples . thus , identification can be readily made of the sequence of the unknown samples . in the embodiments of fig6 - 15 , it is possible to use the types of samples discussed above , that is , dna , rna , proteins - and sugar chain . in the embodiments of fig1 - 19 , the optical detectors may be one of the means shown in fig6 , 12 and 13 . [ 0101 ] fig2 shows a polychrome electrophoresis system comprising a confocal microscope 100 and an electrophoresis unit 200 . the confocal microscope 100 ( also referred to as “ confocal optical scanner ”) is designed to be able to optically scan the gel in a lane 201 and read the electrophoresis pattern of fluorescent light emitted from the gel . excitation light , e . g . blue laser light with a wavelength of λ1 , emitted by a light source 101 is made parallel by a lens 102 , is then reflected by a dichroic mirror 103 , and then is condensed onto the slits of slit array 105 through a lens 104 . excitation light that has passed through the slits 105 is narrowed by an objective lens 106 and enters the gel in the lane area 201 . the fluorescent substance in the lane area 201 is excited by this light and emits fluorescent light . the fluorescent light thus produce is then transmitted to follow the same path that the excitation light followed , by passing through objective lens 106 , slit array 105 , lens 104 , dichroic mirror 103 , to reach another dichroic mirror 107 , then through lens 110 to detector 111 , and through lens 108 to detector 109 . it should be noted that the dichroic mirror 103 reflects light with a wavelength of λ1 e . g . blue , and allows light with wavelengths greater than λ1 to pass therethrough . likewise , dichroic mirror 107 reflects light with a wavelength of λ2 , e . g . green , and allows light with a wavelength λ3 , e . g . red , to pass therethrough . the relationship among the wavelengths λ1 , λ2 , and λ3 is as shown in fig2 . light having a wavelength of 2 that is reflected by dichroic mirror 107 is condensed onto optical detector 109 through lens 108 . on the other hand , light having a wavelength of 3 is passed through dichroic mirror 107 and is condensed onto an optical detector 111 through lens 110 , as depicted . when slit array 105 is moved and controlled in such a manner that light emitted by light source 101 scans across the surface of lane area 201 , the electrophoresis pattern of fluorescence produced in the lane area 201 is formed at each of the optical detectors 109 and 111 . at this point , only the electrophoresis pattern of green fluorescence is formed at optical detector 109 , whereas only the electrophoresis pattern of red fluorescence is formed at detector 111 . the optical detectors 109 and 111 convert the images to electrical signals and provide output signals thereof . the electrophoresis unit 200 is equipped with the lane area 201 and power unit 202 for supplying voltage to cause electrophoresis in the lane area 201 . as described , using a confocal optical scanner enables easy and precise measurement of polychrome electrophoresis patterns of fluorescence produced in lane area 201 . normally , however , it is not possible to determine the absolute value of molecular weight by electrophoresis . thus , under normal conditions , reference marker molecules are supplied into neighboring lanes , as shown in fig2 . this method is , however , problematical since it requires more space and involves measurement errors due to difficulting in applying voltage evenly to all of the lanes . in the invention , advantageously , a sample is supplied together with a reference marker molecule ( called “ marker ”) into the same lane , as shown in fig2 . at this point , coloring matters having different wavelengths of fluorescence are combined with the respective markers and samples . a material thus prepared is submitted to electrophoresis and scanned with the confocal optical scanner . thus , it is possible with the invention to detect two or more electrophoresis patterns of fluorescence at the same time . [ 0109 ] fig2 shows another example of electrophoresis by the embodiment of fig2 . unlike prior known two - dimensional electrophoresis the fig2 embodiment provides three dimensional electrophoresis wherein another dimension is added in the depth direction ( z - axis direction ). in this example , method for applying a voltage gradient and a ph gradient in the x - axis ( longitudinal ), y - axis ( lateral ) and z - axis ( depth ) directions include : ( 1 ) applying high voltage in the x - axis direction , ph gradient in the y - axis direction and low voltage in the z - axis direction . ( 2 ) applying voltage in the x - axis direction , ph gradient in the y - axis direction and multi - layer gel with each layer having a different concentration in the z - axis direction . ( 3 ) applying voltage in the x - axis direction , ph gradient in the y - axis direction and a voltage gradient in the z - axis direction , in order to perform affinity electrophoresis . in this embodiment , the electrophoresis system optically scans the surface of the lane area 201 by being moved up and down along th optical axis ( e . g . in the z - axis direction ). for example , the objective lens 106 of the confocal optical scanner 100 can be moved up and down . then , x - y axis polychrome electrophoresis patterns of fluorescence are detected by controlling the optically scanned surface in the z - axis direction . consequently , it is possible with the invention to easily acquire three dimensional information . in the above discussion , only specific preferred embodiments are provided for purposes of describing the invention and showing examples of carrying out the invention . the embodiments are therefore to be considered as illustrative and not restrictive . the invention may be embodied in other ways without departing from the spirit and essential characteristics thereof . accordingly , it should be understood that all modifications and extensions thereof are to be considered to be within the spirit and scope of the invention . for example , the x - z plane shown in fig2 may be used as the lane in the embodiment of fig2 to reduce the lane area , compared with that for two dimensional electrophoresis . in addition , the distribution of concentration in the depth direction ( z - axis ) can be realized by wetting one side of the substrate with a highly concentrated solution by applying a density gradient in the depth direction by means of centrifugation . this distribution can also be realized by stacking multiple layers of gel with different concentrations . if samples and markers are placed separately in the depth direction , as shown in fig2 , it is possible to perform measurement using a compact electrophoresis system with all other conditions being the same as those in fig2 . in this case , the same fluorescence color may be used since lanes can be isolated in the depth direction by a confocal method . when analyzing electrophoresis using a non - scanning confocal microscope , a sample may be positioned so that the aperture 61 of the confocal microscope is aligned with the sample position 62 or with part of the sample , as shown in fig2 . hence , it is possible to perform measurement with the invention with higher s / n ratios and without adverse effect that may result when the edges of the sample are measured . the light source may comprise a single grating or two photon excitation light because these sources have the same effect . ( 1 ) a highly precise polychrome electrophoresis is realized using a compact system . ( 2 ) a three dimensional electrophoresis is realized using a compact system , and wherein a large amount of interrelated information can thus be acquired in a shorter length of time . ( 1 ) an electrophoresis unit wherein various types of target substance , such as protein or dna , are supplied into a lane area and gradients of various physical quantities , such as voltage , ph , density and concentration , are used for electrophoresis ; and ( 2 ) a scanning or non - scanning confocal microscope or 2 photon excitation microscope , wherein a sample in the lane area is scanned with excitation light and the fluorescence pattern of the sample produced by the excitation light is detected , thereby to detect the three dimensional position and concentration of the sample . in the electrophoresis system , any of the microscopes shown in fig6 - 15 may be used in place of a scanning or non - scanning confocal microscope of 2 photo excitation microscope . | 6 |
fig1 depicts an automobile 20 having a roof 22 on which are mounted a plurality of identical , parallel , transversely spaced slats 24 . although the slats 24 are shown mounted on the roof 22 , the article carrier of the present invention may be mounted with equal utility on an automobile trunk lid or any other generally horizontal exterior body portion of an automobile . the slats 24 are secured on the roof 22 by means of sheet metal screws ( not shown ). the article carrier also includes a pair of parallel , transversely spaced side rails 26 . each of the side rails 26 are disposed on the other side of the outermost slat 24 such that the slats 24 are transversely spaced between the side rails 26 . a front rail member 28 is disposed between and generally perpendicular to the front ends of the side rails 26 and has a configuration that cooperates with the aerodynamic shape of a glass airfoil 29 . a rear rail member 30 is disposed between and generally perpendicular to the rear ends of the side rails 26 . the side rails 26 and members 28 and 30 are secured on the roof 22 by means of sheet metal screws ( not shown ). mounted on the side rails 26 are a pair of raised tubular cross bars 32 and 33 which are fitted at their opposite ends onto brackets 34 and 35 , respectively . fig2 depicts only one of the brackets 34 and a portion of the cross bar 32 . brackets 35 and cross bar 33 are similar structurally and functionally to brackets 34 and crossbar 32 . the differences between these members will be explained further subsequently . the bracket 34 includes a locking member 36 for locking the cross bar 32 into position along the side rail 26 . the locking member 36 allows the cross bar 32 to be positioned operably at any location or infinitely along the length of the side rail 26 . when not in use , the locking member 36 is pivotally disposed to a closed position stored within a cavity or pocket 38 of the bracket 34 as illustrated in fig5 . referring to fig3 through 6 ,. the side rail 26 includes a channel member 40 . the channel member 40 comprises a bottom wall 42 and a pair of generally parallel upwardly extending side walls 44 with inwardly extending ledges 46 at the upper ends of the side walls 44 . the ledges 46 include an upper supporting surface 48 . the bottom 42 and side 44 walls and ledges 46 form an upwardly opening channel 50 which is wider at its bottom than at the top . the bracket 34 includes a pair of laterally spaced feet 51 at the bottom thereof which slide along the upper supporting surface 48 of the channel member 40 . the feet 51 form a configuration similar to a triangle in cross section . the locking member 36 comprises a wall portion 52 and a base portion 54 at one end of the wall portion 52 . the base portion 54 includes means forming a first aperture 56 in it and a corresponding shaft 58 passing through the first aperture 56 . the shaft 58 has its ends disposed in corresponding second apertures 60 formed in the bracket 34 ( fig3 and 4 ). a retainer member 62 is secured by screws 64 to the bracket 34 such that a shoulder 63 retains the corresponding shaft 58 in the second apertures 60 . the shaft 58 allows the locking member 36 to be manually moved or rotated from a closed locking position of fig5 to an open unlocked position of fig6 . the locking member 36 also includes means forming a third aperture 65 transversely in the base portion 54 . a second shaft 66 is disposed in the third aperture 65 . a spring member 68 has one end 70 wrapped or disposed about the second shaft 66 and a u - shaped end 72 opposite the one end 70 which cooperates with the ledge 46 on the channel member 40 . the spring member 68 flexes to engage the ledge 46 to secure the bracket 34 to the channel member 40 when the locking member 36 is in the closed position . as illustrated in fig6 when the locking member 36 is moved to the open position , the spring member 68 flexes and the u - shaped end 72 of the spring member 68 disengages the ledge 46 to allow the bracket 34 to slide along the channel member 40 of the side rail 26 . referring to the locking member 36 , the wall portion 52 is generally arcuate and has an outer surface 74 which is generally flush with the outer surface 76 of the bracket member 34 in the closed position . the wall portion 52 also includes a protrusion 78 which is generally triangular in cross section and extends inwardly toward the roof 22 . the protrusion 78 passes through an aperture 80 formed in the bracket member 34 when the locking member 36 is in the closed position . as illustrated in fig5 and 6 , the cross bar 32 includes a tie - down or article securing member 82 which has a generally hemi - spherical cross section and is disposed in a corresponding cavity 84 formed in the cross bar 32 . the tie - down member 82 includes an eyelet 86 formed therein to allow a rope or the like to pass through it . the tie - down member 82 includes an arcuate slot 88 formed therein to allow a shaft member 90 to pass through it and is disposed in corresponding apertures 92 ( fig3 ) formed in the cross bar 32 . the tie - down member 82 pivots about the shaft member 90 and is limited by the ends of the slot 88 . the tie - down member 82 pivots between a closed position of fig5 and an open position of fig6 . in the closed position , the outer surface 92 is substantially flush with the outer surface 94 of the cross bar 32 . the tie - down member 82 also includes a flange 96 at one end for limiting the pivotal movement of the tie - down member 34 to the closed position . fig7 depicts an alternate embodiment of the article securing or tie - down member . a shaft or pin 98 is disposed in the cavity 84 and fixedly secured by suitable means to the cross bar 32 . this allows a rope or the like to pass through a passage 100 formed between the pin 98 and the wall forming the cavity 84 . as illustrated in fig8 the cross bars 32 and 33 have a generally elliptical cross - section with one end 102 and 104 , respectively , being planar and inclined . the ends 102 and 104 operatively cooperate or mate with each other to allow the cross bars 32 and 33 to nest together as further illustrated in solid in fig1 . the cross bars 32 and 33 may be nested together and disposed at one end of the side rails 26 to act as an airfoil when not in use . this improves the aerodynamics of the article carrier . the cross bars 32 and 33 also include corresponding plastic strips 106 and 108 having ends 110 and 112 , respectively , disposed in channels 114 and 116 formed along the cross bars 32 and 33 . the ends 110 and 112 are flexible and resilient such that when they are inserted into the channels 114 and 116 , the ends 110 and 112 overlap ledges 118 and 120 of the channels 114 and 116 , respectively . referring to fig3 and 4 , the brackets 34 and 35 include one end 122 and 124 being planar and inclined . the ends 122 and 124 opertively cooperate or mate with each other to allow the cross bars 32 , 33 and brackets 34 , 35 to nest together in a nested position as illustrated in solid in fig1 . as shown in phantom , the cross bars 32 , 33 and brackets 34 , 35 can be placed in an unnested position . the present invention has been described in an illustrative manner . it is to be understood that the terminology which has been used is intended to be in the nature of words of description rather than of limitation . obviously , many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in light of the above teachings . therefore , within the scope of the appended claims , the present invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described . | 1 |
fig1 to 6 show various views of a dispenser according to a first , preferred embodiment of the present invention . the dispenser comprises a container 100 , shown on its own in fig2 and 3 , a container holder 200 and an actuating element 230 that is only shown in fig6 . the container 100 comprises a hollow basic body 110 formed from a mineral glass based on silicate . the basic body comprises a cylindrical sidewall region to which in the region of the distal end of the container a taper 114 adjoins . at the distal end there is a radially - outward projecting first , distal supporting flange 115 that radially surrounds an outlet opening 111 . at the proximal end there is an outward - projecting second , proximal supporting flange 112 which radially surrounds a proximal actuating opening 113 . in the interior of the cylindrical sidewall region of the basic body 110 a plunger 120 , which is displaceable along a longitudinal direction , with a circumferential seal 121 is arranged . the distal outlet opening 111 is closed off by a first seal 150 . to this effect the first supporting flange 115 forms a first supporting surface that extends perpendicularly to the longitudinal direction , onto which the seal 150 has been applied ( sealed ) in a materially bonded manner . the proximal end of the basic body 110 is also closed off by a second seal 160 . to this effect the second supporting flange 112 forms a second supporting surface , which extends perpendicularly to the longitudinal direction , onto which second supporting surface the second seal 160 has been applied in a materially bonded manner . both the first seal 150 and the second seal 160 have been applied to the corresponding supporting flange by means of an inductive sealing process . to this effect each of the two seals 150 , 160 comprises a multilayer design . a thermoplastic adhesive layer on the surface of the seal faces the corresponding supporting flange . this adhesive layer is followed by a metallic , electrically - conductive barrier layer . in addition , further layers can be present . these further layers can adjoin the metallic barrier layer towards the outside ; however , they can also be present between the barrier layer and the adhesive layer . to seal the seal onto the corresponding supporting surface , the seal is pressed onto the supporting surface and is subjected to an alternating electromagnetic field . consequently , eddy currents develop in the metallic barrier layer , which eddy currents heat up the metallic barrier layer and thus also the further layers of the seal . because of this heating up , the thermoplastic adhesive layer softens , thus entering an intimate bond with the corresponding supporting surface . in this manner , after the alternating electromagnetic field has been switched off and the seal has been cooled , a liquid - proof and gas - proof connection between the basic body 110 and the corresponding seal 150 , 160 is established . such inductive sealing methods have per se long been known in the state of the art . the adhesive layer can also be formed on the corresponding supporting flange instead of on the seal . in the application of such an inductive method it is presently particularly advantageous that the basic body 110 consists of a mineral glass . on the one hand mineral glasses are not electrically conductive , and on the other hand they are also relatively poor thermal conductors . consequently , during inductive sealing only little heat transfer occurs between the corresponding seal 150 , 160 and the basic body 110 . this prevents the product contained in the container 100 from heating up excessively . if instead the basic body were made from a metallically - coated plastic material , the basic body 110 would also be heated by the alternating electromagnetic field , and consequently heating up the product contained in the container would not be avoidable in this case . two containers 100 of the type described above are inserted into the container holder 200 . the container holder 200 comprises two parallel , cylindrical receiving regions 210 into which the two containers have been inserted from the proximal side . in a distal outlet region 213 of the container holder 200 in each case an insert 220 has been inserted , on which insert 220 a spike - like piercing element 221 has been formed that points in the proximal direction . the piercing element 221 is hollow ; together with the remaining insert it delimits a fluid duct 222 which in each case flows into a dispenser aperture 215 ( fig4 ) of the container holder . as shown in fig6 , the dispenser furthermore comprises an actuating element 230 in the form of a double ram . the actuating element forms a plunger rod 231 for each of the two plungers 120 , which plunger rod 231 comprises at its distal end a feed flange 232 that cooperates with the corresponding plunger 120 . at the proximal end the two plunger rods 231 are interconnected by means of a joint actuating flange . in the position of fig1 and 5 the corresponding distal ends of the two containers are arranged so as to be spaced apart from the corresponding piercing element 221 , and the corresponding first seals 150 are still intact . the container holder can comprise a latching element ( not shown ) in order to hold the corresponding container in this storage position in a detachable latching connection . in order to eject the products from the containers 100 , the user first displaces the two containers 100 in the distal direction in the container holder 200 . if a latching element of the type mentioned above is present , the user exerts increased force for this or disengages the above - mentioned latching connection in some other manner . during the feed motion the piercing elements 221 pierce the corresponding first seal 150 , thus establishing a fluid connection between the interior of the corresponding container and the corresponding dispenser aperture 215 . when the containers have been slid - in completely , the proximal supporting flange 112 rests against a stop edge 212 of the container holder , which stop edge 212 has been formed by an annular recess in a holding flange 211 of the container holder . subsequently , the user removes the two second ( proximal ) seals 160 and pushes the actuating element 230 from the proximal end into the actuating openings 113 of the two containers 100 in order to advance the two plungers 120 of the containers 100 and in this manner eject the corresponding products contained in the containers 100 through the corresponding outlet opening 111 . during this process the corresponding product moves through the corresponding fluid duct 222 to the corresponding dispenser aperture 215 . the situation at the end of this dispensing process is shown in fig6 . the distal end of the container holder 200 comprises a connection structure for an accessory 300 , in the present case a static mixer . the accessory receives the ejected products from the dispenser aperture 215 , mixes them together and delivers the mixture at its own distal end . in the embodiment shown , the connection between the accessory 300 and the container holder 200 is established by way of a bayonet - like device . such an accessory and its connection with a dispenser device is , in particular , described in detail in document us 2001 / 0004082 , to which express reference is made with respect to the connection of the accessory with the dispenser . the connection between the accessory and the container holder can , however , also be made in some other known manner , for example as a plug - type connection by way of luer cones . a second embodiment of the present invention is shown in fig7 . components with the same function have the same reference characters as in the first exemplary embodiment . in contrast to that shown in the first exemplary embodiment , the present dispenser does not comprise a separate container holder ; instead the user holds the container 100 directly in their hand while sliding - in the actuating element 230 . in contrast to the first exemplary embodiment , the present exemplary embodiment comprises only a single container 100 , and the actuating element 230 is correspondingly designed only as a single ram . the basic body 110 again consists mineral glass , which in this embodiment , however , is additionally provided with a coating 116 in the form of a lacquer . in contrast to the first exemplary embodiment , in the present exemplary embodiment the user need not remove the second seal 160 prior to inserting the actuating element 230 into the actuating opening 113 ; instead the actuating element 230 pierces the second seal 160 during insertion . to this effect the distal end of the actuating element 230 in the region of the feed flange 232 comprises a circumferential circular cutting edge 234 that cuts the seal 160 in a region directly adjacent to the cylindrical sidewall of the basic body 110 . correspondingly , the proximal end of the plunger 120 comprises an annular indentation to receive the cutting edge 234 . in this embodiment the first seal 150 can be penetrated by an accessory , or it can be manually removed prior to the content of the container 100 being dispensed . fig8 shows a third exemplary embodiment in which the first seal 150 comprises a projecting pull - off tab 151 and the second seal 160 comprises a projecting pull - off tab 161 . consequently , in this embodiment the seals can be pulled from the basic body 110 in a particularly easy manner . of course , a multitude of modifications are possible without leaving the scope of the invention . in particular , container shapes other than those shown in this document are also possible . the seals 150 and 160 can also have been applied in some manner other than by inductive sealing - on , for example by adhesive bonding or ultrasound welding . depending on the method of applying the seals , the seals will be of a correspondingly different design , wherein a multilayer structure is preferred . if a container holder is used , it can , of course , also be designed in a manner that differs from that of the above - described first exemplary embodiment , and can , in particular , also comprise other devices for attaching an accessory . of course , it is also imaginable for such a container holder to receive only a single container , or more than two containers , and for the actuating element to be designed accordingly to advance only a single plunger , or more than two plungers simultaneously . a multitude of other modifications are possible . | 1 |
the principles of the present invention are embodied in a potent and novel antibiofilm product capable of reducing the rates of subsequent ssi and dai when used as a prophylactic agent . the product can also be applied as a therapeutic agent to decrease the bacterial biofilm load on established dai . the product will be delivered as an aqueous solution . other formulations include slow release foam , coating for surfaces and a nano - crystalline product . the preferred embodiment of the present invention is a coprecipitate of polyvinylpyrrolidone ( pvp ) with iodine and the two antibiotics rifampin and tobramycin . rifampin is a semi synthetic derivative of rifamycin b . rifamycins are a group of macrocyclic ring antibiotics obtained from streptomyces mediterranei . many of the members of their chemical class , including their semi synthetic derivatives rifampin and rifabutine , possess broad spectrum antimicrobial activity and most notably against gram positive bacteria . they are also active against some gram - negative bacteria and many viruses . rifampicin is relatively insoluble in water . gentamicin and tobramycin are broad spectrum antibiotics belonging to a large chemical class called aminoglycosides . they have a broad spectrum of activity against many common pathogens and in particular they possess a high degree of activity against pseudomonas aeruginosa and other gram - negative bacteria . they are freely soluble in water . in the preferred embodiment , the coprecipitate is a lyophilized powder , which was found to exhibit pronounced synergistic activity against gram positive and negative bacteria . in a preferred embodiment , the coprecipitate was formulated to contain the following ingredients in 50 : 50 water for injection : the resulting solution was freeze dried according to the lyophilization cycle shown in the table 1 , which describes the times / temperatures and pressure utilized in the lyophilization process . the latter procedure of freeze - drying is a critical parameter for the production of the product and its resulting antimicrobial activity . the antibiofilm complex , which has been designated gaab - 1 , may be diluted at least seven times and maintain its synergistic efficacy in treating and reducing the development of biofilms . the most concentrated range of the product components include rifampin 2 . 5 gms , tobramycin or gentamicin 80 mg , and pvp - i 1 . 2 gms in a solution of 520 ml . this would produce a concentration of 4 , 800 micrograms / ml of rifampin , 154 micrograms / ml of tobramycin or gentamicin , and 2 , 300 micrograms of pvp - i ( with essentially 23 micrograms or 1 % of free iodine ). at seven times dilution the concentrations would be 686 micrograms / ml of rifampin , 22 micrograms / ml of tobramycin or gentamicin and 3 . 2 micrograms / ml of pvp - i . greater dilutions produces more free iodine but may create instability in the copreciptiate &# 39 ; s synergistic qualities . the coprecipitate is a novel antibiofilm complex capable of reducing the rates of subsequent ssi and dai when used as a prophylactic agent . this antibiofilm complex was tested against common bacterial pathogens both in planktonic and biofilm states in vitro , as discuss further below . specifically , the novel antibiofilm complex is composed of a polyvinylpyrroloidone ( pvp ) backbone , which grapples iodine and two antibiotics ( rifampicin and gentamycin ). fig1 illustrates the grappling of i 3 by a pvp j - lactam hydrophilic ring attached to hydrophobic exocyclic aliphatic chain backbone . advantageously , pvp is an amorphous polymer that readily reacts with drugs , dyes and electron acceptors . pvp additionally increases the presence of a highly polar amide group and apolar methylene and methine groups . ( see , de faria d l a , gil h a c , de quieroz a a a . the interaction between polyvinylpyrrolidone and i2 as probed by raman spectroscopy . journal of molecular structure 1999 ; 479 : 93 - 8 .) it is non - toxic and was employed as a plasma expander in world war ii and as a cryopreservant for red blood cells , as reported in ford jl . the current status of solid dispersions . pharm acta he / v 1986 ; 3 : 69 - 88 . in other words , according to the present inventive principles , pvp is combined with relatively insoluble antiseptics and antibiotics . the resultant co - precipitate antibiofilm complex acts as a directed chemical “ smart bomb ” able to deliver its payload of antibiotics and antiseptics deep into the bacterial biofilm and thereby producing higher kill rates for comparatively lower dosages . in addition , the novel antibiofilm complex provides a number of other significant advantages in drug delivery , including : ( 1 ) membrane seeking capabilities ( e . g ., the penetration of biofilm exopolysaccharide ); ( 2 ) higher water solubility ; ( 3 ) fixed concentrations of antibiotic / antiseptic components thereby standardizing the dosage of delivery ; and ( 4 ) stability with slow release of antimicrobial activity providing continued antibiofilm protection after delivery . furthermore , the present inventive principles can be extended to produce a family of stable chemical “ smart bombs ” tailored to suit a specific antimicrobial or antiviral target . this will allow for design of an array of anti - infective weaponry to cater for future changes in microbial resistance patterns . the antibiofilm activity of the novel antibiofilm complex was directed against the four most common biofilm forming pathogens in vitro . the results of the experimentation are as follows . definitions . the following definitions apply to the discussion of the experimental results : planktonic bacteria : bacteria growing free in suspension ; biofilm bacteria : a structured community of bacterial cells enclosed in a self - produced exo - polysaccharide matrix that serves to attach them to a solid surface and to each other ; mic : minimum inhibitory concentration is the concentration of an antimicrobial that is required to inhibit the growth of a standardized inoculum of planktonic cells ; mec : minimum eradication concentration is the concentration of an antimicrobial that is required to kill all the organisms of a standardized inoculum of planktonic cells ; mbic : minimum biofilm eradication concentration is the concentration of an antimicrobial that is required to inhibit the growth of a standardized number of organisms growing as a biofilm ; and mbec : minimum biofilm eradication concentration is the concentration of an antimicrobial that is required to kill a standardized number of organisms growing as a biofilm . test organisms . the antibiofilm activity of the novel antibiofilm complex was directed against the four most common biofilm forming pathogens , namely : 1 . staphylococcus epidermidis strain atcc 35984 ; 2 . staphylococcus aureus strain atcc 25932 ( mssa ); 3 . methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus strain atcc 43300 ( mrsa ); and 4 . pseudomonas aeruginosa strain atcc 25619 . independent test solution . the independent test solution consisted of betadine batch 801070 . povidone - iodine antiseptic solution containing povidone iodine 10 % w / v equivalent to 1 % w / v available iodine . 1 . determining the efficacy the co - precipitate ( antibiofilm complex ) versus common biofilm forming bacteria at the 1 - hour time point following reconstitution , as measured by the mic , mec , mbic , mbec ; 2 . co - precipitate ( antibiofilm complex ) versus s . aureus at the 3 hour time point following reconstitution ( mic , mec , mbic , mbec ); 3 . physical mixture of pvp , iodine , gentamycin and rifampicin versus s . aureus at the 1 , 3 and 24 hour time points following reconstitution ( mic , mec , mbic , mbec ); 4 . the efficacy of betadine ( povidone iodine ) against s . aureus and s . epidermidis immediately following dilution ( mic , mec , mbic , mbec ); 5 . the efficacy of gentamycin against s . aureus ( mic , mec , mbic , mbec ); and 6 . the efficacy of rifampicin against s . aureus ( mic , mec , mbic , mbec ). experimental protocol for mic and mec . the protocol for the determination of mic and mec was : day 1 : inoculate one colony of bacteria into 100 % tryptone soy broth ( tsb ) and 37 ° c . shaking incubation overnight . day 2 : dilute bacteria to give 10 7 , 10 6 , 10 5 bacteria / well and dispense in 96 well plates . test product is added as per experimental protocol immediately or at 1 hour or 3 hours . day 3 : read mic plates . transfer 20 μl from each well of the mic plate that shows no growth to 180 μl of fresh tsb in the mec plate . day 4 : read mec plates . experimental protocols for mbic and mbec . the protocol for the determination of mbic and mbec was : day 1 : inoculate one - colony bacteria into 100 % tryptone soy broth ( tsb ) and 37 ° c . shaking incubation overnight . day 2 : dilute culture to give 10 6 bacteria / ml and dispense into 96 well plates and incubate overnight to give 10 7 attached cells / well 9 ( mbic plate ). day 3 : remove planktonic cells from mbic plate by washing wells and add fresh media and antibiofilm products . day 4 : read mbic plates . add 180 μl fresh tsb in a new 96 well plate ( mbec plate ) and transfer 20 μl from each well of the mbic plate that shows no growth to fresh mbec plate . day 5 : read mbec plates . experiment 1 . the efficacy of the co - precipitate ( antibiofilm complex ) versus common biofilm forming bacteria at the 1 - hour time point following reconstitution the efficacy of the novel antibiofilm complex was measured against the bacteria s . epidermidis , s . aureus ( mssa and mrsa ) and p . aeruginosa , of the strains identified above . the results showed minimal inhibitory concentration ( mic ) and minimal eradication concentration ( mec ) for planktonic cultures . testing of co - precipitate conducted after one hour reconstitution . a summary of the in - use dilutions and concentrations required to inhibit and eradicate planktonic bacteria ( mic / mec ) for all the tested bacteria are provided in in table 2 : the results shown in table 2 were interpreted as demonstrating broad spectrum activity by the novel antibiofilm complex against the planktonic bacteria tested . its inhibitory activity against gram positive organisms ( most likely to be involved in dai ) is higher than when compared with p . aeruginosa ( gram negative ). the dilution required for eradication , however , is considerably higher ( e . g ., a lower concentration ) for p . aeruginosa as compared with the gram positives tested . experiment 1 also demonstrated minimal biofilm inhibitory concentration ( mbic ) and minimal biofilm eradication concentration ( mbec ) for biofilm cultures during the testing of the novel antibiofilm complex conducted after one hour of reconstitution . a summary of the in - use dilutions and concentrations required to inhibit and eradicate biofilm bacteria ( mbic / mbec ) for all the tested bacteria are found in table 3 : the results shown in fig3 were interpreted as demonstrating , in comparison to killing of planktonic bacteria , that the novel antibiofilm complex predictably required a higher concentration ( and lesser dilution ) to inhibit and kill biofilm bacteria . it is important to note the in vitro testing of biofilm bacteria was conducted in 100 % tryptone soy broth , a high protein environment providing significant protein interference of antibiotic and antiseptic action . experiment 2 . the efficacy of co - precipitate ( antibiofilm complex ) when used against staphylococcus aureus ( mssa ) after 3 & amp ; 24 hours of reconstitution compared to reconstitution after 1 hour . ( mic , mec , mbic , mbec ) table 4 summarizes dilutions and concentrations required to inhibit s . aureus ( strain 25923 ) at 1 hour , 3 hours and 24 hours following reconstitution of co - precipitate . the results shown in table 4 were interpreted as appearing to show no loss in efficacy in reconstitution of the novel antibiofilm complex at 1 hour versus 3 hours against the planktonic form of s . aureus . for s . aureus biofilm , the novel antibiofilm complex maintained its potency at both 3 hours and 24 hours following reconstitution , an added advantage in providing prolonged protection against biofilm for medical devices in situ . this also demonstrates stability in the novel antibiofilm complex following reconstitution at the 24 hour time point . experiment 3 . the efficacy of the physical mixture of pvp , iodine , gentamycin and rifampicin against s . aureus at 1 and 3 hour time point following reconstitution ( mic , mec , mbic , mbec ) table 5 summarizes dilutions and concentrations of reconstituted physical mixture of povidone iodine , rifampicin and gentamycin required to inhibit s . aureus ( mic / mec / mbic / mbec ) ( strain 25923 ) when added to cultures at 1 hour and 3 hours following reconstitution . the results of table 5 were interpreted as follows . by comparison with the co - precipitate , the physical mixture of each of the parent ingredients showed significantly less potency against planktonic cultures of s . aureus . this indicates a synergy of action that is gained by chemically linking the antibiotics , iodine and povidone in the high - energy co - precipitate . this synergy may be the result of changes to solubility and membrane seeking properties of the antibiotics when bound into a co - precipitate with povidone . ( see , mirzabeigi m n , sbitany h , jandali s , serletti j m . the role of postoperative antibiotics in reducing biofilm - related capsular contracture in augmentation mammaplasty . plastic and reconstructive surgery 2011 ; 128 ( 1 ): 34e - 5e .) experiment 4 . the efficacy of betadine ( povidone iodine ) versus s . aureus and s . epidermidis immediately following dilution ( mic , mec , mbic , mbec ) testing was conducted using betadine , containing povidone iodine 10 % w / v equivalent to 1 % w / v available iodine as the “ in - use ” neat solution . table 6 summarizes dilutions and concentrations required to inhibit s . epidermidis planktonic cultures ( mic / mbe ) and s . epidermidis and s . aureus biofilm cultures ( mbic / mbec ) ( strain 25923 ) for betadine . the results of table 6 were interpreted as demonstrating that a much higher concentration of betadine was required to inhibit and kill planktonic s . epidermidis than the 1 in 20 , 000 dilution ( table 2 ) necessary for the novel antibiofilm complex . a slightly higher concentration of betadine was required to kill s . epidermidis biofilm compared with the novel antibiofilm complex ( table 3 ). while a 1 in 20 dilution of the novel antibiofilm complex killed s . aureus , betadine required a 1 in 5 dilution . furthermore , the concentration of free iodine in the novel antibiofilm complex is at 25 % of the concentration of free iodine in betadine . hence , one significant advantage of using the novel antibiofilm complex is that the total dose of free iodine required to achieve an equivalent kill is far less thereby reducing potential toxicity . collectively , from the data compiled in tables 2 - 6 , it is clear that the novel antibiofilm complex displays marked and broad activity against a variety of both planktonic and biofilm forming bacteria . the concentrations required to inhibit and eradicate the bacteria are far lower than currently used in clinical practice . this shows a significant chemical synergy produced from combining the three antibiotic moieties with the pvp backbone as a co - precipitate . the major advantage of using this as an anti - infective is the relatively lower dosage of antibiotics and iodine required to produce an equivalent kill as compared with each of these agents in isolation . this has the added advantage of protecting the host tissues for potential toxicity and reducing the development of resistance . the activity of the novel antibiofilm complex appears to be stable at the 3 hour time point showing no immediate deterioration of antimicrobial effectiveness . for biofilm testing , activity at 24 hours still showed significant ability to both inhibit and kill biofilm bacteria in a protein rich environment . it would be interesting to test the product after a longer period ( i . e ., 7 days ) following reconstitution to assess medium term efficacy . its prolonged activity may be an added advantage to protect against the development of dai once a prosthesis is in situ . by comparison , the individual physical mixture of components whilst displaying some antibiotic properties showed less activity as compared with the co - precipitate . when compared with betadine ( the current favored antiseptic skin preparation and pocket preparation for prevention of ssi / dai ), the co - precipitate showed equivalent activity at a much lower dose of free iodine . there are significant advantages to using the co - precipitate as a topical anti - infective as compared with betadine . finally , the prolonged antibiofilm activity as displayed by mbic and mbec at 24 hours provides an added advantage to continue to protect a prosthetic in situ following surgical implantation . further time point studies of co - precipitate efficacy should be performed . fig2 provides a comparison of activity of synergistic co - precipitate ( antibiofilm complex ) vs betadine for mic , mec ( planktonic 10 7 bacteria s . aureus atcc 25932 ( mssa )) and mbec ( biofilm 10 5 bacteria s . aureus atcc 25932 ( mssa )) showing significantly less dosage of co - precipitate required for both bacterial inhibition and eradication . in sum , the experiments demonstrate that the chemical “ smart bomb ” embodied in the novel antibiofilm complex works . at a minimum , the following conclusions can be drawn from the experimentation : 1 . the novel co - precipitate shows broad activity against s . epidermidis , s . aureus ( mssa and mrsa ) and p . aeruginosa ; 2 . the co - precipitate is more active against planktonic bacteria but also is able to penetrate and eradicate biofilm ; 3 . the activity of the co - precipitate shows synergy with added potency when compared with individual components and when compared with povidone iodine in isolation ; 4 . the lower concentrations of antibiotic as a result may provide benefit in reducing host toxicity whilst being able to specifically target bacteria both in planktonic and sessile forms ; 5 . the activity of the co - precipitate is maintained at 24 hours following reconstitution indicating a long period of potency ; and 6 . there is potential to develop this compound into a powerful anti - infective with clinical use in both the prevention and treatment of ssi / dai . the novel antibiofilm complex embodying the present inventive principles is suitable for a wide range of uses , particularly in the reduction and control of ssi and dai . the following examples demonstrate only a few of its potential uses , including ( 1 ) surgical site preparation ; ( 2 ) surgical pocket preparation ; ( 3 ) implant immersion prior to deployment ; ( 4 ) treatment of established biofilm infection for implant salvage ; and ( 5 ) as an antimicrobial coating on medical prosthetics . a typical clinic application begins with the preparation of stock solution . for example , a pre - determined vial containing 3 . 78 g of the inventive antibiofilm complex is opened under sterile conditions in the operating room . this antibiofilm complex is mixed with 20 cc of sterile water for injection ( wfi ). the resultant solution is then added to 500 cc of sterile wfi to provide stock solution , with a total volume of 520 cc , for use in surgical pocket preparation and / or implant decontamination . preferably , the stock solution is reconstituted as close to the time of use as possible . during an exemplary surgical site preparation , the skin and mucosal surfaces are washed with the stock solution prior to incision . the solution is then left in contact for a minimum of 30 seconds following commencement of the surgical procedure . a typical example of surgical pocket preparation is the deployment of a mammary prosthesis . following dissection of a suitable submammary or submuscular ( dual plane ) pocket and prior to deployment of the mammary implant , 150 cc of stock solution is drawn and injected into the pocket . the surgeon ensures that the solution is spread evenly over the entire pocket and the solution is left in situ for a minimum of 30 seconds prior to prosthesis deployment . another representative use is implant immersion prior to deployment . in this example , an implant ( e . g ., a mammary prosthesis ) is removed under sterile conditions from packaging whilst the surgical pocket is being treated by stock solution . the prosthesis is immersed in 100 cc of stock solution for a minimum of 30 seconds . the prosthesis is then removed from the solution and immediately deployed into the prepared surgical pocket . if the implant is to be excessively manipulated and / or removed from the cavity , consideration must be given to re - preparation of the pocket and re - immersion of the implant as described above . a further example of the potential uses of the stock solution containing the inventive antibiofilm complex is the orthopaedic internal fixation for fracture . following exposure and reduction of the fracture , 150 cc of stock solution is delivered to the surgical site and surrounding skin access incision . the solution is left in contact with the tissues for a minimum of 30 seconds prior to the delivery and fixation of the orthopaedic plate / screws . during this time , any anticipated plate / screws should be placed into a sterile container with 150 cc of stock solution and be in contact with the solution for at least 30 seconds prior to deployment . in sum , by appropriate formulation and lyophilization procedures , a novel solid novel antibiofilm complex ( gaab - 1 ) offers the following advantages : ( 1 ) it converts relatively insoluble antiseptics and antibiotics into water soluble membrane seeking agents possessing biofilm penetrating properties and excellent antimicrobial action ; ( 2 ) it exhibits a significant synergistic antimicrobial / antiseptic action which is greater than that of a simple equimolar mixture of its three pharmacologically active agents involved or their individual equimolar solutions . its higher potency at lower concentrations than that of a mixture of its constituents results in lower toxicity of the product . the synergy may be the result of the improved solubility of its constituents , greater extent of deposition on biologic membrane due to the intimate association of the two antibodies with povidone ( a polymer which possesses membrane seeking properties that explain its cell cryoprotectant action ); ( 3 ) possesses broad spectrum activity against common biofilm forming pathogenic bacteria even in the presence of a high protein environment which provides significant protein interference of antibiotic and antiseptic action ; ( 4 ) provides fixed concentrations of antibiotic ( antiseptic components ) thereby standardizing the dosage delivery ; and ( 5 ) the activity of the product is maintained for 24 hours following reconstitution indicating a long period of potency . although the invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments , these descriptions are not meant to be construed in a limiting sense . various modifications of the disclosed embodiments , as well as alternative embodiments of the invention , will become apparent to persons skilled in the art upon reference to the description of the invention . it should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the conception and the specific embodiment disclosed might be readily utilized as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the present invention . it should also be realized by those skilled in the art that such equivalent constructions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims . it is therefore contemplated that the claims will cover any such modifications or embodiments that fall within the true scope of the invention . what is claimed is : | 0 |
there will be detailed below a preferred embodiment of the present invention , with reference to the drawings . like members are designated by like reference characters . fig4 shows a plan view of a first stage driver transistor of an output amplifier as an essential part of a solid state image sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention , having a charge detection capacitance in an output section . fig5 shows a perspective view of the first stage driver transistor , and fig6 shows a circuit diagram of the output section . the output section circuit shown in fig6 is basically analogous to that of the conventional solid state image sensor shown in fig2 . in fig6 n channel fets 41 , 33 and 34 constitute first , second and third stages of source follower driver transistors , respectively , which are diode - connected at their source ends to n channel fets 35 , 36 and 37 constituting load transistors , respectively . the present embodiment is featured , to the conventional example , by a constitution of the first stage driver transistor 41 . as described , signal charges transferred by a horizontal transfer register is once stored in a charge detection capacitance which is a total of a capacitance of a fj 31 , a wiring capacitance between the fj 31 and the first stage driver transistor 41 of an output amplifier , and an input capacitance of the first driver transistor 41 , before a discharge to a reset drain 39 through the reset transistor 38 , when the reset transistor 38 is turned on by a reset pulse supplied to its gate . further , the signal is taken out through an ohmic contact at the fj 31 , as a potential change of the charge detection capacitance during operation , and undergoes a buffering amplification by the driver transistors 41 , 33 and 34 , to be output as an image signal to an output terminal 40 . different from the other driver transistors 33 and 34 , the first driver transistor 41 of the embodiment is constructed as shown in the plan view of fig4 and the perspective view of fig5 . that is , as shown in fig4 and 5 , although the shape of a gate electrode 16 is a rectangle , a field oxide film 14 underneath it makes the gate width at a source 18 end larger than that at a drain 17 end , regarding the effective gate electrode and the shape of the channel . that is , when observing the gate electrode 16 of the first stage driver transistor 41 from above , the field insulation film 14 just beneath the gate electrode 16 is formed in a trapezoid such that the gate width at a source 18 end is larger than that of a drain 17 end as shown with hatching lines in fig4 and as shown in fig5 it is tapered . a fabrication method of the driver transistor 41 will be described with reference to fig7 a to 7d . fig7 a and 7b show sectional views in part of a work in steps of a fabrication process of the first stage transistor of the output amplifier according to an embodiment of the invention . first , as shown at 1 of fig7 a , a thin silicon dioxide ( sio 2 ) film 12 is grown on a p type substrate 11 , and further thereabove , a silicon nitride ( si 3 n 4 ) film 13 is formed . the p type substrate 11 may be a p well formed on an n type substrate . next , as shown at 2 of fig7 a , the sio 2 film 12 and the si 3 n 4 film 18 are removed except for the transistor region . by this , as shown in a perspective view of fig7 c , there is rectangulary formed a sio 2 film 12 &# 39 ; and a si 3 n 4 film 13 &# 39 ; on the substrate 11 . in the figures , a -- a &# 39 ; denotes a gate width direction , and b -- b &# 39 ; a gate length direction . on the other hand , in the present embodiment , as shown in a perspective view of fig7 d , by etching the sio 2 film 12 and the si 3 n 4 film 18 by use of a mask , they are formed to be a trapezoid ( tapered shape ) such that a ( gate width ) dimension in the a -- a &# 39 ; direction at one end is longer than that in the a -- a &# 39 ; direction at the other end . next , as shown at 3 of fig7 a , a p type inpurity is ion - injected to form a field inversion region 15 . then , a wafer is thermally oxidized and this causes a growth of a field oxide film 14 by the sio 2 as a field insulation film only , where the si 3 n 4 film 13 does not exist . fig7 a and 7b show sectional views along a -- a &# 39 ; and b -- b &# 39 ; of fig7 d , repectively . further , as shown at 4 of fig7 a and 7b , the sio 2 film at the transistor region is removed and the thin gate oxide film 12 is grown again . then , a patterning is applied to form a gate electrode 16 , e . g ., a polycrystal silicon electrode . next , after injecting an n type inpurity of high density , e . g ., by ion - injection , the gate electrode 16 is diffused as a mask to form n + diffusion layers 17 and 18 , as shown at 4 of fig7 b . here , an n + diffusion layer 17 is a drain and an n + diffusion layer 18 is a source . further , as shown at 5 of fig7 a and 7b , a thick oxide film is grown as an interlayer insulation film 19 , e . g ., by a vapor phase epitaxal method , and after opening contact holes for the source and the drain , a material such as an alminium is deposited to form an electrode 20 . the fabrication method of the present embodiment is basically similar to that of a conventional field effect transistor . however , when forming the transistor region as shown at 2 of fig7 a , the sio 2 film 12 and the si 3 n 4 film 13 are formed as a trapezoid ( tapered shape ) as shown in the perspective view of fig7 d , whereby the shape of the gate electrode 16 shown at 4 of fig7 a and 7b and the shape of the transistor after formation of the drain 17 and the source 18 become as shown in fig4 and 5 . accordingly , a trapezoid channel shape in which the drain 17 end is narrower than the source 18 end is obtained without changing an effective width of channel . in table 1 , an input capacitance of the first stage driver transistor in the solid state image sensor of the present embodiment , in which an output section of a circuit constitution shown in fig6 has the n channel fet fabricated as the first stage driver transistor 41 of the output amplifier , is compared with that of the conventional solid state image sensor in which an output section of a circuit constitution shown in fig8 has a rectangular transistor whose gate effective width is the same as the driver transistor 41 and the channel shape is typical , as shown in fig3 . table 1______________________________________chan . width ( μm ) 20 → 10 20 → 5 10 → 6 10 → 4______________________________________chan . eff . width 12 . 4 8 . 0 7 . 8 6 . 0cin ( ff ) 3 . 57 2 . 08 2 . 08 1 . 49cin &# 39 ; ( ff ) 4 . 07 2 . 62 2 . 55 1 . 97cin / cin &# 39 ; 0 . 88 0 . 79 0 . 82 0 . 76______________________________________ in table 1 , values at the left side and the right side of arrows in the channel width column represent channel widths at the source 18 end and the drain 17 end , repectively . further , cin and cin &# 39 ; represent input capacitances of the first stage driver transistors 41 and 32 , repectively . an effective value is obtained by a comparison between a measured value of a tapered - channel transistor of the embodiment biased to an output amplifier operation point and that of a transistor with a typical channel . further , cgd , cgs are obtained by a simulation . a gain g is supposed to be &# 34 ; 0 . 95 &# 34 ;. as shown in table 1 , the input capacitance cin of the embodiment of the tapered channel is 10 to 20 % less than that of a typical rectangular channel of the same effective value . therefore , according to the present embodiment , a charge detection capacitance is effectively reduced , thereby improving an s / n ratio as well as a detection sensitivity . the present invention is not to be restricted by this embodiment . for example , a channel stop which regulates the channel shape of the first stage driver transistor is indicated as the field oxide film 14 in the embodiment , but may be limited to a high density p type layer , or may be formed by opening a hole on the substrate . as described , according to the present invention , by making the channel shape of the first stage driver transistor of the output amplifier at the drain end narrower than that at the source end while keeping an effective width of a channel unchanged , the input capacitance cin is reduced without changing a mutual conductance gm of the first stage driver transistor . as a result , a charge detection capacitance is effectively reduced when compared to a conventional device . therefore , according to the present invention , even when pixels are miniaturized , there is no deterioration of a sensitvity , and moreover , a sufficient s / n ratio is secured . while the present invention has been described with reference to the particular illustrative embodiment , it is not to be restricted by this embodiment but only by the appended claims . it is to be appreciated that those skilled in the art can change or modify the embodiment without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention . | 7 |
fig1 is a drawing showing an example system 100 which may be used to monitor a semiconductor manufacturing process by testing electronic circuitry on a semiconductor chip , according to teachings of the present disclosure . system 100 may include a semiconductor manufacturing process 101 to be monitored . a semiconductor wafer 102 may include a plurality of chips 103 created by the process 101 . in some embodiments , each chip 103 may include a plurality of diodes arranged in an addressable array 200 ( shown in more detail in fig2 ). each diode may have an associated stack of vertical interconnects and metal contacts . system 100 may include a probing tester 104 to take data related to each stack for comparison against a manufacturing specification . in some embodiments , tester 104 may test 10 different chips 103 in parallel . in some embodiments , tester 104 may test all ten chips 103 at the same time . in some embodiments , tester 104 may test the same stack on all ten chips 103 at the same time . tester 104 yields anomaly data 105 , including for example , data sets for measured anomalies , including a measurement and a location of the measurement . anomalies may include current measurements or associated resistance calculations for vias on the wafer . for example , an “ open ” via may not conduct any current and / or may show a very high resistance . as another example , a short circuit between contacts may conduct too much current and / or show a very low resistance . in some embodiments , tester 104 may identify any elements that do not meet predefined criteria for current and / or resistance . tester 104 may also yield parametric information 106 comprising details of the tests as conducted . analysis of the parametric information 106 in light of the information 105 may detect and / or identify possible problems in the tested manufacturing processes . a test chip as contemplated in the present disclosure may be used to detect open interconnects as well as interconnect short circuits or shorts . the prior test vehicles used a memory mapped diode array to detect open circuits in the formation of contacts and vias . the various embodiments of the present disclosure use a “ reversible decoder ” to switch the polarity of the decoders to check for shorts . this capability coupled with layout techniques make this test vehicle more sensitive to inadvertent shorts in metal and contacts . further , this can all be accomplished while still maintaining the ability to electrically isolate the defect . fig2 is a drawing showing an example electrical circuit 200 including an array of diodes 201 according to the teachings of the prior disclosures . for purposes of illustration , so the diodes 201 may be addressed as an array , the drawing of circuit 200 shows the diodes 201 laid out and connected as a two - dimensional array with columns and rows . each diode 201 in the array of diodes has an associated stack 202 of vertical interconnects and metal contacts , which may include a polysilicon diode covered with a silicide layer ( discussed in detail in relation to fig3 ). electrical circuit 200 may include a column inverter 203 connected to each column 209 of diodes 201 at the respective cathodes . column inverters 203 may act as a control mechanism to select a column 210 for testing the diode 201 and associated stack 202 . a voltage source 205 may be connected to all the column inverters 203 . in some embodiments , voltage source 205 may be four volts . electrical circuit 200 may include a row inverter 204 connected to each row 210 of diodes 201 at the respective anodes . row inverters 204 may act as a control mechanism to select a row 210 for testing the diode 201 and associated stack 202 . a voltage sink 206 may be connected to all the row inverters 204 . in some embodiments , voltage sink 206 may be one volt . each column inverter 203 may include inputs allowing selection of voltage source 205 ( a relatively high voltage ) or voltage source 207 ( a relatively low voltage ). voltage source 207 may be ground . each row inverter 204 may include inputs for selecting whether the row inverter 204 will route the voltage sink 206 or a high voltage 208 . in some embodiments , high voltage 208 may be five volts . any given stack 202 of vertical interconnects and contacts will then be in series with the column inverter 203 and a diode 201 . fig3 is a drawing of a portion of diode stack combination 300 showing a cross - section of a diode 201 and an associated stack 202 . to form diode 201 , a p + region 301 is deposited into an n - well 302 . this arrangement forms the basic structure of a p - n junction of a diode 201 . the n - well 302 may itself be arranged in a p + substrate 305 . above this diode are deposited various layers of connections , for example various contacts , vias , and metal interconnects . as shown in fig3 , contact 320 connects diode 201 to a first metal layer comprising wire 325 . the first metal layer may also comprise a second wire 325 ′ coupled to wire 325 through vias 303 and a horizontal interconnect wire 310 . horizontal interconnect wire 310 may comprise a salicided polysilicon wire 312 / 314 comprising polysilicon sections 312 and 314 on top of which a silicide layer 316 is formed . the silicide layer may comprise tis 2 , cosi 2 , nisi , wsi 2 , or any other suitable material . in some embodiments , the polysilicon wire portion may be formed by two differently doped polysilicon sections 312 and 314 . section 314 may be p + doped and section 312 may be n + doped . the two sections divide the horizontal polysilicon wire into two sections of approximately equal length as shown in fig3 . in some embodiments , sections 312 and 314 may not have equal lengths , but any length appropriate to form a functional diode under layer 316 . as described , sections 312 and 314 are complementary doped polysilicon forming a reverse biased diode within the poly interconnect 310 . the silicide layer 316 if properly formed short circuits the diode . in such embodiments , the diode formed by sections 312 and 314 only becomes active if the silicide layer 316 is improperly formed . vias 303 between connections 304 form the vertical stack 202 . the entire stack 202 is electrically connected to horizontal wire 310 . in the embodiment shown , vertical stack 202 is connected above the n + doped section 312 . another via 303 located above the p + doped section connects the polysilicon wire 310 to metal layer 325 . at this point , if silicide layer 316 is improperly formed , the two sections 312 and 314 form a reverse biased diode and force an open circuit as compared to a conventional uniformly doped polysilicon layer that would merely have a reduced resistance if the overlaying polysilicide layer is improperly formed . the open circuit caused by the reversed biased diode can be easily detected by a test machine as described in relation to fig1 . the diode formed by sections 312 and 314 is in the opposite orientation with respect to current flow in comparison to the decode diode 201 formed by p + region 301 is deposited into an n - well 302 . both diodes may be reversed , but if one is reversed , both must be . in some embodiments , the stack 202 of connections 303 and 304 formed by the various layers may be used for monitoring the manufacturing process of the interconnect layers . in some embodiments , the stack 202 may only include via 303 and metal wire 325 ′ or may include only a single connecting via 303 or metal contact . the connecting structure coupled to the silicide layer 316 above the n + doped section 312 may have a variety of forms without departing from the scope of the present disclosure . as shown in fig3 , stack 202 may include multiple wires 304 and connecting vias 303 connected to the diode 201 through the horizontal interconnect 310 and contact 320 , serving as a terminal for the cathode of diode 201 . in some embodiments , by depositing the n - well 302 into a p - well 305 substrate , a parasitic pnp bipolar transistor is formed . to access the function of this transistor , an addition p + region 306 may be deposited into substrate 305 to provide a connection . some embodiments include oxide regions 330 to further separate the various active regions from each other . fig4 is an isometric drawing showing a portion of diode stack combination 300 at an angle for the sake of clarity . the elements shown therein correspond to the elements shown in fig3 . the metal surrounds are connected to the row decoder through the n - well 302 . a forward path may be isolated through each diode to identify poorly formed or incomplete contacts and / or vias . fig5 is a drawing showing an example electrical circuit 500 including an array of diodes 501 according to the teachings of the present disclosure . for purposes of illustration , so the diodes 501 may be addressed as an array , the drawing of circuit 500 shows the diodes 501 laid out and connected as a two - dimensional array with columns and rows . each diode 501 in the array of diodes has an associated stack 502 of vertical interconnects and metal contacts , which may include a polysilicon diode covered with a silicide layer as discussed in relation to fig3 . electrical circuit 500 may include a column inverter 503 connected to each column 509 of diodes 501 at the respective cathodes . column inverters 503 may act as a control mechanism to select a column 510 for testing the diode 501 and associated stack 502 . a voltage source 505 may be connected to the anode of each of the column inverters 503 . in some embodiments , voltage source 505 may be three point three ( 3 . 3 ) volts . electrical circuit 500 may include a row inverter 504 connected to each row 510 of diodes 501 at the respective cathodes . row inverters 504 may act as a control mechanism to select a row 510 for testing the diode 501 and associated stack 502 . a voltage supply 506 may be connected to all the row inverters 504 . in some embodiments , voltage supply 506 may be zero volts . each column inverter 503 may include inputs allowing selection of voltage source 505 ( a relatively high voltage ) or voltage source 507 ( a relatively low voltage ). voltage source 507 may be ground . each row inverter 504 may include inputs for selecting whether the row inverter 504 will route the voltage supply 506 or a high voltage 508 . in some embodiments , high voltage 508 may be five volts . any given stack 502 of vertical interconnects and contacts will then be in series with the column inverter 503 and a diode 501 . in contrast with circuit 200 described above , circuit 500 may include additional components comprising a reversible decoder to switch the polarity of the decoders . in the original polarity , circuit 500 allows testing for open circuits . once the polarity is reversed , circuit 500 may be similarly used to check for inadvertent short circuits in metal layers or contacts . the techniques used to isolate the defect , including identifying the diode / connection stack by row and column remain effective . in this context , transistor 516 and 517 may be present to disconnect power from voltage source 505 to the columns 509 and voltage source 506 from rows 510 . for example , circuit 500 includes metal surrounds 515 for each contact / via stack 502 . the details of metal surrounds 515 are more clear in fig6 and will be discussed in that context . the electrical pathway defined through metal surrounds 515 are part of the reverse polarity circuit . the metal surrounds 515 are each connected to the respective row decoder 504 . as with the prior circuit , a forward path may be isolated through each diode to identify poorly formed or incomplete contacts and / or vias . in addition , however , a reverse path is now available to look for via - to - metal shorts and / or metal - to - metal shorts in an isolated stack . to complete the reversal , xor gates 512 , not gate 513 , and additional components may be applied . for example , disconnecting power from sources 505 and 506 with transistors 516 and 517 allows the unselected rows and columns to float . that is , the sources are isolated and cannot drive the stacks . as a result , unrelated shorts will not interfere with the selected row / column . fig6 is an isometric drawing showing a portion of diode stack combination 600 at an angle for the sake of clarity . to form the diode 501 , a p + region is deposited into an n - well . this arrangement forms the basic structure of a p - n junction of a diode 501 . the n - well may itself be arranged in a p + substrate 505 . above this diode are deposited various layers of connections , for example various contacts , vias , and metal interconnects . as shown in fig6 , contact 520 connects diode 501 to a first metal layer comprising wire 525 . the first metal layer may also comprise a second wire 525 ′ coupled to wire 525 through vias 503 and a horizontal interconnect wire 510 . horizontal interconnect wire 510 may comprise a salicided polysilicon wire with sections on top of which a silicide layer is formed , as discussed in relation to fig3 . the silicide layer may comprise tis 2 , cosi 2 , nisi , wsi 2 or any other suitable material . in some embodiments , the polysilicon wire portion may be formed by two differently doped polysilicon sections . the first section may be p + doped and the second section may be n + doped . the two sections divide the horizontal polysilicon wire into two sections of approximately equal length . in some embodiments , the two sections may not have equal lengths , but any length appropriate to form a functional diode under layer . as described , the two sections are complementary doped polysilicon forming a reverse biased diode within the poly interconnect . the silicide layer , if properly formed , short circuits the diode . in such embodiments , the diode formed only becomes active if the silicide layer is improperly formed . vias 503 between connections 504 form the vertical stack . the entire stack is electrically connected to horizontal wire . in the embodiment shown , the vertical stack is connected above the n + doped section . another via 503 located above the p + doped section connects the polysilicon wire 510 to metal layer 525 . at this point , if the silicide layer is improperly formed , the reverse biased diode forces an open circuit as compared to a conventional uniformly doped polysilicon layer that would merely have a reduced resistance if the overlaying polysilicide layer is improperly formed . the open circuit caused by the reversed biased diode can be easily detected by a test machine as described in relation to fig1 . the diode formed is in the opposite orientation with respect to current flow in comparison to the decode diode 501 formed by the p + region deposited into an n - well . both diodes may be reversed , but if one is reversed , both must be . in some embodiments , the stack of connections 503 and 504 formed by the various layers may be used for monitoring the manufacturing process of the interconnect layers . in some embodiments , the stack may include multiple vias 503 and metal wire 525 ′ or may include only a single connecting via 303 or metal contact . the connecting structure coupled to the silicide layer above the n + doped section may have a variety of forms without departing from the scope of the present disclosure . as shown in fig6 , the stack may include multiple wires 504 and connecting vias 503 connected to the diode 501 through the horizontal interconnect 510 and contact 520 , serving as a terminal for the cathode of diode 501 . in some embodiments , by depositing the n - well into a p - well substrate , a parasitic pnp bipolar transistor is formed . to access the function of this transistor , an addition p + region may be deposited into substrate 305 to provide a connection . some embodiments include oxide regions to further separate the various active regions from each other . the metal surrounds 515 are each connected to the respective row decoder 504 through an n - well . when the reverse polarity is engaged , the reverse path will identify via - to - metal and metal - to - metals shorts using the test apparatus of fig1 . fig7 shows a comparison of the conventional cells and the new cells and associated metal density . row a shows layers m 1 - m 4 corresponding to diode / stack / metal surrounds 600 of fig6 and row b shows layers m 1 - m 4 of fig3 . | 7 |
reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the present invention , examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherever possible , the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like parts . [ 0038 ] fig1 illustrates a bird &# 39 ; s - eye view of an optical switch according to the present invention , fig2 illustrates a top layout an optical switch according to the present invention , and fig3 illustrates a cross - sectional view of the optical switch in fig2 along a cutting line a - b . referring to figs . i to 3 , an optical switch according to the present invention includes a micro - prism 1 , a thin film actuator 2 , a cantilever 3 , electrode pads 5 and 6 , sit supporters 7 , a substrate 10 , and optical fibers 21 to 23 . the micro - prism 1 is formed on a portion of a free end of the cantilever 3 on the substrate 10 , and totally reflects an optical signal incident on the input optical fiber 21 to switch an outgoing path . for comparison , an optical switch according to the related art reflects an optical signal through a metal mirror face to carry out a switching function . hence , a process for forming the metal mirror face is essential for the related art fabrication method instead , the present invention uses the micro - prism 1 enabling to bring about internal total reflection . for instance , in case that a couple of output optical fibers 22 and 23 are used for the input optical fiber 21 , i . e ., in case that the output optical fiber 23 on a straight line from the input optical fiber 21 and the other output optical fiber 22 perpendicular to the input optical fiber 21 , as shown in fig1 are used , the optical switch according to the present invention uses the 45 ° micro - prism 1 to switch the incident optical signal to the latter output optical fiber 22 . specifically , the micro - prism 1 is assembled so that a mirror face bringing about internal total reflection of the incident optical signal is vertical to the substrate 10 . the cantilever 3 includes a fixed end attached to the substrate 10 and the free end separated to leave a predetermined gap ( a release interval of the free end from the substrate ) from the substrate 10 . in this case , the free end is released from the fixed end to suspend from a top of the substrate 10 , thereby being separated from the substrate 10 with the predetermined gap 4 . in a process of fabricating the optical switch , the gap 4 is generated between the free end and the substrate to the thickness of a sacrificing layer formed temporarily by surface micromachining on the substrate 10 . instead , the gap 4 between the substrate 10 and the free end can be formed by etch after a film is deposited by bulk micromachining . the micro - prism 1 is attached on the cantilever 3 to be integrated on one side of the free end , and more specifically , on a tip of the free end . the free end having the micro - prism 1 attached on the tip is displaced upward and downward by the thin film actuator 2 . the object of displacing the free end is to provide upward and downward displacement of the micro - prism 1 substantially . hence , the displacement of the free end of the cantilever 3 means that the micro - prism 1 is displaced . the thin film actuator 2 is integrated across portions of the fixed and free ends of the cantilever 3 , and an exact location of the thin film actuator 2 is adjusted to be suitable for characteristics of the optical switch in the actual fabrication process . the thin film actuator 2 integrated on the cantilever 3 displaces the free end having the micro - prism 1 attached thereto in a direction vertical to the substrate 10 . this is for displacing the micro - prism 1 in the direction vertical to the substrate 10 . specifically , a plurality of the electrode pads 5 and 6 are integrated on the thin film actuator 2 for the displacement of the free end of the cantilever 3 . hence , once a power is applied through the electrode pads 5 and 6 , the free end of the cantilever 3 is displaced in the vertical direction . it is of course that the micro - prism 1 is displaced in accordance with the displacement of the free end . when the micro - prism 1 is displaced , the incident optical signal is projected to the output optical fiber 23 disposed on the straight line to the input optical fiber 21 . the thin film actuator 2 is driven by the power applied to the electrode pads 5 and 6 piezo - electrically , electric - thermally , or electromagnetically . when the thin film actuator 2 is driven piezo - electrically , a pzt ( pb — zr — ti oxide ) or zno ( zinc oxide ) film is used . and , the piezo - electric driving by piezoelectricity of the oxide displaces the free end ( and micro - prism ) in the direction vertical to the substrate 10 . when the thin film actuator 2 is electric - thermally driven , bimetal - like thin metal films arranged plurally are used . and , heat generated by the power applied through the electrode pads 5 and 6 displaces the arranged thin metal films to displace the free end ( and micro - prism ) in the direction vertical to the substrate 10 . when the thin film actuator 2 is electro - magnetically driven , the free end is displaced by the reaction to electromagnetism of a magnetic material . three pairs of the sit supporters 7 protrude from the top of the substrate 10 . each of the pairs of the sit supporters 7 has a groove . and , each of the optical fibers 21 , 22 , and 23 is supported by the corresponding groove . besides , an interval between the sit supporters 7 constructing each of the three pairs on the substrate 10 is smaller than each caliber of the optical fibers 21 , 22 , and 23 . when the output optical fiber 23 disposed on the straight line to the input optical fiber 21 and the other output optical fiber 22 perpendicular to the input optical fiber 21 , as shown in fig2 are simultaneously used , three pairs of the sit supporters 7 are formed to assemble cross - like centering around the micro - prism 1 . specifically , when the optical fibers 21 , 22 , and 23 are assembled to the optical switch , the grooves are formed to align axes of the optical fibers 21 , 22 , and 23 to the micro - prism 1 within an allowable error range . this is because the performance of the optical switch greatly depends on the precision of optically axial alignment between the micro - prism 1 and the optical fibers 21 , 22 , and 23 . [ 0057 ] fig4 a and fig4 b illustrate cross - sectional views of an optical switch according to the present invention for explaining a drive of the optical switch and a variation of a light path . [ 0058 ] fig4 a shows that a power is not applied to the thin film actuator 2 through the electrode pads 5 and 6 . referring to fig4 a , the micro - prism 1 is disposed on an optical path projected from the collimated input optical fiber 21 . and , an optical signal outputted from the input optical fiber 21 is reflected on the mirror face of the micro - prism 1 , thereby being switched to the output optical fiber 22 lying in a direction vertical to the input optical fiber 21 . [ 0060 ] fig4 b shows that a power is applied to the thin film actuator 2 through the electrode pads 5 and 6 . referring to fig4 b , the micro - prism 1 deviates from the optical path projected from the collimated input optical , fiber 21 , and is displaced in the direction vertical to the substrate 10 . hence , the optical signal outputted from the input optical fiber 21 fails to pass the micro - prism 1 but is incident on the output optical fiber 23 disposed on the straight line to the input optical fiber 21 . meanwhile , a process of fabricating an optical switch according to the present invention is explained as follows . [ 0063 ] fig5 a to 5 i illustrate cross - sectional views of fabricating an optical switch according to the present invention , in which the optical switch is piezo - electrically driven . referring to fig5 a , silicon oxide layers 11 are formed on a top and a bottom of a substrate 10 , respectively . in this case , the silicon oxide layers 11 are formed by oxidation or deposition . and , a sacrificial layer 14 that will be removed later is formed to have a predetermined thickness on the silicon oxide layer 11 onto the top of the silicon - based substrate 10 . in this case , the thickness of the sacrificial layer 14 determines a size of a gap 4 between the substrate 10 and a free end of a cantilever 3 . besides , the sacrificial layer 14 is formed by depositing a silicon film having an amorphous or polycrystalline characteristic over the entire top of the substrate 10 . referring to fig5 b , the sacrificial layer 14 formed on the substrate 10 is patterned . specifically , a portion of the sacrificial layer 14 except the other portion that will remain beneath the free end of the cantilever 3 . in this case , the sacrificial layer 14 is removed in part by photolithography or etch . preferably , the etch is rie ( reactive ion etch ), plasma etch , or chemical wet etch . referring to fig5 c , a first thin film 13 is deposited on the patterned sacrificial layer 14 and the exposed silicon oxide layer 11 on the top of the substrate 10 . the first thin film 13 is deposited for the formation of the cantilever 3 with a material having a minimum residual stress and a minimum stress gradient . the reason why the thin film having the minimum residual stress and stress gradient is to prevent deformation of the cantilever 3 . referring to fig5 d , a second thin film 12 is deposited on the first thin film 13 . the second thin film 12 is deposited for the formation of a thin film actuator 2 that will be attached to the cantilever 3 . in this case , the second thin film 12 is formed by deposition or coating . referring to fig5 e , a portion of the second thin film 12 except the other portion corresponding to a shape of the thin film actuator 2 is removed to form the thin film actuator 2 . referring to fig5 f , a portion of the first thin film 13 except the other portion corresponding to the shape of the cantilever 3 and an area that will become a base of a sit supporter 7 is removed to form the cantilever 3 . in the steps of fig5 e and fig5 f , the first and second thin films 13 and 14 are removed by photolithography or etch . referring to fig5 g , a third thin film 13 is formed to have a predetermined thickness over the entire top of the substrate 10 having the thin film actuator 2 and cantilever 3 formed thereon . in this case , the third thin film 11 is formed of transparent photosensitive polymer or photoresist to the predetermined thickness . although not shown in the drawing , areas corresponding to a shape of a micro - prism 1 and a shape of the sit supporter 7 are patterned by photolithography . in this case , the third thin film 11 is patterned so that three pairs of the sit supporters 7 are formed to make a cross shape centering around the micro - prism 1 . referring to fig5 h , the micro - prism 1 is assembled on one side of the cantilever 3 as well as the sit supporters 7 are assembled on a sit supporter base . specifically , the micro - prism 1 is assembled on the one side of the cantilever 3 in a manner that a mirror face of the micro - prism 1 is vertical to the substrate 10 , and the sit supporters 7 are assembled on the base formed of the first thin film 13 to make three pairs . as the pairs of the sit supporters 5 are assembled thereon , a groove is generated between each of the pairs of the sit supporters 7 . the grooves form a cross shape centering around the micro - prism 1 to hold an input optical fiber 21 for an incident optical signal and output optical fibers 22 and 23 for outputting the optical signal , respectively . referring to fig5 i , the sacrificial layer 14 remaining between the free end of the cantilever 3 and the substrate 10 to separate a portion of the cantilever 3 from the substrate 10 . thereafter , the input optical fiber 21 for an incident optical signal and the output optical fibers 22 and 23 for outputting the optical signal are assembled to the grooves of the assembled pairs of the sit supporters 7 . and , a pair of electrode pads 5 and 6 are integrated on a partial surface of the thin film actuator 2 formed of the second thin film 12 . accordingly , the present invention implements the optical switch as a major component of a transmission / reception module interface for optical communication by micromachining and a semiconductor process , thereby enabling to realize such features as small size and lightweight . therefore , the present invention enables to reduce a component cost as well as lower a driving voltage for switching greatly . the optical switch according to the present invention is applicable to a bypass switch for fddi ( fiber distributed data interface ). moreover , the optical switch according to the present invention enables to implement an extended n * n optical matrix switch with ease when being used as the bypass switch for fddi . besides , the related art optical switch requires the process of forming the metal mirror face necessary for switching an optical signal . yet , the optical switch according to the present invention uses the micro - prism for switching an optical signal , thereby requiring no additional process of forming the metal mirror face . therefore , the present invention enables to fabricate the device with a reduced product cost . it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention . thus , it is intended that the present invention covers the modifications and variations of this invention provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents . | 6 |
the present invention discloses a led array structure and a process method for manufacturing the same . the led array is formed by multiple led devices for producing significant amount of light at relatively low current density . low current density generates less heat and allows polymer materials to be used in forming the led array . details of the led array structure and the process for manufacturing the same are described hereinafter . fig2 a and 2b is a top view of an of led array 200 in a single substrate 205 . referring to fig2 a and for illustration purpose , the led array 200 has four rows ( y ) and four columns ( x ) of separated yet identical led devices 210 [ 0 : 3 , 0 : 3 ], each shaped like a mesa . the led devices 210 may be separated by laser etching or inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching ( icp - rie ). as an example , neighboring led devices , 210 [ 2 , 3 ] and 210 [ 3 , 3 ] are separated by a gap 220 [ 2 ]. the led device 210 [ 2 , 3 ] has two electrodes , i . e ., pads 213 [ 2 , 3 ] and 215 [ 2 , 3 ] serving as anode and a cathode of the led device 210 [ 2 , 3 ], respectively . the electrodes can be formed on p - gan and n - gan ( either p - side up or n - side up ). one led device &# 39 ; s anode pad is placed close to a neighboring led device &# 39 ; s cathode pad , so that the led devices 210 can be easily connected in series . referring now to fig2 b , the pad 213 [ 2 , 3 ] and the pad 215 [ 3 , 3 ] are connected by an interconnect 230 [ 2 , 3 ]. the pads 213 and 215 are typically formed by a metal , and so is the interconnect 230 . the pads 213 and 215 and the interconnect 230 may not necessarily be formed by the same metal . fig3 is a cross - sectional view of the conventional led array 202 at a location a - a ′ shown in fig2 b . on a single substrate 205 , multiple led devices 210 are built with cross - sections of two adjacent ones , 210 [ 1 , 3 ] and 210 [ 2 , 3 ] shown in fig3 . the pad 213 [ 1 , 3 ], for instance , is an anode of the led device 210 [ 1 , 3 ]. the pad 215 [ 2 , 3 ] is a cathode of the led device 210 [ 2 , 3 ]. conventionally , an oxide layer 310 is deposited in the gap 220 [ 1 ] between the led devices 210 to electrically isolate the pads 213 and 215 from adjacent structures . then the metal interconnect 230 [ 1 , 3 ] is formed on top of the oxide layer 310 to connect the pads 213 [ 1 , 3 ] and 215 [ 2 , 3 ]. due to the depth of gap 220 , the oxide layer 310 cannot fill up the gap 220 , and causing the metal interconnect 230 to form a complex profile with sharp corners . the sharp corners are relatively easy to break hence become a reliability concern . fig4 a - 4c illustrates processing steps that uses a polymer to fill up the gap 220 between the led devices 210 according to an embodiment of the present invention . because the led devices in accordance with the present invention are intended to be used at high efficiency with little heat generated , it is feasible to leave polymer material in a finished led device . referring to fig4 a , after each individual led devices 210 and respective pads 213 and 215 are formed , a polymer layer 410 is deposited over the led devices 210 . the polymer layer 410 fills up the gap 220 . photoresist , such as polymethylglutarimide ( pmgi ) or su - 8 , is a preferred polymer material . refractive index of the polymer layer 410 ranges from 1 to 2 . 6 ( between air and semiconductor ) to enhance light extraction . optical transparency of the polymer layer 410 is equal to or more than 90 %, and preferably equal to or more than 99 %. typically , a thickness of the polymer layer 410 measured on top of the pad 213 is approximately 2 micron meter . the polymer layer 410 can be pre - mixed with phosphor ( about 30 weight percentage loading ) to adjust the output light color . however , the relative dimension between polymer coating thickness and phosphor particle size should be coordinated . for example , when a thickness of the polymer layer 410 at the pad 213 is about 3 micron meter , proper phosphor particle size is approximately 3 micron meter or less . referring to fig4 b , a patterned mask 420 is applied over the polymer layer 410 . the mask 420 has openings 423 at the locations of pads 213 and 215 to allow the removal of the polymer layer 410 thereon . the polymer removal process also smooth out surface profile of the polymer layer 410 . after the polymer removal process and pads 213 and 215 being exposed , a surface hydrophilic modification is performed on the polymer surface ( e . g ., oxygen plasma ) to transform the originally hydrophobic surface into hydrophilic surface . therefore , a subsequently formed metal - based interconnect can have improved adhesion to the polymer layer 410 . referring to fig4 c , a interconnect 430 is then formed on top of the polymer layer 410 to connect the pad 213 and pad 215 . because of the smooth surface profile of the polymer layer 410 , the subsequently formed metal - based interconnect 430 can have thin and smooth profile with improved endurance . in comparison , conventional interconnect ( 230 in fig3 ) is easy to brake due to complex profiles and sharp corners . even though the fragileness of the conventional interconnect 230 can be slightly improved by increasing the thickness of the interconnect 230 , this is done at increased cost due to both additional material used and additional processing time . in the present invention , as mentioned above , the led devices 210 are intended to be used at high efficiency with little heat generated , metals with lower melting points , such as al , in , sn or related alloy metals , can be used to form the major component of interconnect 430 ( equal to or more than 90 vol %), which further lowers the cost of producing the led device . fabrication processes , such as chemical vapor deposition , sputtering or evaporation of the metal can be used for forming the interconnect 430 . in an exemplary process , three layers of metal , ti / al / pt , are sputtered to form the interconnect 430 . furthermore , mixture of metal powder and polymer ( e . g . silver paste ) can also be used to form the interconnect 430 . corresponding fabrication process may be screen printing or stencil printing process with even lower manufacture cost . in addition , the smoothness of the polymer layer 410 allows sizes of the pads 213 and 215 and interconnect 430 to be smaller than the conventional ones shown in fig3 , so that less led area will be shielded by the opaque pads 213 and 215 and interconnects 430 . in addition to the aforementioned providing a smooth surface , the polymer layer 410 can also absorb and dissipate heat from neighboring led devices 210 , especially when the polymer layer 410 is mixed with some special materials such as ceramics and carbon - based nanostructures . ceramics and carbon - based nanostructures absorb heat energy and emit it as far - infrared wavelength energy . infrared radiation is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths longer than those at the red - end of the visible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum but shorter than microwave radiation . this wavelength range spans roughly 1 to several hundred microns , and is loosely subdivided — no standard definition exists — into near - infrared ( 0 . 7 - 1 . 5 microns ), mid - infrared ( 1 . 5 - 5 microns ) and the far - infrared ( 5 to 1000 microns ). ceramics which are inorganic oxides , nitrides , or carbides are considered as the most effective far infrared ray emitting bodies . a number of studies on ceramic far infrared ray emitting bodies have been reported , including zirconia , titania , alumina , zinc oxides , silicon oxides , boron nitride and silicon carbides . oxides of transition elements such as mno2 , fe2o3 , cuo , coo , and the like are considered more effective far infrared ray emitting bodies . other far infrared ray emitting body includes carbon - based nanostructures , such as carbon nanocapsule and carbon nanotubes . they also show a high degree of radiation activity . these materials are very close to a black body exhibiting a high degree of radiation activity throughout the entire infrared range . in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention , the polymer layer 410 is pre - mixed with ceramics or carbon - based nanostructures which absorb the heat from nearby led devices 210 and / or phosphors , and then dissipate the heat as far infrared radiation . this characteristic can be used to allow heat to escape from the led devices 210 even when the led devices 210 are in a sealed enclosure without heat sinks or cooling fans . of course , with the addition of heat sinks or cooling fans heat can be better dissipated . fig5 illustrates a trench 502 formed in the substrate 205 to separate two led devices according to another embodiment of the present invention . the trench 502 is typically laser etched into the substrate during the formation of the gap between two led devices 210 in order to allow more light to come out the lateral sides of the led devices 210 . as a result , light extraction efficiency of a whole led chip that incorporates an array of the led devices 210 will be increased . the deeper the trench 502 is , the higher the light extraction efficiency the led chip attains . typically , a depth of the trench 502 measured from an original surface of the substrate 205 to the bottom of the trench 502 is controlled at a range between 20 microns and 100 microns . however , the trench 502 is more difficult to fill . as shown in fig5 , a pmgi layer 510 is first deposited in the trench 502 , and then followed by a su - 8 layer 520 in accordance with the embodiment of the present invention . the pmgi layer 510 has better filling characteristic . the su - 8 layer 520 deposited on top of the pmgi layer 510 also serves as a barrier layer protecting the underneath pmgi layer 510 from reacting with developers in subsequent photoresist processes . one of such photoresist processes is for forming the interconnect 430 by metal sputtering in which a nr - 7 patterning photoresist is used . the developer used with the nr - 7 photoresist can react with the pmgi layer 510 if not for the protection of the su - 8 layer 520 . however , if the interconnect 430 is formed by a silver paste in a printing process , a single pmgi layer can be used for filling the entire gap , including the trench 502 , between the two led device 210 for further saving processing cost . fig6 a and 6b illustrate some alternative patterns of the interconnect 430 . referring to fig6 a , interconnects 630 a and 630 b are moved to edges of the led devices 210 corresponding to relocations of electrode pads ( not shown ). referring to fig6 b , interconnects 635 a and 635 b are t - shaped to connect neighboring led devices 210 . varying the interconnect patterns is to reduce areas of the interconnects , so that less light generated by the led devices is shielded by the interconnects . fig7 illustrates a led chip 702 being flip mounted on a board 720 . the led chip 702 is produced through the processes shown in fig4 a ˜ 4c , i . e ., a plurality of the led devices 210 are formed on the same substrate 205 ( not shown in fig7 ). when the substrate 205 is a sapphire which is highly transparent to light , the led chip 702 can be flip mounted on a board 720 . in such case , the substrate 205 of the led chip 702 is on the top , the plurality of the led devices 210 are below the substrate 205 . before the led chip 702 being flip mounted on the board 720 , solder balls 710 are first formed on the terminals of the led chip 702 . then the led chip 702 is flipped over and placed on the board 720 with the solder balls 710 aligned to corresponding terminal interconnects 722 . after a melting process , the solder balls 710 bonds the led chip 702 to the board 720 through the terminal interconnects 722 . apparently , the flip - chip technology yields the shortest board - level interconnects and better electrical characteristics . when multiple led chips 702 are mounted on the same board 720 , mounting density for the flip - chip mounting can be higher than conventional wire bonding . in addition , after the led chip 702 being flip mounted on the board 720 , the substrate ( not shown in fig7 ) on which the led chip 702 is grown can be removed for even better light emission . the above illustration provides many different embodiments or embodiments for implementing different features of the invention . specific embodiments of components and processes are described to help clarify the invention . these are , of course , merely embodiments and are not intended to limit the invention from that described in the claims . although the invention is illustrated and described herein as embodied in one or more specific examples , it is nevertheless not intended to be limited to the details shown , since various modifications and structural changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims . accordingly , it is appropriate that the appended claims be construed broadly and in a manner consistent with the scope of the invention , as set forth in the following claims . | 7 |
the multiple function animal furniture piece provides an animal owner with a system they may use for an animal throughout the life of the animal . the multiple function animal furniture piece may serve as a training cage to train small animals such as puppies for living indoors . a detachable mat on the floor of the multiple function animal furniture piece provides for ease in cleaning animal waste . a removable front cover such as a grill may restrict undesired movement of the animal in and out of the furniture piece . in addition , as an animal gets older and / or bigger , the animal may no longer dwell inside the multiple function animal furniture piece . at this point , the multiple function animal furniture piece may function as a storage structure . moreover , the multiple function animal furniture piece may have an attachable ramp member for use by an animal to climb to the top of the multiple function animal furniture piece structure . this ramp may be useful for smaller and older animals . the ramp may be stored inside the multiple function animal furniture piece when the ramp is not in use . the multiple function animal furniture piece may be portable and may be positioned adjacent the owner &# 39 ; s bed . in this arrangement , the animal may easily move to the owner &# 39 ; s bed . further , the owner may easily sit on the top of the multiple function animal furniture piece . when an animal dies , the structure may be converted into a container ( e . g ., coffin ) for burying the deceased animal . fig1 shows a general design of the multiple function animal furniture piece 5 . other configurations such as those described in u . s . patent application ser . no . 11 / 121 , 797 to the same inventor may be implemented to achieve the same results as the design described in fig1 . as shown , multiple function animal furniture piece 5 has a top 10 , open front side 12 , a back side 14 , and multiple side walls 16 and 18 . the number of sides may vary with the particular design shape . multiple function animal furniture piece 5 may also contain a floor 20 . the front side 12 has an opening 22 , which covers a large portion of the front side 12 . this large opening 22 allows for animals to enter multiple function animal furniture piece 5 . without limitation , the opening 22 may also allow for insertion of toys , food and water trays into the multiple function animal furniture piece 5 . in addition , smaller openings 24 and 26 may be disposed in the side walls 16 , 18 . without limitation , these openings 24 , 26 may improve ventilation in multiple function animal furniture piece 5 . the front side 12 also has a lip 28 that extends up from the base . without limitation , lip 28 may prevent toys such as balls from accidentally rolling out of the multiple function animal furniture piece 5 . in addition , a lip section ( not illustrated ) may also be attached to the top 10 . without limitation , such a lip section may serve as a restraining means to stabilize and keep a cushion stationary when an animal is resting on it . it is to be understood that side walls 16 , 18 may have one or more than one opening , respectively , and that side walls 16 , 18 are shown in fig1 with each side wall 16 , 18 having one opening each ( openings 24 , 26 ) for illustration purposes only . it is also to be understood that back side 14 may have no such openings or one or more such openings . in an alternative embodiment , one or more of the sides may have no such openings . openings in side walls 16 , 18 and back side 14 may have any shape , configuration , and size suitable for allowing ventilation and visibility into and out of multiple function animal furniture piece 5 . for instance , such openings may have the shape of characters such as animals , cartoon figures , toys , lettering , numbering , symbols , and the like . without limitation , examples of animal shapes include dogs , cats , and the like . in addition , without limitation , examples of cartoon figures include mickey mouse ( which is a mark owned by disney enterprises , inc . ), superman ( which is a mark owned by dc comics warner communications inc . ), and the like . examples of toys include , without limitation , trucks , cars , airplanes , and the like . the character shape openings may be applied to the sides by any suitable process such as by a cutting apparatus , press , or the like . multiple function animal furniture piece 5 may be composed of any material suitable for the uses of multiple function animal furniture piece 5 . for instance , multiple function animal furniture piece 5 may include wood , mesh , wire , plastic , metal , and the like . in such an embodiment , back side 14 and / or multiple side walls 16 and 18 may comprise wire , mesh , netting , weaving , and the like , preferably wire or mesh , and more preferably wire or wire - like material . moreover , back side 14 and / or multiple side walls 16 and 18 may be composed of any porous material suitable for use as a side in an animal cage ( e . g ., porous metal or plastic siding ). in an embodiment , back side 14 and / or multiple side walls 16 and 18 are composed of a plastic , wood , metal , or the like wire or wire - like material . one or more of multiple side walls 16 and 18 ( preferably both side walls 16 , 18 ) may be composed of such materials . in an embodiment ( not illustrated ), an outer covering may be disposed on the outside and / or inside surface of one or more of any side ( e . g ., front side 12 , back side 14 , side walls 16 and 18 , top 10 , floor 20 ) preferably an outer covering is disposed on the outside surface . in some embodiments , an outer covering is disposed on the outside surface of multiple side walls 16 and 18 , back side 14 and / or top 10 . the outer covering may cover any desired portion of a side . in addition , the outer covering may comprise any suitable covering for use with animals . for instance , the outer covering may be composed of natural or synthetic woods , veneers , vinyl , wicker , plastic , ceramic , and the like . in an embodiment top 10 and / or front side 12 may also be composed of such plurality of openings and / or alternatively may also include such an outer covering . in alternative embodiments , at least one side and / or wall of multiple function animal furniture piece 5 comprises a substantially solid material . fig2 shows the multiple function animal furniture piece 5 with the top 10 extended in an upward position , which thereby opens up multiple function animal furniture piece 5 . as shown , a bar 30 extends across the front side of multiple function animal furniture piece 5 and may serve as a rest bar for the top 10 . hinges 32 and 34 attach the top 10 to the back side 14 and allow the top 10 side to open and close as desired . attached to the inside surface of the top 10 side is a rack member 36 for holding a ramp member when the ramp member is not in use . rack member 36 may have any suitable shape ( e . g ., an l - shape ) that fits with the shape of a rectangular ramp member . in an embodiment , rack member 36 is a groove with a generally u - shape in which the ramp member is placed . when the ramp member is placed in rack member 36 , a latch 38 secures the ramp in rack member 36 . fig3 shows a configuration of the multiple function animal furniture piece 5 with a detachable ramp 40 engaged at one side . in this configuration , an animal may climb to the top 10 of multiple function animal furniture piece 5 without the need to climb up on a bed or other piece of furniture . depending on the height of multiple function animal furniture piece 5 , the length of the ramp 40 may vary such that the inclination angle formed by the engagement of the ramp 40 to multiple function animal furniture piece 5 is not too steep for the animal to safely climb . fig4 shows the multiple function animal furniture piece 5 with the cushion material 42 positioned on the top 10 . as mentioned , the cushion material 42 may serve as a cushion on which an animal may rest or sleep . fig9 shows the cross - section of a typical cushion that may be used with multiple function animal furniture piece 5 . other types of cushions with varying shapes may also be implemented in a similar manner . fig5 shows a front view of the ramp member 40 . attached to this front side is a fiber - type material 44 such as a cloth or carpet material . fiber - type material 44 increases the friction of the ramp member 40 such that an animal may have improved traction as the animal climbs the ramp member 40 to the top 10 . fig6 shows a side cross - sectional view of the ramp member 40 . the ramp member 40 contains a lip 46 that engages the edge of the top side securing the ramp member 40 to multiple function animal furniture piece 5 . fig7 shows a view of the floor 20 of multiple function animal furniture piece 5 covered by a mat material 48 . mat material 48 may be an elastic or rubber type of material or other type of water - proof material . the mat material 48 extends up the side walls of multiple function animal furniture piece 5 thereby covering substantially all of the floor 20 . this mat material 48 provides a way to easily clean multiple function animal furniture piece 5 . as mentioned , multiple function animal furniture piece 5 may serve as a house for a smaller pet . typically , these pets are initially not house trained . any waste secreted by the animal may not penetrate to the floor . when cleaning , the owner may raise the top 10 of multiple function animal furniture piece 5 and remove the mat material 48 . the owner may then clean the mat material 48 . fig8 shows the cross - section of the mat material 48 . the edge 50 of the mat 48 has a lip shape that prevents substances from escaping the mat material 48 surface . the mat material 48 may also have a ridged surface similar to fig9 for channeling liquid . fig1 shows the back side 14 of multiple function animal furniture piece 5 . attached to this back side 14 is a storage rack 52 similar to the rack member 36 . without limitation , storage rack 52 may hold grate 54 , which is shown in fig1 . storage rack 52 has a general shape that matches the shape of the grate 54 . fig1 shows a cross - section of the storage rack 52 . storage rack 52 has two sides 56 and 58 and a base 60 . the two sides 56 , 58 are perpendicularly attached to the base 60 . one side is also attached to the back side 14 . when the grate 54 is not in use , grate 54 may be slid into storage rack 52 . grate 54 may be used to cover front opening 22 . grate 54 may have different designs and may also be composed of screen material . in addition , other conventional materials such as plastic may be used as this front opening 22 cover . in an embodiment , multiple function animal furniture piece 5 comprises a cage and a outer covering on the top side 10 , back side 14 , front side 12 , and sides 16 , 18 of the cage ( e . g ., on all sides of the cage ). in an alternative embodiment , multiple function animal furniture piece 5 also comprises an outer covering on bottom side ( e . g ., floor 20 ). fig1 illustrates a front view of such an embodiment showing front side 12 and top side 10 . in such an embodiment , multiple function animal furniture piece 5 comprises a cage 100 and an outer covering 105 . cage 100 may comprise any suitable material for containing an animal . for instance , cage 100 may comprise metal , wood , plastic , ceramic , and the like . the sides of cage 100 may be attached by any suitable means . in an embodiment , top side 10 has a door 115 that is movably openable and closable . door 115 comprises a latching mechanism 120 by which door 115 may be secured to top side 10 and substantially prevented from movement . latching mechanism 120 may comprise any suitable mechanism for opening and closing door 115 and also suitable for securing door 115 against movement relative to top side 10 . it is to be understood that fig1 shows door 115 in a closed position . fig1 illustrates an embodiment in which door 115 is in an open position . as shown in fig1 , outer covering 105 on front side 12 has opening 125 by which cage 100 is exposed therethrough . in an embodiment , at least one side of outer covering 105 has an opening ; alternatively front side 12 , sides 16 , 18 , and back side 14 of outer covering 105 has such openings ; and alternatively all sides of outer covering 105 have an opening . fig1 ( a ) and 14 ( b ) show embodiments of sides of outer covering 105 having different opening configurations . for instance , fig1 ( a ) illustrates outer covering 105 having opening 125 therethrough . outer covering 105 having such opening 125 may be suitable as side 16 , side 18 , and / or back side 14 . it is to be understood that outer covering 105 may have more than one opening 125 . opening 125 may have any desirable shape and size . fig1 ( b ) illustrates an embodiment of front side 12 having outer covering 105 with opening 125 . in such an embodiment , opening 125 may be of sufficient size to allow a desirable animal to pass therethrough . further referring to fig1 , in an alternative embodiment , front side 12 of cage 100 may be movably attached to side 16 or 18 of cage 100 . in such an embodiment , such front side 12 of cage 100 may be sufficiently movable to allow a desirable animal to pass through opening 125 in such front side 12 . in such an alternative embodiment , such front side 12 of cage 100 may also be sufficiently closable to prevent the desirable animal from passing through opening 125 in front side 12 . in an alternative embodiment ( not illustrated ), another side is openable to allow a desirable animal to pass through an opening 125 therein into multiple functional animal furniture piece 5 . in such an alternative embodiment , top side 10 may or may not be openable . for instance , fig1 illustrates an embodiment of multiple functional animal furniture piece 5 comprising a cage 100 and no outer covering 105 . as shown in fig1 , front side 12 has movably attached door 115 with a latching mechanism 120 . it is to be understood that fig1 shows door 115 in the open position and disposed on top of top side 12 thereby providing opening 125 in cage 100 . it is to be understood that outer covering 105 may be secured to cage 100 or not secured to cage 100 . in an embodiment in which outer covering 105 is secured to cage 100 , outer covering 105 may be secured by any suitable method . for instance , outer covering 105 may be secured to cage 100 by one or more grooves in outer covering 105 . as an example , portions of cage 100 may be suitably secured into a groove disposed in outer covering 105 . fig1 illustrates an embodiment of fig1 with the outer covering 105 of top side 10 removed to expose top side 10 of cage 100 . as shown , door 115 has latching mechanism 120 . the sides of outer covering 105 may be attached by any suitable method . for instance , the sides may be connected by magnets , glue , hooks , and the like . in an embodiment , the sides are connected by magnets . each side of outer covering 105 may have any number of magnets suitable to sufficiently secure one such side to another such side ( e . g ., by magnetic attraction to another side ). the magnets may be secured to the exterior of the outer covering 105 ( e . g ., by glue ) and / or may be embedded in the outer covering 105 . it is to be understood that each side of outer covering 105 may be separated from another side by applying sufficient force to overcome the force of the magnet . thereby , one or more sides of outer covering 105 may be removed to expose cage 100 . fig1 illustrates an embodiment in which all sides of outer covering 105 have been removed . in an alternative embodiment , magnets disposed on the outer covering 105 may also be used to secure outer covering 105 to cage 100 . for instance , fig1 illustrates an embodiment in which magnets 130 on the outer covering 105 of door 115 secure such outer covering 105 of door 115 to the cage portion 105 of door 115 . as shown in fig1 , multiple function animal furniture system 5 may also comprise a detachable mat 140 . as mentioned , the structure and system of the multiple function animal furniture piece 5 provides the owner of an animal with the versatile means for providing care for the animal . this structure and system may accommodate activities for animals of all ages and sizes . the structure serves as both a dwelling for small animals as well as a training cage to teach certain behaviors . in addition , an internal storage capacity is provided . the ability to store the detachable components of the system within the structure facilitates managing this system . the portability of the structure enables the owner to position it at any location . as mentioned , owners may use it as a bed for the animal or as a means for the animal to climb into the owner &# 39 ; s bed . the attachable ramp may also facilitate animals of all ages and sizes in climbing the ramp to the top side of the structure . at the animal &# 39 ; s death , the structure may serve as a container coffin in which to bury the animal . it is to be understood that sides 12 , 14 , 16 , and 18 are for illustration and explanatory purposes and embodiments described for one of such particular sides may be suitable for one or more other of such sides . fig1 illustrates an embodiment in which multiple function animal furniture piece 5 comprises a base 500 and an outer covering 510 . cage 100 is not shown for illustration purposes . base 500 comprises any material suitable for use with an animal cage . without limitation , examples of suitable materials include plastic , ceramic , stainless steel , and the like . preferable materials include plastic . base 500 preferably comprises a similar configuration to that of outer covering 510 . in addition , base 500 has a width and length suitable for outer covering 510 to be disposed inside of base 500 . preferably , outer covering 510 is disposed within sufficient proximity to base 500 for magnets 515 disposed within base 500 and / or outer covering 510 to provide a desirable stability ( e . g ., lateral and vertical stability ) to outer covering 510 . base 500 may comprise any height suitable for providing strength and integrity to outer covering 510 . in an embodiment , the height of base 500 is less than the height of outer covering 510 . as shown in fig1 , outer covering 510 comprises magnets 515 . in alternative embodiments ( not illustrated ), base 500 and / or outer covering 510 comprise magnets 515 . magnets 515 may be attached to base 500 and / or outer covering 510 and / or may be embedded in base 500 and / or outer covering 510 . in such an embodiment , multiple function animal furniture piece 5 may comprise any desired number and type of magnets . in an embodiment ( not illustrated ), magnets 515 are disposed in base 500 . in such an embodiment , metal ( or like material that is attractive to a magnetic force ) may be attached to outer covering 510 in sufficient locations that when outer covering 510 is placed in base 500 , the magnets 515 secure outer covering 510 to base 500 . the metal may be attached to outer covering 510 by any suitable means such as by glue . for instance , the metal may be disposed in locations on outer covering 510 that correspond to locations on base 500 . the magnets 515 also may serve to laterally and vertically secure cage 100 . as further shown in fig1 , multiple function animal furniture piece 5 may also comprise a grate 520 . grate 520 comprises any suitable grate - like shape and configuration . without limitation , grate 520 comprises openings of a sufficient diameter to allow animal waste to fall through grate 520 . in another embodiment , a pan ( not illustrated ) is disposed beneath grate 520 . the pan may be comprised of any suitable material . without being limited by theory , animal waste that falls through grate 520 is captured by the pan . grate 520 and the pan are slidably insertable into base 500 . grate 520 and the pan may be inserted and removed from base 500 in the directions as illustrated by arrow 525 . in an embodiment ( not illustrated ), grate 520 and the pan are inserted into base 500 through an opening in base 500 . fig1 illustrates a top view of an embodiment of base 500 . in such an embodiment , base 500 comprises a plurality of drain holes 530 . without being limited by theory , drain holes 530 allow fluid such as water to pass into the pan . fig2 illustrates an embodiment of base 500 having a different configuration than that shown in fig1 . fig2 illustrates a cross sectional side view of an embodiment of base 500 having a lip 580 . in such an embodiment , lip 580 provides a cavity 540 in which grate 520 may be inserted . for instance , lip 580 comprises a raised portion of base 500 . the walls 570 and corners 560 of base 500 are disposed upon lip 580 , which provides cavity 540 for insertion of grate 520 . in such an embodiment , the pan is disposed beneath grate 520 , which provides spacing in cavity 540 between the grate 520 and the pan . lip 580 may also comprise one or more drain holes 530 . as further illustrated , magnets 515 may disposed on corner 560 and wall 570 . although the present invention and its advantages have been described in detail , it should be understood that various changes , substitutions and alterations may be made herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims . | 0 |
the several operating components of an identification camera system in accordance with the present invention are supported within a chassis housing generally designated in fig1 and 2 by the reference numeral 10 . the configuration of the chassis housing 10 is a rectangular parallelepiped to provide rectangular front and back walls 12 and 14 , respectively , spanned by a top wall 16 , end walls 18 and a bottom wall ( not shown ). the housing 10 is supported pivotally from end plate standards 20 upstanding from a pedestal base 22 . presented at the front wall 12 of the housing 10 , as shown in fig1 are an id camera objective lens 24 , a record camera objective lens 26 , a subject illuminating strobe lamp 28 , a strobe quench photocell 30 and an aim lamp 32 . the aim lamp 32 is conventionally employed in commercially available identification cameras and although not illustrated in the drawings , typically employs a lamp situated behind a focusing fresnel lens so that when the lamp is energized , a beam of light issuing therefrom may be positioned on the face of a subject to be photographed through the objective lenses 24 and 26 . the aim lamp 32 is positioned behind a door 34 pivotally mounted in the front wall 12 of the housing 10 for access to replace bulbs . the rear wall 14 is formed with a vertically oriented channel - shaped recess 36 for receiving a self - developing camera back 38 slidably mounted in ways 40 for movement between upper and lower positions in relation to the objective axis of the lens 24 . the camera back 38 is also conventionally employed in many commercially available id cameras and as such , is adapted to receive a film pack of self - developing film units of a size so that each film unit provides two identification cards . movement of the camera back 38 to one or the other of the upper and lower positions determines which half of each film unit is to record the identification card , it being understood that each film unit is withdrawn from the back 38 after processing of two identification cards . also positioned on the back wall 14 of the housing 10 is an indicator lamp bezel 42 , a record filmstrip door 43 , an aiming handle 44 , an initialization keylock 46 and a data carrier tray 48 . while the function of the initialization keylock 46 and data carrier tray 48 will be described in more detail below , it will be noted that the aiming handle 44 carries at its upper end , a pushbutton 50 for actuation of the strobe lamp 28 and shutters ( not shown ) associated with the objective lenses 24 and 26 to expose id and record film planes ( to be described ) to a portrait image of the subject of an identification card . in fig3 of the drawings , the rear face of a front chassis plate 52 contained within the housing 10 is shown with the relative positions of the objective lenses 24 and 26 , the strobe lamp 28 and the id camera back 38 depicted in outline by phantom lines . a recording camera 54 is supported from the wall 52 behind the objective lens 26 and , as shown in fig3 includes supply and takeup spools 56 and 58 , respectively , for feeding a record filmstrip 60 incrementally in frame - by - frame fashion to the axis of the lens 26 . the record filmstrip 60 is preferably 16 mm film and may be of a type conventionally employed in motion picture cameras . optical components supported from the chassis plate 52 and by which light directed from the upper surface of the data carrier tray 48 is presented as an image at the film planes 62 and 64 ( fig4 ) of the camera back 38 and record camera 54 , respectively , an shown in fig3 and 4 to include for the id camera film plane 62 , a first moveable mirror 66 , an id data imaging lens unit 68 , and a second moveable mirror 70 positioned between the film plane 62 of the id camera back 38 and the objective lens 24 . as shown in fig3 the first moveable mirror 66 is mounted on a bracket 72 pivotally supported at its lower end by a pintel 74 secured in the chassis plate 52 for movement between an operative position as shown in solid lines in fig3 and an inoperative displaced position depicted in phantom lines . the bracket 72 extends forwardly of the mirror 66 at its upper end to support a shade or mask 76 depending from a pivotal support 78 on the bracket 72 freely so as to assume the position shown in solid lines in fig3 under the influence solely of gravity . when the bracket 72 is moved to its displaced position as represented by phantom lines in fig3 the shade 76 will overlie the mirror 66 to inhibit reflection of stray light . the lens unit 68 is supported from a bracket 80 adapted to be adjustably fixed against the rear surface of the chassis plate 52 by appropriate means ( not shown ). in addition to supporting an imaging lens 82 , the unit 68 supports a polarized filter 84 oriented on a predetermined axis of polarization to be described in more detail below . in light of the organization of mirrors 66 and 70 together with the lens unit 68 , it will be appreciated that light reflected from the top of the data carrier tray 48 will proceed along the dashed lines in fig3 and 4 to present an image of the top surface of the tray 48 at the film plane 62 of the id camera back 38 . an image of the top of the tray 48 is presented to the film plane 64 of the record camera 54 by an optical path including first , second and third fixed mirrors 86 , 88 and 90 , respectively . while the mirrors 86 , 88 and 90 are characterized as fixed , they are supported respectively from brackets 92 , 94 and 96 so that they may be adjusted to the fixed position in which they are oriented in operation of the system . the optical path between the top of the data carrier tray 48 and the film plane 64 of the record camera 54 further includes a data imaging record lens unit 98 supported by bracket 100 to be adjustably positioned on the back of the chassis plate 52 . the image formed by the lens unit 98 is presented to the record camera film plane 64 by a third moveable mirror 102 supported between the lens 26 and the film plane 64 . the system of optical paths to the respective film planes 62 and 64 is shown most clearly in fig4 in which a data carrier in the form of a rectangular card 104 , adapted to be supported at the top of the carrier tray 48 , is shown in solid line form . the fields of view presented to the id film plane 62 and to the record film plane 64 are represented respectively by dashed and dash / dot rectangles superimposed on the card 104 . as described above , therefore , an image of a field 106 , representing an area substantially the same as or smaller than the card 104 , is presented to the id film plane 62 by the lens 82 upon reflection of light rays directed from the card to the mirror 66 , through the lens 82 and the second moveable mirror 70 . movement of the second moveable mirror 70 to the phantom line position illustrated in fig4 permits an image of a subject ( not shown ) aligned with the axis 108 of the lens 24 to be presented also to the id film plane 62 . it will be noted that a second polarized filter 109 is located on the axis behind the lens 24 . also , the polarization axis of the filter 109 is perpendicular to the polarization axis of the filter 84 . with the first moveable mirror 66 pivoted to its displaced position as represented by phantom lines in fig4 a record field 110 is presented to the record film plane 64 by light directed from the field 110 successively to the fixed mirrors 86 , 88 and 90 , through the lens 98 to the third moveable mirror 102 and to the film plane 64 . with the mirror 102 moved to the phantom line position , the image of the subject on the axis 112 of the record objective lens 26 will be presented also to the record image plane 64 . an exemplary embodiment of a support for the second moveable mirror 70 is illustrated in fig5 and 6 of the drawings . in these figures , the chassis plate 52 is again shown in part and further , as being spaced forwardly of a filmpack mask 114 having a rectangular opening 116 . also , it will be noted that the chassis plate is provided with an opening 118 which , like the opening 116 , is aligned on the axis 108 of the id objective lens 24 . the mirror 70 is supported from a cast bracket 120 having a pair of circular bushings 122 adapted to slidably receive a pair of parallel vertical rods 124 . the rods are anchored at their base in a support bracket 126 and at their upper ends in a support bracket 128 , both such brackets being secured to the back of the chassis plate 52 . though not illustrated in the drawings , it will be appreciated that this mounting arrangement for the mirror 70 facilitates its movement by means of a solenoid ( not shown ) or the like , as well as accurate positioning thereof , particularly in its operative lower position on the axis 108 . while details of the support for the third moveable mirror 102 for movement between an operative position on the record objective axis 112 and an inoperative elevated position are not shown in the drawings , it will be appreciated that this mirror may be supported similarly as the described support for the mirror 70 . also , either one or both of the mirrors 70 and 102 may be pivotally supported in the manner of conventional reflex mirrors though the support thereof on ways or equivalent is preferred from the standpoint of space conservation and absolute registration . the construction of the tray 48 and related chassis - supported components is illustrated most clearly in fig7 - 9 of the drawings . the tray structure includes a molded base 130 having front and rear edges 132 and 134 , as well as top and bottom surfaces 136 and 138 , respectively . a handle 140 is secured to the rear edge 134 whereas a generally u - shaped tray cap 142 is secured to the top surface 136 of the tray body 130 . also , as may be seen in fig7 and 8 , the tray cap projects forwardly of the front edge 132 of the base 130 . to the bottom surface 138 of the tray body 130 are secured a pair of guide bushings 144 and 146 for slidably engaging a guide rod 148 secured at opposite ends in the front chassis plate 52 and in a rear chassis plate 149 . in light of this organization , it will be appreciated that the tray 48 is permanently secured within the housing 10 but is moveable between an operative position as shown in fig7 - 9 and an inoperative or retracted position in which it is drawn outwardly from the rear wall 14 of the housing until the bushing 144 engages the rear chassis plate 149 . in the retracted position , a data carrier such as the data card 104 may be placed into and secured by the tray cover for presentation at the top surface of the tray body 130 . to this end , the tray cap is provided with an undercut lip 150 to engage the peripheral edges of a card placed thereinto . as shown in fig7 and 8 , the front left corner of the tray body 130 is provided with a forwardly opening recess 152 which extends rearwardly to a point beyond the front edge of a card 104 properly oriented in place on the tray 48 . the recess 152 defines a rearwardly and upwardly inclined ramp 154 for engagement by a follower component 156 on a switch s - 3 supported by a bracket 158 from the front chassis wall 52 . the card 104 will prevent closure of the switch s - 3 when properly positioned in the tray 48 . if a card is not present or if the card is not properly positioned by the tray cap 142 , movement of the tray 48 toward the front chassis plate 52 will result in closure of the switch s - 3 to indicate this abnormality . another switch s - 2 is supported from the front chassis plate 52 in a position to be engaged by the front edge 132 of the tray body 130 when the tray 48 is advanced fully into its operative position as shown in both fig7 and 9 of the drawings . as will be described in more detail below , the closure of the switch s - 2 initiates a data recording portion of the identification card cycle carried out by the system of the present invention . in fig1 , a source of illumination for the upper surface of the tray 48 is illustrated to include a data strobe lamp 160 secured by a bracket 162 to the front of the rear chassis plate 149 and reflecting mirror 164 supported by a bracket 165 from the rear of the front chassis plate 52 . the strobe lamp 160 is directed downwardly to the top surface of the tray 48 at an angle ranging from 30 ° to 45 ° to the vertical , whereas the reflecting surface of the mirror 164 is oriented at between 15 ° and 20 ° to the vertical . as a result of this organization , light emitted from the strobe unit 160 and directed against the top of the tray 48 will be augmented by the reflection of light from the mirror 164 back to the top of the tray 48 . light originating with the strobe unit 160 will , of course , be the light from which the image of a data carrier supported by the tray is presented to both the id film plane 62 and the record film plane 64 as described above with reference to fig3 and 4 of the drawings . to facilitate an understanding of the manner in which the identification card system and method of the present invention is used in practice , reference is made to fig1 - 14 of the drawings which illustrate various data formats incident to such use . thus , in fig1 , an exemplary identification card 166 provided by the invention is illustrated as including three basic types of information ; namely , ( 1 ) the designation of the identification card issuing agency such as the name of the state 168 and other authority indicating indicia such as a seal 170 , ( 2 ) a portrait 172 of the subject to whom the identification card 166 applies , and ( 3 ) identification data applicable to the subject which may include a photograph of the applicant &# 39 ; s signature . the identification card 166 , in itself , predates the present invention and may be formed using a conventional identification camera system equipped with an optical system for simultaneously or sequentially exposing a film unit of the type carried in the film back 38 to an appropriate data card and to the subject . also , such conventional identification card cameras employ a polarizing plate 174 shown in fig1 to include an orthogonally polarized layer 176 sandwiched between a pair of transparent sheets or plates 178 and 180 . the polarizer plate 174 is located at the film plane of the id camera back 38 . the orthogonally polarized component 176 thereof cooperates with the polarized filters 84 and 109 ( fig4 ) so that the subject area of the portrait 172 and the data area for all other data on the identification card 166 and personal to the subject are mutually exclusive . in other words , imaging light passing from a data card to the film plane 62 is blocked from the area 172 reserved for the photograph of the subject on the ultimate card 166 and similarly , imaging light passing along the axis 108 from the subject of the portrait 172 is blocked or masked by the polarizing plate 174 from the other or data portions of the ultimate id card 166 . also , it will be noted that the polarizing plate 174 is customized or validated by supporting on the sheet 180 thereof , indicia to be received on the card 166 and all others like it . in particular , the designation of the card authorizing agency such as the name of the state 168 , as well as the state seal 170 , are incorporated in the polarizer as a mask to provide an image thereof on the identification card 166 . as such , the plate 174 functions as a &# 34 ; validation plate &# 34 ; and will be referred to as such in microprocessor flow charts illustrated in the drawings . further , the plate 174 is moveable by means ( not shown ) between a &# 34 ; pulled in &# 34 ; position to lie in the film plane 62 and a &# 34 ; released &# 34 ; position spaced from the film plane 62 . the released position of the plate allows film units in the back 38 to be pulled therefrom without deleterious contact by the plate 174 . the data carrier or card 104 used with the present invention is illustrated in fig1 to include the identification data and signature to be received on the card 166 . this data on the card 104 , referred to herein as &# 34 ; card data &# 34 ;, will lie within the field of view of the id camera back 38 as represented in fig1 by the dashed line 106 . in addition to the information to be received on the identification card 166 , the data card 104 preferably includes an area 182 for &# 34 ; in - house data &# 34 ;. such data may be typed or otherwise provided on the data card 104 but is intended for administrative purposes only and not to be included on the identification card 166 . to this end , the area 182 lies outside the field 106 of the id camera back 38 . also on the data card 104 is a fingerprint 184 of the subject to whom the identification card 166 is to be issued . the fingerprint is located in an area masked from reproduction on the identification card 166 by the polarizer plate 174 as reserved for the portrait 172 of the subject . finally , a film record blip tab 186 is positioned to one side of the card 104 but within the field 110 of the record camera 54 . all such data presented to the record camera 54 is referred to herein as &# 34 ; record data &# 34 ; and as such , includes the previously described &# 34 ; card data &# 34 ;. in the operation of the system , the recording of each identification card will involve two consecutive frames on the filmstrip 60 in the record camera 54 . in other words , the full quantum of record data falling within the field 110 in fig1 is duplicated on alternate frames 188 of the filmstrip 60 with intermediate frames 190 reserved for a portrait of the subject . the presence of a blip 186 &# 39 ; between portrait and data frames serves to identify the information relevant to a single identification card 166 . the blip tab 186 which results in the blip 186 &# 39 ; adjacent one side of each of the frames 188 on the record filmstrip 60 is provided by an apparatus incorporated in the system of the invention principally for purposes of security and indexing . as shown in fig7 and 16 of the drawings , the blip tab 186 is represented by a stippled area on one of two tabs 192 and 194 projecting from a base 196 extending between the front and rear chassis walls 52 and 148 , respectively . the base 196 is pivoted in the front chassis wall 52 by a pintel 198 and is secured for rotation with keyed components of the lock 46 secured in the rear chassis wall 148 . a key 202 for the lock 46 is presented at the rear of the housing 10 adjacent the opening for the tray 48 as may be seen in fig2 , 15 and 16 . by manipulation of the key 202 , the tabs 192 and 194 may be positioned in either of the two positions illustrated in fig1 and 16 of the drawings . thus , in fig1 of the drawings , the tabs 192 and 194 are located over the top of the data tray 48 , whereas in fig1 , the tabs are pivoted to a vertical position displaced from the tray 48 . the tray cap is provided with a stippled area 204 which underlies the tab 194 when the tabs are pivoted to the down position shown in fig1 and with the data tray in its inward and operative position . thus , the stippled area 204 will be presented to the film plane 64 of the record camera when the tabs are displaced from the tray 48 and will be covered by the tab 194 when the blip area 186 overlies the tray 48 . the system of the invention is initialized by supervisory personnel having in his possession the key 202 and a supervisory data card ( not shown ). to so initialize the system , the supervisory person inserts the key into the lock 46 , turns the tabs 192 to their displaced position as shown in fig1 , inserts a supervisory data card into the tray 48 and pushes the tray inward to expose a frame 205 on the record filmstrip 60 to the supervisory data card . the supervisory data card may include such information as identification of the supervisory person , the location of the system as well as other such information as the date of operation and the like . after the frame 205 on the record filmstrip 60 is exposed , the key 202 is turned to position the tabs 192 and 194 in the position shown in fig1 . the key 202 is withdrawn and the system is now initialized or ready for a period of operation by regular operators . after operation to provide the record strip 60 with alternate data and portrait frames 188 and 190 as described above with reference to fig1 , each pair of data and portrait frames having a blip 186 &# 39 ; on one side of the filmstrip 60 , the supervisory person closes out a day or other selected period of operation by again inserting his or her supervisory data card into the tray 48 and exposing a closing frame 206 on the record filmstrip 60 . both the initializing frame 205 and the closing frame 206 will be provided with a blip 208 located on the opposite side of the filmstrip 60 from the identification card blips 186 &# 39 ;. as a result of the initialization system , therefore , a complete record of use of the identification camera system is provided as well as an indication of participation by select supervisory personnel . a significant further measure of security is provided in the overall system of the present invention as a result of automated operation initiated by minimal action on the part of the operator . to facilitate an understanding of the automated operation , the following table identifies the various switches incorporated in the system and the function performed by each switch . ______________________________________index of switches______________________________________s - p main power switchs - 1 system lock - initialized / not initializeds - 2 data carrier tray 48 - closed / opens - 3 card 104 - present / not presents - 4 first moveable mirror 66 - operative / displaceds - 5 id mirror 70 - in position / not in positions - 6 filmpack present / not presents - 7 film back 38 - up / downs - 8 film pulled / not pulleds - 9 film door 43 closed ( micro - film ) s - 10 third moveable mirror 102 - in position / not in positions - 11 exposure light at record film plane 64 - adequate / not adequates - 12 record film supply adequate / lows - 13 record film wind / no winds - 14 portrait button 50 - actuated / not actuateds - 15 validation plate 174 pulled in / releaseds - 16 interrupts power when aim light door 34 is open______________________________________ while several of the switches such as s - 2 and s - 3 which have been identified previously are in the nature of electromechanical switches , others may be in the nature of diodes or other purely electronic switching devices . also , such switches as s - p and s - 14 are manually activated switches . operation of various moveable components will involve motors such as solenoids or the like by which the respective components are moved on signals generated originally by switches . thus , the following table provides a listing of motors and functions performed by each motor . ______________________________________index of motors______________________________________m - 1 moves first moveable mirror 66m - 2 moves second moveable mirror 70m - 3 moves third moveable mirror 102m - 4 activates id camera shutterm - 5 activates record camera shut - term - 6 activates record camera film advancem - 7 activates validation plate______________________________________ from the index of motors it will be appreciated that each of the identified components may be actuated between the positions previously mentioned . in fig1 of the drawings , the lamp bezel 42 on the back of the housing 10 and previously described with reference to fig2 is shown in substantially greater detail . each of the legends provided on the bezel 42 is situated to cover a lamp , specifically an led ( not shown ), but which may be designated both by reference to the information provided by the illumination of such lamp and by color of each lamp . with respect to color , red lamps are used for the legends &# 34 ; wait &# 34 ;, &# 34 ; check microfilm &# 34 ; and &# 34 ; start - up required &# 34 ; and , as such , are designated r - 1 , r - 2 and r - 3 , respectively , in fig1 ( and in fig1 ). a green lamp ( or led ) g - 1 illuminates the &# 34 ; ready take face &# 34 ; legend on the bezel 42 and may be operated in a steady mode when the system is ready for operation in general , or in a flashing mode when the operator is instructed to depress the portrait button 58 . all other legends on the bezel 42 are illuminated by amber lights designated a - 1 , a - 2 , a - 3 , a - 4 and a - 5 , respectively . in fig1 of the drawings , the system logic is illustrated in which a logic unit 210 operates in response to signal indications from the several switches indicated to either actuate the motors m - 1 through m - 7 or to illuminate the lamps identified above with respect to fig1 . in addition , the logic unit 210 will actuate the respective strobe lamps 28 and 160 . operation of the system may be understood by reference to fig2 - 24 which represent , respectively five separate processes identified by the initial legend on each flow chart . fig2 and 21 illustrate the main processing programs by which the system is controlled and monitored as will be described . on closing the power switch s - p , however , the system will systematically go to the initialize process depicted in fig2 of the drawings . in the initialize process , the system is operable only by a supervisory person to whom a key for the lock 46 is provided together with a supervisor data card receivable in the tray 48 . this process can be completed only after a frame 204 on the record film 60 is exposed to the supervisory data card and the key 202 withdrawn from the lock 46 . upon completion of the supervisory program , the microprocessor will proceed directly to the main license process illustrated in fig2 a and 20b . while the respective processes illustrated in fig2 a and 20b , as well as those illustrated in fig2 - 24 , will be appreciated by those skilled in the microprocessor art , it is to be noted that the respective processes function in parallel to maximize the security of the system . to illustrate this feature , it will be understood from the previous description that operator action to begin an identification card cycle involves first the insertion of a data card into the tray 48 and pushing the tray 48 in to actuate the switch s - 2 . once the data card is in place , the highest order of priority , with respect to operative steps , is the recording of the data card on a frame of the record film 60 . while the system is operating under the license program to move the mirrors 70 and 102 to a down or data position , for example , the parallel process # 2 will be monitoring the tray and will abort the procedure in the event the tray is moved in any way . similarly , once the procedure has reached the point where the portrait actuating button 50 may be depressed to record a portrait of a subject on the identification card , it is important that no tampering of the back 38 occurs such as movement of the back , withdrawing a film from the back or the like . hence , any movement or tampering of the back is completely monitored during the critical time when the microprocessor is directing various functions in the performance of the license process . in addition to the measure of security provided by the parallel processes , it will be noted that a system aborts to an unconditional exit from all processes upon occurrences of malfunctions in any part of the system . on the occurrence of each abort command , a supervisory personnel is required to re - initialize the system . in the alternative embodiment illustrated in fig2 and 26 of the drawings , an alternative system of optical paths is shown for presenting data to the respective recording and id film planes with the mirrors 70 and 102 in a down or data position . in this embodiment , a substantial portion of the written information which appears on the identification card is presented by a cathode - ray tube crt , whereas a data card tray 48 &# 39 ; is employed solely for presenting such information as a signature or fingerprint to the respective film planes . thus , in fig2 , the respective paths of light emanating from the crt to the two film planes are represented again by dashed and dash - dot lines . a pivotal mirror 66 &# 39 ; is again employed and is moveable between the two positions illustrated in fig2 to expose , respectively , the id and record camera film planes . in fig2 , the optical path for presenting the fingerprint and signature supported on the data tray 48 &# 39 ; is shown to include a pair of fixed mirrors 220 and 222 and a pair of pivotal mirrors 224 and 226 . thus , the optical path from the card 48 &# 39 ; to the mirror 70 of the id camera requires movement of the mirror 224 to the phantom line position illustrated in fig6 and positioning of a pivotal mirror 226 as shown . an optical path to the mirror 102 of the recording camera is effected by moving the mirror 224 to the inclined solid - line position shown in fig2 . thus , it will be appreciated that as a result of the present invention , a highly effective identification card system is provided by which the principal objective , among others , is completely fulfilled . it is contemplated , and will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the preceding description and accompanying drawings , that modifications and / or changes may be made in the illustrated embodiments without departure from the present invention . accordingly , it is expressly intended that the foregoing description and accompanying drawings are illustrative of preferred embodiments only , not limiting , and that the true spirit and scope of the present invention be determined by reference to the appended claims . | 6 |
referring to the drawing figures in greater detail , and fig1 - 4 in particular , a shelf assembly 40 according to the present invention comprises a generally planar shelf panel 42 , support brackets 44 and 46 , and a one piece member or encapsulating cover 48 preferably formed from a moldable material as explained below . member 48 encapsulates a perimeter edge 56 of panel 42 and a substantial majority of the brackets 44 , 46 . shelf assembly 40 is preferably cantilevered forward by brackets 44 and 46 from a generally vertical surface , such as the rear wall of a refrigerator , for example . shelf assembly 40 may also be adapted for other support structures , such as a sidewall for example . shelf assembly 40 is preferably sized to provide air circulation space between the shelf assembly and adjacent vertical surfaces of the refrigerator for proper circulation . shelf panel 42 may be any suitable shelving material , including a light transmitting material , for example , and is preferably about 0 . 130 inch ( 3 . 3 mm ) thick , optically clear tempered glass to enhance light distribution through a refrigerated compartment . perimeter edge 56 of shelf panel 42 is preferably located above brackets 44 and 46 at two opposing sides of shelf assembly 40 . brackets 44 and 46 are mirror image replicas of one another and are uniformly incorporated in shelf assembly 40 . thus , bracket 44 will be discussed in greater detail with the understanding that the discussion applies equally to bracket 46 . as shown in fig4 a flange portion 60 projects inwardly at a top edge of a generally vertical web portion 64 of bracket 44 . flange 60 is provided with two indexing apertures 66 and a series of fastening holes 68 ( fig3 and 23 ) to mechanically connect bracket 44 with one piece member or encapsulating cover 48 ( fig3 - 6 ), as will be discussed in greater detail below . web 64 is also provided with two indexing apertures 70 and several molding holes 72 ( fig3 and 23 ). support bracket 44 may be fabricated of conventional materials by conventional methods as is well known for adjustable shelving brackets . for a refrigerator environment , bracket 44 is most preferably about fourteen gage ( 0 . 0781 inch , 1 . 98 mm ) steel with a powder coat finish . one such finishing product which performs well and is readily available , is commonly known as herberts epoxy polyester 071 - 30 - 06 white , available from herberts powder coatings , inc . of hilliard , ohio . while shelf assembly 40 may be used as a fixed shelf , shelf assembly 40 is preferably used as a vertically adjustable shelf . therefore , bracket 44 is provided with a support body portion 74 and a support mount portion 76 ( fig3 ). support mount 76 is adapted for releasable engagement at a plurality of vertically spaced positions with a support surface as may be provided by adjustable shelf tracks 78 ( fig1 ), as is commonly practiced . thus , support mount 76 is preferably formed with hooks 80 to engage rungs 82 in tracks 78 ( fig1 and 3 ). shelf assembly 40 may , thereby , be positioned at a plurality of vertically spaced locations along tracks 78 . encapsulating cover 48 is most preferably formed in one piece around perimeter edge 56 of panel 42 and around at least a significant majority of the brackets 44 , 46 , namely , support body portion 74 for tight connection of panel 42 with the brackets . one piece member 48 is formed from any suitable moldable material , including , but not limited to , structural , resinous plastics such as abs , polyvinyl chloride , or copolymers , such as a combination of ethylene and polypropylene , for example . one readily available material which performs well and meets fda regulations for food packaging applications is tenite ® polypropylene p5m4k - 007 , available from eastman chemical products , inc ., a marketing affiliate of eastman kodak company . a coloration pigment may be added to the moldable material from which one piece member 48 is formed in order to provide desired colors . titanium dioxide may be added for a white coloration for example . in a refrigerator shelf application of the invention , the materials used must , of course , be fda approved for food contact . in the embodiment shown , one piece member 48 encapsulates perimeter edge 56 , forming a rim 86 , and encapsulates support body portion 74 , except for small areas around the flange and web indexing apertures 66 and 70 , respectively , with an about 0 . 0787 inch ( 2 mm ) thick sheathing ( fig1 - 6 ). support mount 76 is not encapsulated by member 48 , but remains uncovered to engage and releasably couple with the adjustable shelf tracks 78 , which are commonly used for adjustable shelving . thus , member 48 encapsulates a significant majority of the brackets 44 , 46 , but does not entirely encapsulate the brackets . portions not encapsulated include support mount 76 ; a first recess 90 , and a second recess 92 , each provided in member 48 at each web indexing aperture 70 ; and an index recess 94 , provided at each flange indexing aperture 66 ( fig5 ). the first and second recesses 90 , 92 align with web indexing aperture 70 to define a fastening aperture 96 through shelf support bracket 44 . shelf assembly 40 further includes a plug 100 which comprises a post 102 with a head 104 and shaft 106 and a cooperating nut 108 ( fig4 , and 11 ). as will be explained below , post 102 and nut 108 are useful in forming member 48 around the brackets 44 , 46 . post shaft 106 extends through a web indexing aperture 70 with post head 104 positioned to abut one side of bracket web 64 . cooperating nut 108 is formed with an aperture 110 to receive post shaft 106 . nut 108 is mounted on post shaft 106 with the nut abutting bracket web 64 on a side opposite post head 104 . nut 108 may be an annular member and may optionally be formed with a skirt portion 112 as shown in the embodiment of the drawing figures , with skirt portion 112 extending into web indexing aperture 70 , between bracket web 64 and post shaft 106 . post head 104 is seated in first recess 90 , defined in member 48 , while nut 108 is seated in second recess 92 , defined in member 48 . while plug 100 is shown in the drawing figures with post head 104 on the same side of bracket web 64 as bracket flange 60 and nut 108 is shown on a side of bracket web 64 opposite to bracket flange 60 , the respective positions of post head 104 and nut 108 may , of course , be interchanged , as will occur to those who are skilled in the art and to those who practice the invention . similar to member 48 , plug 100 may be formed from any suitable moldable material , including , but not limited to , structural , resinous plastics such as abs polyvinyl chloride , or copolymers , for example , as discussed more particularly above . depending upon the characteristics desired , plug 100 may be formed of the same material as member 48 or may be formed of a material having contrasting properties to those of the material for member 48 , such as having a higher or lower temperature melting point for example . the inventors have specifically found an acetal resin thermoplastic marketed under the trademark delrin ™ by el du pont de nemours & amp ; company to perform satisfactorily for plugs 100 . by the choice of material of plug 100 relative to the material for member 48 , plug 100 may be fused or effectively welded with member 48 or plug 100 may be removable from member 48 and either of support brackets 44 and 46 to reveal fastening apertures 96 so a storage device , for example , may be attached to the support bracket , such as a slide rail or guide 120 ( fig6 ) as disclosed in commonly assigned u . s . pat . no . 5 , 273 , 354 , entitled molded refrigerated shelf and support bracket and issued on dec . 28 , 1993 , to herrmann et al ., the disclosure of which is incorporated here by reference . slide guide 120 may be attached by use of screws or bolts 122 at two spaced positions along the length of web 64 as specifically shown in fig6 by riveting , or by engagement of a fastening prong which extends into fastening aperture 96 from slide guide 120 or the like as are commonly known for mounting or assembling shelving components . as discussed above , one piece member 48 encapsulates perimeter edge 56 of panel 42 with a rim 86 ( fig1 - 6 ). rim 86 is most preferably a perimeter rim which surrounds perimeter edge 56 and extends above a top surface of shelf panel 42 to define a spill dam and contain spills disposed upon shelf panel 42 as disclosed in commonly assigned u . s . pat . no . 5 , 362 , 145 , entitled molded refrigerator shelf , the disclosure of which is incorporated here by reference . by molding rim 86 about perimeter edge 56 , a liquid resistant seal is created between shelf panel 42 and rim 86 to minimize , if not entirely preclude , seepage of spills between shelf panel 42 and rim 86 . depending upon the specific material used to form one piece member 48 and rim 86 , the seal may be enhanced by coating perimeter edge 56 , including the edge surface and adjoining portions of the top and bottom surfaces of shelf panel 42 , with a primer layer of a cooperating , heat activable material or the like which promotes and facilitates adhesion of rim 56 to shelf panel 42 , prior to forming rim 86 about perimeter edge 56 . additional storage device attachment may be provided by forming at least one front receptacle 126 in rim 86 at a front edge 234 of shelf panel 42 and at least one cooperating back receptacle 128 in rim 86 at a back edge 236 of shelf panel 42 ( fig1 and 7 ) as disclosed in greater detail in commonly assigned u . s . pat . no . 5 , 403 , 084 , entitled molded refrigerator shelf with snap - in slide and the disclosure of which is incorporated here by reference . in production , shelf assembly 40 may conveniently be molded in a mold 140 incorporating the features disclosed in fig8 - 15 and discussed below . referring more particularly to fig8 and 9 , mold 140 generally includes a first or lower mold half 142 and a second or upper mold half 144 . in a closed position , with first or lower mold half 142 abutting second or upper mold half 144 , mold 140 forms a mold cavity 180 which defines the configuration of the encapsulating cover or sheathing of shelf assembly 40 , generally discussed here as one piece member 48 , including rim 86 ( fig8 , 13 , and 14 ). shelf panel 42 is positioned in mold 140 to extend at least partially into mold cavity 180 . those who are skilled in the art , those who practice the invention , and those who otherwise have some familiarity with molding production technology will realize that , while some materials ( including metals and some plastics , for example ) suitable for shelf panel 42 may absorb significant compressive loads when clamped in mold 140 , other materials ( such as glass , for example ) will accommodate only limited clamping loads in mold 140 . thus , mold 140 should be adapted to the particular material of shelf panel 42 as is well known in the molding industry . as mentioned above , shelf assembly 40 may optionally be provided with front and back slide guide receptacles 126 and 128 ( fig7 ), respectively , for installation of a slide guide 120 as is discussed further in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 403 , 084 , referenced above . thus , mold half 142 may be provided with recesses or core beds 182 ( fig9 and 14 ) to receive sliding cores 184 to form the front slide guide receptacle 126 and back slide guide receptacle 128 , in front and back portions of perimeter rim 86 , respectively . further , actuating cylinders 186 may be mounted on mold first half 142 with piston rods 188 extending through mold first half 142 into core beds 182 to couple in sliding engagement with sliding cores 184 to position sliding cores 184 . each sliding core 184 is positioned on and connected with mold half 142 by a cap bolt 190 ( fig9 , and 15 ) or the like , and is provided with an elongated fastening slot 192 having a shoulder 194 so the core 184 is slidable in core bed 182 and held in the core bed by bolt 190 . each of shelf support brackets 44 and 46 is provided with a pair of plugs 100 , mounted in the two web indexing apertures 70 ( fig9 - 13 ). mold 140 is opened by separating first half 142 and second half 144 so support brackets 44 and 46 may be positioned on mold first half 142 by manual or automated means , with flange indexing apertures 66 coupling with cooperating indexing pins 204 . each of shelf support brackets 44 and 46 is most preferably fabricated of a magnetic material and may , therefore , be held in place on mold first half 142 by a rare earth magnet 205 ( fig9 ) embedded in first half 142 as is commonly practiced and known in the molding industry . after the shelf support brackets 44 and 46 are positioned in the mold , or simultaneous to their positioning , shelf panel 42 is also positioned in mold first half 142 by manual or automated means , and may be held in mold 140 by conventional methods . with the shelf support brackets 44 , 46 and shelf panel 42 positioned on mold first half 142 , mold 140 is closed by firmly abutting first half 142 and second half 144 together . sliding cores 184 are preferably pulled outward into a molding position by cylinders 186 prior to placing shelf panel 42 but are so positioned at least prior to actual molding . second half 144 is also provided with actuating cylinders 206 ( fig8 and 9 ) to manipulate a slide 208 and firmly clamp support mount portion 76 of each of shelf support brackets 44 and 46 between slide 208 and mold first half 142 after mold 140 is closed or simultaneous with closing . with mold 140 closed and shelf support brackets 44 and 46 secured , the moldable material to form the encapsulating cover or sheathing and perimeter rim 86 of one piece member 48 is injected into mold cavity 180 by machinery and passageways through mold 140 which are commonly known and understood in the plastic molding industry . as the moldable material forming one piece member 48 enters mold cavity 180 and flows through the mold cavity , the material flows around perimeter edge 56 of shelf panel 42 , flows around portions of sliding cores 184 which extend into mold cavity 180 , and flows around shelf support brackets 44 and 46 until mold cavity 180 is filled with the moldable material . the moldable material also flows through flange fastening holes 68 ( fig1 ) and web molding holes 72 to make a secure mechanical connection between one piece member 48 and shelf support brackets 44 and 46 . without the presence of plugs 100 ( fig1 ), the flow of the moldable material around the support brackets 44 and 46 may deflect the brackets causing them to twist out of position . however , with plugs 100 in place , shelf support brackets 44 and 46 are tightly clamped and securely positioned between plug post head 104 and nut 108 , which in turn are clamped between mold first half 142 and second half 144 . after the moldable material forming one piece member 48 is allowed to set - up , harden , and cool , mold 140 is opened . cylinders 186 are activated concurrent with opening mold 140 cylinders 186 are activated to slide sliding cores 184 inward and clear of mold cavity 180 and newly formed perimeter rim 86 . once mold 140 opens , shelf assembly 40 is removed from the mold . in production and as is also well known in the molding industry , mold 140 will be provided with means for cooling and heating such as a water circulation system , to initially heat the mold to a desired steady state operating temperature prior to starting a production run and to maintain the mold at that desired production temperature throughout the duration of the production run of shelf assembly 40 . thus , depending on a number of production factors , including ambient temperature and the cycling time of mold 140 , for example , the mold may require supplemental heating or cooling throughout the production run to maintain the desired production temperature . shelf assembly 40 may be a relatively narrower shelf assembly for use in the relatively narrower compartments of a side - by - side refrigerator or as a partial width shelf in a compartment of a top or a bottom mount refrigerator as is disclosed in greater detail in commonly assigned u . s . pat . no . 5 , 454 , 638 , entitled adjustable refrigerator shelving and the disclosure of which is incorporated here by reference . shelf assembly 40 may also be a relatively wider shelf assembly as is more specifically shown in fig1 as an elongated shelf assembly 230 , provided according to this invention for a full width shelf in a top or a bottom mount refrigerator or the like . because of the extended width of shelf assembly 230 , anti - sagging reinforcement may be included . thus , shelf assembly 230 may further be provided with a stiffening channel 232 ( fig1 and 18 ) wrapped around at least a front edge 234 of shelf panel 42 . stiffening channel 232 may be extruded from 1018 cold - rolled steel or otherwise formed to create an elongated , open - sided channel member , sized to snugly slip - fit over the front edge 234 of shelf panel 42 . while stiffening channel 234 is depicted in the drawing figures with a stylized &# 34 ; g &# 34 ; section or profile , those who are skilled in the art and those who practice the invention will appreciate the fact that numerous alternative profiles , including , but not limited to , &# 34 ; e &# 34 ;, &# 34 ; f &# 34 ;, and &# 34 ; s &# 34 ; or &# 34 ; z &# 34 ; shapes , for example , may be used to develop the required greater section modulous along the front edge 234 of shelf panel 42 to resist vertical loading deflection and , ultimately , fracture or failure . they will also appreciate that stiffening channel 232 may be formed of various , readily available structural materials , including , plastics as well as metals , for example , and may be formed by various , readily available methods . to minimize potential corrosion of stiffening channel 232 , the channel is most preferably e - coated according to common automotive industry finishing standards , including the process of an ionized washed steel step , a zinc phosphate dip , electrostatic painting , and curing or baking at about three hundred eighty to four hundred ten degrees fahrenheit . a stiffening channel 232 may also be provided along a back edge 236 of shelf panel 42 . however , a center support bracket 240 ( fig1 and 19 - 22 ) is preferably provided instead . bracket 240 may be conveniently formed from two symmetrical or mirror image pieces stamped from sixteen gage steel and spot welded together , for example . for refrigerator shelving use , bracket 240 may typically be provided with a white powder - coat finish as discussed in greater detail above regarding shelf support brackets 44 and 46 . bracket 240 has a body portion 242 which extends rearward to a double hook arrangement 244 to mate with a two row adjustable shelf track 78 or the like , commonly found as a center of three shelf tracks provided in contemporary top or bottom mount refrigerators . of course , the configuration of bracket 240 in consideration of releasable engagement with an adjustable shelf track will be dictated by the particular shelving arrangement and , specifically , the shelf track with which bracket 240 will releasably couple . in front elevation , bracket 240 presents a general t - shape with a pair of opposing flanges 246 extending from a top edge of the body portion 242 or web portion . each flange 246 is provided with a locking device , such as a barb 248 , for example , to resist withdrawal of bracket 240 from the molded rim 86 of shelf assembly 230 after assembly of bracket 240 with shelf assembly 230 . a cooperating downward and rearward opening bracket slot 250 ( fig1 and 20 ) is provided in rim 86 and generally centered along back edge 236 of shelf assembly 230 . bracket slot 250 has a cooperating main slot or horizontal portion 252 oriented generally parallel to shelf panel 42 and spaced vertically below the shelf panel to receive flanges 246 . horizontal slot 252 opens to the back of shelf assembly 230 and is sized for force - fit engagement with flanges 246 to assure that the locking device of bracket 240 , namely , barbs 248 in the embodiment shown , is effective in securing bracket 240 and resisting disassembly . bracket slot 250 also has a stem portion 254 extending and opening generally downward from horizontal slot 252 to accept the web or body 242 of bracket 240 when flanges 246 engage and seat in horizontal slot 252 . in alternative molding of shelf assembly 40 , mold stand - offs 260 which project into mold cavity 180 may be provided to abut web 64 of shelf support bracket 44 ( fig2 ) in combination with the use of plug post 102 , without plug nut 108 , to index and secure shelf support bracket 44 . the shaft 106 of post 102 may extend full length as discussed above and shown in fig2 to provide a fastening aperture through one piece member 48 and shelf support bracket 44 . alternatively , post shaft 106 may be shortened to only extend into web indexing aperture 70 , resulting in a shelf assembly as depicted in fig2 and 24 . of course , those skilled in the art and those who practice the invention will realize that the relative positions of plug post 102 and mold stop 260 may be interchanged as shown in fig2 , depending upon the specific configuration desired and application of the shelf assembly intended . the post 102 of fig2 may also be replaced with a draw pin as is known in the molding field , to index and space bracket 44 . it will further be appreciated that flange index pins 204 may be modified to accept another post 102 to mold a shelf assembly according to the invention in a configuration similar to that shown in fig2 and 28 . in such case , cylindrical tubes or sleeves 270 are substituted for index pins 204 , while posts 102 are fitted in indexing apertures 66 of support flange 60 with enlarged heads 104 forming spacers engaging and separating edge 56 of panel 42 and the top surface of flange 60 . the shafts 106 of posts 102 project into sleeves 270 to firmly position the bracket in the mold cavity . of course , posts 102 , when used in such manner , will remain permanently embedded within the shelf between panel 42 and the support bracket . it will otherwise be generally understood by those who practice the invention and by those skilled in the art , that various other modifications and improvements may be made to the invention without departing from the spirit of the disclosed concept . the scope of protection afforded is to be determined by the claims and by the breadth of interpretation allowed by law . | 1 |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.