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referring now to the figures of the drawings in detail and first , particularly , to fig1 thereof , there is seen a particle separator 1 with a metallic layer 3 and two depressions 12 ( undulations or corrugations which span the cross section ) each having a respective inspection or maintenance opening 8 with a respective passage 9 to an interior 11 of a housing 4 of the particle separator 1 . each inspection opening 8 is provided with a casing 10 . an inlet opening 5 and an outlet opening 6 of the housing 4 define a central axis 7 , with respect to which the metallic layer 3 is oriented substantially perpendicularly . fig2 shows a similar particle separator 1 with a metallic layer 3 having an undulating form or shape in the housing 4 , as viewed from the inlet opening 5 . it can be seen in this view that the inspection openings 8 are disposed in the depressions 12 . in this case , the metallic layer 3 or the depression 12 extends to the housing 4 and the passage 9 of the inspection opening 8 is disposed on a level with ( in the same cross - sectional plane perpendicular to the central axis 7 as ) the depression 12 . in this case , too , the inspection openings 8 are each formed with a casing 10 which forms the passage and which projects into the interior 11 of the housing 4 . it can likewise be seen in the illustration that the metallic layer 3 is positioned between two housing parts of the housing and is connected thereto by using a welded connection . due to the complex shape of the metallic layer 3 , there is also a resulting complex profile of the welded connection in the circumferential direction with respect to the housing 4 . in any case , a complete and sealed connection of the metallic layer 3 in the interior 11 of the housing 4 is realized in this way . fig3 shows a particle separator 1 in a side view , wherein again the inlet opening 5 and the outlet opening 6 define the central axis 7 of the housing 4 . in this embodiment , the metallic layer 3 forms a depression 12 , on the left - hand side , at which an inspection opening 8 is provided . a further inspection opening 8 is also provided on the right - hand side . in such a configuration , the left - hand inspection opening 8 may be used , for example , for suction extraction or blowing - out of accumulated particles in the depression 12 . the right - hand inspection opening 8 may likewise be used for suction extraction or blowing - out . it is also possible , during an inspection of the particle separator 1 , for an ( air ) flow through the left - hand inspection opening 8 to the right - hand inspection opening 8 or vice versa to be used to entrain the accumulated particles . it is the case in this embodiment , too , that the inspection openings 8 are formed with a separate casing 10 . during operation , the inspection openings 8 are each provided with a cover 24 , so that the inspection openings 8 are closed off and no exhaust gas can escape from the particle separator 1 . fig4 shows a particle separator 1 in a configuration which is turned on its side , in such a way that the inspection opening 8 extends from the outside into the housing 4 to a depression 12 of the metallic layer 3 and accumulated particles can escape autonomously through a through - hole 13 in the metallic layer 3 . furthermore , a pressure setting device 25 , with which various tasks can be performed , is provided on the casing 10 of the inspection opening 8 . firstly , the exhaust gas flowing through the inlet opening 5 along the central axis 7 in the direction of the outlet opening 6 cannot escape in the normal situation , but can , in the case of a laden particle separator 1 , prevent an undesired excess pressure in the exhaust line by effecting an excess - pressure opening of the pressure setting device 25 . furthermore , it is possible by using the pressure setting device 25 for a compressed - air line , for example for the cleaning of the particle separator 1 during maintenance , to be connected without additional pressure setting devices , and without the possibility of the metallic layer 3 being damaged by excessively high pressure . fig5 also shows a particle separator 1 which is disposed transversely with respect to the gravitational field , in such a way that the exhaust gas passes through the inlet opening 5 along the central axis 7 and through the metallic layer 3 in the direction of the outlet opening 6 . the inspection opening 8 , which projects into the interior 11 of the housing 4 at the depression 12 , discharges particles , which are retained by the metallic layer 3 in the depression 12 , through the through - hole 13 and through the casing 10 into a particle reservoir 14 . it is ensured in this way that the particle separator 1 or the metallic layer 3 always remains fully permeable to the exhaust gas flowing in through the inlet opening 5 . at the same time , however , it is also not possible for the exhaust gas to escape from the particle separator 1 into the environment . fig6 shows a motor vehicle 17 which has an internal combustion engine 2 , a particle separator 1 , a turbocharger 21 and optionally an exhaust - gas purification unit 26 . an exhaust system 18 is composed of an exhaust - gas line 19 and an exhaust - gas recirculation line 20 . the displacement of the internal combustion engine 2 is supplied , on the left - hand side in the illustration , with supercharged exhaust gas , and on the other side exhaust gas flows out again in a flow direction 23 . a turbocompressor of the turbocharger 21 is protected against any relatively large particles in the exhaust system 18 by the particle separator 1 in the exhaust - gas recirculation line 20 . the particles may originate , for example , from a ( partially ) ceramic exhaust - gas purification unit 26 through which the exhaust gas has flowed through previously . the particle separator 1 thus protects all subsequent components ( disposed downstream ) against relatively large particles from the internal combustion engine 2 and portions of the exhaust line 19 situated upstream of the particle separator 1 . such components are , in particular , the turbocharger 21 and / or other exhaust - gas purification units and / or the coolers 22 ( or heat exchangers ), in particular in the exhaust - gas recirculation line 20 . the internal combustion engine 2 and the displacements thereof are thus also protected against damage by relatively large particles . fig6 shows an arbitrary technically expedient configuration of the particle separator 1 and does not constitute any limitation with regard to the exact configuration of the particle separator 1 . fig7 shows a multi - ply version of a metallic layer 3 , wherein a first ply 28 and a second ply 29 are disposed in direct areal contact with one another ( shown therein partially as an exploded illustration ). the first ply 28 , which is initially impinged upon by a flow , has openings 15 with a width 16 that is several times smaller than a width 16 of openings 15 in the subsequent second ply 29 . therefore , ( only ) the first ply performs the function of particle separation , whereas the second ply 29 serves ( merely ) as a ( rear - side ) support or partial abutment for the first ply 28 . in any case , the metallic layer 3 ( or in this case the first ply 28 ) has openings 15 with a width 16 which lies in a range of from 0 . 05 to 0 . 25 mm . fig8 shows a particle separator 1 in a plan view , in which the metallic layer 3 is , for simplicity , shown with a structure which visually does not correspond to a possible undulation . fig8 shows merely one of many possibilities for the configuration of a cross section 27 of the housing 4 or of the inlet opening 5 . it is likewise possible for the inlet opening 5 and the outlet opening 6 to have shapes which differ from one another and / or from some other cross section 27 of the housing 4 . in this case , too , an inspection opening 8 with a cover 24 is shown on the right - hand side . the invention thus at least partially solves the technical problems highlighted in conjunction with the prior art . there has been proposed , in particular , a particle separator which can be kept in a functional state without being dismounted and / or automatically always remains fully permeable .
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referring to fig1 there is schematically illustrated a walker engaged in vigorous , aggressive walking , while holding in his or her hand a rhythm indicator and exerciser device 10 according to the present invention . in order to properly exercise the upper torso and , more particularly , the back , the chest , the shoulder and the arm muscles , and in order to establish proper balance and natural stride while engaging in aggressive walking , when the right leg , for example , is propelled forwardly the right arm is swung vigorously backward , pivoting around the shoulder , and the end of the backward swing of the arm corresponds substantially in real time to the end of the forward stroke of the right leg , and vice versa . each arm is therefore caused to be swung backward approximately to the limit permissible without undue strain and , subsequently and in synchronism with the motion of the legs , swung forward to at least a substantially horizontal position . by carrying a rhythm indicator and exerciser device 10 according to any one of the structures disclosed herein , and as illustrated at fig2 - 12 , an appropriate muted knocking sound is felt , rather than heard , by the walker at the end of the back swing of each arm , and again is felt , rather than heard , at the end of the forward swing of each arm . in this manner , at least two important results are achieved by the user of the invention . first , he or she is able to determine when sufficient swing of the arm has been achieved when an impact sound is dimly heard or felt at each end of the arm swing and , secondly , by proper synchronization of the impact muted sound heard , or impact shock felt , he or she is able to establish and maintain an appropriate rhythmic or cadence swinging of the arms coinciding appropriately with the cadence of the footsteps . as illustrated in detail in longitudinal section at fig2 each rhythm indicator and exerciser device 10 , in its simplest form , comprises a tubular cylindrical member 2 provided at each end with a stop member or closure wall 14 , a resilient cushion 15 being installed at each end of the tubular member 12 . the closure walls 14 prevent a weighted mass or metallic slug 16 , loosely disposed in the interior bore 18 of the tubular member 12 , from being thrown out of the tubular member 12 either by inertia or by gravity in any position of the tubular member . when the tubular member 12 , held in the hand of a person , is propelled in a direction along an arc of a circle and suddenly stopped , the weighted mass or slug 16 , by inertia , impacts against one of the resilient cushions 15 , and is caused to impact upon the other resilient cushion 15 as a result of the arm being swung in an opposite direction and of the sudden stopping of the motion of the arm . each time the weighted mass or slug 16 impacts upon a resilient cushion 15 , a somewhat muted knocking sound is emitted , and the impact is felt through the hand of the user indicating to the user that an appropriate amount of energy has been used for swinging the arm and that the motion of the arm has been stopped at the intended upward end of the swing arc . in the structure of fig2 the tubular member 12 is preferably metallic , although it may be made of a plastic material , and the end walls 14 are formed integrally by swaging the ends of the tubular member 12 , as shown at 19 , after cutting the tubular member to an appropriate length , introducing the weighted mass or slug 16 within the bore 18 in the tubular member 12 and disposing the resilient cushions 15 one at each end of the tubular member 12 . the ends of the tubular member 12 are swaged only to the appropriate amount necessary for holding the resilient cushions 15 , such that the end walls 14 are provided with an aperture 20 , preferably of a diameter less than the overall diameter of the weighted mass or slug 16 . the resilient cushions 15 are made of any appropriate rubber - like or elastomeric material , such as polypropylene and the like and are held in position under slight compression . preferably , the tubular member 12 has an outer diameter of about 25 mm to 50 mm , appropriate for enabling grasping the tubular member 12 in one hand , and has a length of , for example , 100 mm to 160 mm . whether made of metal or plastic , the tubular member 12 may be used as such or , preferably , it is disposed in a sleeve 22 , fig3 made of rubber or other convenient material such as polypropylene and the like provided on one side with indentations , as shown at 24 , to form a convenient , non - slipping hand grip . for the sake of convenience and for providing a good appearance a cap 25 , made of the same material as the grip sleeve 22 , is fastened on the other end of the tubular member 12 . although the sleeve 22 may be made of elastomeric material , it may be made of any convenient plastic material , even rigid plastic , as the elastomeric pads or cushions 15 provide appropriate absorption of the impact shocks at each end of the tubular member 12 . fig4 illustrates another example of structure for a rhythm indicator and exerciser device 10 according to the present invention , consisting of a tubular member 12 provided with an integral closure wall 14 at one end of the bore 18 in the tubular member 12 and with an open end . a resilient , rubber - like , or elastomeric , cushion or bumper 15 is disposed at the closed end 14 of the bore 18 and a second resilient or elastomeric cushion 26 is disposed at the open end of the bore 18 . a molded plastic tubular member or sleeve 22 provided with integrally mounted grip indentations 24 on one side is disposed over the tubular member 12 . the molded plastic tubular member or sleeve 22 has a end wall 28 holding the resilient cushion 26 at the open end of the tubular member bore 18 securely in position . a cap 25 may be placed over the other end of the assembly to cover up the end wall 14 of the tubular member 12 . the sleeve 22 may be made of rigid or elastomeric material . referring now to fig5 there is illustrated a further modification of a rhythm indicator and exerciser device 10 , according to the invention , comprising a tubular member 12 open at both ends , the weighted mass or slug 16 being freely disposed in the bore 18 of the tubular member 12 . a sleeve 30 made of molded elastomeric plastic is resiliently and frictionally disposed over the tubular member 12 . the sleeve 30 is open at an end and closed at the other and , as shown at 32 , such as to close one end of the bore 18 of the tubular member 12 . a grip sleeve 22 , provided with appropriate indentations 24 , and made also of elastomeric plastic material , is disposed over the sleeve 30 . the grip sleeve 22 is open at one end and has an end wall 28 at the other end closing the other open end of the bore 18 . in this manner , each time the weighted mass or slug 16 , freely disposed in the bore 18 , impacts upon an end wall 28 or 32 , the impact noise is substantially muted , hardly audible , but nevertheless can be felt through the hand holding the rhythm indicator and exerciser device 10 . both the outer sleeve 22 and the inner sleeve 30 , fitted over the tubular member 12 , are made of elastic , resilient and stretchable material such as rubber or an elastomeric plastic , such as polypropylene and the like , and each has an internal diameter less than , respectively , the outer diameter of the inner sleeve 30 and the outer diameter of the tubular member 12 , with the result that they must be stretched elastically in order to be passed over the respective member disposed within each sleeve , thus providing a sturdy assembly , with no risk of separation of the elements . in the structure of fig6 the tubular member 12 , open on both ends , is disposed in an elastic stretchable grip sleeve 22 providing a resilient end wall 28 for closing an end of the bore 18 in the tubular member 12 . the other end of the bore 18 is closed by a closure cap 34 made also of elastomeric material and providing a resilient end wall 36 for the other open end of the tubular member 12 . the closure cap 34 is elastically held in position over the sleeve 22 at the appropriate end by being provided with inwardly radially projecting annular portions 38 defining grooves 40 therebetween , and integral outwardly projecting annular portions 42 proximate the open end of the sleeve 22 interlock within the grooves 40 of the closure cap 34 . if so desired , the surfaces of the corresponding grooves 40 and projecting annular portions 38 and 42 may be coated with an appropriate solvent or adhesive for the material used , or the closure cap 34 may be heat - welded to the sleeve 22 , to form a permanent assembly . the structure of the rhythm indicator and exerciser device of fig7 - 8 is substantially the same as the structure of fig6 with the exception of the closure cap 34 being provided with a plurality of radial bores 44 , for example in two parallel circular rows , into which snap corresponding pin - like projections 46 peripherally integrally formed proximate the open end of the grip sleeve 22 . fig9 - 10 illustrate a further example of simple structure for a rhythm indicator and exerciser device 10 , consisting of a tubular member 12 encased in an elastomeric sleeve 48 having an end wall 50 closing an open end of the bore 18 in the tubular member 12 . the elastomeric sleeve 48 is open at its other end in the form of a stretchable mouth 52 through which the weighted mass or slug 16 can be slipped during assembly , as shown at fig9 . after the weighted mass or slug 16 has been slipped into the bore 18 of the tubular member 12 , the stretchable mouth 52 of the sleeve 48 is closed by any convenient means , for example by a tie 54 , such as to define another resilient wall 56 closing the other end of the bore 18 and preventing the weighted mass or slug 16 from escaping from within the tubular member 12 . instead of providing the bore 18 of the tubular member 12 with resilient closure end walls , the tubular member 12 may be provided with solid end walls 58 and 60 , fig1 and 12 , and the weighted mass or slug 16 provided at each end with an elastomeric pad or bumper 62 , such as to mute the sound of impact when hitting one of the solid end walls 58 or 60 , fig1 , or , alternatively , the solid metallic weighted mass or slug 16 may be coated with an elastomeric material , as shown at 64 at fig1 , the elastomeric material being preferably thicker , as shown at 66 , at both ends of the weighted mass or slug 16 . referring now to fig1 , a rhythm indicator and exerciser device 10 is illustrated as comprising a cylindrical tubular member 12 , preferably made of metal , a weighted mass or slug 16 being disposed in the tubular member bore 18 . a sleeve 22 , provided with finger - grip indentations 24 , is disposed around the tubular member 12 . each end of the bore 18 in the tubular member 12 is closed by an end cap 68 . each end cap 68 , made of rigid plastic or preferably metal , is in the form of a cylindrical tubular plug provided with an integral partition wall 70 . the internal surface of each end cap 68 , on one side of the partition wall 70 , is provided with an internal thread 72 engaged over a peripheral external thread 74 formed at each end of the tubular member 12 . an elastomeric cushion or pad 76 is bonded or otherwise fastened on one side of the partition wall 70 , such that when the weighted mass or slug 16 impacts upon an elastomeric cushion or pad 76 at each end of its travel within the bore 18 , a muted impact noise is emitted . however , if the user prefers to obtain an audible impact sound , by removing each end cap 68 , turning the end cap around such as to install each end cap 68 on the end of the tubular member 12 by threading the internal thread 78 formed on the inner surface of each end cap 68 on the other side of the partition wall 70 , the solid partition wall 70 , fig1 , is directly impacted by the weighted mass or slug 16 at the end of each stroke thereof , such as to emit an audible knocking sound . the structure of fig1 - 14 thus provides a convertible structure for the rhythm indicator and exerciser device of the invention , permitting the user to use the device , at will , in an audible or in a muted mode . a similar convertible feature may be provided by a slight modification of , for example , the structure of fig6 or fig7 . the modification consists simply , as shown at fig1 in closing each end of the bore 18 of the tubular member 12 , provided with a hand grip sleeve 22 , by a snap - on closure cap 34 made of resilient elastomeric material , with the result that each time the weighted mass or slug 16 impacts upon an elastomeric end wall 36 formed by the top of the snap - on elastomeric closure cap 34 , the impact shock is muted . an annular space 80 is provided between the end edges of the tubular member 12 and sleeve 22 . the user of the device is thus enabled , after removing the end caps 34 and inserting a metallic disk 82 against the bottom of each end cap 34 and reinstalling the end caps 34 in position , to convert the rhythm indicator and exerciser device 10 to one having a solid closure wall at each end , each formed by a metallic disk 82 at each end of the bore 18 of the tubular member 12 , fig1 . an audible knocking sound is thus obtained each time the weighted mass or slug 16 impacts upon the solid closure walls defined by the metallic disk 82 . the rhythm indicator and exerciser device 10 of fig1 - 16 is supplied to the user in the form of a kit , for example without the metallic disk 82 installed in position but supplied separately , with appropriate instructions for the user to effectuate conversions from the muted mode to the audible mode . the weighted mass or slug 16 may have any appropriate length as long as it is shorter than the overall length of the internal bore 18 of the tubular member 12 between the end walls so as to cause an impact sound to be faintly heard by the user , or felt by the hand of the user , when the weighted mass or slug 16 is forcibly projected such as to impact against a resilient end wall . it has been discovered that , in order for the impact shock to be heard faintly , or to be felt by the hand , the ratio of the overall length of the weighted mass or slug 16 to the total length of the internal bore 18 of the tubular member 12 between the end walls should preferably be at most 4 to 7 . for example , if the total length of the bore 18 of the tubular member 12 between the closure end walls is 90 mm ( about 3 . 5 inches ), the overall length of the weighted mass or slug 16 is preferably not more than 50 mm ( about 2 inches ). having thus described the present invention by way of examples of structure given for illustrative purposes only , modifications whereof will be apparent to those skilled in the art ,
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to assist in understanding the present invention , an electrophotographic copier / duplicator in which the invention may be used will be briefly described . it will be understood , however , that the apparatus of the present invention can be used in other types of apparatus . referring now to the drawings in detail , an electrophotographic apparatus generally designated 10 in fig1 includes a charging station 12 which is effective to apply a uniform charge on a transparent photoconductor 14 . the photoconductor illustrated is an endless web trained about a plurality of rollers and driven in the direction indicated by the arrow 16 . photoconductor 14 has a first surface 18 on the exterior of the web and a second surface 20 on the inside or backside of the web . the web may comprise a layer of photoconductive material at or adjacent to surface 18 and a conductive backing or support layer . an information medium 22 , such as a document to be copied , is illuminated by radiation from flash lamps 24 , and the radiation is reflected from the document and projected by a lens 26 onto the surface 18 of the photoconductor . the radiation striking the charged photoconductor selectively dissipates portions of the charge to form an electrostatic latent image on the photoconductor . as shown in fig2 the photoconductor has a plurality of image areas or film frames 28 that are spaced slightly from each other along the length of the web and are also spaced from the side edges of the web . the charge in the area outside the image areas is selectively erased by discharge lamps ( not shown ) in a conventional manner . thus an elongate non - image area 29 is provided along each side edge portion of the web . a magnetic brush development station 30 comprises a housing 31 having a reservoir for a supply of developer material 33 comprising , for example , toner particles and carrier particles . one or more magnetic development brushes are provided for transferring toner particles to the photoconductor for developing the latent image , two such brushes 35 and 37 being illustrated in the drawings . station 30 also includes a toner replenisher 39 which is adapted to furnish new toner to the reservoir beneath the brushes when a motor 41 is driven . as the latent image of document 22 on the photoconductor 14 passes through the development station , the latent image is developed by toner particles from the development station . the resulting toned image then travels past a post - development erase station comprising an erase lamp 32 located adjacent surface 20 of the photoconductor . lamp 32 effective to erase any undeveloped latent image that may remain on the photoconductor after it passes the development station . the erase lamp may also reduce electrical stress in the photoconductor . the toned image next reaches a transfer station 34 where it is transferred to a copy sheet of paper . the copy sheets are fed from a selected one or two paper supplies 36 or 38 . the copy sheet with the toned image thereon is delivered by a vacuum transport 40 to a fusing station 42 where the toner on the sheet is fused to the sheet by heat and pressure . the copy sheet is delivered either along a path 43 leading to a tray 44 or along a path 46 leading to another tray , a finishing apparatus , etc . after the photoconductor passes through transfer station 34 it is cleaned in a cleaning station 47 and is available for another cycle of operation . electrophotographic apparatus as generally described hereinbefore is disclosed in more detail in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 141 , 645 . reference is made to such patent for a more complete description of the apparatus and its operation . in order to control the electrophotographic process , it is known to provide one or more sample control areas 50 of toner in the non - image area 29 of the photoconductor . the control area can be formed by leaving such areas charged when the other parts of the photoconductor outside image areas 28 are discharged , and then exposing the areas to a predetermined level of irradiation . then toner is applied to the control areas by development station 30 . in this manner the density of toner in control areas 50 is directly related to the density of toner in image areas 28 . by way of example , five toned control areas 50 are shown adjacent each one of the image areas 28 on photoconductor 14 ; however , more or fewer control areas could be provided if desired . when multiple control areas for each image area are used for density measurement , the areas preferably are exposed to obtain different density levels of toner so that the electrophotographic process can be checked and controlled for various operating parameters . each of the control areas 50 can be approximately one inch square , for example , and are spaced from each other along the length of the photoconductor . as the control areas 50 pass under the erase lamp 32 , light rays from the lamp travel from the back side 20 of the photoconductor through the photoconductor and the control areas 50 on the front surface 18 of the photoconductor . a photodetector in the form of a small area photodiode 52 is provided closely adjacent the surface 18 of the photoconductor for receiving light rays passing through the control areas 50 as they are driven between the lamp 32 and the photodetector . the light - receiving portion of the photodetector preferably is relatively small or shielded so that at any one time it receives light rays passing through only one of the control areas 50 . preferably the photodetector receives rays directly from an area 50 instead of scattered light rays . a signal generated by the photodetector 52 is provided to a logic and control unit 54 of electrographic apparatus 10 . the logic and control unit is programmed to provide various feedback signals to portions of the apparatus in response to the signal received from the photodetector . for example , the control signal from the photodector can cause the logic and control unit to regulate a number of process parameters such as the voltage applied to the photoconductor 14 at the charging station 12 , the intensity level of lamps 24 at the exposure station to thereby control the exposure of the photoconductor and , when screens are used , to control the spacing of the screen relative to the photoconductor . in general , the signal from the photocodetector 52 can be used to control any process parameter that effects the density of the toned images on the photoconductor . a number of advantages are achieved by the present invention . first of all , the separate light source normally provided for on - line densitometers has been eliminated and light rays from the erase lamp utilized for the purpose of measuring density . secondly , the relatively large area light source comprising erase lamp 32 permits the use of a small area photodiode . as pointed out previously , the scattering of light rays in prior devices required the detector to be a relatively large area photodiode . also , the apparatus of this invention is less sensitive to the position of the photoconductor relative to the photodiode because it does not rely on the scattering principle used by prior apparatus . the invention has been described in detail with particular reference to a preferred embodiment thereof , but it will be understood that variations and modifications can be effected within the spirit and scope of the invention .
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referring to the drawings , a lift mechanism 10 is shown attached to the body structure 12 of a sport utility vehicle ( suv ) 14 just inside of the rear cargo opening 16 . the vehicle 14 is equipped with a horizontally hinged lift gate 18 which fits over and closes the opening 16 . the suv 14 is equipped with a bumper 20 which is separated from the floor 22 of the cargo area by way of plastic sill trim 24 . the floor 22 may be equipped with storage compartment hatches 25 and / or foldaway seat mechanisms ( not shown ), all of which are conventional and known in the suv design art . the lift mechanism 10 is shown here lifting and stowing a conventional 4 - wheel , electric “ scooter ” 82 of the type having handlebar steering . such scooters are frequently used by people with limited ambulatory capability to move from place to place . of course , the lift mechanism 10 can be used to hoist , stow and / or deploy many different types of loads which fit wholly or partially into the cargo area of an suv or other transport vehicle . a typical scooter 82 is of such size to be stowable fully within the cargo compartment of the conventional full - sized suv 14 on the floor 22 and with the lift gate 18 fully closed . the weight of a typical scooter is on the order of 300 pounds . the lift mechanism 10 comprises a substantially l - shaped rigid steel boom 26 having a three - sided , partial box section defining an interior channel . the lower end of boom 26 is pivotally attached to an elongate channel bracket hereinafter referred to as a “ mast ” 28 . the mast 28 is also a three - sided , partial box - section element and , like boom 26 , made of 1020 or 1040 steel . it &# 39 ; s opposite parallel sides are far enough apart to allow the boom 26 to fit between them and be pinned in place , as shown in fig4 . the pivotal connection between boom 26 and mast 28 is provided by pin 30 , which fits into any of several holes 32 provided in the mast 28 , so that the lifting mechanism can be adjusted in size for any of several different vehicle designs . as best shown in fig4 , the mast 28 is provided with pivot pin brackets 34 and 36 which are welded to the back surface of the mast . the attachment structure further comprises a rigid , metal pintle plate 42 which is bolted to the d pillar 13 by way of a reinforcing plate 52 . it is to be understood that the reinforcing plate 52 may be customized to the particular vehicle . typically it is an elongate plate or beam having a substantially vertical orientation relative to the body of the vehicle 14 . while shown here attached to a d pillar , it may be attached to any body structure or to a custom crafted structure mounted within the vehicle . pintle 42 has vertical pins 38 and 40 which fit into the holes in brackets 34 and 36 . the pin and bracket arrangement 38 , 40 , 34 , 36 allows the boom 26 and mast 28 to pivot or swing relative to the side of the transport vehicle 14 to stow or deploy scooter 82 . a lock shown in fig7 can hold the mast in any of several angular positions as hereinafter described . to summarize , the lift mechanism comprises the rigid boom 26 , a mounting structure 42 , 52 attached to the vehicle body , and a mast structure 28 for pivotally attaching the boom 26 to the mounting structure 42 , 52 . the lift mechanism 10 further comprises a linear actuator 54 , here an electric ball - screw devise having an electric drive motor , which is connected into the electrical system of the transport vehicle 14 by way of a cable 60 . a suitable switch ( not shown ) is preferably provided . the extension shaft 62 of the actuator 54 is connected to a flange 65 at a midpoint on the rigid boom 26 by way of a block 64 and a pin which allows pivotal movement . the free end of the boom 26 is provided with parallel slots 69 and receives a slide block 70 which can be adjusted and locked at any desired point along the length of the slots 69 by suitable threaded fasteners . a release mechanism 72 depends from the slide block 70 as hereinafter described with reference to fig6 to collect and lift the scooter 82 at an attachment point which is at or near the load &# 39 ; s center of gravity . the length of the upper arm 68 of the boom 26 is such as to permit the mechanism 10 to be pivoted downwardly to either deploy or collect the scooter 82 . assuming the scooter 82 is being collected for stowage , the electric ball - screw actuator 54 is thereafter operated to raise the boom 26 to the position shown in fig2 so that the scooter 82 is lifted up off of the ground to a point which places the wheels just above the level of the bumper 20 and the sill 24 . thereafter , the lifting mechanism with the scooter depending therefrom is swung into the cargo area of the suv 14 as shown in fig3 . at this point , the lifting mechanism 26 is preferably locked in place and the lift gate 18 is closed . looking now to fig5 , an optional and / or alternative mechanism to provide a power assist for adjustment of the position of the slide block 70 along the upper arm 68 is shown . the mechanism includes another electric ball - screw linear actuator 76 having a drive motor 78 receiving dc power through a cable 80 . the actuator 76 has an extension rod 77 which is attached to the slide block 70 to push it out or pull it back along the slots 69 in the upper arm 68 . fig6 and 10 illustrate a preferred mechanism 12 , including a modified slide block 70 ′ for attaching the boom 26 to a tubular steel c - arm 84 which is removably attached by way of a mechanism 85 to the frame of the scooter 82 . the attachment mechanism 85 is a conventional socket with a conventional spring - loaded detent to allow the c - arm 84 to be removably attached in preparation for stowage . it is at or near the center of gravity of the scooter 82 for balance purposes as will be apparent to those skilled in the art . the attachment mechanism is shown to comprise the modified slide block 70 ′, the primary difference between the modified block 70 ′ and the standard block shown in fig5 being the presence of the conical cavity 84 opening to a side slot 86 . the cavity 84 receives the upper ball 88 of a two - part linkage comprising an upper eye 90 and a lower eye 92 , the lower eye 92 being threaded into a steel swivel ball 94 which provides a spherical bearing as hereinafter described . the ball 94 fits into a spherical cavity 96 in an aluminum block 98 , the interior cavity opening to both the top and side as shown for purposes of admitting the ball 94 to the side opening . a latch pin 100 prevents the ball 94 from exiting through the slide of the block 98 until such time as a release lever 104 is pushed to the left as shown in fig6 against the action of a bias spring 106 to move a plate 102 movably mounted on the back of a block 98 . this action pulls the pin 100 out of the cavity and permits the ball 94 to be released . it will be apparent from the foregoing that the lower block 98 is permanently attached to the c - arm 84 which in turn is temporarily and removably attached to the scooter 82 by means of the spring - loaded detent type attachment mechanism 85 . thereafter , the linear actuator associated with the arm 26 is operated to lower the arm until the length of the linkage 90 , 92 is sufficient to collect and attach the scooter 82 to the slide block 70 ′. at this point , the lift mechanism 10 is operated as described above to lift the scooter 82 above the bumper so that it may be swung into the cargo area of the suv as described . referring to fig7 , 8 and 9 , the mechanism for releasably locking the mast 28 in any of several angular positions about a vertical axis and relative to the pintle plate 42 will be described . the mechanism comprises a steel catch plate 102 having a semicircular end surface with tooth - like vertical slots 105 formed therein . the catch plate 102 is proposed between the brackets holding the pins 38 - 40 and is securely welded to the face of the pintle plate 42 . the mechanism further comprises a latch , including a hollow cylindrical metal tube attached to a key 108 which fits into the slots 104 in the catch plate 102 , as best shown in fig8 and 9 . a t - shaped anchor pin 110 fits between holes 112 and the sides of the mast 28 and extends into the hollow interior of the cylindrical element 106 . a spring 114 urges the cylinder 106 and the blade - like key 108 toward the catch plate 102 . a latch pin 116 , having cam lobes 118 formed thereon is pivotally mounted between slots 120 in the sides of the mast 28 so that rotation of the latch pin 116 , between the two positions shown in fig8 and 9 , causes the cam lobes 118 to engage the inside surface of the mast 28 , to slide the cylindrical element 106 and blade - type key 108 back along the axis of the t - shaped anchor pin 110 , between the released position shown in fig8 and the locked position shown in fig9 . it is apparent from these figures that , once the blade key 108 is withdrawn as shown in fig8 , the mast 28 can be swung about the vertical axis through the pins 38 to 40 in the desired position . the locking element 106 and blade key 108 can then be released in such a manner that the spring 114 urges them firmly into one of the slots 104 in the desired position . it is highly desirable to lock the mast 28 relative to the pintle plate 42 in either the stowed or deployed positions to prevent inadvertent rotation thereof while the linear actuators are being used and / or the transport vehicle 14 is being driven . while the invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiment , it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the disclosed embodiments but , on the contrary , is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims , which scope is to be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent structures as is permitted under the law .
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a method for synthesizing a plurality of 2d face images of an image object based on a synthesized 3d head object of the image object are described hereinafter for addressing the foregoing problems . for purposes of brevity and clarity , the description of the invention is limited hereinafter to applications related to 2d face synthesis of image objects . this however does not preclude various embodiments of the invention from other applications of similar nature . the fundamental inventive principles of the embodiments of the invention are common throughout the various embodiments . exemplary embodiments of the invention described hereinafter are in accordance with fig1 to 6 of the drawings , in which like elements are numbered with like reference numerals . fig1 shows a two - dimensional ( 2d ) image 100 representation of a human subject to be inspected using face recognition . the 2d image 100 preferably captures a frontal view of the face of the human subject in which the majority of the facial features of the human subject are clearly visible . the facial features include one or more of the eyes , the nose and the mouth of the human subject . by clearly showing the facial features of the human subject in the 2d image 100 , the synthesizing of an accurate representation of a three - dimensional ( 3d ) head object of the human subject can then be performed subsequently . in addition , the 2d image 100 is preferably acquired using a device installed with either a charge - coupled device ( ccd ) or a complementary metal - oxide - semiconductor ( cmos ) sensor . examples of the device include digital cameras , webcams and camcorders . fig2 shows a 3d mesh 200 representing the face of a human subject . the 3d mesh 200 is a generic face model constructed from sampled data obtained from faces of human subjects representing a cross - section of a population . the 3d mesh 200 comprises vertices tessellated for providing the 3d mesh 200 . in addition , the 3d mesh 200 is provided with a plurality of predefined mesh reference points 202 in which the plurality of predefined mesh reference points 202 constitutes a portion of the vertices . the plurality of mesh reference points 202 comprises a first plurality of mesh reference points and a second plurality of mesh reference points . preferably , the first plurality of mesh reference points comprises a portion of the vertices defining left and upper contour portions , and left and right lower contour portions of the face of the human subject . the first plurality of mesh reference points are adjustable for performing global deformation of the 3d mesh 200 . separately , the second plurality of mesh reference points comprises a portion of the vertices around key facial features such as on the left and right eye center , the left and right nose lobe , and the left and right lip ends . the second plurality of mesh reference points are also adjustable for performing local deformation of the 3d mesh 200 . the markings 302 of the first plurality of mesh reference points and the second plurality of mesh reference points are as shown in fig3 . the 3d mesh 200 is then later adapted to the face of the human subject to be inspected using face recognition . from the 2d image 100 of fig1 , a plurality of feature portions of the face of the human subject is identified as shown in fig4 . the plurality of feature portions preferably comprises the eyes , the mouth and the nose of the face of the human subject . in addition , the plurality of feature portions is identified by locating the face of the human subject in the 2d image 100 . the face of the human subject is locatable in the 2d image 100 using methods well known in the art such as knowledge - based methods , feature invariant approaches , template matching methods and appearance - based methods . after the face is located in the 2d image 100 , a region 402 of the face is next identified in order to locate important facial features of the human subject . notably , the facial features correspond to the plurality of feature portions . the identified facial features contained in the region 402 are then detected using edge detection techniques well known in the art . the identified plurality of feature portions is then marked with a plurality of image reference points 404 using a feature extractor as shown in fig4 . specifically , each of the plurality of image reference points 404 has 3d coordinates . in order to obtain substantially accurate 3d coordinates of each of the plurality of image reference points 404 , the feature extractor requires prior training in which the feature extractor is taught how to identify and mark image reference points using training images that are manually labelled and are normalized at a fixed ocular distance . for example , by using an image in which there is a plurality of image feature points , each image feature point ( x , y ) is first extracted using multi - resolution 2d gabor wavelets that are taken in eight different scale resolution and from six different orientations to thereby produce a forty - eight dimensional feature vector . next , in order to improve the extraction resolution of the feature extractor around an image feature point ( x , y ), counter solutions around the region of the image feature point ( x , y ) are collected and the feature extractor is trained to reject the counter solutions . all extracted feature vectors ( also known as positive samples ) of a image feature point are then stored in a stack “ a ” while the feature vectors of counter solutions ( also known as negative samples ) are then stored in a corresponding stack “ b ”. this then produces a forty - eight dimensional feature vector and dimensionality reduction using principal component analysis ( pca ) is then required . thus , dimensionality reduction is performed for both the positive samples ( pca_a ) and the negative samples ( pca_b ). the separability between the positive samples and the negative samples is optimized using linear discriminant analysis ( lda ). the lda computation of the positive samples is performed using the positive samples and negative samples as training sets . two different sets , pca_a ( a ) and pca_a ( b ), are then created from the projection of the positive samples . the set pca_a ( a ) is assigned as class “ 0 ” and the set pca_a ( b ) is assigned as class “ 1 ”. the best linear discriminant is then defined using the fisher linear discriminant analysis on the basis of a two - class problem . the linear discriminant analysis of the set pca_a ( a ) is obtained by computing lda_a ( pca_a ( a )) since a “ 0 ” value must be generated . similarly , the linear discriminant analysis of the set pca_a ( b ) is obtained by computing lda_a ( pca_a ( b )) since a “ 1 ” value must be generated . the separability threshold present between the two classes is then estimated . separately , lda_b undergoes the same process as explained afore for lda_a . however , instead of using the sets , pca_a ( a ) and pca_a ( b ), the sets pca_b ( a ) and pca_b ( b ) are used . two scores are then obtained by subjecting an unknown feature vector , x , through the following two processes : the feature vector , x , is preferably accepted by the process lda_a ( pca_a ( x )) and is preferably rejected by the process lda_b ( pca_b ( x )). the proposition is that two discriminant functions are defined for each class using a decision rule being based on the statistical distribution of the projected data : set “ a ” and set “ b ” are defined as the “ feature ” and “ non - feature ” training sets respectively . further , four one - dimensional clusters are also defined : ga = g ( a ), fb = f ( b ), fa = f ( a ) and gb = f ( b ). the derivation of the mean , x , and standard deviation , σ , of each of the four one - dimensional clusters , fa , fb , ga and gb , are then computed . the mean and standard deviation of fa , fb , ga and gb are respectively expressed as ( x fa , σ fa ), ( x fb , σ fb ), ( x ga , σ ga ) and ( x gb , σ fb ). additionally , for a given vector y , the projections of the vector y using the two discriminant functions are obtained : the vector y is then classified as class “ a ” or “ b ” according to the pseudo - code , which is expressed as : preferably , the plurality of image reference points 404 in 3d are correlated with and estimated from the feature portions of the face in 2d space by a pre - determined function . in addition , as shown in fig4 , the plurality of image reference points 404 being marked on the 2d image 100 are preferably the left and right eyes center , nose tip , the left and right nose lobes , the left and upper contours , the left and right lower contours , the left and right lip ends and the chin tip contour . the head pose of the human subject in the 2d image 100 is estimated prior to deformation of the 3d mesh 200 . first , the 3d mesh 200 is rotated at an azimuth angle , and edges are extracted using an edge detection algorithm such as the canny edge detector . 3d mesh - edge maps are then computed for the 3d mesh 200 for azimuth angles ranging from − 90 degrees to + 90 degrees , in increments of 5 degrees . preferably , the 3d mesh - edge maps are computed only once and stored off - line in an image array . to estimate the head pose in the 2d image 100 , the edges of the 2d image 100 are extracted using the edge detection algorithm to obtain an image edge map ( not shown ) of the 2d image 100 . each of the 3d mesh - edge maps is compared to the image edge map to determine which pose results in the best overlap of the 3d mesh - edge maps . to compute the disparity between the 3d mesh - edge maps , the euclidean distance - transform ( dt ) of the image edge map is computed . for each pixel in the image edge map , the dt process assigns a number that represents the distance between that pixel and the nearest non - zero pixel of the image edge map . the value of the cost function , f , of each of the 3d mesh - edge maps is then computed . the cost function , f , which measures the disparity between the 3d mesh - edge maps and the image edge map is expressed as : where a em ≅{( i , j ): em ( i , j )= 1 } and n is the cardinality of set a em ( total number of nonzero pixels in the 3d mesh - edge map em ). f is the average distance - transform value at the nonzero pixels of the image edge map . the pose for which the corresponding 3d mesh - edge map results in the lowest value of f is the estimated head - pose for the 2d image 100 . once the pose of the human subject in the 2d image 100 is known , the 3d mesh 200 undergoes global deformation for spatially and dimensionally registering the 3d mesh 200 to the 2d image 100 . the deformation of the 3d mesh 200 is shown in fig5 . typically , an affine deformation model for the global deformation of the 3d mesh 200 is used and the plurality of image reference points is used to determine a solution for the affine parameters . a typical affine model used for the global deformation is expressed as : where ( x , y , z ) are the 3d coordinates of the vertices of the 3d mesh 200 , and subscript “ gb ” denotes global deformation . the affine model appropriately stretches or shrinks the 3d mesh 200 along the x and y axes and also takes into account the shearing occurring in the x - y plane . the affine deformation parameters are obtained by minimizing the re - projection error of the first plurality of mesh reference points on the rotated deformed 3d mesh 200 and the corresponding 2d locations in the 2d image 100 . the 2d projection ( x f , y f ) of the 3d feature points ( x f , y f , z f ) on the deformed 3d mesh 200 is expressed as : where r 12 is the matrix containing the top two rows of the rotation matrix corresponding to the estimated head pose for the 2d image 100 . by using the 3d coordinates of the plurality of image reference points , equation ( 9 ) can then be reformulated into a linear system of equations . the affine deformation parameters p =[ a 11 , a 12 , a 21 , a 22 , b 1 , b 2 ] t are then determinable by obtaining a least - squares ( ls ) solution of the linear system of equations . the 3d mesh 200 is globally deformed according to these parameters , thus ensuring that the 3d head object 600 created conforms with the approximate shape of the face of the human subject and the significant features are properly aligned . the 3d head object 600 is shown in fig6 . in addition , to more accurately adapt the 3d mesh 200 to the human subject &# 39 ; s face from the 2d image 100 , local deformations are introducible in the globally deformed 3d mesh 200 . local deformations of the 3d mesh 200 is performed via displacement of the second plurality of mesh reference points towards corresponding portions of the plurality of the image reference points 404 in 3d space . displacements of the second plurality of mesh reference points are perturbated to the vertices extending therebetween on the 3d mesh 200 . the perturbated displacements of the vertices are preferably estimated using a radial basis function . once the 3d mesh 200 is adapted and deformed according to the 2d image 100 , the texture of the human subject is extracted and mapped onto the 3d head object 600 for visualization . the 3d head object 600 with texture mapping being applied onto is then an approximate representation of the head object of the human subject in the 2d image 100 . lastly , a series of synthesized 2d images of the 3d head object 600 in various predefined orientations and poses in 3d space are captured for creating a database of synthesized 2d images 100 of the human subject . in addition , the 3d head object 600 is further manipulated such as viewing the 3d head object 600 in simulated lighting conditions with respect to different angles . the database then provides the basis for performing face recognition of the human subject under any conceivable conditions . face recognition is typically performed within acceptable error tolerances of a face recognition system . in the foregoing manner , a method for synthesizing a plurality of 2d face images of an image object based on a synthesized 3d head object of the image object is described according to embodiments of the invention for addressing at least one of the foregoing disadvantages . although a few embodiments of the invention are disclosed , it will be apparent to one skilled in the art in view of this disclosure that numerous changes and / or modification can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention .
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referring to the drawings and particularly fig1 and 2 , there is illustrated a tower packing element generally designated by the numeral 10 . packing element 10 may be formed of a variety of strip materials including , but not limited to , metal , plastic and ceramic . the details regarding the differences in forming the packing element 10 of different strip materials are beyond the scope of the present invention and are disclosed in detail in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 200 , 119 which is incorporated herein by reference . packing element 10 is formed in the combination of an arcuate portion 12 and a straight leg portion 14 . arcuate portion 12 has been chosen by example to be in the shape of a parabola having a free end 16 and a connection point 18 . straight leg portion 14 is tangentially attached to arcuate portion 12 at connection point 18 . this wide open shape of packing element 10 provides ready accessibility to liquids , gases , and contact with neighboring packing elements . further the shape of the packing element 10 provides an optimum number of packing element pieces per cubic foot of mass transfer tower , thereby optimizing performance . referring to fig4 there is diagrammatically illustrated the enhanced open features of the shape of packing element 10 . the length of straight leg portion 14 shown in fig4 is substantially equal to the length of cord 19 . however , it should be understood that in accordance with the present invention the length of the leg portion may vary in a range between about one half to one and a half times the length of the cord 19 . cord 19 is an imaginary line formed between connection point 18 and free end 16 of the arcuate portion 12 . as illustrated in fig1 and 2 , a plurality of slots generally designated by the numeral 20 are provided in packing element 10 for promoting uniform flow of liquids and gases through the packing element . slots 22 and 24 are located in arcuate portion 12 , and slots 26 , 28 , 30 , 32 , 34 and 36 are located in straight leg portion 14 . slots 22 , 26 , 30 and 34 are of different lengths . a plurality of tongues generally designated by the numeral 38 depend from slots 20 of the packing element 10 to increase and enhance the effectiveness of the surface area . this construction provides ready accessibility to liquid - gas traffic passing through the packed bed as well as to promote increased direct contact between adjacent packing elements . tongues 40 and 42 depend from the confines of slots 22 and 24 , respectively , in the arcuate portion 12 . tongues 44 , 46 , 48 , 50 , 52 and 54 depend from the confines of slots 26 , 28 , 30 , 32 , 34 and 36 , respectively , in the straight leg portion 14 . the lengths of tongues 38 shown in fig1 are substantially equal to the lengths of the respective slots 20 from which they depend . in other embodiments , the tongues 38 are longer or shorter than the slots 20 . additionally , the tongues can be straight or curved or a combination of a straight section and a curved section . although , tongues 38 are shown as depending into the center of packing element 10 , it should be understood that in accordance with the present invention selected tongues may extend upwardly away from the straight leg portion 14 . referring to fig3 there is illustrated angle a formed by the intersection of imaginary normal lines 56 and 58 . normal line 56 is perpendicular to tangent line 60 . line 60 is a line tangent to arcuate portion 12 at free end 16 . likewise , normal line 58 is perpendicular to tangent line 62 . line 62 is tangent to arcuate portion 12 at connection point 18 . the angle a is a critical parameter in the performance of the packing element to enhance the mass transfer properties of the packing element 10 . preferably the angle a is in the range between about 70 ° to 90 ° and most preferably in the range between about 75 ° to 85 °. the operation of the above described packing element 10 of the present invention constitutes a substantial improvement over known tongue - bearing packing elements , as for example slotted ring packings and variations thereof , some of which embody various diameter - height aspect ratios . with the prior art slotted rings , the tongues are confined to the inside of the rings and do not make significant contact with the neighboring pieces . the undesirable feature of positioning the tongues inside the slotted rings adversely affects the pressure drop and mass transfer . with the novel open ended randomly dumped packing elements 10 of the present invention , these adverse effects are overcome . as illustrated in fig2 the packing element 10 has two distinct rows of slots 20 and tongues 38 . the number of rows is selective and is based on the overall size of the packing element 10 . preferably , the width of slots 20 , for the largest to the smallest embodiment of the packing elements 10 , is substantially within the range of 1 . 00 to 0 . 10 inch . to ensure that the packing element 10 has both sufficient strength to withstand the long term pressure built up in a mass transfer tower , as well as , sufficient accessibility to liquid - gas flow , the surface area of the slots relative to the total surface area of the packing element 10 is preferably within the range between about 15 to 90 percent and most preferably within the range between 25 to 75 percent . referring to fig5 in order to provide added strength to the packing element 10 , there is illustrated stiffening grooves 72 in the surfaces 74 separating rows 64 , 66 , and 68 of slots 20 . the number of stiffening grooves 72 is dependent on the size and application of the packing element 10 . in order to promote the quality of irrigation by the liquid and thereby increase the mass transfer efficiency , a plurality of drip points 76 are provided on packing element 10 , as shown in fig5 . one method of forming drip points 76 is to serrate terminal free ends 78 of packing element 10 , as illustrated in fig5 . according to the provisions of the patent statutes , i have explained the principle , preferred construction , and mode of operation of my invention and have illustrated and described what i now consider to represent its best embodiments . however , it should be understood that , within the scope of the appended claims , the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically illustrated and described .
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the following detailed description is merely exemplary in nature and is not intended to limit the described embodiments or the application and uses of the described embodiments . as used herein , the word “ exemplary ” or “ illustrative ” means “ serving as an example , instance , or illustration .” any implementation described herein as “ exemplary ” or “ illustrative ” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other implementations . all of the implementations described below are exemplary implementations provided to enable persons skilled in the art to make or use the invention and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention , which is defined by the claims . furthermore , there is no intention to be bound by any expressed or implied theory presented in the preceding technical field , background , brief summary or the following detailed description . referring now to fig2 - 4b , an illustrative embodiment of the composite sandwich shell edge joint , hereinafter joint , is generally indicated by reference numeral 1 . in some applications , the joint 1 may be applied as a skirt end joint on a composite cryotank 34 used for launch vehicles in the aerospace industry . however , it is to be understood that the joint 1 may be applicable to joining composite materials in any other type of structure and may serve as a minimum weight solution for a wide range of structures in various industries . the joint 1 may achieve greater efficiencies than conventional joints for weight - critical applications such as aerospace structures , for example and without limitation . the joint 1 may be an all - composite joint , thereby avoiding the manufacturing and stress problems rising from coefficient of thermal expansion mismatch in hybrid joints with metal rings attached to composite shells . as shown in fig2 , the composite cryotank 34 may include a generally cylindrical tank wall 35 and a tank dome 36 on the tank wall 35 . as shown in fig4 , the tank wall 35 may include a fluted core 37 . multiple joints 1 may be arranged in adjacent relationship to each other on the fluted core 37 and along the edge of the tank wall 35 . as illustrated in fig4 , each joint 1 may include a joint body 2 having an outboard tapered buildup pad 5 ; an inboard tapered buildup pad 6 ; and bridging plies 7 which connect the outboard tapered buildup pad 5 and the inboard tapered buildup pad 6 . an outboard facesheet 3 may be co - cured , co - bonded or bonded to the outboard tapered buildup pad 5 . an inboard facesheet 4 may be co - cured , co - bonded or bonded to the inboard tapered buildup pad 6 . as further shown in fig4 , a barrel nut 14 may extend through the barrel nut opening 13 and may be engaged by bolt 12 which is inserted into an opening in the bridging plies 7 . the barrel nut 14 may be a standard fastener type which is well - suited to incorporation in the joint 1 . the barrel nut 14 may be positioned so that the interfacing fastener centerline is nominally located on the center surface of the sandwich shell which is defined by the outboard facesheet 3 and the inboard facesheet 4 . this placement of the barrel nut 14 may minimize bending loads being introduced into the tank wall 35 by limiting loading to mainly tension loads transmitted through the barrel nut . in some applications , if needed , additional joint strength may be obtained by using custom barrel nuts with a larger surface area in bearing against the bridging plies 7 and facesheets 3 and 4 and / or with radiused comers at the ends of the cylindrical nut body of the barrel nut . the number of joints 1 , hence barrel nuts 14 , which are used in a given application can be determined by the tensile line load that each joint 1 must carry . the composite outboard tapered buildup pad 5 and inboard tapered buildup pad 6 of the joint body 2 may be configured to efficiently transfer load from the barrel nut 14 to the outboard facesheet 3 and the inboard facesheet 4 . fabrication methods may provide good clamp - up pressure to the film adhesive bondlines between the buildup pads 5 , 6 and facesheets 3 , 4 . a thin , uniform , bondline is stronger than a thick bondline or one with varying thickness across the bond . overall pad width of each buildup pad 5 , 6 , as shown in fig4 , may be chosen to minimize the unsupported length of the facesheet 3 , 4 between pads 5 , 6 . the width of the pads 5 , 6 at their interface to the bridging plies 7 may be chosen to provide sufficient area to meet the joint compressive line load requirements . pad , at right angles to the joint edge , may be dictated by the length of solid laminate required to transfer loads from the bridging plies 7 to the pads 5 , 6 plus the length of tapered flange required to shear load into the facesheets 3 , 4 without delamination . as shown in fig4 a , the extensions 3 a , 4 a of the facesheets 3 , 4 , respectively , past the bridging plies 7 may be chosen to match the fore - and - aft length 8 of the buildup pads 5 , 6 , so that there may be a minimal length of unsupported face sheet 3 , 4 between the bridging plies 7 and the pads 5 , 6 . each buildup pad 5 , 6 may be thickest in the area where the barrel nut 14 is installed and may taper toward the edges . the thin edges on the build - up pads 5 , 6 may reduce shear peaking to maximize attainable bonded joint strength . fluted cores , for example and without limitation , may be a good candidate for launch vehicle composite sandwich structures because of their suitability for pre - launch purging . fig4 b illustrates how the two tapering buildup pads 5 , 6 extending toward the bridging plies 7 form a natural plenum 9 for distributing flows between flutes 11 . in this instance , purge requirements may lead to extending the longitudinal flanges of the buildup pads 5 , 6 to increase the cross - sectional area of the plenum 9 they naturally form . depending on whether purge flows are to be immediately vented overboard or collected for disposal at some distance from the launch pad , venting cutouts ( not illustrated ) may be added to the skirt ends between barrel nut installations or a closeout channel 13 may be added over the component - to - component interface surface to seal off the plenum 9 . solid laminate may be required across the section in which each barrel nut 14 is installed . this may be obtained by placing the bridging plies 7 between the two buildup pads 5 , 6 . since the bridging plies 7 may pick up only a small fraction of the load transmitted through the barrel nut 14 , the joints between the bridging plies 7 and the buildup pads 5 , 6 may be less critical than the bonded joints between the buildup pads 5 , 6 and the facesheets 3 , 4 . fig5 provides a schematic process flow for a preferred method of making the fitting . since a full scale sandwich panel of the fitting may be in the neighborhood of 1 . 5 ″ thick , the fitting may consist of a couple of hundred specially orientated and shaped rectangular blanks . therefore , it is suggested that an ultrasonic cutout / pick and place machine that is commercially available be used to size and stack these laminate layers . a spacer insert is required when all the lower tapered plies are in place to support and define edge periphery during cure . once the insert is in place , the top tapered plies can be placed . to insure tight dimensional control the fitting is made in a compression picture frame die using relatively high cure pressures ( 100 to 500 psi ) to insure that the material squeezes down to the desired thickness and that the part is free from porosity . the fabrication process for the fittings used in the present disclosure composite sandwich shell edge joint is shown in fig5 and 7 . fig5 is a block diagram illustrating the process flow for the fabrication of the fittings . for instance , in the process steps 501 , 502 , 503 , 504 , and 505 , the forming tool , which includes the compactor tool 520 , the collar tool 550 and the cavity tool 570 , is first prepared by cleaning and applying a release coating . the prepreg tapes are then removed from the freezer and ultrasonically cut to variable rectangular sizes . this includes , as shown in fig6 , the outboard ply stack 530 , the bridge ply stack 540 and the inboard ply stack 560 . after a layer of peel ply is placed in the tool 570 , a first stack half of rectangular plies stack 560 is placed manually or by a stack machine . in the next process steps of 506 , 507 , 508 and 509 , a spacer of a collar tool 550 is inserted into the cavity tool 570 . a second stack half of rectangular plies , or the bridge ply stack 540 is then manually or automatically placed in the die . after a layer of a peel ply is placed on the laminate stack formed by the inboard ply stack 560 , the bridge ply stack 540 and the outboard ply stack 530 , the compactor tool 520 is then closed and the part is cured . in the final steps of 510 , 511 , 512 , 513 , 514 and 515 , the fitting after cured is removed from the tool and the periphery of the fitting is de - flashed . a co - bond / co - cure collar is then inserted while the peel ply is removed and a film adhesive layer is applied , the fittings are then inserted into a sandwich lay - up . it should be noted that steps 512 - 515 involve the mounting of the fittings into a sandwich lay - up . the various processing steps for forming the fitting are further shown in fig7 in six steps of 7 a , 7 b , 7 c , 7 d , 7 e and 7 f . for instance , 7 a shows the inboard ply stack is placed in the cavity tool 570 , 7 b shows the collar tool 550 is placed on top of inboard ply stack 560 , 7 c shows that the bridge ply stack 540 is placed in the pocket 552 of collar tool 550 , 7 d shows that the outboard ply stack 530 is placed in the cavity tool 570 , 7 e shows that the compactor tool 520 is placed on top of the outboard ply stack 530 and cured , and 7 f shows a cured fitting 580 removed from the tooling . fig8 is a block diagram illustrating the process flow for joining fittings to a composite sandwich shell edge . in general , the fittings must be supported by either hard or collapsible / expandable spacers . the major flow steps , as shown in fig9 , include placing the inner skin 902 , placing the flutes 904 and fitting / spacers 906 on the inner skin 902 , and then placing the outer skin 912 on the flutes 904 and spacers 906 . these steps are shown as steps 801 , 802 , 803 , 804 , 805 , 806 , 807 , 808 , 809 , and 810 in fig8 . on one side of the part , the fittings 906 can be co - bonded in place with adhesive , but on the other side the fittings must be initially placed with a release film and peel ply and secondarily bonded with film adhesive . the bonded side fitting must be temporarily removed after initial cure to allow for flute mandrel extraction . these steps are shown in fig8 by the steps of 811 , 812 , 813 and 814 . later they can be reinserted into the sandwich panel , with film adhesive , to facilitate a high temperature bond ( 250 ° or 350 ° f .). removable spacer tooling must be used to support fittings that are undergoing co - bond or bond . but solid spacer tools can be used when the fittings are subsequently removed to allow for flute mandrel removal . fittings can be located on sandwich panel skins using a laser projection system , tooling pins at the barrel nut locations , or a system where the spacers pin to the lay - up mandrel . in so doing , the fittings are bonded to the sandwich panel to exacting dimensions ( i . e ., ± 0 . 005 ″). moreover , unlike other metallic and composite end ring solutions , the fittings described in this disclosure require no mechanical fasteners to facilitate joining to sandwich panel face skins . these steps are represented in fig8 by steps 815 , 816 , 817 , 818 , 819 , 820 , 821 and 822 . fig9 a - 9f represent graphical representation of the process steps shown in fig8 . for instance , fig9 a shows an inner facesheet 902 is first laid up , and then wrapped flute mandrels 904 are placed on top . fig9 b shows that fittings 906 each with supporting , inflatable collars 908 and a release film 910 are then placed on top of the inner facesheet 902 . in the next step of the process shown in fig9 c , an outer facesheet 912 is laid up over the flutes 904 and the fittings 906 . fig9 d shows that fittings 906 and collars 908 are removed prior to the removal of the flute mandrels 914 . the process then continues in fig9 e wherein fittings 906 and supporting inflatable collars 908 are replaced into the cavities formed between the inner facesheet 902 and the outer facesheet 912 . the fittings 906 are bonded using film adhesive . in the final step of the process , shown in fig9 f , the inflatable collars 908 are removed to complete the skirt - end joint layup . as shown in fig1 , the mating side of the joint 1 may incorporate a male threaded fastener to engage the barrel nut 14 . a variety of conventional joint types may be suitable for the purpose . in some applications , for example , a finger ring 30 having “ mouse holes ” 31 may be used for tins purpose . the finger ring 30 may be fastened to each joint 1 by extending a bolt 28 through a bolt opening ( not shown ) in the finger ring 30 and inserting the bolt 28 into the barrel nut installed in the joint body 2 of the joint 1 . the opening in the cryotank skirt joint that allows the bolt to reach the barrel nut is shown as 38 in fig3 . referring next to fig1 and 12 , embodiments of the disclosure may be used in the context of a spacecraft manufacturing and service method 100 as shown in fig1 and a spacecraft 200 as shown in fig1 . during pre - production , exemplary method 100 may include specification and design 102 of the spacecraft 200 and material procurement 104 . during production , component and subassembly manufacturing 106 and system integration 108 of the spacecraft 200 takes place . thereafter , the spacecraft 200 may go through certification and delivery 110 in order to be placed in service 112 . while in service by a customer , the spacecraft 200 may be scheduled for routine maintenance and service 114 ( which may also include modification , reconfiguration , refurbishment , and so on ). each of the processes of method 100 may be performed or carried out by a system integrator , a third party , and / or an operator ( e . g ., a customer ). for the purposes of this description , a system integrator may include without limitation any number of aircraft manufacturers and major - system subcontractors ; a third party may include without limitation any number of vendors , subcontractors , and suppliers ; and an operator may be an airline , leasing company , military entity , service organization , and so on . as shown in fig1 , the spacecraft 200 produced by exemplary method 100 may include a structure 202 with a plurality of systems 204 and an interior 206 . examples of high - level systems 204 include one or more of a propulsion system 208 , an electrical system 210 , a hydraulic system 212 , and an environmental system 214 . any number of other systems may be included . although an aerospace example is shown , the principles of the invention may be applied to other industries , such as the automotive industry . the apparatus embodied herein may be employed during any one or more of the stages of the production and service method 100 . for example , components or subassemblies corresponding to production process 106 may be fabricated or manufactured in a manner similar to components or subassemblies produced while the spacecraft 200 is in service . also one or more apparatus embodiments may be utilized during the production stages 106 and 108 , for example , by substantially expediting assembly of or reducing the cost of a spacecraft 200 . similarly , one or more apparatus embodiments may be utilized while the spacecraft 200 is in service , for example and without limitation , to maintenance and service 114 . although the embodiments of this disclosure have been described with respect to certain exemplary embodiments , it is to be understood that the specific embodiments are for purposes of illustration and not limitation , as other variations will occur to those of skill in the art .
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now referring to fig1 a preferred embodiment of the subject invention is shown as gas mixer and reactor 10 . gas mixer and reactor 10 basically comprises a metallic gas injector member 12 which is attached to a furnace 14 via flanges 16 and nut and bolt assemblies 18 , and tile member 20 which forms the inlet of furnace 14 . elongated gas flow chamber 22 is positioned within gas injector member 12 and communicates with gas supply manifold 24 on its inlet end and with tile member 20 on its outlet end . it is noted that elongated gas flow chamber 22 can have any convenient cross - sectional configuration such as for example oval , rectangular or square , but it is preferred that it have a circular cross - sectional configuration and comprise a cylindrical shape . therefore , elongated gas flow chamber 22 will hereinafter be described as having a generally circular cross - sectional area . gas supply manifold 24 is positioned around the first end of elongated gas flow chamber 22 and communicates with gas inlet port 26 . gas inlet port 26 basically comprises a cylindrical inlet member 28 with suitable connecting flange 30 . the internal end 32 of cylindrical member 28 extends to a point closely adjacent to the sidewall of elongated gas flow chamber 22 and is cut in a tapered manner as shown in the drawings to provide a baffle or is otherwise baffled to assure that gas passing through the inlet port 26 will uniformly fill the manifold 24 and pass into the interior of the elongated gas flow chamber 22 , radially , ( in an annular flow path as illustrated by arrows 34 .) it is noted that in some instances the baffle can be totally eliminated , if desired . three rows of apertures 36 , 38 and 40 are positioned about the outlet end of elongated gas flow chamber 22 . as shown , nozzle apertures 36 and 38 communicate with annular gas manifold 42 . gas inlet port 44 which is a similar configuration to gas inlet port 26 operatively communicates with annular gas manifold 42 . similarly , nozzle apertures 40 communicate with annular gas manifold 46 which in turn operatively communicates with gas inlet port 48 . as shown , nozzle apertures , 36 , 38 and 40 are angled toward the interior of tile member 20 . in a preferred embodiment nozzle apertures 36 , 38 and 40 are angled for impingement at the center line or axis of the reaction chamber 52 within tile member 20 . according to an alternate preferred embodiment , nozzles 36 , 38 ( and 40 , if desired ) are skewed in relation to one another and directed toward impingement at points 50 within tile member 20 . it should be noted that the subject invention can utilize any number of nozzle apertures such as 36 , 38 and 40 spaced relative to one another in any desired number of rows , but three rows of such nozzle apertures are shown together with the annular gas manifolds 42 and 46 for illustrative purposes only . tile member 20 basically comprises a short cylindrical reaction chamber 52 made from ceramic tile members 54 . inset annular step 56 is positioned at the outlet of reaction chamber 52 and extends inwardly in an annular manner to thereby form an outlet aperture 58 which is smaller in diameter than the interior of reaction chamber 52 . radiation shield 60 is positioned adjacent the inlet end of elongated gas flow chamber 22 and comprises a dish shaped member having a reflective surface which faces the interior of elongated gas flow chamber 22 . sight port 62 is positioned behind radiation shield 60 on the axis of elongated gas flow chamber 22 . pilot burner 64 extends through the sidewall of gas injector member 12 , radiation shield 60 , and to a point adjacent the midportion of elongated gas flow chamber 22 as shown in fig1 . furthermore , scanner mount 66 is positioned through the sidewall of gas injector member 12 and in alignment with suitable aperture means through radiation shield 60 . as shown in broken lines in fig1 a focal point between the projection of pilot burner 64 , sight port 62 , and scanner mount 66 exists at the end of elongated gas flow chamber 22 . the gas mixer and reactor 10 can be utilized to react various gaseous constituents in three basic modes of operation as illustrated in fig2 and 4 . the three basic modes of operation of gas mixer and reactor 10 will be illustrated in relation to the process of producing an atmosphere to be used in a kiln . in this process , air is preferably delivered to gas manifold 24 via gas inlet port 26 , the fuel gas is delivered to annular gas manifold 42 via gas inlet port 44 and an inert gas is delivered to gas manifold 46 via gas inlet port 48 . thus , fuel gas is delivered from nozzle apertures 36 and 38 while inert gas is delivered from nozzle apertures 40 . the first mode of operation is shown in fig2 which utilizes relatively high flow rates of all three gaseous streams , and nozzle apertures 36 , 38 and 40 are angled in such a manner as to converge on the centerline of the short cylindrical reaction chamber 52 , and within reaction chamber 52 . the fuel and air are delivered in ratios such that the desired atmosphere results upon combustion . inert gases may be employed to further control the resulting atmosphere . for example , atmospheres may be produced which are either free or high in hydrogen , carbon monoxide , oxygen or free carbon . as shown in fig2 the nozzle apertures 36 , 38 and 40 are directed into the reaction chamber 52 and impinge at the center line or axis of reaction chamber 52 as shown by arrows 33 . the air is introduced through gas port 24 and passes around the annular gas flow manifold 24 and then radially into the interior of elongated gas flow chamber 22 as shown by arrows 34 . the introduction of the air in a uniformly annular manner about the inner periphery of elongated gas flow chamber 22 results in a substantially parabolic velocity front 70 as depicted by flow arrows 71 in fig2 . this substantially parabolic velocity front passes through the elongated gas flow chamber 22 into the turbulent region 72 formed by impingement of the fuel gas and inert gas streams within reaction chamber 52 to form a uniform mixture depicted as 74 of air , inert gas and fuel gas which is ignited ( initially by the action of the pilot burner 64 not shown in fig2 ). it is noted that the action of inset annular step 56 on the gas mixture results in further turbulence and further admixing as combustion occurs and the combusting mixture of expanding gases 76 exit via outlet aperture 58 . in the second mode of operation as schematically depicted in fig3 the gas flow rates of all three streams are generally high as described in fig2 but nozzle apertures 36 and 38 and if desired , 40 , are skewed and directed toward points 50 which comprises the intersection between inset annular step 56 and the internal periphery of reaction chamber 52 . when operating in this mode the air is passed radially inwardly into the interior of elongated gas flow chamber 22 as described in relation to fig2 to form the substantially parabolic velocity front 70 . furthermore , the fuel gas passing from nozzle apertures 36 and 38 impinges upon points 50 to form areas of turbulence 78 . the nozzle apertures 40 can either be skewed to contact points 50 or merely aimed at the center line of reaction chamber 52 in a manner described above in relation to fig2 . as shown in fig3 nozzle apertures 40 are angled to impinge on the center line within reaction chamber 52 . the substantially parabolic velocity front of air 70 contacts the points of impingement and turbulence thereby created at 78 to form a uniform mixture of the air and fuel gas . the mixture is ignited initially by the action of pilot burner 64 to form the combusting mixture 76 which is passed into the kiln via aperture 58 . the third mode of operation is schematically illustrated in fig4 . in this mode of operation the gas flow rates from apertures 36 , 38 and 40 is relatively low . as shown , the flow rates of fuel gas and inert gas from nozzle apertures 36 , 38 and 40 are not of sufficient velocity to cause impingement either at the center line within reaction chamber 52 or at points 50 opposite the nozzle apertures . the flows from these nozzle apertures merely trails along the inner periphery of reaction chamber 52 with only a small amount of mixing occurring with the air stream until contact is made with inset annular step 56 . at this point turbulent areas 80 result to cause intimate admixture of the inert gas , fuel and air . the mixture is ignited and the combusting mixture 76 is passed from the thermal reaction zone via outlet aperture 58 . in this mode , with the low flow rates , it is many times necessary to maintain a constant pilot flame emitting from pilot burner 64 ( not shown in fig4 ). it is noted that in all three modes of operation as described above in relation to fig2 and 4 the interior of reaction zone 52 is readily viewable via sight port 62 ( fig1 ). in addition , since the gas flows are constantly passing from gas injection member 12 to the interior of the ceramically lined tile member 20 , and because of the relatively great distance from the metal parts within gas injector member 12 from reaction chamber 52 , thermal convection and heat deterioration of the metal parts within the gas injector member 12 are diminished . in addition , the orientation of elongated gas flow chamber 22 is such that the gases flowing therethrough provide a cooling effect for all metal parts . furthermore , elongated gas flow chamber 22 is so disposed as to be shielded from radiation . furthermore , very little corrosive action can occur to the metal parts within the gas injector member 12 since the mixing and combusting operations mainly occur within the tile member 20 . now referring to fig5 a process is schematically depicted illustrating the gas mixer and reactor of the subject invention as gas mixer and reactor 10d . in this embodiment , gas mixer and reactor 10d is utilized to control the atmosphere within kiln 250 . gas mixer and reactor 10d is schematically depicted but can have the basic configuration shown in fig1 . accordingly , air conduit 252 operatively communicates with gas inlet port 26d and has flow control valve 254 and flow rate sensor 256 operatively disposed therein . valve 254 communicates with the output of flow ratio controller 258 , and flow rate sensor 256 communicates with an input of flow ratio controller 258 as schematically depicted as fig5 . gas inlet port 44d is in communication with fuel gas conduit 260 . fuel gas conduit 260 has flow control valve 262 and flow rate sensor 264 operatively disposed therein . valve 262 is operatively connected to the output of temperature controller 266 and flow rate sensor 264 is operatively connected to an input of flow ratio controller 258 . inert gas inlet conduit 268 operatively communicates with gas inlet port 48d and has valve 270 disposed therein . valve 270 is operatively connected to the output of temperature controller 272 . the outlet 58d of gas mixer and reactor 10d communicates with the interior of furnace chamber 274 . the duct 276 which forms the outlet of furnace chamber 274 communicates with the interior of kiln 250 . temperature sensor probe 278 communicates with the interior of duct 276 and transmits an input to temperature controller 272 . in similar manner , temperature probe 280 communicates with the interior of kiln 250 and communicates an input to temperature controller 266 . in operation , gas mixer and reactor 10d is supplied with a light hydrocarbon fuel or natural gas via conduit 260 . this fuel is burned in such a way to produce atmospheres which can be either free of or high in hydrogen , carbon monoxide , oxygen and free carbon . an essentially neutral atmosphere exists at stoichiometric combustion conditions . with appropriate controls , firing rates can be varied to obtain desired time , composition , and temperature . moderation of the temperature within kiln 250 is obtained by introducing an inert gas through conduit 268 . the inert gas is introduced through conduit 268 in response to temperature controller 272 . this inert gas can comprise carbon dioxide , nitrogen , recycled products of combustion or any other inert gas which is non - deleterious to the kiln atmosphere . inert fluid conduit 282 operatively communicates with the interior of kiln 250 and has flow sensor 284 and flow control valve 286 operatively positioned therein . flow sensor 284 is operatively connected to the input of flow controller 288 and flow control valve 286 is operatively connected to the output of flow controller 288 . this arrangement will provide a constant uniform flow of an inert gas into the interior of kiln 250 . the inert gas can be the same type as passed through conduit 268 . thus temperature controller 272 can be preset at any suitable temperature and correlated with valve 270 to result in any desired temperature of the gases passing through duct 276 . likewise , temperature controller 266 can be correlated with valve 262 to cause increases and decreases in the kiln temperature as desired . as an example of suitable operation , when gas mixer and reactor 10d is employed to produce an atmosphere containing free carbon the air rate can be adjusted to 16 , 000 standard cu . ft . per hour with a methane rate of 3200 standard cu . ft . per hour ; and with the same air rate an oxygen free slightly reducing atmosphere is created by supplying methane at 1800 standard cu . ft . per hour . furthermore , with the same air rate a neutral atmosphere is provided by supplying methane at 1750 standard cu . ft . per hour . still furthermore , at the same air rate , a hydrogen free slightly oxidizing atmosphere is produced by supplying methane at a rate of 1700 standard cu . ft . per hour . furthermore , still at the same air rate , an oxygen rich atmosphere provided by supplying the methane at a rate of 875 standard cu . ft . per hour . in the operation of the process as depicted in fig5 the neutral condition is the highest inert temperature condition , the theoretical flame temperature being about 3725 ° f . inert gas can be injected via nozzle apertures 40 and gas inlet 48d to reduce the temperature . for example , at the stoichiometric rates cited ( 1750 standard cu . ft . per hour of methane and 16 , 000 standard cu . ft . per hour of air ) about 4990 standard cu . ft . per hour of co 2 will reduce the theoretical flame temperature about 1000 ° f . introduction of co 2 is done with 40 nozzle apertures each having a 7 / 32 inch diameter . it is noted that while the above invention has been described in relation to its preferred embodiments , it is to to be understood that various modifications thereof will be apparent to one skilled in the art from the study of this specification and it is intended to cover such modifications as fall within the scope of the appended claims . for example , gas mixer and reactor can be utilized as either a natural or forced draft incinerator , for producing reducing gas for various operations such as smelting and metal working , heat treating and any other processes requiring hydrogen and / or carbon monoxide , and can be used in the production of carbon black and can be used to thermally decompose ammonia to produce hydrogen or with more oxygen to produce high purity nitrogen and in any indirect or direct heating operation and for boilers and many other combinations .
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described herein are aspects of a camera which adaptively selects an optimal wavelength for observation of a vlsi device , by inserting an appropriate short pass filter in the optical path . the wavelength is optimized according to criteria such as maximizing the snr , or a combination of high snr and high resolution ( which biases the optimization towards shorter wavelengths ), so as to obtain the best emission image for a given device under test ( dut ). while previous art already describes the introduction of a wide - band filter in the optical path , it does not do so in an adaptive manner and with consideration to maximizing snr . since the optical signal from the vlsi device is very faint , such filters traditionally have a wide bandwidth , in order to allow more light in , and thus shorten the required exposure times . conversely , disclosed embodiments use a shortpass filter , since even though the total amount of light passing the filter is smaller , the high snr still gives shorter exposure times as it matches the specific emission wavelength of the dut and the applied voltage . in some embodiments , the system first needs to characterize the snr across the possible observation spectrum . since the hc photon emissions depend both on inherent characteristics of the dut and on operating parameters such as voltage and temperatures , the optimal filter selection can vary from device to device , and so it may not be practical to pre - determine it . described herein are aspects of a microscope which adaptively selects an optimal bandwidth for observation of a vlsi device , by inserting an appropriate filter in the optical path . the method includes steps to determine the best shortpass filter so as to obtain the best emission image from each specific dut at each specific applied voltage , e . g ., vdd . aspects of the invention incorporate a method for emission microscopy of a dut , utilizing an emission microscope having the camera whose embodiment is described in fig2 . the camera includes an electronic detector array [ 21 ] located within a thermal enclosure [ 22 ] and connected to a controller [ 23 ]. also within the thermal enclosure are a cold aperture [ 24 ], a filter selector wheel [ 25 ] with several short pass filters [ 25 a , 25 b . . . ]. the rest of the optical path includes a relay lens [ 26 ] and an objective lens [ 27 ]. the controller is also connected to the filter selector wheel [ 25 ]. a tester [ 28 ], e . g ., an automated testing equipment ( ate ), is used to supply the dut [ 29 ] with a stimulation signal to induce it to operate and change state . the ate stimulation signal includes a signal at a given voltage vdd . different voltages cause the emission to have different wavelengths , so the filter wheel is used to select the best short pass filter according to the emission . the camera in this embodiment uses an mct ( mercury cadmium telluride , hgcdte ) detector array since it has a favorable ( uniform and wide ) response across the short and medium ir spectrum , but other types of detectors ( e . g . ingaas , extended ingaas or insb ) can also be used . in the aspects of the invention described herein , when operating , the controller operates in one of two modes . “ characterization ” or calibration mode : in this mode the controller uses the tester to create a test signal which creates a robust emission from the dut . the controller then aggregates multiple measurements from the detector array ( enough to form a statistical base measurement ), comparing the times when the dut is both active and inactive , to find the noise floor level of the system . in finding this level , the controller can aggregate and compare measurements from multiple pixels . the controller repeats this process while using different short pass filters , and so can tabulate the snr for each filter and select the optimal filter . “ observation ” or test mode : in this mode the controller switches to the optimal filter , and uses the tester to run the real - life test vectors to observe the dut . in some embodiments , the objective lens [ 27 ] has a flat front surface and its index of refraction matches that of the substrate of the dut , so that it can be used in contact with the dut , increasing the numerical aperture of the camera . a lens like this is called a solid immersion lens ( sil ), and it can operate together with a standard collection objective lens . in some embodiments , the camera features several interchangeable objective lenses , typically mounted on a rotary turret . one of the objective lenses can be a macro lens , which by its nature is larger in diameter and requires a larger relay lens . in such a situation , it becomes advantageous to not use the relay lens configuration while using the macro lens , and so install the relay lens on a mount that allows it to be removed from the optical path . fig3 depicts an embodiment of this invention . the detector [ 32 ] and short pass filter selector [ 30 ] are unchanged from the previous embodiment . a turret [ 34 ] carries multiple objective lenses [ 34 a , 34 b , 34 c ]. one of the lenses [ 34 a ] is a macro lens and is larger than the other lenses which are micro lenses . the relay lens [ 33 ] is mounted on a pivot or slide which allows it to be moved to a position [ 33 a ] outside the optical path , which is done when the macro lens [ 34 a ] is in use . an aperture wheel [ 31 ] contains several cold apertures [ 31 a ] of different sizes , each matching one of the objective lenses . the optical axis [ 35 ] is indicated by the horizontal dashed line . the dut 39 is mounted onto a bench 36 . the bench 36 may include temperature control mechanism to maintain the dut at constant temperature during testing . such mechanism may include , for example , thermo - electric cooler ( tec ), spray cooler , etc . the dut received test signals ( vectors ), including voltage vdd , from a tester 38 ( e . g ., ate ). tester ate may be a standard testing equipment and is not part of the emission detection system . controller 37 is configured to control the operation of the emission tester . controller 37 may be programmed to operate the short pass filter selector 30 and the collection of emission signal from the optical detector 32 . fig4 illustrates a flow chart of a process according to one embodiment . in step 40 , an objective lens is selected from the available objective lenses . in one embodiment , this step includes the landing of a sil on the dut to collect emission form the area of interest . also , in some embodiments this step includes the selection of corresponding cold filter . in step 41 a first filter , among a plurality of short pass filters , is selected . in one embodiment , each short pass filter has a cut - off frequency at different wavelength , enabling coverage in the wavelengths from about 1200 nm to about 2200 nm . each short pass filter has an upper cut - off wavelength that practically eliminates any transmission above its cut off , thus avoiding noise above the selected cut off frequency . in an alternative embodiment , the short pass filters may be replaced by narrow - band filters , wherein each narrow - band filter has a bandwidth of about 100 nm , and the available filters are distributed to cover frequencies in the wavelengths from about 1200 nm to about 2200 nm . however , shortpass filters enable more signal to pass than bandpass filters , so it is preferable to use short pass filters . also , since the thermal background emission and its associated noise are both increasing with wavelength , using short pass filters instead of bandpass filters efficiently cuts off these deleterious effects , while enabling higher signal levels to pass at wavelengths lower than the cut off . according to one embodiment , four short pass filters are used . in one example the short pass filters used are sp1550 ( which is used to mimic an ingaas camera — i . e ., cuts off longer wavelengths that a standard ingaas sensor cannot detect , but any of the other detectors , such as hgcdte or extended ingaas can detect ), sp1800 , sp1900 , and sp2000 . each short pass filter transmits everything below the specified cut off , but blocks transmission above the specified cut off . for example , sp1800 transmits everything below , but blocks everything above 1800 nm , as shown in fig6 . since the detector itself only absorbs light above 900 nm , the system is effectively capturing light from 900 nm to 1800 nm in the example of sp1800 . in step 42 , a test vector is applied to the dut , while holding all parameters constant . importantly , the temperature of the dut and the voltage vdd should be held constant , while at step 43 emission signal is collected and stored . then , in step 44 it is determined whether there are more filters to test and , if so , the process reverts to step 41 wherein the next filter is selected . then , the same test vectors are applied to the dut and , while keeping all parameters constant , another set of emission signal is collected and stored . when at step 44 it is determined that all filters have been tested , the process proceeds to step 45 to determine the best filter to use for the actual emission testing of the dut . according to one embodiment , in this step the detected emission and noise are quantified against each of the filters used . in one specific embodiment this is done by plotting signal to noise ratio against wavelength . an example of such a plot is depicted in fig5 . in the example of fig5 , the test outlined above was repeated for all available filters and for different vdd ( each series of test having vdd held constant ). then , for the actual emission test , it is determined what filter to use according to the best snr and the voltage vdd that is going to be used in the emission test . in the example of fig5 , it is shown that a lower vdd results in shorter wavelength emission , so that a shorter wavelength filter may be used for the lower vdd , while a longer wavelength filter may be used for the higher vdd . on the other hand , other testing with different devices have shown that such behavior is not typical , and when testing devices which operate at the mv range , i . e ., below 1 volt , the behavior is reversed , i . e ., lower vdd produces emission and longer wavelengths , thus requiring a longer wavelength filter for best snr . therefore , this test should be performed for each new device tested . the standard emission test is then performed at step 46 using the appropriately selected shortpass filter . the present invention has been described in relation to particular examples , which are intended in all respects to be illustrative rather than restrictive . those skilled in the art will appreciate that many different combinations of hardware , software , and firmware will be suitable for practicing the present invention . moreover , other implementations of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the invention disclosed herein . it is intended that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary only , with a true scope and spirit of the invention being indicated by the following claims .
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diol components each containing a tricyclo [ 3 . 3 . 1 . 1 3 , 7 ] decanediol of formula ( 1 ) ( hereinafter may be referred to as “ adamantanediol ”) can be used as the diol components ( i ) constituting the polyesters of the present invention . in formula ( 1 ), n is 0 or a positive integer . the repetition number n is , for example , 0 or a positive integer of less than or equal to 10 , preferably 0 or a positive integer of less than or equal to 5 , and specifically preferably 0 or 1 . a functional group bonded to an adamantane skeleton is a hydroxyalkyl group or a hydroxyl group . the functional group is preferably bonded at a bridgehead position of the adamantane skeleton . carbon atoms constituting the ring ( carbon atoms at a bridgehead position or non - bridgehead position , especially carbon atoms at a bridgehead position ) in formula ( 1 ) may each have a substituent . such substituents include , but are not limited to , methyl , ethyl , propyl , isopropyl , butyl , pentyl , hexyl , decyl , and other alkyl groups ( e . g ., c 1 - c 10 alkyl groups , and preferably c 1 - c 4 alkyl groups ); cyclopentyl , cyclohexyl , and other cycloalkyl groups ; phenyl , naphthyl , and other aryl groups ; methoxy , ethoxy , isopropoxy , and other alkoxy groups ( e . g ., c 1 - c 4 alkoxy groups ); methoxycarbonyl , ethoxycarbonyl , isopropoxycarbonyl , and other alkoxycarbonyl groups ( e . g ., c 1 - c 4 alkoxy - carbonyl groups ); acetyl , propionyl , butyryl , benzoyl , and other acyl groups ; hydroxyl group ; carboxyl group ; nitro group ; substituted or unsubstituted amino groups ; halogen atoms ; and oxo group . of the adamantanediols of formula ( 1 ), preferred are tricyclo [ 3 . 3 . 1 . 1 3 , 7 ] decane - 1 , 3 - diol ( 1 , 3 - adamantanediol ), 5 , 7 - dimethyl - tricyclo [ 3 . 3 . 1 . 1 3 , 7 ] decane - 1 , 3 - diol ( 1 , 3 - dihydroxy - 5 , 7 - dimethyladamantane ) and other tricyclo [ 3 . 3 . 1 . 1 3 , 7 ] decanediols of formula ( 1a ) ( 1 , 3 - adamantanediols which may have a substituent ). among them , 5 , 7 - dimethyl - tricyclo [ 3 . 3 . 1 . 1 3 , 7 ] decane - 1 , 3 - diol is typically preferred . among the adamantanediols of formula ( 1 ), examples of adamantanediols , where n is a positive integer , include 1 , 3 - adamantanedimethanol [ 1 , 3 - bis ( hydroxymethyl ) adamantane ] and 1 , 3 - dimethyl - 5 , 7 - adamantanedimethanol [ 1 , 3 - dimethyl - 5 , 7 - bis ( hydroxymethyl ) adamantane ]. the adamantanediols of formula ( 1 ) can be prepared in the following manner . for example , an adamantanediol having two hydroxyl groups at the bridgehead positions of the adamantane ring can be obtained by oxidizing a corresponding adamantane ( an adamantane compound having hydrogen atoms bonded to at least two carbon atoms at bridgehead positions of an adamantane ring ) and thereby introducing two hydroxyl groups into the bridgehead positions of the adamantane ring . likewise , an adamantanediol of formula ( 1 ), where n is 1 , can be prepared by reducing a corresponding adamantane ( an adamantane compound having carboxyl groups bonded to at least two carbon atoms at bridgehead positions of an adamantane ring ) and thereby reducing the carboxyl groups in the adamantane ring into hydroxyl groups . the adamantane compound having carboxyl groups bonded to at least two carbon atoms at bridgehead positions of the adamantane ring can be obtained by carboxylating a corresponding adamantane ( an adamantane compound having hydrogen atoms bonded to at least two carbon atoms at bridgehead positions of an adamantane ring ) and thereby introducing two carboxyl groups into the bridgehead positions of the adamantane ring . the adamantanediol can be obtained by oxidation of the adamantane in accordance with known or conventional oxidation processes . in view of reaction yield and operability , the adamantanediol is preferably obtained by a process , in which the adamantane is oxidized with molecular oxygen by catalysis of an n - hydroxyimide compound ( refer to japanese unexamined patent application publication no . 9 - 327626 ). more specifically , two hydroxyl groups can be introduced into the bridgehead positions of the adamantane ring by bringing the adamantane into contact with oxygen in the presence of the n - hydroxyimide catalyst such as n - hydroxyphthalimide , and where necessary , a metallic promoter ( co - catalyst ) such as a cobalt compound ( e . g ., cobalt acetate or acetylacetonatocobalt ). in this process , the amount of the n - hydroxyimide catalyst is , for example , from about 0 . 000001 to about 1 mole , and preferably from about 0 . 00001 to about 0 . 5 mole , relative to 1 mole of the adamantane . the amount of the metallic promoter is , for example , from about 0 . 0001 to about 0 . 7 mole , and preferably from about 0 . 001 to about 0 . 5 mole , relative to 1 mole of the adamantane . as the oxygen , pure oxygen , oxygen diluted with an inert gas , or air can be used . the oxygen is often used in excess to the adamantane . a reaction can be performed in a solvent at a temperature of from about 0 ° c . to about 200 ° c . and preferably from about 30 ° c . to about 150 ° c . at atmospheric pressure or under a pressure ( under a load ). such solvents include , for example , acetic acid and other organic acids , acetonitrile and other nitrites , and dichloroethane and other halogenated hydrocarbons . the resulting adamantanediol can be separated and purified by conventional separation and purification means such as concentration , filtration , extraction , crystallization , recrystallization , distillation and column chromatography . each of the adamantanediols of formula ( 1 ) can be used alone or in combination in the present invention . other diol components can be used as the diol component ( i ) constituting the polyester of the present invention , in addition to , or instead of , the adamantanediols of formula ( 1 ). such other diol components include diols for use in materials for conventional polyesters , such as ethylene glycol , 1 , 3 - propanediol , 2 , 2 - dimethyl - 1 , 3 - propanediol , 1 , 4 - butanediol , 1 , 5 - pentanediol , 1 , 6 - hexanediol , and other aliphatic diols ; 1 , 4 - cyclohexanediol , 1 , 3 - cyclohexanediol , 1 , 2 - cyclohexanediol , 2 - methyl - 1 , 1 - cyclohexanediol , 1 , 1 ′- bicyclohexyl - 4 , 4 ′- diol , 4 , 4 ′- isopropylidenecyclohexanol , bicyclo [ 2 . 2 . 1 ] heptane - 2 , 3 - diol , bicyclo [ 2 . 2 . 1 ] heptane - 2 , 5 - diol , bicyclo [ 2 . 2 . 1 ] heptane - 2 , 6 - diol , bicyclo [ 4 . 4 . 0 ] decane - 1 , 6 - diol , bicyclo [ 4 . 4 . 0 ] decane - 2 , 7 - diol , 1 , 4 - cyclohexanedimethanol , 1 , 3 - cyclohexanedimethanol , 1 , 2 - cyclohexanedimethanol , 3 - methyl - bicyclo [ 2 . 2 . 1 ] heptane - 2 , 2 - dimethanol , bicyclo [ 2 . 2 . 1 ] heptane - 2 , 5 - dimethanol , bicyclo [ 2 . 2 . 1 ] heptane - 2 , 6 - dimethanol , tricyclo [ 5 . 2 . 1 . 0 2 , 6 ] decane - 4 , 8 - dimethanol , and other alicyclic diols ; hydroquinone , catechol , resorcin , naphthalenediol , xylylenediol , bisphenol a , an ethylene oxide adduct of bisphenol a , bisphenol s , an ethylene oxide adduct of bisphenol s , and other aromatic diols ; diethylene glycol , triethylene glycol , polyethylene glycol , dipropylene glycol , and other ether glycols . among them , 1 , 4 - cyclohexanedimethanol and other alicyclic diols are preferred . each of these diol components can be used alone or in combination . the proportion of the adamantanediols of formula ( 1 ) in the overall diol components constituting the polyester of the present invention can be freely selected and is generally from about 1 % to about 100 % by mole , preferably from about 5 % to about 100 % by mole , and more preferably from about 10 % to about 100 % by mole . when the dicarboxylic acid component containing the tricyclo [ 3 . 3 . 1 . 1 3 , 7 ] decanedicarboxylic acid of formula ( 2 ) is used as the dicarboxylic acid component ( ii ), the diol component ( i ) does not necessarily contain the adamantanediols of formula ( 1 ). dicarboxylic acid components each containing a tricyclo [ 3 . 3 . 1 . 1 3 , 7 ] decanedicarboxylic acid of formula ( 2 ) ( an adamantanedicarboxylic acid ; hereinafter may be referred to as “ adamantanedicarboxylic acid ”) can be used as the dicarboxylic acid component ( ii ) constituting the polyester of the present invention . in formula ( 2 ), m is 0 or a positive integer . the repetition number m is , for example , 0 or a positive integer of less than or equal to 10 , preferably 0 or a positive integer of less than or equal to 5 , and specifically preferably 0 or 1 . a functional group bonded to an adamantane skeleton is a carboxyalkyl group or a carboxyl group . the functional group is preferably bonded at a bridgehead position of the adamantane skeleton . the carbon atoms constituting the ring ( carbon atoms at bridgehead positions or non - bridgehead positions , especially carbon atoms at bridgehead positions ) in formula ( 2 ) may each have a substituent . such substituents include substituents similar to those which the carbon atoms constituting the adamantane ring in the compound of formula ( 1 ) may have . of the adamantanedicarboxylic acids of formula ( 2 ), preferred are tricyclo [ 3 . 3 . 1 . 1 3 , 7 ] decane - 1 , 3 - dicarboxylic acid ( 1 , 3 - adamantanedicarboxylic acid ), 5 , 7 - dimethyl - tricyclo [ 3 . 3 . 1 . 1 3 , 7 ] decane - 1 , 3 - dicarboxylic acid ( 1 , 3 - dicarboxy - 5 , 7 - dimethyladamantane ), and other tricyclo [ 3 . 3 . 1 . 1 3 , 7 ] decanedicarboxylic acids of formula ( 2a ) ( 1 , 3 - adamantanedicarboxylic acids which may have a substituent ). among them , 5 , 7 - dimethyl - tricyclo [ 3 . 3 . 1 . 1 3 , 7 ] decane - 1 , 3 - dicarboxylic acid is typically preferred . of the adamantanedicarboxylic acids of formula ( 2 ), examples of adamantanedicarboxylic acids , where m is a positive integer , include 1 , 3 - bis ( carboxymethyl ) adamantane and 1 , 3 - dimethyl - 5 , 7 - bis ( carboxymethyl ) adamantane . the adamantanedicarboxylic acids of formula ( 2 ) can be prepared in the following manner . for example , an adamantanedicarboxylic acid having two carboxyl groups at bridgehead positions of the adamantane ring can be obtained by carboxylating a corresponding adamantane ( an adamantane compound having hydrogen atoms bonded to at least two carbon atoms at bridgehead positions of an adamantane ring ) and thereby introducing two carboxyl groups into the bridgehead positions of the adamantane ring . alternatively , this compound can be obtained by oxidizing an adamantane compound having hydroxymethyl groups bonded to at least two carbon atoms at bridgehead positions of an adamantane ring . of the adamantanedicarboxylic acids of formula ( 2 ), an adamantanedicarboxylic acid , where m is 1 ( e . g ., 1 , 3 - bis ( carboxymethyl ) adamantane ), can be prepared by oxidizing an adamantane compound having hydroxyethyl groups bonded to at least two carbon atoms at bridgehead positions of an adamantane ring . the adamantanedicarboxylic acid can be obtained by oxidation of the corresponding adamantane in accordance with known or conventional oxidation processes . in view of reaction yield and operability , the adamantanedicarboxylic acid is preferably obtained by a process in which the adamantane is oxidized with molecular oxygen by catalysis of an n - hydroxyimide compound ( refer to japanese unexamined patent application publication no . 9 - 327626 ). the adamantane can be carboxylated in accordance with known or conventional carboxylation processes . preferably , the adamantane is carboxylated by a carboxylation process in which the adamantane is subjected to carboxylation reaction with oxygen and carbon monoxide by catalysis of an n - hydroxyimide compound , as disclosed in japanese unexamined patent application publication no . 11 - 239730 . this carboxylation process can efficiently introduce carboxyl groups into an adamantane ring and thereby yield the adamantanedicarboxylic acid . more specifically , two carboxyl groups can be introduced into the bridgehead positions of the adamantane ring by bringing the adamantane into contact with oxygen and carbon monoxide in the presence of the n - hydroxyimide catalyst such as n - hydroxyphthalimide , and where necessary a metallic promoter ( co - catalyst ) such as a cobalt compound ( e . g ., cobalt acetate or acetylacetonatocobalt ). in this process , the amount of the n - hydroxyimide catalyst is , for example , from about 0 . 000001 to about 1 mole , and preferably from about 0 . 00001 to about 0 . 5 mole , relative to 1 mole of the adamantane . the amount of the metallic promoter is , for example , from about 0 . 0001 to about 0 . 7 mole , and preferably from about 0 . 001 to about 0 . 5 mole , relative to 1 mole of the adamantane . as the oxygen and carbon monoxide , pure oxygen and carbon monoxide can be used . alternatively , oxygen and carbon monoxide diluted with an inert gas can be used . the oxygen can also be derived from air . the amounts of and the ratio of the oxygen to carbon monoxide are not specifically limited , and the oxygen and carbon monoxide can be used in excess relative to the adamantane . it is advantageous to use carbon monoxide in excess to the oxygen . a reaction can be performed in a solvent at a temperature of from about 0 ° c . to about 200 ° c ., and preferably from about 30 ° c . to about 150 ° c . at atmospheric pressure or under a pressure ( under a load ). such solvents include , for example , acetic acid and other organic acids , acetonitrile and other nitriles , and dichloroethane and other halogenated hydrocarbons . the prepared adamantanedicarboxylic acid can be separated and purified by conventional separation and purification means such as concentration , filtration , extraction , crystallization , recrystallization , distillation and column chromatography . each of the adamantanedicarboxylic acids of formula ( 2 ) can be used alone or in combination in the present invention . other dicarboxylic acid components can be used as the dicarboxylic acid component ( ii ) constituting the polyester of the present invention , in addition to , or instead of , the adamantanedicarboxylic acids of formula ( 2 ). such dicarboxylic acid components include those generally used in materials for polyesters , such as terephthalic acid , isophthalic acid , phthalic acid , 2 , 6 - naphthalenedicarboxylic acid , 4 , 4 ′- biphenyldicarboxylic acid , 4 , 4 ′- diphenyl ether dicarboxylic acid , 4 , 4 ′- diphenylmethanedicarboxylic acid , 4 , 4 ′- diphenyl sulfonedicarboxylic acid , 4 , 4 ′- diphenylisopropylidenedicarboxylic acid , 1 , 2 - diphenoxyethane - 4 ′, 4 ″- dicarboxylic acid , anthracenedicarboxylic acid , 2 , 5 - pyridinedicarboxylic acid , diphenyl ketone dicarboxylic acid , and other aromatic dicarboxylic acids ; oxalic acid , succinic acid , glutaric acid , adipic acid , azelaic acid , sebacic acid , and other aliphatic dicarboxylic acids ; 1 , 2 - cyclohexanedicarboxylic acid , 1 , 3 - cyclohexanedicarboxylic acid , 1 , 4 - cyclohexanedicarboxylic acid , and other cyclohexanedicarboxylic acids , and bicyclo [ 2 . 2 . 1 ] heptane - 2 , 3 - dicarboxylic acid , bicyclo [ 2 . 2 . 1 ] heptane - 2 , 5 - dicarboxylic acid , bicyclo [ 2 . 2 . 1 ] heptane - 2 , 6 - dicarboxylic acid , tricyclo [ 5 . 2 . 1 . 0 2 , 6 ] decane - 4 , 8 - dicarboxylic acid , and other alicyclic dicarboxylic acids . among them , alicyclic dicarboxylic acids are preferred . each of these dicarboxylic acid components can be used alone or in combination . there are cis - isomers and trans - isomers in the cyclohexanedicarboxylic acids . each of the cis - isomer and the trans - isomer can be used alone or in combination as a mixture . the molar ratio of the cis - isomer to the trans - isomer can appropriately be selected within a range from 0 : 100 to 100 : 0 . the ratio of the adamantanedicarboxylic acids of formula ( 2 ) in the total dicarboxylic acid components constituting the polyester of the present invention can freely be selected and is generally from about 1 % to about 100 % by mole , preferably from about 5 % to about 100 % by mole , and more preferably from about 10 % to about 100 % by mole . when the diol component containing the tricyclo [ 3 . 3 . 1 . 1 3 , 7 ] decanediol of formula ( 1 ) is used as the diol component ( i ), the dicarboxylic acid component does not necessarily comprise the adamantanedicarboxylic acids of formula ( 2 ). the polyester of the present invention is preferably a polyester which is free from a component having a polymerizable double bond as the dicarboxylic acid component . it is typically preferably a saturated polyester ( a thermoplastic polyester ) composed of a dicarboxylic acid component and a diol component each having no polymerizable double bond . the number average molecular weight of the polyester is , for example , from about 1000 to about 150000 and preferably from about 3000 to about 100000 . in order to yield satisfactory mechanical strength as a molded article , the reduced viscosity of the polyester of the present invention is preferably about 0 . 5 or more , as determined in a mixed solution of phenol and 1 , 1 , 2 , 2 - tetrachloroethane ( weight ratio : 4 : 6 ) in a concentration of 1 . 2 g / dl at a temperature of 35 ° c . the polyester of the present invention can be produced by polycondensation of a diol component containing the adamantanediol of formula ( 1 ) with a dicarboxylic acid component , which may include the adamantanedicarboxylic acid of formula ( 2 ), or a reactive derivative thereof . alternatively , it can be obtained by polycondensation of a diol component , which may include the adamantanediol of formula ( 1 ), with a dicarboxylic acid component containing the adamantanedicarboxylic acid of formula ( 2 ), or a reactive derivative thereof . such reactive derivatives of the dicarboxylic acid components include , for example , dicarboxylic esters , dicarboxylic anhydrides and dicarbonyl halides ( e . g ., dicarbonyl chlorides ). these dicarboxylic esters , dicarboxylic anhydrides , and dicarbonyl halides can be obtained from corresponding dicarboxylic acids in accordance with conventional techniques . the procedure of a general production process of a polyester can be applied to production of the polyester of the present invention . for example , when a free dicarboxylic acid or carboxylic anhydride is used as a starting material , the polyester can be produced by heating a diol component and the dicarboxylic acid or dicarboxylic anhydride in a reactor and distilling off water produced by action of a reaction out of the reaction system . this reaction does not always require a catalyst , but the use of a catalyst can accelerate the reaction . such catalysts include , but are not limited to , acetates , carbonates , hydroxides , and alkoxides of alkali metals , alkaline earth metals , zinc , titanium , cobalt , manganese , and other metals . a reaction temperature is from about 120 ° c . to about 300 ° c ., and preferably from about 160 ° c . to about 300 ° c . the reaction ( esterification reaction ) is generally performed at atmospheric pressure , but may be performed under a reduced pressure to enhance distilling - off of water and excessive diol component . the molar ratio of the diol component to the dicarboxylic acid or dicarboxylic anhydride may be about 1 , but the diol component may be used in excess to yield a high molecular weight polyester . when a dicarboxylic ester is used as a starting material , the polyester can be produced by placing the diol component , the dicarboxylic ester and a catalyst in a reactor and distilling off an alcohol produced by the reaction out of the reaction system . such dicarboxylic esters include , for example , methyl esters , ethyl esters , propyl esters , and butyl esters of dicarboxylic acids , of which methyl esters are typically preferred from the viewpoints of the easiness and cost of the reaction . the catalyst includes , but is not limited to , carboxylates , carbonates , hydroxides , alkoxides , and oxides of alkali metals , alkaline earth metals , zinc , lead , titanium , cobalt , manganese , tin , antimony , germanium , and other metals . a reaction temperature is from about 120 ° c . to about 300 ° c ., and preferably from about 160 ° c . to about 300 ° c . the reaction ( esterification reaction ) is generally performed at atmospheric pressure , but may be performed under a reduced pressure to enhance distilling - off of the alcohol . the molar ratio of the diol component to the dicarboxylic ester may be about 1 , but the diol component may be used in excess to yield a high molecular weight polyester . using a dicarbonyl chloride or another dicarbonyl halide as a starting material , the polyester can be obtained , for example , by ( a ) a process in which the diol component and the dicarbonyl halide are allowed to react at high temperatures in the absence of a solvent , and a produced hydrogen halide is distilled off ; or by ( b ) a process in which the diol component and the dicarbonyl halide are allowed to react at low temperatures in a solvent , and a produced hydrogen halide is distilled off or is neutralized with a basic substance . a reaction temperature can be appropriately selected within a range of from about 0 ° c . to about 280 ° c . solvents for use in the process ( b ) are not specifically limited , as far as they are inert toward the reaction . such solvents include , for example , dichloromethane , chloroform , 1 , 2 - dichloroethane , monochlorobenzene , trichlorobenzene , and other halogenated hydrocarbons ; benzene , toluene , xylene , and other aromatic hydrocarbons ; tetrahydrofuran , dioxane , dimethoxyethane , and other ethers ; acetone , ethyl methyl ketone , isobutyl methyl ketone , cyclohexanone , and other ketones ; ethyl acetate , butyl acetate , and other esters ; acetonitrile , and other nitrites ; n , n - dimethylformamide , n , n - dimethylacetamide , n - methyl - 2 - pyrrolidone , and other amides ; dimethyl sulfoxide , and other sulfoxides ; 1 , 3 - dimethyl - 2 - imidazoline , and other imidazolines ; and hexanemethylphosphoramide . the basic substance includes , but is not limited to , triethylamine , tributylamine , n , n - dimethylaniline , and other tertiary amines ; pyridine , α - picoline , β - picoline , γ - picoline , quinoline , and other basic nitrogen - containing heterocyclic compounds ; sodium hydroxide , potassium hydroxide , and other alkali metal hydroxides ; sodium acetate , sodium carbonate , sodium hydrogencarbonate , potassium acetate , potassium carbonate , and other alkali metal salts . some of the aforementioned solvents such as n - methyl - 2 - pyrrolidone also serve as the basic substance . the polyester formed by polymerization can be isolated by a conventional technique such as filtration , concentration , precipitation , crystallization , and cooling - solidification . the present invention will now be illustrated in further detail with reference to several examples below , which are not intended to limit the scope of the invention . in the following examples , the number average molecular weight ( mn ) and the molecular weight distribution ( mw / mn ) of the resulting polymer were determined by gel permeation chromatography ( gpc ). the melting point ( tm ) and the 5 % weight reduction temperature in nitrogen ( td 5 ) of the polymer were determined by differential scanning calorimetry ( dsc ) using a differential scanning calorimeter and thermogravimetric analysis - differential thermal analysis ( tg - dta ) using a thermobalance , respectively . in a 50 - ml flask , 1 . 96 g of 5 , 7 - dimethyl - tricyclo [ 3 . 3 . 1 . 1 3 , 7 ] decane - 1 , 3 - diol and 5 ml of dried n - methyl - 2 - pyrrolidone were placed . to the resulting mixture , a solution mixture of 2 . 09 g of 1 , 4 - cyclohexanedicarbonyl chloride [ cis / trans = 49 . 7 / 50 . 3 ] and 5 ml of dried n - methyl - 2 - pyrrolidone was added dropwise at room temperature over 15 minutes with stirring . after the completion of addition , the resulting mixture was allowed to react at 100 ° c . for 3 hours . after the completion of polymerization , the reaction mixture was added dropwise in small increments to 500 ml of methanol to precipitate a produced polymer . the precipitated polymer was filtrated , was rinsed , was dried in vacuo and thereby yielded 3 . 4 g of a white polyester . the resulting polymer had a number average molecular weight ( mn ) of 5380 , a molecular weight distribution ( mw / mn ) of 2 . 14 , a glass transition temperature ( tg ) of 159 . 7 ° c ., a melting point ( tm ) of 264 . 1 ° c . and a heat decomposition temperature of 420 . 2 ° c . the 1 h - nmr spectrum ( solvent : cdcl 3 ) of the above - prepared polymer is shown in fig1 . in a 50 - ml flask , 1 . 01 g of 5 , 7 - dimethyl - tricyclo [ 3 . 3 . 1 . 1 3 , 7 ] decane - 1 , 3 - diol , 0 . 73 g of 1 , 4 - cyclohexanedimethanol [ cis / trans = 27 . 1 / 72 . 9 ] and 5 ml of dried n - methyl - 2 - pyrrolidone were placed . to the resulting mixture , a solution mixture of 2 . 09 g of 1 , 4 - cyclohexanedicarbonyl chloride [ cis / trans = 49 . 7 / 50 . 3 ] and 5 ml of dried n - methyl - 2 - pyrrolidone was added dropwise at room temperature over 15 minutes with stirring . after the completion of addition , the resulting mixture was allowed to react at 100 ° c . for 3 hours . after the completion of polymerization , the reaction mixture was added dropwise in small increments to 500 ml of methanol to precipitate a produced polymer . the precipitated polymer was filtrated , was rinsed , was dried in vacuo and thereby yielded 2 . 6 g of a white polyester . the resulting polymer had a mn of 4860 , an mw / mn of 1 . 92 and a tg of 105 . 3 ° c . previously , 1 , 4 - cyclohexanedicarbonyl chloride was prepared by allowing 1 , 4 - cyclohexanedicarboxylic acid to react with thionyl chloride and purifying a reaction product by distillation . in a 50 - ml flask in an atmosphere of dried nitrogen gas , 2 . 09 g of the 1 , 4 - cyclohexanedicarbonyl chloride and 10 ml of dried monochlorobenzene were placed . to the resulting mixture , a solution mixture of 1 . 68 g of tricyclo [ 3 . 3 . 1 . 1 3 , 7 ] decane - 1 , 3 - diol and 5 ml of dried pyridine was added dropwise at room temperature over 5 minutes with stirring . after the completion of addition , the resulting mixture was allowed to react at 80 ° c . for 2 hours . after the completion of polymerization , the reaction mixture was added dropwise in small increments to 500 ml of methanol . the resulting polymer was filtrated , was rinsed with methanol , was dried in vacuo and thereby yielded a white polyester . the resulting polymer had a mn of 16000 , a mw / mn of 2 . 5 , a tg of 105 ° c . and a td 5 of 385 ° c . a polyester was prepared by performing a reaction in a similar manner as in example 3 , except that 1 . 96 g of 5 , 7 - dimethyl - tricyclo [ 3 . 3 . 1 . 1 3 , 7 ] decane - 1 , 3 - diol was used as the adamantanediol . the resulting polymer had an mn of 17000 , an mw / mn of 2 . 5 , a tg of 170 ° c . and a td 5 of 430 ° c . a polyester was prepared by performing a reaction in a similar manner as in example 3 , except that 1 . 83 g of adipoyl chloride and 1 . 96 g of 5 , 7 - dimethyl - tricyclo [ 3 . 3 . 1 . 1 3 , 7 ] decane - 1 , 3 - diol were used as the dicarboxylic acid component and the adamantanediol , respectively . the resulting polymer had an mn of 10000 , an mw / mn of 2 . 5 , a tg of 44 ° c . and a td 5 of 410 ° c . a polyester was prepared by performing a reaction in a similar manner as in example 3 , except that 2 . 21 g of bicyclo [ 2 . 2 . 1 ] heptane - 2 , 5 - dicarbonyl chloride and 1 . 96 g of 5 , 7 - dimethyl - tricyclo [ 3 . 3 . 1 . 1 3 , 7 ] decane - 1 , 3 - diol were used as the dicarboxylic acid component and the adamantanediol , respectively . the resulting polymer had an mn of 6000 , an mw / mn of 2 . 2 , a tg of 172 ° c . and a td 5 of 420 ° c . a polyester was prepared by performing a reaction in a similar manner as in example 3 , except that 2 . 61 g of tricyclo [ 5 . 2 . 1 . 0 2 , 6 ] decane - 4 , 8 - dicarbonyl chloride and 1 . 96 g of 5 , 7 - dimethyl - tricyclo [ 3 . 3 . 1 . 1 3 , 7 ] decane - 1 , 3 - diol were used as the dicarboxylic acid component and the adamantanediol , respectively . the resulting polymer had an mn of 5000 , an mw / mn of 2 . 2 , a tg of 135 ° c . and a td 5 of 360 ° c . previously , tricyclo [ 3 . 3 . 1 . 1 3 , 7 ] decane - 1 , 3 - dicarbonyl chloride was prepared by allowing tricyclo [ 3 . 3 . 1 . 1 3 , 7 ] decane - 1 , 3 - dicarboxylic acid to react with thionyl chloride and purifying a reaction product by distillation . in a 50 - ml flask in an atmosphere of dried nitrogen gas , 2 . 61 g of the tricyclo [ 3 . 3 . 1 . 1 3 , 7 ] decane - 1 , 3 - dicarbonyl chloride and 10 ml of dried monochlorobenzene were placed . to the resulting mixture , a solution mixture of 1 . 44 g of 1 , 4 - cyclohexanedimethanol and 5 ml of dried pyridine was added dropwise at room temperature over 5 minutes with stirring . after the completion of addition , the resulting mixture was allowed to react at 80 ° c . for 2 hours . after the completion of polymerization , the reaction mixture was added dropwise in small increments to 500 ml of methanol . the polymer had an mn of 29000 , an mw / mn of 2 . 5 , a tg of 74 ° c . and a td 5 of 410 ° c . a polyester was prepared by performing a reaction in a similar manner as in example 8 , except that 1 . 16 g of 1 , 4 - cyclohexanediol was used as the diol component . the resulting polymer had an mn of 5000 , an mw / mn of 2 . 3 , a tg of 49 ° c . and a td 5 of 340 ° c . a polyester was prepared by performing a reaction in a similar manner as in example 8 , except that 1 . 16 g of 1 , 2 - cyclohexanediol was used as the diol component . the resulting polymer had an mn of 5000 , an mw / mn of 2 . 2 , a tg of 114 ° c . and a td 5 of 350 ° c . a polyester was prepared by performing a reaction in a similar manner as in example 8 , except that 1 . 56 g of bicyclo [ 2 . 2 . 1 ] heptane - 2 , 5 - dimethanol was used as the diol component . the resulting polymer had an mn of 20000 , an mw / mn of 2 . 6 , a tg of 91 ° c . and a td 5 of 420 ° c . a polyester was prepared by performing a reaction in a similar manner as in example 8 , except that 1 . 96 g of tricyclo [ 5 . 2 . 1 . 0 2 , 6 ] decane - 4 , 8 - dimethanol was used as the diol component . the resulting polymer had an mn of 5000 , an mw / mn of 2 . 4 , a tg of 88 ° c . and a td 5 of 390 ° c . in a 200 - ml flask , 4 . 49 g of tricyclo [ 3 . 3 . 1 . 1 3 , 7 ] decane - 1 , 3 - dicarboxylic acid and 3 . 46 g of 1 , 4 - cyclohexanedimethanol were placed , and to the resulting mixture , 0 . 011 g of tetraisopropyl titanate was added under flow of dried nitrogen gas . the resulting mixture was gradually heated to 200 ° c . and was stirred for about 1 hour . the system was then evacuated , the mixture was gradually heated to 280 ° c . with stirring and a polymerization reaction was performed for 8 hours . after the completion of polymerization , the reaction mixture was dissolved in 100 ml of chloroform , was added dropwise in small increments to 1500 ml of methanol , the resulting polymer was filtrated and was rinsed with methanol , was dried in vacuo and thereby yielded a polyester . the resulting polymer had an mn of 49000 , an mw / mn of 2 . 5 , a tg of 77 ° c . and a td 5 of 410 ° c . in a three - neck flask equipped with a condenser and a stirrer , 4 . 49 g of tricyclo [ 3 . 3 . 1 . 1 3 , 7 ] decane - 1 , 3 - dicarboxylic acid and 3 . 46 g of 1 , 4 - cyclohexanedimethanol were placed . to the resulting mixture , 0 . 021 g of 1 - chloro - 3 - hydroxy - 1 , 1 , 3 , 3 - tetra - n - butyldistannoxane was added under flow of dried nitrogen gas . the resulting mixture was heated to 200 ° c ., was stirred for about 1 hour and thereby yielded a homogenous mixture . additionally , 30 ml of decalin was added thereto and thereby yielded two - phase mixture . the resulting mixture was stirred under reflux of decalin for 60 hours to perform a polycondensation reaction . after the completion of the reaction , decalin was removed by flowing out , the reaction mixture was dissolved in 100 ml of chloroform , was added dropwise in small increments to 1500 ml of methanol , the resulting polymer was filtrated , was rinsed with methanol , was dried in vacuo and thereby yielded a white polyester . the polyester was stirred with methanol for 12 hours . the resulting white powdery polymer was separated by filtration , was dried at 60 ° c . under a reduced pressure and thereby yielded a polyester . the polymer had an mn of 14000 , an mw / mn of 2 . 3 , a tg of 73 ° c . and a td 5 of 410 ° c . a polyester was prepared by performing a reaction in a similar manner as in example 8 , except that 1 . 70 g of bicyclo [ 5 . 2 . 1 ] decane - 2 , 6 - diol was used as the diol component . the resulting polymer had an mn of 12000 , an mw / mn of 2 . 6 , a tg of 130 ° c . and a td 5 of 400 ° c . a polyester was prepared by performing a reaction in a similar manner as in example 13 , except that 5 . 05 g of 5 , 7 - dimethyltricyclo [ 3 . 3 . 1 . 1 3 , 7 ] decane - 1 , 3 - dicarboxylic acid was used as the dicarboxylic acid component . the resulting polymer had an mn of 26000 , an mw / mn of 2 . 5 , a tg of 77 ° c . and a td 5 of 410 ° c . a polyester was prepared by performing a reaction in a similar manner as in example 13 , except that 4 . 09 g of bicyclo [ 4 . 4 . 0 ] decane - 1 , 6 - diol and 5 . 05 g of 5 , 7 - dimethyltricyclo [ 3 . 3 . 1 . 1 3 , 7 ] decane - 1 , 3 - dicarboxylic acid were used as the diol component and the dicarboxylic acid component , respectively . the resulting polymer had an mn of 5000 , an mw / mn of 2 . 6 , a tg of 162 ° c . and a td 5 of 380 ° c . previously , tricyclo [ 3 . 3 . 1 . 1 3 , 7 ] decane - 1 , 3 - dicarbonyl chloride was prepared by allowing tricyclo [ 3 . 3 . 1 . 1 3 , 7 ] decane - 1 , 3 - dicarboxylic acid to react with thionyl chloride and purifying the reaction product by distillation . in a 50 - ml flask in an atmosphere of dried nitrogen gas , 2 . 61 g of the tricyclo [ 3 . 3 . 1 . 1 3 , 7 ] decane - 1 , 3 - dicarbonyl chloride and 10 ml of dried monochlorobenzene were placed . to the resulting mixture , a solution mixture of 1 . 68 g of tricyclo [ 3 . 3 . 1 . 1 3 , 7 ] decane - 1 , 3 - diol and 5 ml of dried pyridine was added dropwise at room temperature over 5 minutes with stirring . after the completion of addition , the resulting mixture was allowed to react at 80 ° c . for 2 hours . after the completion of polymerization , the reaction mixture was added dropwise in small increments to 500 ml of methanol . the resulting polymer was filtrated , was rinsed with methanol , was dried in vacuo and thereby yielded a white polyester . the polymer had an mn of 12000 , an mw / mn of 2 . 5 , a tg of 131 ° c . and a td 5 of 400 ° c . a polyester was prepared by performing a reaction in a similar manner as in example 18 , except that 1 . 96 g of 5 , 7 - dimethyl - tricyclo [ 3 . 3 . 1 . 1 3 , 7 ] decane - 1 , 3 - diol was used as the adamantanediol . the resulting polymer had an mn of 9000 , an mw / mn of 2 . 3 , a tg of 188 ° c . and a td 5 of 405 ° c . previously , 5 , 7 - dimethyltricyclo [ 3 . 3 . 1 . 1 3 , 7 ] decane - 1 , 3 - dicarbonyl chloride was prepared by allowing 5 , 7 - dimethyltricyclo [ 3 . 3 . 1 . 1 3 , 7 ] decane - 1 , 3 - dicarboxylic acid to react with thionyl chloride and purifying the reaction product by distillation . a polyester was prepared by performing a reaction in a similar manner as in example 18 , except that 2 . 89 g of the 5 , 7 - dimethyltricyclo [ 3 . 3 . 1 . 1 3 , 7 ] decane - 1 , 3 - dicarbonyl chloride and 1 . 96 g of 5 , 7 - dimethyl - tricyclo [ 3 . 3 . 1 . 1 3 , 7 ] decane - 1 , 3 - diol were used as the dicarboxylic acid component and the diol component . the resulting polymer had an mn of 6000 , an mw / mn of 2 . 3 , a tg of 200 ° c . and a td 5 of 415 ° c . other embodiments and variations will be obvious to those skilled in the art , and this invention is not to be limited to the specific matters stated above .
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hereinafter , the embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail more specifically . six mm - ni system hydrogen storage alloys having a crystal structure of cacu 5 were prepared by the normal high - frequency melting - casting method by varying cobalt content as shown in table 1 below . these alloys no . 1 - 6 were then heat - treated for 6 hours at 1 , 000 ° c . in a vacuum , and mechanically pulverized to have an average particle diameter of 30 μm . table 1______________________________________ co contentno . composition ( atom %) ______________________________________1 mmni . sub . 3 . 55 co . sub . 0 . 75 mn . sub . 0 . 4 al . sub . 0 . 3 12 . 52 mmni . sub . 3 . 75 co . sub . 0 . 55 mn . sub . 0 . 4 al . sub . 0 . 3 9 . 23 mmni . sub . 3 . 75 co . sub . 0 . 35 mn . sub . 0 . 5 al . sub . 0 . 4 5 . 84 mmni . sub . 3 . 95 co . sub . 0 . 15 mn . sub . 0 . 5 al . sub . 0 . 4 2 . 55 mmni . sub . 4 . 0 co . sub . 0 . 05 mn . sub . 0 . 55 al . sub . 0 . 4 0 . 86 mmni . sub . 4 . 05 mn . sub . 0 . 55 al . sub . 0 . 4 0______________________________________ one litter of an alkaline aqueous solution of potassium hydroxide containing 40 g / l of dissolved lithium hydroxide and having a specific gravity of 1 . 30 was poured in a fluorocarbon resin container and heated up to 120 ° c . when the temperature of the alkaline aqueous solution reached 120 ° c ., 3 g of cobalt hydroxide was added to and mixed with the alkaline aqueous solution , and then 300 g of a pulverized hydrogen storage alloy was added thereto . while keeping at 120 ° c ., the alkaline aqueous solution was stirred every 10 minutes for about 30 seconds . after continuing the treatment for 5 hours , the powdered alloy was well rinsed with water until the ph of the water became 8 or lower , and then dried at 50 ° c . this process was applied to the powdered alloys no . 1 - 6 individually . as a result , the color of all the powdered alloys were changed from metallic into black . the compositions of these treated hydrogen storage alloy powders were analyzed . although it was impossible to determine the exact entire compositions of the alloys from the surfaces to the center because these samples were all in a powdery state , it was found that the blackened surface of the alloy powder is covered with a nickel - and cobalt - rich layer ( about 40 - 60 atom % of nickel metal and about 10 - 30 atom % of cobalt metal ), and that the concentrations of both nickel and cobalt gradually decreased in the direction of depth and finally reached the level in the original alloy compositions . it was also recognized from a comparison of the compositions of the alloys no . 1 - 6 that an alloy having a lower cobalt content formed the nickel - and cobalt - rich layer more effectively . the alloys no . 1 - 6 were used to prepare 6 surface - treated alloy powders and 6 untreated alloy powders . by using the total of 12 alloy powders thus prepared , 12 sealed - type nickel - metal hydride storage batteries were manufactured in the following manner , and the characteristics of these batteries were examined . each of the 12 alloy powders was mixed with water to form a paste . the paste was applied to a foamed nickel sheet ( nickel sponge metal ) with a porosity of 95 % and a thickness of 1 . 0 mm . the foamed nickel sheet with the paste was dried , pressed to a thickness of 0 . 35 mm , and cut into a predetermined size to formed a negative electrode . a well - known foamed nickel electrode was used as the positive electrode , and a hydrophilic polypropylene non - woven fabric was used as the separator . the negative and positive electrodes thus produced were stacked with the separator inbetween and coiled up to put the whole in an aa - size battery case . then , an electrolyte was prepared by dissolving 30 g / l of lithium hydroxide in a potassium hydroxide aqueous solution having a specific gravity of 1 . 30 . thus prepared electrolyte was poured in the battery case . then , a lid with a safety valve was attached to the opening of the battery case . the capacity of this battery is restricted by the positive electrode and its standard capacity is 1 , 200 mah . these 12 nickel - metal hydride storage batteries thus manufactured were subjected to 5 cycles of charge - discharge operations as an initial charge - discharge operation where charging is performed for 6 hours at room temperature with a current of 240 ma and discharging at room temperature with a current of 240 ma until the battery voltage drops to 1 . 0 v . after the initial charge - discharge operation , the following main battery characteristics were examined in these 12 alkaline storage batteries under the typical test conditions as described below : charge characteristic , discharge characteristic , cycle life characteristic and preservation characteristic . to check the charge characteristic , the battery inner pressure during a rapid charge operation was examined as follows . after a complete discharge , each of the batteries was charged for 1 . 5 hours at 20 ° c . with a current of 1 cma ( 1 , 200 ma ). during the charging operation , changes in the battery inner pressure were measured with a pressure sensor . the maximum battery voltage p max of each battery is shown in table 2 below . to check the discharge characteristic , the low - temperature high - rate discharge performance was examined as follows . after a complete charge at room temperature , each battery was discharged at 0 ° c . with 1 cma ( 1 , 200 ma ) until the battery voltage dropped to 1 . 0 v . table 2 shows the discharge capacity ratio c and the mean discharge voltage v i under the conditions where the standard discharge capacity at 20 ° c . and with a current of 240 ma is set at 100 %. to check the cycle life characteristic , number of cycles were counted under the following conditions . in order to clarify the negative electrode alloy characteristic , each battery was charged for 3 hours at 40 ° c . with a current of 600 ma and then discharged under the same temperature and current condition , until the battery voltage dropped to 1 . 0 v . this charge - discharge cycle was repeated until the discharge capacity decreased below 60 % of the initial discharge capacity . number of cycles of each battery is shown in table 2 . to check the preservation characteristic , each of the batteries in discharged state was left in the atmosphere of 65 ° c . in order to observe a decrease in the open - circuit voltage , along with the preservation period . the days until the drop of the open - circuit voltage to 0 . 81 v are shown in table 2 . table 2__________________________________________________________________________ internal pressure discharge high - tempco content p . sub . max characteristic life preserva - no . ( atom %) treatment ( kgf / cm . sup . 2 ) c (%) v . sub . i ( v ) ( cycle ) tion ( day ) __________________________________________________________________________1 12 . 5 none 5 . 4 85 1 . 16 320 78 treated 5 . 1 87 1 . 19 330 1052 9 . 2 none 7 . 7 82 1 . 14 285 75 treated 6 . 3 85 1 . 16 305 963 5 . 8 none 10 . 3 78 1 . 11 250 62 treated 6 . 8 84 1 . 15 290 844 2 . 5 none 12 . 3 75 1 . 09 180 47 treated 7 . 2 83 1 . 14 270 775 0 . 8 none 14 . 5 73 1 . 08 145 35 treated 7 . 8 82 1 . 13 265 686 0 none 15 . 8 70 1 . 03 90 29 treated 8 . 3 81 1 . 11 240 65__________________________________________________________________________ the results of these examinations indicate the following : as for the charge characteristic , although battery inner pressure increases with a decrease in cobalt content , the pressure increase can be restrained by applying the surface treatment . as a result of the surface treatment , the battery inner pressure was maintained at the target degree of 10 kgf / cm 2 or below , even in the alloy having a low cobalt content . as to the low - temperature high - rate discharge characteristic , although the capacity ratio and the mean discharge voltage both decrease with a decrease in cobalt content , these decreases can be restrained by applying the surface treatment . as a result of the surface treatment , the capacity ratio and the mean discharge voltage achieved the target degrees of over 80 % and 1 . 1 v , respectively , even in the alloy having a low cobalt content . as for the cycle life characteristic , although number of cycles decreases with a decrease in cobalt content , the decrease in the cycle number is restrained by applying the surface treatment . as a result of the surface treatment , the cycle number reached the target number of 200 or higher even in the alloy having a low cobalt content . the examination results of the discharge preservation test at 65 ° c . indicate that although a decrease in the open - circuit voltage is accelerated with decreasing cobalt content , which leads to a decrease in the preservation period , the preservation characteristic is improved by applying the surface treatment . as a result of the surface treatment , the target preservation period of 60 days was obtained even in the alloy having a low cobalt content . in conclusion , the examination results of the main battery characteristics indicated that by application of the surface treatment in accordance with the present invention , it is possible to suppress a decrease in the cycle life and preservation characteristics of the alkaline storage batteries derived from a low cobalt content of a hydrogen storage alloy used in the battery , thereby realizing alkaline storage batteries with satisfactory performance for practical use . furthermore , the surface treatment improves the rapid charge and high - rate discharge characteristics which are significant for the alkaline storage batteries . as discussed above , according to the present invention , it is possible to obtain a storage battery having satisfactory battery characteristics even if the hydrogen storage alloy having a low cobalt content is included in the batteries . then , the risk of possible ignition of the hydrogen storage alloy and the electrodes including the same , which becomes a serious problem during the manufacturing process , was examined . the ignitability of the alloys and the electrodes was examined by a fire exposure test under the following conditions . hydrogen storage alloy powders which had been dried to eliminate the influence of moisture and electrode plates were used as samples . each of these samples was placed on an inorganic heat - insulating board and exposed directly to a diffusion flame of a gas lighter for 10 seconds . the ease of ignition was assessed based on the time required for ignition and the subsequent burning state of a sample . first , the alloy compositions were examined . examination of the 12 alloy powders ( 6 treated alloy powders and 6 untreated alloy powders ) revealed that the non - treated alloy powders required 3 seconds for ignition , and therefore were evaluated as highly dangerous . on the other hand , of the 6 surface - treated alloy powders , 5 ignited within 3 to 10 seconds , and therefore were evaluated as moderately dangerous . then , the electrodes employing these 12 alloy powders respectively were evaluated in the same manner . none of these electrodes ignited within 10 seconds and their dangerousness was estimated as low . by putting the samples in contact with the diffusion flame for a longer time , it was found that the electrodes employing the surface - treated alloys have poor ignitability . in conclusion , it has become obvious that the surface treatment of the present invention is effective to reduce the danger of ignition which has been the objective of hydrogen storage alloys . six alloys no . 7 - 12 having the same compositions as the alloys no . 1 - 6 of the first embodiment , respectively , were prepared by the normal high - frequency melting - casting method and then powdered by the gas atomizing method as follows : each of the alloys no . 7 - 12 was heated to melt and dropped through a nozzle having a diameter of 2 mm . the molten alloy was sprayed with argon gas at an injection pressure of about 60 kgf / cm 2 while dropping , and powdered . the cooling rate of the gas atomizing method is considered to be 10 4 to 10 5 k / sec which is much higher than that of the high - frequency melting - casting method applied in the first embodiment . the alloy powders thus obtained were approximately spherical . powder particles having a diameter of 10 to 100 μm were selected , heat - treated for an hour at 900 ° c . in a vacuum , and used as samples . each of the hydrogen storage alloys no . 7 - 12 which were thus powdered was added together with cobalt hydroxide to a potassium hydroxide aqueous solution at a temperature of 120 ° c . having a specific gravity of 1 . 30 to provide the alloy powder with a surface treatment in the same manner as in the first embodiment . as a result of the surface treatment , the color of all the alloy powders was changed from metallic into black , like as in the first embodiment . it was observed that the blackened surfaces of the alloy powders were covered with nickel - and cobalt - rich layers and the concentration of both nickel and cobalt gradually decreased in the direction of depth until it reached the degree in the original alloy compositions . the six surface - treated alloy powders were used to produce hydrogen storage alloy electrodes , and then alkaline storage batteries were manufactured by employing these electrodes . the battery characteristics of the batteries thus manufactured were examined under the same conditions as in the first embodiment . the examination revealed that the powdering by the gas atomizing method enhanced the battery characteristics and the safety of the alloys although the same compositions and surface treatment conditions as those in the first embodiment were applied . the examination results of the battery characteristics are shown in table 3 . table 3______________________________________ battery charac - teristics internal pressure discharge life preser - co content p . sub . max characteristic ( cy - vationno . ( atom %) treatment kgf / cm . sup . 2 c (%) vi ( v ) cle ) ( day ) ______________________________________ 7 12 . 5 treated 5 . 6 88 1 . 20 350 125 8 9 . 2 treated 6 . 9 86 1 . 77 335 107 9 5 . 8 treated 7 . 3 85 1 . 16 330 9810 2 . 5 treated 7 . 5 83 1 . 14 300 8911 0 . 8 treated 8 . 1 83 1 . 14 285 8212 0 treated 8 . 8 82 1 . 12 265 78______________________________________ it is apparent from a comparison of the results shown in table 3 and table 2 that the batteries employing the allow powders that were prepared by the gas atomizing method have as good charge and discharge characteristics as those employing the alloy powders that were prepared by mechanical pulverization . as for the cycle life and high - temperature characteristics , the batteries with the alloy powders prepared by the gas atomizing method were much better than those with mechanically - pulverized alloy powders . the ignitability test was conducted on the alloy powders made from the alloys no . 7 - 12 and the electrode plates employing these alloy powders in the same manner as in the first embodiment . as a result , it was observed that none of the alloy powders ignited within 10 seconds , and their danger was regarded as low . the same results were obtained from the electrode plates . it was also turned out that the alloys no . 7 - 12 of the present embodiment were all safer than the alloys no . 1 - 6 of the first embodiment . the same test was conducted on the powders prepared by the roll quenching method and the centrifugal atomizing method both of which are categorized as the ultra - rapid quenching method like the gas atomizing method . as a result , these alloy powders had the same effects as those of alloys no . 7 - 12 obtained by the gas atomizing method . the surface treatment is also effective for an mm - ni type hydrogen alloy powder having a crystal structure of cacu 5 , particularly for the alloy containing cobalt at 15 atom % or less , prepared by the ultra - rapid quenching method at a cooling rate of 10 3 k / sec or higher . although the present invention has been described in terms of the presently preferred embodiments , it is to be understood that such disclosure is not to be interpreted as limiting . various alterations and modifications will no doubt become apparent to those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains , after having read the above disclosure . accordingly , it is intended that the appended claims be interpreted as covering all alterations and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention .
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as shown in fig1 a - 6e , a water management system 10 is provided that in its broadest context includes a plurality of compressibly connectable liner sections for lining a ditch . the plurality of compressibly connectable liner sections is formed with corrugations . a plurality of corrugation couplers is formed in the corrugations for connecting the plurality of liner sections end - to - end . the plurality of corrugation couplers includes a monolithically formed succession of adjacent extended corrugations and foreshortened corrugations . the water management system also includes means for sealing abutting corrugation couplers . also included is a connector such as a threaded rivet for affixing adjoining corrugation couplers . an anchoring device insertable through the plurality of compressibly connectable liner sections is provided for securing the water management system in the ditch . the extended corrugations include a substantially triangular ridge having a rounded apex . the foreshortened corrugations include a substantially frustoconical ridge having a planar surface . a trough adjacently connects the extended corrugations and the foreshortened corrugations . wells may be formed in the troughs for positioning connectors such as threaded rivets . a means for sealing abutting corrugation couplers is mountable on the planar surface of the substantially frustoconical ridge . in one embodiment , the means for sealing abutting corrugation couplers is a compressibly resilient gasket for sealing the plurality of compressibly connectable liner sections . an adhesive is placed on the planar surface of the foreshortened corrugations . in one embodiment of the water management system , the slopes of opposing walls of the extended corrugations and of the foreshortened corrugations are substantially similar . the dimensions of opposing walls of the foreshortened corrugations would be substantially similar to the dimensions of opposing walls of the extended corrugations if not subtended by the planar surface of the foreshortened corrugations . the water management system also includes a variety of water and material diversion devices . in this description , to the extent that subscripts to the numerical designations include the lower case letter “ n ,” as in “ a - n ,” the letter “ n ” is intended to express a large number of repetitions of the element designated by that numerical reference and subscripts . the terms “ management ” and “ managing ” used in conjunction with the word “ water ” ( such as , “ managing water ,” “ water management ,” and similar variations of the terms ) contemplate that the apparatus and methods disclosed and claimed in this document may be used to hold and irrigate plant and planting materials so as to conserve water ; and that restrains growth of roots , shrubs and trees by confining growth within the apparatus and system disclosed and claimed in this document (“ water management system ”). the term “ water management system ” also contemplates and includes transporting fluids and materials within interconnected liner sections to specific points and areas . as shown in another embodiment , the water management system also may be used to route rain or undesirable water and materials away from land and structures . the term “ corrugation coupler ” or “ corrugation couplers ” means and refers to the new and useful apparatus disclosed and claimed in this document for snapping together and separating , or compressibly connecting and detaching , liner sections into a water management system . the corrugations formed in the liner sections are themselves the corrugation couplers . the corrugations themselves are formed for compressibly connecting and detaching the liner sections end to end , resulting in reduction of manufacturing complexity and ease of field assembly of a water management system . more specifically , as shown by cross - reference between fig1 a - 6e , a water management system 10 , as shown diagrammatically in fig2 , includes a plurality of compressibly connectable liner sections 12 a , b for lining a ditch 14 as further shown by cross - reference between fig6 a - 6c . the plurality of compressibly connectable liner sections 12 a , b is formed with corrugations 16 . a plurality of corrugation couplers 18 a - n as shown in fig6 a - 6b is formed in the corrugations 16 a - n for connecting the plurality of liner sections 12 a , b end - to - end . to achieve rapid , secure , repetitive connections , the plurality of corrugation couplers 18 a - n includes a succession of contiguous extended corrugations 20 a - n and foreshortened corrugations 22 a - n . thus , it will be apparent that each liner section 12 a - n includes a monolithically formed succession of corrugations of varying dimensions . as shown , corrugation couplers 18 a - n includes two adjacent corrugations 16 a - n , a leading corrugation 24 , and a trailing corrugation 26 . the leading corrugation 24 is formed with a substantially triangular cross - section 28 having a rounded apex 30 ( the “ extended corrugation ”); the trailing corrugation 26 is formed with a substantially frustoconical cross - section 32 having a height d 1 less than the height d 2 of the extended corrugation ( the “ foreshortened corrugation ”), as best shown in fig6 b . the walls 34 of the corrugations 16 a - n are substantially of uniform thickness throughout the length l 1 of a liner section 12 as best shown in fig6 c . as will be evident to one skilled in the art , the length l 2 of extended corrugations 20 a - n exceeds length l 3 of foreshortened corrugations 22 a - n throughout the length l 1 of liner sections 12 a - n , as shown by cross - reference between fig6 b - 6e . however , a mechanical advantage of the corrugation couplers 18 a - n is flexibility in altering the dimensions of the corrugation couplers 18 a - n during the manufacturing process , particularly the extended corrugations 20 a - n and the foreshortened corrugations 22 a - n , as dictated by the terrain conditions , size of the ditch 14 to be lined , and other varying conditions in which the water management system 10 will be installed , as well as other installation objectives . thus , although the general dimensions of the extended corrugations 20 a - n and foreshortened corrugations 22 a - n remain collectively substantially constant throughout the length l 2 of each liner section 12 a - n , the lengths l 2 and l 3 of the walls 34 of contiguous corrugations 16 a - n may be varied from application to application , and installation to installation , depending also on terrain conditions and flow geometries desired for a particular water management situation . as shown in fig6 b , except for heights d 1 and d 2 , other dimensions of the foreshortened corrugations 22 a - n may be substantially comparable to analogous dimensions of the extended corrugations 20 a - n . this , too , contributes a mechanical advantage to forming the corrugations 16 a - n during the manufacturing process : only the desired height d 2 of the foreshortened corrugations 22 a - n need be altered because the other dimensions will be similar to the extended corrugations 20 a - n . the height d 1 of the foreshortened corrugations 22 a - n may be adjusted prior to the manufacturing process that produces the desired liner sections 12 a - n . the planar surface 36 formed in the foreshortened corrugations 22 a - n by the truncating of the foreshortened corrugations 22 a - n also provides a surface on which to place an elastically deformable gasket 38 to help seal the connection between compressibly connected liner sections 12 a - n . as will be evident to one skilled in the art , the corrugation couplers 18 a - n also may be used in a variety of liner sections 12 a - n regardless of cross - sectional shape of the water management system 10 installed , including without limitation liner sections 12 a - n where cross - sections are substantially semi - circular , trapezoidal , square , oblong , or “ v ”- shaped . thus , liner sections 12 a - n may be manufactured in fewer “ standard ” lengths because one or more corrugation couplers 18 a - n may be removed or incised from a liner section 12 to link liner sections 12 a - n for a precise fit in a ditch 14 , regardless of the length of the ditch 14 . because the corrugation couplers 18 a - n are part of the corrugations 16 a - n common to a water management system 10 installation , much greater installation precision is achieved . as shown in fig1 a - 1b and 4 , the water management system 10 also includes in at least one embodiment opposing aprons 40 a - b . the opposing aprons 40 a - b extend from opposing sides 42 a , b of the compressibly connectable liner sections 12 a - n . the opposing aprons 40 a - b are useful in reducing erosion . opposing aprons 40 a , b also are useful in guiding installation of the anchoring device 44 . as shown best in fig4 , opposing aprons 40 a - b include , in one embodiment , a scribe line or indent 46 for guiding placement of an anchoring device 44 through the opposing aprons 40 a - b . the water management system 10 also includes in at least one embodiment , as shown by cross - reference between fig6 a - 6b , means for sealing 48 abutting corrugation couplers 18 a - n . in the embodiment shown in fig6 b , means for sealing 48 abutting corrugation couplers 18 a - n is mountable on the planar surface 36 of the substantially frustoconical ridge 50 . as shown , means for sealing 48 abutting corrugation couplers 18 a - n includes a compressibly resilient gasket 38 . in another embodiment means for sealing 48 abutting corrugation couplers 18 a - n includes an adhesive 52 to secure the compressibly resilient gasket 38 on the planar surface 36 . the adhesive 52 is shown in fig6 b diagrammatically as a rectangle on planar surface 36 . as also shown in fig6 b , the water management system 10 also includes a connector 54 such as a threaded rivet . the connector 54 is useful for affixing adjoining corrugation couplers 18 a - n . as also shown in the embodiment shown in fig4 , the water management system 10 also includes an anchoring device 44 insertable through the plurality of compressibly connectable liner sections 12 a - n , preferably the opposing aprons 40 a - b , for securing the water management system 10 in the ditch 14 . as shown in fig4 , the anchor is a rod . alternatively , the anchoring device 44 may be an earth 44 ′ anchor as described in u . s . patent application ser . no . 11 / 114 , 546 filed on apr . 26 , 2005 . in the embodiments shown in fig1 b and 5 a - 5 c , the water management system 10 further includes one or more diversion devices 56 a - n . a diversion device 56 a shown in the embodiment in fig1 b includes one or more removable caps 58 a - c located in one or more barrier ends 60 that may be formed or inserted in an end of a liner section 12 . the one or more removable caps 58 a - c located in one or more barrier ends 60 are formed to be easily removable from barrier end 60 by tapping with a light hammer or similar instrument . the holes remaining in the one or more barrier ends 60 permits movement and transport of water and other materials through an interconnected water management system that may be used for either , or both , fluid transportation alone , or fluid transportation through earth or similar materials placed in a water management system 10 used for landscaping purposes . in the embodiments shown diagrammatically in fig5 a - 5c , a diversion device 56 b includes a hub 62 shown diagrammatically in fig5 c . in the embodiment shown in fig5 a , a diversion device 56 c includes an angled unit 62 ′ connectable to the one or more liner sections 12 a - n for diverting fluid and material flow in different directions . as shown in fig5 b , diversion device 56 includes a tee - unit 62 ″. as will be evident to one skilled in the art , the diagrammatic representation of diversion devices 88 a - d are connectable to one or more liner sections 12 a - n to redirect flow through water management system 10 as desired and desirable . in yet another aspect of the water management system 10 , as shown perhaps best by cross - reference between fig6 b - 6d , a plurality of wells 64 a - n is provided . as shown , wells 64 a - n are shown in one embodiment as substantially tubular , and formed with an anterior opening 66 and a posterior recess 68 . in another embodiment , as also shown by cross - reference between fig6 b - 6d , substantially semi - circular channels 70 a - n , as shown best in fig6 c , are formed adjacent wells 64 a - n . in operation , connector 54 is inserted through wall 34 of liner sections 12 a , b to assist in connecting liner section 12 a to liner section 12 b as shown in fig6 e . wells 64 a - n provide the mechanical advantage of accommodating the head 72 of connector 54 a ( shown as a threaded rivet ) may infix . in addition , the semi - circular channels 70 a - n may also be formed as shown by cross - reference between fig6 c - 6d . the semi - circular channels 70 a - n provide a segmented annular ledge 74 a - n against which the lower surface 76 of the head 72 of connector 54 a comes in contact . the segmented annular ledge 74 a - n against which the lower surface 76 of the head 72 of connector 54 a comes in contact is shown diagrammatically by cross - hatched lines in fig6 d . the semi - circular configuration of the semi - circular channels 70 a - n also is shown in fig6 d . at least a portion of the head 72 of connector 54 a , as represented diagrammatically by the dimension p 1 in fig6 c , is held within semi - circular channels 70 a - b . as will be apparent to one skilled in the art , wells 64 a - n and semi - circular channels 70 a - n , either alone or in combination , provide the mechanical advantage of helping to secure connectors 54 a - n when installed in liner sections 12 a - n of water management system 10 . as also will become apparent to one skilled in the art , connectors 54 a - n may be installed in liner sections 12 a - n either from the top down ( namely , through liner section 12 a into liner section 12 b ), or bottom up ( namely , through liner section 12 b into liner section 12 a ), with or without the formation of wells 64 a - n or semi - circular channels 70 a - n . the water management system shown in drawing fig1 a through 6e includes at least one embodiment , but the embodiments are not intended to be exclusive , but merely illustrative of the disclosed but non - exclusive embodiments . claim elements and steps in this document have been numbered and / or lettered solely as an aid in readability and understanding . claim elements and steps have been numbered solely as an aid in readability and understanding . the numbering is not intended to , and should not be considered as intending to , indicate the ordering of elements and steps in the claims . means - plus - function clauses in the claims are intended to cover the structures described as performing the recited function that include not only structural equivalents , but also equivalent structures . thus , although a nail and screw may not be structural equivalents , in the environment of the subject matter of this document a nail and a screw may be equivalent structures .
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reference is made to a commonly - owned u . s . pat . no . 6 , 001 , 077 , whose contents are hereby incorporated by reference . like the system described in that patent , the surgical smoke evacuation apparatus of the invention employs two independent filters in series in the suction path . the first filter is a viral pre - filter which is capable of filtering micro - organisms bigger than 0 . 02 microns in size . following the pre - filter is a charcoal filter that efficiently removes odors . a preferred embodiment 10 in accordance with the invention is illustrated in fig1 and comprises a main air - tight ( except for an air outlet ) housing 12 that provides a control panel and display 14 on the front side and in front an air inlet 16 for receiving a hose connector mounted at the end of a corrugated plastic vacuum hose 18 sufficiently strong to withstand the suction pressure . inside the housing 12 is provided a brushless dc blower or suction motor 20 available commercially from many suppliers and having an air inlet 22 and an air outlet 24 . in operation , an internal 2 - stage fan ( not shown ) develops a suitable suction at its air inlet 22 by discharging a powerful stream of air at its outlet 24 . the discharged air exits the housing via a mesh - covered louvered opening 26 at the housing bottom . standoffs 30 provide easy flow of the exhaust stream to the ambient . the speed of the motor 20 may be controlled in a known manner ( more on this below ). typically , the suction generated is inversely proportional to the air flow rate . it is desirable to maintain the air flow rate to ensure that the suction is sufficient to collect any smoke plume pollutants encountered . the vacuum hose 18 is connected at one end to the housing air inlet 16 , and at the opposite end to an external pre - filter 32 . preferably , the pre - filter 32 comprises a viral paper filter capable of filtering micro - organisms exceeding 0 . 02 microns , and is also available commercially from many suppliers . the viral paper filter is mounted inside a small housing 34 which is not meant to be opened and the housing and assembled filter 32 is easily removed and replaced by any user of the apparatus . to the air inlet side of the pre - filter 32 is connected a wand 36 via its air outlet and with the wand 36 having at its air inlet a mesh tip 38 which is positioned by the practitioner at the site where the smoke plume is generated . the wand is described in more detail in the referenced patent . fig2 and 6 show by arrows the air flow path . the suction motor 20 creates a large suction that pulls in at the wand 36 end via the mesh 38 outside air 80 including any smoke or plume in the vicinity . many of the pollutant particles are filtered out by the pre - filter 32 , and the suctioned air continues 82 through the hose 18 into the input 16 of the main filter housing 40 . the latter houses a replaceable charcoal filter 42 which is in the shape of a cylinder defining within the filter housing 40 an annular cylindrical outer channel 44 and on the charcoal interior an inner cylindrical channel 46 . the front end 48 of the filter is sealed off forcing the air to enter the outer channel 44 . the rear 50 of the outer channel is also sealed off forcing the air radially through the charcoal walls to the inner channel 46 which communicates with the motor inlet 22 . hence , all the air must flow through the walls of the charcoal filter 42 . after passing through the suction motor 20 the filtered air exits via the air output 26 . the front of the filter housing 40 can be removed to replace the filter unit 42 when desired . a feature of the invention is means for indicating or determining when the main filter 40 should be replaced . this is achieved by monitoring the air pressure at the inlet to the main filter 40 . in a preferred embodiment , a pressure tube 54 is mounted in the main filter housing 40 . the tube inlet 56 is positioned as shown in fig2 to receive a sample of the incoming air which has passed through the pre - filter 32 . the air pressure at that point , i . e ., at the input to the main filter 40 , is an indication of the degree of clogging of the main filter 40 . it is a straightforward task to measure that pressure for different levels of filter 40 clogging to determine the degree of clogging of the polluted filter . essentially this is a calibration task that provides the information for the user to decide when to replace the master filter 40 . in general , a conventional pressure transducer 56 ( fig6 ) measuring the air pressure , at that point generates a voltage that is approximately proportional to the pressure increase ( over ambient pressure , which is the pressure at the motor outlet ). it will be understood that , as the main filter clogs , the air flow reduces which increases the back pressure at the input to the main filter . for example , a higher pressure measurement will provide a higher voltage to trigger a signal that can be used to generate a tone from an annunciator ( not shown ) and / or turn on an indicator 60 on the front panel display 65 , for example a red light , warning the user to replace the master filter . this pressure voltage when calibrated thus determines the degree of pollution within the master filter for replacement . also , an early warning signal can be obtained by scaling this pressure voltage , and implementing the warning by means of another indicator , for example , signaling a yellow light indicator , to warn the user to have available or procure a stand - by replacement filter . in general , when the air pressure at the sample tube 54 has increased by , say , 40 % over the air pressure measured when a clean filter is present is a good time to replace the main filter to avoid the risk of incomplete removal of all possible pollutants . the transducer itself , not shown in fig2 but in fig6 may be located inside the filter housing 40 and an electrical wire used to connect the transducer to a control circuit 66 on a pcb within the evacuator housing 12 . alternatively , the air pressure pipe 54 can be extended through the outer channel 44 to the rear of the filter housing , and a flexible tube 62 connected to the pipe via a nipple 63 at the rear of the filter ( see fig3 ) can be used to convey the air pressure to the transducer 56 on the pcb . as an alternative , as illustrated in fig4 the air tube 54 can travel through the outer channel 44 to the outlet 63 for carrying the pressure at the main filter entrance to the pressure transducer 56 . as a further feature of the invention , means are provided to control the motor speed . this also can be accomplished with a second air tube 68 travelling through the outer channel 44 and having an inlet 69 at the main filter entrance and an outlet 70 for carrying the pressure via a flexible air hose 71 at the main filter exit to a second pressure transducer 72 in the main control 66 . alternatively , the first and second air tubes 54 , 68 can be combined into a single tube . the second pressure transducer 72 measures the pressure difference across the motor 20 , as the motor releases air into the ambient atmosphere , the exit pressure would be close to atmospheric pressure though , perhaps , a small discrepancy is expected . the pressure increasing rate is an almost linear decreasing offset function of the air mass flow . the voltage generated by the second pressure transducer 72 is utilized to control the motor speed in a conventional manner 73 for maintaining a constant air mass flow rate through the system . this ensures that collection of pollutants is optimized . rapid drop of the air flow rate can be used to trigger a signal to disable the motor for it means an undesirable clogging in the air flow path that is interfering with the pollution collection . the user at that point should discontinue or interrupt the procedure to determine the clogging point and to fix it . fig6 shows other elements of the control system which are straightforward for the person of ordinary skill in the art to implement , so it is deemed unnecessary to supply more than the minimum details . fig6 shows not only electrical components and their relationships , but also pneumatic relationships by the arrows indicating air flow as well as the signal flow . for example , an indicator 84 on the board can display speed , foot 86 represents a foot switch for activating the system , the wand symbol 88 underneath represents a possible on - off switch on the wand , and the remaining items are readily understood from their label . the main control system can be readily implemented by a conventional microcontroller suitably programmed to respond to the various inputs and to activate various outputs as required , or by a hard - wired digital circuit to supply the functions described . in summary , the filtration system of the invention provides a strong air suction flow rate able to capture the smoke plume before it escapes . the extended wand will easily reach to the surgical site . the in - line micro - filter provides the first defense to capture harmful bio - particles and prevent large particles from getting into the filtration system , as well as to keep clog away from the filter system and simultaneously maintain the required air flow rate . the large charcoal filter and the described radial flow path provides room and time for the polluted air to react with the active charcoal to remove any odors , leaving exhausting air as fresh as the unpolluted room air . in addition , the system provides high suction and high flow rate . the safety screen 38 at the wand entrance keeps large tissue particles out of the system . the external filter 32 in addition to trapping micro - organisms removes casual fluid . this external filter 32 is a single use filter , and can be easily installed or replaced for filter changes as it is completely enclosed in a plastic compartment to prevent health care personnel from potential contamination . the master filter 40 functions to absorb and purify the toxic gases and odors produced by the burning tissue . it accomplishes this with high quality activated carbon . the pressure sensors for monitoring the air flow path through the master filter achieve the highest efficiency and ensure its function . the filtration system can also be monitored by an operational timer as well as air flow pressure sensors . when it has been operated for a certain set period and / or the air flow pressure reaches a certain threshold level , the filtration system will trigger a warning light to tell the user that replacement of the master filter is in order . the filtration system will re - set its pressure level and timing counter system upon replacing the master filter . while , for best protection , when it is time to replace the master filter , the filtration system will stop functioning after the warning light is on . however , in the event of an emergency , an override switch 90 is provided to allow the system to continue functioning . the filtration system may continue its service for the last time as long as its power supply is not interrupted . this can also be implemented by incorporating a one - time use fuse on the master filter which allows only one use when the override switch is activated . the motor speed control is easily implemented with a known integrated circuit to control the motor speed and its function . while the invention has been described in connection with preferred embodiments , it will be understood that modifications thereof within the principles outlined above will be evident to those skilled in the art and thus the invention is not limited to the preferred embodiments but is intended to encompass such modifications .
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compound 1 of the present invention is a known compound , and is produced by , for example , the method disclosed in international publication wo1999 / 008987 . the term “ treatment ” in the present invention means maintenance treatment for alleviating the symptoms and preventing the recurrence by improving a disease that presents both of detrusor overactivity and detrusor underactivity , especially , maintenance treatment for alleviating the symptoms and preventing the recurrence by ameliorating dhic . in the present specification , the phrase “ a treatment of dhic ” means a method of ameliorating a disease that presents both of detrusor overactivity during storage phase and detrusor impaired contractility during voiding phase . compound 1 of the present invention may be formed acid adduct salt , or base adduct salt . and the present include the present invention to the extent that the salt is a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof . specifically , it includes an acid adduct salt with an inorganic acid such as hydrochloric acid , hydrobromic acid , hydroiodic acid , sulfuric acid , nitric acid , or phosphoric acid etc . ; an acid adduct salt with an organic acid such as formic acid , acetic acid , propionic acid , oxalic acid , malonic acid , succinic acid , fumaric acid , maleic acid , lactic acid , malic acid , citric acid , tartaric acid , carbonic acid , picric acid , methansulfonic acid , p - toluenesulfonic acid , or glutamic acid etc . ; salt with an inorganic base such as sodium , potassium , magnesium , calcium , or aluminum etc . ; salt with an organic base such as methylamine , ethylamine , meglumine , or ethanolamine etc . ; salt with basic amino acid such as lysine , arginine , or ornithine ; ammonium salt etc . examples of the solvent of the solvate of compound 1 of the present invention include water , methanol , ethanol , isopropanol , acetonitrile , tetrahydrofuran , ethyl acetate , toluene , hexane , acetone , methyl ethyl ketone , and methyl isobutyl ketone etc . 3 -( 15 - hydroxypentadecyl )- 2 , 4 , 4 - trimethyl - 2 - cyclohexene - 1 - one , a salt thereof , or a solvate thereof of the present invention can be prepared into various dosage forms by using known preparation methods using a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier . the dosage form is not particularly limited , and examples thereof include oral agents such as tablets , coated tablets , pills , powdered drugs , granules , capsules , liquids , suspensions , or emulsions ; and parenteral agents such as injections or suppositories . in preparing tablets , examples of carrier include excipients such as lactose , sucrose , sodium chloride , glucose , urea , starch , calcium carbonate , kaolin , crystalline cellulose , or silicic acid ; binders such as water , ethanol , propanol , cornstarch , simple syrup , glucose solution , starch solution , gelatin solution , carboxymethylcellulose , shellac , methylcellulose , hydroxypropylcellulose , hydroxypropylmethylcellulose , potassium phosphate , or polyvinyl pyrrolidone ; disintegrants such as dry starch , sodium alginate , powdered agar , powdered laminaran , sodium hydrogencarbonate , calcium carbonate , polyoxyethylene sorbitan fatty acid ester , sodium lauryl sulfate , stearic acid monoglyceride , or lactose ; disintegration inhibitors such as sucrose , stearic acid , cacao butter , or hydrogenated oils ; absorbefacients such as quaternary ammonium salts or sodium lauryl sulfate ; moisturizers such as glycerin or starch ; adsorbents such as starch , lactose , kaolin , bentonite , or colloidal silicic acid ; and lubricants such as purified talc , stearate , boric acid powder , or polyethylene glycol . further , the tablets may be generally coated tablets such as sugar - coated tables , gelatin - coated tablets , enteric - coated tablets , film - coated tablets , double - coated tablets , or multi - coated tablets . in preparing pills , examples of the carrier include excipients such as glucose , lactose , starch , cacao butter , hardened vegetable oil , kaolin , or talc ; binders such as gum arabic powder , tragacanth powder , gelatin , or ethanol ; and disintegrators such as laminaran or agar . capsules are usually prepared in a standard method by blending the drug with one or more carriers as exemplified above , and encapsulating the mixture into hard gelatin capsules , soft capsules , etc . in preparing oral liquid formulations , an internal liquid medicine , a syrup , an elixir , or the like , may be prepared by a standard method using sweetening / flavoring agent , buffer , stabilizer , etc . in this case , examples of sweetening / flavoring agents include sucrose , wild orange peel , citric acid , and tartaric acid ; examples of buffers include sodium citrate ; and examples of stabilizers include tragacanth , gum arabic , and gelatin . in preparing suppositories , examples of usable carriers include polyethylene glycol , cacao butter , higher alcohols , esters of higher alcohols , gelatin , and semisynthetic glycerides . in preparing injections , the liquids , emulsions , and suspensions are preferably sterilized and rendered isotonic to the blood . examples of diluents for preparing such dosage forms include water , aqueous lactic acid solution , ethanol , propylene glycol , macrogols , ethoxylated isostearyl alcohol , polyoxyethylenated isostearyl alcohol , and polyoxyethylene sorbitan fatty acid ester . in this case , sodium chloride , glucose , or glycerin in an amount sufficient to prepare an isotonic solution may be added to the pharmaceutical formulation . further , general solubilizers , buffers , anesthetics , and the like , may also be added to the pharmaceutical formulation . additionally , coloring agents , preservatives , aromatics , flavors , sweetening agents , or other medicinal products may be incorporated , if necessary , into the pharmaceutical formulations . the method for administering the dhic ameliorating agent of the present invention is not particularly limited , and is suitably selected according to the dosage form thereof , the age , gender , and other conditions of the patient , the severity of the symptoms of the patient , and the like . for example , tablets , pills , powdered drugs , granules , capsules , liquids , suspensions , and emulsions are orally administered . the injections are intravenously administered singly , or as a mixture with a general infusion liquid such as liquid glucose or an amino acid liquid . further , as necessary , the injections are singly administered intra - arterially , intramuscularly , intradermally , subcutaneously , or intraperitoneally . the suppositories are intrarectally administered . the amount of the compound of the present invention or a salt thereof to be incorporated into each of the above dosage unit form depends on the symptoms of the target patient , or depends on the drug form ; however , the amount per dosage unit form is generally preferably about 0 . 005 to 1 , 000 mg , more preferably 1 to 800 mg , further preferably 5 to 500 mg for oral agents ; about 0 . 001 to 500 mg , more preferably 0 . 02 to 400 mg , further preferably 1 to 250 mg for injections ; and about 0 . 01 to 1 , 000 mg , more preferably 1 to 800 mg , further preferably 5 to 500 mg for suppositories . additionally , the daily dose for an adult of the drug to be administered with the above dosage form is generally about 0 . 005 to 5 , 000 mg , preferably 0 . 01 to 2 , 000 mg , more preferably 10 to 1600 mg , further preferably 20 to 800 mg , although such doses depend on the symptom , body weight , age , gender , etc ., of the patient . for each day , the daily dose is preferably taken at one time , or divided into two to four administrations . the present invention is more specifically described below in reference to the test examples ; however , the present invention is not limited to these examples . the models were produced by partial ligation ( φ1 . 57 mm ) of urethra in rats ( 9 weeks , female , sprague - dawley ). six weeks after preparation of the model , the rats were released the ligation . the next day , the intravesical pressure and the voided volume were measured under awake condition . and the detrusor contractility during voiding phase was evaluated by nomogram analysis using qmax and pdet . additionally , the detrusor overactivity , as index of overactive bladder , and the increase of residual urine volume , as index of underactive bladder , were evaluated . fig1 shows representative cystometry charts . in the dysuria model rat ( control ) compared to sham rat , there is the characteristics of detrusor hyperactivity with impaired contractility that are characterized by remarkable overactivity and increased residual urine volume ( table 1 ). through evaluation of detrusor contractility during voiding phase in refer to nomogram analysis which are used in clinical sites ( non - patent document 9 : urol clin north am , 17 , p 553 - 566 ( 1990 )), because the plot of control group is positioned in a position relatively close to the origin compared to it of sham group ( the distance from the origin : sham group 24 . 75 ± 3 . 14 , control group 4 . 24 ± 0 . 53 , p & lt ; 0 . 05 ), it is judged that reduction of detrusor contractility occurs in the rat dysuria model ( fig2 ). in the rat dysuria model from these findings , it is confirmed that the detrusor overactivity during storage phase and the reduction of detrusor contractility during voiding phase in nomogram analysis coexist in the body of the same individual which is clinical diagnostic index of dhic . it is found that the rat dysuria model is able to be evaluated as model of dhic . effects of ameliorating detrusor overactivity and detrusor impaired contractility in rat dysuria model that presents dhic the effect of 3 -( 15 - hydroxypentadecyl )- 2 , 4 , 4 - trimethyl - 2 - cyclohexene - 1 - one ( hereinafter referred to as “ compound 1 of the present invention ”) on dhic was evaluated . the dysuria models in this example were prepared in the same manner as in test example 1 . the test drugs ( vehicle : 6 % gelucire , compound 1 of the present invention 10 mg / kg ) were orally administered to each group after two weeks from the preparation of the models twice a day for four weeks . on the day of the final administration , the rats were released the ligation of urethra . the next day , the intravesical pressure and the voided volume were measured using cystometry under conscious condition . the detrusor overactivity , as an index of overactive bladder , and the increase of residual urine volume , as an index of underactive bladder , were evaluated . additionally , the detrusor contractility during voiding phase was evaluated by nomogram analysis using qmax and pdet . in comparison with the detrusor overactivity ( 1 . 73 ± 0 . 10 times / min ) and the residual urine volume ( 0 . 57 ± 0 . 06 ml ) in control group receiving vehicle ( 6 % gelucire ), detrusor overactivity ( 0 . 63 ± 0 . 14 times / min ) and residual urine volume ( 0 . 28 ± 0 . 13 ml ) in the group receiving compound 1 of the present invention were significantly improved ( table 1 ). additionally , from the result of evaluation using nomogram analysis , because the plot of compound 1 of the present invention group is positioned in a position relatively distant from the origin compared to it of control group ( the distance from the origin : 10 . 5 ± 2 . 3 , p & lt ; 0 . 05 ), it is judged that detrusor contractility is improved in compound 1 of the present invention group compared to control group ( fig2 ). in dhic model that detrusor overactivity and detrusor impaired contractility coexist , it is recognized that compound 1 of the present invention possesses effect for ameliorating both of detrusor overactivity and detrusor impaired contractility . effects of α1 - blocker ( tamsulosin ) on detrusor overactivity and detrusor underactivity / impaired contractility in rat dysuria model that presents dhic in the same manner as test example 1 , the rats were released the ligation of urethra at six weeks after the preparation of the model . the next day , the intravesical pressure and the voided volume were measured using cystometry under conscious condition . the detrusor overactivity , as an index of overactive bladder , and the increase of residual urine volume , as an index of underactive bladder , were evaluated . additionally , the detrusor contractility during voiding phase was evaluated by nomogram analysis using qmax and pdet . tamsulosin ( 3 μg / kg ) was administered intravenously to the dysuria rat at the evaluation ( six weeks after preparation of the model ). detrusor overactivity was significantly improved in tamsulosin ( 3 μg / kg ) group ( 0 . 68 ± 0 . 33 times / min ) than control group ( 1 . 73 ± 0 . 10 times / min ) ( table 1 ). however , tamsulosin ( 3 μg / kg ) has no effect on residual urine volume ( table 1 ) and detrusor contractility in nomogram analysis ( fig2 ). effects of α1 blocker ( tamsulosin ) on detrusor impaired contractility in rat underactive bladder model the effects of al blocker ( tamsulosin ) on underactive bladder were evaluated . the dysuria models in the present example were prepared by treating 10 - week - old female wistar rats with streptozotocin ( 65 mg / kg , i . p .). from four weeks after the preparation of the models , tamsulosin ( 1 μg / kg / hr ) was administered subcutaneously using osmotic pump . four weeks after the implant of osmotic pump , the intravesical pressure and the voided volume were measured using cystometry under urethane anesthesia condition . and the residual urine volume , as an index of underactive bladder , was evaluated . table 2 shows the results . in comparison with the sham group , significant increase of the residual urine volume , which is an index of underactive bladder , was observed in the control group ( eight weeks after the development of the disease in the models ). tamsulosin showed significant reduction on the increase of residual urine volume which was observed in the control group . the above results suggest that tamsulosin improves underactive bladder , that is , detrusor impaired contractility . although an α1blocker , which generally are used as dysuria - treating drug , has effect on underactive bladder ( comparative example 2 ) and are also reported effect for improving overactive bladder ( non - patent document 10 : j urol , 190 , p 1116 - 1122 ( 2013 )), the effect of tamsulosin was not observed in dysuria ( dhic ) that detrusor overactivity and detrusor impaired contractility coexist in the body of the same individual ( comparative example 1 ). on the other hand , compound 1 of the present invention shows effect for ameliorating both dysfunctions in dhic that detrusor overactivity and detrusor impaired contractility coexist ( test example 2 ). therefore , it is suggested that compound 1 of the present invention is a useful therapeutic agent for dhic ( test example 2 ).
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turning now to the drawings , and particularly to fig2 , there is shown the components of a constant velocity joint used in practicing the present invention . like fig1 , an input shaft 21 is coupled to an output shaft 32 by means of the constant velocity joint . in the fig2 embodiment an outer housing or body 50 of particular configuration encloses the remaining conventional elements of the constant velocity joint . the body has races 23 , and the joint also includes an inner race 25 , also having races , drive balls 26 and a cage 28 . the inner race 25 has a splined opening to receive the splined end 31 of the output shaft 32 . thus , the shaft 32 can flex at any angle with respect to the input shaft 21 . the maximum angle which can be accommodated without interference is on the order of 40 degrees . the outer surface 52 of the body 50 is formed as a smooth spherical surface for purposes now to be described . in practicing the invention a semi - rigid plastic boot 60 is provided . the boot has a smooth internal spherical surface 62 which is sized to match the spherical outer surface of the body . by matching the outer surface is meant that when the boot 60 is snapped into place over the body 50 , a sliding fit is provided between the mating spherical surfaces so that one shaft can move angularly with respect to the other while the boot simply slides over the spherical surface of the body to maintain a seal . it can be appreciated from fig2 that the boot 62 is larger than a half sphere . if the boot were simply a half sphere , it would be truncated at about the phantom line 64 shown dashed in fig2 . however , it extends beyond that such that where truncated at 65 , the inner diameter of the opening 66 is smaller than the inner diameter of the boot . as a result , the boot itself will simply not fit onto the outside of the spherical body without being forced thereon . thus , after the joint is assembled , the boot is forced downwardly over the spherical housing which causes the opening 66 to expand sufficiently to fit over the outer diameter of the spherical housing . the boot is sufficiently elastic that the opening momentarily expands to allow the boot to actually pop or snap into place , to assume a rest position in which the surfaces of the two spheres match as shown in fig2 . it is locked fairly firmly in this position by the resilience of the plastic material which creates a force which tends to close the opening 66 and thus maintain the locked and conformed condition between the two elements . this sliding fit which is thus provided between the two spherical surfaces is adequate to maintain the internal workings of the joint clean . to enhance the sealing effect , wiper grooves 70 are provided near the open end 66 which tend to wipe debris off exposed portions of the body 50 as the boot moves over those portions during angular movement of the two shafts . we have found that over time plastic creep of the material of the boot tends to relax the gripping action at the opening 66 . to counteract the plastic creep from opening a gap between the end 65 of the boot and the spherical surface 52 of the housing , we position a retaining ring 72 over the plastic boot , near the truncated end . the retaining ring can be , for example , a simple steel ring which is heat treated , then split , then put into the position shown in fig2 . the original diameter of the ring 72 before heat treatment is smaller than the diameter shown in ring 72 , such that when it is split and forced into place a gap is provided between the ends of the steel ring which causes a continued compressive force around the end of the plastic boot , tending to continually resist the effects of plastic creep . other forms of mechanical retainer can also be used , but we currently prefer the snap ring because of its simplicity and rugged reliability . the shaft end of the boot is provided with a sliding fit over the outside of shaft 32 . the end portion of the shaft 32 which mates with the boot is a relatively smooth shaft section , and the boot has a cylindrical flange 80 having an inner surface 82 which closely fits over the shaft 32 . a series of grooves 84 are formed on the inside of the cylindrical surface to provide a series of wipers 85 which tend to scrape collected debris from the shaft , upon relative movement , thereby to prevent the introduction of contaminants into the housing via the shaft . referring briefly to fig3 and 4 , fig3 is similar to fig2 and is provided for reference . fig4 shows the condition when the output shaft 32 is flexed by about 40 degrees with respect to the input shaft 21 . it will be seen that the inside spherical surface 62 of the boot 60 continues to conform to the outer spherical surface 52 of the housing 50 during the entire angular movement of one shaft with respect to the other . the upper portion of the boot 62 covers a greater and greater section of the upper spherical portion , whereas the lower section of the boot slides to very near the tip . it is also noted that the angle of the internal cage has flexed to accommodate the angular motion of the shafts and keep the balls in the constant velocity plane . however , the important thing to note with respect to the present invention is the continued ability of the arrangement to prevent debris from entering . the close fitting nature of the boot , the fact it is of much harder and less flexible material than flexible boots of the past , and its close fitting nature all contribute to the extreme reliability of the arrangement , even in environmentally adverse conditions . while a variety of materials can be used for molding the plastic boot 50 , at this point we continue to prefer oil filled nylon . oil filled nylon resists moisture absorption , which is a significant characteristic for some applications . nylon of thicknesses approximately those illustrated in the drawings , on the order of 0 . 125 inches , can be formed with sufficient elasticity and flexibility to allow the boot to pop over the spherical surface of the housing . the nylon also retains its shape and thus has sufficient resilience to close the gap and closely fit about the spherical surface . the material is subject to plastic creep over time , and this is resisted by the snap ring or other external mechanical restraint . other forms of plastic , known to those skilled in the art , will also be found suitable for providing these characteristics . all references , including publications , patent applications , and patents , cited herein are hereby incorporated by reference to the same extent as if each reference were individually and specifically indicated to be incorporated by reference and were set forth in its entirety herein . the use of the terms “ a ” and “ an ” and “ the ” and similar referents in the context of describing the invention ( especially in the context of the following claims ) is to be construed to cover both the singular and the plural , unless otherwise indicated herein or clearly contradicted by context . the terms “ comprising ,” “ having ,” “ including ,” and “ containing ” are to be construed as open - ended terms ( i . e ., meaning “ including , but not limited to ,”) unless otherwise noted . recitation of ranges of values herein are merely intended to serve as a shorthand method of referring individually to each separate value falling within the range , unless otherwise indicated herein , and each separate value is incorporated into the specification as if it were individually recited herein . all methods described herein can be performed in any suitable order unless otherwise indicated herein or otherwise clearly contradicted by context . the use of any and all examples , or exemplary language ( e . g ., “ such as ”) provided herein , is intended merely to better illuminate the invention and does not pose a limitation on the scope of the invention unless otherwise claimed . no language in the specification should be construed as indicating any non - claimed element as essential to the practice of the invention . preferred embodiments of this invention are described herein , including the best mode known to the inventors for carrying out the invention . variations of those preferred embodiments may become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon reading the foregoing description . the inventors expect skilled artisans to employ such variations as appropriate , and the inventors intend for the invention to be practiced otherwise than as specifically described herein . accordingly , this invention includes all modifications and equivalents of the subject matter recited in the claims appended hereto as permitted by applicable law . moreover , any combination of the above - described elements in all possible variations thereof is encompassed by the invention unless otherwise indicated herein or otherwise clearly contradicted by context .
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1 . information retrieved means access and discovery of stored information . it requires the efficient retrieval of relevant information from ill - structured natural language - based documents . the effectiveness of a retrieval method is measured by both precision , or the proportion of relevant to non - relevant documents identified , and recall , or the percentage of relevant documents identified . 2 . information analysis is discovery and synthesis of stored information . it involves the detection of information patterns and trends and the construction of information patterns and trends and the construction of inferences concerning theses patterns and trends which produce knowledge . the present invention is known as spire ( spatial paradigm for information retrieval and exploration ). spire is a method of presenting information by relative relationships of content and context — that is , the “ relatedness ” of a plurality of documents to one another both by their sheer numbers and by their subject matter . it is comprised of a plurality of elements which define it &# 39 ; s usefulness as an information analysis tool . briefly , the elements are : a combination of an intuitive and attractive interface , well integrated with a powerful set of analytical tools ; a computationally efficient approach to both clustering and projection , essential for large document sets ; a three - dimensional visualization component to render stored information in a three - dimensional format ( known as themescapes ); and a unique interplay between the 2 - dimensional and 3 - dimensional visualization components . an essential first step in the transformation of natural language text to a visual form is to extract and structure information about the text — through a “ text processing engine ”. a text processing engine for information visualization requires : ( 1 ) the identification and extraction of essential descriptors or text features , ( 2 ) the efficient and flexible representation of documents in terms of these text features , and ( 3 ) subsequent support for information retrieval and visualization . there are a number of acceptable text engines currently available on the market or as research prototypes , such as the hecht nielson corporation &# 39 ; s matchplus or the national security agency &# 39 ; s acquaintance . the parameters typically measured by a text engine fall into one of three general types . first , ‘ frequency - based measures ’ on words , utilising only first order statistics . the presence and count of unique words in a document identifies those words as a feature set . the second type of feature is based on higher order statistics taken on the words or letter strings . here , the occurrence , frequency , and context of individual words are used to characterize a set of explicit or implicitly defined word classes . the third type of text feature is semantic — the association between words is not defined through analysis of the word corpus , as with statistical features , but is defined a priori using knowledge of the language . semantic approaches may utilize natural or quasi - natural language understanding algorithms . the second requirement of the text engine ( efficient and flexible representation of textual information ) is satisfied if identified text features are used as a shorthand representation of the original document . instead of complex and unwieldy strings of words , feature sets are the basis of document representation . volume reduction of information is required to make later computations possible . finally , the text engine must provide easy , intuitive access to the information contained within the corpus of documents through retrieval and visualization . to provide efficient retrieval , the text processing engine must pre - process documents and efficiently implement an indexing scheme for individual words or letter strings . information retrieval implies a query mechanism to support it — often a basic boolean search , or a high level query language , or the visual manipulation of spatialized text objects in a display . the process of the present invention can best be described with reference to a five - stage text visualization process . stage one the receipt of electronic versions of textual documents into the text engine described above is essentially independent of , but a required precursor for , the spire process . the documents are input as unprocessed documents — no key wording , no topic extraction , no predefined structure is necessary . in fact , the algorithms used to create a spatial representation of the documents presupposes the characteristics of natural language communication so that highly structured information ( e . g . tables and outlines ) cannot be adequately processed and will result in diminished results . stage two the analysis of natural language documents provides a characterization of the documents based on content . performed in the text engine , the analysis can be first order ( word counts and / or natural language understanding heuristics ) or higher order information captured by bayesian or neural nets . the required output is that each document must be converted to a high dimensional vector . a metric on the vector space , such as a euclidean distance measure or cosine measure , can be used to determine the similarity of any two documents in the collection . the output of this processing stage is a high dimensional vector or each document in the collection . stage three the document vectors must be grouped in the high dimensional metric space —“ clustering ”. in order to satisfy performance requirements for large document sets , clustering algorithms with a lower order of complexity are essential . the output of this stage is a partition set on the document collection with measures for each cluster of magnitude ( count ) dispersion . while it is believed that there are a number of different approaches to the clustering of information that will lead to acceptable results , applicants have determined to limit the document vectors to “ large ” ( more than 3 , 000 documents ) and “ small ” ( less than 3 , 000 documents ) data sets . for small data sets , readily available clustering algorithms have been used , with primary emphasis on k - means and complete linkage hierarchical clustering . for larger data sets , traditional clustering algorithms can not be used because of the exponential complexity of the clustering algorithms as the data set increases . applicants have therefore devised an alternative method for clustering in large problem sets known as “ fast divisive clustering ”. in this process , the user selects the desired number of clusters . no assistance is provided in selecting this number , but it should be heuristically based on knowledge of the data set , such as size , diversity , etc . after the number of seeds has been selected , the next step is to place seeds in the multi - dimensional document space . a sampling of the subspaces is performed to ensure that there is a reasonable distribution of the cluster seeds — that is , they are not too close to one another . then , the hyperspheres are defined around each cluster seed and assigned to all documents within a hypersphere to the corresponding cluster . iteratively , the center of mass is calculated yielding a new cluster centroid , and therefore a new location for the hypersphere and new document assignments . within a few iterations , locations for the cluster centroids will be determined , and the final document to cluster assignments are made . changes in distances between iterations should remain within a predefined threshold . ( i ) selecting the number of seeds , based on characteristics of the document collection ; ( ii ) placing seeds in hyperspace by sampling regions to ensure reasonable distribution of seeds ; ( iii ) identifying non - overlapping hyperspheres ( one for each cluster ) and assigning each document to a cluster based on which hypersphere the document is located within ; ( iv ) calculating a centroid coordinate — the center of the mass for each cluster ; and ( v ) repeating steps ( iii ) and ( iv ) until centroid movement is less than a prescribed threshold . stage four this stage requires the projection of the high dimensional document vectors and the cluster centroids produced in stage 3 into a 2 - dimensional representation ( fig1 ). the 2 - d planar representation of the documents and clusters is necessary for user viewing and interaction . because the number of dimensions is reduced from hundreds to two , a significant loss of information naturally results . some representational anomalies are produced by projection , causing documents to be placed with an associated error . the nature and quantity of this error are defining characteristics of the chosen projection . as with the clustering stage , compute time is important for large document sets . therefore , projection algorithms which are of a low order of complexity are vital . the product of this stage is a set of 2d coordinates , one coordinate pair ( 10 , 12 ) for each document . as with the clustering of stage three , multiple options or projection techniques are available . for relatively small data sets , applicants have chosen to use “ multi - dimensional scaling algorithm ”, or mds . the mds utilizes pairwise distances ( euclidean or cosine angle ) between all document pairs . the algorithm attempts to reserve the distances determined in the high - dimensional space when projecting to 2d space . in doing so , the discrepancy between pairwise distances in the high dimensional space and the 2d counterparts are represented as an error measure . the algorithm iteratively adjusts document positions in the 2d plane in order to minimize the associated error . the distance from every point to every other point is considered and weighed against a preset desired distance . every point influences every other point , making mds a computationally intensive algorithm . for larger data sets , mds is impractical due to the exponential order of complexity , and applicants have therefor developed a projection algorithm called “ anchored least stress ”. when starting with a fixed number of points ( cluster centroids which have been calculated in stage three ), the algorithm considers only the distance from a point to the various cluster centriods , not the distance to every other point . the document is placed so that its position reflects its similarity or dissimilarity to every cluster centroid . only a relatively small amount of initial calculation is required ; after that each document can be positioned using simple matrix operations , with a computational complexity on the order of the number of cluster centroids . with the centroids placed in the 2d plane , a vector is constructed for each document which contains the distances from the document to each cluster centroid in the high dimensional space . given the vector of hyperspace distances , a closed form solution can be constructed which rapidly produces the 2d coordinates of each document in the document collection . more specifically , if one begins with n cluster centroids cj ( the 2 - dimensional projection of the cluster centroids from high - dimensional space ), assume the coordinate system is such that the center of mass of all the cluster centroids is at the origin . let c - 1 = 1 n ∑ j = 1 n c j1 ; c - 2 = 1 n ∑ j = 1 n c j2 [ 1 ] the squared distance between each document i and each of the cluster centroids j ( as measured in the original high - dimensional space ) is d ij . there are m documents with unknown 2 - dimensional coordinates x i . for each document i and cluster j , we desire to have x i , such that d i = 1 n ∑ j = 1 n d ij [ 4 ] w ij = i i · c j = i i1 c j1 + i i2 c j2 [ 5 ] if it is desired to force documents to be closer to the centroid of the cluster to which they belong , a weighted least squares approach may be utilized . let w e be an input weight — this is interpreted as the distance of a point from its own cluster centroid and is w e times more important than its distance from any other cluster . a matrix s j is defined to have 0 &# 39 ; s on the off - diagonal and 1 &# 39 ; s on the diagonal , except for the ( j , j ) th entry , which is equal to w e . the weighted solution for the position of the ith document , when that document is a member of the jth cluster , will be î i =( c t s j c ) − 1 c t s j y i [ 6 ] ( i ) performing an anchored least stress analysis on cluster centroid coordinates in hyperspace ; ( ii ) producing a vector for each document with distance measures from the document to each cluster centroid ; and ( iii ) constructing an operator matrix and multiply matrix by each vector in step ( ii ) to produce two - dimensional coordinate for each document . stage five the output of stage four ( a coordinate pair for each document and cluster centroid ) is displayed in a scatter plot yielding what applicants call the “ galaxies ” two - dimensional visualization . for this two - dimensional visualization , no further computation of the stage four results is required . a three - dimensional representation of the stage four results does require further commutation , and results in what applicant calls a thematic landscape , or “ themescapes ”. this 3d representation provides an intuitive visual measure and a spatial position in display space for dominant topics in a corpus of unstructured documents . themescapes solves the two most troublesome problems encountered with two - dimensional textual information analysis . that is , important subjects of the database are not easily or accurately discernable — the major topics are imprecisely displayed , if provided at all , and are not spatially organized to support the spatial organization of the 2d document display . secondly , documents are not readily associated with the main topics which they contain . similarly between documents is conveyed through proximity , but the relationship between documents and topics are intermediate . how close a particular document is associated with a topic or how a pair of documents are topically related are difficult or impossible to determine . first , identification of regional topics , or terms , and the set of documents which contain them must be identified . the gisting features of the text engine will identify the major topics of a corpus of documents . while commercially available text engines provide the gisting feature , such text engines fail to provide a local , spatial representation of the theme , a composite measure of theme , a quantitative measure of theme or document by document measure of theme . a clustering of the n - dimensional document vectors ( produced in stage three clustering ) will result , and the clusters 10 are projected into 2d space so that each document has an assigned x , y coordinate pair , as illustrated in fig1 . for each of these clusters , a set of terms which are both “ topical ” in nature , as measured by serial clustering , and maximally discriminating between clusters , as measured by the product of the frequency of the term within the documents of a particular cluster and the frequency of the term in all other . the general form of the topic equation is term value n , i = f term / cluster i * 1 / σ j f term n / cluster j [ 7 ] the terms derived using this equation are the terms which best discriminate clusters from one another . a number of terms or topics for each cluster are automatically and heuristically selected , with topic value , frequency , cluster size , desired number of terms per cluster and per document collection all considered in the selection process . each term or topic layer represents the distributed contribution of a single term / topic to the surface elevation of a “ theme scape ”. topic layer thickness may vary over the area of the simulated landscape based on the probability of finding a specified term within a document at each two dimensional coordinate . after all the individual layers have been computed , a composite layer is derived by summing each of the term layers . a topic layer is thickest where the density of documents that contain that term are highest . in areas where there are few documents of few documents that contain a given term , the topic layer is very thin . high ground on the theme scape represents regions where there is an alignment of terms in underlying documents — or a common theme among proximal documents . regions that are lower and less pronounced reflect documents that are more general in their content and less focused on a single theme . each region or cluster is then characterized by a set of terms or topics . associated with each tonic for each cluster is a document set . the document set is nothing more than the result of a boolean query with the topic as the keyword . the first stage of themescape construction is complete when both regional topics and their corresponding document sets are identified . the second stage of themescapes development , formation of the three - dimensional surface for individual topics identified above requires a smoothing filter be run over the x , y coordinates of the document display . this process is analogous to operations such as edge detection or feature enhancement in image processing . as illustrated in fig2 and 3 , individual points 22 along the x - axis indicate the location of a document in the topic &# 39 ; s document set . a smoothing function is run across each point creating a z coordinate associated with the term layer for each x , y pair , represented as surface 24 above the x - axis . the equation for calculating the y coordinate corresponding to each x coordinate will be of the form y x = σ n − m n + m d x + n * f ( x + n ), [ 8 ] d x + n = 1 for document present at coordinate x + n , else 0 the two dimensional calculation of a themescape as illustrated in fig3 utilizes a two dimensional grid of documents and a two dimensional smoothing function , producing a third dimension reflecting the probability of finding a document with the given topic in the given vicinity . finally , all individual topic themescapes are superpositioned . the individual elevations from each term layer are added together to form a single terrain corresponding to all topics . thus , z x , y = ∑ j = 1 # of cluster terms term layer j x , y [ 9 ] the result of this computation is a “ landscape ” that conveys large quantities of relevant information . the terrain simultaneously communicates the primary themes of an arbitrarily large collection of documents and a measure of their relative magnitude . spatial relationships defined by the landscape reveal the intricate interconnection of themes , the existence of information gaps or negative information . for example , fig4 illustrates a “ theme scape ” 40 of a database with 200 documents and 50 themes . in this data set , themes had relatively small document sets ( a low number of documents contained in each theme ), but high theme discrimination values ( the documents were clustered close to the theme location ). more prominent peaks are characteristics of the high discrimination values , as for example peak 42 representing “ nuclear weapons ” and peak 44 representing “ health physics ”. fig5 represents a database with the same number of documents and themes as in fig4 , however the themes have relatively large document sets and low theme discrimination values , as at peak 52 representing “ lasers ” and peak 54 representing “ genetics ”. therefore , the themescape function of the present invention can be summarized as follows : ( i ) receive n - dimensional context vector from text engine for each document and cluster documents in n - dimensional space ; ( ii ) for each such cluster , receive from text engine associated gisting terms or topics ; ( iv ) creating global keyword list by combining the topics for each cluster and eliminating common terms ( such as a , and , but , the ); ( v ) performing keyword query on topic , producing a list of documents associated with the topic ; ( vi ) identifying coordinates for all documents associated with the topic , producing a matrix of retrieved documents in the x , y display coordinates ; ( vii ) applying a smoothing function to each x , y pair , producing a z coordinate associated with the topic for each x , y pair ; and ( viii ) repeating steps ( v ) and ( vi ) for each term in the list identified in step ( vi ). it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications can be made to the methods disclosed herein for producing a three - dimensional representation of a database , without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention , and it is intended that the present invention cover modifications and variations of the methods claimed herein to the extent they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents .
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the drawing shows a preferred embodiment of the present invention . the fan wheel 1 shown here is cast from aluminum . a sheet stack 2 is cast in the hub of the fan wheel 1 . the surface of the sheet stack 2 is flush with the hub inner side of the fan wheel 1 . it is essential that the sheet stack 2 , comprised of magnetic sheets , forms part of the inner surface of the fan wheel hub to enable implementation of a strongest possible magnetic coupling with permanent magnets 4 mounted on a shaft 3 . the better the magnetic coupling between shaft and fan wheel , the better the run - up properties of the fan wheel 1 . in particular at rapid run - up of the shaft 3 , a correspondingly rapid run - up of the fan wheel is normally desirable . beneficial for the rapid run - up of the fan wheel is also a small own weight . in this respect , aluminum has also advantages compared to spherulitic steel that is oftentimes used to date . typically , the sheet stack assembly 2 accommodated in the fan hub can be , e . g ., riveted , welded or clamped . furthermore , the sheet stack assembly 2 may be made of several partial rings of sheet stacks to improve heat conduction in the fan hub . the sheet stack assembly 2 is provided on the hub inner side preferably with not shown essentially axially extending slots for receiving winding bars . these winding bars are part of a short - circuit winding . the short - circuit winding is complemented by the hub portions 5 and 6 , serving as short - circuit rings and manufactured , like the entire fan wheel 1 , of aluminum or a metal with similar material properties . the embedment of the sheet stack assembly 2 in the aluminum hub of the fan wheel 1 eliminates the need for a separate damper winding . the shaft 3 carries the permanent magnet assembly 4 either directly on its surface or via interposition of a steel ring 7 . interposition of the steel ring 7 has the advantage that the permanent magnet assembly 4 can be pre - fabricated before mounting to the shaft 3 . hereby , individual permanent magnets are glued onto the steel ring and subsequently bandaged about their outer circumference against centrifugal forces , as illustrated in the drawing by the bandage 8 . finally , the glued and bandaged permanent magnets are cast or impregnated in conventional manner against corrosion . the thus pre - fabricated steel ring 7 with permanent magnet assembly 4 is then shrunk , for example , onto the shaft 3 . the support of the fan wheel 1 by the shaft 3 is realized according to the drawing by two bearings 9 . conceivable is also the support via a double - row bearing or other common bearings . associated to the bearing support is further a not shown axial securement which is known per se . instead of a support on the shaft 3 , the fan wheel 1 may also be supported in a bearing plate or casing 12 . as aluminum has a greater thermal expansion coefficient than steel , normally used for rolling - contact bearings , a further steel ring 10 is provided for support of the fan wheel 1 upon the bearing 9 . a flange 11 additionally secures the steel ring 10 upon the fan wheel 1 . the further steel ring 10 has several functions . for one , the steel ring protects the bearing 9 against excessive pressure which the aluminum hub would exert upon the steel bearing 9 as a result of the different thermal expansion coefficients . further , the steel ring 10 holds with its flange 11 the aluminum fan wheel 1 , even when the aluminum expands to a greater extent in relation to the steel . finally , the steel ring 10 has also the advantage that steel has smaller heat conductivity than aluminum . as a consequence , the heat conduction is reduced , for example , from the short - circuit bars of the sheet stack 2 directly to the bearing 9 . in this way , a premature aging of the lubricants is prevented . instead of or in addition to the short - circuit cage or cages , the fan wheel hub may also be provided with reluctance gaps , so that the inductance coupling operates in accordance with the operating principle of the reluctance machine . the reluctance principle ensures in a wide range a slip - free run and thus a synchronous operation . the detachment moment of the reluctance coupling can be selected according to the demanded fan throughput . the manufacture of the fan wheel device shown in the drawing can be realized by , for example , casting one or more pre - fabricated sheet stacks without winding into the fan hub . the aluminum casting material encasing the sheet stack assembly replaces the otherwise required winding . dimensioning of the magnetic circuit is suitably realized in a way that inexpensive standardized sheet stacks can be used . the rough outer contour of the sheet stack 2 , held together , for example , by clamping grooves , ensures a good bond upon the aluminum cast . the slot openings for the short - circuit cage should be dimensioned comparably wide , so that the aluminum can penetrate radially into the slots also without a die - casting process . when the sheet stack 2 is further subdivided in several partial sheet stack rings , aluminum can penetrate more easily into the respective slots as the slots are correspondingly shortened and an inflow of aluminum from several sides is possible . in the context of manufacturing the fan wheel device , the sheet stack may be turned out at the inner diameter to remove aluminum residues and to adjust the required air gap . the single - piece manufacture of the damper winding and fan in a cast structure realizes a cost - efficient manufacturing process . casting of the sheet stack ensures very good electromagnetic properties of the fan wheel device in induction couplings .
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the invention provides a unique system for overlaying base metals . the system is applicable to the overlay operations for metal surfaces used in petrochemical , offshore , refining , pulp , paper , and power generation industries . fig1 illustrates a prior art configuration for an electroslag conductive molten system , wherein flux is introduced through a forward flux tube as illustrated and the welding head contact jaw travel direction is illustrated . fig2 illustrates one embodiment of the invention , wherein base metal 10 is overlayed with a strip such as consumable overlay material 12 fed through feeding roller 14 . welding head 14 comprises forward contact jaw 16 and trailing contact jaw 18 , which are preferably cooled as described below . flux 20 is introduced into full flux bed 22 through forward flux tube 24 and trailing flux tube 26 into locations proximate to forward contact jaw 16 and trailing contact jaw 18 respectively . the electrified , molten slag bed 22 consumes overlay material 12 and generates overlay 28 and solid slag 30 . as shown in fig3 marks 32 in the surface of overlay 28 are created by the entrapment of gases within slag 30 . such marks are undesirable because they comprise discontinuities in the overlay material 12 surface in contact with corrosive , abrasive , or high temperature fluids . a cooling means such as coolant inlet 34 and coolant exit 36 permits circulation of a cooling liquid through welding head 14 which reduces warpage or other damage to welding head 14 . such cooling capability is particularly necessary in small diameter spaces such as pipe fittings and small diameter pipe interiors wherein excess heat from flux bed 22 is not easily dissipated . fig4 illustrates a preferred embodiment of the invention wherein the elements of the system are the same as in fig2 except that controller 34 regulates the distribution of flux 20 through trailing flux tube 26 . controller 34 can be automated to detect the deposition and travel rates and to integrate such controls with the flux rate through trailing flux tube 26 . alternatively , controller 34 can be monitored by an operator for changing variables of deposition rate , travel rate , travel movement , and flux flow through trailing flux tube 26 . the results are illustrated in fig5 wherein the surface of overlay material 12 does not have the discontinuities caused by entrapped gases . the introduction of controlled flux 20 quantities through trailing flux tube 26 provides the unique benefits of reducing splattering of flux 20 , of reducing the light generated by molten slag bed 22 which obscures visual observation of the welding operations , and of providing a continuous surface for overlay material 12 on base 10 as shown in fig5 . strip electrodes are available in different sizes and chemical compositions . popular strip electrode sizes are 60 mm × 0 . 5 mm , and 30 mm × 0 . 5 mm . six different electroslag strip - flux combinations were used to perform overlays on two different base materials . the base materials tested were carbon steel hic plate and 11 / 4 cr / 0 . 5 mo . the strip electrode materials included alloys identified as 316l , 317l , 347 , alloy 600 , alloy 625 , and alloy 400 . tests of these combinations were performed for bends , ultrasonic , liquid penetrant , hardness , overlay chemistry , corrosion ( g48 and astm 262 ), ferricyanide ( for alloy 400 ), and hydrogen disbonding . full assessments of forged 90 degree elbows were made from pipe overlayed with alloy 625 ( ernicrmo - 3 ) and the esso system taught by the invention . esso overlay fluxes such as that used with the invention typically contain large amounts of caf 2 to facilitate high electroconductivity of the molten pool . the esso fluxes are preferably free of gas yielding components such as caco 3 which would generate gas formation and prevent effective contact between the strip electrode and the molten slag , however the control of flux 20 through the trailing flux tube 26 overcomes many of such problems . the flux should preferably permit high speed overlay without significant dilution . conventional parameters for esso techniques operate in current ranges between 500 - 1000 amps , voltages between 25 - 30 volts , welding speeds between of inches per minute , and stick - out in ranges between 11 / 4 and 13 / 8 inches . because esso techniques are highly dependent on weld parameters , slight differences in these variables can significantly affect the overlay results . the particular welding parameters will influence the proper bead thickness , shape , penetration , ties - in and dilution . esso techniques are well suited for high deposition , low dilution overlays . when compared with submerged arc weld overlay techniques using 1 / 16 inch diameter filler metal , the esso technique was three hundred percent more productive with fifty percent reduction in dilution . an esso overlay pass of 11 / 4 inch width and 12 inches length yielded aproximately 0 . 75 lbs . of overlay deposited in 1 . 5 minutes at a welding speed of 8 inches per minute ( ipm ), yielding a deposition rate of 30 lbs . per hour ( by accounting for slag removal and cleanup operations between passes , the actual deposition rate would be approximately 20 lbs . per hour ). comparable factors for submerged arc weld overlay techniques yield approximately the same amount of overlay , however four passes are required at a welding speed of 11 ipm , for a deposition rate of 10 . 2 lbs . per hour ( and actual deposition rate of 5 lbs . per hour ). the esso process of the invention further requires significantly less time for slag removal , requiring only one pass instead of the four passes required for the removal of slag for submerged arc welding overlay techniques using filler material slag . operation of the invention was tested on interior pipe diameters as low as eight inches ( 200 mm ), and over uninterrupted pipe lengths up to twelve feet ( four meters ). in another application of the invention , a twelve inch diameter pipe was overlayed with one - layer and 2 - layer ernicrmo - 3 deposits , and then forged into 90 degree elbows . to accomplish an overlay for these dimensions , the strip was curved 90 degrees with a radius of one inch or less and was continuously fed toward the base material . the flux was delivered to the contact nozzle continuously without volume variations . the contact nozzles and the trailing jaw were water cooled , and the head was heat protected because of the small , confined space . in conventional esso techniques , a heavy layer of molten slag trails behind the esso head as the flux is introduced ahead of the head , and flux is not introduced behind the head because of the shallow marks caused by entrapped gases . to overcome these limitations , the present invention carefully controls the range of trailing flux 20 fed through trailing flux tube 26 within an effective distribution range . too much flux leads to overlay marks on the overlay surface . the effective amount of trailing flux covers the molten slag to the operators eye , retards splattering , facilitates smooth and continuous strip feeding due to proper cooling of the trailing jaw which is not directly exposed to the molten slag head , and prevents overlay deposit marks caused by trapped gases . the amount of flux 20 effective for these purposes depends on variables such as the flux composition , consumable material deposition rate , base metal , rate of deposition as welding head 14 moves relative to the base metal , and the base metal curvature . whereas hydrogen disbonding occurs in conventional processes , tests of the base material and overlay placed in accordance with the present invention revealed no measurable disbonding . the invention is particularly suitable for small pipe interior walls and inside of fittings and pipe with interior diameters as small as eight inches . the invention controls the flux rate in the trailing flux tube to efficiently control the overlay operations . although the invention has been described in terms of certain preferred embodiments , it will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that modifications and improvements can be made to the inventive concepts herein without departing from the scope of the invention . the embodiments shown herein are merely illustrative of the inventive concepts and should not be interpreted as limiting the scope of the invention .
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referring now to the drawings , fig1 and 2 generally depict a first form of the two - component bracket and drive washer combination 10 according to the present invention in an exemplar environment of operation , wherein the two - component bracket and drive washer combination serves to locate a magnetic sensor 12 with respect to a reluctor 14 . in this regard , the magnetic sensor 12 has a sensor body 16 which includes a sensor tip 18 . the sensor tip 18 extends into a sensor port 20 of an engine block 22 and is spaced from the reluctor 14 a predetermined distance equal to an optimum air gap g which provides optimal sensing performance by the magnetic sensor of magnetic field variations as the reluctor spins . a two - component bracket 24 is composed of a main bracket component 26 and a reaction bracket component 28 . the main bracket component 26 is connected to the sensor body 16 , as for example in perpendicular relation analogous to a flag on a flag pole . the main and reaction bracket components 26 . 28 are located in side - by - side relation to each other and interconnected therebetween so as to be slidable in relation to each other along a longitudinal axis . the interconnection is achieved , for example , via elongate holes 30 in the main bracket component 26 which receive therethrough bent over tabs 32 of the reaction bracket component 28 , wherein the holes 30 are elongated along a longitudinal axis l . the main bracket component 26 is provided with a relatively large aperture 34 , wherein a drive wall 36 of the main bracket component is located on one side thereof . the reaction bracket component 28 has a reaction wall 38 located in the aperture 34 opposite the drive wall 36 . the drive and reaction walls 36 , 38 are oriented parallel to the longitudinal axis l , and mutually result in a collective opening 40 that is elongated along the longitudinal axis . a drive washer 42 has a knurled sidewall 44 , the knurling of which provides a plurality of teeth 46 having a predetermined pitch angle a ( see fig2 ). the teeth 46 of the sidewall 44 may be provided in any suitable form . such as for example splines , serrations , cutting ridges or cutting surfaces arranged along the pitch angle . a slight draft ( ie ., conical shape ) of the drive washer 42 is preferred to facilitate initial insertion of the drive washer into the collective opening 40 with respect to abutment with the drive and reaction walls 36 , 38 . the drive washer 42 and spacing between the drive and reaction walls 36 , 38 are dimensioned so that when the drive washer is inserted into the collective opening 40 , the drive and reaction walls tightly abut the teeth 46 of the drive washer . since the teeth 46 are hard in relation to the drive and reaction walls 36 , 38 , the teeth inscribe corresponding grooves into the smooth drive and reaction walls as the drive washer is pressed into the collective opening 40 along a transverse axis t . in this regard , it is preferred for the drive wall 36 to be softer than the reaction wall 38 ; for example , the drive wall may be composed of plastic while the driven wall may be composed of metal . preferably , the drive washer 42 is composed of a hard metal . the reaction bracket component 38 has an affixment hole 48 generally centrally positioned with respect to the aperture 34 and is secured to a non - movable article , such as for example a mounting surface 50 of the engine block 22 , via a bolt 52 passing through the affixment hole and threading into a threaded bore 54 at the mounting surface . the drive washer 42 has a central hole 56 through which the bolt 52 also passes . a flat disk washer 45 is preferably located between the head of the bolt 52 and the drive washer 42 . both the main bracket component 26 and the reaction bracket component 28 are restrained from rotating about the bolt 52 via the sensor body 16 being received into the sensor port 20 ; however , the drive washer 42 is freely rotatable about the bolt . the main bracket component 26 is freely movable along the longitudinal axis l , but is restrained from moving along the transverse axis t by tightening action of the bolt . the reaction bracket component is restrained from moving along both the longitudinal and transverse axes l . t by virtue of the bolt having a generally snug fit with respect to the affixment hole 48 and the tightening of the bolt . in operation , an installer places the sensor body 16 into the sensor port 20 such that the sensor tip 18 touches the surface of the reluctor 14 . the bolt 52 carrying the drive washer 42 is loosely threaded into the threaded bore 54 of the mounting surface until the teeth of the sidewall of the drive washer touch the drive and reaction walls 36 , 38 . the installer continues to thread the bolt 52 into the threaded bore 54 , thereby causing the drive washer 42 to be pressed into the collective opening 40 along the transverse axis t . referring now more particularly to fig2 as the bolt 52 is tightened , the teeth 46 of the drive washer 42 engage the smooth drive and reaction walls 36 , 38 , whereupon corresponding grooves 58 are inscribed thereinto . in this regard , as the drive washer 42 moves into the collective opening 40 , the drive washer rotates on the bolt 52 in response to the pitch angle a of the teeth 46 as the teeth cut into the reaction wall 38 . further in this regard , the drive wall 36 is caused to move along the pitch angle a of the teeth 46 and further to move in response to the rotation of the drive washer . accordingly , as the drive washer 42 moves along the transverse axis t , the main bracket component 26 moves along the longitudinal axis l in relation to the bolt 52 at twice the rate as that provided by the pitch angle alone . the distance of relative movement of the main bracket component 26 along the longitudinal axis l to provide the air gap , g , is determined by the depth of penetration of the drive washer 42 into the collective opening 40 along the transverse axis t and the pitch angle a of the teeth 46 , as will be discussed in greater detail hereinbelow . referring now to fig3 through 8 the second form of the two - component bracket and drive washer combination 10 ′, which is most preferred , will be detailed . for the sake of brevity , same numerals will designate same parts and primed numerals will designate analogous parts to those parts designated by numerals in fig1 and 2 , so that a fully repetitive description is obviated for a full understanding thereof . the two - component bracket 24 ′ is composed of a main bracket component 26 ′ and a reaction bracket component 28 ′ and the main bracket component is connected to the sensor body 16 . the main and reaction bracket components 26 ′, 28 ′ are interconnected by upper and lower overhangs 60 , 62 which interferingly engage the main bracket component 26 ′ with respect to the transverse axis t , yet allow slidable movement along the longitudinal axis l . a chamfer 64 of the main bracket component 26 ′ is preferably provided for interfacing with the lower overhang 62 . the reaction wall 38 ′ is formed at one side of the aperture 34 ′, wherein the drive wall 36 ′ is located on the other side thereof by virtue of a cut - away section 65 of the reaction bracket component 28 ′. the drive and reaction walls 36 ′, 38 ′ are oriented parallel to the longitudinal axis l , and mutually result in the collective opening 40 ′. the drive washer 42 is as described hereinabove . the drive washer 42 and spacing between the drive and reaction walls 36 ′, 38 ′ are dimensioned so that when the drive washer is inserted into the collective opening 40 ′, the drive and reaction walls tightly abut the teeth 46 of the drive washer . since the teeth 46 are hard in relation to the drive and reaction walls 36 ′, 38 ′, the teeth inscribe corresponding grooves into the smooth drive and reaction walls as the drive washer is pressed into the collective opening along a transverse axis t , as described hereinabove ; and the hardness relationships are as previously described . the affixment hole 48 ′ in the reaction bracket component 38 ′ receives the bolt 52 , as previously described . both the main bracket component 26 ′ and the reaction bracket component 28 ′ are restrained from rotating about the bolt 52 via the sensor body 16 being received into the sensor port 20 ( see fig5 ); however , the drive washer 42 is freely rotatable about the bolt . the main bracket component 26 ′ is freely movable along the longitudinal axis l , but is restrained from moving along the transverse axis t by tightening action of the bolt . the reaction bracket component 28 ′ is restrained from moving along both the longitudinal and transverse axes l , t by virtue of the bolt having a generally snug fit with respect to the affixment hole 48 and the tightening of the bolt . referring now to fig5 through 8 , operation will be described with respect to setting an air gap . as shown at fig5 an installer places the sensor body 16 into the sensor port 20 such that the sensor tip 18 touches the surface of the reluctor 14 . as shown at fig6 the bolt 52 carrying the drive washer 42 is loosely threaded into the threaded bore 54 of the mounting surface until the sidewall of the drive washer 42 touches the drive and reaction walls 36 ′, 38 ′. the installer continues to thread the bolt 52 into the threaded bore 54 , thereby causing the drive washer 42 to be pressed into the collective opening 40 ′ along the transverse axis t . as shown comparatively by reference to fig6 and 8 , as the bolt 52 is tightened , the teeth 46 of the drive washer 42 engage the smooth drive and reaction walls 36 ′, 38 ′, whereupon corresponding grooves 58 are inscribed thereinto . in this regard , as the drive washer 42 moves into the collective opening 40 ′, the drive washer rotates on the bolt 52 in response to the pitch angle a of the teeth 46 as the teeth cut into the reaction wall 38 ′. further in this regard , the drive wall 36 ′ is caused to move along the pitch angle a of the teeth 46 and further to move in response to the rotation of the drive washer . accordingly , as the drive washer 42 moves along the transverse axis t , the main bracket component 26 ′ moves along the longitudinal axis l in relation to the bolt 52 at twice the rate as that provided by the pitch angle alone . as shown by comparison between fig5 and 6 and fig7 and 8 , the distance of relative movement of the main bracket component 26 ′ along the longitudinal axis l is given by : 2 *( d * tan ( a ))= g , wherein d is the depth of penetration of the drive washer 42 into the collective opening 40 ′ along the transverse axis t , a is the pitch angle of the teeth 46 , and g is the distance of movement of the main bracket component along the longitudinal axis l . now , should the magnetic sensor require servicing , it can be removed and re - installed , or a new magnetic sensor can be installed in its place , using the installation procedure outlined above . in each case , the optimum air gap will be precisely achieved automatically . in the case of re - installation , the original installation will have resulted in the drive washer and two - component bracket becoming lodged together so as to resist mutual separation . consequently , the magnetic sensor can be re - installed using the lodged drive washer and two - component bracket combination and yet the same air gap will pertain because the original relative position between the mounting bolt and the two - component bracket will be maintained . it should be noted that by the term “ smooth ” as used herein is meant that the surface is able to accept inscribing by the teeth as described hereinabove , whether or not the surface is actually physically smooth . indeed , it is sufficient for the teeth of the drive washer to engage the drive and reaction walls . by “ engage ” is meant the teeth of the drive washer inscribe the drive and reaction walls or follow wall teeth already present on the drive and reaction walls . to those skilled in the art to which this invention appertains , the above described preferred embodiments may be subject to change or modification . such change or modification can be carried out without departing from the scope of the invention , which is intended to be limited only by the scope of the appended claims .
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fig1 illustrates the preferred embodiment of the deformable member of the present invention . a deformable member 10 is depicted in a curved formation to demonstrate its deformability , which allows it to conform to specific contour of the wound . examples of various shaped wounds and application of the present invention to those wounds are depicted in fig3 - 6 and 11 . deformable member 10 is comprised of distal side 15 facing away from the wound and proximal side 16 ( not shown ) facing the wound . deformable member 10 is further comprised of upper surface 13 not in contact with skin surrounding the wound , and lower surface 14 ( not shown ) in contact with said skin . various adhesives may be applied to lower surface 14 or upper surface 13 or preferably to both . the adhesive material may be covered by a strip or a film that can be peeled off at the time of use . when applied on surface 14 , adhesives will adhere the deformable member 10 to skin surrounding the wound . when applied to surface 13 , adhesives will adhere the deformable member 10 to dressing used in conjunction with it . it should be noted that in certain circumstances health care professionals may recommend the airing of the wound , i . e ., not covering the wound with any dressing . as such , the present invention may be used to simply protect the wound from physical contact with other foreign objects , e . g ., clothing or bed sheets . for patients allergic to medically approved adhesives , the deformable member can be provided without the application of adhesive or , alternatively , with application of adhesive only to surface 13 . in such circumstances , health care professionals must ensure to place dressing on deformable member 10 with sufficient and appropriate pressure so to keep deformable member 10 in place . regardless of its chosen size , deformable member 10 is always comprised of start 11 and end 12 . when positioned around a wound , start 11 and end 12 meet to completely circumscribe the wound . this is shown in fig3 - 6 . however , as depicted in fig1 , deformable member 10 does not always circumscribe the wound . for wounds positioned in logistically difficult body extremities , such as the elbow and knee , it may be desirable to cut the deformable member to several equal or varying desirable lengths and logistically position them around the wound . such manipulation can allow positioning of the dressing without contacting the wound . as manifested in fig1 , start 11 and end 12 are not in contact . fig3 - 6 and fig1 demonstrate another advantage and application of the present invention . as depicted in fig1 , the deformable member can be cut in various or equal desirable lengths and logistically placed around a wound . in addition to protecting the wound from contact , such application is useful for relieving pressure from pressure ulcers . fig2 a and 2b depict deformable member 20 , which is another embodiment of the deformable member of the present invention . deformable member 20 is different than deformable member 10 in that it consists of a plurality of grooves 31 , positioned in its distal side 25 . as shown in fig2 b , proximal side 26 of deformable member 20 does not have grooves 31 , and therefore does not mirror side 25 . the purpose of grooves 31 is to provide flexibility for material that cannot otherwise be constructed with sufficient flexibility to allow appropriate deformability for purposes of this invention . grooves 31 may be cut into deformable member 20 using standard techniques known in the art . as depicted in fig2 b , groove 31 consists of an angled side 32 and an angled side 33 , both having proximal and distal portions , where their proximal portions meet at a center 34 . each groove 31 is separated by a middle section 30 . it should be appreciated that fig2 b provides only an example of one embodiment of groove 31 . many other embodiments are possible , including one in which sides 31 and 32 are curved instead of angled . fig3 depicts the application of the deformable member of the present invention to wound 1 , which is situated on forearm 6 . deformable member 10 is shown for drawing convenience and it should be appreciated that deformable member 20 can also used for wound 1 and could have been depicted in fig3 . start 11 and end 12 are not visible in fig3 , as well as fig4 - 6 and 11 , because deformable member 10 has fully circumscribed wound 1 and start 11 and end 12 are in contact . when dressing 5 is used in conjunction with the present invention , deformable member 10 prevents it from contacting wound 1 by creating a plane higher than that of the wound for the dressing to rest on . as briefly described above , dressing 5 may be any dressing available to health care practitioner appropriate for treatment of wound 1 . dressing 5 may be comprised of adhesives along its longitudinal and / or its transverse lengths , so to facilitate its adherence to skin surrounding the wound and the present invention . alternatively , dressing 5 may be wrapped around the arm or other body parts on which wound 1 is situated . fig4 depicts deformable member 10 as it is used in conjunction with two proximately located wounds 1 and 1 a on forearm 6 . start 11 and end 12 are not in contact as deformable member 10 is wrapped around wounds 1 and 1 a in the shape of a figure eight . the space between start 11 and end 12 and side 15 and side 16 of deformable member 10 in fig4 is for illustration purposes only . to prevent exudate from flowing away from wounds 1 and 1 a , start 11 and end 12 would contact side 15 or side 16 . fig5 depicts deformable member 10 as it is used in conjunction with wound 2 , which is a long , narrow , oddly shaped laceration . other non - contact bandages are not conveniently able to circumscribe the length and shape of wound 2 . as discussed above , more than one non - contact bandage may have to be used . with the present invention , however , health care professional may continue to use dressing 5 with wound 2 . dressing 5 may be applied along its length , width , or in tandem with another dressing 5 or other dressings . the essential point is that health care professionals are able to protect this wound without resort to another size dressing or another non - contact bandage . fig6 depicts deformable member 10 as it is used with wound 3 , which is a much larger wound than wounds 1 and 2 . as shown , dressing 5 can still be used for wound 3 , whether it is applied at its width or length , or whether it is used in a tandem arrangement with more than one dressing 5 or another type of dressing . again , fig6 conveys the versatile application of the present invention to wounds of various shapes and sizes . fig7 - 9 depict various bridge members of the present invention for use with the deformable member . the bridge member may be used in wounds with large surface areas , such as wound 3 depicted in fig1 . it is anticipated that for certain large wounds the dressing used with the deformable member 10 may sink due to various reasons , including loss of tautness or pressure . positioning of one or more bridge members on deformable member 10 , as depicted in fig1 , is intended to prevent the dressing from sinking and touching wound 3 . the bridge member can have various shapes , such as bridge member 60 with a start 61 and an end 62 with straight edges , or bridge member 70 with a start 71 and an end 72 with curved edges . the precise shape of the bridge is unimportant , and it should be appreciated that various shapes will serve the intended purposes of the present invention . the bridge may be constructed from inexpensive medical grade rigid plastic polymers , or wood particularly condition for medical use . such material should be structurally designed to allow breakage at perforated portions 67 , 77 and 87 along the length of the bridge . medical grade adhesive can be applied to proximal surface 64 and proximal surface 74 , as that surface will come in contact with deformable member 10 . a thin layer of film or strip removable at time of use may cover the adhesive . the thin layer of film or strip should be perforated at the same locations as perforations 67 and 77 . in another embodiment , bridge members 60 and 70 may have adhesive on both sides to further secure them by adhering not only to deformable member 10 , but also to dressing 5 along their distal surface 63 and surface 73 . in this embodiment , a thin layer of film covering the adhesive is applied to both sides of the bridge member . alternatively , bridge members 60 and 70 may have no adhesive at all . in such circumstance , they attach to deformable member 10 by virtue of adhesive in place on deformable member 10 . fig9 depicts bridge member 80 , which is another embodiment of the bridge member of the present invention . bridge 80 is comprised of a plurality of indentations 85 , each indentation 85 separated from the adjacent indentation 85 by a flat section 86 . each indentation 85 is comprised of a bed 90 , a side 88 and a side 89 . width of bed 90 is slightly larger than width of surface 13 of deformable member 10 . fig1 demonstrates the application and positioning of bridge member 80 on deformable member 10 . as depicted , indentation 85 is positioned on surface 13 so that surface 13 is pressed against bed 90 . in addition , sides 15 and 16 are pressed against sides 88 and 89 . in short , deformable member 10 is snuggly placed in indentation 85 . to prevent bridge 80 from coming in contact with wound 3 , height of sides 88 and 89 are much less than the height of sides 15 and 16 , and preferably half . bridge member 80 does not need any adhesive on surface 84 . adhesive may be applied to surface 83 to further secure it to dressing 5 . adhesive may also be applied to surface 84 . fig1 depicts how bridges 60 and 70 are used in conjunction with deformable member 10 and for wound 3 . fig1 demonstrates that the deformable member may be cut into several equal or varying desirable lengths , instead of one length surrounding the wound area . such application may be useful for areas on which positioning of dressings is difficult , e . g ., the elbow and knee . fig1 also demonstrates the versatility of application of the present invention , as it could be used in conjunction with manifold dressings , including currently available non - contact dressings . as discussed above , fig1 also demonstrates the usefulness of the present invention in relieving pressure from pressure ulcers . fig1 depicts the stacked assembly of the deformable member of the present invention , wherein a second deformable member is positioned on the upper surface of a first deformable member . this embodiment may be used in certain situations where a greater protective height around the wound is preferable . the stacked assembly may comprise more than two deformable members . regardless of whether it is used in stacked formation , the thinness of the deformable member of the present invention is an important consideration for practicability and patient convenience . fig1 a and 14b depict the connector member of the present invention and its method of application . a connector member 100 is depicted to keep deformable member 10 wrapped around wound 104 . connector member 100 may be used in circumstances where it is desirable not to apply any adhesive to either surfaces of deformable member 10 . lack of adhesive provides the opportunity for start 11 and end 12 to move away from one another and create an opening 103 , as depicted in fig1 a . as can be appreciated , exudate from the wound , if any , can diffuse away from wound 104 through opening 103 and onto other body surface . as depicted in fig1 b , connector member 100 closes opening 103 by indirectly connecting start 11 and end 12 . connector member 100 is essentially a hollow body , which may be constructed from various materials available in the industry , including those used for construction of deformable member 10 . interior perimeters of start 101 and end 102 are designed to be slightly larger than that of exterior perimeters of start 11 and end 12 of deformable member 10 , allowing deformable member 10 to be inserted into connector member 100 . start 11 is inserted into start 101 , and end 12 is inserted into end 102 . interior perimeter of connector member 100 should be sufficiently small to keep start 11 and end 12 in position within it . connector member 100 can also connect two deformable members . in such circumstance , as depicted in fig1 b , deformable member 10 with start 11 inserted into connector member 100 is a separate deformable member than deformable member 10 with end 102 inserted into connector member 100 . as briefly discussed above , in circumstances where adhesive is not applied , deformable member 10 is held in position and around the wound by sufficient and proper pressure applied from the dressing , which may be wrapped around the body , e . g ., around a limb or abdomen , or attached to the body via adhesive . the method by which the dressing is attached to the body , however , is immaterial for the purpose of the present invention . fig1 a , 15b and 15 c depict various storage and dispensing apparatuses for the deformable member of the present invention . fig1 a shows dispenser box 200 in which the forms a coil 202 that is wound around a reel 201 . segment 203 is a portion of coil 202 that is led to outlet 204 . it can be pulled out from outlet 204 and cut to a desired length with scissors , or via a blade positioned at the upper or lower lip of outlet 204 . fig1 b demonstrates that dispenser 210 may have several outlets 214 , 215 and 216 , allowing it to contain several coils . the number of coils or outlets contained in dispenser 210 are examples provided for discussion purposes only and should not be viewed as a limitation . fig1 b merely represents that more than one coil and more than one outlet may be used . fig1 c depicts an alternative dispenser 220 , which does not comprise a box as in dispensers 200 and 210 . the drawings and descriptions disclosed here manifest that the present invention is deformable to conform to specific wound size and contour for protecting the wound from injurious contacts , including injury caused by adherence of dressing to wound . while the description contained herein contains many specificities , they should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the present invention , but rather as exemplifications of its preferred embodiments . many other variations are possible . for example , the present invention may be used in wound management , post surgery and other medical applications on animals as well as humans . clearly , the other embodiments and modifications of the present invention will occur readily to those of ordinary skill in the art in view of these teachings . accordingly , the scope of the present invention is to be limited only by the following claims , which include all such embodiments and modifications when viewed in conjunction with the above specification and accompanying drawing .
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referring now to the drawings , wherein like reference numerals designate identical or corresponding parts throughout the several views , fig1 - 3 illustrate various embodiments of the system and method 10 of the present invention , or , more accurately , fig1 - 3 represent different “ modes ” in which the system and method 10 of the present invention may be utilized . as schematically illustrated in each of the various modes , a first person “ a ” speaks a first language “ l 1 ” and a second person “ b ” speaks a second language “ l 2 ” such that an interpreter , who speaks both languages l 1 and l 2 , is needed to facilitate communication between persons a and b or to otherwise interpret the communications between persons b and c ( both speaking the second language l 2 ) into the first language l 1 for the benefit of person a . the interpreter is shown to be remote from persons a , b and c . the interpreter may be an individual previously arranged by person a to provide interpretation services , or the interpreter may be a call center that employs , or contracts with , individual interpreters to whom calls are forwarded based on availability and the languages for which interpretation services are needed . the individual interpreter and / or call center having individual interpreters are hereinafter referred to , collectively and / or individually , as “ interpretation service provider ” or simply “ provider ” or “ interpreter ” unless otherwise designated . furthermore , with respect to each of the modes or embodiments of fig1 - 3 , person a is presumed to have a two - way rf communication device , such as a two - way radio , mobile telephone or some other device for wireless two - way communication ( hereinafter referred to as a “ 2 - way rf device 12 ”) for calling and communicating with the remote interpreter . preferably the 2 - way rf device 12 includes , or is adapted to cooperate with , a wireless personal area network ( wpan ) transceiver for reasons discussed later . as used herein , a wpan ( also commonly known or referred to as a “ scatter - net ,” “ piconet ” or “ multi - hop ad - hoc network ”) should be understood to include any wireless technology such as bluetooth , rf , zigbee or other currently known or later developed wireless technology for networking or interconnecting devices in relative close proximity to one another ( e . g ., typically less than ten meters ) to enable communication therebetween . continuing to refer to the modes or embodiments of fig1 - 3 , the system and method 10 further includes a wireless hands - free communicator 20 . the wireless hands - free communicator 20 preferably includes a speaker 22 , a microphone 24 , a user interface 26 , and a wpan transceiver for communication with the wpan transceiver of the 2 - way rf device 12 . the hands - free communicator 20 may be separate from the 2 - way rf device as illustrated in the drawing figures , or , alternatively , the hands - free communicator 20 and 2 - way rf device 12 may comprise a single integral unit ( not shown ). the microphone 24 is preferably a directional microphone to minimize signal - to - noise ratio and improve speech clarity . however , under certain conditions , an omni - directional microphone may be suitable to permit hearing in all directions . additionally , it may be desirable to provide both an omni - directional microphone and a directional microphone to enable person a to switch between hearing in all directions versus hearing primarily in only one direction as circumstances or surroundings dictate . the user interface 26 preferably includes or incorporates an on / off switch 30 , a call connect / disconnect feature 32 , and speaker volume control 34 and a speaker mute feature 36 . depending on the application and circumstances under which the system and method 10 is being used , the foregoing features may be actuated by hand or by voice . for hand actuation , push buttons or other suitable switches or dials , or pressure , heat or light sensitive pads or membranes or even non - contact sensors ( e . g ., infrared motion sensors , etc .) may be utilized to provide the foregoing features and functionalities . furthermore , as discussed below , the user interface 26 may be divided among separate components that together constitute the hands - free communicator 20 , such as , for example , the combination of the pendant and headset discussed below . depending on the circumstances under which the system and method 10 of the present invention is being used , the hands - free communicator 20 may take the form of a pendant 40 ( fig4 a - 4b ) to be worn or carried by person a . in a preferred embodiment , the pendant 40 includes a clip 42 for clipping onto person a &# 39 ; s clothing or over an arm or wristband , etc . additionally , the pendant embodiment may include velcro ® strips ( not shown ) for fastening the pendant to person a &# 39 ; s clothes , arm or wrist . the pendant 40 also preferably includes hooks , apertures or other supports 44 for receiving a lanyard 46 for hanging the pendant 40 from person a &# 39 ; s neck . it should be appreciated that the pendant 40 is particularly suited for use in situations in which persons a and b are in mobile indoor or outdoor situations , but may be equally suitable in any other setting , including , for example , in substantially stationary table - top or wall mounted applications . furthermore , the pendant 40 may incorporate a video camera to permit the interpreter to view persons b and / or c . additionally , the pendant 40 may include a video screen thereby permitting persons b and / or c to view the interpreter . in yet another embodiment of the hands - free communicator 20 as illustrated in fig5 , the hands - free communicator 20 may include and cooperate with a headset 50 . the headset 50 may incorporate one or more of the above - described features of the user interface 26 , for example the on / off switch , the call connect / disconnect feature , etc . the headset 50 also preferably includes a wpan transceiver 52 to enable wireless communication between the headset 50 and the pendant 40 . in the preferred embodiment , the headset 50 includes a behind - the - ear ( bte ) component 54 and a within - the - ear ( wte ) component 56 . the bte component 54 preferably houses the transceiver 52 and other electrical components required to communicate with the pendant 40 . in this manner , the voice communications are transmitted from the pendant 40 to the wireless transceiver 52 within the bte component 54 of the headset 50 , which then communicates the sound to the wte component 56 into the wearer &# 39 ; s ear via a flexible acoustical tube 58 . alternatively , rather than an acoustical tube , sound may be provided to the ear electrically via a wire and miniature speaker placed in the ear canal . the headset 50 is particularly adapted for use in applications or situations where person a wishes to listen in on the communications between person b and another person c without the knowledge of person b and / or person c or in environments where it would be difficult for person a to hear the interpreter over the broadcast speaker of the pendant 40 . like the pendant 40 , the headset 50 may also incorporate a video camera to permit the interpreter to view persons b and / or c . in yet another embodiment of the hands - free communicator 20 , a headset 60 ( fig9 ) may alone constitute the hands - free communicator 20 . in this embodiment , the headset 60 may be substantially identical to that of the headset 50 , except that the bte component of the headset 60 may also include the microphone 24 along with other desired features of the user interface 26 . as with the headset 50 , the headset 60 is particularly adapted for use in applications or situations where person a wishes to listen in on the communications between person b and another person c without the knowledge of person b and / or person c or in environments where it would be difficult for person a to hear the interpreter over the broadcast speaker of the pendant 40 . in yet another embodiment , a remote user headset 80 ( fig1 ) may be provided that is substantially identical to the headset 50 . a remote user headset 80 would be useful to facilitate two - way communications where person b is sufficiently remote from person a such that person b is unable to clearly hear the interpreter &# 39 ; s words through the speaker 22 on the pendant 40 or where noise prevents persons b from clearly hearing the interpreter through the speaker 22 of the pendant 40 . in use , the remote user headset 80 communicates with the hands - free communicator 20 of person a via rf communication . depending on the distances over which person a must communicate with person b , a transmitter may be necessary to extend the range of the rf communication . the transmitter may have a separate power supply and could reside in a vehicle , trailer or other facility . in yet another embodiment , a remote user pendant 90 ( fig1 ) may be utilized instead of a remote user headset 80 or in combination with a remote user headset 80 . the remote user pendent 90 is preferably substantially identical to the pendant 40 except that the remote user pendant 90 does not include a call initiation or call drop feature since it does not communicate directly with the 2 - way rf device 12 . instead , the remote user pendant 90 communicates with the hands - free communicator 20 of person a via rf communication . the remote user pendant 90 may include a wpan transceiver for communication with a headset 80 as previously described . as with the remote user headset 80 embodiment , a transmitter may be used to extend the range of the rf communication of the remote user pendant 90 . the transmitter may have a separate power supply and could reside in a vehicle , trailer or other facility . in the preferred system and method 10 , person a must first register to receive interpretation services from a provider 100 of the interpretation services . the provider 100 may be an individual interpreter , an entity having a pool of individual interpreters , or , for example , a wireless communication service provider ( such as verizon ®, sprint ®, t - mobile ®, at & amp ; t ®, etc .) that employs a pool of interpreters or which contracts with individuals or entities for interpretation services . as part of the preferred registration process , person a &# 39 ; s hands - free communicator 20 is activated by assigning a unique identifier to the hands - free communicator and associating that unique identifier with person a . this unique identifier is preferably a factory - set electronic serial number ( esn ) that is transmitted whenever the hands - free communicator initiates a call to the provider 100 thereby permitting the provider 100 to track usage of the system by person a . the step of registering the hands - free communicator 20 may be accomplished by person a contacting the provider telephonically to provide the esn and other relevant subscriber information such as person a &# 39 ; s name , billing address , etc . additionally , person a may enter the esn and relevant billing information through an interactive website . in addition , as part of the registration process , the hands - free communicator 20 may be preprogrammed to call a specific provider 100 based on person a &# 39 ; s state or country of residence or present location . also , as part of the registration process the unique identifier may be associated with person a &# 39 ; s designated language l 1 to more quickly identify and assign an individual interpreter upon receipt of a call from person a requesting interpretation services . after the initial registration , use of the system 10 is accomplished by commencing an initiation protocol . the initiation protocol preferably includes person a actuating the call connect feature via the user interface 26 . in a preferred embodiment , the call connect / disconnect feature 32 of the user interface 26 is preferably a one - touch push - button or the like , that , when actuated , automatically calls the provider 100 and / or terminates the call to the provider 100 . as previously discussed , rather than a push button , the call connect / disconnect feature 32 may instead be actuated by voice or by some other contact or contactless switch or sensor , whereby upon actuation , a signal is caused to be sent over the wpan established by the communication of the wpan transceivers of the 2 - way rf device 12 and the hands - free communicator 20 . this signal from the hands - free communicator 20 causes the 2 - way rf device 12 to dial and / or call the interpreter as preferably preprogrammed during the registration process or as automatically determined or routed as previously described . the above - described feature is hereinafter referred to as “ one - step actuation ” or a “ one - step call ” feature . upon receiving the call , the interpreter 100 preferably recites a greeting in language l 1 to let person a know that the call has been answered and that an interpreter 100 is connected . to complete the initiation protocol , person a identifies the languages l 2 for which interpretation services are required . if person a does not know the language being spoken for which he / she desires interpretation , a preferred system would enable person a to request a linguist to assist in identifying the language . once the language is identified , an appropriate interpreter 100 may be connected to the call . in the preferred embodiment , the initiation protocol also preferably identifies to the interpreter 100 in what mode ( as described below ) the system is to be used ( e . g ., two - way proximity communication mode 200 , observation mode 300 or two - way remote communication mode 400 ), so that the interpreter 100 knows whether or not to wait for verbal communication from person a , or whether the interpreter 100 will simply be repeating communications from persons b and c , for example . it should be appreciated that the identification of language l 2 to the interpreter 100 may have been previously specified or pre - arranged by person a prior to person a actually approaching person b ( as in the two - way proximity communication mode 200 ) or before person a is in position to begin intercepting communications between two foreign language speakers ( as in the observation mode 300 ), in which event , the initiation protocol is complete upon the interpreter 100 indicating he / she is connected and ready to begin interpretation services . fig1 , 6 and 7 schematically illustrate embodiments in which the system and method 10 is used to facilitate two - way communication in which person a , speaking language l 1 , desires to communicate with person b speaking language l 2 , and wherein persons a and b are in close proximity to one another . thus , this embodiment is hereinafter referred to as the “ two - way proximity communication mode 200 .” the two - way proximity communication mode 200 is particularly suited for travelers wishing to communicate with locals in their native or foreign language . another application particularly suited for this mode 200 is for law enforcement or medical personal having to interact with people that may not speak their language . still another application particularly suited for this mode 200 is for employers needing to speak with employees who may not speak the same language . for purposes of describing use of the system and method 10 in the connection with the two - way proximity communication mode 200 , it is presumed that person a has previously completed the initial registration . accordingly , as person a approaches person b , person a may begin the initiation protocol as previously described such that upon approaching person b , person a speaks aloud in language l 1 the question or statement that person a desires to be repeated in language l 2 to person b . person a &# 39 ; s statement in l 1 is received by the hands - free communicator 20 and is transmitted over the wpan to the 2 - way rf device 12 which , in turn , transmits the statement to the interpreter 100 via rf - communication . the interpreter 100 repeats person a &# 39 ; s statement in language l 2 into the interpreter &# 39 ; s telephone or other rf - communication device . the interpreter &# 39 ; s words in language l 2 are transmitted via rf - communication back to person a &# 39 ; s 2 - way rf device 12 , which , in turn , transmits the interpreter &# 39 ; s words to the hands - free communicator 20 where the words are broadcast through the speaker 22 to person b . the interpreter 100 then waits for person b &# 39 ; s response . person b responds in language l 2 . the response is received through the microphone 24 of the hands - free communicator 20 . the response is transmitted by the hands - free communicator 20 over the wpan and to the interpreter 100 over the wireless phone 12 via rf - communication as before . the interpreter 100 repeats person b &# 39 ; s response in language l 1 and the interpreter &# 39 ; s words are transmitted back to the 2 - way rf device 12 and hands - free communicator 20 where the interpreters words in language l 1 are broadcast to person a through the speaker 22 . this back - and - forth communication with the interpreter 100 continues until termination of the call by person a actuating the call disconnect . fig2 , 8 and 9 schematically illustrate an embodiment in which the system and method 10 is used to enable person a , speaking language l 1 , to listen in on , and understand communications between persons b and c speaking language l 2 without person b &# 39 ; s and / or person c &# 39 ; s knowledge . this mode or embodiment is hereinafter referred to as the “ observation mode 300 .” the observation mode 300 is particularly suitable for covert situations , such as , for example , when a military scout is positioned to observe foreign combatants who speak a different language . another application for which the observation mode 300 is particularly suited is when a law enforcement agent desires to listen in on a conversation between foreign speaking persons who may be plotting a terrorist attack or some other unlawful activity . for purposes of describing use of the system and method 10 in the connection with the observation mode 300 , it is presumed that person a has previously completed the initial registration . additionally , it is also presumed that person a has previously identified to the interpreter 100 the mode of operation of the system will be in the observation mode 300 such that upon person a actuating the call connect feature of the initiation protocol upon approaching person b and c , the interpreter 100 will simply begin providing interpretation services without waiting for person a to speak . it is also presumed that person a is wearing a headset 50 which cooperates with the pendant style hands - free communicator 40 , or , alternatively , person a is wearing a headset 60 that is itself the hands - free communicator 20 as previously described . thus , the process or method for the observation mode 300 is substantially the same as described for the two - way proximity communication mode 200 , except that rather than person a speaking , person a remains silent and the interpreter 100 repeats only the verbal communications overheard through the microphone 24 between persons b and c . the interpreter 100 continues to provide interpretation services until termination of the call by person a actuating the call disconnect feature 32 . it should be appreciated that to prevent the interpreter &# 39 ; s words from being heard by persons b and / or c , the external speaker 22 on the pendant style hands - free communicator 40 is muted and the interpreter &# 39 ; s words are transmitted to the headset 50 worn by person a , such that only person a is able to hear the interpreter . it should also be appreciated that if person a is wearing the hands - free communicator headset 60 there may be no external speaker to mute . fig3 and 10 schematically illustrate an embodiment in which the system and method 10 is used to facilitate two - way communication in which person a , speaking language l 1 , desires to communicate with person b and / or person c who are sufficiently remote from person a such that they are unable to clearly hear the interpreter &# 39 ; s words through the speaker 22 on the hands - free communicator 20 or where external noise prevents persons b and / or c from hearing the interpreter . this embodiment is hereinafter referred to as the “ two - way remote communication mode 400 .” for purposes of describing use of the system and method 10 in the connection with the two - way remote communication mode 400 , it is presumed that person a has previously completed the initial registration . accordingly , when person a desires to communicate with person b and / or c , person a begins the initiation protocol as previously described whereupon , person a speaks aloud in language l 1 the question or statement that person a desires to be repeated in language l 2 to persons b and / or c . it is also presumed that person a is wearing either a pendant style hands - free communicator 40 or a headset 50 which cooperates with the pendant style hands - free communicator 40 . it is also presumed that persons b and c are wearing the remote user headsets 80 . the process or method for the two - way remote communication mode 400 is substantially the same as described for the two - way proximity communication mode 200 , the only difference being that instead of or in addition to the interpreter &# 39 ; s voice being broadcast over the speaker 22 of the pendant 40 , the interpreter &# 39 ; s voice is wirelessly communicated to the remote user headsets 80 so that persons b and c can hear the interpreter &# 39 ; s voice at their remote locations . it should be appreciated that , in a preferred system and method in each of the foregoing modes of operation ( 200 , 300 , 400 ), because the voice of person a , the voice of the interpreter 100 and the voices of persons b , c etc . are all being communicated through the system 10 via rf signals , anyone having a hands - free communicator 20 is able to listen in on the conversation . the ability to listen in on a conversation would be of benefit to police , firefighters , emergency medical personal , military personnel , etc . for example , in an emergency situation involving a foreign speaking victim , the first responder to the emergency may initiate the interpretation services in two - way proximity communication mode 200 upon arriving at the scene . as other emergency personnel arrive later , they too will be able to hear the interpreted conversation between the first responder and the foreign speaking victim as soon as they enter the wpan of the first responder . in another example , if a military squad is positioned to covertly observe non - english speaking enemy personnel , the squad leader may initiate the interpretation services in observation mode 300 in order to listen to the interpreted speech of the enemy personnel . all the other members of the squad within the squad leader &# 39 ; s wpan will also be able to hear the interpreted speech of the enemy personnel . the foregoing description is presented to enable one of ordinary skill in the art to make and use the invention , and is provided in the context of a patent application and its requirements . various modifications to the preferred embodiment of the apparatus and the general principles and features of the system and methods described herein will be readily apparent to those of skill in the art . thus , the present invention is not to be limited to the embodiments of the apparatus , system and methods described above and illustrated in the drawing figures , but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the spirit of this disclosure and the appended claims .
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fig1 shows an embodiment of an electrically controllable and electrically powered mortice lock assembly 20 . the lock assembly 20 includes a housing 22 with a side cover 24 and a face plate 26 . the lock assembly 20 is installed in a door with the housing 22 within a mortice void in the door and the face plate 26 adjacent to the non - hinged edge of the door , as is well understood by persons skilled in the art . a latch bolt 28 and an auxiliary bolt 30 pass through the faceplate 26 for engagement with a strike plate ( not shown ) in a door jamb , as is also well understood by persons skilled in the art . the lock assembly 20 also includes an opening 32 that receives a key cylinder assembly 33 therein ( as shown in fig2 ). the key cylinder assembly is retained within the opening 32 with a key cylinder retaining pin ( not shown ), as is also well understood by persons skilled in the art . the key cylinder assembly 33 includes a key cylinder cam 33 a ( as shown in fig2 ). after the key cylinder assembly 33 has been inserted into the opening 32 , and the key cylinder retaining pin inserted into the key cylinder assembly 33 , the key cylinder retaining pin is prevented from releasing its engagement with the key cylinder assembly 33 by engagement of the faceplate 26 with the housing 22 . for ease of description , the side of the lock assembly 20 shown in fig1 will be referred to as the first side and the opposite side as the second side . the edge near the faceplate 26 will be referred to as the front and its opposite edge the rear . the edge near the opening 32 will be referred to as the bottom and its opposite edge the top . the lock assembly 20 also includes a first hub 36 with a square cross section opening 38 therein , which is adapted to engage with a square cross section drive shaft ( not shown ) of a first external knob , lever or other handle ( not shown ). fig2 shows the lock assembly 20 with the side cover 24 of the housing 22 removed . the latch bolt 28 is connected to a latch bolt shaft 46 which is in turn connected to a latch bolt carriage 48 . the auxiliary bolt 30 is connected to an auxiliary bolt shaft 50 which is in turn connected to an auxiliary bolt carriage 52 . the latch bolt 28 and the auxiliary bolt 30 are biased toward a latching position , as shown in fig2 , by a latch spring 54 and an auxiliary latch spring 56 respectively . a carriage retraction arm 58 is pivotally mounted to the housing 22 by a shaft 60 and biased toward the position shown in fig2 by a spring 62 . the arm 58 can be moved to retract the latch bolt 28 and the auxiliary bolt 30 under certain conditions , in response to movement of the first or second handles or the key cylinder assembly , as will be described in more detail below . fig2 also shows a first electrically powered hub locker assembly comprising a first electrically powered solenoid 64 which is connected to a first motion transfer means 66 which is in turn connected to a first hub locker 68 . the first solenoid 64 is of the pull type and also includes a first biasing spring 70 . the first motion transfer means 66 includes a tab 66 a , the function of which will be described in more detail below . the lock assembly 20 also includes a second handle , a second hub and a second electrically powered hub locker assembly on its second side . the second electrically powered hub lock assembly comprises a second electrically powered solenoid which is connected to a second motion transfer means which is in turn connected to a second hub locker . the second electrically powered solenoid is also a pull type and includes a second biasing spring . fig2 also shows a first hub locking sensor 72 which is able to provide a signal indicative of the position of the first electrically powered hub locker assembly to allow remote signalling of the lock status of the first hub 36 to a remotely located controller or other internal control . a similar sensor is provided for the second electrically powered hub locker assembly . fig2 also shows a latch bolt sensor 74 and an auxiliary bolt sensor 76 , which similarly signal the position of the latch bolt 28 and the auxiliary bolt 30 respectively . other sensors ( not shown ) can also be added as desired to other mechanical facets of the lock assembly 20 , such as remotely signalling lock and / or door status or providing other internal control . the construction and operation of the first and second electrically powered hub locker assemblies are identical and are described in the applicant &# 39 ; s australian provisional patent application no . 2010903161 entitled “ a lock assembly ”, the relevant contents of which are incorporated herein by cross reference . briefly , placing a screw 78 through opening 80 configures the movement of the hub locker 68 in response to the movement of its associated solenoid 64 in one direction and placing the screw 78 through opening 82 configures the movement of the hub locker 68 in response to the movement of its associated solenoid 64 in another , opposite , direction . as the first solenoid 64 is of the pull type , it retracts when energised and then relies on the first biasing spring 70 to extend it when not energised . as shown in fig2 , when the first motion transfer means 66 of the first electrically powered hub locker assembly is configured with the screw 78 in the opening 80 , and the associated solenoid 64 is not energised , the first hub locker 68 is driven by the solenoid spring 70 towards the first hub 36 to an extended position ( as shown ) engaging with and preventing rotation of ( i . e . locking ) the first hub 36 . when the solenoid 64 is energised , the first hub locker 68 is driven away from the first hub 36 to a retracted position allowing rotation of ( i . e . unlocking ) the first hub 36 . this is a fail secure setting . when the first motion transfer means 66 is configured with the screw 78 in the opening 82 , and the solenoid 64 is not energised , the first hub locker 68 is driven by the solenoid spring 70 away from the first hub 36 to the retracted position allowing rotation of ( i . e . unlocking ) the first hub 36 . when the solenoid 64 is energised the first hub locker 68 is driven towards the first hub 36 to the advanced position engaging with and preventing rotation of ( i . e . locking ) the first hub 36 . this is a fail safe setting . fig3 shows the lock assembly 20 with the faceplate removed exposing a first adjustment port 84 and a second adjustment port 86 . the first adjustment port 84 is aligned with a first lockbar block 88 which has a first lockbar 90 therein . the first lockbar 90 can be positioned relative to the first lockbar block 88 in an extended position ( e . g . fig3 ) or a retracted position ( e . g . fig7 ). the first lockbar block 88 is carried on one end of a manual override slide 92 . the other end of the manual override slide 92 has a flange 94 which interacts with a lever 96 , which pivots about a shaft 98 . the lever 96 also interacts with key driven lever 100 , which pivots about a shaft 102 . a manual override sensor 103 is able to provide a signal indicative of the position of the manual override slide 92 . the second adjustment port 84 similarly provides across to a second lockbar within a second lockbar block . the above described components together form a manually driven assembly able to provide a key operated manual override function . as will be described in more detail below , the key operated manual override function is activated , with respect to the first side of the lock assembly 20 , by positioning the first lockbar 90 in the extended position and deactivated by positioning the first lockbar 90 in the retracted position . similarly , the second adjustment port 86 is aligned with a second lockbar block which has a second lockbar therein . the second lockbar can also be positioned relative to the second lockbar block in an extended position or a retracted position . the second lockbar block is carried on the same end of the manual override slide 92 as the first lockbar block 90 . the key operated manual override function is activated , with respect to the second side of the lock assembly 20 , by positioning the second lockbar in the extended position and deactivated by positioning the second lockbar in the retracted position . fig3 also shows a key cylinder retraction bar 104 . the key cylinder retraction bar 104 has a first end 106 connected to the carriage retraction arm 58 and a second end with a depending part 108 . as previously mentioned , fig3 shows the lock assembly 20 set to fail secure and with the first solenoid 64 de - energised allowing the solenoid spring 70 to drive the first hub locker 68 into locking engagement with the first hub 36 , preventing rotation of same . as a result , the first hub 36 can not be rotated to withdraw the bolts 28 and 30 and the lock assembly 20 is locked from the first side . fig3 also shows the manual override slide 92 positioned towards the upper edge of the lock assembly 20 ( hereafter the upper position ) and with the lock bar 90 in the extended position , but not pushing on the tab 66 a . the key driven lever 100 is sitting rotated anti - clockwise so not pushing on lever 96 which in turn is not pushing on the flange 94 of the manual override slide 92 . this allows the manual override slide 92 to remain in the upper position shown . referring to fig3 , the manual override slide 92 can be set to affect change only to the first , only to the second or to both of the first and second electrically powered hub locker assemblies of the lock assembly 20 , as will now be described . pushing a key cylinder retaining pin , or other suitable tool , through the first adjustment port 84 pushes the lock bar 90 into the extended position , adjacent to the tab 66 a of the first motion transfer means 66 . as a result , downward movement of the manual override slide 92 towards the bottom edge ( hereafter the lower position ) of the lock assembly 20 will also pull the tab 66 a , and thus the remainder of the first motion transfer means 66 , downwards and cause movement in the first hub locker 68 similar to that of the first solenoid 64 being retracted . however , if the lock bar 90 is pulled to the retracted position ( e . g . see fig7 ) then the lock bar tip 90 will no longer be adjacent to the tab 66 a and movement of the manual override slide 92 will not affect the first motion transfer means 66 or the first hub locker 68 ( see fig7 ). the lock bar 90 is able to pulled to the retracted position by use of a hook tool ( not shown ) that is inserted through the adjustment port 84 , into the lockbar 90 , and then withdrawn towards the front of the lock assembly 20 . fig4 shows the lock assembly 20 of fig2 after the depending part 108 of the key cylinder retraction bar 104 has been driven towards the bottom edge of the lock assembly 20 by rotation of the key cylinder cam 33 a of the key cylinder assembly 33 by a correct key . the resulting movement in the key cylinder retraction bar 104 pivots the carriage retraction arm 58 to withdraw the lock bolt 28 and the auxiliary bolt 30 . it will be appreciated that this action , known as key override unlatching , withdraws the bolts 28 and 30 for door opening but , importantly , it does not unlock the lock assembly 20 . accordingly , as soon as torque is removed from the key used to rotate the key cylinder cam 33 a , the springs 54 and 56 extend the bolts 28 and 30 respectively and return the lock to assembly 20 to the locked configuration shown in fig2 . fig5 shows the lock assembly 20 of fig2 modified to operate a key operated manual override function by the addition of a revised key cylinder cam 33 a that has an extension 33 b thereon . the key operated manual override function is shown activated , by the first lockbar block 90 being in the extended position . fig5 shows the key cylinder cam 33 a being rotated by a correct key to a position which causes the key driven lever 100 to pivot clockwise which in turn causes the lever 96 to pivot anti - clockwise and pull the manual override slide 92 downwards toward the bottom edge of the lock assembly 20 into the lower position . the manual override slide 92 carries the lockbar block 88 and lockbar 90 downwards allowing the lockbar 90 to pull the tab 66 a and thus the first motion transfer means 66 downwards . this in turn moves the first hub locker 68 to the retracted position . as a result , the first hub 36 is free to rotate and this rotation of the first hub 36 will retract the bolts 28 and 30 ( as shown in fig6 ) and the first side of the lock assembly 20 is unlocked . the manual override slide 92 will remain in the lower position shown , and thus keep the first side of the lock assembly 20 unlocked , until it is moved again by the correct key . the lock assembly 20 can be relocked by the use of the correct key ( see fig7 ) to rotate the key cylinder cam 33 a in a clockwise direction to pivot the key driven lever 100 in an anti - clockwise direction and reverse the previously described movements . once again , the manual override slide 92 will then remain in the upper position until further acted upon by the correct key . fig6 shows the lock assembly of fig5 after rotation of the first hub 36 has caused the carriage retraction arm 58 to withdraw the bolts 28 and 30 . fig7 shows the lock assembly 20 with the lockbar 90 pulled into the retracted position so that the lockbar 90 is no longer adjacent to the tab 66 a . as a result , the key operated manual override function is deactivated and movement of the manual override slide 92 will have no affect on the first motion transfer means 66 or the first hub locker 68 . fig8 shows the lock assembly 20 set to fail safe by the screw 78 being inserted within the opening 82 . the solenoid 64 is shown not energised and the first hub locker 68 is thus shown being driven by the first solenoid spring 70 to the retracted position , allowing rotation of the first hub 36 . in other words , the first side of the lock assembly 20 is to unlocked . the key operated manual override function is activated by the lockbar 90 being pushed into the extended position where it may engage the tab 66 a of the first motion transfer means 66 . fig9 shows the lock assembly 20 of fig8 after the key operated manual override function has been used to manually lock the first side of the lock assembly 20 . as shown , the key cylinder cam 33 a has been pivoted by the correct key such that the extension 33 a causes the key driven lever 100 to pivot in a clockwise direction causing the lever 96 to pivot in an anti - clockwise direction and in turn cause the manual override slide 92 to be driven downwards to the lower position . during this movement , the locking bar 90 abouts the tab 66 a and causes the first motion transfer means 66 to drive the first hub locker 68 from the retracted position to the extended position , preventing rotation of the first hub 36 . as a result , the first side of the lock assembly 20 is now locked . once again , the manual override slide 92 will remain in the lower position , and thus keeps the first side of the lock assembly 20 locked , until it is moved again by a correct key . the first side of the lock assembly 20 can be unlocked by use of a correct key to rotate the key cylinder cam 33 a clockwise and drive the key driven lever 100 anti - clockwise and the lever 96 clockwise . this movement reverses the previous actions . once again the manual override slide 92 will remain in the upper position until further acted upon by the correct key . the position of the manual overrides slide 92 shown also activates the manual override sensor 103 which can provide a signal to cause further action . for example , the signal can be used to cause the removal of any external electrical drive , control or power signal from operating one or more of the first and second solenoids or can provide a signal notifying a control centre that the manual key override function has been used . fig1 shows the lock assembly 20 with the electrically operated locking components set to fail secure , as per fig2 and fig3 , and with the first solenoid 64 energised and retracted so that the first side of the lock assembly 20 is unlocked . as shown , the manual override slide 92 is not affecting the lock assembly 20 . if an external party gains access to the lock assembly &# 39 ; s control system they may arrange for the lock assembly 20 to be left unlocked in order to gain unauthorised entry . in this situation , it is advantageous to be able to manually override this unlocked state and so secure the door . however , the manual override slide 92 as described so far cannot make any change to the state of the lock assembly 20 because the tab 66 a and thus the first motion transfer means 66 is already in the position that it would be driven to by downwards movement of the manual override slider 92 . fig1 shows a second embodiment of a lock assembly 20 ′ able to address the above situation by allowing for external electric control of the solenoids to be removed whilst leaving the hub locker 68 where the fail safe or fail secure configuration of the lock has positioned it . as a result , the lock assembly 20 ′ can be locked or unlocked using a key . in order to do so , the lock assembly 20 ′ includes a sensor 110 adapted to interact with an extended form of the key driven lever 100 . fig1 shows the lock assembly 20 ′ after the key cylinder cam 33 a has been rotated by the correct key to pivot the key driven lever 100 anti - clockwise . in this position , the sensor 110 sends a signal that the key operated manual override function is not in use . fig1 shows the lock assembly fig1 after the key cylinder cam 33 a has been pivoted rotated by the correct key to pivot the key driven lever 100 clockwise . as previously described , the resulting movement in the manual override slide 92 has no influence on the first motion transfer means 66 or the first hub locker 68 as the locking bar 90 is in the withdrawn position . however , the triggering of the switch 110 by the movement of the key driven lever 100 sends a signal to the controller that the power supply to the first solenoid 64 should be removed . when the lock assembly 20 is configured as fail secure as shown , removing power from the solenoid 64 allows the spring 70 to drive the first motion transfer means 66 to cause the first hub locker 68 to engage with , and prevent rotation of , the first hub 36 . this action locks the first side of the lock assembly 20 ′. if the lock assembly 20 was configured as fail safe , the reverse would occur and the spring 70 would drive the first hub locker 68 from the engaged position to the withdrawn position , thereby unlocking the first side of the lock assembly 20 ′. accordingly , the triggering of the switch 110 allows the lock state of the lock assembly 20 ′ to be ( manually ) reversed . fig1 shows a third embodiment of a lock assembly 20 ″ in which it is possible to remove external electric control to the first and / or second solenoids and also move the first hub locker 68 from the position it is placed in by the fail safe or fail secure setting of the lock assembly . accordingly , the correct key can be used to do one of locking or unlocking . fig1 shows the lock assembly 20 ″ after starting in a condition similar to that shown in fig8 ( i . e . set to fail safe , the solenoid 64 not energised and thus unlocked ) but that has now been acted upon by the key operated manual override function . when the correct key is used to pivot the key cylinder cam 33 a and thus pivot the key driven lever 100 in a clockwise direction , the sensor 110 triggers the removal of external control from the first solenoid 64 . the lockbar 90 is sitting in the extended position . as the manual override slide 92 is drawn downwards , the engagement between the lockbar 90 and the tab 66 a will cause the first motion transfer mechanism 66 to drive the first hub locker 68 into the extended position preventing rotation of the first hub 36 . as a result , the lock assembly 20 ″ is locked from the first side . if the lock assembly 20 ″ had instead been set to a fail secure , then the same movement of the manual override slide 92 would have instead unlocked the first hub 36 . accordingly , the sensor 110 is able to be used to disable remote electrical locking / unlocking , allowing the key operated manual override function to advantageously be used to independently invert the lock state as desired . the above described lock assemblies have electrically powered hub locker assemblies ( ie . locking / unlocking mechanisms ) and also include a manually driven assembly ( ie . key operated manual override function or mechanical locking / unlocking mechanism ). the mechanical mechanism can advantageously be used to change the state of the lock assembly or to prevent the electrical control system from changing the lock assembly &# 39 ; s lock / unlock state . the key operated manual override function can be used in three ways . firstly , the function can be used to only block or remove a remote signal from influencing the electrically powered hub locker assemblies ( eg . solenoids / motors etc ) so that : 1 ) if there is no remote signal at the time of manual overriding the state of the lock assembly does not change ; 2 ) if there is a remote signal at the time of manual overriding and the actuator has a biased position then the solenoid will revert to the biased position ; or 3 ) if there is a remote signal at the time of manual overriding and the actuator has two stable positions ( ie . no biased position ) then the state of the lock assembly does not change . alternatively , the function can physically change the position of the mechanical components that the electrically powered hub locker assemblies use to lock or unlock the lock regardless of a signal being applied or not being applied to the electrically powered hub locker assemblies . as a result , the above described lock assemblies , when set to operate as fail safe , are still able to be used to lock the door in the absence of power . this obviates the need for a security guard or a separate manual lock to secure the door until power is returned . further , when set to operate as fail secure , they are able to be used to unlock the door in the absence of power . this allows the normal operation of a door to continue in the absence of power . the lock assembly embodiments described above are advantageous in many applications such as : during the fitting out of a building when the door control / monitoring electrics are not yet installed or fully operational . if the lock assembly is set to fail safe ( ie . unlocked when no power ) then the manual override function can be used to lock the door after hours . if the lock is set to fail secure ( ie . locked when no power ) then the manual override system can be used to unlock the door during working hours ; changing the lock assembly &# 39 ; s status at any time when the power supply is interrupted , so the lock can still perform lock / unlock functions and keep a building &# 39 ; s activities going until the electrical systems are restored ; during normal powered operation , giving a manual override option ; providing a signal from within the lock assembly and sending it to the building monitoring system to show the manual key override function has been used during normal powered operation ; the remote electrical locking / unlocking of the lock assembly by an external signal powering the solenoid can be disabled internally in the lock by use of the key . thereafter the electrically powered hub locker assemblies are de - energised and adopt whatever position that the fail safe / fail secure settings encourage . at this time the override mechanism can either leave the electrically powered hub locker assemblies in this biased position or move it to its other position ; choosing whether or not the manual override function moves the hub locker or not at installation or at any time later without removing the lock from the door and whether the override mechanism removes external control from the solenoid or not is also switch selectable before installation or at any time after without removing the lock from the door ; and with the addition of an additional switch on the front edge of the lock assembly that is accessible once the door is open , the remote electrical locking / unlocking of the lock by an external signal can be disabled for as long as manual key control is desired without removing the lock from the door . although the invention has been described with reference to preferred embodiments , it will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the invention can be embodied in many other forms . for example , the embodiments of lock assembly described above use independent first and second electrically powered hub locker assemblies for each side of the lock and a single manually driven assembly ( ie . key operated manual override function ) which can interact with each of the first and second electrically powered hub locker assemblies . in other embodiments ( not shown ) both of the hubs can be locked / unlocked by a single electrically powered hub locker assembly and / or independent first and second manually driven assemblies ( ie . key operated manual override functions ). in a further embodiment ( not shown ), the first and second adjustment ports are positioned s on the sides or the top , bottom or rear edges of the lock assembly , so as not to be accessible via removal of the face plate .
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[ 0011 ] fig1 shows a disposable plastic blister package used for packaging a contact lens . more specifically , as seen in fig1 package 10 generally comprises support base 12 with recessed well area 14 for receiving and holding a contact lens ( not shown ). generally , the contact lens will be packaged along with an aqueous storage fluid , such as buffered saline solution , in well area 14 . package 10 may be molded from a material such as polypropylene , polystyrene , or similar plastic . base 12 includes a flange 15 having a top surface 16 . the flange 15 is present all around , that is surrounding , the well area 14 . as shown , the flange further comprises a raised seal volume 20 encircling the perimeter 28 , that is , following the contour , of well 14 in the top surface 16 . in use , a contact lens is deposited in well 14 with a quantity of aqueous storage fluid , lidstock is applied , so as to cover at least the raised seal volume 20 or substantially the entire top surface 16 , typically by heat - sealing the lidstock to the raised seal volume 20 , thereby hermetically sealing the contact lens in well 14 of package 10 . the shape of the package 10 , the base 12 , the well 14 , and the raised seal volume 20 can vary as long as the elements of the raised seal volume claimed below are present in the package 20 . [ 0012 ] fig2 shows an enlarged cross - section of a portion of the package 10 of fig1 along the line 2 - 2 , shown in fig1 . the raised seal volume 20 is shown comprising two linear sides , a first linear side 21 , and a second linear side 22 , which meet at a point or rounded point 23 which is the uppermost surface of the raised seal volume 20 . the first linear side 21 is located closer to the well 14 . the second linear side 22 is located further from the well 14 . the first linear side 21 meets the well 14 at corner 27 which defines the perimeter 28 . the corner may be rounded or sharp as desired . angle alpha shown at the base of linear side 21 is defined by the intersection of linear side 21 with the horizontal plane p as shown . typically horizontal plane p is parallel to the opening of the well when the package is resting on a flat surface . most packages provide supports 29 or other structures for this purpose . angle alpha is preferably from 125 to 170 degrees , more preferably from 135 to 165 degrees , and most preferably from 145 to 165 degrees , and even more preferably from 155 to 165 degrees . the second linear side 22 meets the top surface of the flange 16 at angle beta . however , if the flange 16 is not in the horizontal plane then angle beta is defined as the angle formed at the intersection of linear side 22 and the horizontal plane p . angle beta is preferably from 125 to 170 degrees , more preferably from 135 to 165 degrees , and most preferably from 145 to 165 degrees , and even more preferably from 155 to 165 . preferably , the linear sides have respective lengths d , e from 0 . 10 mm to 0 . 65 mm , more preferably from 0 . 14 mm to 0 . 45 mm , and most preferably from 0 . 18 mm to 0 . 25 mm . the preferred overall width a of the raised seal volume 20 is from 1 . 16 mm to 2 . 30 mm , more preferably from 1 . 22 mm to 1 . 85 mm , and most preferably from 1 . 34 mm to 1 . 56 mm . the preferred overall height b of the raised seal volume 20 is from 0 . 1 mm to 0 . 3 mm , more preferably from 0 . 12 mm to 0 . 24 mm , and most preferably from 0 . 14 mm to 0 . 16 mm . it is preferred that linear sides 21 and 22 and angles alpha and beta are mirror images of each other ; however that is not required as long as both linear sides are present as parts of the raised seal volume 20 , and as long as the angles are both within the ranges specified . lengths d and e and angles alpha and beta can vary and be different from one another , depending on location of raised seal volume 20 in relation to other features and considerations within the package . as shown , in the preferred embodiments , the flange extends away from the well past the seal volume as shown , but in alternative embodiments , the outside edge of the flange may not extend beyond the seal volume . [ 0015 ] fig3 and 4 show an alternative embodiment of the package of this invention . fig3 is a perspective plan view of the package and fig4 shows an enlarged cross - section of a portion of the package 10 of fig3 along the line 4 - 4 . fig3 and 4 show a package having a raised seal volume 20 that is located a distance c between the perimeter 28 of the well 14 and the surface of the raised seal volume 20 closest to the well 14 . note that c may vary in a package design , because it is not required that the raised seal volume follow the perimeter of the well exactly or even at all . preferably c is from 0 and 6 mm , more preferably from 1 to 5 mm and most preferably from 2 to 5 mm . additionally , the raised seal volume 20 as shown in fig3 and 4 has a rounded top surface 43 contiguous with and located between the linear sides 21 and 22 . the radius of the rounded surface 43 is preferably from 1 . 0 mm to 10 . 0 mm , more preferably from 1 . 5 mm to 6 . 0 mm , and most preferably from 2 . 0 mm to 5 . 0 mm . further the width f of the rounded surface 43 is preferably from 0 . 50 mm to 2 . 0 mm , more preferably from 0 . 50 mm to 1 . 5 mm , and most preferably from 0 . 50 mm to 1 . 0 mm . the other features of this embodiment are as described for the earlier embodiment , namely , the angles , lengths of the linear sides , the width of the heat seal , and the height of the seal volume . [ 0016 ] fig3 and 4 shows the preferred embodiment , because the distance c provides a space in which the melted plastic of the raised seal volume may flow and not create a rough surface that would be adjacent to , extend above , or flow into the well that may damage a contact lens as it is removed from the recessed well . however it may be possible in accordance with this invention , if the correct sealing conditions and materials are used , to locate the raised seal volume adjacent to the well by providing a large length d of side 21 . many other modifications and variations of the present invention are possible to one skilled in the field in the field in light of the teachings herein . it is therefore understood that , within the scope of the claims , the present invention can be practiced other than as herein specifically described .
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setting of transmission power control offsets for hs - dpcch as an example from the umts specification , when the number of links involved for hs - dpcch coincides with the number of links for the channel , typically dpcch , or channels , such as dpcch and dpdch , to which the power offset relates is straight forward , at least as long as the links are served by the same base station . however , in soft handover situations or in situations where the links are served by different base station , prior art solution imposes problems . fig5 shows uplink channel structure of adch ( associated downlink control channel ). for high - speed communications an hs - dpcch ( high - speed dedicated physical control channel ) is included . hs - dpcch carries , e . g ., feedback information requesting retransmission or ( positively ) acknowledging successfully received transmissions & lt ;& lt ; harq - ack & gt ;& gt ; and channel quality information & lt ;& lt ; cqi & gt ;& gt ; destined for mac - hs protocol layer . in umts the harq - ack field of an hs - dsch sub - frame comprises 10 bits , and the cqi field 20 bits , the sub - frame being transmitted over three time slots . the hs - dpcch is multiplexed with other channels on adch . dpcch and dpdch are examples of ordinary channels multiplexed on adch , together with hs - dpcch . the adch can be in soft handover , like any ordinary dch . since downlink scheduling of hs - dsch relies on cqi feedback information , transmitted on hs - dpcch , downlink transmissions could be substantially deteriorated if transmission power of hs - dpcch is not appropriately adjusted in relation to other physical channels , such as dpdch and dpcch , multiplexed on adch . when the adch is communicating with more than one cell in a soft handover situation it is power controlled by outer loop and inner loop power control . the reference for β hs is either dpdch or dpcch , or both . in the uplink dpdch and dpcch are power controlled by the outer and inner loop . during soft handover , the fact that dpdch and dpcch perceive a diversity effect is considered in the inner and outer loop power control . the information on dpdch concerning outer loop power control is terminated in rnc . hs - dpcch is terminated in node b serving an entity of user equipment for consideration . consequently , according to prior art it is power controlled as if it would enjoy a diversity effect of multiple communications links corresponding to dpcch or dpdch when in soft handover , when it actually perceives no diversity gain , since it communicates over a single communications link . during soft handover there is consequently a great risk that channel quality of hs - dpcch seriously degrade , which jeopardizes both arq feedback and cqi information to the hs ( high speed ) scheduling entity and there is a great risk that no feedback information reaches node b for downlink scheduling and arq acknowledgments , which risks to deteriorate downlink performance substantially . an active set of a connection including an entity of user equipment comprises all radio base stations , rbses , involved in the connection , whereas a radio link set is a set of one or more radio links that has a common generation of tpc commands in the dl . often the active set and the radio link set are identical . in softer handover they are not . in softer handover there are a plurality of radio links of one single radio base station . fig4 illustrates an active set comprising three radio links involving user equipment & lt ;& lt ; ue & gt ;& gt ; and three radio base stations & lt ;& lt ; bs 2 & gt ;& gt ;, & lt ;& lt ; bs 3 & gt ;& gt ;, & lt ;& lt ; bs 4 & gt ;& gt ; during a soft handover . the radio base stations are controlled by different radio network controllers & lt ;& lt ; srnc & gt ;& gt ; & lt ;& lt ; drnc & gt ;& gt ; over iub interfaces . the serving rnc & lt ;& lt ; srnc & gt ;& gt ; is the rnc responsible for interconnecting to a core network over an iu interface . the drift rnc & lt ;& lt ; drnc & gt ;& gt ; assists the srnc during the soft handover as it controls two of the base stations & lt ;& lt ; bs 3 & gt ;& gt ;, & lt ;& lt ; bs 4 & gt ;& gt ; involved . the rncs & lt ;& lt ; srnc & gt ;& gt ;, & lt ;& lt ; drnc & gt ;& gt ; are interconnected over an iur interface . according to a first embodiment of the invention , for a connection the discriminating number of diversity branches for adch / dpcch / dpdch and hs - dpcch is considered when determining gain factor β hs , and β hs is updated whenever there is an increase in number of links in the active set or radio link set of the connection . when updating β hs , this is preferably made by increasing the constant power offset for the hs - dpcch during the time at which the dpdch relies on gains from macro - diversity . according to a second embodiment of the invention , repetition factors for hs - dpcch transmissions ( cqi and ack - nack repetition factors ) are updated . of course , increased repetition factors implies increased load of control signaling . preferably the repetition factors are not updated until uplink performance has deteriorated below a threshold . the uplink performance degradation is preferably detected from number of repeated transmission failures and retransmissions in the base station / node b . either common or disjoint one or more triggers are used for updating of different repetition factors . the repetition factors may interfere with cqi feedback cycle ( the frequency with which a ue reports cqi ). therefore the repetition factor updating is preferably coordinated with the cqi feedback cycle according to the invention . according to the first embodiment of the invention , parameters for adch are signaled to rbs in radio link reconfiguration and radio bearer setup messages in the radio bearer setup procedure . parameters related to cqi , such as δ cqi , cqi repetition factor and cqi feedback cycle , are signaled to ue in downlink hs - pdsch information message as measurement feedback info . parameters related to ack / nack , such as δ ack , δ nack and ack - nack repetition factor , are included as uplink dpch power control info fields . there are two modes of signaling according to the invention . the first mode adopts a synchronized procedure for parameter updating , and the second an unsynchronized procedure . according to the invention , a particular mode is preferably selected conditionally depending on the particular parameters . the first mode is required when cqi repetition factor , cqi feedback cycle or ack - nack repetition factors are to be changed , whereas both modes are applicable for changing of power offsets . preferably , parameter updating according to the second embodiment triggered from rbs will be signaled according to the first mode of signaling and parameter updating according to the first embodiment related to radio link set size updates will be signaled according to the second mode of signaling . fig6 depicts signaling triggered by rbs according to the first mode . parameter update , e . g . of cqi repetition factor , cqi feedback cycle and ack - nack repetition factor are triggered by radio base station & lt ;& lt ; rbs & gt ;& gt ; by sending of an rl parameter update indication & lt ;& lt ; r 1 & gt ;& gt ; to the controlling rnc . at rl reconfiguration prepare & lt ;& lt ; r 2 & gt ;& gt ; new values of repetition factors are sent to the rbs with the serving hs - dsch connection . with rl reconfiguration ready signal & lt ;& lt ; r 3 & gt ;& gt ;, new values are stored in rbs . activation time , in terms of cfn ( connection frame number ), is then calculated in rnc and sent to rbs & lt ;& lt ; r 4 & gt ;& gt ; in an rl reconfiguration commit signal . ( node b , rnc and ue uses cfn for dch and common transport channels frame transport references .) rnc sends & lt ;& lt ; r 5 & gt ;& gt ; the new one or more parameters , including activation time , in terms of cfn , to ue over rbs . at activation time & lt ;& lt ; r 6 & gt ;& gt ; the new parameters are in effect . a physical channel reconfiguration complete signal confirms / completes the physical channel reconfiguration . fig7 monitors signaling triggered by rnc according to the second mode . subsequent to triggering & lt ;& lt ; c 1 & gt ;& gt ; of updating of one or more transmission power control related parameters δ ack , δ nack and δ cqi , new parameters are sent to ue over rbs in physical channel reconfiguration signaling & lt ;& lt ; c 2 & gt ;& gt ;. ue confirms reception and parameter updating in physical channel reconfiguration complete signaling . according to the first mode , node b initiates parameter update preferably when detecting particular cqi error patterns of received cqi , each non - reliable cqi being logged as a cqi error event , if at least one updated parameter ( cqi repetition factor or ack - nack repetition factor ) differs from the existing parameters . during soft handover or diversity combining , if cqi repetition factor is greater than 1 errors in cqi after combining of diversity branches is considered for logging , not errors in individual cqis of the various diversity branches or repetitions of particular one or more cqis . preferred error patterns for triggering of hs - dpcch parameter change are listed in table 1 together with preferred parameter settings . in the table cqierrors refers to a predefined number of consecutive cqi error events , and cqierrorsabsent a predefined number of received consecutive one or more cqis in absence of cqi error event . n c — prev and n a — prev in table 1 refer to the ( existing ) cqi repetition factor the ( existing ) ack - nack repetition factor , respectively , applied when the parameter update was triggered by a detected error pattern in the first column of table 1 . if there are more than cqierrors consecutive cqi error events and if n c , the updated cqi repetition factor , differs from n c — prev , the cqi feedback cycle is updated if a repetition factor — feedback cycle consistency check indicates a conflict of the updated cqi repetition factor and existing cqi feedback cycle . in case the consistency check indicates a conflict , cqi feedback cycle is increased . preferably the updated cqi feedback cycle , measured in milliseconds , is set to 2 times the cqi repetition factor . preferably there is no corresponding decrease of cqi feedback cycle when cqi repetition factor is decreased as a cqi repetition factor decrease will generally not cause any cqi feedback cycle consistency problem . the invention , however , does not exclude a corresponding decrease of cqi feedback cycle . the procedure is illustrated schematically in a flow chart in fig8 . when the signaling message radio link parameter update indication has been sent to the rnc , counters of number of continuous cqi error events and number of continuous error free cqi arrivals are reset . subsequent to the reset of the counters , there is preferably an interrupt time duration during which the counters are not updated in order to provide some time for rnc to issue updates , without having to transmit several triggers . the interrupt time duration is controlled by a timer . updating of the counters is preferably continued at expiry of the interrupt time duration or at a cfn specified for the update . the counters are preferably reset at hs - dsch cell change , when the serving hs - dsch cell is changed . potential changes of ack - nack repetition factor is communicated with the entity scheduling the repetitions , facilitating future scheduling , as an increase of ack - nack repetition factor limits scheduling opportunities . according to the second mode , new power - offset factors are applied if the number of radio link sets is changed . preferably there are two different sets of power control related parameters ( δ ack , δ nack and δ cqi ,) applied depending on the number of radio link sets . during softer handover of hs - dpcch involving only one rbs , there is no need to trigger power offset factor update , since hs - dpcch of different radio links are combined according to maximum ratio combining . in summary , the second mode of the invention does not require coordination between ue and node b , but ue is updated and node b can then be informed thereof unsynchronized , whereas the first mode of the invention requires coordination / synchronization of ue and node b updates . in this patent application acronyms such as ue , rbs , rnc , hsdpa , hs - dpcch , hs - dpdch , hs - dsch , adch , are applied . however , the invention is not limited to systems with entities with these acronyms , but holds for all communications systems operating analogously . the invention is not intended to be limited only to the embodiments described in detail above . changes and modifications may be made without departing from the invention . it covers all modifications within the scope of the following claims .
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the apparatus of this invention is perhaps seen most clearly in fig1 and 5 . a platform 10 serves as the base support for the apparatus . on the left hand portion ( in the drawing ) of the platform are fixtures for mounting or for positioning wires whose insulation is to be cut and on the right hand portion of the platform is positioned a drive motor 12 . a center support 14 is vertically positioned through a slot in the platform at the mid portion thereof . stationary mounting shafts 16 are secured by end mounting brackets 18 and 72 secured to the ends of the platform 10 and a center bracket 13 . slide bearings 20 secured to each bottom corner of a base plate 22 slide on the shafts 16 . a fixture mounting plate 24 is secured to spacer blocks 26 which in turn are secured to the base plate 22 by any suitable means such as screws or welding . mounting pins 27 positioned in the top surface of the fixture mounting plate 24 facilitate the mounting of a fixture 28 . the fixture 28 has an end piece 30 with plural parallel wire notches 32 formed in the top surface thereof , each adapted to receive a separate coaxial cable or other wire whose insulation is to be selectively cut and / or stripped in accordance with this invention . thus by sliding the base plate 22 along the shafts 16 , the fixture 28 may be moved toward or away from the center support 14 . a detent 34 extending from the bottom side of the base plate 22 acts to engage notches 35 in the shaft 16 such that the base plate 22 when slid on the shaft 16 may lock into one or more separate positions , as will be described . in the case of coaxial cable , two such positions are selected , one for the insulation cut off point for the central conductor and one for the cut off point of the insulation surrounding the metal sheath . stops 36 are positioned on the shaft 16 to limit the movement of the base plate 22 . the upper portion of the center support 14 has a horizontal slot 40 formed therein adapted to receive a wire positioning plate 42 which is perhaps seen most clearly in fig6 . this plate 42 has a plurality of orifices 40 positioned immediately adjacent each other with a spacing corresponding to the spacing of the wire notches 32 . a cutter plate 44 positioned adjacent and parallel to the positioning plate 42 has a preselected array of cutting orifices 46 , corresponding in location to the orifices 40 , each of which may have a single slope or double slope surface forming an inner , ring - like cutting edge . in this manner , the cable or wires 50 , when positioned in the orifices 48 , are in alignment with and may pass through the respective cutting orifice 46 . the cutter plate 44 is slidably positioned with respect to positioning plate 42 by a slot 53 in the backface of a vertically positioned cutter mounting plate 60 . the plate 60 is slidably retained by a vertical slot in a u - shaped mounting bracket 52 secured to center support 14 and by a slot 55 formed by a head flange 54 secured to the top of center support 14 . the cutter plate 44 is secured as by screws in the slot 53 in the cutter mounting plate 60 . the lower end of the cutter mounting plate 60 is pivotally mounted at 62 to the center support 14 . the cutter mounting plate 60 also has secured thereto a bearing housing 64 , as by screws which , houses a spherical self - aligning bearing 66 as seen most clearly in fig2 . the end support 72 is secured to the right hand end of platform 10 and houses at the upper portion what may be described as a control panel 74 . the end of the shafts 16 are secured in the support 72 . the motor 12 is mounted on a movable motor plate 76 to which are attached bearings 78 , 79 which slide on the shafts 16 . the motor itself is mounted with the aid of a motor support guide 80 which is secured to the motor plate 76 . the motor has a motor drive shaft 82 having an axis of rotation 84 ( fig2 ). secured as by welding or a set screw ( not shown ) at the end of the motor shaft 82 in an offset manner is an orbiting shaft 86 ( having a bore to receive the motor shaft ) having an axis 88 which intersects the axis 84 of the motor shaft at a point 90 corresponding to the center of the spherical bearing 66 when the motor is in a neutral position as will be described . the orbiting shaft 86 which passes throughout the bearing 66 , when positioned at this manner , does not cause orbital motion of the bearing housing 64 or the cutter plate 44 . however , by moving the motor 12 along the axis of its drive shaft 82 in either direction , the axes 84 and 88 diverge by increasing amounts thereby causing orbital motion of the cutter plate 44 when the motor shaft rotates . to achieve the axial adjustment of the motor position 12 , a pivot rod 100 , pivoted as at 102 to the platform 10 , is positioned to slide a bar 104 attached to the motor plate 76 . a detent 105 on the block 109 engages recesses 33 in the block 109 to control the axial movement of the motor and hence the radius of the orbital motion of the cutter plate 44 to predetermined amounts . a handle 106 may be secured to the pivot rod 100 to facilitate this motion . as will be described in connection with fig8 the movement of this pivot rod or the axial position of the motor may be adjusted by a servo system ( not shown ). the position of the base plate 22 and hence the position of fixture 28 may be similarly driven . stop 107 limits the axial movement of the motor as a safety precaution . in operation , a cable 49 containing plural coaxial cables , for example , is opened manually so that the individual coaxial cables may each be placed in the wire notches 32 of the fixture 28 with each cable extending through the wire positioning notches 32 , the wire positioning orifices 48 and finally the cutting orifices 46 of the cutter plate 44 . next the motor 12 is energized causing the orbiting plate 44 to orbit about an axis generally parallel to the cables 50 . its initial position ( fig2 ), as determined by the position of the detent 105 , however , is such that the axes 84 and 86 of the respective orbiting shaft 86 and the motor shaft 82 coincide at the center point 90 of the bearing 66 . hence no significant orbital motion of plate 44 occurs and the orifices 46 remain concentrically positioned about the cables 50 . to cut through the outer layers of coaxial cables 50 to the center conductor , the pivot rod 100 is moved to the right of the drawing thereby causing the motor 12 to move to the left ( fig3 ) and causing the orbiting shaft 86 to slide through the bearing 66 until the detent 105 stops it . the spherical bearing 66 now is rotating at a point relatively close to the motor shaft 82 ( done because the maximum cut is made at this point and this reduces sideways forces on the motor shaft ) and the radius of the orbit is at a maximum . the edges of the cutting orifices 46 thus orbit as is seen in fig3 at 120 &# 39 ; to cut through most of the cable 50 except for the center conductor . the orbital motion also is depicted by the phantom lines 44 of fig6 . next the base plate 22 is moved to the right in the drawing ( fig4 ) such that the wires 50 extend through the cutting plate more . thus the cut may be made in the insulation over the metal sheath of the cable 50 at a point behind the first cut . the pivot rod 100 is moved to the left ( in the drawing ) causing the motor to move to the right and withdraw the orbiting shaft 46 past its axial center point until the detent 105 stops its motion and orbital motion 120 &# 34 ; of the cutting orifices 46 about the cable 50 again occurs because of the divergence of the axes 84 and 88 ( fig4 ). effecting the orbital motion 120 &# 34 ; from the end of the orbiting shaft , does not cause undo transverse strain on the motor bearings since the cut is relatively shallow at this point , the orbit being adjusted to have a relatively low radius sufficient only to cut the exterior insulation away from the metal sheath . with the multiple cutting orifices closely spaced , multiple conductor cables may be all cut at the same time which greatly facilitates connector assembly . following cutting , the fixture 28 may be removed from the cutting assembly simply by lifting the fixture from the pins 27 and withdrawing the wires from the cutting orfices 46 , leaving the insulation . this effectively removes the insulation from the wires . the adjustability of the orbit radius is particularly desirable since the apparatus may be used to cut many different sized and types of wire structures . adjustment of the orbit is relatively quick , easy and simple . an automated system for effecting the double cut on a wire or cable may be seen in fig8 . this system is seen to include the wire positioning plate 42 , the cutter plate 44 , the fixture assembly 28 , the bearing 66 , the bearing housing 64 , the orbiting shaft 86 , the motor shaft 82 , and the motor 12 &# 39 ;. wires 50 are illustrated as being in position with the wires extending through the cutter plate 44 . an additional motor 110 , which may be a stepping motor , is connected by a suitable mechanical linkage 112 to position the fixture plate 28 by acting directly on the base plate 22 ( fig1 ). the axial position of the motor 12 &# 39 ; is controlled by a stepping motor 114 which acts through a suitable mechanical linkage 116 to position the motor 12 &# 39 ; along its axis . the three motors 110 , 114 and 12 &# 39 ; operate under the control of what may be a microprocessor control sequencer 118 . such sequencers are of well known design and selectively actuate the motors to move or position the fixture plate 28 , the motor 12 &# 39 ; along its axis , and power the motor 12 &# 39 ; to rotate its shaft 82 . thus the orbital radius of the orifices is adjusted by axially positioning the motor 114 , the drive for effecting cutting by the orifices 46 is effected by the rotation of motor 12 &# 39 ; and the withdrawal and insertion of the wires is accomplished by the motor 110 . since programming techniques for achieving the operations are well known it is not believed necessary to describe a particular system for accomplishing this . alternatively a motor drive stepping switch may accomplish the same result , although , such is not quite as versatile . it should be pointed out , as may be seen in fig7 that the wire positioning plate 42 and the cutting plate 44 may be reversed i . e ., the cutter plate 44 will be fixedly positioned in the slot 40 while the wire positioning plate 42 is positioned in the mounting bracket 60 . from this it is apparent that the wires are orbited against the cutter edge . the use of the orbital motion extends the life of a cutting edge . the system is a quick , efficient and economical means for the mass stripping of wires and the like . with the system wires can be simultaneously circumferential cut in one or more places . the depth of each cut is readily adjustable .
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referring to fig1 , a distributed system 100 includes a number of server computers 110 ( generally “ servers ”) communicate over a data network , here the internet 120 , with a number of client computers 130 ( generally “ clients ”). in one example , this system is used to host a multiplayer game in which each client computer hosts a different user , and each user controls one or more characters or other objects in the game . the server computers 110 receive information from the client computers 130 to update the state of the game , and distribute information back to the client computers 130 regarding relevant game state for each of the clients . various types of information are sent from the server to the clients . for example , control information is exchanged between a client and the servers regarding state of a user &# 39 ; s characters . state of the game is sent to the clients as needed . for example , when an object first enters the relevant environment of a user &# 39 ; s character , a server handling that object sends information about that object , for example as needed by the client to render the object . as the state of that object changes , the server sends updates for the objects state to clients . different types of information sent from the servers to the clients can have different delivery requirements . for example , some data sent from the server must be delivered reliably and in order to the client . for example , information related to control of a user &# 39 ; s character may fall in this category . other information is ephemeral . for example , information updating the state of an object is not delivered in time may be superseded by later state information about that object . some information may have an initial portion that must be sent in order , for example , an initial specification of an object , which later information can be ephemeral . referring to fig2 , at each of the servers 110 and clients 130 , a protocol engine implements a packet - based communication protocol for passing information between the clients and servers . in fig2 , a representative protocol engine 210 supports communication between one or more software modules executing at a client 130 and one or more servers 110 . the protocol engine is bi - directional supporting both communication from the servers to the client as well as communication from the client to the servers . for illustration , the discussion below focuses on server - to - client communication . the information passed from a server to the client is made up of messages ( or equivalent data structures or packets or interfaces that transfer equivalent information ). each such message 220 includes a payload 228 as well as a header 222 . the header has sequencing data 224 that is used by the protocol engine . this sequencing data 224 includes a triple of a channel identifier 225 ( abbreviated chan ), and ordering index 226 ( abbreviated ord ), and an ephemerality index 227 ( abbreviated eph ). before continuing with a description of the protocol engine 210 , logical properties of the transport of the messages 220 from server to client ( or back ) is discussed with reference to fig3 a . messages are delivered according to rules that depend on the ordering index and ephemerality index of the messages . the messages with different channel identifiers are delivered logically independently of one another . logically , messages are delivered reliably from one protocol engine to another , but possibly with variable delay due , for example , to delay in transit over the network , or due to retransmission of lost or corrupted messages . fig3 a shows a example of a series of messages 220 all with the same channel identifier . a first sequence of messages have eph = 1 , and ord incrementing starting at one . such messages , if delivered , are delivered in order to their destination . in the example , a message with ( ord , eph )=( 1 , 1 ) is sent followed by message ( 2 , 1 ). these messages arrive in order at the client and pass immediately through the protocol engine . the next two messages ( 3 , 1 ) and ( 4 , 1 ) are sent in order , but arrive our of order . the protocol engine buffers ( 4 , 1 ) until ( 3 , 1 ) arrives , at which time ( 3 , 1 ) and then ( 4 , 1 ) are delivered . similarly , ( 5 , 1 ), ( 6 , 1 ), and ( 7 , 1 ) are sent in order , but ( 5 , 1 ) is delayed , and therefore ( 6 , 1 ) and ( 7 , 1 ) are held at the protocol engine pending arrival of ( 5 , 1 ). for each particular channel identifier , the ephemerality index increments , with subsequences of one or more messages being sent for each ephemerality index . at the receiving protocol engine , once a message at a particular ephemerality index is received , messages for that channel identifier with lower ephemerality index that are pending delivery or are received later are not delivered from the protocol engine ( or alternatively , are optionally delivered ). in the example of fig3 a , after ( 7 , 1 ) is sent , the next message is ( 1 , 2 ), which represents an increment in the ephemerality index . when ( 1 , 2 ) is received at the client , ( 6 , 1 ) and ( 7 , 1 ) are pending delivery , and are discarded . message ( 5 , 1 ) arrives after ( 1 , 2 ) and is therefore discarded when it arrives . message ( 2 , 2 ) is sent and delivered in sequence after ( 1 , 2 ). messages ( 1 , 3 ), ( 1 , 4 ) and ( 1 , 5 ) are sent in sequence , but delivery of ( 1 , 3 ) is delayed . when message ( 1 , 5 ) arrives at the client , it is delivered immediately because it has a higher ephemerality index than previous messages , and has a ordering index of 1 . because the ordering index is 1 , there are no missing messages with the same ephemerality index that need to be waited for . when messages ( 1 , 3 ) and ( 1 , 4 ) arrive after ( 1 , 5 ), they are discarded . referring back to fig2 , the protocol engine 210 is implemented in two stages . an accumulation service 212 provides the interface that provides or accepts messages 220 that specific the channel identifier , ordering index , and ephemerality index . the accumulation service 212 is responsible , for example , for delaying delivery of messages that arrive out of order and discarding messages that arrive too later for delivery . transport of messages 220 makes use of one or more reliable datagram services 214 . in this version of the system , this reliable datagram service is layered on the unreliable user datagram protocol ( udp ). for each remote destination , a separate service 214 coordinates transmission , acknowledgment , and retransmission of packets for that destination . for outbound messages , the service fragments or aggregates messages 220 into transmission packets 240 and keeps track for each transmission which one ( or which set ) of the messages 220 are transported in the transmission packet . for example , a large payload 228 may have to be broken down into a number of different transmission packets 240 . conversely , a set of small payloads 228 may be aggregated into a single transmission packet . the association of messages 220 and transport packets 240 ( i . e ., between the triple ( chan , ord , eph ) and transport sequence number ) is maintained by the datagram service in a protocol state 216 of the protocol engine . the datagram service 214 implements reliable delivery of each transmission packets . each transmission packet 240 is assigned a different sequential sequence number 246 . if a transmission packet with a particular sequence number is not received at its destination , that sequence number is sent again . the sequence number may be sent again by retransmission of the entire transmission packet 240 . however , as an optimization to reduce communication , which is discussed further below , the datagram service 214 may omit the payload if there is no data that is needed at the destination , for example , because all the data that would be sent has a lower ephemerality index than already received at the destination . as a further optimization , rather than sending an empty payload in a separate transmission packet , the sequence number can be piggybacked in the header of another transmission packet being sent to the destination . therefore , each sequence number is ultimately accounted for at the destination , but some sequence number are finally received without their corresponding payloads . referring to fig3 b , in a series of messages corresponding to those shown in fig3 a , communication between the accumulation service 212 ( a ) and the datagram service 214 ( b ) at each of the server 110 and the client 130 are shown , as well as the communication between the datagram services 214 at the client and server . in fig3 b , the first message 220 ( 1 , 1 ) passes from the accumulation service to the datagram service , where in this example , the payload is fragmented into two separate datagrams , which are sent in order . in this example , these datagrams have sequential serial numbers ( not indicated in the figure ). the receiving datagram service acknowledges the receipt of the datagrams , for example , by sending dedicated acknowledgment packets or sending acknowledgements piggybacked in the headers of datagrams passing in the reverse direction . the following message ( 2 , 1 ) is illustrated as being sent in a single datagram . the message ( 3 , 1 ) is also shown as being sent in a single datagram , but the datagram does not reach its destination . the message ( 4 , 1 ) is also sent in a single datagram , and when the client datagram service receives the datagram , it send a negative acknowledgment for the datagram that carried the ( 3 , 1 ) message . the client datagram service passes the ( 4 , 1 ) message to the accumulation service , which holds the message pending receipt of the ( 3 , 1 ) message to allow in - order delivery . after receiving the negative acknowledgment ( or in some cases as a result of a timeout ) the server &# 39 ; s datagram service resends the datagram carrying the ( 3 , 1 ) message . when the client &# 39 ; s datagram service receives the datagram , it sends the ( 3 , 1 ) message to the accumulation service which then delivers ( 3 , 1 ) and ( 4 , 1 ) in order . therefore , from the point of view of the accumulation service , the ( 3 , 1 ) message was delayed , but the accumulation service does not need to deal with the retransmission aspects of the lower - level protocol . in some cases , the transmitting datagram service can determine that the payload for datagram that was transmitted but not successfully received does not contain any part of a message that is still needed at the receiving accumulation service , and therefore the entire payload of the datagram can be omitted , or a introduced above , the datagram can be “ sent ” as part of a header of another datagram passing to the client . in the example shown in fig3 b , messages ( 5 , 1 ), ( 6 , 1 ), and ( 7 , 1 ) are sent in order , each in a single transport datagram . the datagram carrying ( 5 , 1 ) is lost . by the time the sending datagram service has determined that the receiving datagram service did not receive the datagram carrying ( 5 , 1 ), the sending datagram service has already sent ( 2 , 1 ). therefore , rather than sending the payload for ( 5 , 1 ) again , only to have it dropped by the destination accumulation service , the sending datagram service effectively drops the payload for ( 5 , 1 ) before even sending it . similarly , in the example , message ( 1 , 3 ) is lost , and by the time the negative acknowledgement of ( 1 , 3 ) is received , the sending datagram service has already sent ( 1 , 5 ) and therefore the payload for ( 1 , 3 ) does not have to be sent . another aspect of the protocol engine is that for a particular channel of accumulation messages , different servers may provide the source of messages over time . for example , the server responsible for sending messages on a particular channel can migrate from server to server . at the receiving protocol engine , such migration corresponds to different datagram services receiving the transport packets . however , the accumulation service can be entirely or largely insensitive to such changes and can continue to deliver messages for that channel regardless of which server they came from . the communication approaches described above is applied , for example , in a multiplayer game system . referring to fig4 , each user 432 of the game interacts with a client system 430 hosted on a client computer 130 ( see fig1 , not shown in fig4 ) and controls a player 422 ( e . g ., players p 1 and p 2 controlled by 1 and 2 , respectively ) that exist in a virtual environment ( a “ world ”). a number of server computers 110 ( see fig1 , not shown in fig4 ) together host a server system . the server system accepts information from the client systems , for example , regarding each user &# 39 ; s manipulation of their respective player . the server system provides to each user information regarding other users &# 39 ; players and other dynamic events in the virtual environment . in this way , each client system is aware of relevant actions by other users &# 39 ; players and relevant dynamic events , such as motion of non - player elements such as doors etc . note that in alternative versions of the system , it is not necessary that each client system support only a single user or a single player under control of the user or users at that client system . as illustrated in fig4 , the virtual environment is partitioned into a number of blocks 410 , each associated with a different region of the environment . for example , in a three - dimensional environment , each block may be associated with a horizontal tile and the region above ( and below ) that tile . other , for example irregular , partitioning of the environment is also supported . fig4 shows two users 432 of a potentially very large number of users ( e . g ., 100 , 1000 , 10000 , 100000 , 1000000 , or more ). each of these users interact with the server system on which the virtual world is hosted . in the illustration , user 2 controls a player p 2 , which is located in block c of the environment , while user 1 controls player p 1 , which is located in a different block d of the environment . other dynamic elements 423 , illustrated as e 3 and e 4 are also present in blocks of the environment . much of the server handling of players and dynamic elements is similar , and for the sake of discussion below , the term “ entity ” is generally used to generically include players and dynamic elements . each player is associated with an area of interest ( aoi ) in the virtual world . for example , such an area of interest can be associated with the region of the environment that is potentially viewable by the player . for example , aoi 420 illustrated in fig4 is associated with player p 1 . information about the entities in the area of interest may be needed to render a graphical representation of the environment from the player &# 39 ; s perspective . note that each user and the server system are preconfigured ( or updated on an ongoing basis using another data distribution mechanism ) with data representing static elements of the environment , and therefore each user only requires information about the dynamic entities in its corresponding aoi in order to render an up - to - date version of the environment . note also that in fig4 , the aoi 420 is represented as a rectangle . other shapes , for example , dependent on characteristics of the virtual environment ( e . g ., presence of vision - obstructing barriers such as walls ) or characteristics of the player may affect the size or shape of the player &# 39 ; s aoi . note also that the aoi for a player can include multiple blocks of the environment . during play of the game , the server system receives information from the client systems related to their respective players . for example , in fig4 , the server system receives information related to player p 2 from client system 2 . this information includes position information that relates to where in the environment the player has moved under the control of user 2 , as well as other information about the state or characteristics of the player , such as whether the player has raised his arm , is running , etc . as the server system receives the information from users about their players , it sends that information back out to other users for whom that information is relevant . for example , in fig4 , the information received from client system 2 related to player p 2 is sent to client system 1 because player p 2 is in the aoi for player p 1 . the server system may also compute changes in dynamic elements 423 as a result of the information from the users , and information that characterize those changes is also sent to the users . for example , in fig4 , information related to dynamic elements e 3 and e 3 are sent to client system 1 because those elements are within the aoi for player p 1 . generally , for each entity in the environment the server system maintains a list of client systems that are to receive information about changes in position or state of the entity . these lists are determined from the regions of interest for the respective users &# 39 ; players . as players and dynamic elements move , the list of client systems for any particular entity changes over time . for example , if a user &# 39 ; s player moves far enough away from an entity such that the entity is no longer in the player &# 39 ; s aoi , the user &# 39 ; s client system no longer needs to receive information about that entity . similarly , if a user &# 39 ; s player approaches an entity such that the entity enters the player &# 39 ; s aoi , the user &# 39 ; s client system should begin to receive information about that entity . the server system communicates with the client systems using the communication approach described above . at each client system , a protocol engine 210 of a type described above provides a communication link to components of the server system typically hosted on multiple different server computers 110 . the protocol engine exchanges messages with a game engine 435 , which maintains data characterizing a portion of the virtual environment , and which interacts with the user 432 by accepting instructions that manipulate the user &# 39 ; s player in the virtual world . the game engine exchanges messages of the format of message 220 shown in fig2 . specifically , the messages include ( chan , ord , eph ) triples that are used to control ordering and ephemerality of inbound and outbound messages . referring to fig5 , multiple server computers 110 that host the server system each maintains information for one or more blocks 410 of the environment . each such server typically maintains multiple blocks . the association of blocks and servers is not necessarily “ geographic ” and the server system supports migration of blocks between servers , for example , for load balancing . in fig5 , server 2 maintains block d , in which player p 1 is found , as well as in which dynamic element e 3 , which is in player p 1 &# 39 ; s aoi , is found . player p 1 &# 39 ; s aoi includes part of block c , which is maintained by server 1 . player p 1 therefore has “ visibility ” to parts of the environment maintained on more than one server . during play , client system 1 receives information related to player p 2 from server 1 and information related to dynamic element e 3 from server 2 . as is discussed further below , if player p 2 were to move to block d ( and server 2 continues to be responsible for maintaining block d ), then server 2 would start to send information related to player p 2 to client system 1 , taking over from server 1 . for each entity in a block , the server maintaining that block has a data structure 520 that includes data encoding the current position and state of that entity . this data structure includes data used to identify and communicate with the client systems that are to received updates for that entity . for each entity in the environment and each such client system , the server system communicates information about that entity to the client system using the communication approach described above . in particular , for each entity , the server system uses multiple channels , include one channel for accumulated data , such as incremental state changes of entities , and one channel for ephemeral data , such as position updates for entities . for a particular entity , the server system keeps consistent channel identifiers for each entity independent of the block within which the entity is found or the server on which that block is maintained . that is , the channel identifiers do not change as entities move between servers . in fig5 , the two channel identifiers for entity e 3 are shown as e 3 : acc 522 for the accumulated data and e 3 : pos for the ephemeral ( positional ) data . the number of channel identifiers used for any particular entity is not necessarily limited to two in alternative versions of the system . the accumulated data channels are used , for example , to send incremental information that is used by the client to track the state of the entity . for example , when an entity enters a player &# 39 ; s aoi , the server begins by sending information to the user &# 39 ; s client system that is sufficient to add that entity to the data for the environment at the user . for example , details of the entities characteristics ( e . g ., type , clothing , etc .) are sent to the client system . this information is sent to the user using the accumulated channel . this data may span many messages , all of which are needed in order by the user in order to properly build and maintain the state of the entity . in terms of the communication approach described above , this information is sent in a series of one or more messages with sequentially increasing ord index values and a constant eph index value . further incremental changes to the state of the entity are sent on using this same channel identifier . for example , when a entity changes state , such as an arm position , incremental information is sent on that channel with further sequentially increasing ord values and constant eph value . for a particular entity at the server ( e . g ., entity e 3 ), different client systems typically have received different histories of the accumulated information , for example , because the entity has been in the corresponding players &# 39 ; aois for different durations . therefore , the data structure 520 includes a table 526 in which each record 528 identified one user and a corresponding ( ord , eph ) pair of the current message being sent to the user on the accumulated channel for that client system . note that different client systems not only in general have different current ord values , they also have different current eph values . when the entity enters a aoi for a particular user , the server system assigns an eph value to the accumulated communication session to be used with that client system . when the entity later leaves the aoi for that user , the client system is removed from the table 526 . if the entity later re - enters the aoi for that user , the server system begins by starting a new session with ord = 1 and a new eph index value that is greater ( taking into account wrapping of the finite - precision value ) than the old value used before the entity previously left the aoi . in this way , if any of the old messages from before the entity left the aoi are delivered after the new messages sent after the entity re - entered the aoi , the old messages will be discarded . this situation could happen , for example , if an entity exits and the very soon thereafter re - enters the aoi . in order to assign the eph values as the entity enters the aoi of different users , a global eph value 532 for the entity is used and incremented whenever a user is added to the table 526 . as an example , when server 2 is to send an update of the state of entity e 3 to client system 1 , it consults the data structure 520 associated with e 3 , and locates the record 528 for that client system . it construct a message with the ( chan , ord , eph ) header 540 using the chan identifier 522 for the accumulated channel and the ( ord , eph ) pair from the client system &# 39 ; s record 528 , and then increments the ord value in that record . ephemeral data uses a common eph index value 532 for all client systems . for example , when a position update is to be sent to all the client systems in the table 526 , the current eph index 532 is used with ord = 1 for all the messages , and then the eph index value is incremented . when an entity moves from one block to another , and the new block is on another server , the data structure 520 for that entity is passed to the new server . in this way , the communication sessions with client systems are continued using the next ord and / or eph values that would have been used had the entity remained in the previous block . from the point of view of the game engine 435 of the client system 430 , the specific server sending the messages for that entity is not significant and the updating of the entity information continues as if the entity had not changed servers . for example , when the entity changes servers , the communication session coordinated using the ord and eph indices persists . more specifically , the communication is handled by a different datagram service 214 ( see fig2 ) in the protocol engine 210 when the entity migrates to a different server , but the accumulation service 212 ( see fig2 ) continues to handle the communication without interruption . an entire block of the virtual environment can also migrate from server to server . when such a migration occurs , the data structures for all the entities in that block are passed to the new server . referring to fig6 an example of communication of information relates to an entity ( e . g ., player p 2 ) that is initially at server 1 and then migrates to server 2 . in the figure messages are labeled with two channel identifiers , “ pos ” being the ephemeral channel and “ acc ” being the accumulated channel for that entity . a label ( pos , 1 , 5 ), for example , corresponds to ( ord , eph )=( 1 , 5 ) on the ephemeral channel . fig6 illustrates messages for two different channel identifiers . initially , the accumulated channel uses eph = 17 and is currently at ord = 3 , while the ephemeral ( position ) channel is at eph = 5 . the first message illustrated in the figure is a position update message ( pos , 1 , 5 ) sent from server 1 to client 1 . this message is lost in transit ( retransmission is not illustrated in the figure ). the next messages ( pos , 1 , 6 ) and ( pos , 1 , 7 ) are both sent and reach the client , but ( pos , 1 , 7 ) arrives first . this message is delivered and used by the client to update the position of the entity . when the ( pos , 1 , 6 ) message arrives , it is discarded because it is older than the ( pos , 1 , 7 ) message . next a state update message ( acc , 3 , 17 ) is sent . this message is delayed relative to a later sent ( acc , 4 , 17 ) message . when the ( acc , 4 , 17 ) message arrives at the client , the ( acc , 3 , 17 ) and then the ( acc , 4 , 17 ) messages are used by the user in order to update the state of the entity . a position update message ( pos , 1 , 8 ) message is sent to the client from server 1 . after this update is sent , the entity migrates to server 2 from which a ( pos , 1 , 9 ) message is sent . in this example , this message arrives at the client before the ( pos , 1 , 8 ) message . therefore the ( pos , 1 , 8 ) message is discarded at the client . a state update message ( acc , 5 , 17 ) is sent from server 2 . note that the state information is preserved through the transition between servers , and when the client receives the ( acc , 5 , 17 ) message , it is passed to the user because the previous ( acc , 4 , 17 ) message was already delivered . a next state update message , ( acc , 6 , 17 ) is associated with the entity leaving the aoi for the client . later , the entity re - enters the aoi , and the server assigns a new eph index , eph = 30 . in the illustrated example of fig6 , the first accumulated message after the entity re - entered , ( acc , 1 , 30 ), arrives before the last accumulated message that was sent before the entity left the aoi . however , that earlier sent message has an earlier eph index , eph = 17 , and therefore this message is discarded at the client . not illustrated in fig6 are acknowledgements and retransmissions associated with lost datagrams . the retransmission approach described earlier is implemented such that the server that originally sent a message is responsible for completing the delivery of the message . for example , in fig6 , the relatively late delivery of ( pos , 1 , 8 ) could be due to an initial transmission packets for the message being lost , with the retransmission of the message ( possibly with an empty payload ) possibly occurring even after the entity has migrated to server 2 . communication from the clients to the server similarly make use of the communication approach described above , with one channel identifier being used for accumulated data , and a second identifier being used for ephemeral position data . when a player moves from server to server , the new server informs the client of the new destination to send the packets for that channel . the client migrates the communication with the server system to a new datagram service appropriate to the new server . any messages received from the client at the old server are forwarded within the server system from the old server to the new server in order to continue the protocol without interruption . it is to be understood that the foregoing description is intended to illustrate and not to limit the scope of the invention , which is defined by the scope of the appended claims . other embodiments are within the scope of the following claims .
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the numerous innovative teachings of the present application will be described with particular reference to the presently preferred embodiment . however , it should be understood that this class of embodiments provides only a few examples of the many advantageous uses of the innovative teachings herein . in general , statements made in the specification of the present application do not necessarily delimit any of the various claimed inventions . moreover , some statements may apply to some inventive features but not to others . the presently preferred embodiment provides for the redirection of data through the generic system bus to any number of new optimized buses . the present invention identifies data types based on their source and destination addresses . the computing system , having a series of programmed traps , then diverts the data to the optimized bus for that type of data . in one embodiment , latency sensitive real time data is introduced to the system via the generic pci bus . a real time hub identifies the data as being latency sensitive , and a redirection mechanism identifies the data within the address range specified by the system as real time data , and the data is redirected and transferred via the real time link . data which is not identified as real time data is allowed to transfer by the generic pci system bus if it is not trapped by another specific redirection mechanism . in this manner , multiple optimized buses can be introduced to a computer system without changing the peripheral hardware . data transfers can be efficiently implemented without modifying the industry standards . peripherals will still be capable of introducing data in a manner common to other peripherals via the generic system bus . a “ bridge ” device is provided to connect a first bus to a second bus thereby allowing devices on different buses to talk with devices on the other bus . a device capable of taking control of the bus and arbitrate between requests performs ‘ bus mastering ’ which eliminates the need for the processor to coordinate the entire data transfer between devices . the presently preferred embodiment provides a diversion mechanism for diverting data from a conventional pci bus to the audio or video devices for which the data is intended . conventional personal computing systems generally utilize a memory mapped input / output configuration where data is passed from a generic multipurpose system bus ( i . e ., the pci bus ) to the cpu of the computing system . the cpu then passes the data to the appropriate device . for example , in video teleconferencing applications in conventional computing systems , the incoming video and audio data is placed in the pci bus and initially processed by the cpu to determine the appropriate hardware device to pass the data . the cpu then transfers the data to the device , such as the frame buffer , again over the pci bus . the bandwidth of the video data generally consumes a substantial portion of the bandwidth of the pci bus during each of these transfers . in accordance with the preferred embodiment , the diversion mechanism identifies data intended for video or audio applications and transfers the data to the appropriate device over a direct link to the device . in this manner , the number of high - bandwidth data transfers on the pci is reduced so that the bus can be utilized by other devices in the computing system . further , cpu processing load is decreased since it no longer is required to handle the transfer of the data from memory to the pci bus . fig1 illustrates one embodiment of the diversion mechanism 20 of the present invention in conjunction with the pci bus 22 and the . card bus 24 . the configuration shown in fig1 is a parallel configuration where the diversion mechanism 20 is connected in parallel to the pci bus 22 . the diversion mechanism 20 provides data to the appropriate device over a real - time link 26 . the diversion mechanism 20 intercepts data intended for the pci bus from the peripherals connected to the card bus 24 . as will be discussed below , the diversion mechanism determines which data to intercept based on the address associated with the data . the diversion mechanism then processes the data , and transfers the data to the appropriate device . conversely , data returned from a device within the computing system is converted and passed by the diversion mechanism 20 to the peripheral . fig2 illustrates one embodiment of the diversion mechanism of the present invention . a slave data interface 30 , a master interface 32 , translators 34 , 36 , 38 , and 40 , and control registers 42 are provided . control registers 42 are provided for tracking any state variables or values required by the diversion mechanism 20 to perform its operations . the pci bus generally supports full bus mastering . the slave interface 30 determines whether data from the card bus controller ( fig1 ) will be passed to the devices through the real time bus . the slave interface makes this determination by decoding the destination address associated with the data from the card bus . if the decoded destination address corresponds to a device accessible over the real time bus , and the data operation is a write transfer operation , then the slave interface initiates the data transfer process . conversely , the mater interface 32 passes data from the real time bus to the card bus . in burst mode , the pci bus transfers information by providing an initial address corresponding to multiple sets of data which will be transferred in a row . the translators 34 , 36 , 38 , and 40 all provide translations of data between the real time bus and the card bus . specifically , translator 34 converts addressed data from the card bus to raster data intended for the real time bus . translator 36 converts addressed data from the real time bus to addressed data intended for the card bus . translator 38 converts addressed data from the card bus to addressed data intended for the real time bus . translator 40 converts raster data from the real time bus to addressed data intended for the card bus . fig3 illustrates a conversion mechanism utilized by one embodiment of the diversion mechanism of the present invention to convert card bus data to the real time bus . data from the card bus controller 50 is converted either by conversion engine 52 or conversion engine 54 . conversion engine 52 converts addressed data from the card bus controller 50 to video or raster data to be placed on the real time bus . such conversion involves , for example , conversion of 32 bit addressed data to 16 bit raster data for use in the frame buffer of the video device of the computing system . conversion engine 54 converts addressed data from the card bus controller 50 to addresses data to be placed on the real time bus . such conversion involves , for example , conversion of 32 bit addressed data from the card bus to 16 bit data for use by a device on the real time bus . according to a disclosed class of innovative embodiments , there is provided a system for transferring data from a first bus to a device coupled to a second bus while bypassing said second bus , the system comprising a bridge device , coupled to said first and said second bus , for translating said data from a first data format associated with said first bus to a second data format associated with said second bus ; and a diversion mechanism monitoring said second bus to determine if said data should be diverted from said second bus to said device over a specialized bus adapted for said device . according to another disclosed class of innovative embodiments , there is provided a method for managing data in a computer system , comprising the steps of receiving data on a system bus ; monitoring at least a portion of said data as it passes over said bus ; if said monitored portion of said data meets a predetermined criteria , then diverting the corresponding data to a second data bus ; wherein said second data bus is optimized for the type of data diverted to it . as will be recognized by those skilled in the art , the innovative concepts described in the present application can be modified and varied over a tremendous range of applications , and accordingly the scope of patented subject matter is not limited by any of the specific exemplary teachings given , but is only defined by the issued claims .
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a device 1 shown in fig1 supports a transport device according to german patent 43 26 309 c1 as loading and unloading device 2 . of course , instead of this arrangement , it is also possible to use devices with a different flow of operations for loading and unloading a semiconductor processing machine 3 . an adjustable base plate 4 ( fig2 ) which is movable between two planes 5 , 6 located one above the other serves as a receiving element for the loading and unloading device 2 . plane 5 is situated at an ergonomically advantageous height for charging the loading and unloading device 2 , in which a transport container 8 in the form of a smif box can be deposited , as object to be charged , on a plate part 7 serving as interface . in plane 6 , which serves as charging plane , the smif pod is opened automatically and a magazine 9 is moved to a transfer height 11 by an elevator 10 . a gripper 12 grasps the magazine 9 and transports it into the semiconductor processing machine 3 by means of a linear movement . the magazine 9 is removed from the semiconductor processing machine 3 in a corresponding manner by the reverse sequence of steps . a closing element 13 which is coupled with the housing opens and closes the semiconductor processing machine 3 . in so doing , it is ensured that the air flow inside the semiconductor processing machine 3 remains unperturbed and access for charging or taking out the magazine 9 is guaranteed . depending on the air flow in the semiconductor processing machine 3 , an air flow generated by a filter - ventilator unit 14 can act in the direction of the semiconductor processing machine 3 or can reinforce an air flow directed out of the semiconductor processing machine 3 . the device 1 can be coupled with the semiconductor processing machine 3 by detachable coupling elements 15 or coupling can be effected in a solution corresponding to fig1 to 13 . according to fig2 the adjustable base plate 4 which is screwed to a fastening plate 41 is attached to a vertically movable lift 16 which is driven by an electric stepper motor 17 for traveling between two planes 5 , 6 situated one above the other . the rotational movement of the stepper motor 17 is transmitted via a toothed belt , not shown , to a threaded spindle 18 and is transformed into a linear movement . in the event of power outage or emergency shutdown , a voltage - independent motor brake directly connected with the stepper motor 17 acts via an emergency cutoff switch , not shown , to ensure active safety . in addition , two pneumatic springs 19 , one of which is visible in the drawing , compensate for the mass of the structural component parts moved in the vertical direction . a safety hoop 20 constructed according to german patent application 44 21 828 . 1 forms another measure for increasing safety , in particular for preventing injury to operators . an object present between the elevator 16 and the safety hoop 20 , owing to the force acting on the safety hoop 20 , causes a break in an otherwise closed circuit and consequently causes the stepper motor 17 to be switched off immediately . the lift remains in the position occupied at that instant and is held by the action of the pneumatic springs 19 . the device 1 is enclosed by a casing 21 forming a container system which also receives , among others , the control electronics which are not shown here . with the aid of rollers 22 , the entire device can be transported easily , a prerequisite for fast coupling to and uncoupling from the semiconductor processing machine . the device is set down on adjustable feet 23 , or a solution according to fig1 can be used . in the enclosed state shown in fig3 in which the plate part 7 is located in the plane 6 serving as charging plane , the entire device is enclosed so as to ensure clean room conditions in the interior . as will be seen from fig4 the enclosure is formed by a stationary outer part , housing 24 , and an inner part , housing 25 , which encloses the receiving element and the loading and unloading device 2 and can be moved out in a telescoping manner in order to charge the semiconductor processing machine 3 . this housing design ensures the required clean room conditions during charging or in retrofitting the semiconductor processing machine with smif technology . the range of movement of the device 1 can be expanded by means of a solution according to fig5 and 6 in which other processing locations located adjacent to one another can be serviced in addition to planes 5 , 6 which are located one above the other . instead of the adjustable base plate 4 for receiving the loading and unloading device 2 , a unit 26 capable of executing a linear movement in the horizontal direction is arranged on the fastening plate 41 shown in fig2 . the adjustable base plate 4 is fastened to this unit 26 by means of corresponding mechanical fastening elements ( not shown ). the unit 26 is formed by a u - shaped base body for holding a stepper motor 27 with spindle drive , not shown , and a guide coupled thereto . the stepper motor 27 is monitored for each step via an encoder and is monitored in both end positions by electronic end position couplers . the loading and unloading device 2 to be placed on , which is held by fastening elements 28 , is connected with the electronic control unit by a trailing cable 29 . the loading and unloading device 2 can be changed quickly in a mechanical construction of the adjustable base plate 4 with a place - finding or relocating device 30 . in the view shown in fig6 the construction according to fig5 is enclosed by housings 31 , 32 , corresponding in principle to the enclosure shown in fig4 . the housing 32 is moved relative to housing 31 in a telescoping manner for adjusting height . a movable closing element 33 , e . g ., a door , sliding flap or roll - type shutter , ensures that the inner clean room of the loading and unloading device 2 also remains closed during lateral movement . further , the solution according to the invention makes it possible , by means of vertical adjustment of the receiving plate 4 , to move toward other planes in addition to planes 5 , 6 which , as shown in fig1 are located one above the other . fig7 shows an example in which the semiconductor processing machine 3 can be charged in an additional plane 34 . the magazine 9 can be transported into the semiconductor processing machine 3 from plane 6 to transfer height 11 and from plane 34 to another transfer height 35 . moreover , with the loading and unloading device 2 it is possible to deposit the magazine 9 in various positions 36 , 37 proceeding from planes 6 and 34 or in other positions when using devices with an operating flow other than that corresponding to the transport device according to german patent 43 26 309 c1 . the enclosure for the loading and unloading devices 2 is described in more detail with reference to fig8 to 11 . these loading and unloading devices 2 have a filter - blower / ventilator unit 14 integrated in their rear wall remote of the semiconductor processing machine 3 and , as was already mentioned , can be adjusted vertically and / or displaced transversely to the semiconductor processing machine 3 , these loading and unloading devices 2 being mechanically connected in a stationary manner via an adjustable base plate 4 . as is already known from fig4 the enclosure shown in fig8 has the stationary housing 24 in which the vertically adjustable housing 25 of the loading and unloading device is integrated . the housing 25 is preferably formed by four plastic plates which are anti - static and thus conform to clean room requirements , these plates being mounted in a stationary manner at two side walls and at the upper and lower sides of the loading and unloading device 2 . an enclosure of this kind is suitable for single - tier charging of semiconductor processing machines with self - closing charging opening . the two housings 24 , 25 are completely open at their front side facing the semiconductor processing machine 3 . due to the relocating device which will be described more fully with reference to the drawings , the distance between all adjacent wall parts vertical to the semiconductor processing machine 3 is to be produced in such a way that mechanical contact is ruled out during vertical displacement but clean room conditions remain intact . the two housings have bore holes 38 , 39 in their rear walls to ensure the suction process or ventilation process also when the vertically displaceable housing 25 penetrates into the stationary housing 24 . the housing 25 is closed at the bottom by a bottom plate 40 having holes 41 for the purpose of reducing a vertical flow with a throttling action / nozzle action along the front side of the semiconductor processing machine 3 when the vertically displaceable housing 25 penetrates into or is moved out of the stationary housing 24 and so as to ensure overpressure or a pressure difference in the mini - clean room relative to the outside atmosphere or semiconductor processing machine 3 . further , means , not shown , are provided for automatically switching off or switching on the filter - blower / ventilator unit 14 during movement into or out of plane 5 in which the loading and unloading device 2 is charged with a smif box . according to fig9 a shield 43 which extends parallel to the front wall of the semiconductor processing machine 3 and closes the charging opening 42 during movement of the loading and unloading device 2 in plane 5 is provided in addition for single - tier charging of semiconductor processing machines 3 which do not have a closure for a charging opening 42 . in addition to the solution according to fig9 two shields 45 extending parallel to the front wall of the semiconductor processing machine 3 are connected with the housing 25 in a stationary manner in fig1 for two - tier charging of semiconductor processing machines not having a closure for a charging opening 44 . the construction serves for charging parallel to the front wall of the semiconductor processing machine 3 in two different planes located one above the other as shown in fig7 . the shields 45 are so constructed that the part of the opening 44 of the semiconductor processing machine not charged is always closed . finally , for single - tier charging in two or more adjacent loading or unloading stations in a semiconductor processing machine 3 not having any closure for a charging opening 46 , a shield 47 , according to fig1 , is fastened in a stationary manner to housing 25 and parallel to the front wall of the semiconductor processing machine 3 . during movement of the loading and unloading device 2 in plane 5 , this shield 47 always closes the portion of the charging opening 46 not being charged . instead of the shield connected with the loading and unloading device 2 in a stationary manner for closing the charging openings , movable covers such as roller shutters corresponding to clean room requirements can also be used . solutions providing sliding doors in the semiconductor processing machine which are coupled with the movement of the loading and unloading device can also be used . according to fig1 , a flat bottom plate 48 which holds the device 1 with loading and unloading device 2 , serves as a coupling member and is adjusted relative to the semiconductor processing machine 3 is connected by screws to the floor in front of the semiconductor processing machine 3 . elements suitable for relocating the aligned position for the device in a reproducible , positive - locking manner are located in the bottom plate 48 . the device 1 can be advanced or withdrawn together with the loading and unloading device 2 in the tilted state on rollers 49 in the manner of a hand truck . according to fig1 , semispherical - cap supporting screws 51 are adjustable in the vertical direction for coupling in a base frame 50 in the region of the base of the device 1 . these semispherical - cap supporting screws 51 are placed in the elements located in the bottom plate 48 , namely , the cone 52 , prism 53 and plane 54 , for a positive locking orientation in conformity to coordinates . the bottom plate 48 is screwed to the floor via screws 55 in conformity to coordinates with respect to the semiconductor processing machine 3 . the front edge 56 of the bottom plate 48 is constructed in such a way that it serves as a pre - orientation ( estimate ) for running up the rollers 49 and the device is lowered proceeding from this location after it has been moved up in the manner of a hand truck . the supporting screws 51 locate the shaped elements 52 , 53 and 54 of the bottom plate 48 automatically . the static stability of the device 1 is preferably achieved by means of an adjustable permanent magnet 57 which is fastened to the base frame 50 cardanically or by gimbals . in the operating position of the device 1 , the permanent magnet 57 is switched to maximum holding power externally via an adjusting lever 58 . in this way , a frictional engagement with the bottom plate 48 is ensured along with high stability . depending on the dimensions of the semiconductor wafer used , the adapters shown in fig1 to 17 are suitable for attachment to the plate part 7 and to directly receive a magazine 9 as object to be charged . according to fig1 and 15 , a contact rail 61 for 4 &# 34 ;- magazines and a contact rail 62 for 6 &# 34 ;- magazines are located on a base plate 59 adjacent to a guide rail 60 , this base plate 7 corresponding to the dimensions of the plate part 7 in length , width and height . an angle 63 which is arranged below the base plate 59 and supported via an articulation 64 at one side and by a spring 65 is actuated by lateral magazine walls 66 or 67 of deposited magazines via a lowerable element 68 which is guided through the base plate 59 . magazine wall 66 is associated with a magazine of smaller dimensions ( 4 &# 34 ;) and magazine wall 67 is associated with a magazine of larger dimensions ( 6 &# 34 ;). in both magazines , the magazine walls 66 , 67 are connected , according to the semi standard , by connecting crosspieces 69 , 70 , a so - called h - bar . the connection crosspieces 69 , 70 are the elements of the magazine serving to fasten it to the base plate 59 . sensors 72 which can also be constructed as switches are actuated in the plate part 7 via an anvil 71 by actuating the angle 63 . among other functions , the sensors 72 serve to signal the attached state . the arrangement of such sensors is shown , for instance , in german patent 43 26 308 c1 , in which they have the additional function of initiating supply and discharge of gas . the spring 65 prevents actuation of the sensors 72 in the plate part 7 in the unloaded state . the spring 65 is so dimensioned that a full or empty magazine reliably actuates the sensors 72 . two support surfaces 68 must be actuated at the same time for reliable detection of the deposited state . a construction of the adapter according to fig1 and 17 is provided for magazines having still greater dimensions ( 8 &# 34 ;). a guide rail 74 and a contact rail 75 are arranged on a base plate 73 . at the same time , lowerable elements 78 which are guided through a base plate 73 are actuated at the same time by the side walls 76 of a magazine deposited between the guide rail 74 and the contact rail 75 with its crosspiece 77 connecting the side walls 76 . as in fig1 , the magazine is not shown in its entirety for the sake of simplicity . the support surfaces 78 are connected with a movable strip 80 via crosspieces 79 so that actuating pins 81 which are fastened in a springing manner at the strip 80 can press the sensors provided in the plate part 7 . while the foregoing description and drawings represent the preferred embodiments of the present invention , it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the true spirit and scope of the present invention .
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referring now to fig1 , there is illustrated a conventional fuel nozzle assembly generally designated 10 for a gas turbine . generally , the fuel nozzle assembly includes a subassembly 11 and a surrounding air inlet conditioner 13 . subassembly 11 includes a central tube 12 and a pair of concentric tubes 14 and 16 defining discrete annular fuel passages 18 and 20 respectively between tubes 12 and 14 and tubes 14 and 16 . the central tube 12 supplies diffusion gas to the combustion zone downstream , not shown , of the fuel nozzle assembly 10 . arranged about the outer tube 16 and forming part of subassembly 11 , there are provided a plurality of vanes 22 circumferentially spaced one from the other . the vanes 22 include outer premix holes 24 supplied with gaseous fuel from the passage 20 and a plurality of inner premix gas supply holes 26 supplied with gaseous fuel from passage 18 . as best seen in fig2 and 3 , each vane 22 has a pair of outer and inner plenums 28 and 29 , respectively , confined between opposite side walls 30 and 31 of the vane . it will be appreciated that the holes 24 and 26 lie in communication with the outer and inner plenums 28 , 29 , respectively . as illustrated in fig2 , the conventional outer premix gas supply holes 24 include a pair of radially spaced holes 32 through one wall 30 of the vane 22 and a single hole 34 through the opposite side wall 31 of the vane . downstream portions 36 of the vanes are twisted to impart a swirl to the flow of premixed air and gaseous fuel flowing between the subassembly 11 and the inlet flow conditioner 13 , the gaseous fuel being supplied to the air stream via the outer and inner premix fuel holes 24 and 26 , respectively . as noted previously , it is sometimes necessary to retune the nozzle injector assemblies because of dynamic concerns . to accomplish the foregoing , and particularly to provide resized fuel supply holes in the vanes , for example to provide smaller diameter holes in lieu of the existing gas supply holes 32 and 34 in the side walls 30 and 31 , respectively , of the vanes , the inlet flow conditioner 13 which surrounds the vanes and other portions of the nozzle subassembly is removed . the inlet flow conditioner is preferably cut into two semi - circular pieces and discarded . by removing the inlet flow conditioner 13 , the outer premix holes 24 in the vanes 22 are exposed . the exposed outer premix holes are initially enlarged by an electro - discharge machining process to form a pair of holes through each of side walls 30 and 31 . for example a pair of holes 38 and 40 are formed through side walls 30 of each vane and a pair of holes 42 and 44 are formed through side walls 31 of each vane . using electro - machining processes enables the aligned holes 38 , 42 to be formed in one pass . similarly , the aligned holes 40 , 44 may form in one pass . consequently , the existing pair of holes 32 on one vane wall 30 are enlarged by electro - discharge machining and the existing single hole 34 in the opposite vane wall 31 is likewise enlarged . the second hole 42 in the opposite wall 31 of the vane 22 is formed by passing the electro - discharge machining tool through the hole 38 in the first wall in the aforementioned single pass . in this manner , a pair of holes in each wall is formed in alignment with a pair of holes in the opposite wall , and the holes 38 , 40 , 42 and 44 are larger than the existing holes 32 and 34 . the holes 38 , 40 , 42 and 44 thus formed are then reamed preferably by hand using a carbide reamer and reaming guide to meet the required diameter for installation of plugs . thus , the four enlarged holes in each vane , there being 10 vanes in the illustrated preferred embodiment , are each hand reamed to provide a slightly larger diameter hole . the hole diameters are preferably identical . after reaming the holes to remove burrs and cleaning the holes , for example , with acetone , the holes are degreased , e . g ., in a solution of metal medic 7705 or equivalent , for approximately 30 minutes at 160 ° f . the vanes are rinsed , for example , by submergence in a warm water bath for about 10 minutes , air - dried , preferably using compressed air to remove the water from the holes an then oven - dried , for example , at temperatures between 1850 ° f .- 1875 ° f . for approximately 30 to 60 minutes . after cleaning the holes with acetone , the holes are ready to receive plugs . the plugs 50 , 52 , 54 , 56 are secured preferably by brazing , to the walls of the vanes . thus , after cleaning the plugs with acetone , each plug is installed into a reamed hole to lie flush with the vane surface . a small bead of brazed alloy paste is applied around the braze plugs . to complete the brazing process , the nozzle assembly is placed in a furnace which is then evacuated , e . g ., to a vacuum of 5 × 10 − 4 torr or better . to braze the plugs to the vane walls , the furnace is ramped up to about 1675 ° f .- 1725 ° f . at a rate of approximately 30 ° f . per minute and held for 25 to 35 minutes . the temperature is then increased to a range of 1825 ° f .- 1875 ° f . and held for 10 to 15 minutes . preferably , when the temperature exceeds 1700 ° f ., 100 - 300 microns of argon are added . the assemblies are then fast - cooled with the argon within the furnace to 175 ° f . or below and removed from the furnace . the nozzle assemblies may then be tested for leaks . for example , a pressure test fixture , not shown , may be applied to the nozzle assembly to apply approximately 50 pounds per square inch of pressure which is held for five minutes . water is then applied to the braze joints , or the assembly is immersed in a water tank , to check for bubbles which would indicate leaks . assuming the absence of leaks , the nozzle assemblies are dried and the plugs are rebrazed . for example , the assemblies are again disposed in a furnace which is then evacuated to a vacuum of about 5 × 10 − 4 torr or better . to complete the furnace brazing , the furnace is ramped up to a temperature of between 1675 ° f .- 1725 ° f . at a rate of 30 ° f . per minute and held for 25 to 35 minutes . the temperature is then increased to a range between 1825 ° f .- 1875 ° f . and held for 10 to 15 minutes . as the temperature exceeds 1700 ° f ., 100 - 300 microns of argon are added and the nozzle assemblies are fast - cooled with the argon to about 175 ° f . or below . upon removal of the assemblies from the furnace , the assemblies are leak tested are once again similarly as above noted . the assemblies are then tempered . for example , the assemblies are again placed in a furnace , and the furnace is evacuated to a vacuum of 5 × 10 − 4 torr or better . the assemblies are heated to approximately 1050 ° f .- 1125 ° f . for about four hours . the assemblies are then cooled in the furnace to below 200 ° f . before removing from the furnace . finally , holes are now formed in the walls of the vanes , particularly through the brazed plugs . it will be appreciated that the new holes formed through the plugs may be larger in area e . g . diameter relative to the existing holes 32 and 34 . typically , however , the new holes are provided with a smaller area e . g . a smaller diameter , relative to the existing holes 32 and 34 . preferably , using electro - discharge machining methods are used to form holes through plugs 52 , 54 , 56 and 58 of a smaller size , e . g ., a smaller diameter than the original existing size , e . g ., diameters , of the holes . thus , holes 60 , 62 and 64 are formed through respective plugs 52 , 54 and 56 . note particularly that a smaller sized diameter hole is not formed through plug 58 . accordingly , holes 60 , 62 are formed through plugs 52 , 54 , respectively in side wall 30 while hole 64 is formed through plug 56 in side wall 31 . the brazed plug 58 seals the previously formed opening 44 formed by the edm process in side wall 31 . also note that the openings through the one side wall 30 are angled preferably about 5 ° relative to a tangent through the openings . the opening 64 through the opposite side wall 31 lies on the tangent and is not angled . following the formation of the smaller diameter holes by the edm process , the assemblies are degreased , rinsed , air - dried and dried in an oven similarly as previously described . the old but preferably a new inlet flow conditioner 13 is then cleaned and weld prepped for attachment to the returned fuel nozzle assembly . for example , the two halves of the new inlet flow conditioner are welded along a horizontal line of symmetry as well as circumferentially . typical welding procedures are followed including inspection and fluorescent penetration inspection . while the invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiment , it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the disclosed embodiment , but on the contrary , is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims .
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in the following detailed description , a plurality of specific details , such as numbers of charge pump stages and input and output voltages , are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments described herein . the details discussed in connection with the preferred embodiments should not be understood to limit the present invention . furthermore , for ease of understanding , certain method steps are delineated as separate steps ; however , these steps should not be construed as necessarily distinct nor order dependent in their performance . a single stage 100 of a charge pump according to one embodiment is illustrated in fig1 . the stage 100 includes two mosfets , m 1 and m 2 . each of the transistors m 1 , m 2 have four terminals , commonly identified as gate 110 , source 120 , drain 140 , and body 130 . the body of the transistors m 1 , m 2 is of opposite type to both that of the source 120 and drain 140 materials , which are usually implanted , as well as opposite in type to that of the field - induced channel . the gate 110 of each transistor m 1 , m 2 is isolated from the induced surface charge layer and the body 130 by a thin - layer insulator , typically an oxide , that forms a ‘ mos ’ ( metal - oxide - semiconductor ) capacitative junction on the order of 1 - 2 ff per μm 2 . charge may be accumulated on the opposite sides of the insulating oxide layer of the mos sandwich . the input signal is connected across two terminals , also called input nodes , as represented by fig1 . one of these nodes is designated as ground and the other is designated as the source signal node vs . the source is an alternating polarity signal , so the source node vs will alternate between two levels that are nominally equal and opposite in polarity about the ground ( or neutral ) node at a frequency peculiar to the origin of the source . the body 130 a of the first nmos transistor , m 1 , is connected to ground . its drain 140 a and source 120 a are connected together . its gate 130 a is connected to the input signal node vs . the transistor m 1 , by virtue of the intrinsic diode - capacitance junction , captures charge on the accumulation surface layer at the semiconductor - oxide interface . the charge accumulates as result of applied potential and the intrinsic mos gate - to - body capacitance . the potential across the mos capacitance will be switched in polarity by the alternating potential of the signal from the source vs and force the charge to flow from the accumulation layer and onto the drain and source nodes 140 a , 120 a . this mos capacitance is therefore called the “ pumping ” transfer capacitance , which may be more correctly defined as a “ pumping transcapacitance ” since it is a mos transistor used in a capacitive charge - transfer mode rather than a trans - resistance ( transistor ) mode . the body terminal 130 b of the second nmos transistor , m 2 , is connected to the joined drain and source nodes 140 a , 120 a of the first nmos transistor m 1 . the drain and source terminals 140 b , 120 b of transistor m 2 are connected together . the gate terminal 110 b is connected to ground . the body of transistor m 2 , as well as all others , must be isolated from other transistors by means of an implanted or diffused well or by other means . the topology of the transistor m 2 reacts to the “ pumping action ” of the first nmos transistor m 1 . as result of the intrinsic diode - capacitance junction of the nmos device , the diode action of both transistors m 1 , m 2 prevents the charge from flowing backwards , and the mos capacitance of the transistor m 2 therefore accumulates the charge that is pumped by transistor m 1 . the nmos device and intrinsic gate - body capacitance of transistor m 2 is therefore called the “ accumulation transcapacitance .” as discussed above , fig1 illustrates a single stage 100 of a charge pump . a four stage charge pump is illustrated in fig2 . the two transistors m 1 and m 2 of fig1 comprise what will be defined as the first stage 100 of the charge pump , with output node being that of the joined drain and source nodes 140 b , 120 b of transistor m 2 . the body terminal 130 c of the next transistor in the sequence , m 3 ( the first transistor of the second stage 200 ), is connected to the output drain and source terminals 140 b , 120 b of transistor m 2 of the first stage 100 . the gate terminal 110 c of transistor m 3 is connected to the input signal node vs . the drain and source terminals 140 c , 120 c of transistor m 3 are connected together , and form a next - stage “ pumping transcapacitance ” in the same manner as that of the capacitor m 1 of the first stage 100 . the body terminal 130 d of the next transistor ( m 4 ) in the second stage is connected to the joined drain and source terminals 140 c , 120 c of transistor m 3 . the drain and source terminals 140 d , 120 d of m 4 are connected together . the gate terminal 110 d of transistor m 4 is connected to ground . the intrinsic diode - capacitance action of the nmos device m 4 forms the second - stage “ accumulation transcapacitance .” the two transistors m 3 and m 4 thereby comprise what can be defined as the second stage of the charge pump , with output at the joined drain and source nodes 140 d , 120 d of transistor m 4 . connection of the transistors in successive stages 300 , 400 ( and as many additional stages as desired ) is continued in the same manner , with joined drain and source nodes of each transistor in the sequence connected to the body of the next transistor , and gates alternately connected to ground and input signal , as shown in fig2 . this results in the formation of a sequence , or plurality , of stages , connected as described above , with exception only of the first transistor , as represented by m 1 and the last transistor , as represented by m 8 . the first transistor is connected as described above . the joined drain and source nodes of the last transistor m 8 are directed to a load capacitance cl . because the stages are successive and sequential , the potential from one stage adds to the next stage . fig2 is a construct that represents four stages , made up of transistors m 1 , m 2 , m 3 , m 4 , m 5 , m 6 , m 7 , and m 8 , respectively . transistors m 1 , m 3 , m 5 and m 7 are the “ pumping transcapacitances ,” and transistors m 2 , m 4 , m 6 , and m 8 are the “ accumulation transcapacitances .” ideally , each stage adds a potential of twice the amplitude of the signal . for fig2 , the difference between the output nodes is then ideally eight times the voltage amplitude of the input ac signal . the charge pump topology can have as many stages as desired , to produce an ideal output voltage that is 2 * n higher than the input source amplitude , where n is the number of stages . if the intrinsic diode - capacitance mos transistor junction is not ideal ( which will be the case in a practical circuit ), then the 2 * n amplitude multiplication factor is reduced . gate thresholds must also be exceeded , which also reduces the multiplication factor . but as long as the multiplication factor is greater than unity , the charge is accumulating and usable energy is stored on the capacitance across the output . the output of the charge pump is directed to a storage capacitance placed across the output nodes , such as indicated by capacitance cl in fig2 . this storage capacitance can then serve as a transient power source for an integrated circuit load , which in fig2 is represented by the resistor r 1 in parallel with the capacitance cl . the substrate - to - well capacitance can also be used as a storage capacitance , for which the circuit will then be of the form of a three - dimensional charge accumulation construct . for an nmos charge pump such as that shown in fig2 , the polarity at the output will be positive relative to ground . if the construct were designed in terms of pmos transistors , the output would be negative relative to ground . if both constructs are used , as in a cmos ( complementary mos ) version , the output nodes would then be of opposite polarities and would be taken in push - pull between the outputs . for the cmos version the technology would have to be of triple - well form , otherwise one of the polarities would be shorted out by the substrate . the functionality of the topology has been verified by simulation using state - of - the - art mos models ( level - 49 ) for both nmos and cmos versions , at input signal frequencies as high as 1 . 0 ghz . the performance of the topology is represented by the plot 300 of fig3 , which is a plot of voltage vs . time for a plurality of charge pumps with varying mos transcapacitance areas . fig3 indicates that , for the 4 - stage example shown in fig2 , the output voltage level is at a single polarity and is several times the amplitude of the input source . for the curve 310 representing the largest mos transcapacitance area , the output voltage is approximately 8 . 5 volts for an input voltage of 3 . 0 volts . this is a multiplication factor of 8 . 5 / 2 . 3 ≈ 2 . 8 ( as compared to an ideal multiplication factor of 2 * n = 8 for a four stage charge pump ). although one aspect of inventive charge pump described herein is that collateral capacitances and diodes are not required , the invention should not be understood to preclude the use of other components to enhance or modify the charge pump output . for example , as shown in fig4 , collateral capacitances may be included in the charge pump stages . in the example of fig4 , a capacitance of a size equal to that of the mos capacitance is deployed across each of the mos transcapacitances ( i . e ., across the body and gate terminals of each transistor ). when this construct is extended to a multiple stage topology , such as a four stage charge pump of the form illustrated in fig3 , it results in an enhancement of the voltage output as reflected by fig5 . obviously , numerous other modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in light of the above descriptions . it is therefore to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims , the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described herein .
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fig1 shows a perspective view of an embodiment of a packaging 10 according to the invention . packaging 10 comprises carrier 16 , means 20 for removable attachment of disc 18 to carrier 16 , and foldable or removable portion 12 of carrier 16 in the form of a reply card 12 that is removable from the remainder of carrier 16 , preferably using a frangible connections such as perforations 14 . carrier 16 , which may be a standard sized postcard piece , houses or otherwise supports the optical disc 18 . in the embodiment shown , portion 32 of carrier 16 comprises cut - out 34 , which may be rectangular or of any other shape suitable for accommodating support , viewing , and any other desirable functions with regard to disc 18 , and which may be die cut or provided by any other suitable means consistent with the purposes described herein . in the embodiment shown , cut - out 34 is located substantially in the middle of support portion 32 of carrier 16 and is provided with a translucent covering 30 such as plastic film , or blister packaging , which may be vacu - formed and / or applied to portion 32 and / or other portion ( s ) of carrier 16 using adhesive or other attachment means or device . translucent covering 30 restrains or holds optical disc 18 in place on carrier 16 and is one of many suitable means that may be employed in removably attaching optical disc 18 to carrier 16 . any type of translucent film or other covering 30 consistent with the purposes suggested herein is suitable for use in implementing the invention . for example , translucent films may be provided using ultra - thin polymer sheets of 0 . 02 mm thickness or less . a wide variety of such films and other coverings , including a wide variety of blister packs , are now available commercially ; doubtless others will hereafter be developed . in the embodiment shown in fig1 , foldable reply portion 12 of carrier 16 further comprises indicia 42 printed or otherwise provided thereon . indicia 42 can comprise pre - addressed delivery information suitable for , for example , facilitating early return of reply portion 12 . for example , indicia 42 can comprise suitably - adapted delivery and return address fields , locators for affixing postage , pre - paid postage markings , etc . as shown in fig2 , carrier 16 can comprise a foldable tab 22 , for providing viewing access to or means for removal of optical disc 18 from packaging 10 . tab 22 can for example be provided with frangible means of preventing it from deployment until desired . as will be clear to those skilled in the relevant arts , access to optical disc 18 can be provided in other ways . for example , optical disc 18 may be accessed by ripping a plastic layering or other covering 30 holding such disc in place . while less convenient for the user , this option can in some cases be more economical from the standpoint of production costs . in order to ensure that the weight of packaging 10 is sufficiently low to qualify for postcard mailing rates , carrier 16 can be composed of two layers of light stock paper and one layer of ultra - thin plastic covering ; and reply portion 12 can comprises a single layer of light stock paper . a wide variety of construction variations are suitable for use in implementing the invention , and will occur immediately to those skilled in the relevant arts once they have been made familiar with this disclosure . fig3 - 4 show another embodiment of a packaging 10 according to the invention . in the embodiment shown , packaging 10 comprises a carrier 16 adapted to support optical disc 18 by housing it inside translucent cover 30 in the form of a blister pack or vacu - formed plastic seal . carrier 16 comprises one solid side made of stock paper and one side comprising a blister pack 30 front , preferably made of a plastic or other light , strong , translucent material , which can have substantially the same dimensions as carrier 16 , and therefore cover all or a large portion of one side of carrier 16 . blister pack 30 houses optical disc 18 , and restrains or holds it in place and is one means for removably attaching optical disc 18 to carrier 16 . the back of carrier 16 can comprise a perforation , of any size or shape that allows for safe passage through the post system without snagging or damaging packaging 10 , for access to and / or removal of optical disc 18 . access to optical disc 18 need not be solely through a perforation . for example , optical disc 18 may be accessed by ripping the plastic layering holding such disc in place . while less convenient for the user , this option can be more economical from the standpoint of production costs . fig5 - 9 show another embodiment of a packaging 10 according to the invention . packaging 10 comprises a carrier 16 which houses or otherwise supports an optical disc 18 . carrier 16 comprises one side that may be substantially solid and one side with a rectangular cutout 34 , preferably in the middle , said rectangle housing a plastic layer covering 30 , preferably a vacu - form plastic . as shown in fig8 , such plastic layer comprises an integrally - formed interference - fit retainer in the form of hub 20 . layer 30 holds optical disc 18 in place . as shown in fig9 , when both sides 32 , 12 of carrier 16 are closed or sealed , by any means known in the art , there is a taper or bevel from the edges of postcard piece 16 to the edges of optical disc 18 , such that the front side 32 of packaging 10 has tapered edges . such tapering helps packaging 10 to pass through the post system without being snagged or damaged during handling . the back of carrier 16 can comprise a perforation or tear strip 52 ( see e . g ., fig1 ) or other frangible device of any size , shape , or configuration that allows for safe passage through the post system without snagging or damaging packaging 10 and access to optical disc 18 . optionally , optical disc 18 may be accessed by simply ripping the plastic layering 30 holding optical disc 18 in place . optionally , a reply card 12 may be removably attached , for example as a flap or other folded portion via a perforation , to the back of carrier 16 . packaging 10 according to such embodiments can comprise two layers of light stock paper and one layer of a plastic material . fig1 - 13 show another embodiment of a packaging 10 according to the invention . packaging 10 comprises a standard - sized postcard carrier piece 16 which houses or otherwise supports an optical disc 18 . carrier 16 comprises one side 12 that may be substantially solid and one side 32 with a cutout 34 having a size slightly smaller than optical disc 18 . as shown in fig1 , the at least substantially solid side 32 of carrier 16 comprises attached thereto an interference - fit retaining device such as concave hub 40 . optical disc 18 is held in place , or restrained , on carrier 16 by concave hub 40 . although concave hub 40 is shown as restraining optical disc 18 , other means for removably attaching optical disc 18 to carrier 16 are contemplated , as disclosed , for example , herein , in connection with other embodiments of the invention . the two sides of carrier 16 may adhered or otherwise fastened together using any suitable adhesive or fastener , such as for example , any type of glue , staple , or other fastener consistent with the purposes for which the disc 18 is to be packaged . the back of carrier 16 can comprise a perforation or other frangible device 52 , of any size or shape that allows for safe passage through the post system without snagging or damaging packaging 10 , for access to optical disc 18 . other means of accessing optical disc 18 will be apparent to those of skill in the art . packaging 10 according to this embodiment comprises , in addition to concave hub 40 , two layers of light stock paper . fig1 shows a plan view of an embodiment of a packaging 10 according to the invention , comprising a carrier 16 having a plurality ( at least two ) of tabs 50 and an optional protective layer 52 , 30 , wherein such layer may be made of plastic or any other suitable opaque or translucent material . tabs 50 on carrier 16 may be attached to plastic layer 52 or may be attached directly to carrier 16 . tabs 50 are preferably frangible , and may be made of any suitable material , and preferably are flexibly rigid to allow deformation under adequate force . optionally , tabs 50 may be rigid and substantially inflexible prior to fracture . tabs 50 may be attached at any location ( s ) along a cutout 34 provided in carrier 16 . tabs 50 provide a means of removably attaching optical disc 18 to carrier 16 ; and may be frangible or may restrain optical disc 18 by , for example , folding over a portion of optical disc 18 or by being suitably sized to frictionally engage optical disc 18 or engage it by interference . optical disc 18 may be removed from carrier 16 by , for example , being snapped off from the restraints of tabs 50 . protective layer 52 may be a clear or colored translucent plastic layer that allows a user to see through carrier 16 , or may be opaque . such plastic layer may be a blister pack or it may be vacu - sealed to carrier 16 . alternatively , the packaging shown in fig1 may not have a protective layer 52 . fig1 a shows optical disc 18 removed from packaging 10 and fig1 b shows optical disc 18 secured within packaging 10 and protected by a clear plastic protective layer 52 . in another embodiment of packaging 10 according to the invention , optical disc 18 may be removably attached to carrier 16 by brads or other deformable fasteners that are attached to , or project through , carrier 16 and project through the hub 20 of optical disc 18 to restrain it on carrier 16 . in different embodiments , removable attachment can be provided , for example , by one or more of a brad , hub , vacu - form , blister pack , a pocket , any other attachment means known in the art , or a combination thereof . in embodiments with vacu - form or blister pack , removable attachment can be provided by the breaking of one or more sections of a packaging . fig1 shows an embodiment of a packaging 10 according to the invention , wherein such packaging is particularly suitable to housing an optical or non - optical transaction card such as a loyalty , gift , or redemption card . referring to fig1 a , packaging 10 comprises a carrier 16 having foldably - connected front side 32 and back side 12 , and sealing / opening portion 52 . the front side 32 of carrier 16 comprises concave hub 20 , as described with respect to fig1 , 5 - 9 , for holding optical disc 18 . although concave hub 20 is shown , any other embodiments of means for removably attaching optical disc 18 to carrier 16 may be used separately or in combination , such as for example using brads , tabs , suitable glue , vacu - form , blister pack , or just a plastic window . the foldable connections of this and various other embodiments can be achieved by any means known in the art , such as for example perforations 14 , folds , and / or scored lines in the carrier stock . such connection means may be frangible but preferably are sufficiently rigid to allow for movement while remaining attached . referring to fig1 b , when packaging 10 is fully assembled , third foldable portion 52 may be removably or permanently adhered , attached or otherwise secured to foldable portion 12 , or alternatively to other portion ( s ) of carrier 16 , by any means known in the art , such as via tape , glue or the like , or via mechanical means such as a tab and groove ( not shown ) or magnetic means ( not shown ). other means for closing packaging 10 will be apparent to those of skill in the art . the specific shape and size of third foldable portion 52 allows for many variations to be selected while remaining within the scope of the present invention . referring to fig1 c , packaging 10 may be assembled by folding foldable portion 12 on top of the front side of carrier 16 ( and optical disc 18 housed therein ) as well as attached foldable portion 32 , and then folding foldable portion 52 over the back side of carrier 16 and attaching first foldable portion 12 such that third foldable portion 52 is secured to foldable portion 12 or alternatively to the back side of carrier 16 . the orientation of third portion 52 with respect to the other foldable portions in order to fold or unfold packaging 10 , as well as the sequence in which packaging 10 may be folded , may be varied as will be apparent to those skilled in the art . further referring to fig1 c , when packaging 10 is open , foldable portion 17 may be folded back such that a portion of optical disc 18 is exposed . the exposed portion of disc 18 can be used on a transactional basis . thus , whereas packaging 10 shown in fig1 may be suitable for a variety of uses , it is particularly suitable to house optical disc 18 having a bar code , a magnetic stripe , a smart chip , an rfid , or any other means of storing value or information thereon , such that disc 18 may be used with a compatible device / reader , such as by swiping through a magnetic reader or passed by an rfid reader or ready by other suitable means without any need to remove such disc from packaging 10 . fig1 is a plan view of an embodiment of a postcard - type packaging 10 according to the invention . referring to fig1 a , packaging 10 comprises carrier 16 which comprises foldable portion 17 . preferably , the size of carrier 16 is substantially the same as that of a postcard ( although many other shapes and sizes are within the scope of this invention ) and preferably carrier 16 has postage and address indicia commonly found on post cards . carrier 16 comprises die cut rectangle ( or a rectangle or other opening shaped to accommodate optical disc 18 , whether made by means of a die cut or by any other means known in the art ), which houses optical disc 18 and which is preferably located in the right or left hand side of carrier 16 . optical disc 18 may be secured within such housing by any means known in the art , such as for example , brads , suitable glue , a hub , or tabs , or it may be secured by means of a vacu - form layer or a blister pack . foldable portion 17 is connected to carrier 16 by any means known in the art , such as for example perforations 14 , folds , or scored lines . such connection means may be frangible but preferably are sufficiently rigid to allow for movement while remaining attached . foldable portion 17 comprises a translucent window 19 , 30 having a size and shape suitable to accommodate optical disc 18 , wherein window 19 preferably is slightly larger than the housing located on carrier 16 . optionally and preferably window 19 comprises a protective layer , such as clear or colored plastic or any other suitable material . preferably , such material is transparent so that one may see optical disc 18 through packaging 10 . alternatively , such material may be non - transparent , such as cloth , and may be used as a special touch for marketing or promotional activities . foldable portion 17 preferably is connected adjacent to the side of carrier 16 that is closest to the housing and is appropriately sized to fold over carrier 16 such that window 19 , 30 overlaps at least a portion of the housing and covers at least a portion , but preferably all , of optical disc 18 , for example as shown in fig1 b . foldable portion 17 may comprise means 58 to adhere to carrier 16 , or the means may be a separate member . such means may be via tape , glue or other adhesive , or may be mechanical such as a tab and groove ( not shown ) or magnetic means ( not shown ) or via a vacu - form or blister pack . additionally , such means 58 may perimetrically adhere to reply card 12 , not simply along one edge as shown . in an alternative embodiment , foldable portion 17 may not have a window 19 , 30 and may be made of a non - transparent material , such that optical disc 18 will not be seen once foldable portion 17 is secured to carrier 16 . in an alternative embodiment ( not shown ), foldable portion 17 instead may be made entirely or substantially of transparent material that allows one to see optical disc 18 after foldable portion 17 is secured to carrier 16 . fig1 - 19 are plan views of embodiments of envelope - type packaging according to the invention . each of the embodiments may be of any size , and are preferably the size of optical disc 18 , optical disc 18 preferably being the size of a regular credit card . as with all embodiments disclosed herein , such packaging may be postcard - sized . as will be further described below , with reference to specific figures , packaging envelopes may have a clear portion , optionally made of plastic , that allows optical disc 18 to be visible through the packaging when located therein . as with all embodiments disclosed herein , any of the envelope - type packaging embodiments may further comprise means for removably attaching optical disc 18 , such as concave hub 20 , 40 , an adhesive , brads , suitable glue , vacu - form , or blister packs . as with all embodiments disclosed herein , envelope - type packaging embodiments can be folded , preferably along perforated , scored or otherwise marked lines 14 that ease or guide folding . referring to fig1 a , packaging 10 comprises carrier 16 having a front side and a back side . optical disc 18 is housed on the front side of carrier 16 and may be secured to carrier 16 by any means known in the art , including those disclosed herein . carrier 16 optionally may comprise a protective layer , such as a clear plastic layer , that at least partially , and preferably completely , covers optical disc 18 . packaging 10 further comprises first foldable portions 61 and 62 and second foldable portions 63 and 64 . portion 63 comprises an opening , such as a slot , and portion 64 comprises a tab , both of a size and shape sufficiently compatible to allow closure . preferably , packaging 10 is assembled by folding portions 61 and 62 onto the back side of carrier 16 and then folding portions 63 and 64 over portions 61 and 62 such that the tab of portion 64 is engaged in the slot of portion 63 . it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that other closure mechanisms are within the scope of this invention . fig1 b shows the front view of an embodiment of assembled packaging , with optical disc 18 seen through such packaging . referring to fig1 a , packaging 10 comprises carrier 16 having a front side and a back side . optical disc 18 is housed on the back side of carrier 16 and may be secured to carrier 16 by any means known in the art , including those disclosed herein . carrier 16 optionally may comprise a protective layer , such as a clear plastic layer , that at least partially , and preferably completely , covers optical disc 18 . packaging 10 further comprises foldable portions 71 and 72 and portion 73 . portion 73 comprises a window 19 , 30 having a size and shape suitable to accommodate optical disc 18 . foldable portion 71 comprises an opening means 52 , such as a ripping seam that allows a user to open packaging 10 after it has been closed using an adhesive or other means for closing such packaging . it will be apparent to those of skill in the art that any other securing means known in the art , such as adhesive or mechanical means , are within the scope of this invention . preferably , packaging 10 is assembled by folding the back side of carrier 16 ( together with optical disc 18 housed therein ) onto portion 73 such that optical disc 18 may be lined up with window 19 to be at least partially visible through it . foldable portion 71 may then be folded onto the front side of carrier 16 , and foldable portion 72 may be folded on top of foldable portion 71 . the securing means comprised in foldable portion 72 allow closure of packaging 10 . it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that many possible variations to the folding sequence disclosed herein are within the scope of this invention . fig1 b shows the back view of an embodiment of assembled packaging and fig1 c shows the front view of such packaging with optical disc 18 seen through such packaging . referring to fig1 a , packaging 10 comprises carrier 16 having a front side and a back side . optical disc 18 is housed on the front side of carrier 16 and may be secured to carrier 16 by any means known in the art , including those disclosed herein . carrier 16 optionally may comprise a protective layer , such as a clear plastic layer , that at least partially , and preferably completely , covers optical disc 18 . packaging 10 further comprises foldable portions 81 , 82 , 83 , 84 , 85 , and 86 . foldable portion 82 comprises a front side and a back side and an opening , such as a slot , on the front side thereof and foldable portion 86 comprises a tab , wherein the opening and the tab are of a size and shape sufficiently compatible to allow closure . preferably , packaging 10 is assembled by folding the back side of carrier 16 ( and optical disc 18 housed therein ) onto foldable portion 81 , which is then folded onto foldable portion 82 such that the back side of carrier 16 is at least partially touching the back side of foldable portion 82 . as shown in fig1 b , foldable portions 83 and 84 are then folded over the front side of carrier 16 , foldable portion 85 is folded over foldable portions 83 and 84 , and foldable portion 86 is folded over the front side of foldable portion 82 such that the tab of portion 86 engages in the slot 67 of portion 82 thereby closing packaging 10 as shown in fig1 c . it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that many other folding sequences and closing mechanisms are encompassed within the scope of this invention . in various embodiments packaging 10 according to the invention may be provided with one or more extra foldable portions allowing for additional advertising or marketing or other informational material to be included in package 10 . it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that alternative embodiments of the present invention may comprise a plurality of additional foldable or insertable sections providing for increased potential to include advertising , educational , or other material with or as part of packaging 10 . although the folding sequence may change with each additional foldable or insertable section , such sequences will be apparent to one of skill in the art . fig2 is a perspective view of an embodiment of a packaging according to the invention , wherein the packaging is particularly suitable to charitable causes and other applications . packaging 10 comprises a carrier 16 housing optical disc 18 by any means disclosed herein , a reply card 12 having a front side and a back side , wherein the front side has address and postage indicia 42 such as those found on a return envelope for example . reply card 12 further comprises a flap 91 . reply card 12 may be removably attached to carrier 16 via , for example a perforation 14 such as shown for example in fig1 . packaging 10 further comprises a pocket 90 such as , for example , a concertina flap , wherein pocket 90 may be affixed to the back side of reply card 12 . packaging 10 may be closed by folding flap 91 of reply card 12 over pocket 90 and securing flap 91 by any means known in the art , such as for example a resealable tab , or any adhesive , mechanical or other suitable means . pocket 90 may , as will be apparent to those skilled in the relevant arts , be used for delivery and / or return of objects such as cards 18 , currency , and other documents or items . for example , the packaging shown in fig2 enables a recipient of the packaging to detach carrier 16 , with optical disc 18 therein , insert a donation into pocket 90 , secure flap 91 and send such donation to the addressee named on reply card 12 . such packaging allows an attractive option for soliciting donations , where optical disc 18 may offer interactive materials regarding the charity and its causes . such packaging also offers an easy means for the recipient of a donation request to mail such donation back to the charity . it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that in addition to money or other financial instruments for making a donation , pocket 90 may contain many other materials , such as marketing materials , business cards , additional optical discs , etc , and that packaging illustrated by fig2 may be used for a variety of different uses that are within the scope of this invention . packaging 10 according to the invention can be produced automatically , such as for example on an assembly line . packaging 10 also can be produced by hand and can be a self - mailer , wherein a consumer places an optical disc 18 into packaging 10 and seals such packaging . packaging 10 according to the invention may come in many different sizes , including those of a postcard and is suitable for both optical and non - optical objects , such as for example cards . this scope of this invention encompasses a great variety of means for attaching an optical disc to packaging , including for example , brads , tabs , suitable glue , vacu - form , blister pack , or using a plastic window to cover an optical disc such that the disc moves freely within the window . it will be understood that the specification is illustrative of the present invention and that other embodiments within the spirit and scope of the invention will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art . while the foregoing invention has been described in some detail for purposes of clarity and understanding , it will be appreciated by those skilled in the relevant arts , once they have been made familiar with this disclosure , that various changes in form and detail can be made without departing from the true scope of the invention in the appended claims . the invention is therefore not to be limited to the exact components or details of methodology or construction set forth above . except to the extent necessary or inherent in the processes themselves , no particular order to steps or stages of methods or processes described in this disclosure , including the figures , is intended or implied . in many cases the order of process steps may be varied without changing the purpose , effect , or import of the methods described .
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fig1 shows a data recording camera in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention wherein the data to be recorded is viewable through the viewfinder of the camera . as shown in fig1 the data recording camera of this embodiment is a single lens reflex camera with a focal plane shutter 1 having a viewfinder system comprising a quick return mirror 2 , a focusing plate 3 , a condenser lens 4 , a pentagonal prism 5 and an eyepiece 6 . a film f is supported in the focal plane by a film pressure plate 7 . the data recording means employed in this embodiment comprises a data carrying disc 10 carrying thereon data representing characters such as numerals or letters , a light source 11 for illuminating the data carrying disc 10 , a focusing lens 12 for projecting an image of the data representing characters onto the film f , and a prism 13 functioning as an optical path changing means to reflect the image - wise light from the data representing characters toward the film f . the data carrying disc 10 may be made by attaching a data carrying film on a disc or by directly embossing or printing data on a disc . the light source 11 is surrounded by a light shielding member 14 having an opening 14a facing the data carrying disc 10 so that almost all the light emitted from the light source 11 is directed toward the data carrying disc 10 . the prism 13 is movable up and down between its inoperative position and operative position , as will be described in greater detail hereinafter . in its operative position , the prism 13 is positioned within the optical path of the light from the objective lens ( not shown ) of the camera and reflects the image - wise light from said focusing lens 12 toward the film f so that the image of the data representing characters is focused on the film f , preferably in a marginal portion thereof , to be photographically recorded thereon . in its inoperative position , the prism 13 is retracted from the optical path of the objective lens of the camera . the prism 13 is normally positioned in its inoperative position and is moved to it operative position after the shutter is released . then the prism 13 is returned to its inoperative position when the shutter is charged . specifically in this embodiment , the prism 13 is returned to its inoperative position in response to a shutter charge or film wind - up operation of the camera . the light source 11 is lit to illuminate the data carrying disc 10 to photographically record the image of the data representing characters carried thereon , while the prism 13 is in its operative position . thus , in the data recording camera of this embodiment , the data are recorded on the film f after the shutter 1 is released . accordingly , the exposure time of the film or the light value of the data representing characters for recording the data may be determined relative only to the sensitivity of the film f loaded in the camera without being affected by the shutter speed . in this embodiment , the light source 11 is lit for a length of time determined by the sensitivity of the film f . the data carrying disc 10 carries thereon pairs of identical data representing characters such as numerals 10a and 10b , each pair of which are diametrically opposed to each other . the disc 10 is operable from outside of the camera to selectively position a set of desired characters between the light source 11 and the focusing lens 12 so that the desired data is recorded on the film f . when one set of characters 10a is positioned between the light source 11 and the focusing lens 12 , the corresponding set of characters 10b is automatically positioned between said focusing plate 3 and the condenser lens 4 of the viewfinder system of the camera . accordingly , the same data as those recorded on the film f can be viewed through the viewfinder . although , in the above embodiment , the data carrying means is shown as a single disc for the convenience of illustration , it may consist of a plurality of discs which can be selectively operated so as to provide any desired combination of characters . now , referring to fig2 an example of a mechanism for moving the prism 13 up and down will be described in detail . as shown in fig2 the prism 13 is held by a support 20 and moved up and down together therewith in a plane parallel to the film f . the support 20 has a stud pin 21 slidably engaged with a forked end 23a of a first arm 23 of a three - armed lever 22 . the three - armed lever 22 having three arms 23 , 24 and 25 is rotatable and urged in the clockwise direction by a tension spring 22a . the free end 24a of the second arm 24 is engaged with the first end 26a of a rotatable straight lever 26 to prevent the clockwise rotation of the three - armed lever 22 . the straight lever 26 is urged by a spring 27 in the clockwise direction in a plane perpendicular to the plane in which the three - armed lever 22 rotates . the clockwise rotation of the lever 26 is limited by a stopper pin 27a , and when the lever 26 is engaged with the stopper pin 27a , the first end 26a thereof is caused to engage with the free end 24a of the second arm 24 of the three armed lever 22 . the second end 26b of the straight lever 26 is positioned above a shutter charge gear 28 . the shutter charge gear 28 is rotated in the counterclockwise direction to charge the trailing curtain tc of the focal plane shutter and is rotated in the clockwise direction when the trailing curtain tc runs to close the aperture . the upper surface of the gear 28 is provided with a fixed pin 28a which engages with the second end 26b of the straight lever 26 upon rotation of gear 28 . accordingly , when the trailing curtain tc has run to close the aperture and the gear 28 is rotated in the clockwise direction , the fixed pin 28a pushes the second end of the straight lever 26 to cause the lever 26 to rotate in the counterclockwise direction overcoming the force of the spring 27 . when the lever 26 rotates in the counterclockwise direction , the first end 26a thereof is removed from engagement with the free end 24a of the second arm 24 of the three - armed lever 22 thereby permitting the clockwise rotation of the lever 22 . then the lever 22 rotates in the clockwise direction by means of the force of the spring 22a to move the prism 13 downward together with the support 20 by way of the engagement between the stud pin 21 and the forked end 23a of the lever 22 . thus , the prism 13 is moved downward to its operative position when the trailing curtain tc of the focal plane shutter has run to close the aperture . to the free end 25a of the third arm 25 of the three - armed lever 22 is rotatably connected a slidable lever 29 at one end 29a thereof . the slidable lever 29 is slidably guided by means of a pair of fixed pins 30 received in a pair of elongated openings 31 formed in the lever 29 . on the other end of the lever 29 is a projection 29b which is adapted to be engaged with a bar 32 which is moved leftward in response to the film wind - up movement of a film wind - up lever ( not shown ) in the camera . the slidable lever 29 is pulled rightward when the three - armed lever 22 rotates in the clockwise direction and is held in the right side position until the bar 32 moves leftward upon operation of the film wind - up lever . when the bar 32 moves leftward , the bar 32 pushes the projection 29b of the slidable lever 29 to cause the lever 29 to slide leftward thereby pulling the third arm 25 of the three - armed lever 22 overcoming the force of the spring 22a . accordingly , the lever 22 rotates in the counterclockwise direction and moves the prism 13 upward . simultaneously with the leftward movement of the slidable member 29 , said gear 28 is rotated in the counterclockwise direction to charge the trailing curtain tc . accordingly , the straight lever 26 is permitted to rotate in the clockwise direction by the force of the spring 27 and is brought into engagement with the second arm 24 of the lever 22 again . thus , the prism 13 is moved to its inoperative position when the film is wound up . the light source 11 may be manually energized while the prism 13 is in its operative position or may be automatically energized when the prism 13 is moved to its operative position . in the latter case , it is preferable to provide a switch means to make the data recording means inoperative when the data is not desired to be recorded . another example of a mechanism for moving the prism 13 up and down employing an electromagnetic means is shown in fig3 and 4 . in this example , the prism 13 is held by a support 33 formed of a nonmagnetic material and is moved up and down together therewith . the support 33 is slidably accommodated in the opening 34a formed in an iron core 34 of a solenoid 35 . a coil 35a is wound around the core 34 . the coil 35a is connected to an electric source ( not shown ) through a switching means having a pair of contacts 36a and 36b . the support 33 has an enlarged peripheral flange 33a formed on the upper end thereof . to the lower face of the flange 33a is secured an annular iron ring 33b . the support 33 is urged upward by a pair of springs 37 and its upward movement is limited by means of the engagement between the upper face of the enlarged flange 33a and a stationary stopper member 38 in the camera body . when the coil 35a is not energized , the support 33 is held in its upper position by the force of the springs 37 where the prism 13 is positioned in its inoperative position retracted from the optical path of the objective lens of the camera as shown in fig3 . when the coil 35a is energized by way of the contacts 36a and 36b of the switch means put into contact with each other , the iron ring 33b is attracted to the iron core 34 by an electromagnetic force large enough to overcome the force of the springs 37 to move the support 33 downward thereby moving the prism 13 to its operative position as shown in fig4 . the switch means 36 is closed when the trailing curtain of the focal plane shutter runs as will be described hereinbelow . similarly to fig2 on the upper surface of the shutter charge gear 39 is a fixed pin 39a . the pin 39a pushes an end 40a of a lever 40 which is rotatably supported adjacent to the gear 39 to rotate the lever 40 in the counterclockwise direction , when the gear 39 is rotated in the clockwise direction upon running of the trailing curtain of the focal plane shutter . when the lever 40 is rotated in the counterclockwise direction , the other end 40b thereof pushes the contact 36b of the switch means 36 so that the contacts 36a and 36b are put into contact with each other . thus , the coil 35a is energized and the prism 13 is moved to its operative position . when the gear 39 is rotated in the counterclockwise direction to charge the shutter again , the contact 36b returns to its original position by the resilience thereof to open the switch 36 . thus , the coil 35a is deenergized and the prism 13 is returned to its inoperative position by the force of the springs 37 . in this embodiment , the coil 35a remains energized until the film wind - up lever is wound up . therefore , it is preferable to provide an additional switch means to stop the supply of the electric current to the coil 35a when recording of the data is finished or in response to deenergization of the light source 11 to save the consumption of electric power .
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embodiments of the invention are discussed in detail below . in describing embodiments , specific terminology is employed for the sake of clarity . however , the invention is not intended to be limited to the specific terminology so selected . while specific exemplary embodiments are discussed , it should be understood that this is done for illustration purposes only . a person skilled in the relevant art will recognize that other components and configurations can be used without parting from the spirit and scope of the invention . embodiments of the present invention provide a system and method for the analysis of afm data . an exemplary embodiment of the invention is described below in the analysis of the elasticity of a material . however , the system and method can also be applied in different types of analyses . the method can be performed via a software program , such as a computer readable medium storing program instructions to cause a computer to carry out the various processes . an afm such as that shown in fig1 can be used to gather data used in an elasticity analysis . the afm is operated in an indentation mode . in the indentation mode , a head of the microscope 10 is moved towards and away from the sample in a direction substantially perpendicular to the surface of the sample being measured . the piezoelectric controllers position the afm at a precise location along the x and y - axes . the x and y - axes define the plane of the surface of the sample . once the afm is in the desired position , the piezoelectric controllers then move the cantilever 12 along the z - axis towards the surface of the sample 16 . as the tip 14 on the cantilever 12 is moved toward the surface of the sample 16 , the cantilever 12 deflects in response to various forces on it ., as the cantilever 12 engages the sample , the tip 14 of the cantilever 12 may begin to penetrate the surface of the sample 16 , to a degree that depends on the hardness of the sample . this penetration causes an indentation in the sample . the cantilever continues to moves towards the sample until a selected distance is reached . the cantilever then begins to move away from the sample . as the cantilever moves , the deflection of the cantilever tip and the cantilever position are measured . the afm is then moved to another position in the x , y plane and the process is repeated . the measured data can then be used to determine the depth of the indentation and the elasticity of the sample . for example , assume that the surface of the sample is very hard . in that case , the tip does not penetrate into the sample . once the tip comes into contact with the surface of the material , for every unit the cantilever moves down , the cantilever tip deflects one unit up . however , in a softer sample , the tip indents the surface of the sample and is not deflected upward a distance equal to the downward movement of the cantilever . the difference in the deflection of the cantilever in these two cases can be used to determine the depth of the indentation in the soft sample . this information can be used to determine the elasticity of the sample . a series of measurements is made as the cantilever moves along the z axis with the afm held at the same point on the x and y axes . the measurements include the deflection of the cantilever tip and the force applied to the cantilever as the cantilever is moved downward towards the sample surface and away from the sample surface . these data are then stored in a file , such as a computer readable file stored in a database or other computer readable memory . the data file may include a header which identifies the file and the parameters of the measurement , such as information regarding the afm , the cantilever , voltage range , etc . following the header is the payload . the payload includes the measurements of the deflection of the cantilever tip and the force applied to the cantilever . the payload is typically a list of numbers . the exact format of the data file depends on the afm and software version used to create it and may vary . this data can be used to generate a force curve for the measured point on the sample . once the data are gathered , the task of analyzing the data and extracting useful information begins . in an exemplary embodiment of the invention , a software program for analyzing the afm data is provided . a flow chart illustrating a process for analyzing the data is shown in fig2 . the software provides a graphical user interface ( gui ) intensive computational tool that automates the reconstruction , analysis , and interpretation of afm data . an example of a gui that can be displayed to a user of the software package is shown in fig3 . the gui 37 is one of the initial screens presented to the user . this interface prompts the user for information about the afm parameters and the analysis to be performed , per step 28 . buttons 38 - 40 allow the user to select the type of analysis to be performed . in the example shown , the user can select from a force - distance curve analysis , a force - volume analysis , and a lateral force analysis . additionally , various menus can also be provided to allow the user to input information regarding the parameters of the test . for example , the gui 37 can include fields 42 , 44 to allow the user to select from the different types of afms used to gather the data and the software used to store the data in the file . fields 42 , 44 may include drop down menus that allow the user to select from the various supported afms and software . the user can also input the type of tip used for the test via menu 46 . depending on the type of tip selected , different input fields 48 - 50 are activated . for example , in fig3 the user has selected a pyramidal tip . accordingly , the field 48 for inputting a vertex inclination of the tip is activated . additional fields may be provided to enter the spring constant of the cantilever as well as the vertex inclination , tip radius , cone angle , etc . the user clicks button 51 when they are finished entering information . once the user has completed inputting information , the afm data file is read , based at least in part on the analysis selected by the user and the other parameters input by the user , per step 29 . the afm data file is automatically parsed to locate the data that are relevant to the requested analysis . based on the type of afm used to collect the data and the type of software used to create the data file , it can be determined where in the data file the relevant information is stored . for example , a data file created using a di / veeco afm with version 4 . 3 software creates a data file having a particular format . the user has previously input this information via gui 37 . with the knowledge of the type of data file , the format of the file can be determined and the relevant information can be easily located . the data file is then read to extract this information . once the data are read from the file , the deflection of the tip and force versus the z position of the cantilever can be determined , plotted and displayed to the user per step 30 . an exemplary gui 52 for this purpose is shown in fig4 and 5 . force can be calculated based on the deflection of the cantilever and the stiffness of the cantilever using hooke &# 39 ; s law , f =− kz , where f is the force , k is the stiffness of the cantilever , and z is the distance the cantilever is deflected . an example of a force curve is shown in window 54 of gui 52 . the force curve includes two partially overlapping curves , an extend curve 56 and a retract curve 58 . the extend curve 56 represents the measurements taken as the cantilever tip moves towards the sample . as can be seen in fig4 , initially there is no deflection of the cantilever tip as the tip has yet to contact the surface of the sample . this is represented as the flat portion 56 a of curve 56 . as the tip approaches the surface of the sample , the cantilever begins to deflect and the curve 56 begins to move towards the upper left of the figure , represented by inclined portion 56 b . note that as the tip approaches the sample , the distance z decreases and the curve 56 moves from right to left . the retract curve 58 represents the measurements as the cantilever tip moves away from the sample . as the cantilever tip is withdrawn from the sample , the force exerted on the cantilever and the deflection of the cantilever decreases , while the distance z increases . in the example shown , the force exerted on the cantilever continues to decrease until the tip is disengaged from the surface of the sample and the retract curve 58 correspondingly flattens out at portion 58 a , as shown in fig4 . in an ideal representation , the extend curve 56 and retract curve 58 would largely overlap . however , due to the nonlinearities inherent in the afm piezoelectronics , characteristics of the sample and environmental conditions , the extend curve 56 and retract curve 58 may be offset , as shown in fig4 . gui 52 also provides an interface for the user to access additional functionality . for example , the user can use gui 52 to change an area of the curves being analyzed . slide bars 60 , 61 can be used to vary the upper and lower bounds of the data to be analyzed . also , buttons or other selection features can be provided to allow the user to access other data processing functions . actuating button 62 provides access to several data - smoothing algorithms , which can also include user definable parameters . actuating button 63 provides curve rotation options for the correction of overall slant of the data set . data smoothing may entail using polynomial curve - fitting algorithms with a user - specified number of terms , or application of another smoothing routine such as a box or gaussian filter , with a user - specified fitting order . data rotation may entail prompting the user to select two distinct points on a portion of the curve that should be horizontal , calculating the deviation from horizontal , and rotating the entire curve by the calculated angle . actuating button 63 initiates the creation of new gui controls for selection of the horizontal points . the data represented in curves 56 , 58 can be used to determine the elasticity of the sample . depressing elasticity button 64 in gui 52 can start the process . one of the initial steps in the elasticity analysis is to estimate the point at which the tip initially contacts the sample , the initial contact point ( step 31 ). the analysis is then based on that estimated initial contact point . in the past , this estimation was done visually by a user making a guess of the point on the curves 56 , 58 where the contact point should be . this is typically in the vicinity of the curve where it begins to incline . obviously , the visual method can lead to errors and differences between analyses of the same data performed by different users . moreover , an error in selecting the contact point results in an error that is propagated throughout the elasticity analysis . thus , embodiments of the present invention automatically select a contact point and then modify the selection by minimizing the residual error associated with it . one process for estimating the initial contact point is discussed below . as mentioned above , data points are read from the afm data file in step 28 . once the data points are read , the mean of a subset of points is calculated from the non - contact end of the data . the subset is continually expanded to include the next data point in the series . as the subset is expanded , the extent to which each newly included point deviates from the previous subset is calculated . the first point at which ten consecutive , newly included data values differ from the previous subset by a user - specified number of standard deviations is selected as an initial estimate of the contact point . in addition to receiving user input to define the number of standard deviations , user input may define the number of consecutive data points that must differ by the speficied standard deviation . of course , other selection criteria may be used without departing from the scope of the invention . the user can select the data set to be evaluated via gui 52 . window 65 in gui 52 provides a menu via which the user can select from available data sets . the data sets include the data points making up the extend curve 56 , that is the z position versus the deflection of the cantilever as the microscope head of the afm is moved towards the sample , the data points making up the retract curve 58 , or a mean of the two curves 56 , 58 . the estimated initial contact point 67 is then displayed in window 54 of gui 52 ( fig5 ). once the initial contact point is estimated , the depth of the indentation of the cantilever tip into the sample is determined in step 32 . in the described embodiment , this is done by comparing a force curve for the measured sample with the force curve of an ideal sample . alternatively , it may be done by comparing a force curve to data curves representing real , hard materials . the ideal sample is a theoretical hard material into which the tip of the cantilever does not penetrate . thus in the ideal sample case the cantilever deflects linearly with the position of the microscope head as the head is moved along the z - axis . an example of a force curve for an ideal sample , called here an ideal curve , is shown in fig5 . the ideal curve 70 has a slope of one and extends linearly from the current estimate of the initial contact point 67 . the difference between the measured cantilever deflection represented in curves 56 , 58 and that represented by the ideal curve 70 is the amount of indentation of the tip 14 into the sample 16 . window 72 in gui 52 provides a visual representation of the calculation of the indentation depth . the amount of deflection at any point along the z - axis is determined by the difference between the ideal curve 70 and the user selected measured curve 74 , which is one of the extend curve 56 , retract curve 58 or the mean of the two . the vertical lines between curves 70 and 74 represent the calculated indentation depth . thus , the indentation depth of the tip can be determined at a plurality of points as the cantilever is moved along the z - axis . the calculated indentation depth is then used to determine the elasticity of the sample . this can be done by calculating young &# 39 ; s modulus based on the calculated indentation depths . the indentation depths are fit using nonlinear algorithms to any one of several models of classical contact mechanics per step 33 . exactly which model of contact mechanics is selected depends on the user - selected shape of the contact probe . for instance , for a spherical tip , the sample indentations are fit to a hertzian model . this also allows the user to correct for thin or unbonded samples . for a pyramidal tip , the indentation depths are fit to a bilodeau model and for a conical tip the sample indentation depths are fit to a sneddon model . the equations for the hertz , bilodeau , and sneddon models , respectively , are reproduced below : δ uncorrected =[ 3 f ( 1 − v 2 )/ 4 e { square root }{ square root over ( r )}] 2 / 3 δ 4 - sided =[( π / 2 ) f ( 1 − v 2 )/ e tan α ] 1 / 2 where f = force , v = poisson &# 39 ; s ratio for the sample , e = young &# 39 ; s modulus , r = tip radius , and α = tip angle . the above equations are solved for e which gives the young &# 39 ; s modulus for the sample . in step 34 , residual errors are then determined . the residual error represents the deviation of the actual data from what the data would be in the selected model of contact mechanics . for example , if a sneddon model is selected , the equation for the sneddon model produces a curve comprised of data points representing indentation depth . the actual indentation depth calculated in step 32 may or may not lie on the sneddon curve . the difference between the actual indentation depth and the model is the residual error . the error can be calculated using a number of known methods , for example , the sum of squares method . the error for each of the data points is combined together to obtain the total residual error . the amount of residual error depends largely on the estimated initial contact point . an analysis performed at other contact point may produce a better result . therefore a process for reducing or minimizing the residual error is performed in step 35 . in an exemplary embodiment , the steps 31 - 35 are repeated using new values for the initial contact point until the residual errors are minimized or reduced . the new values of the initial contact point are constrained to the curve of interest , that is the curve 56 , 58 or mean thereof used in the calculating the indentation depth in step 33 . in the described example , the initial contact point is changed simply by sliding it along the curve of interest . for example , fifty data points to the left of the initially estimated contact point 67 and fifty data points to the right of the initially estimated contact point can be used as subsequent guesses for the initial contact point . these points need not be consecutive nor uniformly spaced . for calculation efficiency , adaptive step sizing may be used , with the spacing of guesses decreasing in the neighborhood of error minima . the process continues to step 32 and a new indentation depth is computed using an ideal curve extending from the new initial contact point . for each guess of the initial contact point , indentation depths are recomputed and new nonlinear fits are performed per step 33 . the residual errors for the newly calculated indentation depths are then compared with each other . the contact point that provides the lowest residual error is selected . then , the computed versus predicted errors and results using the selected contact point can be plotted and displayed to a user . additionally , the results may be archived as shown in the flow chart of fig2 . in fig5 , gui 52 includes four windows displaying graphs 76 - 79 representing the results of the analysis . fig6 is a blown up view of these graphs . graph 76 illustrates the indentation depth versus the 95 % confidence interval for the theoretical ( modeled ) curve . the inset 76 a shows a portion of the indentation curve in relation to the theoretical curve and 95 % confidence interval of the theoretical curve . graph 77 illustrates the point - by - point error of the actual force curve versus the theoretical force curve for the contact point having minimized - error . graph 78 illustrates the “ best - fit ” value of the elasticity modulus of the sample for the contact point having minimized - error . horizontal data in graph 78 suggests a stable fit . deviations from horizontal may prompt analyses of different subsets of data , or modifications of the analysis parameters . graph 79 is a plot of elasticity modulus overlaying the sum - of - squared error for all points evaluated as candidate contact points . final calculations are based on the point corresponding to the minimized error ( vertical dashed line ). the discontinuity in the slope of the error curve reflects the use of adaptive step - sizes , whereby data are sampled more finely in the region of the minimum . this optimizes accuracy and speed of calculation . the results of the analysis can also be displayed , manipulated and stored in numerical and textual form . gui 52 provides buttons or other means for accessing this functionality . the results of the analysis can be stored to a text file as shown in fig7 . the result can be displayed to the user within the gui environment . the user may examine the descriptive statistics of a group of data , the details of a single analysis or other information . the user may also reconstruct the analysis using previously stored parameters . additionally , the results of the analysis can be stored in spreadsheet form . for example , fig8 shows the results output to an excel spreadsheet . the results are automatically linked to the spreadsheet . each set of results is stored along with a thumbnail sketch of the data curves for subsequent retrieval and evaluation , as shown in the flowchart of fig2 . each of the results of the analysis along with the parameters of the analysis can be stored . each parameter and result can be assigned to its own field in the spreadsheet . in the example shown , the tip shape , curve analyzed , stiffness , etc . are each displayed in a field of the spreadsheet . this allows the data to be both easily viewed and manipulated . although a process for determining the elasticity of a sample is discussed above , the model of contact mechanics can be solved for any value . for example , the process can be used for calibration of the cantilever using materials with known properties . in this case the young &# 39 ; s modulus is know . the appropriate equation for the contact mechanics is then solved for the tip parameters . accordingly , embodiments of the invention provide a computational tool that automates the reconstruction , analysis , and interpretation of afm data . at the press of a button a user can determine the elasticity of a measured sample . the tedious and time consuming task of manual and algorithmic analysis is eliminated and large numbers of data sets can be analyzed quickly . the embodiments illustrated and discussed in this specification are intended only to teach those skilled in the art the best way known to the inventors to make and use the invention . nothing in this specification should be considered as limiting the scope of the present invention . all examples presented are representative and non - limiting . the above - described embodiments of the invention may be modified or varied , without departing from the invention , as appreciated by those skilled in the art in light of the above teachings . it is therefore to be understood that , within the scope of the claims and their equivalents , the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described . for example , the claims refer to a second gui for purposes of clarity . the second gui may be the same as , different from or a partially redrawn antecedent gui .
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alkyl , alkenyl , alkynyl , aryl , heteroaryl ( e . g ., pyridinyl ), cyclyl , heterocyclyl mentioned above include both substituted and unsubstituted moieties . the term “ substituted ” refers to one or more substituents ( which may be the same or different ), each replacing a hydrogen atom . examples of substituents include , but are not limited to , halogen , hydroxyl , amino , alkylamino , arylamino , dialkylamino , diarylamino , cyano , nitro , mercapto , alkylcarbonyl , carbamido , carbamyl , carboxyl , thioureido , thiocyanato , sulfoamido , c 1 ˜ c 6 alkyl , c 1 ˜ c 6 alkenyl , c 1 ˜ c 6 alkoxy , aryl , heteroaryl , cyclyl , heterocyclyl , wherein alkyl , alkenyl , alkoxy , aryl , heteroaryl , cyclyl , and heterocyclyl are optionally substituted with c 1 ˜ c 6 alkyl , aryl , heteroaryl , halogen , hydroxyl , amino , mercapto , cyano , or nitro . as used herein , the term “ alkyl ” refers to a straight - chained or branched hydrocarbon group containing 1 to 12 carbon atoms . the term “ lower alkyl ” refers to a c1 - c6 alkyl chain . examples of alkyl groups include methyl , ethyl , n - propyl , isopropyl , tert - butyl , and n - pentyl . alkyl groups may be optionally substituted with one or more substituents . the term “ alkenyl ” refers to an unsaturated hydrocarbon chain that may be a straight chain or branched chain , containing 2 to 12 carbon atoms and at least one carbon - carbon double bond . alkenyl groups may be optionally substituted with one or more substituents . the term “ alkynyl ” refers to an unsaturated hydrocarbon chain that may be a straight chain or branched chain , containing the 2 to 12 carbon atoms and at least one carbon - carbon triple bond . alkynyl groups may be optionally substituted with one or more substituents . the sp 2 or sp carbons of an alkenyl group and an alkynyl group , respectively , may optionally be the point of attachment of the alkenyl or alkynyl groups . the term “ cyclyl ” refers to a hydrocarbon 3 - 8 membered monocyclic or 7 - 14 membered bicyclic ring system having at least one non - aromatic ring which may optionally have some degree of saturation . cyclyl groups may be optionally substituted with one or more substituents . in one embodiment , 0 , 1 , 2 , 3 , or 4 atoms of each ring of a cyclyl group may be substituted by a substituent . representative examples of cyclyl group include cyclopropyl , cyclopentyl , cyclohexyl , cyclobutyl , cycloheptyl , cyclooctyl , cyclononyl , cyclodecyl , cyclohexenyl , bicyclo [ 2 . 2 . 1 ] hept - 2 - enyl , dihydronaphthalenyl , benzocyclopentyl , cyclopentenyl , cyclopentadienyl , cyclohexenyl , cyclohexadienyl , cycloheptenyl , cycloheptadienyl , cycloheptatrienyl , cyclooctenyl , cyclooctadienyl , cyclooctatrienyl , cyclooctatetraenyl , cyclononenyl , cyclononadienyl , cyclodecenyl , cyclodecadienyl and the like . the term “ aryl ” refers to a hydrocarbon ring system having at least one aromatic ring . typically , a monocyclic aryl will have from 5 to 8 carbon atom ring members ; a bicyclic ary will have from 7 to 14 carbon atom ring members , and a tricyclic aryl will have 11 - 14 carbon atom ring members . examples of aryl moieties include , but are not limited to , phenyl , naphthyl , anthracenyl , fluorenyl , indenyl , azulenyl , pyrenyl , and the like . the term “ heterocyclyl ” refers to a nonaromatic 3 - 8 membered monocyclic , 7 - 12 membered bicyclic , or 10 - 14 membered tricyclic ring system comprising 1 - 3 heteroatoms if monocyclic , 1 - 6 heteroatoms if bicyclic , or 1 - 9 heteroatoms if tricyclic , said heteroatoms selected from o , n , s , b , p or si , wherein the nonaromatic ring system may have some degree of saturation . heterocyclyl groups may be optionally substituted with one or more substituents . in one embodiment , 0 , 1 , 2 , 3 , or 4 atoms of each ring of a heterocyclyl group may be substituted by a substituent . representative heterocyclyl groups include piperidinyl , piperazinyl , 2 - oxopiperazinyl , 2 - oxopiperidinyl , 2 - oxopyrrolidinyl , 4 - piperidonyl , tetrahydropyranyl , tetrahydrothiopyranyl , tetrahydrothiopyranyl sulfone , morpholinyl , thiomorpholinyl , thiomorpholinyl sulfoxide , thiomorpholinyl sulfone , 1 , 3 - dioxolane , tetrahydrofuranyl , tetrahydrothienyl , thiirenyl , thiadiazirinyl , dioxazolyl , 1 , 3 - oxathiolyl , 1 , 3 - dioxolyl , 1 , 3 - dithiolyl , oxathiazinyl , dioxazinyl , dithiazinyl , oxadiazinyl , thiadiazinyl , oxazinyl , thiazinyl , 1 , 4 - oxathiin , 1 , 4 - dioxin , 1 , 4 - dithiin , 1h - pyranyl , oxathiepinyl , 5h - 1 , 4 - dioxepinyl , 5h - 1 , 4 - dithiepinyl , 6h - isoxazolo [ 2 , 3 - d ] 1 , 2 , 4 - oxadiazolyl , 7ah - oxazolo [ 3 , 2 - d ] 1 , 2 , 4 - oxadiazolyl , and the like . the term “ heteroaryl ” refers to a hydrocarbon ring system having at least one aromatic ring which contains at least one heteroatom such as o , n , or s . typically , a moncyclic heteroaryl has 5 - 8 ring members , a bicyclic heteroaryl has 7 - 12 ring members , and a tricyclic heteroaryl has 11 - 14 membered tricyclic ring system having 1 - 4 ring heteroatoms if monocyclic , 1 - 6 heteroatoms if bicyclic , or 1 - 9 heteroatoms if tricyclic , said heteroatoms selected from o , n , or s , and the remainder ring atoms being carbon ( with appropriate hydrogen atoms unless otherwise indicated ). heteroaryl groups may be optionally substituted with one or more substituents . in one embodiment , 0 , 1 , 2 , 3 , or 4 atoms of each ring of a heteroaryl group may be substituted by a substituent . examples of heteroaryl groups include pyridyl , 1 - oxo - pyridyl , furanyl , benzo [ 1 , 3 ] dioxolyl , benzo [ 1 , 4 ] dioxinyl , thienyl , pyrrolyl , oxazolyl , oxadiazolyl , imidazolyl thiazolyl , isoxazolyl , quinolinyl , pyrazolyl , isothiazolyl , pyridazinyl , pyrimidinyl , pyrazinyl , triazinyl , triazolyl , thiadiazolyl , isoquinolinyl , indazolyl , benzoxazolyl , benzofuryl , indolizinyl , imidazopyridyl , tetrazolyl , benzimidazolyl , benzothiazolyl , benzothiadiazolyl , benzoxadiazolyl , indolyl , tetrahydroindolyl , azaindolyl , imidazopyridyl , quinazolinyl , purinyl , pyrrolo [ 2 , 3 ] pyrimidinyl , pyrazolo [ 3 , 4 ] pyrimidinyl , and benzo ( b ) thienyl , 3h - thiazolo [ 2 , 3 - c ][ 1 , 2 , 4 ] thiadiazolyl , imidazo [ 1 , 2 - d ]- 1 , 2 , 4 - thiadiazolyl , imidazo [ 2 , 1 - b ]- 1 , 3 , 4 - thiadiazolyl , 1h , 2h - furo [ 3 , 4 - d ]- 1 , 2 , 3 - thiadiazolyl , 1h - pyrazolo [ 5 , 1 - c ]- 1 , 2 , 4 - triazolyl , pyrrolo [ 3 , 4 - d ]- 1 , 2 , 3 - triazolyl , cyclopentatriazolyl , 3h - pyrrolo [ 3 , 4 - c ] isoxazolyl , 1h , 3h - pyrrolo [ 1 , 2 - c ] oxazolyl , pyrrolo [ 2 , 1b ] oxazolyl , and the like . examples of heteroaryl moieties include , but are not limited to , furyl , fluorenyl , pyrrolyl , thienyl , oxazolyl , imidazolyl , thiazolyl , pyridinyl , pyrimidinyl , quinazolinyl , and indolyl . the compounds of this invention include the compounds themselves , as well as their salts , solvate , clathrate , hydrate , polymorph , or prodrugs , if applicable . as used herein , the term “ pharmaceutically acceptable salt ,” is a salt formed from , for example , an acid and a basic group of a compound of any one of the formulae disclosed herein . illustrative salts include , but are not limited , to sulfate , citrate , acetate , oxalate , chloride , bromide , iodide , nitrate , bisulfate , phosphate , acid phosphate , isonicotinate , lactate , salicylate , acid citrate , tartrate , oleate , tannate , pantothenate , bitartrate , ascorbate , succinate , maleate , besylate , gentisinate , fumarate , gluconate , glucaronate , saccharate , formate , benzoate , glutamate , methanesulfonate , ethanesulfonate , benzenesulfonate , p - toluenesulfonate , and pamoate ( i . e ., 1 , 1 ′- methylene - bis -( 2 - hydroxy - 3 - naphthoate )) salts . the term “ pharmaceutically acceptable salt ” also refers to a salt prepared from a compound of any one of the formulae disclosed herein having an acidic functional group , such as a carboxylic acid functional group , and a pharmaceutically acceptable inorganic or organic base . suitable bases include , but are not limited to , hydroxides of alkali metals such as sodium , potassium , and lithium ; hydroxides of alkaline earth metal such as calcium and magnesium ; hydroxides of other metals , such as aluminum and zinc ; ammonia , and organic amines , such as unsubstituted or hydroxy - substituted mono -, di -, or trialkylamines ; dicyclohexylamine ; tributyl amine ; pyridine ; n - methyl , n - ethylamine ; diethylamine ; triethylamine ; mono -, bis -, or tris -( 2 - hydroxy - lower alkyl amines ), such as mono -, bis -, or tris -( 2 - hydroxyethyl ) amine , 2 - hydroxy - tert - butylamine , or tris -( hydroxymethyl ) methylamine , n , n ,- di - lower alkyl - n -( hydroxy lower alkyl )- amines , such as n , n - dimethyl - n -( 2 - hydroxyethyl ) amine , or tri -( 2 - hydroxyethyl ) amine ; n - methyl - d - glucamine ; and amino acids such as arginine , lysine , and the like . the term “ pharmaceutically acceptable salt ” also refers to a salt prepared from a compound of any one of the formulae disclosed herein having a basic functional group , such as an amino functional group , and a pharmaceutically acceptable inorganic or organic acid . suitable acids include hydrogen sulfate , citric acid , acetic acid , oxalic acid , hydrochloric acid ( hcl ), hydrogen bromide ( hbr ), hydrogen iodide ( hi ), nitric acid , hydrogen bisulfide , phosphoric acid , lactic acid , salicylic acid , tartaric acid , bitartratic acid , ascorbic acid , succinic acid , maleic acid , besylic acid , fumaric acid , gluconic acid , glucaronic acid , formic acid , benzoic acid , glutamic acid , methanesulfonic acid , ethanesulfonic acid , benzenesulfonic acid , and p - toluenesulfonic acid . as used herein , the term “ polymorph ” means solid crystalline forms of a compound of the present invention or complex thereof . different polymorphs of the same compound can exhibit different physical , chemical and / or spectroscopic properties . different physical properties include , but are not limited to stability ( e . g ., to heat or light ), compressibility and density ( important in formulation and product manufacturing ), and dissolution rates ( which can affect bioavailability ). differences in stability can result from changes in chemical reactivity ( e . g ., differential oxidation , such that a dosage form discolors more rapidly when comprised of one polymorph than when comprised of another polymorph ) or mechanical characteristics ( e . g ., tablets crumble on storage as a kinetically favored polymorph converts to thermodynamically more stable polymorph ) or both ( e . g ., tablets of one polymorph are more susceptible to breakdown at high humidity ). different physical properties of polymorphs can affect their processing . for example , one polymorph might be more likely to form solvates or might be more difficult to filter or wash free of impurities than another due to , for example , the shape or size distribution of particles of it . as used herein , the term “ hydrate ” means a compound of the present invention or a salt thereof , which further includes a stoichiometric or non - stoichiometric amount of water bound by non - covalent intermolecular forces . as used herein , the term “ clathrate ” means a compound of the present invention or a salt thereof in the form of a crystal lattice that contains spaces ( e . g ., channels ) that have a guest molecule ( e . g ., a solvent or water ) trapped within . as used herein and unless otherwise indicated , the term “ prodrug ” means a derivative of a compound that can hydrolyze , oxidize , or otherwise react under biological conditions ( in vitro or in vivo ) to provide a compound of this invention . prodrugs may only become active upon such reaction under biological conditions , or they may have activity in their unreacted forms . examples of prodrugs contemplated in this invention include , but are not limited to , analogs or derivatives of compounds of any one of the formulae disclosed herein that comprise biohydrolyzable moieties such as biohydrolyzable amides , biohydrolyzable esters , biohydrolyzable carbamates , biohydrolyzable carbonates , biohydrolyzable ureides , and biohydrolyzable phosphate analogues . other examples of prodrugs include derivatives of compounds of any one of the formulae disclosed herein that comprise — no , — no 2 , — ono , or — ono 2 moieties . prodrugs can typically be prepared using well - known methods , such as those described by 1 b urger &# 39 ; s m edicinal c hemistry and d rug d iscovery ( 1995 ) 172 - 178 , 949 - 982 ( manfred e . wolff ed ., 5 th ed ). as used herein and unless otherwise indicated , the terms “ biohydrolyzable amide ”, “ biohydrolyzable ester ”, “ biohydrolyzable carbamate ”, “ biohydrolyzable carbonate ”, “ biohydrolyzable ureide ” and “ biohydrolyzable phosphate analogue ” mean an amide , ester , carbamate , carbonate , ureide , or phosphate analogue , respectively , that either : 1 ) does not destroy the biological activity of the compound and confers upon that compound advantageous properties in vivo , such as uptake , duration of action , or onset of action ; or 2 ) is itself biologically inactive but is converted in vivo to a biologically active compound . examples of biohydrolyzable amides include , but are not limited to , lower alkyl amides , α - amino acid amides , alkoxyacyl amides , and alkylaminoalkylcarbonyl amides . examples of biohydrolyzable esters include , but are not limited to , lower alkyl esters , alkoxyacyloxy esters , alkyl acylamino alkyl esters , and choline esters . examples of biohydrolyzable carbamates include , but are not limited to , lower alkylamines , substituted ethylenediamines , aminoacids , hydroxyalkylamines , heterocyclic and heteroaromatic amines , and polyether amines . as used herein , the terms “ animal ”, “ subject ” and “ patient ”, include , but are not limited to , a cow , monkey , horse , sheep , pig , chicken , turkey , quail , cat , dog , mouse , rat , rabbit , guinea pig and human ( preferably , a human ). as used herein , the term “ a subject in need thereof ” refers to a subject suffering from an autoimmune or inflammatory disorder or who has a predisposition ( e . g ., a genetic predisposition ) to develop an autoimmune or inflammatory disorder . in addition , subjects that have had an autoimmune or inflammatory disorder that is in remission may be in need of treatment with one or more compounds of the invention , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt , solvate , clathrate , hydrate , polymorph , or prodrug thereof , to prevent a relapse of the autoimmune or inflammatory disorder . the compounds described above can be prepared by methods well known in the art , as well as by the synthetic routes disclosed herein and described in u . s . pat . nos . 6 , 693 , 097 , 6 , 660 , 733 , 6 , 858 , 606 and in u . s . provisional application no . 60 / 626 , 609 , the entire teaching of each of these patents and patent application are incorporated herein by reference . for example , a pyrimidine compound ( e . g ., compounds 1 - 27 ) can be prepared by using 2 , 4 , 6 - trichloro - pyrimidine as a starting material . the three chloro groups can be displaced by various substitutes . more specifically , first chloro group ( e . g ., at position 6 ) can react with , e . g ., morpholine , to form a morpholinyl pyrimidine . 2 - aryl and 2 - alkylpyrimidinde dichloro compounds can also be prepared by reacting an amidine with a malonic ester followed by treatment with phosphorous oxychloride . second chloro group can be replaced by reacting with a nucleophile , such as an alcohol in the presence of base , e . g ., sodium hydride . in other examples , a compound of formula ( i ), wherein y is ch 2 ( e . g ., compound 1 , 3 - 5 , 11 , 14 , and 27 ), can be prepared by reacting the pyrimidine chloride with a grignard reagent , an organotin reagent , an organocopper reagent , an organoboric acid , or an organozinc reagent in the presence of an organopalladium compound as a catalyst . isomeric forms may be produced . the desired isomeric product can be separated from others by , e . g ., high performance liquid chromatography . third chloro group undergoes a displacement reaction with , e . g ., hydrazine , and the primary amine of the coupled hydrazine moiety further reacts with an aldehyde , e . g ., indole - 3 - carboxaldehyde to form a hydrazone linkage . thus , a pyrimidine compound of this invention is obtained . if preferred , other types of linkages can be prepared by similar reactions . sensitive moieties on a pyrimidinyl intermediate and a nucleophile can be protected prior to coupling . for suitable protecting groups , see , e . g ., greene ( 1981 ) protective groups in organic synthesis , john wiley & amp ; sons , inc ., new york , the entire teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference . a pyrimidine compound of this invention can be further purified by flash column chromatography , high performance liquid chromatography , or crystallization . the compounds and compositions described herein are useful to treat and prevent any inflammatory and immune disorders . in particular , the compounds of the invention are useful in inhibiting the production of il - 12 , il - 23 and / or il - 27 . il - 12 and il - 27 produce inf - γ which further augments the production of il - 12 and causes the differentiation of naïve t cells into t h 1 lymphocytes which have been implicated in the pathogenic processes of many autoimmune and inflammatory disorders . il - 23 has been shown to stimulate the differentiation of activated cd4 + t cells into th il - 17 cells which produce il - 17 , another cytokine that has been implicated in the pathogenic processes of many autoimmune and inflammatory disorders . thus , in one aspect , the present invention provides a method of treating or preventing autoimmune or inflammatory disorders by inhibiting the production of il - 12 , il - 27 and / or il - 23 in a subject by administering to the subject in need thereof an effective amount of a compound of any of the formulae herein , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt , solvate , clathrate , hydrate , polymorph , or prodrug thereof . without wishing to be bound by any theory , since one of the functions of il - 12 and il - 27 is induction of inf - γ expression from t and nk cells which promotes the development of th1 t lymphocyte type , the compounds of the invention can be used to inhibit the differentiation of naïve t cells into th1 lymphocytes and / or inhibit the proliferation of th1 cells . therefore , in another aspect , the invention features a method of inhibiting the proliferation and / or development of th1 cells in a subject in need thereof by administering to the subject an effective amount of a compound of any of the formulae herein , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt , solvate , clathrate , hydrate , polymorph , or prodrug thereof . without wishing to be bound by any theory , since one of the functions of il - 23 is to promote the differentiation of activated cd4 + t cells to th il - 17 lymphocyte type which produces the pro - inflammatory cytokine il - 17 , the compounds of the invention can be used to inhibit the differentiation of activated cd4 + t cells into th il - 17 lymphocytes and / or inhibit the proliferation of th il - 17 lymphocytes . therefore , in another aspect , the invention features a method of inhibiting the proliferation and / or development of th il - 17 lymphocytes in a subject in need thereof by administering to the subject an effective amount of a compound of any of the formulae herein , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt , solvate , clathrate , hydrate , polymorph , or prodrug thereof . the term “ inflammatory disorders ” includes any inflammatory disease , disorder or condition caused , exasperated or mediated by il - 12 , il - 23 , il - 27 and / or il - 17 production . such inflammatory disorders may include , without limitation , asthma , adult respiratory distress syndrome , systemic lupus erythematosus , inflammatory bowel disease ( including crohn &# 39 ; s disease and ulcerative colitis ), multiple sclerosis , insulin - dependent diabetes mellitus , autoimmune arthritis ( including rheumatoid arthritis , juvenile rheumatoid arthritis , psoriatic arthritis ), inflammatory pulmonary syndrome , pemphigus vulgaris , idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura , autoimmune meningitis , myasthenia gravis , autoimmune thyroiditis , dermatitis ( including atopic dermatitis and eczematous dermatitis ), psoriasis , sjogren &# 39 ; s syndrome ( including keratoconjunctivitis sicca secondary to sjogren &# 39 ; s syndrome ), alopecia areata , allergic responses due to arthropod bite reactions , aphthous ulcer , iritis , conjunctivitis , keratoconjunctivitis , cutaneous lupus erythematosus , scleroderma , vaginitis , proctitis , drug eruptions ( such as stevens - johnson syndrome ), leprosy reversal reactions , erythema nodosum leprosum , autoimmune uveitis , allergic encephalomyelitis , aplastic anemia , pure red cell anemia , idiopathic thrombocytopenia , polychondritis , wegener &# 39 ; s granulomatosis , chronic active hepatitis , graves ophthalmopathy , primary biliary cirrhosis , uveitis posterior and interstitial lung fibrosis . “ inflammatory disorders ” expressly include acute inflammatory disorders . examples of acute inflammatory disorders include graft versus host disease , transplant rejection , septic shock , endotoxemia , lyme arthritis , infectious meningitis ( e . g ., viral , bacterial , lyme disease - associated ), an acute episode of asthma and acute episodes of an immune disease . “ inflammatory disorders ” expressly include chronic inflammatory disorders . nonlimiting examples of chronic inflammatory disorder include asthma , rubella arthritis , and chronic autoimmune diseases , such as systemic lupus erythematosus , psoriasis , inflammatory bowel disease , including crohn &# 39 ; s disease and ulcerative colitis , multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis . the term “ immune disorders ” or “ autoimmune disorders ” includes any immune disease , disorder or condition caused , exasperated or mediated by il - 12 , il - 23 and / or il - 27 production . such immune diseases may include , without limitation , rheumatoid arthritis , juvenile rheumatoid arthritis , systemic onset juvenile rheumatoid arthritis , psoriatic arthritis , ankylosing spondilitis , gastric ulcer , seronegative arthropathies , osteoarthritis , inflammatory bowel disease , ulcerative colitis , systemic lupus erythematosis , antiphospholipid syndrome , iridocyclitis / uveitis / optic neuritis , idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis , systemic vasculitis / wegener &# 39 ; s granulomatosis , sarcoidosis , orchitis / vasectomy reversal procedures , allergic / atopic diseases , asthma , allergic rhinitis , eczema , allergic contact dermatitis , allergic conjunctivitis , hypersensitivity pneumonitis , transplants , organ transplant rejection , graft - versus - host disease , systemic inflammatory response syndrome , sepsis syndrome , gram positive sepsis , gram negative sepsis , culture negative sepsis , fungal sepsis , neutropenic fever , urosepsis , meningococcemia , trauma / hemorrhage , burns , ionizing radiation exposure , acute pancreatitis , adult respiratory distress syndrome , rheumatoid arthritis , alcohol - induced hepatitis , chronic inflammatory pathologies , sarcoidosis , crohn &# 39 ; s pathology , sickle cell anemia , diabetes , nephrosis , atopic diseases , hypersensitity reactions , allergic rhinitis , hay fever , perennial rhinitis , conjunctivitis , endometriosis , asthma , urticaria , systemic anaphalaxis , dermatitis , pernicious anemia , hemolytic disesease , thrombocytopenia , graft rejection of any organ or tissue , kidney translplant rejection , heart transplant rejection , liver transplant rejection , pancreas transplant rejection , lung transplant rejection , bone marrow transplant ( bmt ) rejection , skin allograft rejection , cartilage transplant rejection , bone graft rejection , small bowel transplant rejection , fetal thymus implant rejection , parathyroid transplant rejection , xenograft rejection of any organ or tissue , allograft rejection , anti - receptor hypersensitivity reactions , graves disease , raynoud &# 39 ; s disease , type b insulin - resistant diabetes , asthma , myasthenia gravis , antibody - meditated cytotoxicity , type iii hypersensitivity reactions , systemic lupus erythematosus , poems syndrome ( polyneuropathy , organomegaly , endocrinopathy , monoclonal gammopathy , and skin changes syndrome ), polyneuropathy , organomegaly , endocrinopathy , monoclonal gammopathy , skin changes syndrome , antiphospholipid syndrome , pemphigus , scleroderma , mixed connective tissue disease , idiopathic addison &# 39 ; s disease , diabetes mellitus , chronic active hepatitis , primary billiary cirrhosis , vitiligo , vasculitis , post - mi cardiotomy syndrome , type iv hypersensitivity , contact dermatitis , hypersensitivity pneumonitis , allograft rejection , granulomas due to intracellular organisms , drug sensitivity , metabolic / idiopathic , wilson &# 39 ; s disease , hemachromatosis , alpha - 1 - antitrypsin deficiency , diabetic retinopathy , hashimoto &# 39 ; s thyroiditis , osteoporosis , hypothalamic - pituitary - adrenal axis evaluation , primary biliary cirrhosis , thyroiditis , encephalomyelitis , cachexia , cystic fibrosis , neonatal chronic lung disease , chronic obstructive pulmonary disease ( copd ), familial hematophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis , dermatologic conditions , psoriasis , alopecia , nephrotic syndrome , nephritis , glomerular nephritis , acute renal failure , hemodialysis , uremia , toxicity , preeclampsia , okt3 therapy , anti - cd3 therapy , cytokine therapy , chemotherapy , radiation therapy ( e . g ., including but not limited toasthenia , anemia , cachexia , and the like ), chronic salicylate intoxication , and the like . see , e . g ., the merck manual , 12th - 17th editions , merck & amp ; company , rahway , n . j . ( 1972 , 1977 , 1982 , 1987 , 1992 , 1999 ), pharmacotherapy handbook , wells et al ., eds ., second edition , appleton and lange , stamford , conn . ( 1998 , 2000 ), each entirely incorporated by reference . the compounds and compositions described herein are useful to treat and prevent inflammatory disorders and immune disorders . the method involves administering an effective amount of a compound of the invention , or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt , solvate , clathrate , hydrate , polymorph , or prodrug thereof , to a subject in need of treatment for an inflammatory or autoimmune disorder . in preferred embodiments , treatment according to the invention provides a reduction in or prevention of at least one symptom or manifestation of an il - 12 -, il - 23 -, il - 27 , or il - 17 - related disorder ( e . g ., inflammatory disorder or immune diseases ), as determined in vivo or in vitro of at least about 10 %, more preferably 20 %, 30 %, 40 %, 50 %, 60 %, 70 %, 80 %, 90 %, 95 %, 98 % or 99 %. as used herein , the term “ effective amount ” refers to an amount of a compound of this invention which is sufficient to reduce or ameliorate the severity , duration , progression , or onset of an inflammatory disorder or immune disorder , or one or more symptom thereof , prevent the advancement of an inflammatory disorder or immune disorder , cause the regression of an inflammatory disorder or immune disorder , prevent the recurrence , development , onset or progression of a symptom associated with an inflammatory disorder or immune disorder , or enhance or improve the prophylactic or therapeutic effect ( s ) of another therapy . an effective amount of the pyrimidine compound of this invention can range from about 0 . 001 mg / kg to about 1000 mg / kg . effective doses will also vary , as recognized by those skilled in the art , depending on the disorder treated , route of administration , excipient usage , the age and sex of the subject , and the possibility of co - usage with other therapeutic treatments such as use of other agents . also within the scope of this invention is a pharmaceutical composition that contains one or more pyrimidine compounds of this invention and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier . to practice the method of the present invention , a pyrimidine compound , as a component of a pharmaceutical composition , can be administered orally , parenterally , by inhalation spray , topically , rectally , nasally , buccally , vaginally or via an implanted reservoir . the term “ parenteral ” as used herein includes subcutaneous , intracutaneous , intravenous , intramuscular , intraarticular , intraarterial , intrasynovial , intrasternal , intrathecal , intralesional and intracranial injection or infusion techniques . a sterile injectable composition , for example , a sterile injectable aqueous or oleaginous suspension , can be formulated according to techniques known in the art using suitable dispersing or wetting agents ( such as , for example , tween 80 ) and suspending agents . the sterile injectable preparation can also be a sterile injectable solution or suspension in a non - toxic parenterally acceptable diluent or solvent , for example , as a solution in 1 , 3 - butanediol . among the acceptable vehicles and solvents that can be employed are mannitol , water , ringer &# 39 ; s solution and isotonic sodium chloride solution . in addition , sterile , fixed oils are conventionally employed as a solvent or suspending medium ( e . g ., synthetic mono - or diglycerides ). fatty acids , such as oleic acid and its glyceride derivatives are useful in the preparation of injectables , as are natural pharmaceutically - acceptable oils , such as olive oil or castor oil , especially in their polyoxyethylated versions . these oil solutions or suspensions can also contain a long - chain alcohol diluent or dispersant , or carboxymethyl cellulose or similar dispersing agents . other commonly used surfactants such as tweens or spans or other similar emulsifying agents or bioavailability enhancers which are commonly used in the manufacture of pharmaceutically acceptable solid , liquid , or other dosage forms can also be used for the purposes of formulation . a composition for oral administration can be any orally acceptable dosage form including , but not limited to , capsules , tablets , emulsions and aqueous suspensions , dispersions and solutions . in the case of tablets for oral use , carriers which are commonly used include lactose and corn starch . lubricating agents , such as magnesium stearate , are also typically added . for oral administration in a capsule form , useful diluents include lactose and dried corn starch . when aqueous suspensions or emulsions are administered orally , the active ingredient can be suspended or dissolved in an oily phase combined with emulsifying or suspending agents . if desired , certain sweetening , flavoring , or coloring agents can be added . a nasal aerosol or inhalation composition can be prepared according to techniques well - known in the art of pharmaceutical formulation and can be prepared as solutions in saline , employing benzyl alcohol or other suitable preservatives , absorption promoters to enhance bioavailability , fluorocarbons , and / or other solubilizing or dispersing agents known in the art . a pyridine compound of this invention can also be administered in the form of suppositories for rectal administration . the carrier in the pharmaceutical composition must be “ acceptable ” in the sense of being compatible with the active ingredient of the formulation ( and preferably , capable of stabilizing it ) and not deleterious to the subject to be treated . for example , solubilizing agents such as cyclodextrins , which form specific , more soluble complexes with the compounds of this invention , or one or more solubilizing agents , can be utilized as pharmaceutical excipients for delivery of the pyrimidine compounds . examples of other carriers include colloidal silicon dioxide , magnesium stearate , cellulose , sodium lauryl sulfate , and d & amp ; c yellow # 10 . the biological activities of a pyrimidine compound can be evaluated by a number of cell - based assays . one of such assays can be conducted using cells from human peripheral blood mononuclear cells ( pbmc ) or human monocytic cell line ( thp - 1 ). the cells are stimulated with a combination of human interferon - γ ( ifnγ ) and lipopolysaccharide or a combination of ifnγ and staphylococcus aureus cowan i ( sac ) in the presence of a test compound . the level of inhibition of il - 12 production can be measured by determining the amount of p70 by using a sandwich elisa assay with anti - human il - 12 antibodies . ic 50 of the test compound can then be determined . specifically , pbmc or thp - 1 cells are incubated with the test compound . cell viability is assessed using the bioreduction of mts [ 3 -( 4 , 5 - dimethylthiazol - 2 - yl )- 5 -( 3 - carboxymethoxyphenyl )- 2 -( 4 - sulfophenyl )- 2h - tetrazolium ] ( promega , madison , wis .). the level of inhibition of il - 23 inhibition by a compound of the invention can be measured by a similar assay in which human peripheral blood mononuclear cells ( pbmc ) or human monocytic cell line ( thp - 1 ) are stimulated with a combination of human interferon - γ ( ifnγ ) and lipopolysaccharide ( lps ) or a combination of ifnγ and staphylococcus aureus cowan i ( sac ) in the presence of a test compound . the level of inhibition of il - 23 production can be measured by determining the amount of p19 by using a sandwich elisa assay with antibodies the recognize p19 subunit of il - 23 . ic 50 of the test compound can then be determined . one such assay is disclosed herein in example 30 . the following specific embodiments are to be construed as merely illustrative , and not limitative of the remainder of the disclosure in any way whatsoever . all of the patents , patent applications , and publications cited herein are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety . to a solution of 3 -( 3 , 4 - dimethoxyphenyl )- propyl iodide ( 1 . 224 g , 4 . 0 mmol ) in 20 ml dry thf , highly active zinc ( suspension in thf , rieke metal from aldrich , 5 . 2 ml 0 . 05 g / ml , 4 . 0 mmol ) was added to obtain a mixture . the mixture was stirred at room temperature overnight . 2 , 4 - dichloro - 6 - morpholinopyrimidine ( 0 . 932 g , 4 . 0 mmol ) and trans - benzyl -( chloro )- bis -( triphenylphosphine ) palladium ( ii ) ( 0 . 03 g , 0 . 04 mmol ) were added to the mixture , and stirred at 60 ° c . for 2 days . after routine workup , 4 - chloro - 2 -[ 3 -( 3 , 4 - dimethoxyphenyl ) propyl ]- 6 - morpholinopyrimidine ( 0 . 34 g , 0 . 90 mmol , 22 . 4 %) was separated from 2 - chloro - 4 -[ 3 -( 3 , 4 - dimethoxyphenyl ) propyl ]- 6 - morpholinopyrimidine ( 0 . 45 g , 1 . 19 mmol , 30 %) by flash chromatography purification . 1 h nmr ( 300 mhz , cdcl 3 ), δ ( ppm ): 6 . 70 - 6 . 80 ( m , 3h ); 6 . 32 ( s , 1h ); 3 . 87 ( s , 3h ); 3 . 85 ( s , 3h ); 3 . 73 - 3 . 78 ( m , 4h ); 3 . 60 - 3 . 64 ( m , 4h ); 2 . 76 ( d , j = 7 . 8 hz , 2h ); 2 . 63 ( d , j = 7 . 5 hz , 2h ); and 2 . 01 - 2 . 12 ( m , 2h ). further , 4 - chloro - 2 -[ 3 -( 3 , 4 - dimethoxyphenyl ) propyl ]- 6 - morpholinopyrimidine ( 0 . 34 g , 0 . 90 mmol ) was reacted with hydrazine ( 0 . 29 g , 9 mmol ) to obtain 2 -[ 3 -( 3 , 4 - dimethoxyphenyl ) propyl ]- 4 - hydrazino - 6 - morpholinopyrimidine as a white solid ( 0 . 30 g , 0 . 80 mmol , 89 %). 1 h nmr ( 300 mhz , cdcl 3 ), δ ( ppm ): 6 . 73 - 6 . 80 ( m , 3h ); 5 . 88 ( s , 1h ); 5 . 74 ( s , 1h ); 3 . 87 ( s , 3h ); 3 . 85 ( s , 3h ); 3 . 76 - 3 . 79 ( m , 4h ); 3 . 69 ( d , j = 0 . 6 hz , 2h ); 3 . 56 - 3 . 60 ( m , 4h ); 2 . 64 ( d , j = 7 . 5 hz , 4h ); and 2 . 00 - 2 . 15 ( m , 2h ). a 5 ml methanol solution containing 2 -[ 3 -( 3 , 4 - dimethoxyphenyl )- propyl ]- 4 - hydrazino - 6 - morpholinopyrimidine ( 0 . 177 g , 0 . 50 mmol ), indole - 3 - carboxaldehyde ( 0 . 073 g , 0 . 50 mmol ), and acoh ( 20 mg , cat .) was stirred at 70 ° c . for 4 hours . solvent was removed and the crude residue was purified using flash chromatography to give compound 1 as a light brown solid ( 0 . 21 g , 0 . 42 mmol , 84 %). 1 h nmr ( 300 mhz , cdcl 3 ), δ ( ppm ): 8 . 57 ( br s , 1h ); 8 . 45 ( br s , 1h ); 8 . 29 - 8 . 32 ( m , 1h ); 8 . 00 ( s , 1h ); 7 . 39 - 7 . 43 ( m , 2h ); 7 . 23 - 7 . 34 ( m , 2h ); 6 . 74 - 6 . 80 ( m , 3h ); 6 . 30 ( s , 1h ); 3 . 86 ( s , 3h ); 3 . 85 ( s , 3h ); 3 . 78 - 3 . 84 ( m , 4h ); 3 . 67 - 3 . 70 ( m , 4h ); 2 . 63 - 2 . 71 ( m , 4h ), and 2 . 03 - 2 . 13 ( m , 2h ). to a solution of 2 , 4 , 6 - trichloro pyrimidine ( 25 g , 136 mmol ) in ch 2 cl 2 ( 500 ml ) at − 78 ° c ., morpholine ( 11 . 89 ml , 136 mmol ) was slowly added , followed by dipea ( 25 ml , 143 mmol ). the obtained reaction mixture was stirred at − 78 ° c . for 5 h , and then warmed up to room temperature . the reaction mixture was washed with water . the obtained organic phase was dried over na 2 so 4 . the solvent was removed under reduced pressure . the crued residue , 2 , 4 - dichloro - 6 -( morpholin - 4 - yl ) pyrimidine , was recrystallized from etoac to give white crystals ( 24 . 7 g , 77 %) 15 g . 1 h nmr ( 300 mhz , cdcl 3 ), δ ( ppm ): 6 . 40 ( s , 1h ); and 4 . 0 - 3 . 5 ( m , 8h ). to a solution of n - butanol ( 0 . 633 g , 8 . 54 mmol ) in anhydrous dmf ( 50 ml ) at 0 ° c . under the n 2 , nah ( 0 . 307 g , 12 . 8 mmol ) was added quickly . the obtained suspension was stirred for 0 . 5 h at 0 ° c . 2 , 4 - dichloro - 6 -( morpholin - 4 - yl ) pyrimidine ( 2 g , 8 . 54 mmol ) was added to the suspension . after the suspension was warmed to room temperature and stirred for 12 h , the reaction mixture was quenched with ice / brine and extracted with 200 ml etoac . the extract was washed with brine , and dried over na 2 so 4 . the solvent was removed under reduced pressure . the crude residue was purified using flash chromatography ( silica ; etoac / hexane : 1 / 6 ) to yield 1 . 4 g of 2 - n - butoxy - 4 - chloro - 6 -( morpholin - 4 - yl ) pyrimidine ( white solid , 60 %). 1 h nmr ( 300 mhz , cdcl 3 ), δ ( ppm ): 6 . 20 ( s , 1h ); 4 . 26 ( t , j = 6 . 6 hz , 2h ); 3 . 78 - 3 . 70 ( m , 4h ); 3 . 66 - 3 . 56 ( m , 4h ); 1 . 80 - 1 . 68 ( m , 2h ); 1 . 54 - 1 . 40 ( m , 2h ); and 0 . 96 ( t , j = 6 . 9 , 3h ). to a solution of 2 - n - butoxy - 4 - chloro - 6 -( morpholin - 4 - yl ) pyrimidine ( 1 . 38 g , 5 . 1 mmol ) in dioxane ( 50 ml ), anhydrous hydrazine ( 1 . 6 ml , 50 mmol ) was added . the obtained reaction mixture was heated to 95 ° c ., and stirred for 12 h under n 2 . after cooling to room temperature , the reaction mixture was quenched with ice - brine and extracted with etoac ( 200 ml ). the organic extract was washed with brine , water , and dried over na 2 so 4 . the solvent was removed under reduced pressure . the crude residue was recrystallized from methanol to obtain 2 - n - butoxy - 4 - hydrazino - 6 -( morpholin - 4 - yl ) pyrimidine as white crystals ( 1 . 10 g , 81 %). 1 h nmr ( 300 mhz , cdcl 3 ), δ ( ppm ): 5 . 89 ( br s , 1h ), 5 . 49 ( s , 1h ), 4 . 26 ( t , j = 6 . 6 , 2h ), 3 . 84 - 3 . 78 ( m , 6h ), 3 . 62 - 3 . 47 ( m , 4h ), 1 . 82 - 1 . 67 ( m , 2h ), 1 . 55 - 1 . 42 ( m , 2h ), and 0 . 96 ( t , j = 6 . 9 , 3h ); to a solution of 2 - n - butoxy - 4 - hydrazino - 6 -( morpholin - 4 - yl ) pyrimidine ( 200 mg , 0 . 748 mmol ) in meoh ( 20 ml ), indole - 3 - carboxaldehyde ( 108 . 6 mg , 0 . 748 mmol ) and acetic acid ( a drop ) were added sequentially . the obtained reaction mixture was stirred at room temperature for 12 h . white precipitate was formed , collected , and washed with 2 ml methanol to give 200 g of compound 2 ( 68 %). 1 h nmr ( 300 mhz , cdcl 3 ), δ ( ppm ): 8 . 36 ( br s , 1h ), 8 . 30 ( dd , j = 6 . 6 , 1 . 8 , 1h ), 8 . 05 ( s , 1h ), 8 . 00 ( s , 1h ), 7 . 44 - 7 . 40 ( m , 2h ), 7 . 33 - 7 . 24 ( m , 2h ), 6 . 13 ( s , 1h ), 4 . 26 ( t , 2h , j = 6 . 6 ), 3 . 84 - 3 . 78 ( m , 4h ), 3 . 70 - 3 . 64 ( m , 4h ), 1 . 80 - 1 . 70 ( m , 2h ), 1 . 54 - 1 . 42 ( m , 2h ), and 0 . 96 ( t , j = 6 . 9 , 3h ); a mixture of 4 - ethoxy - 4 - oxo - butylzinc bromide ( 50 ml 0 . 5m in thf , 25 mmol ), 2 , 4 - dichloro - 6 - morpholinopyrimidine ( 4 . 68 g , 20 . 0 mmol ) and trans - benzyl ( chloro ) bis ( triphenylphosphine ) palladium ( ii ) ( 0 . 15 g , 0 . 2 mmol ) in thf ( total volume 80 ml ) was stirred at 60 ° c . for 2 days . after routine workup , flash chromatography purification was performed to obtain 4 - chloro - 2 -( 4 - ethoxy - 4 - oxo - butyl )- 6 - morpholinopyrimidine as a white solid ( 2 . 073 g , 6 . 60 mmol , 33 . 0 %). to a solution of 4 - chloro - 2 -( 4 - ethoxy - 4 - oxo - butyl )- 6 - morpholinopyrimidine ( 1 . 108 g , 3 . 54 mmol ) in 50 ml thf at − 78 ° c ., a diisobutylaluminum hydride ( dibal ) solution ( 4 . 72 ml 1 . 5 m in toluene , 7 . 08 mmol ) was slowly added . after addition , the obtained reaction mixture was warmed up slowly to 0 ° c . and kept at 0 ° c . for 10 min . after routine workup , flash chromatography was performed to obtain 4 - chloro - 2 -( 4 - hydroxybutyl )- 6 - morpholinopyrimidine ( 0 . 76 g , 2 . 80 mmol , 79 %) as light yellow solid . 1 h nmr ( 300 mhz , cdcl 3 ), δ ( ppm ): 6 . 33 ( s , 1h ), 3 . 76 - 3 . 79 ( m , 4h ); 3 . 61 - 3 . 68 ( m , 6h ); 2 . 76 ( t , j = 7 . 8 hz , 2h ); 1 . 81 - 1 . 91 ( m , 2h ); and 1 . 60 - 1 . 74 ( m , 3h ). following the typical procedure , 4 - chloro - 2 -( 4 - hydroxybutyl )- 6 - morpholinopyrimidine ( 0 . 542 g , 2 . 00 mmol , 1 . 00 equiv .) was reacted with hydrazine and indole - 3 - carboxaldehyde to give compound 3 as an off - white solid ( 0 . 75 g , 1 . 90 mmol , 95 %). 1 h nmr ( 300 mhz , dmso - d 6 ), δ ( ppm ): 11 . 47 ( s , 1h ); 10 . 64 ( s , 1h ); 8 . 25 ( s , 1h ); 8 . 18 ( d , j = 6 . 6 hz , 1h ); 7 . 71 ( s , 1h ); 7 . 43 ( d , j = 8 . 4 hz , 1h ); 7 . 17 - 7 . 20 ( m , 2h ); 6 . 16 ( s , 1h ), 4 . 37 ( t , j = 4 . 8 hz , 1h ); 3 . 72 ( br s , 4h ); 3 . 55 ( br s , 4h ); 3 . 41 - 3 . 45 ( m , 2h ); 2 . 49 - 2 . 54 ( m , 2h ), 1 . 66 - 1 . 76 ( m 2h ); and 1 . 42 - 1 . 53 ( m 2h ). compound 4 was prepared in a similar manner as described in example 1 . 1 h nmr ( 300 mhz , dmso - d 6 ), δ ( ppm ): 11 . 46 ( s , 1h ); 10 . 64 ( s , 1h ); 8 . 25 ( s , 1h ); 8 . 18 ( d , j = 6 . 6 hz , 1h ); 7 . 71 ( s , 1h ); 7 . 43 ( d , j = 6 . 0 hz , 7 . 5 hz , 1h ); 7 . 16 - 7 . 19 ( m , 2h ); 6 . 15 ( s , 1h ), 4 . 58 ( t , j = 5 . 1 hz , 1h ); 4 . 00 ( dd , j = 11 . 4 hz , 4 . 5 hz , 2h ); 3 . 64 - 3 . 72 ( m , 6h ); 3 . 54 ( br s , 4h ); 2 . 50 - 2 . 59 ( m , 2h ); 1 . 80 - 1 . 94 ( m , 3h ), and 1 . 33 ( d , j = 9 . 6 hz , 1h ). following the procedure for the synthesis of n -( 2 -( 4 - hydroxybutyl )- 6 - morpholin - 4 - yl - pyrimidin - 4 - yl )- n ′-( 1h - indol - 3 - ylmethylene )- hydrazine ( compound 3 ), 4 - chloro - 2 -( 3 - hydroxypropyl )- 6 - morpholinopyrimidine ( 0 . 81 g , 3 . 15 mmol ) was synthesized , methylated with sodium hydride ( 0 . 48 g , 6 . 30 mmol ) for 10 min , and mei ( 0 . 895 g , 6 . 30 mmol ) for 5 h in 30 ml thf at 0 ° c . to give 4 - chloro - 2 -( 3 - methoxypropyl )- 6 - morpholinopyrimidine as colorless viscous oil ( 0 . 792 g , 3 . 03 mmol , 96 %). 1 h nmr ( 300 mhz , cdcl 3 ), δ ( ppm ): 6 . 32 ( s , 1h ), 3 . 75 - 3 . 79 ( m , 4h ); 3 . 61 - 3 . 64 ( m , 4h ); 3 . 44 ( t , j = 6 . 6 hz , 2h ); 3 . 34 ( s , 3h ); 2 . 78 ( t , j = 7 . 8 hz , 2h ); and 2 . 00 - 2 . 09 ( m , 2h ). following the typical procedure , 4 - chloro - 2 -( 3 - methoxypropyl )- 6 - morpholinopyrimidine ( 0 . 783 g , 3 . 00 mmol ) was treated with hydrazine and indole - 3 - carboxaldehyde sequentially to yield 0 . 89 g of compound 5 ( 2 . 26 mmol , 75 %). 1 h nmr ( 300 mhz , dmso - d 6 ), δ ( ppm ): 11 . 46 ( s , 1h ); 10 . 64 ( s , 1h ); 8 . 26 ( s , 1h ); 8 . 17 - 8 . 20 ( m , 1h ); 7 . 72 ( d , j = 2 . 4 hz , 1h ); 7 . 43 ( dd , j = 6 . 0 hz , 2 . 4 hz , 1h ); 7 . 15 - 7 . 21 ( m , 2h ); 6 . 16 ( s , 1h ), 3 . 70 - 3 . 73 ( m , 4h ); 3 . 52 - 3 . 56 ( m , 4h ); 3 . 37 ( t , j = 6 . 9 hz , 2h ); 3 . 23 ( s , 3h ); 2 . 50 - 2 . 57 ( m , 2h ), and 1 . 88 - 1 . 97 ( m , 2h ). compound 6 was prepared in a similar manner as described in example 2 . 1 h nmr ( 300 mhz , dmso - d 6 ), δ ( ppm ): 11 . 48 ( s , 1h ); 10 . 68 ( s , 1h ); 8 . 26 ( s , 1h ); 8 . 15 - 8 . 18 ( m , 1h ); 7 . 73 ( d , j = 2 . 1 hz , 1h ); 7 . 42 - 7 . 44 ( m , 1h ); 7 . 16 - 7 . 20 ( m , 2h ); 6 . 04 ( s , 1h ), 4 . 53 ( t , j = 5 . 1 hz , 1h ); 3 . 65 - 3 . 71 ( m , 4h ); 3 . 48 - 3 . 56 ( m , 6h ); 3 . 06 ( t , j = 7 . 2 hz , 2h ), and 1 . 76 - 1 . 85 ( m , 2h ). compound 7 was prepared in a similar manner as described in example 2 . 1 h nmr ( 300 mhz , dmso - d 6 ), δ ( ppm ): 11 . 34 ( s , 1h ); 10 . 48 ( s , 1h ); 8 . 45 ( d , j = 7 . 8 hz , 1h ); 8 . 25 ( s , 1h ); 7 . 64 ( d , j = 2 . 7 hz , 1h ); 7 . 40 ( d , j = 8 . 1 hz , 1h ); 7 . 05 - 7 . 19 ( m , 2h ); 6 . 08 ( s , 1h ), 4 . 60 ( t , j = 5 . 1 hz , 1h ); 3 . 50 - 3 . 68 ( m , 10h ); 3 . 20 - 3 . 30 ( m , 2h ); and 1 . 78 - 1 . 86 ( m , 2h ). compound 8 was prepared in a similar manner as described in example 2 . 1 h nmr ( 300 mhz , cdcl 3 ), δ ( ppm ): 8 . 38 ( br s , 1h ); 8 . 30 ( dd , j = 7 . 2 , 1 . 8 , 1h ), 8 . 02 ( br s , 1h ); 8 . 00 ( s , 1h ); 7 . 44 - 7 . 41 ( m , 2h ); 7 . 32 - 7 . 26 ( m , 2h ); 6 . 14 ( s , 1h ); 4 . 51 - 4 . 42 ( m , 2h ); 4 . 22 - 4 . 12 ( m , 2h ); 3 . 96 - 3 . 91 ( m , 1h ); 3 . 84 - 3 . 79 ( m , 4h ); 3 . 70 - 3 . 64 ( m , 4h ); 1 . 47 ( s , 3h ); and 1 . 38 ( s , 3h ). compound 9 was prepared in a similar manner as described in example 2 . 1 h nmr ( 300 mhz , cdcl 3 ), δ ( ppm ): 8 . 43 ( bs , 1h ); 8 . 30 ( d , j = 7 . 5 hz 1h ); 8 . 2 ( bs , 1h ); 8 . 02 ( d , j = 2 . 7 hz , 1h ); 7 . 46 - 7 . 40 ( m , 2h ); 7 . 30 - 7 . 26 ( m , 2h ); 6 . 82 ( d , j = 1 hz , 3h ); 4 . 45 ( d , j = 3 . 6 hz , 1h ); 4 . 45 ( t , j = 5 . 2 hz , 2h ); 3 . 87 ( d , j = 3 . 9 hz , 3h ); 3 . 86 ( d , j = 3 . 9 hz , 3h ); 3 . 81 ( s , 4h ); 3 . 67 ( s , 4h ); and 3 . 04 ( t , j = 5 . 0 hz , 2h ). compound 10 was prepared in a similar manner as described in example 2 . 1 h nmr ( 300 mhz , cdcl 3 ), δ ( ppm ): 9 . 3 ( bs , 1h ); 8 . 66 ( s , 1h ); 8 . 55 - 8 . 53 ( m , 1h ); 8 . 28 - 8 . 26 ( m , 1h ); 8 . 04 ( s , 1h ); 7 . 62 - 7 . 57 ( m , 1h ); 7 . 41 - 7 . 10 ( m , 6h ); 6 . 08 ( s , 1h ); 4 . 64 ( t , j = 6 . 6 hz , 2h ); 3 . 76 ( s , 4h ); 3 . 62 ( s , 4h ); and 3 . 26 ( t , j = 6 . 6 hz , 2h ). compound 11 was prepared in a similar manner as described in example 1 . 1 h nmr ( 300 mhz , dmso - d 6 ), δ ( ppm ): 11 . 47 ( s , 1h ); 10 . 65 ( s , 1h ); 8 . 50 ( d , j = 4 . 5 hz , 1h ); 8 . 26 ( s , 1h ); 8 . 20 - 8 . 18 ( m , 1h ); 7 . 72 - 7 . 68 ( m , 2h ); 7 . 45 - 7 . 42 ( m , 1h ); 7 . 29 - 7 . 18 ( m , 4h ); 6 . 17 ( s , 1h ); 3 . 73 ( s , 4h ); 3 . 5 ( s , 4h ); 2 . 79 ( t , j = 7 . 5 hz , 2h ); 2 - 58 - 2 . 51 ( m , 2h ); and 2 . 18 - 2 . 06 ( m , 2h ). compound 12 was prepared in a similar manner as described in example 2 . 1 h nmr ( 300 mhz , cdcl 3 ), λ ( ppm ): 8 . 55 - 8 . 48 ( m , 2h ); 7 . 71 ( s , 1h ); 7 . 65 - 7 . 55 ( m , 1h ); 7 . 49 - 7 . 42 ( m , 2h ); 7 . 30 - 7 . 15 ( m , 4h ); 6 . 08 ( s , 1h ); 4 . 64 ( t , j = 6 . 6 hz , 2h ); 3 . 81 - 3 . 75 ( m , 4h ); 3 . 64 - 3 . 61 ( m , 4h ); 3 . 25 ( t , j = 7 . 0 hz , 2h ); and 2 . 38 ( s , 3h ). compound 13 was prepared in a similar manner as described in example 2 . 1 h nmr ( 300 mhz , cdcl 3 ), δ ( ppm ): 8 . 58 - 8 . 50 ( m , 1h ); 8 . 43 ( s , 1h ); 7 . 95 ( s , 1h ); 7 . 64 - 7 . 58 ( m , 2h ); 7 . 30 - 7 . 25 ( m , 1h ); 7 . 18 - 7 . 05 ( m , 3h ); 6 . 07 ( s , 1h ); 4 . 65 ( t , j = 6 . 9 hz , 2h ); 3 . 80 - 3 . 76 ( m , 4h ); 3 . 64 - 3 . 61 ( m , 4h ); 3 . 26 ( t , j = 6 . 9 hz , 2h ); 2 . 40 ( q , j = 7 . 6 hz , 2h ); and 1 . 45 ( t , j = 7 . 6 hz , 3h ). compound 14 was prepared in a similar manner as described in example 1 . 1 h nmr ( 300 mhz , cdcl 3 ), δ ( ppm ): 9 . 6 ( bs , 1h ); 8 . 53 ( d , j = 4 . 5 hz , 1h ); 7 . 76 ( s , 1h ); 7 . 56 ( t , j = 6 hz , 1h ); 7 . 49 - 7 . 47 ( m , 2h ); 7 . 28 ( m , 1h ); 7 . 18 - 7 . 06 ( m , 3h ); 6 . 26 ( s , 1h ); 3 . 81 - 3 . 79 ( m , 4h ); 3 . 69 - 3 . 67 ( m , 4h ); 2 . 89 ( t , j = 7 . 8 hz , 2h ); 2 . 71 ( t , j = 7 . 5 hz , 2h ); 2 . 39 ( s , 3h ); and 2 . 22 ( t , j = 7 . 5 hz , 2h ). compound 15 was prepared in a similar manner as described in example 2 . 1 h nmr ( 300 mhz , cdcl 3 ), δ ( ppm ): 8 . 56 ( bs , 1h ), 7 . 66 - 7 . 46 ( m , 4h ), 7 . 32 - 7 . 26 ( m , 2h ), 7 . 16 - 7 . 14 ( m , 2h ), 6 . 44 ( s , 1h ), 4 . 69 ( t , j = 6 . 9 hz , 2h ), 3 . 80 - 3 . 77 ( m , 4h ), 3 . 63 - 3 . 60 ( m , 4h ), 3 . 31 ( t , j = 6 . 9 hz , 2h ), 2 . 39 ( s , 3h ). compound 16 was prepared in a similar manner as described in example 2 . 1 h nmr ( 300 mhz , cdcl 3 ), δ ( ppm ): 9 . 35 ( bs , 1h ); 8 . 54 ( dd , j = 0 . 9 , 4 . 2 hz , 1h ); 8 . 33 ( d , j = 7 . 5 hz , 1h ); 7 . 93 ( s , 1h ); 7 . 58 ( t , j = 7 . 2 hz , 1h ); 7 . 36 - 7 . 33 ( m , 2h ); 7 . 27 - 7 . 120 ( m , 4h ); 6 . 49 ( s , 1h ); 4 . 68 ( t , j = 7 . 2 hz , 2h ); 3 . 76 - 3 . 73 ( m , 4h ); 3 . 60 - 3 - 57 ( m , 4h ); 3 . 50 ( s , 3h ); and 3 . 33 - 3 . 28 ( t , j = 7 . 0 hz , 2h ). compound 17 was prepared in a similar manner as described in example 2 . 1 h nmr ( 300 mhz , cdcl 3 ), δ ( ppm ): 8 . 56 - 8 . 53 ( m , 1h ); 8 . 45 ( s , 1h ); 7 . 62 - 7 . 50 ( m , 3h ); 7 . 38 - 7 . 26 ( m , 3h ); 7 . 18 - 7 . 10 ( m , 1h ); 6 . 17 ( s , 1h ); 4 . 68 ( t , j = 6 . 9 hz , 2h ); 3 . 80 - 3 . 76 ( m , 4h ); 3 . 67 - 3 . 64 ( m , 4h ); 3 . 29 ( t , j = 6 . 9 hz , 2h ); and 2 . 41 ( s , 3h ). compound 18 was prepared in a similar manner as described in example 2 . 1 h nmr ( 300 mhz , dmso - d 6 ), δ ( ppm ): 11 . 82 ( bs , 1h ); 8 . 81 ( s , 1h ); 8 . 50 ( d , j = 4 . 5 hz , 1h ); 8 . 04 ( d , j = 6 . 9 hz , 1h ); 7 . 93 ( s , 1h ); 7 . 72 ( t , j = 6 . 9 hz , 1h ); 7 . 49 ( d , j = 6 . 9 hz , 1h ); 7 . 33 ( d , j = 7 . 8 hz , 1h ); 7 . 30 - 7 . 18 ( m , 3h ); 6 . 22 ( s , 1h ); 4 . 57 ( t , j = 6 . 3 hz , 2h ); 3 . 67 ( s , 4h ); 3 . 56 ( s , 4h ); and 3 . 15 ( t , j = 6 . 3 hz , 2h ). compound 19 was prepared in a similar manner as described in example 2 . 1 h nmr : ( 300 mhz , cdcl 3 ), δ ( ppm ): 9 . 20 ( br s , 1h ); 8 . 30 ( br s , 1h ); 8 . 29 ( t , j = 3 . 3 hz , 1h ); 8 . 18 - 8 . 12 ( m , 2h ); 7 . 44 - 7 . 41 ( m , 2h ); 7 . 26 - 7 . 18 ( m , 5h ); 6 . 08 ( s , 1h ); 4 . 66 ( t , j = 4 . 8 hz , 2h ); 4 . 29 ( t , j = 5 . 0 hz , 2h ); 3 . 80 - 3 . 76 ( m , 4h ); and 3 . 67 - 3 . 62 ( m , 4h ). compound 20 was prepared in a similar manner as described in example 2 . 1 h nmr ( 300 mhz , cdcl 3 ), δ ( ppm ): 8 . 55 ( s , 1h ); 8 . 34 ( br s , 1h ); 8 . 30 - 8 . 23 ( m , 1h ); 7 . 78 ( s , 1h ); 7 . 50 - 7 . 47 ( m , 2h ); 7 . 32 - 7 . 24 ( m , 1h ); 7 . 20 - 7 . 17 ( m , 3h ); 6 . 14 ( s , 1h ); 4 . 66 ( t , j = 5 . 0 hz , 2h ); 4 . 35 ( t , j = 4 . 8 hz , 2h ); 3 . 83 - 3 . 80 ( m , 4h ); 3 . 68 - 3 . 65 ( m , 4h ); and 2 . 40 ( s , 3h ). compound 21 was prepared in a similar manner as described in example 2 . 1 h nmr ( 300 mhz , cdcl 3 ), δ ppm : 8 . 41 ( bs , 1h ), 8 . 33 - 8 . 30 ( m , 1h ), 8 . 19 ( bs , 1h ), 7 . 95 ( s , 1h ), 7 . 41 - 7 . 37 ( m , 2h ), 7 . 29 - 7 . 25 ( m , 2h ), 5 . 96 ( s , 1h ), 4 . 65 ( t , j = 4 hz , 1h ), 3 . 83 - 3 . 80 ( m , 4h ), 3 . 65 - 3 . 62 ( m , 4h ), 3 . 36 ( dd , j = 6 . 3 , 13 . 5 hz , 2h ), 1 . 60 - 1 . 55 ( m , 2h ), 1 . 35 - 1 . 33 ( m , 4h ), 0 . 92 - 0 . 87 ( m , 3h ). to a solution of 3 - hydroxypyridine ( 950 mg , 10 mmol ) in anhydrous thf ( 50 ml ) at 0 ° c . under the nitrogen protection was added nah ( 60 % in oil ) ( 480 mg , 12 mmol ). the suspension was stirred for 0 . 5 h at 0 ° c ., and 2 , 4 , 6 - trichloropyrimidine ( 1 . 84 g , 10 mmol ) was added . after the mixture warmed to room temperature and stirred for 2 h , the reaction was quenched by ice brine and extracted with etoac ( 300 ml ). the organic phase was washed with brine , dried ( na 2 so 4 ), filtered , evaporated in vacuo . the cure product was purified by flash chromatography on a column of silica gel ( etoac - hexane , 1 : 7 ). the product ( 1 . 80 g , 7 . 4 mmol ) in ch 2 cl 2 ( 150 ml ) at 0 ° c . was added slowly morpholine ( 2 . 5 g , 28 mmol ). the reaction mixture was stirred at 0 ° c . for 1 h and another 1 h at room temperature . the mixture was washed with water . the organic phase was dried ( na 2 so 4 ), filtered and evaporated in vacuo and presented three isomers . the isomers was separated by flash chromatography on a column of silica gel ( etoac - hexane , 1 : 7 and 1 : 3 ) to obtain 4 -[ 6 - chloro - 2 -( pyridin - 3 - yloxy )- pyrimidin - 4 - yl ]- morpholine ( 320 mg , 14 . 7 %). 1 h nmr ( 300 mhz , cdcl 3 ), δ ( ppm ): 8 . 51 ( d , 1h , j = 2 . 7 hz ), 8 . 44 ( dd , 1h , j = 1 . 5 , j = 3 . 3 hz ), 7 . 53 - 7 . 49 ( m , 1h ), 7 . 34 - 7 . 3 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 25 ( s , 1h ), 3 . 71 - 3 . 67 ( m , 4h ), 3 . 51 - 3 . 48 ( m , 4h ). to a solution of 4 -[ 6 - chloro - 2 -( pyridin - 3 - yloxy )- pyrimidin - 4 - yl ]- morpholine ( 295 mg , 1 mmol ) in thf ( 10 ml ) was added anhydrous hydrazine ( 0 . 320 ml , 10 mmol ) under the nitrogen protection . the mixture was heated at 70 ° c . for 15 min . after cooling to room temperature , the reaction mixture was quenched by ice brine and extracted with etoac ( 100 ml ). the organic phase was washed with brine ( 10 ml ) and water ( 10 ml × 2 ), dried ( na 2 so 4 ), filtered , evaporated , and purified by flash chromatography on a column of silica gel ( ch 2 cl 2 and ch 2 cl 2 - meoh , 95 : 5 ) and to give [ 6 - morpholin - 4 - yl - 2 -( pyridin - 3 - yloxy )- pyrimidin - 4 - yl ]- hydrazine ( 180 mg ) in 62 % yield . m / z ( m + 1 ) 289 . 2 to a solution of [ 6 - morpholin - 4 - yl - 2 -( pyridin - 3 - yloxy )- pyrimidin - 4 - yl ]- hydrazine ( 180 mg ) ( 145 mg , 0 . 5 mmol ) and m - tolylaldehyde ( 72 mg , 0 . 6 mmol ) in meoh ( 10 ml ) was added acetic acid ( 1 drop ). the reaction mixture was stirred at room temperature for 12 h and white solid was precipitated . the resulting precipitate was collected by filtration and washed with little amount of metanol and to give 125 mg of compound 22 in 64 % yield . 1 h nmr ( 300 mhz , cdcl 3 ), δ ( ppm ): 8 . 71 ( s , 1h ), 8 . 57 ( d , 1h , j = 2 . 4 hz ), 8 . 44 ( dd , 1h , j = 1 . 5 , 3 . 2 hz ), 7 . 78 ( s , 1h ), 7 . 56 - 7 . 52 ( m , 1h ), 7 . 46 - 7 . 43 ( m , 2h ), 7 . 34 - 7 . 26 ( m , 2h ), 7 . 17 ( d , 1h , j = 8 . 1 hz ), 6 . 17 ( s , 1h ), 3 . 76 - 3 . 73 ( m , 4h ), 3 . 57 - 3 . 54 ( m , 4h ), 2 . 38 ( s , 3h ). benzamidine hydrochloride ( 7 . 06 g , 0 . 045 mol ) and dimethyl methylmalonate ( 6 . 0 g , 0 . 041 mol ) were dissolved in methanol ( 100 ml ). sodium methoxide ( 21 . 5 ml , 0 . 099 mol , 25 wt % solution in methanol ) was added and the solution was stirred at room temperature for 18 h . the volume of solvent was redcued to approximately 50 ml under reduced pressure , then poured onto ice water . this solution was neutralized with hoac which produced a white precipitate . this precipitate was collected and dried to produce a white solid ( 6 . 1 g , 74 %). 1 h nmr ( dmso - d 6 ) δ ( ppm ) 1 . 68 ( s , 3h ), 7 . 70 - 7 . 87 ( m , 3h ), 8 . 21 ( d , j = 8 . 4 hz ). 5 - methyl - 2 - phenyl - pyrimidine - 4 , 6 - diol ( 3 . 3 g , 0 . 016 mol ) and pocl 3 were heated to 60 c for 3 hrs . the solution was allowed to cool to room temperature then poured onto ice . the resultant white precipitate was filtered and dried to produce the desired compound as a white solid ( 810 mg , 21 %). 1 h nmr ( dmso - d 6 ) δ ( ppm ) 2 . 40 ( s , 3h ), 7 . 51 - 7 . 56 ( m , 3h ), 8 . 23 ( d , 8 . 4 hz ). 4 , 6 - dichloro - 5 - methyl - 2 - phenylpyrimidine ( 2 . 5 g , 0 . 010 mol ) and morpholine ( 2 . 93 g , 0 . 031 mol ) were dissolved in thf ( 50 ml ) and heated to reflux for 3 hrs . the solution was allowed to cool then etoac ( 100 ml ) and water ( 100 ml ) were added . the etoac layer was washed with water ( 3 × 100 ml ), dried over mgso 4 , filtered and solvent was removed under reduced pressure . the resultant solid was used without further purification ( 2 . 66 g , 92 %). 4 -( 6 - chloro - 5 - methyl - 2 - phenylpyrimidin - 4 - yl ) morpholine ( 439 mg , 1 . 51 mmol ) was dissolved in thf ( 50 ml ). hydrazine ( 0 . 25 ml , 7 . 96 mmol ) was added and the solution was heated to reflux for 18 hrs . the reaction was allowed to cool the solvent was removed under reduced pressure . etoac ( 100 ml ) and water ( 100 ml ) were added . the etoac layer was washed with water ( 3 × 100 ml ), dried over mgso 4 , filtered and solvent was removed under reduced pressure to produce a white solid ( 374 mg ). this solid was redissolved in thf ( 50 ml ) and m - tolualdehyde ( 157 mg , 1 . 31 mmol ) was added . the solution was heated to reflux for 4 hrs then allowed to cool . solvent was removed under reduced pressure then etoac ( 100 ml ) and water ( 100 ml ) were added . the etoac layer was washed with water ( 3 × 100 ml ), dried over mgso 4 , filtered and solvent was removed under reduced pressure . the crude product was purified by silcagel column chromatography , eluting with 25 % etoac / hexane to produce the pure desired product as a yellow solid ( 313 mg , 53 %). 1 h nmr ( dmso - d 6 ) δ ( ppm ) 2 . 26 ( s , 3h ), 2 . 36 ( s , 3h ), 3 . 35 ( m , 4h ), 3 . 75 - 3 . 78 ( m , 4h ), 7 . 20 ( d , j = 6 . 9 hz ), 7 . 33 ( t , j = 6 . 9 hz ), 7 . 47 - 7 . 52 ( m , 5h ), 8 . 19 ( s , 1h ), 8 . 35 - 8 . 38 ( m , 2h ), 10 . 60 ( s , 1h ). compound 24 was prepared in a similar manner as described in example 23 . 1 h - nmr ( dmso - d 6 ) δ 2 . 36 ( s , 3h ), 2 . 76 ( s , 4h ), 4 . 07 ( s , 4h ), 6 . 36 ( s , 1h ), 7 . 19 ( d , j = 8 . 1 hz ), 7 . 32 ( t , j = 8 . 1 hz ), 7 . 47 - 7 . 57 ( m , 5h ), 8 . 09 ( s , 1h ), 8 . 30 - 8 . 31 ( m , 1h ), 11 . 02 ( s , 1h ). to a solution of 2 -( pyridin - 3 - yloxy )- ethanol ( 3 . 48 g , 25 mmol ) in 40 ml of anhydrous thf at room temperature under the n 2 , 2 , 4 , 6 - trichloro pyrimidine ( 4 . 56 g , 25 mmol ) was added followed by portionwise addition of nah ( 60 % suspension in oil , 1 . 1 g , 27 . 5 mmol ). after 30 min of stirring reaction was quenched with water , water layer extracted with etoac , combined organic solutions washed with brine and dried over mgso 4 . purification using flash chromatography ( silica ; dichloromethane / acetone / methanol : 3 / 1 / 0 . 1 ) afforded mixture of 4 , 6 - dichloro - 2 - and 2 , 6 - dichloro - 4 -[ 2 -( pyridin - 3 - yloxy )- ethoxy ]- pyrimidines ( 3 . 72 g , 52 %), ( nmr ratio 1 : 1 . 2 ) as an oil . to a solution of the above mixture ( 3 . 72 g , 13 mmol ) in 20 ml of 1 , 4 - dioxane was added dipea ( 2 . 49 ml , 14 . 3 mmol ), followed by 2 , 3 - dimethyl - 5 - amino - indole ( 2 . 08 g , 13 mmol ) and a mixture was refluxed for 1 hour . solvent was removed under reduced pressure and reaction mixture was separated using column chromatography ( silica ; dichloromethane / acetone / methanol : 3 / 1 / 0 . 1 ) to afford { 6 - chloro - 2 -[ 2 -( pyridin - 3 - yloxy )- ethoxy ]- pyrimidin - 4 - yl }- amine ( 2 . 07 g , 39 %). an mixture of { 4 - chloro - 6 -[ 2 -( pyridin - 3 - yloxy )- ethoxy ]- pyrimidin - 4 - yl }- amine and { 2 - chloro - 6 -[ 2 -( pyridin - 3 - yloxy )- ethoxy ]- pyrimidin - 4 - yl }- amine ( 2 . 5 g , 47 %) was also obtained and used in another reaction . a solution of { 6 - chloro - 2 -[ 2 -( pyridin - 3 - yloxy )- ethoxy ]- pyrimidin - 4 - yl }- amine ( 2 . 07 g , 5 . 05 mmol ) and morpholine ( 1 . 32 ml , 15 . 15 mmol ) in 1 , 4 - dioxane was heated at 110 ° c . for 24 hours . solvent was removed under reduced pressure and reaction mixture was purified using flash chromatography ( silica ; dichloromethane / acetone / methanol : 3 / 1 / 0 . 1 ) to afford compound 25 ( 2 g , 86 %) as a colorless solid . 1 h nmr ( 300 mhz , cdcl 3 ), δ ( ppm ): 8 . 34 ( br s , 1h ), 8 . 23 ( dd , 1h , j = 3 . 6 , 2 . 1 ), 7 . 96 ( brs , 1h ), 7 . 34 - 7 . 21 ( m , 4h ), 6 . 98 ( dd , 1h , j = 8 . 4 , 1 . 8 hz ), 6 . 60 ( brs , 1h ), 5 . 36 ( s , 1h ), 4 . 65 ( t , 2h , j = 5 . 1 hz ), 4 . 34 ( t , 2h , j = 5 . 1 hz ), 3 . 66 ( m , 4h ), 3 . 42 ( m , 4h ), 2 . 37 ( s , 3h ), and 2 . 20 ( s , 3h ). reaction of a mixture of { 4 - chloro - 6 -[ 2 -( pyridin - 3 - yloxy )- ethoxy ]- pyrimidin - 4 - yl }- amine and { 2 - chloro - 6 -[ 2 -( pyridin - 3 - yloxy )- ethoxy ]- pyrimidin - 4 - yl }- amine ( 2 . 5 g , 47 %) and ( 2 . 5 g , 6 . 1 mmol ) with morpholine was carried out as described in example 24 . purification by flash chromatography and recrystallization from ether - pentane gave 0 . 3 g of compound 26 . 1 h nmr ( 300 mhz , cdcl 3 ), δ ( ppm ): 8 . 36 ( br s , 1h ), 8 . 24 ( m , 1h ), 7 . 85 ( m , 1h ), 7 . 70 ( brs , 1h ), 7 . 26 - 7 . 14 ( m , 4h ), 6 . 78 ( brs , 1h ), 5 . 42 ( s , 1h ), 4 . 68 ( t , 2h , j = 5 . 1 ), 4 . 31 ( t , 2h , j = 5 . 1 ), 3 . 70 ( m , 4h ), 3 . 54 ( m , 4h ), 2 . 35 ( s , 3h ), and 2 . 18 ( s , 3h ). compound 27 was prepared in a similar manner as described in example 1 . 1 h nmr ( 300 mhz , cdcl 3 ), δ ( ppm ): 8 . 22 ( s , 1h ); 7 . 69 ( s , 1h ); 8 . 07 ( s , 1h ); 7 . 47 ( m , 2h ); 7 . 28 ( t , j = 7 . 5 hz , 1h ); 7 . 17 ( d , j = 7 . 5 hz , 1h ); 6 . 23 ( s , 1h ); 4 . 13 ( q , j = 7 . 2 hz , 2h ); 3 . 78 - 3 . 81 ( m , 4h ); 3 . 62 - 3 . 65 ( m , 4h ); 2 . 98 ( t , j = 7 . 2 hz , 2h ); 2 . 77 ( t , j = 7 . 2 hz , 2h ); 2 . 39 ( s , 3h ); 1 . 24 ( t , j = 7 . 2 hz , 3h ). reagents . staphylococcus aureus cowan i ( sac ) was obtained from calbiochem ( la jolla , calif . ), and lipopolysaccharide ( lps , serratia marscencens ) was obtained from sigma ( st . louis , mo .). human and mouse recombinant ifnγ were purchased from boehringer mannheim ( mannheim , germany ) and pharmingen ( san diego , calif . ), respectively . human in vitro assay . human pbmc were isolated by centrifugation using ficoll - paque ( pharmacia biotech , uppsala , sweden ) and prepared in rpmi medium supplemented with 10 % fetal calf serum ( fcs ), 100 u / ml penicillin , and 100 μg / ml streptomycin . pbmc were plated in wells of a 96 - well plate at a concentration of 5 × 10 5 cells / well , and primed by adding ifnγ ( 30 u / ml ) for 22 h and stimulated by adding lps ( 1 μg / ml ), or by adding ifnγ ( 100 u / ml ) and then stimulated by adding sac ( 0 . 01 %). a test pyrimidine compound was dissolved in dmso , and added to wells of the 96 - well plate . the final dmso concentration was adjusted to 0 . 25 % in all cultures , including the compound - free control . human thp - 1 cells were plated in wells , primed by adding ifnγ ( 100 u / ml ) for 22 h and stimulated by adding sac ( 0 . 025 %) in the presence of different concentrations of the pyrimidine compound . cell - free supernatants were taken 18 h later for measurement of cytokines . cell viability was assessed using the bioreduction of mts . cell survival was estimated by determining the ratio of the absorbance in compound - treated groups versus compound - free control . the supernatant was assayed for the amount of il - 12p40 , il - 12p70 , or il - 10 by using a sandwich elisa with anti - human antibodies , i . e ., a human il - 12 p40 elisa kit from r & amp ; d systems ( berkeley , calif . ), and a human il - 12 p70 or il - 10 elisa kit from endogen ( cambridge , mass .). assays were based on the manufacturer &# 39 ; s instructions . murine in vitro assay . balb / c mice ( taconic , germantown , n . y .) were immunized with mycobacterium tuberculosis h37ra ( difco , detroit , mich .). the splenocytes were harvested 5 days and prepared in rpmi medium supplemented with 10 % fcs and antibiotics in a flat bottom 96 - well plate with 1 × 10 6 cells / well . the splenocytes were then stimulated with a combination of ifnγ ( 60 ng / ml ) and sac ( 0 . 025 %) [ or lps ( 20 μg / ml )] in the presence of a test compound . cell - free supernatants were taken 24 h later for the measurement of cytokines . the preparation of compound and the assessment of cell viability were carried out as described above . mouse il - 12 p70 , il - 10 , il - 1β , and tnfα were measured using elisa kits from endogen , according to the manufacturer &# 39 ; s instructions . the biological activities of pyrimidine compounds were tested on human pbmc or thp - 1 cells . many of the compounds have ic 50 values of 5 μm or less . unexpectedly , some of the test compounds have ic 50 values as low as 1 nm . treatment of adjuvant arthritis in rats : adjuvant arthritis ( aa ) was induced in female lewis rats by the intracutaneous injection ( base of the tail ) of 0 . 1 ml of a 10 mg / ml bacterial suspension made from ground , heat - killed mycobacterium tuberculosis h37ra suspended in incomplete freund &# 39 ; s adjuvant . rats were given a test compound orally once a day for 12 days , starting the day following the induction . the development of polyarthritis was monitored daily by macroscopic inspection and assignment of an arthritis index to each animal , during the critical period ( days 10 to 25 post - immunization ). the intensity of polyarthritis was scored according to the following scheme : ( a ) grade each paw from 0 to 3 based on erythema , swelling , and deformity of the joints : 0 for no erythema or swelling ; 0 . 5 if swelling is detectable in at least one joint ; 1 for mild swelling and erythema ; 2 for swelling and erythema of both tarsus and carpus ; and 3 for ankylosis and bony deformity . maximum score for all 4 paws was thus 12 . ( b ) grade for other parts of the body : for each ear , 0 . 5 for redness and another 0 . 5 if knots are present ; 1 for connective tissue swelling ( saddle nose ); and 1 for the presence of knots or kinks in the tail . the highest possible arthritic index was 16 . experiments with the aa model were repeated four times . oral administration of pyrimidine compounds of this invention ( e . g ., compound 12 ) reproducibly reduced the arthritic score and delayed the development of polyarthritis in a dose - dependent manner . the arthritis score used in this model was a reflection of the inflammatory state of the structures monitored and the results therefore show the ability of the test compound to provide relief for this aspect of the pathology . treatment of crohn &# 39 ; s disease in dinitrobenzene sulfonic acid - induced inflammatory bowel syndrome model rats : wistar derived male or female rats weighing 200 ± 20 g and fasted for 24 hours were used . distal colitis was induced by intra - colonic instillation of 2 , 4 - dinitrobenzene sulfonic acid ( dnbs , 25 mg in 0 . 5 ml ethanol 30 %) after which air ( 2 ml ) was gently injected through the cannula to ensure that the solution remained in the colon . a test compound and / or vehicle was administered orally 24 and 2 hours before dnbs instillation and then daily for 5 days . one control group was similarly treated with vehicle alone while the other is treated with vehicle plus dnbs . the animals were sacrificed 24 hours after the final dose of test compound administration and each colon was removed and weighed . colon - to - body weight ratio was then calculated for each animal according to the formula : colon ( g )/ bw × 100 . the “ net ” increase in ratio of vehicle - control + dnbs group relative to vehicle - control group was used as a base for comparison with test substance treated groups and expressed as “% deduction .” pyrimidine compounds of this invention ( e . g ., compound 12 ) reproducibly had about 30 % deduction . a 30 % or more reduction in colon - to - body weight ratio , relative to the vehicle treated control group , was considered significant . rats treated with test substance orally showed a marked reduction in the inflammatory response . these experiments were repeated three times and the effects were reproducible . treatment of crohn &# 39 ; s disease in cd4 + cd45rb high t cell - reconstituted scid colitis model mice : spleen cells were prepared from normal female balb / c mice . for cell purification , the following anti - mouse antibodies were used to label non - cd4 + t cells : b220 ( ra3 - 6b2 ), cd11b ( m1 / 70 ), and cd8α ( 53 - 6 . 72 ). all antibodies were obtained from biosource ( camarillo , calif .). m450 anti - rat igg - coated magnetic beads ( dynal , oslo , norway ) were used to bind the antibodies and negative selection was accomplished using an mpc - 1 magnetic concentrator . the enriched cd4 + cells were then labeled for cell sorting with fitc - conjugated cd45rb ( 16a , pharmingen , san diego , calif .) and pe - conjugated cd4 ( ct - cd4 , caltag , burlingame , calif .). cd4 + cd45rb high cells were operationally defined as the upper 40 % of cd45rb - staining cd4 + cells and sorted under sterile conditions by flow cytometry . harvested cells were resuspended at 4 × 10 6 / ml in pbs and injected 100 μl intraperitoneally into female c . b - 17 scid mice . pyrimidine compounds of this invention ( e . g ., compound 12 ) and / or vehicle was orally administered once a day , 5 days per week , starting the day following the transfer . the transplanted scid mice were weighed weekly and their clinical condition was monitored . colon tissue samples were fixed in 10 % buffered formalin and embedded in paraffin . sections ( 4 μm ) collected from ascending , transverse , and descending colon were cut and stained with hematoxylin and eosin . the severity of colitis was determined based on histological examination of the distal colon sections , whereby the extent of colonic inflammation was graded on a scale of 0 - 3 in each of four criteria : crypt elongation , cell infiltration , depletion of goblet cells , and the number of crypt abscesses . lp lymphocytes were isolated from freshly obtained colonic specimens . after removal of payer &# 39 ; s patches , the colon was washed in ca / mg - free hbss , cut into 0 . 5 cm pieces and incubated twice in hbss containing edta ( 0 . 75 mm ), dtt ( 1 mm ), and antibiotics ( amphotericin 2 . 5 μg / ml , gentamicin 50 μg / ml from sigma ) at 37 ° c . for 15 min . next , the tissue was digested further in rpmi containing 0 . 5 mg / ml collagenase d , 0 . 01 mg / ml dnase i ( boehringer manheim ), and antibiotics at 37 ° c . lp cells were then layered on a 40 - 100 % percoll gradient ( pharmacia , uppsala , sweden ), and lymphocyte - enriched populations were isolated from the cells at the 40 - 100 % interface . to measure cytokine production , 48 - well plates were coated with 10 μg / ml murine anti - cd3ε antibody ( 145 - 2c11 ) in carbonate buffer ( ph 9 . 6 ) overnight at 4 ° c . 5 × 10 5 lp cells were then cultured in 0 . 5 ml of complete medium in precoated wells in the presence of 1 μg / ml soluble anti - cd28 antibody ( 37 . 51 ). purified antibodies were obtained from pharmingen . culture supernatants were removed after 48 h and assayed for cytokine production . murine ifnγ was measured using an elisa kit from endogen ( cambridge , mass . ), according to the manufacturer &# 39 ; s instructions . histological analysis showed that oral administration of pyrimidine compounds of this invention ( e . g ., compound 12 ) reduced colonic inflammation as compared to vehicle control . the suppressive effect was dose - dependent with a substantial reduction at a dose of 10 mg / kg . the calculated colon - to - body weight ratio was consistent with the histological score , showing attenuation by treatment with the test compound . furthermore , analysis of cytokines from lp cells in response to anti - cd3 antibody and anti - cd28 antibody demonstrated that lp cells from vehicle control produced an augmented level of ifnγ and treatment with test substance greatly diminished the production . these results clearly demonstrated the potential of the test substance in treatment of inflammatory bowel disease represented by crohn &# 39 ; s disease . the compounds of the invention inhibit the expression of p40 that is a subunit of both il - 12 and il - 23 . therefore , inhibition of il - 23 in addition to il - 12 is expected . in order to confirm the hypothesis , an assay was established to specifically detect il - 23 using polyclonal antibodies recognizing p19 ( r & amp ; d systems , mn ), an il - 23 specific subunit . a 96 - well plate was coated with the antibodies at 1 μg / ml , and after washing incubated with the supernatants of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells ( pbmc ). the culture was stimulated with 1 μg / ml of liposaccharide ( lps ) ( fig2 ) or 0 . 025 % of s . aureus cowan i ( sac ) ( fig1 ) in the presence of test compound after ifn - γ priming . the captured il - 23 was then detected by a biotinylated goat anti - human p40 antibody that binds to p40 subunit of human il - 12 and il - 23 as a monomer or in the context of the respective heterodimer ( part 840099 of product dy1240 from r & amp ; d systems ). the plate was developed by incubation with streptavidin - hrp and then substrate solution ( r & amp ; d systems cat # dy999 ). recombinant il - 23 ( r & amp ; d systems ) was added as standard in the assay . the estimated detection range is from 0 . 1 to 10 ng / ml , and 1 ng / ml recombinant il - 12 heterodimer ( cell sciences , ma ) and p40 monomer ( r & amp ; d systems ) were under detection limit . to compare with the inhibition of il - 23 , the supernatant was also analyzed for il - 12 heterodimer and total p40 proteins using il - 12 specific elisa kit ( cell sciences ) and p40 elisa kit ( r & amp ; d systems ) respectively . il - 23 was significantly induced in ifn - γ / sac and ifn - γ / lps - stimulated human pbmc , and was inhibited by compound 12 in a dose - dependent manner . the inhibitory activity of compound 12 against il - 23 was comparable to that against p40 and slightly lower than that against il - 12 . gene expression of peripheral blood mononuclear cells after treatment with a compound of the invention changes in gene expression patterns of peripheral blood mononuclear cells ( pbmc ) are studied using a gene chip microarrays ( affymetrix , inc .). pbmc are stimulated with ifnγ plus sac , then dosed with 0 . 1 , 1 . 0 , 10 , 100 , or 1000 nm of a compound of the invention for 3 h . control pbmc are stimulated with ifγ alone and ifnγ plus sac . changes in gene expression patterns between the control samples and the samples dosed with a compound of the invention are compared . in order to know the kinetics in the expression , pbmc with ifnγ / sac are further studied at different time points ( 20 min , 1 . 5 h , 3 h , 6 h , and 16 h ) after the addition of the stimulus . in addition , pbmc preparations can be fractionated into t - cell enriched and monocyte - macrophage enriched populations , in order to distinguish the effects of a compound of the invention on these cell populations , following ifnγ / sac stimulation . genes preferentially expressed in monocyte / macrophage cells include first and foremost , those encoding the p40 subunit of il - 12 and il - 23 , as well as the p35 subunit of il - 12 . the expression of ebi3 is induced after stimulation with ifnγ / sac , and is expected to be dose - dependently inhibited by a compound of the invention because il - 27 is a heterodimer formed from subunits ebi3 and p28 , and ebi3 shares 27 % amino acid sequence homology with il - 12 p40 and p28 is a protein related to the p35 subunit of il - 12 . all of the features disclosed in this specification may be combined in any combination . each feature disclosed in this specification may be replaced by an alternative feature serving the same , equivalent , or similar purpose . thus , unless expressly stated otherwise , each feature disclosed is only an example of a generic series of equivalent or similar features . from the above description , one skilled in the art can easily ascertain the essential characteristics of the present invention , and without departing from the spirit and scope thereof , can make various changes and modifications of the invention to adapt it to various usages and conditions . for example , compounds structurally analogous a pyrimidine compound described in the specification also can be made , screened for their inhibiting il - 12 activities , and used to practice this invention . thus , other embodiments are also within the claims .
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the present invention includes a standardized sample that may be used for evaluation and calibration of scatterometry equipment . as shown in fig3 , a representative embodiment of the standardized sample 300 has a square or rectangular shape that is conveniently described using x and y cartesian coordinates . standardized sample 300 is typically subdivided into four equal - sized quadrants ( labeled 1 through 4 in fig3 ). each quadrant is a square 1 . 24 cm by 1 . 24 cm making the entire standardized sample 2 . 5 cm square . each of these dimensions may be varied to suit the needs of particular applications . each quadrant is further subdivided into five blocks - an inner block and four outer blocks . in fig3 , the inner blocks are labeled by their quadrant number followed by the letter e ( 1 e , 2 e , 3 e and 4 e ). the outer blocks are labeled with their quadrant number followed by one of the letters a through d ( e . g ., 1 a or 3 b ). as shown more clearly in fig4 , the four outer blocks in each quadrant are grouped into two pairs : a vertically oriented pair including blocks a and c and a horizontally oriented pair including blocks b and d . for this particular example , the vertically oriented blocks ( a and c ) are 0 . 4 cm long in the x dimension and 0 . 8 cm long in the y dimension . the horizontally oriented blocks ( b and d ) are 0 . 8 cm long in the x dimension and 0 . 4 cm long in the y dimension . the inner block ( e ) is 0 . 4 cm by 0 . 4 cm . each quadrant is divided into a series of panels as shown in fig5 . the outer blocks a through d include six panels . the inner block e includes four panels . each of these panels is further subdivided into a series of test regions . as shown in fig6 , each of the panels within the outer blocks a through d includes five test areas . this gives each outer block a total of thirty test regions . each of the panels within the inner block e includes four test regions giving inner block e a total of sixteen test regions . each test regions includes the foreground pattern 700 shown in fig7 . the foreground pattern includes is a series of thirteen square gratings 702 . each grating 702 has a different size . for the particular example shown this includes 25 μm , 30 μm , 35 μm , 40 μm , 45 μm , 50 μm , 55 μm , 60 μm , 70 μm , 80 μm , 100 μm , 120 μm , and 140 μm gratings 702 . the size of each grating is printed to the grating &# 39 ; s left . for the example being described , the printing is 10 μm tall and is spaced 20 μm from the associated grating . the foreground pattern 700 also includes an alignment marker 704 . the alignment marker 704 is a 100 μm by 100 μm box that includes a pair of crossed , perpendicular lines . fig8 shows a representative implementation of a quadrant 302 with the foreground pattern 700 repeated in each test region . the same pitch is used for each of the thirteen gratings 702 within a given test region . a single pitch is also used for each of the test regions included in a given panel . this means , for example that each of the gratings within the four test regions of the first panel of the inner block has a 1000 nm pitch . the pitches used within each panel ( and each included test region and grating ) are summarized in the following table : panel 1 panel 2 panel 3 panel 4 panel 5 panel 6 1e 1000 nm 800 nm 700 nm 600 nm n / a 2e 500 nm 400 nm 300 nm 200 nm 3e 500 nm 400 nm 300 nm 200 nm 4e 1000 nm 800 nm 700 nm 600 nm 1a 1500 nm 1400 nm 1200 nm 1000 nm 900 nm 800 nm . . . 1d 2a 1500 nm 1400 nm 1200 nm 1000 nm 900 nm 800 nm . . . 2d 3a 700 nm 600 nm 500 nm 400 nm 300 nm 200 nm . . . 3d 4a 700 nm 600 nm 500 nm 400 nm 300 nm 200 nm . . . 4d as shown in this table , a wide range of pitches are included starting at 200 nm and extending to 1500 nm . as discussed , the same pitch is used for each grating within a given panel . the line size and line spacing is not , however , held constant within any panel . instead , the panels are configured so that each test area has a different line space and line size . for the first panel of the inner block e this means that the test regions have line spaces of 1 : 1 , 1 : 2 , 1 : 3 and 1 : 5 , respectively . the line spaces and line sizes used within each test region of each panel are summarized in the following table : test test test test test region region region region region 1 2 3 4 5 1b , 1c , l : s = 1 : 1 l : s = 1 : 2 l : s = 1 : 3 l : s = 1 : 4 l : s = 1 : 5 2b , 2c 1a , 1d , l : s = 5 : 1 l : s = 4 : 1 l : s = 3 : 1 l : s = 2 : 1 l : s = 1 : 1 2a , 2d 3b , 3c , l : s = 1 : 6 l : s = 1 : 7 l : s = 1 : 8 l : s = 1 : 10 film stack 4b , 4c 1a , 1d , l : s = 10 : 1 l : s = 8 : 1 l : s = 7 : 1 l : s = 6 : 1 film stack 2a , 2d 1e , 2e , l : s = 1 : 1 l : s = 1 : 2 l : s = 1 : 3 l : s = 1 : 5 n / a 3e , 4e as shown in this table , blocks b and c ( in all quadrants ) may be described as light fields . in these blocks line sizes are greater than , or equal to line spacings . blocks a and d ( in all quadrants ) are dark fields - line spacings are greater than , or equal to line sizes . this subdivision ( of blocks into light and dark fields ) splits the vertically oriented pair of blocks ( a and c ) into a conjugate pair including one light and one dark field . each test region in either of these blocks ( a or c ) is a negative image of the same test region in the block &# 39 ; s pair ( a or c ). in this context , negative image is meant to describe the situation where the line spacing a test region matches the line size of a second region ( and the line size within the first test region matches the line spacing within the second ). the horizontally oriented pair of blocks ( b and d ) is similarly split into a conjugate pair of one light and one dark field and test regions in either of these blocks ( b or d ) are negative images of the same test region in the block &# 39 ; s pair ( b or d ). as described , each test region includes the foreground pattern shown in fig7 . the panels within inner block e also include a background pattern . as shown in fig9 , the background pattern for the panels in inner blocks e 1 and e 3 is a 2 μm grid with a line width of 0 . 4 μm . fig1 shows the background pattern for inner blocks e 2 and e 4 . that background pattern is a grid of holes spaced at 1 μm . each hole has a diameter of 0 . 2 μm . standardized sample 300 is created by etching the surface of a dielectric film to create foreground patterns 700 . depending on the particular application , a wide range of different film stacks may be used for this purpose . one of these is labeled a in fig1 . as shown , film stack a includes a number of layers . the first ( lowermost ) of these ( layer 0 ) is a silicon substrate . the substrate is followed by a 100a oxide layer ( layer 1 ), a 500a nitride layer ( layer 2 ), and 4000a oxide layer ( layer 3 ). the etching process stops at the bottom of the uppermost layer ( layer 3 ). film stack a is intended to be easily etchable . the nitride layer ( layer 2 ) provides a robust stop for the etching process ( since it etches slowly ). the 100a oxide layer ( layer 1 ) ensures that the nitride layer ( layer 2 ) is not deposited directly on the silicon substrate ( layer 0 ). a second possible film stack is labeled b in fig1 . as shown , film stack b includes two layers . the first of these ( layer 0 ) is a silicon substrate . the substrate is followed by a 4000 a oxide ( layer 1 ). this combination ( ox / si ) is used to represent a dielectric etch . the etching process stops at the bottom of the uppermost layer ( layer 1 ). film stack b is intended to provide a simplified system for characterizing scatterometer performance . the use of two layers means that unnecessary variables and unknowns are eliminated . in some cases , it is possible that the etching process used to create film stack b will extend beyond the bottom of the uppermost layer ( layer 1 ). fig1 shows a film stack c that exhibits “ roughing ” of this type . to account for this , the scatterometry model used for film stack c is modified to include an effective medium at the bottom of the trenches formed during the etch process . fig1 shows a film stack d intended to model deep trenches . as shown , film stack d includes two layers . the first of these ( layer 0 ) is a silicon substrate . the substrate is followed by a 15000 a oxide ( layer 1 ). this combination ( ox / si ) is used to represent a dielectric etch . the etching process stops midway through the uppermost layer ( layer 1 ). the use of a thick , partially etched layer makes film stack d an effective model for deep trenches . fig1 shows a film stack e that includes three layers . the first of these ( layer 0 ) is a silicon substrate . the substrate is followed by a 100 a oxide layer ( layer 1 ), and a 1500 a nitride layer ( layer 2 ). this combination ( nitride / ox / si ) is used to represent nitride / ox / si . the etching process stops midway through the substrate layer ( layer 0 ). film stacks a , b , d and e are relatively simple and include a limited number of layers . to accurately model real - world samples , it is often necessary to include more layers . at the same time , it is generally desirable to avoid the tendency of many layer materials to age or change in response to exposure to light . fig1 shows a film stack f intended to address both of these objectives . film stack f includes a total of five layers . the first of these ( layer 0 ) is a silicon substrate . the substrate is followed by a 20 a oxide layer ( layer 1 ), a 2000 a poly - si layer ( layer 2 ), an inorganic arc ( sioxny ) layer at 193 / 248 nm ( layer 3 ) and a 3000 a oxide layer ( layer 4 ). the etching process stops at the bottom of the uppermost layer ( layer 4 ). layer 4 is intended to provide an inorganic substitute for an organic resist layer . the oxide used in this layer closely models the dielectric response of resist and is stable over time and exposure to light . layer 3 is , similarly intended to provide an inorganic and stable substitute for an organic arc ( anti - reflective coating ). fig1 a through 17 e show simulated spectral response curves for film stack f . the first figure in this series ( fig1 a ) shows the type of response that would be exhibited by film stack f during inspection by a reflectometer . each of the following figures is similar , except that the responses correspond to inspection by spectral ellipsometer . in particular , these curves correspond to the response curve of a broadband rotating compensator ellipsometer ( rce ) of the type disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 877 , 859 , incorporated herein by reference . in the case of fig1 b , the dc signal generated by a spectral ellipsometer is shown . fig1 c and 17 d show the sine of the two and four omega signals , respectively . fig1 e shows the cosine of the four omega signal . fig1 shows an un - etched , or pre - etched version of film stack f . un - etched portions of the film stack can be used to ascertain the dielectric properties of the film stack independently from the diffractive qualities of the gratings within the standardized sample . un - etched portions ( or entirely un - etched film stacks ) may also be used for calibration of ellipsometers and reflectometers . fig1 a through 19 d show simulated spectral response curves for the un - etched version of film stack f . the first figure in this series ( fig1 a ) shows the type of response that would be exhibited by the un - etched film stack f during inspection by a reflectometer . each of the following figures is similar , except that the responses correspond to inspection by spectral ellipsometer ( rce ). in the case of fig1 b , the dc signal generated by an off - axis spectral ellipsometer is shown . fig1 c and 19 d are calculations of the conventional ellipsometric parameters tan ( psi ) and cosine ( delta ) respectively . fig2 shows a second example of a film stack that is both stable and relatively complex . as shown , film stack g includes a total of four layers . the first of these ( layer 0 ) is a silicon substrate . the substrate is followed by a 20 a oxide layer ( layer 1 ), a 2000 a poly - si layer ( layer 2 ), and an inorganic arc ( sioxny ) layer at 193 / 248 nm ( layer 3 ). the etching process stops at the bottom of the top two layers ( layers 2 and 3 ). as described for film stack f , layer 3 is intended to provide an inorganic and stable substitute for an organic arc ( anti - reflective coating ). fig2 a through 21 e show simulated spectral response curves for film stack g . the first figure in this series ( fig2 a ) shows the type of response that would be exhibited by film stack g during inspection by a reflectometer . each of the following figures is similar , except that the responses correspond to inspection by spectral ellipsometer ( rce ). in the case of fig2 b , the dc signal generated by a spectral ellipsometer is shown . fig2 c and 21 d show the sine of the two and four omega signals , respectively . fig2 e shows the cosine of the four omega signal . fig2 shows an un - etched , or pre - etched version of film stack g . un - etched portions of the film stack can be used to ascertain the dielectric properties of the film stack independently from the diffractive qualities of the gratings within the standardized sample . un - etched portions ( or entirely un - etched film stacks ) may also be used for calibration of ellipsometers and reflectometers . fig2 a through 23 d show simulated spectral response curves for the un - etched version of film stack g . the first figure in this series ( fig2 a ) shows the type of response that would be exhibited by the un - etched film stack g during inspection by a reflectometer . each of the following figures is similar , except that the responses correspond to inspection by spectral ellipsometer ( rce ). in the case of fig2 b , the dc signal generated by an off - axis spectral ellipsometer is shown . fig2 c and 23 d show the calculation of tan ( psi ) and cos ( delta ) ellipsometric parameters . fig2 shows a third example of a stable film stack . as shown , film stack h includes a total of three layers . the first of these ( layer 0 ) is a silicon substrate . the substrate is followed by a 20 a oxide layer ( layer 1 ), and a 2000 a poly - si layer ( layer 2 ). this combination ( poly - si / ox / si ) is used to represent poly / ox / si . the etching process stops at the bottom of the uppermost layer ( layer 2 ). fig2 shows an un - etched , or pre - etched version of film stack h . un - etched portions of the film stack can be used to ascertain the dielectric properties of the film stack independently from the diffractive qualities of the gratings within the standardized sample . un - etched portions ( or entirely un - etched film stacks ) may also be used for calibration of ellipsometers and reflectometers . film stacks f , g and h are examples of a more generalized method for creating stabilized reference film stacks for use in standardized samples and other test samples . stabilized reference film stacks mimic the dielectric properties of production film stacks without having the tendency to age or change dielectric response when exposed to optical radiation . to create a stabilized reference film stack , the layers within a production film stack are subdivided into two categories . first category layers are the layers that tend to age or change optical response when exposed to optical radiation ( chiefly uv radiation ). typically , organic anti - reflective coatings , and organic photo - resistive layers are sensitive to uv radiation and are placed in the first category . second category layers are the layers within the production film stack that are relatively impervious to aging . inorganic layers are commonly included in this category . an effective layer is then defined for each layer included in the first category . each effective layer is designed to mimic , as closely as possible , the optical response that is exhibited by the corresponding layer in the first category . at the same time , the materials used for the effective layers are selected to be relatively impervious to aging . each effective layer may include one or more materials in one or more layers . the use of multiple materials and layers is required when the desired combination of optical response and age - resistance is not available or practical using a single material . in general , it should be appreciated that the process of defining effective layers is not perfect and that it is generally not possible to exactly match the dielectric response of the layers in the first category using substitute materials . at the same time it is generally possible to closely approximate the response of first category layers while greatly decreasingly the tendency for the resulting layers to age . in many cases , the effective layers are selected by substituting an inorganic compound for an aging - prone organic compound . this is particularly true for organic anti - reflective coatings and organic photo resist materials . the effective layers defined for organic anti - reflective coatings are typically fabricated using silicon oxide nitride ( sion ). the effective layers for organic photo resist layers are typically fabricated using silicon dioxide ( sio 2 ). the following tables list organic photo - resist materials and organic anti - reflective coatings for which replacement by inorganic materials may be appropriate : photo resist materials manufacturer apex - e ™ shipley company uviihs ™, uviii ™ uv ™ 82 , uv ™ 86 , uv ™ 110 , uv ™ 113 , uv ™ 135 , uv ™ 210 epic ™- s7 ultra - i 123 az ® exp 5888 , 5690s , 5200p , 5400p az electronic materia az ® dtf ™ 11 pfr ® ix1060g , pfr ® ix1010g jsr microelectronics eiris , krf , arf series tdmr , tdqr - iq , tdur - p / n series tokyo ohka kogyo co ., ltd sumiresist series sumitomo chemical once effective layers have been defined , the stabilized film stack may be constructed as a combination that includes the effective layers and replicates the layers from the second category . the overall result mimics the dielectric response of the production film stack without having the tendency to change over time . in general , it should be appreciated that the use of the term “ production ” is not intended to be limiting . this same method may be used to create stabilized reference film stacks that model the optical response of prototype or proposed film stacks .
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fig1 and 1a show side views of first and second embodiments of a mobile crop baler 10 which includes a bale - receiving - structure 20 for weighing crop bales 5 . these two embodiments are now described in more detail . as seen in fig1 to 3 , the first embodiment of the electronic scale for weighing bales includes a mobile crop baler 10 which traverses a field of crops to be baled , such as hay , and produces crop bales 5 at the rear end 11 of the baler . the bales are successively pushed onto a bale chute platform 30 attached to the rear end 11 of the baler . a first pair of load cells 41 , 42 are mounted on the rear end of the baler in spaced relation to each other , one on each side of the rear end 11 of the baler , transversely to the longitudinal axis of the baler 10 . as best seen in fig3 ., the bale chute platform 30 is attached to the pair of load cells 41 , 42 by a pivotable connection which includes a unitary transverse member 45 having depending supports 46 , 47 to which is rotatably mounted bar 100 secured by bolted angle iron supports 48 , 49 to and supporting bale chute platform 30 at its inboard end nearest the baler 10 . other types pivotable connections may be used , may be used to connect the bale chute platform to the load cells . for example , heavy eyelets may be welded to the underside of the load cell casings and the mounting bar 100 may be rotatably supported in the eyelets and secured at its outer ends to bale chute platform 30 by the bolted angle iron supports 48 , 49 . the outboard end of the bale chute platform 30 is supported by a tether 70 secured to load cell 43 affixed to beam 50 which extends rearwardly from the rear end 11 of baler 10 . the tether 70 is a chain or similar lanyard which is of adjustable length to vary the angle of the bale chute platform 30 , and , therefore , the rate at which the bales are weighed . also , tether 70 acts as a constraint to the travel of the outboard end of the bale chute platform 30 about its pivotable connection to the baler . when , as frequently happens in the field , the underside of the bale chute platform contacts a berm and forces the bale chute platform upwardly relative to the longitudinal axis of the baler 10 , the platform 30 , by virtue of its pivotable connection 100 , 46 , 47 to load cells 41 , 42 and its tethered connection 70 to load cell 43 , is enabled to first swing its outboard end up against the pressure of shock absorber 60 until the berm is traversed and then swing its outboard end back to its lowered position restrained and supported by the limited length of tether 70 . thus , damage to the load cells 41 , 42 , 43 , which would otherwise have occurred through a rigid non - pivotable connection , is prevented . optional bale support pipes 110 mounted to the bale - receiving - structure 20 help to hold the bale on the bale chute platform 30 while it is being weighed . the next bale , and gravity by virtue of the vertical angel of the platform 30 set by tether 70 , push the weighed bale rearwardly until it hits optional pyramid 120 mounted to platform 30 which kicks the bale 5 one quarter turn counterclockwise causing it to fall into the space 22 between the bale chute platform 30 and the bale chute member 21 and to stand upright in the crop row being baled in the field for subsequent pick up . support pipes 110 , or a similar member , may be needed especially in retrofitting existing dale chute platforms to include the present invention . the weight of bale 5 causes a downward displacement of platform 30 which stresses the load cells 41 , 42 , and 43 that are connected to platform 30 . the amount of stress that is applied to each load cell causes a proportional amount of deflection to occur within the load cell . each load cell then produces an output voltage (&# 34 ; load cell output voltage &# 34 ;) corresponding to the proportional amount of deflection that occurs . referring to fig4 load cell wires 91 , 92 , and 93 are each connected to the outputs of load cells 41 , 42 , and 43 respectively through quick disconnects 130 , and the load cell wires are then connected to a bell box 90 so that each of the load cell output voltages are transmitted to a central location . load cell wires 91 , 92 , and 93 are connected together in parallel to a common junction in the bell box 90 . commoning the load cell outputs in parallel produces a voltage value that reflects the average amount of deflection that occurred in all of the load cells (&# 34 ; average load cell voltage &# 34 ;) from the weight of a bale 5 . the average load cell voltage is transmitted to the digital indicator 140 via bell box wire 95 connected from the output of the bell box 90 to the digital indicator 140 . the digital indicator receives and samples a number of average load cell voltages for a given bale 5 over a predetermined time period . the average value of the number of voltages sampled over the time period is then computed , and this average value is defined as the weight voltage . the digital indicator 140 then correlates the weight voltage to a corresponding actual bale weight , and the actual weight of the bale is displayed by the indicator 140 . as shown in fig4 the connectors 130 may be inserted between the load cells and the bell box wire 95 and between the bell box and the digital indicator 140 so that the load cells and digital indicator 140 can be quickly and conveniently disconnected and reconnected to allow the operator to remove the bale chute platform and electronic scale components for re - rigging another mobile baler 10 or for hilly road travel . referring to fig1 the electronic scale 20 has other features that allow it to more accurately weigh bales . one such feature is a shock absorbing spring 60 or similar structure , such as a shock absorber , mounted between the beam 50 and platform 30 to absorb shock and dampen vibrations and oscillations of the bale - receiving - structure 20 . another such feature is the use of chains 80 as shown in fig1 and 3 which support the platform 30 to the baler 10 during rigging and de - rigging or in the event of a failure . referring now to fig5 the digital indicator 140 is shown mounted in the cab of the baler 10 . the bell box output wire 95 connects to the digital indicator 140 . the digital indicator 140 allows the operator to monitor the actual weights of the bales . as in well known in the art , the operator may then manually change the bale pressure adjuster 160 by rotating knob 161 to increase or decrease the bale pressure so that the actual weight of the bale is adjusted to a predetermined bale weight . alternatively , the bale density and weight can be controlled by an automatic feedback controller 150 which automatically monitors and maintains the actual weight of the bale at the desired weight level . the automatic feedback controller 141 includes a circuit coupled to the digital indicator 140 , such as , a conventional microprocessor driven digital computer , which compares the bale weight voltage ( i . e . the voltage that reflects the actual weight of the bale ) to a voltage that represents the desired weight level (&# 34 ; desired weight voltage &# 34 ;). after the voltages are compared , an error signal is determined and a correction signal is transmitted through controller wire 145 to bale pressure adjuster 160 to effect the necessary change in bale density to reduce the error signal to zero . the automatic feedback controller 141 therefore controls the bale pressure adjuster 160 to either automatically increase or decrease the bale density as needed to maintain the actual weight of the bale at a desired level . the actual weight of the bale is continuously adjusted so long as error signals are detected . the electronic scale of the present invention significantly improves the accuracy of weighed bales . this system can continuously maintain accuracy to within two pounds of desired weight when moving and to within 1 pound of desired weight when stationary . this is a significant improvement over prior art systems whose accuracy is only about ± 20 pounds of desired weight . fig1 a and 3a show the second embodiment of the electronic scale of the present invention for weighing bales . the second embodiment incorporates all of the features of the first embodiment , but there are two main differences . one difference is that the second embodiment makes use of four load cells instead of just three load cells . as shown in fig3 a , the fourth load cell 44 is shown to be mounted to a beam 55 , and the beam 55 is mounted to the left side of the bale chute 11 . in fig4 when a fourth load cell 44 is used , an additional load cell wire 94 would connect from the output of load cell 44 to the common junction in bell box 90 . the use of this fourth load cell 44 allows for the more accurate weighing of the bales on scale 20 since there is one more additional load cell that detects the weight of the bale . the second difference is that beams 50 and 55 are mounted at the top of the rear end 11 of baler 10 instead of at the bottom . the advantage of placing these two beams at an elevated position is that platform 30 can then pivot to a greater extent in very hilly terrain which reduces the risk of damage to scale components when traversing large berms or of damaging the bale - receiving - structure by avoiding having platform 30 hitting the elevated beams 50 and 55 . other than these two main differences , the second embodiment encompasses all of the advantages and features of the first embodiment . the foregoing description of a preferred embodiment and best mode of the invention known to applicant at the time of filing the application has been presented for the purposes of illustration and description . it is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed , and obviously many modifications and variations are possible in the light of the above teaching . the embodiment was chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical application to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention in various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated . it is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the claims appended hereto .
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some other objects , features and advantages of the present invention will appeal from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments thereof , taken together with the attached drawings in which : fig1 is a plan view of a diaper embodying the present invention , before folding ; fig2 is a perspective view of the diaper of fig1 after folding and stitching ; fig3 is a section taken at 3 -- 3 of fig 2 ; fig5 is a plan view of a second diaper embodying the present invention , before folding ; fig6 is a simplified transverse sectional view illustrating the folding of a conventional birdseye woven diaper ; fig7 is a simplified transverse sectional view illustrating the folding of a birdseye woven diaper embodying the present invention ; fig8 - 10 are simplified sectional views illustrating the folding of other diapers embodying the present invention . referring now to fig1 - 3 , there is shown a multi - panel diaper , generally designated 10 , made from a woven fabric blank 8 . the fabric of the blank is woven in a 50 inch width from 24 / 1 ( i . e ., 24 ne , single ply ) cotton filling yarns and randomly alternating s and z twist 31 / 1 ( i . e ., 31 ne , single ply ) cotton warp yarns . the direction of the warp and filling yarns is as indicated in fig1 and 2 . across its transverse width , the fabric of blank 8 includes several different zones of different weave . zones 12 and 24 are woven double ply in a plain weave . zones 14 , 16 , 18 , 20 and 22 are woven single ply in a 2 / 2 ( or alternatively a 3 . 1 or a 3 / 2 ) twill weave . the other construction details of the different zones are as follows : ______________________________________ no . of warp no . of fillingzone yarns / inch yarns / inch width of zone______________________________________12 49 ( per ply ) 19 ( per ply ) 6 . 2 in . 14 66 38 9 . 6 in . 16 98 38 1 . 5 in . 18 66 38 13 . 1 in . 20 98 38 9 . 6 in . 22 66 38 6 . 2 in . 24 49 ( per ply ) 19 ( per ply ) 6 . 2 in . ______________________________________ after weaving , the fabric is bleached and dried , as is conventional , to provide a blank 48 inches wide . the bleached and dried blank 8 is then folded , as shown in fig2 and 3 , forming a center panel ( about 51 / 2 in . wide and generally designated 50 ) including zones 12 and 24 and part of zones 14 , 18 and 22 , and two side sections ( each about 41 / 2 in . wide and generally designated 52 and 54 , respectively ) one of which includes zones 16 and part of zones 14 and 18 and the other of which includes zones 22 and part of zones 18 and 22 . the folded blank is stitched along lines 26 and 28 , thus securing the various panels together . as will be seen , zones 16 and 20 act as wear strips along the diaper edges . after cutting to 21 inch lengths ( the typical length of a diaper ) the transverse cut edges are secured by overedge stitching , as shown at 30 and 32 in fig2 completing the prefolded diaper . the advantages of the diaper of fig1 through 3 can best be appreciated by comparison to the conventional diaper , generally designated 100 , shown in fig4 . the overall weights of the fabrics of diaper 100 and diaper 10 are about the same , about 3 . 8 to 3 . 9 yards per pound without starch . diaper 100 is made from fabric woven double ply . the top ply has 54 warp yarns / inch ; the bottom ply has 36 warp yarns / inch ; and there are 29 filling yarns per inch in each ply . the double - ply fabric thus has a total of 90 warp yarns and 58 filling yarns per inch . the width of the diaper blank after bleaching and drying is 36 inches and the blank is folded so that the center panel 150 of the diaper includes three superposed blank layers ( a total of six plies ) while each of the two side panels 152 , 154 includes two superposed blank layers ( a total of four plies ). the total thread count per square inch in central panel 150 thus is 444 , [( 3 ( 54 + 29 ))+( 3 ( 36 + 29 ))], while that in each of the side panels 152 , 154 is 296 . [( 2 ( 54 + 29 ))+( 2 ( 36 + 29 ))]. it thus will be seen that the total thread count per square inch in the central panel is fifty ( 50 ) percent greater than that in the side sections ; and , since the total width of the side panels is about 41 / 2 inches while that of the center section is about 51 / 2 inches , about fifty ( 50 ) percent of the total diaper weight is in the center panel . in diaper 10 of the present invention , center panel 50 includes five superposed blank layers ( a total of seven plies ), as follows : ______________________________________blank layer thread count per in .. sup . 2______________________________________14 66 + 38 = 10412 2 ( 49 + 19 ) = 13422 66 + 38 = 10424 2 ( 49 + 19 ) = 13418 66 + 38 = 104 total ( center panel 50 ) 580______________________________________ ______________________________________blank layer thread count per in .. sup . 2______________________________________14 or 22 66 + 38 = 10418 66 + 38 = 104 total ( side panels 50 , 52 ) 208______________________________________ since each side panel 50 , 54 is about 41 / 2 inches wide while center panel 50 is about 51 / 2 inches wide , a little over 60 % of the total weight of diaper 10 is in the center panel . it thus will be seen that diaper 10 has both a greater percentage of its total weight and a higher total thread count per square inch in its center panel than does diaper 100 . strike - through tests show also that diaper 10 has significantly better absorbency than does diaper 100 . such tests are conducted by cutting 4 inch diameter samples from the center panels of the respective diapers , placing the samples over a funnel , and then applying 40 milliliters of water ( typically from a calibrated burrett ) to the sample over the funnel . the total amount of water that passes ( i . e ., &# 34 ; strikes &# 34 ;) through the cut - out samples is collected and measured . it has been found that an average of 8 . 75 milliliters ( of the total 40 ml . applied from the burrett ) strikes through cut - out samples from diaper 10 , while about twice as much ( an average of 17 . 0 ml . of the total 40 ml . applied ) strikes through the cut - out samples from the conventional diaper 100 . based on these tests , the diaper 10 constructed in accord with the present invention is expected to be about 50 % more absorbent than a conventional diaper such as diaper 100 . the diaper 10 of the present invention is also more economical to manufacture . the two diapers , and the fabrics from which the respective diaper blanks are made , have about the same overall weight . however , because the diaper fabric of the present invention requires only 38 filling yarns per inch , as contrasted with the 58 filling yarns per inch of the conventional diaper fabric , the production rate of fabric for diaper 10 is about 50 % greater than that of fabric for conventional diaper 100 . in other embodiments of the invention , other thread counts and weaves may be employed . the following are exemplary . a single layer diaper fabric having a thread count of 78 warp yarns per inch and 35 filling yarns per inch may be woven from 31 / 1 warp yarns and 27 / 1 filling yarns . if such a fabric is woven 50 inches wide , dried to provide a blank of 48 inch width and than folded as shown in fig2 and 3 , the resulting diaper will have a total thread count of 565 threads per square inch in its center panel ( which is 5 blank layers thick ) and 226 threads per square inch in its two side panels . such a diaper will have about the same total weight as diaper 100 , but can be made at an approximately 55 % higher production rate . diaper fabric having the five - zone construction shown in fig5 was woven in a 50 inch width from 27 / 1 cotton filling yarn and a 50 / 50 mixture of randomly alternating s and z twist 31 / 1 cotton warp yarns . all zones were woven single ply , 34 picks per inch ; and the various zones had the following additional construction details : ______________________________________ no . of warps approx . widthzone weave yarns / inch of zone______________________________________70 2 / 1 twill 72 161 / 2 in . 72 cord 96 11 / 2 in . 74 2 / 1 twill 72 14 inches76 cord 96 11 / 2 in . 78 2 / 1 twill 72 161 / 2 in . ______________________________________ after bleaching , the fabric was dried to provide a 48 inch wide blank ; and the blank was folded and stitched in the manner shown in fig2 and 3 to secure the blank layers together , and cut to 21 inch lengths . overedge stitching was applied to the cut ends , as shown in fig3 . zones 72 and 76 formed wear strips along the diaper &# 39 ; s side edges . the resulting diaper had a total thread count of 212 per square inch in its side panels ( both of which are two blank layers thick , and one of which includes portions of zones 70 and 74 and the other of which includes portions of zones 74 and 78 ) and 530 per square inch in its center panel ( which is five blank layers thick and includes portions of zones 70 , 74 and 78 ). the production rate for the fabric from which the diaper is made is about 50 percent greater than that of the conventional fabric for diaper 100 . diaper fabric of zoned construction , including seven zones of the same respective widths as zones 12 through 24 of diaper 10 was woven in a 50 inch width using 27 / 1 cotton filling yarns and 31 / 1 cotton warp yarns . other construction details of the various zones ( identified by the same number as the corresponding zones of diaper 10 but adding a differentiating prime , are as follows : ______________________________________ no . of warp no . of fillingzone yarns / inch yarns / inch weave______________________________________12 &# 39 ; 51 ( per ply ) 17 ( per ply ) plain , double ply14 &# 39 ; 62 33 3 / 1 twill16 &# 39 ; 82 33 3 / 1 twill18 &# 39 ; 62 33 3 / 1 twill20 &# 39 ; 82 33 3 / 1 twill22 &# 39 ; 62 33 3 / 1 twill24 &# 39 ; 51 ( per ply ) 17 ( per ply ) plain , double ply______________________________________ after bleaching , the fabric was dried at a 48 inch width , and the resulting blank was folded as in fig2 and stitched along the seam lines corresponding to lines 26 and 28 to secure the blank layers together . after cutting to 21 inch lengths , the cut edges were secured by overedge stitching , in the manner shown in fig3 . the resulting diaper had good absorbency values and a production rate over 50 % greater than that of diaper 10 . a diaper fabric was woven in the same manner as the diaper of example iii , except that the zones corresponding to zones 12 &# 39 ;, 18 &# 39 ; and 24 &# 39 ; were woven in a honeycomb weave construction . the resulting diaper had good absorbency . a diaper fabric was woven , 50 inches wide in a single layer 2 / 2 broken twill weave ; and the fabric was then bleached , dried , folded , cut and stitched in the same manner as described with reference to diaper 10 . the resulting diaper had good absorbency . two diaper fabrics were produced in a 50 inch width using 15 / 1 cotton filling yarns and 31 / 1 cotton warp yarns . one fabric was woven in a 3 - float birdseye weave ; the other in a 3 - float diamond weave . both weaves were produced using approximately 56 warp yarns per inch and 22 filling yarns per inch . after bleaching , the fabrics were dried at 48 inch wide ; and the resulting blanks were folded and stitched as in fig2 and then cut to 21 inch length and overedge stitched along the cut edges as shown in fig 3 . diapers made from the diamond weave fabric are expected to have better integrity than those from the birdseye weave . both diaper fabrics have a greater production rate than conventional birdseye diapers , and can be expected to have significantly better absorbency than a conventional birdseye diaper . a conventional birdseye diaper typically is made from a single ply fabric , woven with 31 / 1 warp yarns ( 56 yarns per inch ) and 12 / 1 filling yarns ( 28 yarns per inch ) and folded ( as shown in fig6 ) so as to produce a central panel 650 that is 3 blank layers thick and side panels 652 and 654 each of which is two blank layers thick . diaper fabric was produced in a 44 inch width , using 11 . 3 / 1 cotton filling yarns and 31 / 1 cotton warp yarns to produce a 3 - float birdseye weave having approximately 50 warp yarns per inch and 28 filling yarns per inch . after bleaching , the fabric was dried to provide a 42 inch wide blank that was then folded as shown in fig7 to provide a diaper having a center panel 750 that is 4 blank layers thick and side panels 752 , 754 that are each 2 blank layers thick . the folded blanks were stitched along lines 726 , 728 to secure the folded layers together , and then cut to 21 inch lengths . the cut edges were seamed by overedge stitching , in the same manner as shown in fig3 with respect to diaper 10 . strike - through testing showed that the diaper of example viii was about 30 percent more absorbent ( an average strike - through of 15 . 5 milliliters of water as compared to 22 milliliters ) in its center panel than a conventional birdseye diaper . as will be apparent , diaper fabrics made in accord with the present invention may be folded in several ways other than as shown in , for example , fig2 and 7 . fig8 and 9 illustrate two further ways that 50 inch wide ( dried to 48 inch ) fabric may be folded . as is evident , the diapers shown in each of fig8 - 9 include center panels that are 5 blank layers thick ( there are a total of 7 plies in the center panel of the diaper of fig8 in which , as in diaper 10 , the end zones are woven double - layer ) and side panels that are 2 blank layers thick . fig1 illustrates another way in which 44 inch wide ( dried to 42 inch wide ) birdseye woven fabric may be folded to provide , as in the diaper of fig7 four blank layers in the center panel and two blank layers in each of the side panels .
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fig1 diagrammatically shows a rotary tubular actuator 100 designed to drive in rotation a winding tube 1 on which an apron 2 for closing an opening 0 can be wound to various extents . the tube 1 is driven by the actuator 100 in rotation about an axis of revolution x - x that is disposed horizontally at the top of the opening . for example , the opening o is an opening provided in the walls of a building . the actuator 100 , the tube 1 , and the apron 2 then form a motor - driven roller blind . the actuator 100 comprises a stationary cylindrical tube 101 in which a motor - and - gearbox unit 102 is mounted that is made up of an electric motor 103 , a first gearbox stage 104 , a spring brake 105 , a second gearbox stage 106 , and an outlet shaft 107 that projects at one end 101 a of the tube 101 , and that drives a wheel - ring 3 that is constrained to rotate with the tube 1 . the winding tube 1 turns about the axis x - x and about the stationary tube 101 by means of two pivot couplings . a bearing - ring 4 mounted on the outside periphery of the tube 101 in the vicinity of its end 101 b opposite from the end 101 a forms the first pivot coupling . the second pivot coupling is installed at the other end of the tube 1 and is not shown . the actuator 100 further comprises a fastening part 109 that projects from the end 101 e and that makes it possible to fasten the actuator 100 to a frame 5 . said fastening part 109 is , in addition , designed to close off the tube 101 and to support a control module 108 for controlling the power supply to the motor 103 . said control module is powered via a mains power supply cable 6 . while the tubular actuator 100 is operating , the motor - and - gearbox unit 102 drives in rotation the shaft 107 which , in turn , drives in rotation the tube 1 via the wheel - ring 3 . for example , when the actuator 100 is installed in a roller blind case , the shaft 103 rotating causes the opening o to be opened and to be closed in alternation . the apron 2 thus moves vertically in the opening o , between an opening high position and a closure low position . fig2 to 4 more particularly show the structure of the spring brake 105 in a first embodiment of the invention . as shown in fig1 , a rotor of the motor 103 drives an epicyclic gear train of the first gearbox stage 104 . the cylinder 110 of the epicyclic train that carries three planet gears also forms an inlet part of the brake 105 . the brake 105 includes a helical spring 130 having its turns centered on an axis x 130 that coincides with the axis x - x when the brake 105 is in place , as shown in fig1 . said spring is mounted in tight - fitting manner inside a bore 141 in a friction part 140 . in other words , the outside envelope 131 of the spring 130 , which envelope is defined by the outside generator lines of its turns , bears against the radial surface of the bore 141 , thereby tending to secure together the spring 130 and the part 140 by friction . each end of the spring 130 forms a tab 132 a , 132 b extending radially towards the axis x 130 and towards the inside of the spring , from its turns . the inlet part 110 is provided with two protuberances or “ teeth ” 111 a and 111 b that fit into the helical spring 130 . each protuberance 111 a or 111 b has a face 113 a or 113 b suitable for being in contact respectively with a surface 133 a of a first tab 132 a forming the first end of the spring or with a surface 133 b of the second tab 132 b forming the second end of the spring . the surface 133 a is disposed in a manner such that action on said surface causes the spring to be moved in rotation about the axis x 130 in a direction that is opposite from the direction of rotation of the spring if the action is exerted on the surface 133 b . action by one of the teeth 111 a or 111 b on a surface 133 a or 133 b tends to release the brake , i . e . to move one of the tabs 132 a or 132 b in a manner such that the radial stress between the outside envelope 131 of the helical spring 130 and the friction surface of the bore 141 decreases . this action from one of the teeth 111 a or 111 b tends to contract the spring 130 radially about the axis x - x , so that its outside envelope moves away from the surface of the bore 141 . the part 110 thus makes it possible to act on the spring 130 to reduce the contact force between the spring and the friction surface of the bore 141 . the spring can then turn about the axis x 130 that coincides with the central axis x 105 of the brake 105 , itself coinciding with the axis x - x when the actuator 100 is in the assembled configuration shown in fig1 . a direction or a dimension is said to be “ axial ” when it extends or is measured parallel to the axis x 105 . a direction is said to be radial when it is perpendicular to and intersects the axis x 105 . an outlet part 120 of the brake 105 is situated in register with the inlet part 110 . the outlet part is provided with two lugs 121 a , 121 c also fitting into the helical spring 130 . the lug 121 a is provided with two recesses or setbacks 122 a , 122 b disposed on either side of said lug . each recess 122 a or 122 b is designed to receive a respective one of the tabs 132 a , 132 b of the spring and is defined partially by a surface 124 a , 124 b suitable for being in contact with a surface 134 a , 134 b of a tab 132 a , 132 b . the surfaces 134 a and 134 b are opposite from respective ones of the surfaces 133 a and 133 b . action on one of the surfaces 134 a , 134 b tends to move the tabs 132 a and 132 b apart , thereby causing the turns of the spring 130 to expand radially relative to the axis x 130 and increasing the contact force between the spring 130 and the friction surface of the bore 141 . this results in actuating the brake , i . e . in blocking or in strongly braking the rotation of the spring 130 relative to the part 140 . thus , the radial stress between the outside envelope 131 of the helical spring and the friction surface 141 increases , thereby holding the part 120 stationary or braking it strongly about the axes x 105 and x 130 . in order to enable the brake to operate , it is necessary to have angular clearance between the teeth 111 a and 111 b of the inlet part 110 and the tabs 132 a and 132 b of the spring . similarly , angular clearance is also necessary between the lug 121 a and the tabs 132 a and 132 b of the spring . the width of the lug 121 a is designed for this purpose . in addition , the axial length l 111 or l 121 of the portions 111 a , 111 b , and 121 a is slightly greater than the axial length l 130 of the spring . the outlet part 120 is also provided with a set of teeth 129 forming the interface with the second gearbox stage 106 . the necessary centering of the outlet part 120 relative to the inlet part 110 is achieved by a shaft 118 projecting axially relative to the inlet part , on the same side as the outlet part 120 . said shaft 118 serves as guide means for guiding the outlet part , by means of a bore 128 provided through the center of said outlet part . as appears more particularly from fig3 to 4 , the load l constituted by the apron 2 can be considered as being secured to the outlet part 120 , via the elements 1 , 3 , 106 , and 107 , as indicated by the vertical dashed line in fig3 and 4 . the weight of the load l exerts torque c l on the outlet part 120 that tends to cause it to turn about the axis x 105 , in the clockwise direction in fig3 and 4 . reference x 120 designates the central axis of the outlet part 120 , which axis coincides with the axis x 105 when the brake is in the assembled configuration . while the load l is being raised , and as shown diagrammatically in fig3 , rotation of the outlet part 120 in the clockwise direction in fig3 , which rotation is normally induced by the torque c l , is blocked by the inlet part 110 . the inlet part 110 is driven in rotation in the counterclockwise direction in fig3 by torque c m generated by the motor and weighted by the efficiency of the first gearbox stage 104 . the two protuberances 111 a and 111 b of the inlet part 110 pivot about the coinciding axes x 105 and x - x until one of the protuberances 111 a or 111 b is in contact with a face 123 a or 123 b of the lug 121 a of the outlet part . whereupon , the other protuberance 111 b or 111 a also enters into contact with one of the faces 123 c or 123 d of the second lug 121 c of the outlet part . therefore , the drive torque c m is transmitted to the outlet part via two sets of contact surfaces , formed between the faces 113 a and 113 d and the faces 123 a and 123 d that are diametrically opposite each other about the axis x 105 and about the axis x 120 of the outlet part , thereby causing the radial component of the resultant of the torque c m exerted on the outlet part 120 to be reduced or eliminated . the drive torque c m is of opposite direction to the load torque c l . the faces 123 a and 123 d constitute the contact surfaces of the outlet part 120 . the balance of the forces to which the outlet part 120 is subjected is shown in fig3 . the load torque c l is balanced by forces f 1a and f 1b resulting respectively from the surface 113 a of the tooth 111 a and the surface 123 a of the lug 121 a bearing against each other , and from the surface 113 d of the tooth 111 b and the surface 123 d of the lug 121 c bearing against each other . these two forces f 1a and f 1b express in terms of forces the drive torque c m necessary for overcoming the load torque c l . since the two forces f 1a and f 1b are of substantially the same magnitude and are substantially symmetrical about the central axis x 120 of the outlet part , the radial component of the resultant of the torque c m of the outlet part 120 is negligible , or even zero . it should be noted that the shaft 118 of the inlet part making it possible to center the outlet part is not in contact with the bore 128 of the outlet part in this configuration , due to the fact that the radial component of the above - mentioned resultant is negligible . in order to raise the load , the torque c m must be greater than the sum of the load torque c l and of the drag torque of the brake spring due to the residual friction between the outside envelope 131 of the spring and the friction surface of the bore 141 . at start - up , the torque c m to be exerted must be larger because , in order to release the brake 105 , it is necessary to overcome a static friction force . thus , the protuberance 111 a acts on one of the tabs of the spring , which tab is , in this example , the tab 132 a , received in the recess 122 a , as soon as the lug 121 a is driven in rotation . while the load l is being lowered , and as shown diagrammatically in fig4 , the outlet part rotating in the clockwise direction in fig4 is not stopped by the inlet part but by the spring 130 . thus , the load torque c l presses the lug 121 a against one of the tabs 132 a or 132 b , namely the tab 132 a in this example . the effect of this is to expand the turns of the spring 130 radially and to activate the brake 105 , as explained above . the torque c l exerted by the lug 121 a on the surface 134 a of the tab 132 a is weighted by the efficiency of the second gearbox stage 106 . the tab 132 a is engaged in the recess 122 a . the drive torque c m is in the same direction as the load torque c l . the balance of the forces of the outlet part is shown in fig4 . the load torque c l is balanced by two forces f 2a and f 2b . the first force f 2a corresponds to the reaction of the face 134 a of the tab 132 a of the spring 130 against the bearing face 124 a of the recess 122 a . since said first force f 2a does not make it possible to compensate for the load torque c l fully , the outlet part 120 tends to move perpendicularly to the axis x 105 , relative to the preceding bearing configuration , until the outlet part comes into contact with its guide means formed by the shaft 118 that is secured to or integral with the inlet part 110 . the bore 128 for guiding the outlet part thus comes into contact with the shaft 118 , then generating the second radial force f 2b making it possible to balance the load torque c l . said second force f 2b generates friction during the downward movement of the load . this friction brakes the load and is added to the braking torque of the spring . it thus contributes to the reactivity of the brake . the response time of the brake is faster than the response time of a brake for which said friction does not exist . it should be noted that , for this embodiment , the inlet part 110 is itself centered relative to the friction part 140 by means of a cylindrical web whose envelope surface ( not shown ) co - operates with the bore 141 in the friction part . therefore , the preceding force f 2b induces an equivalent force ( not shown ) between the inlet part 110 and the friction part 140 . said equivalent force participates in the secondary braking torque and contributes to the reactivity of the brake . in order to make it possible to lower the load , it is necessary to release the brake . for this purpose , the drive torque c m drives the protuberances 111 a and 111 b of the inlet part 110 in rotation , the protuberance 111 b being driven by said drive torque until it comes into abutment against the face 133 b of the tab 132 b of the spring 130 . by this action , the spring 130 is relaxed and the outlet part 120 can turn , by means of the load torque c l . the parts 110 and 120 are then not in direct contact . if the direction of winding of the load is reversed , operation is identical . operation of the brake is thus symmetrical , which makes it easier for it to be installed because the performance of the brake is the same , regardless of the raising direction of the actuator , i . e . regardless of the direction of the drive torque c m that serves to raise the screen 2 . fig5 shows a conventional prior art spring brake , and more particularly how it behaves during raising . the portions of the brake that are shown in fig5 and that are analogous to the portions of the brake 105 bear like references minus 100 . for that type of brake , the outlet part is not designed to balance the load torque during raising . the outlet part 20 is provided with one lug 21 a only . during raising , operation is similar to operation of the brake 105 in the configuration shown in fig3 . the drive torque c m drives a protuberance 11 a in rotation until said protuberance comes into contact with one face 33 a of a tab 32 a of the spring 30 . the opposite face 34 a of the tab is in abutment against a face 23 a of the lug 21 a of the outlet part 20 by means of the load torque c l . therefore , the drive torque c m is transmitted to the outlet part 20 via the tab 32 a of the spring 30 . in the embodiment of the invention that is described above with reference to fig1 to 4 , the drive torque is transmitted directly to the outlet part 120 by contact between one face 113 a of the inlet part 110 and one face 123 a of the outlet part 120 , the spring tab then being retracted into the recess 122 a provided for this purpose . this makes it possible to achieve better torque transmission and to stress the parts less . in the brake shown in fig5 , the load torque cl is not sufficiently taken up by a tab 32 a of the spring to balance said torque , and therefore induces a radial force on the outlet part 20 . that radial force causes the outlet part to move until it is in contact with its guide means that are formed by the bore 41 in the friction part 40 . the outlet part 20 has a cylindrical web whose envelope surface 25 makes it possible to perform the guiding in the bore 41 . thus , the load torque is balanced firstly by a force f ′ 1a corresponding to the lug 21 a bearing against the tab 32 a of the spring 30 and secondly by a force f ′ 1b , resulting from the outlet part 20 bearing against the bore 41 in the friction part 40 . given that , during raising , the outlet part 20 has a relative speed relative to the friction part 40 , said force f ′ 1b generates friction during the load - raising movement . in order to lift the load l , the drive torque c m must therefore be greater than the sum of the load torque c l , of said friction , and , on start - up , of the torque necessary to release the brake . therefore , said friction adversely affects the dimensioning of the motor because said motor must be more powerful in order to compensate for the additional friction resulting from the force f ′ 1b . for lowering the load , operation is analogous to the operation shown in fig3 for the brake of the invention . balancing of the forces is , however , more similar to the balancing shown in fig5 . the load is braked by the braking torque of the spring 30 and by the friction with the guide means formed by the bore 41 in the outlet part . fig4 and 5 show two different guide means for guiding the outlet part 20 or 120 . in fig4 , the outlet part 120 is guided relative to the inlet part 110 . the inlet part 110 is also centered relative to the friction part 140 . in fig5 , the outlet part 20 is guided relative to the friction part 40 that is stationary . tests have shown that the brake 105 behaves better in the fig4 situation . the centering of the outlet part relative to the inlet part makes it possible to reduce the vibration of the brake . fig6 to 11 show a second embodiment of the brake . the operating principle is close to the first embodiment . the references of these parts are analogous to the references of the first embodiment , plus 100 . the outlet of the epicyclic gear train of the first gearbox stage 104 drives in rotation a part 210 forming the inlet of the brake 105 . the inlet part 210 is provided with a polygonal shaft 219 designed to receive and to transmit torque coming from the gearbox stage 104 . the brake 105 includes a helical spring 230 whose turns are centered on an axis x 230 that coincides with the axis x - x when the brake 105 is in place as shown in fig1 . the axes x 230 and x - x coincide with the central axis x 105 of the brake 105 when an actuator 100 incorporating the brake 105 of this second embodiment is in the assembled configuration . the spring 230 is mounted in tight - fitting manner inside a bore 241 in a friction part 240 . in other words , the outside envelope 231 of the spring 230 , which envelope is defined by the outside generator lines of its turns , bears against the radial surface of the bore 241 , thereby tending to secure together the spring 230 and the part 240 by friction . each end of the spring 230 forms a tab 232 a , 232 b extending radially towards the axis x 230 and towards the inside the spring , from its turns . the inlet part 210 is provided with a protuberance or “ tooth ” 211 a that fits into the helical spring 230 , between the tabs 232 a and 232 b . said tooth 211 a has two faces 213 a , 213 b suitable for being in contact respectively with a surface 233 a of a first tab 232 a forming the first end of the spring and with a surface 233 b of the second tab 232 b forming the second end of the spring . the surface 233 a is disposed in a manner such that action on said surface causes the spring to be moved in rotation about the axis x 230 in a direction that is opposite from the direction of rotation of the spring if the action is exerted on the surface 233 b . action by the tooth 211 a on a surface 233 a or 233 b tends to release the brake , i . e . to drive the tab 232 a or 232 b in rotation about the axes x 230 and x 105 , in a direction such that the radial stress between the outside envelope 231 of the spring 230 and the friction surface of the bore 241 decreases . action from the tooth 211 a on one of the faces 233 a or 233 b tends to contract the spring 230 radially about the axis x - x , so that its outside envelope moves away from the surface of the bore 241 . the part 210 thus makes it possible to act on the spring 230 to reduce the contact force between the spring and the friction surface of the bore 241 . an outlet part 220 of the brake 105 is situated in register with the inlet part 210 . the outlet part is provided with two lugs 221 a , 221 b also fitting into the helical spring 230 . each lug is provided with a recess or a setback 222 a , 222 b designed to receive a respective one of the tabs 232 a , 232 b of the spring 230 . each recess 222 a , 222 b is defined partially by a surface 224 a , 224 b suitable for being in contact with a surface 234 a , 234 b of a tab 232 a , 232 b . the surfaces 234 a and 234 b are opposite from respective ones of the surfaces 233 a and 233 b . action on one of the surfaces 234 a , 234 b tends to move the tabs 232 a and 232 b towards each other , thereby causing the turns of the spring 230 to expand radially relative to the axis x 230 and increasing the contact force between the outside envelope 231 of the spring 230 and the friction surface of the bore 241 . this results in actuating the brake , i . e . in blocking or in strongly braking the rotation of the spring 230 relative to the part 240 . thus , the radial stress between the outside envelope 231 of the helical spring and the friction surface 241 increases . in addition , each lug 221 a , 221 b of the outlet part 220 is provided with a projecting portion 226 a , 226 b extending axially towards the inlet part and suitable for being received in respective ones of banana - shaped slots 216 c , 216 d in the inlet part 210 , once the brake 105 is assembled . said projecting portions 226 a and 226 b are dimensioned and disposed in a manner such that their faces 227 a , 227 b are in contact with respective ones of inside faces 217 c , 217 d defining the corresponding slots 216 c , 216 d when the face 213 b , 213 a of the tooth 211 a of the inlet part 210 is in contact with the face 223 b , 223 a of a lug 221 b , 221 a of the outlet part 220 . fig8 and 10 show the two possible configurations for the brake 105 . the dimensioning of the slots 216 c , 216 d is such that , outside the two preceding configurations , the projecting portions 226 a , 226 b do not come into abutment against any inside surface of the slot . in order to enable the brake to operate , it is necessary to have angular clearance between the tooth 211 a of the inlet part 210 and the tabs 232 a and 232 b of the spring . similarly , angular clearance is also necessary between the lugs 221 a and 221 b and the tabs 232 a and 232 b of the spring . the width of the tooth 211 a is designed for this purpose . in addition , the axial length l 211 or l 221 of the portions 211 a , 221 a , and 221 b is slightly greater than the axial length l 230 of the spring . the necessary centering of the outlet part 220 relative to the inlet part 210 is achieved by a shaft 270 . said shaft is engaged in a centered bore 218 of the inlet part 210 . a portion of the shaft 270 projects from the same side as the outlet part 220 . fig8 to 11 show how the brake 105 operates . fig8 and 9 correspond to the screen being wound on the shaft 1 in the clockwise direction in said figures . fig8 shows the load being raised , while fig9 shows the load being lowered . fig1 and 11 correspond to the screen being wound on the shaft 1 in the counterclockwise direction in these figures . fig1 shows the load being raised while fig1 shows it being lowered . firstly , operation of the brake is explained relative to the first screen - winding configuration , i . e . to winding in the clockwise direction in fig8 and 9 . by default , the weight of the load l exerts torque c l on the part 220 that presses one of the lugs 221 a or 221 b , namely the lug 221 b in this example , against one of the tabs 232 a or 232 b , namely the tab 232 b in this example , as shown in fig9 . the effect of this is to expand the turns of the spring 230 radially and to activate the brake 105 , as explained above . the torque c l exerted by the lug 221 b on the surface 234 b of the tab 232 b is weighted by the efficiency of the second gearbox stage 106 . this torque is shown by a vector associated with the lug 221 b . the tab 232 b is then engaged in the recess 224 b . while the load l is being raised , and as shown in fig8 , the inlet part 210 is driven in rotation by torque c m generated by the motor and weighted by the efficiency of the first gearbox stage 104 . the protuberance 211 a of the inlet part then turns until it is in contact with the lug 221 b of the outlet part , at the interface between the surfaces 213 b and 223 b . in order to raise the load , the torque c m must then be greater than the sum of the torque c l and of drag torque of the brake spring due to the residual friction between the outside envelope of the spring and the friction surface of the bore 241 . the torque c m is represented by a vector in dashed lines associated with the inlet part . at start - up , the torque c m to be exerted must be larger because , in order to release the brake 105 , it is necessary to overcome a static friction force . in order to release the brake 105 , the protuberance 211 a acts on the tab 232 b received in the recess 222 b whenever the lug 221 b is driven in rotation . the drive torque c m is transmitted from the inlet part 210 to the outlet part 220 by double contact . on one side , the face 213 b of the protuberance 211 a bears against the face 223 b of the lug 221 b . and , diametrically opposite , the inside face 217 c of the slot 216 c bears against the face 227 a of the projecting portion 226 a . thus , the load torque c l is balanced by efforts f 1a and f 1b resulting from the bearing between the portions 211 a and 221 b , on one side , and 216 c and 226 a , on the other side . since these two forces are of substantially the same magnitude and are substantially symmetrical about the central axis x 105 of the brake 105 and about the axis x 220 of the outlet part , the radial component of the resultant of the torque c m on the outlet part is negligible , or indeed zero . the faces 223 b and 227 a constitute contact surfaces of the outlet part . while the load l is being lowered , as shown diagrammatically in fig9 , the outlet part 220 is not stopped by the inlet part 210 but rather it is stopped by the spring 230 . thus , the load torque c l presses the lug 221 b against one of the tabs 232 a or 232 b , namely the tab 232 b in this example . the effect of this is to cause the turns of the spring 230 to expand radially and to activate the brake 105 , as explained above . the torque c l exerted by the lug 221 b on the surface 234 b of the tab 232 b is weighted by the efficiency of the second gearbox stage 106 . the tab 232 b is engaged in the recess 222 b . the drive torque c m is in the same direction as the load torque c l . the balance of the forces is then different from the balance during raising . the load torque c l is balanced by forces f 2a and f 2b . the first force f 2a corresponds to the reaction of the spring that blocks the load at the interface between the face 234 b of the tab 232 b of the spring 230 and the bearing face 224 b of the recess 222 b of the lug 221 b of the outlet part . since the first force f 2a does not make it possible to compensate for the load torque c l , the outlet part 220 tends to pivot relative to the preceding bearing configuration until the outlet part is in contact with its guide means formed by the shaft 270 that is secured to or integral with the inlet part 210 . the bore 228 for guiding the outlet part 220 relative to the shaft 270 thus comes into contact with the shaft 270 , thereby generating the second force f 2b making it possible to balance the load torque c l . this force is radial relative to the axis x 220 . this force f 2b generates friction while the load l is moving downwards . this friction brakes the load and is added to the braking torque of the spring . it therefore contributes to the reactivity of the brake . its response time is faster than the response time of a brake for which such friction does not exist . it should be noted that , for this embodiment , the inlet part 210 is itself centered relative to the friction part 240 by means of a cylindrical web whose envelope surface ( not shown ) co - operates with the bore 241 of the friction part . therefore , the preceding force f 2b then induces an equivalent force ( not shown ) between the inlet part 210 and the friction part 240 . this equivalent force participates in the secondary braking torque contributing to the reactivity of the brake . in order to enable the load to be lowered , it is necessary to release the brake . for this purpose , the drive torque c m drives a protuberance 211 a on the inlet part in rotation until it comes to bear against the face 233 a of the tab 232 a of the spring 230 . by this action , the spring 230 is relaxed and the outlet part 220 can turn , by means of the load torque c l , since the parts 210 and 220 are then not in direct contact . operation of the brake in the second winding configuration is shown in fig1 and 11 . during raising , and as shown in fig1 , the load torque c l is balanced by the forces f 1a and f 1b resulting firstly from the contact between the face 213 a of the tooth 211 a and the face 223 a of the lug 221 a , and secondly from the contact between the inside face 217 d of the slot 216 d , and the face 227 b of the projecting portion 226 b . since these forces f 1a and f 2a are balanced , the radial component of the resultant of the torque c m on the outlet part 220 is negligible . the motor must thus deliver drive torque that is greater than the load torque c l to which only the drag torque of the brake is added , which drag torque results from the friction between the spring 230 and the friction part 240 . there is little or no secondary braking torque generated by the friction between the outlet part 220 and its guide shaft 270 . the faces 223 a and 227 b constitute the contact surfaces of the outlet part . during lowering , the load torque c l is balanced by the forces f 2a and f 2b . the first force f 2a corresponds to the reaction of the spring 230 blocking the load l at the interface between the face 234 a of the tab 232 a of the spring 230 and the bearing face 224 a of the recess 222 a in the lug 221 a . the second force f 2b corresponds to a localized force at the guide shaft 270 of the outlet part 220 , while the parts 210 and 220 are not in direct contact . this friction generates a radial force braking the load . thus , the brake reacts rapidly because the secondary braking torque no longer becomes negligible . the two embodiments describe a brake spring whose ends are folded over towards the inside of the spring . naturally , said ends can be folded over towards the outside of said spring . another variant consists in folding over the ends parallel to the central axis of the spring . the tabs then extend axially on either side of the spring , while extending away from the center of the spring . in addition , the spring brake does not specifically have to be received between two gearbox stages . it can be disposed at the outlet of the motor or at the outlet of the gearbox .
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the present invention provides compositions and methods of using the compositions for the therapeutic treatment of pain . specifically , the present invention comprises a composition of an analgesic / antipyretic either with or without an analgesic adjunct and either with or without an antihistamine , where said composition is in the form of a liquid , solid or gel / cream . as used herein , the term “ analgesic / antipyretic ” refers to a compound or compounds that are effective in treating pain ( analgesic ) and are also effective at reducing fever ( antipyretic ). in another embodiment of the present invention , the compositions may comprise an analgesic / antipyretic from one or more of the group consisting of acetaminophen , buprenorphine , butorphanol , codeine , dextropropoxyphene , dihydrocodeine , fentanyl , diamorphine ( heroin ), hydrocodone , hydromorphone , ketobemidone , morphine , nalbuphine , oxycodone , oxymorphone , pentazocine , pethidine , tramadol , diflunisal , ethenzamide , aminophenazone , metamizole , phenazone , phenacetin , ziconotide , tetrahydrocannabinol , acetylsalicylic acid , choline salicylate , magnesium salicylate , sodium salicylate , ibuprofen , naproxen and ketoprofen . in another embodiment of the present invention , the compositions may comprise an analgesic adjunct from one or more of the group consisting of s (+)- ketamine , metoclopramide , ciramadol , sulfentanil , caffeine and remifentanil . the compositions of the present invention may be administered to the patient for oral use and may be in the form of an elixir , syrup and / or suspension according to an individual patient &# 39 ; s preferences . in another embodiment of the present invention , the compositions may further comprise a flavorant . in certain embodiments of the invention , the compositions of the claimed invention may be administered to the patient as a tablet , gel , cream or gel capsules . in another embodiment of the present invention , the compositions may be substantially free of other added active ingredients . the other added active ingredient may comprise an antihistamine , such as one or more of the group consisting of diphenhydramine , cyproheptadine hydrochloride , brompheneramine , hydroxyzine , chloropheniramine , pyrilamine maleate , pyrilamine tannate , acepromazine , aceprometazine , alimemazine , alimemazine tartrate , amoxydramine camsilate , antazoline chlorhydrate , antazoline mesilate , antazoline phosphate , astemizole , azatadine dimaleate , azelastine hydrochloride , bamipine hydrochloride , benactyzine hydrochloride , bretylium tosilate , bromazine hydrochloride , brompheniramine maleate , buclizine dihydrochloride , bufexamac , carbinoxamine maleate acid , cetiedil citrate , cetirizine dihydrochloride , chlorcyclizine hydrochloride , chlorphenamine maleate , chlorphenoxamine hydrochloride , chlorprothixene hydrochloride , cinnarizine , clemastine fumarate , clemizole hexachlorophenate , clemizole penicilline , clemizole undecylenate , clocinizine dihydrochloride , clofedanol , clofenetamine hydrochloride , cyclizine hydrochloride , dexchlorpheniramine maleate , di ( acefylline ) diphenhydramine , difencloxazine , dimelazine hydrochloride , dimenhydrinate , dimethoxanate hydrochloride , cimetotiazine mesilate , diphenhydramine hydrochloride , diphenhydramine mesilate , diphenylpyraline hydrochloride , diproqualone camsilate , dixyrazine , doxylamine succinate , eprozinol dihydrochloride , etodroxizine dimaleate , etybenzatropine bromhydrate , etybenzatropine hydrochloride , etymemazine hydrochloride , fenethazine hydrochloride , fenoxazoline hydrochloride , fenpentadiol , flunarizine hydrochloride , flupentixol decanoate , flupentixol dihydrochloride , histapyrrodine hydrochloride , hydroxyzine dihydrochloride , hydroxyzine embonate , indoramine hydrochloride , isothipendyl hydrochloride , ketotifene fumarate , levocabastine hydrochloride , levomepromazine , levomepromazine hydrochloride , levomepromazine embonate , levomepromazine maleate , loratadine , maprotiline hydrochloride , maprotiline mesilate , maprotiline resinate , meclozine hydrochloride , mecysteine hydrochloride , medifoxamine fumarate , mefenidramium metilsulfate , mepyramine maleate , mequitazine , methaqualone , methdilazine hydrochloride , metixene hydrochloride , mizolastine , moxisylyte hydrochloride , niaprazine , orphenadrine hydrochloride , oxaflumazine disuccinate , oxatomide , oxolamine benzilate , oxolamine citrate , oxomemazine , oxomemazine hydrochloride , parathiazine teoclate , perimetazine , pheniramine maleate , phenoxybenzamine hydrochloride , phenyltoloxamine , phenyltoloxamine citrate , pimethixene , pipotiazine , pipretecol dihydrochloride , pizotifene malate , prednazoline , profenamine hydrochloride , promethazine , promethazine hydrochloride , promethazine embonate , promethazine polyvinylbenzene - metacrylate , propiomazine , terfenadine , thenalidine tartrate , thenyldiamine hydrochloride , thiazinamium metilsulfate , thonzylamine hydrochloride , tripelennamine hydrochloride , triprolidine hydrochloride , and tymazoline hydrochloride , and combinations thereof . in another embodiment , the compositions of the present invention may comprise one or more of about 1 mg to 1500 mg of an analgesic / antipyretic , 1 mg to 200 mg of an analgesic adjunct and 1 mg to 200 mg of an antihistamine . in certain embodiments of the invention , the compositions may comprise from about 435 mg to 1 , 338 mg of an analgesic / antipyretic . in certain embodiments of the invention , the analgesic adjunct is caffeine . in certain embodiments of the invention , the antihistamine is diphenhydramine citrate . in other embodiments of the invention , the antihistamine is either diphenhydramine hydrochloride or pyrliamine maleate . in another embodiment of the present invention , the compositions may be administered to a patient to treat and / or alleviate the occurrence or negative effects from one or more of the group consisting of chronic pain and acute pain . in certain embodiments of the invention , the compositions of the invention are dissolved in solvents containing one or more buffering salts . examples of these buffers include , but are not limited to , calcium carbonate , magnesium oxide , magnesium carbonate , aluminum hydroxide and sodium hydroxide . the use of one or more of these salts causes the analgesic / antipyretic , analgesic adjunct and antihistamine compounds to stay in solution . in other embodiments of the invention , the compositions of the invention comprise simethicone . simethicone is an orally administered anti - foaming agent used to reduce bloating , discomfort or pain caused by excessive gas . in certain embodiments of the invention , the compositions of the invention comprise a diuretic agent . in some embodiments of the invention , the diuretic agent is pamabrom , which is a 1 : 1 mixture of 2 - amino - 2 - methyl - 1 - propanol and 8 - bromotheophyllinate . in another embodiment of the present invention , the compositions may be administered to a patient to treat and / or alleviate the occurrence or negative effects of headaches . compositions of the invention are formulated as a liquid in order to facilitate efficient absorption particularly by older individuals . other objectives , features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following specific examples . the specific examples , while indicating specific embodiments of the invention , are provided by way of illustration only . accordingly , the present invention also includes those various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention that may become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description . the invention will be further illustrated by the following non - limiting examples . the products listed below exemplify certain of the products in accordance with the claimed invention . in the products listed below , only the primary active ingredients , i . e ., analgesic / antipyretic , analgesic adjunct or antihistamine is listed . it would be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that the listed product formulations could contain inert ingredients such as buffers , fillers and other inactive ingredients . while specific embodiments of the present invention have been described , other and further modifications and changes may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention . all further and other modifications and changes are included that come within the scope of the invention as set forth in the claims . the disclosures of all publications cited above are expressly incorporated by reference in their entireties to the same extent as if each were incorporated by reference individually .
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referring to the drawings in detail , wherein like numerals indicate like elements , fig1 is a block diagram of the electrical circuitry used in practicing the present invention and is designated generally as 10 . it will be assumed for purposes of the following discussion that a standard eight channel punched tape is used to program the sequence of operations of a plurality of audio - visual devices during a performance . however , it should be understood that punched tapes provided with more or less than eight channels may also be used with the present invention . each line of a punched tape is called a cue , and a line contains varying combinations of perforations in the eight channels . thus , the first , third , fifth and seventh channels may be punched , or the second , fourth , sixth and eighth channels may be punched , and so forth . a tape reader 12 in the programmer senses the perforations in each cue electro - optically . the tape reader includes a stepping motor for stepping the punched tape through the reader . the tape may be stepped through the reader at a rate as high as 80 cues per second , but to preserve the life of the reader a maximum scan rate of 60 cues per second is preferred . in the normal mode of operation , the reader will advance the tape a single cue at a time and read a cue in response to a manually initiated command . on the other hand , in the automatic mode of operation , known as the high speed mode , the reader will advance and read the tape at a rate of 20 or 60 cues per second in response to a timing circuit 11 in the programmer . in either of the high speed modes , that is , at the 20 or 60 cue per second rates , the reader will automatically stop when it encounters a hole punched in the eighth channel of a cue if no other channels of the cue are punched . the programmer is provided with eight output terminals , each terminal corresponding to a channel on the punched tape . in fig1 the eight output terminals of the tape reader are indicated generally by line 16 . the master clock 14 generates a series of pulses which are derived from the same timing circuit 11 used to control the rate of advance of the tape reader . the series of pulses on line 18 , connected to the output of the master clock 14 , determines the rate at which the tape reader output signals on lines 16 are encoded in the high speed modes . in the preferred embodiment , the master clock 14 generates a series of pulses which have amplitudes of approximately 23 volts . for a scan rate of 20 cues per second , the pulses are &# 34 ; low &# 34 ; for approximately 30 milliseconds and &# 34 ; high &# 34 ; for approximately 20 milliseconds . for a scan rate of 60 cues per second , the pulses are low for approximately 10 milliseconds and high for approximately 6 milliseconds . the pulse repetition frequency of the pulses on line 18 determines the rate at which the tape reader output signals are encoded . a keyboard 13 is provided in the programmer so that the input signals from tape reader 12 may be overridden when so desired . keyboard 13 has eight keys which correspond to the eight channels in the tape . the operator can override any or all of these channels by depressing the appropriate key . if no tape is fed to the tape reader , the input signal to the herein disclosed invention can be derived solely from the keyboard 13 . it should be noted that in such a situation the timing pulse input to the tape reader 12 will still be transmitted as an output signal thru line 16 . the output signals from tape reader 12 and keyboard 13 are fed into a channel register 15 in the programmer thru lines 16 and 17 respectively . the channel register performs an &# 34 ; or &# 34 ; function on these two signals with the resulting ( eight channel ) signal transmitted thru line 19 . in the preferred embodiment of the invention described herein , the channel register output signals on lines 19 and the master clock pulses on line 18 are fed to a voltage isolation circuit 20 which provides voltage isolation and noise immunity . additionally , voltage isolation circuit 20 provides the voltage levels required to operate the logic circuitry described hereinafter . more specifically circuit 20 comprises nine identical voltage isolation devices ( not shown ), each of which may be a til 111 integrated circuit comprising a light emitting diode and a photo - transistor , although it should be understood that other voltage isolation devices may also be suitable for use in the present invention . each voltage isolation device is provided with a light emitting diode which is connected to one of the nine lines comprising lines 19 and line 18 . the output of each voltage isolation device is taken off the collector of the photo - transistor , and the nine outputs are indicated generally by lines 24 , 26 and 28 in fig1 . the outputs of the voltage isolation devices which are connected to five of the line 19 outputs which correspond to the first five channels on the tape , are indicated generally by line 24 . the outputs of the voltage isolation devices which are connected to the remaining three line 19 outputs which correspond to the remaining three channels on the tape , are indicated by line 26 . and the output of the voltage isolation device which is connected to the output of the master clock 14 by means of line 18 is indicated by line 28 . at the output of a voltage isolation device , i . e ., the collector of the photo - transistor , a negative going pulse will appear in response to a negative going pulse at the input of the voltage isolation device , i . e ., at the light emitting diode . in the preferred embodiment , fig1 the programmer generates a negative going pulse having an amplitude of approximately 24 volts on one of the lines 19 when a hole appears in the tape channel corresponding to that line . this pulse appears at the input to the voltage isolation device . in response to this input pulse , the voltage isolation device generates a negative going pulse between approximately five volts and zero volts . the five volts and zero volts levels are chosen to operate the logic circuitry described hereinafter . as will become evident from the description of the gating circuit 50 which follows , each of the five lines 24 , which correspond to the first five channels of the tape , is electrically connected to the inputs of eight nor gate in gating circuit 50 , fig2 and 3 . to prevent undue loading of the voltage isolation devices , the lines 24 are connected to a buffer circuit 30 which , in turn , is connected to gating circuit 50 . the buffer circuit 30 includes five identical and gates , one of which is shown in detail in fig5 and is designated by the numeral 32 . referring to fig5 each and gate 32 is provided with two input terminals x and y . the y - input terminal is connected to a five volt supply , and the x - input terminal is connected to one of the lines 24 . further , the x - input terminal is connected to a five volt supply through resistor r1 , and the output terminal z is connected to the same five volt supply through the resistor r2 . in the preferred embodiment , r1 is 6800 ohms and r2 is 4700 ohms . when the associated photo - transistor in voltage isolation circuit 20 is &# 34 ; off &# 34 ;, no current flows through r1 and a five volt signal appears at the x - input terminal and the z - output terminal remains at the five volt level . when the photo - transistor is &# 34 ; on &# 34 ; a negative going pulse having an amplitude of five volts appears at the x - input terminal , and the z - output terminal is driven to the zero volt level . the output of the voltage isolation device which is connected to the master clock output line 18 is designated , as previously mentioned , by line 28 . line 28 is connected to the input of signal shaping circuit 31 . preferably , circuit 31 is the same circuit shown in fig5 with a low resistance ( not shown ), such as 47 ohms , added in series between the output of the voltage isolation device on line 28 and the junction of the x - input terminal and the resistor r1 . the purpose of signal shaping circuit 31 is to sharpen the edges of the pulses appearing on line 28 to reliably trigger the one shot circuit 34 . the output of the signal shaping circuit 31 controls the operation of the one shot circuit 34 . the one shot circuit 34 , in the preferred embodiment , is a sn74123n integrated circuit which is connected to provide a positive going 6 millisecond pulse in response to the negative going edge of the input trigger signal . the output pulse from the one shot 34 controls the rate at which encoder 36 encodes the signals appearing on the three lines 26 which are connected to the output of voltage isolation circuit 20 . the output of one shot circuit 34 is connected to a differentiator circuit 35 , shown in fig7 which differentiates and inverts the leading edge of the 6 millisecond output pulse . the differentiator circuit 35 is a conventional circuit , and its operation is well - known in the art . accordingly , further description of differentiator circuit 35 is not necessary in disclosing the present invention . in the preferred embodiment , encoder 36 is a sn7442n bcd encoder . the encoder 36 receives the signals appearing on lines 26 and , in response to the output of differentiator circuit 35 , encodes the signals into eight output signals , each output signal appearing on one of the eight lines indicated generally in fig1 by the numeral 38 . referring to fig6 there is shown a block diagram of encoder 36 having three inputs 6 , 7 and 8 , corresponding to the three lines 26 , and eight outputs 678 , 78 , 68 , 8 , 67 , 7 , 6 , and 0 , corresponding to the eight output lines 38 . as mentioned previously , each cue of the punched tape is divided into eight channels . all eight channels are scanned by the tape reader 12 , and each of the programmer output lines 19 corresponds to one of the eight channels of a cue . each of the eight lines 19 is connected to voltage isolation circuit 20 . the five output lines 24 of voltage isolation circuit 20 correspond to the first five channels on the punched tape , and the three output lines 26 of current isolation circuit 20 correspond to the last three channels on the tape . for ease of reference , the first five channels on the tape are identified by the numbers 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 and 5 , and the last three channels on the tape are identified by the numbers 6 , 7 and 8 . thus , in fig6 line 26 represents the three outputs of voltage isolation circuit 20 which correspond to the last three channels , 6 , 7 and 8 , on the tape . the encoder 36 combines the three lines 26 none , one , two and three at a time by conventional logic circuitry . consequently , the encoder 36 has eight output lines , indicated generally as 38 , each output line corresponding to a different combination of the three input lines 26 . stated otherwise , each of the eight output lines 38 of encoder 36 corresponds to a different combination of the last three channels on the punched tape . for example , if none of the last three channels of a cue are punched , there will be no input on lines 6 , 7 and 8 . when the output pulse from differentiator circuit 35 triggers the encoder 36 , an output signal appears on output line 0 while the other seven output lines carry no output signals . this indicates that the last three channels on the cue have been examined and none contain a punched hole . suppose , as a further example , that channels 6 and 7 are punched but channel 8 is not . an output signal will then appear on output line 67 , and the other seven output lines of encoder 36 will carry no output signals . this indicates that only channels 6 and 7 of the last three channels on the cue have been punched . the foregoing analysis may be repeated for each combination of punched holes in the last three channels of a cue , channels 6 , 7 and 8 . in the preceding description of the invention , it has been shown that the three lines 26 , corresponding to the last three channels on a cue , are connected to encoder 36 , while the five lines 24 , corresponding to the first five channels of a cue , are connected to buffer circuit 30 , fig1 . buffer circuit 30 includes five and gates 32 fig5 each and gate 32 being connected to one of the five lines 24 . additionally , it has been shown that line 28 is connected to signal shaping circuit 31 which controls the operation of a one shot circuit 34 which , in turn , controls the rate at which encoder 36 encodes the signals appearing on the three lines 26 . each of the five and gates 32 which are connected to the five lines 24 generates an output signal on one of five lines indicated generally as 40 in fig1 . lines 40 from buffer circuit 30 and the eight output lines 38 from encoder 36 are connected to gating circuit 50 . referring to fig2 the gating circuit 50 is shown in further detail . using the system of notation adopted in the preceding portion of the description of the invention , the five output lines 40 of buffer circuit 30 correspond to the first five channels of a cue , channels 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 and 5 , and the eight output lines 38 from encoder 36 correspond to the eight possible combinations of the last three channels on a cue , namely , 678 , 78 , 68 , 8 , 67 , 7 , 6 and 0 . each of the eight lines 38 is fed to nor gate and one shot circuits 52 , 54 , 56 , 58 and 90 . nor gate and one shot circuits 52 , 54 , 56 , 58 and 90 are identical circuits , each circuit comprising a nor gate connected in series with a one shot device . the one shot device may be a sn74123n integrated circuit , or any other suitable one shot device . as shown in fig2 the one line of the five lines 40 which corresponds to channel 1 on the tape is connected to nor gate and one shot 52 , the line corresponding to channel 2 on the tape is connected to nor gate and one shot circuit 54 , and the other lines corresponding to channels 3 , 4 and 5 of the tape are connected , respectively , to nor gate and one shot circuits 56 , 58 , and 90 . each possible combination of the last three channels on a cue , as represented by the eight lines 38 , is combined with each of the first five channels on the cue , represented by the five lines 40 , to generate five sets of output lines a , b , c , d , and e , designated generally as 92 . each of the five sets of output lines a , b , c , d and e itself includes eight output lines so that the total number of output lines 92 is forty . each of the forty output lines 92 carries a control signal for controlling one audio - visual device in accordance with the program on the tape and , accordingly , the capacity of the programmer is expanded from eight to forty channels . referring to fig3 the nor gate and one shot circuit 52 fig2 is shown in further detail . since circuits 52 , 54 , 56 , 58 and 90 are identical , the following description of circuit 52 applies to circuits 54 , 56 , 58 and 90 as well . in fig3 the one line of the five output lines 40 of buffer circuit 30 which corresponds to the first channel on the tape is designated as 1 . the eight output lines 38 from encoder 36 are designated as 0 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 67 , 68 , 78 , and 678 in accordance with the notation previously adopted . each of the eight lines 38 is connected to one of the nor gates 100 , 102 , 104 , 106 , 108 , 110 , 112 , and 114 which are identical and are indicated generally as 200 . each of the nor gates 200 is connected in series to one of eight one shot devices 116 , 118 , 120 , 122 , 124 , 126 , 128 , and 130 , which are identical and are designated generally as 300 . since each series connection of one of the nor gates 200 to one of the one shot devices 300 is identical in fig3 for purposes of discussion it suffices to describe the operation of one such connection and , in particular , the connection of nor gate 100 to one shot device 116 . if the first channel of a cue is punched , a low signal , that is , a zero volt signal , will appear on line 1 at the input to nor gate 100 . the nor gate 100 , however , will not generate an output signal unless , in addition , none of the last three channels of a cue are punched . conversely , if the last three channels of a cue are empty , a low signal will appear on line 0 , but unless the first channel of the same cue is punched , nor gate 100 will generate no output signal . only when the last three channels of a cue are empty and , in addition , the first channel of the same cue is punched , will nor gate 100 generate an output signal . further , given the latter conditions , nor gate 100 will generate an output signal despite the condition of channels 2 , 3 , 4 and 5 of the cue . the output signal generated by nor gate 100 will trigger the one shot device 116 , and an output pulse will appear at the line labeled 01 in fig3 . the numerical label 01 also identifies one of a plurality of audio - visual devices which is activated by the foregoing circuitry when none of the last three channels on a cue , and at least the first channel of the first five channels of the cue , are perforated . the foregoing analysis may be repeated for each of the nor gates 200 and each of the nor gate and one shot circuits 52 , 54 , 56 , 58 and 90 . each of the one shot circuits referred to in the preceding description must be reset when power is initially applied to the system to avoid triggering an audio - visual device by a transient spike . referring to fig1 there is shown a reset circuit 42 which is connected to gating circuit 50 by line 44 . the reset circuit 42 generates a negative going pulse of approximately 5 volts amplitude to the reset terminals of one shot circuits 52 , 54 , 56 , 58 , 90 and 34 . referring to fig8 the reset circuit 42 includes an oscillator circuit 43 and driver circuit 45 . the oscillator circuit 43 is a conventional circuit which generates a positive going pulse of approximately 35 milliseconds duration . the output of the oscillator circuit 43 drives driver circuit 45 which comprises identical pairs of and gates connected in series with transistors . the driver circuit 45 may be a sn75452p integrated circuit or any other suitable driver circuit . reset circuit 42 is provided with two output channels , 47 and 49 , rather than a single output channel in order to avoid unduly loading the driver circuit 45 . thus , using twin and gate and transistor pairs in driver circuit 45 , each of the one shot circuits 52 , 54 , 56 , 58 , 90 and 34 will be reliably reset . when the power is initially applied to the system , the reset circuit 42 resets each one shot circuit . thereafter , the one shot circuits are controlled in accordance with the circuitry described above . the 40 output lines 92 from gating circuit 50 are connected to relay circuit 94 , as shown in fig1 . relay circuit 94 contains 40 identical relay devices 96 which are shown in detail in fig4 . a transistor 98 is switched on and off by the signal appearing on the one line of the forty lines 92 which is connected to the transistor base . in the preferred embodiment the transistor 98 is a 2n2102 transistor although other suitable transistors may also be used . a solenoid 99 is connected in the collector circuit of the transistor 98 , and the current flow through the solenoid controls the operation of a switch 101 which is connected to one of a plurality of audio - visual devices . the operation of each of the relay devices 96 connected to each of the lines 92 is identical . in operation , the programmer senses those channels of a cue that have been perforated and generates an output signal on each line 16 which is associated with a perforated channel . the signals corresponding to the last three channels of the cue are encoded by encoder 36 which generates the encoded signals on lines 38 . the signals appearing on lines 40 , at the input to gating circuit 50 , correspond to the first five channels on the tape , and the signals on line 40 are combined with the signals on line 38 to produce an array of 40 different output signals on the forty output lines 92 from gating circuit 50 . each of the lines 92 controls a relay device 96 which , in turn , controls the state of an audio - visual device . thus , although standard eight hole punch tape is used to supply information to a programmer which controls the sequence of operations of a plurality of audio - visual devices during a performance , as many as forty such audio - visual devices may be controlled by the standard eight hole tape . although a preferred embodiment of the invention has been described above , various modifications may be made within the spirit and scope of the present invention . for example , although standard eight hole punch tape has been specified in conjunction with the invention , it may readily be appreciated that other tapes provided with more or less channels may also be used , the invention being modified accordingly by a person having ordinary skill in the art . similarly , although a particular relay device 96 has been described for operating an audio - visual device in response to the signals generated on lines 92 , any other momentary closure device may also be suitable for this purpose . further , although voltage logic levels of zero and five volts have been referred to in describing the preferred embodiment of the invention , other voltage logic levels may also be used if other logic circuitry is employed . the present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof and , accordingly , reference should be made to the appended claims , rather than to the foregoing specification as indicating the scope of the invention .
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it will be apparent from the foregoing that numerous highly advantageous features have been provided in a single cover structure , e . g : 2 . reelless storage to avoid rollers , hand - cranks and like mechanisms adjacent the pool ; 3 . blower - powered inflation and deflation for deployment or storage , again easing operation ; 4 . endwise free deployment , to avoid guide ropes , chains and like mechanisms alongside the pool ; 5 . low cost materials ; conventional plastic and lightweight metal components are used in a low assembly cost manner ; 6 . integral solar heating effect , useful per se or in a pool cover situation ; 7 . solar radiation concentration for improved heating results at various sun angles ; 10 . energy efficiency in keeping pool heat in and adding thereto when sun exposed . these and like features and advantages of the invention enumerated above and to become apparent as the description proceeds will be better understood from a consideration of the attached drawings in which fig1 - 5 depict an embodiment of the invention most highly adapted to swimming pool cover and heat applications ; and fig6 and 7 an embodiment useful for transitory water and gas heating e . g . in a rooftop installation . turning now to the drawings in detail , in fig1 a rectangular swimming pool 10 having perimetrical coping 12 and diving board 14 is provided with a cover 16 according to the invention . the cover 16 is shown deployed , extended in pool water body 18 covering position , with reversible air blower 20 , at pool edge margin 22 communicating with inflated ribs 40 through flanged fitting 26 , flexible hose coupling 28 and manifold 30 ; the manifold and blower being coaxial with each other and parallel with the axis l of the furling locus of the cover at the inner pool edge margin 32 just within the pool coping 12 . the outer pool edge margin 22 at and just beyond coping 12 may likewise locate the furling locus of cover . with reference now particularly to fig2 and 3 , the cover 16 alone is depicted for greater clarity of understanding of the cover assembly and its operation . initially , and proceeding directly from the position shown in fig1 the position shown in fig3 is of the cover 16 extended , while in fig2 that same cover has been retracted . before going into the details of the extension and self - retraction operation , the cover 16 assembly will be described . cover 16 comprises a sheet material base 34 which is water resistant sufficiently for continual water contact , tough to be resistant to puncturing and rupture , chemically inert so as to not affect pool water chemistry or be affected by pool water chemicals , weathering resistant against uv and ozone degradation , heat resistant at least within the range of solar heating temperatures , air and liquid impervious , dimensionally stable , heat transfer capable , flexible , lightweight and low in cost . base sheet material 34 is typically a calenderable thermoplastic such as polyolefin plastic e . g . vinyl or rubber - styrene polymer , of a thickness of from about 20 to 65 mils , or more or less , providing the enumerated characteristics are preserved . the base sheet material 34 may be and preferably is laminated to a lightweight metal layer 36 e . g . light aluminum sheet or heavy foil for example 15 to 100 mils in thickness , and thus the base sheet material 34 comprises both a metal layer 36 and a plastic layer as will be explained in more detail hereinafter . secured to the base sheet material 34 for purposes of self - retraction of the cover is a plurality of nomally coiled , longitudinally extended parallel and laterally spaced spring steel members , termed spring fingers 38 herein , which extend normal to the locus having the axis l and thus continually bias the cover sheet material into furled position about the locus . see fig2 . the cover 16 self - retraction capability or function is a response to the tendency of the spring fingers 38 to coil , and exists at all times in the cover , resulting in furling , unless an opposite and at least equal or overbalancing force is then being currently applied . for the purpose of applying such a force , the present cover 16 has , surmounting the base sheet material 34 , a series of hollow , alternately inflatable and collapsible , semi - cylindrical , longitudinally extended ribs 40 which are shown in parallel , extending normal to the cover furling locus at l and in paired , opposed relation to the spring fingers 38 centered therebelow . see fig4 . as such , the ribs 40 are arranged and adapted , upon inflation by blower 20 to unroll the cover 16 against the resiliently urged force of spring fingers 38 to flatten the cover into pool 18 covering position as in fig7 . the ribs 40 provide the further advantage of trapping insulative air above the pool surface ( and base sheet 34 ) to enhance heat loss protection provided by the cover 16 . in operation and as shown in fig3 air enters grilled opening 42 of the reversible blower 20 , is pressurized therein and passed through fitting 26 , hose coupling 28 and into manifold 30 and past relief valve 44 thereon and into the ribs 40 , progressively filling them and correspondingly unrolling the cover 16 against the force of spring fingers 38 . reversal of blower 20 exhausts air from the ribs 40 ultimately back through grilled opening 42 of the blower , collapsing the ribs , and permitting the spring fingers 38 to reroll the cover 16 about its locus at l , to the position of fig2 . with reference now to fig4 and 5 in particular , details of the cover 16 construction are shown . the base sheet material 34 or sheet underlayer 34a having laminated thereto an overlayer 46 comprising light aluminum sheet 36 laid in strips 48 defining therebetween sealing rows 50 wherein the flanges 52 of rib 40 are overlaid on one another and sealed ( by solvent , heat or dielectrically ) or otherwise air - tightly secured to each other and to the underlayer sheet 34a . as noted above , prior to laminating the ribs 40 in place , and the aluminum sheet strips 48 to the plastic underlayer 34a , the spring finger 38 is positioned between the plastic underlayer and the metal overlayer , and secured as necessary for assembly of the cover 16 . in solar heating embodiments the aluminum sheet strip 48 is preferably matte black or otherwise rendered preferentially heat absorptive . of course , the base sheet underlayer 34a may likewise be black . the use of a good heat transfer material such as a metal , and particularly aluminum , is an advantage in maximizing heat transfer to the water located at w confined in the conduit c partly defined by the base sheet material 34 and partly by the pool 18 walls . a further advantage in the use of metal strips 48 as an overlayer derives from the greater longevity of metallic materials in sun - exposed situations , as compared with plastic film , e . g . at 34a . this attribute of metals is even more highly important when considering the solar radiation concentration feature provided by the ribs 40 in accordance with the invention . thus , and with reference to fig4 and 5 , the ribs 40 have solar radiation transparent walls 40a and are suitably made of vinyl or acrylic plastic . a &# 34 ; greenhouse &# 34 ; effect obtains in the space s confined by the ribs 40 . ribs 40 are desirably athwart the sun &# 39 ; s rays to act as solar radiation concentrators and for this purpose are formed to define a a plurality of transversely disposed ( relative to the sun ), semi - cylindrical lens structures to present an array of arcuate lenses 54 to the incident solar radiation deflecting and guiding incident energy toward corregations 48a defined by parallel undulations in the overlayer strip 48 . the lens effect of ribs 40 not only concentrates solar radiation during the optimum part of the day , but increases the effectiveness of received radiation as the sun &# 39 ; s rays angle of incidence varies during the day , in effect extending the optimum period of operation . since most pools have not been laid out with an eye toward efficiency in using the solar radiations , it is desirable to provide a multitude of lens structures 54 to usefully capture as much of the sun &# 39 ; s energy as reasonably possible , given the various orientations of existing pool installations and the periodic cycling of the earth relative to the sun . additionally the cover can be custom created for a given pool to optimize the orientations of the lens structure 54 for an installation , the manifold 30 being positioned to permit such optimum orientation , at the side , end or center , etc ., of the cover 16 . the lens structures 54 are preferably formed of vinyl , acrylic or like plastic which is solar radiation tolerant , and undulantly formable into arcuate shapes securable between the strips 48 as by heat sealing , solvent welding or dielectrically . it will now always be desired to cover , even occasionally , a swimming pool surface , although the water heating effect is wanted . in such situations an alternative form of the invention , shown in fig6 and 7 may be employed . with reference to fig6 and 7 wherein like parts to fig1 - 5 have like numerals essentially , the embodiment shown in these figures defines the conduit c for water w to be heated with channel members 60 sized and arranged to convey water , be it pool water or other domestic or industrial use water , past the underlayer 34a and in heat transferring relation with overlayer strip 48 . it will be observed that a u - shaped channel 62 formed by plastic , metal or like channel member 60 is abutted to the base sheet 34 and secured there to provide conduit c for water w , keeping the water in heat transfer contact with the laminate of underlayer 34a and overlayer strip 48 comprising the base sheet material . since the water in conduit c is thus confined by the channel members 60 , the water supply may be located remotely to the cover 16 . advantageously the cover 16 may be located on a rooftop for maximum solar radiation exposure , for use in repetitive heating of pool water , or in once - through heating of domestic hot water supply . the base sheet underlayer 34 may be omitted where the corrugated overlayer 48 is adequately noncorrosive for direct water contact , particularly in rooftop or other essentially stationary installations where the retraction and reeling features are not required . other fluids may be confined in the conduit for other , and specific heating purposes e . g . heating of air for tobacco curing barns . in these and like embodiments , the cover 16 functions essentially solely as a solar powered heater while the ease of retraction and extension enables ready deployment when needed and easy storage at other times , the cover being thus protected from unnecessary exposure to the elements and more long - lived as a result .
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referring to fig1 a rivet 1 according to the first aspect of the invention is shown . the rivet comprises a tubular wall 2 surrounding an axial bore 3 which extends from a tail end region 4 to a head end region 5 of the tubular wall . the head end portion is provided with a head flange 6 extending outwardly from the tubular wall . the axial bore 3 comprises two portions of different diameter . a first portion 7 of lesser diameter extends from the tail end portion to the head end portion of the rivet . a second portion 8 of greater diameter extends from the head end region towards the tail end portion . the first and second portions of the bore meet at a step 9 . turning to fig2 the rivet 1 can be seen in position in a hole 13 in a workpiece 12 . the flange 6 presents an abutment surface 11 to the workpiece 12 . since the joint between the rivet and the workpiece is intended to be watertight , the abutment surface 11 is preferably coated with a sealant 10 , such as a polymer . in fig3 the assembly of fig2 is shown together with dies 15 , 20 that will cause the rivet 1 to deform . a first die 15 , comprises a base 16 and a projection 17 . the projection 17 has similar external dimensions to the first portion 7 of the axial bore and pauses therethrough , such that the base 16 of the die is in contact with the flange 6 . the projection also passes into a bore 22 in a second die 20 . the bore 22 in the second die has similar dimensions to the second portion 7 of the axial bore . the second die 20 also comprises an abutment surface 21 which rests on the tail end portion 4 of the rivet . once in position , the dies are moved together relative to one another , as indicated by the arrows in fig4 . the compression forces acting on the tubular wall 2 cause the wall to collapse in the region of the second portion of the axial bore forming a fold 24 , trapping the workpiece 12 between the fold 24 and the flange 6 ( fig5 ). such a rivet set in this way is shown in fig6 . the extent of the deformation bulge 24 is preferably limited by means ( not shown ) restricting the distance that the dies 15 , 20 can move toward one another . this will prevent oversetting of the rivet . in an alternative embodiment , shown in fig7 the tubular wall 2 of the rivet 1 may be provided with a third portion 30 of diameter greater than that of the second portion 8 . the third portion 30 extends from the tail end portion 4 of the bore , to join the first portion 7 at a step 31 , the first portion now forming an intermediate part of the axial bore 3 . fig8 shows the modified rivet in position in a hole 13 in a workpiece 12 . in setting such a modified rivet , a modified second die 20 &# 39 ; is used ( fig9 ). the die 20 &# 39 ; is again provided with a base 22 through which the projection of the first die extends , and has a similar diameter to that of the first region 7 of the axial bore 3 . whereas in the previous embodiment the abutment surface 21 was only in contact with an end surface of the tail end portion 4 , the abutment surface 21 &# 39 ; the present embodiment is in the form of a further projection or boss 25 . the boss 25 has an external surface of similar dimensions to the diameter of the third portion 30 of the axial bore 3 , and an internal diameter of similar dimensions to the first portion 7 of the axial bore . the boss 25 can thus extend between the tubular wall 2 in the region of the third portion 30 and the projection 17 of the first die 15 . however , the boss 25 does not extend as far as - the step 31 joining the first and third portions of the axial bore of the rivet , but leaves a gap 26 , between the abutment surface 21 &# 39 ; and the step 31 . when the dies are moved together relative to one another ( fig1 ), the tubular wall 2 in the region of the third portion of the axial bore is weakest and deforms first , to form an external ridge 34 in the rivet . the ridge will continue to form until the face 21 &# 39 ; of the boss 25 abuts the step 31 in the tubular wall . further relative movement of the dies will cause the tubular wall in the region of the second portion of the axial bore to deform , as described in the previous embodiment ( fig1 ), by virtue of compression forces from the die 20 being transmitted via the face 31 on wall 2 . the fully set rivet is shown in fig1 . the ridge 34 may be used to attach a tube 40 , or such like to the rivet , as shown in fig1 . it will be understood that by varying the shape of the second die 20 &# 39 ;, and in particular the shape of the boss 25 , a variety of shaped tail end portions can be formed , such as , for example , the flared flange 35 shown in fig1 .
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it should be noted at the outset , that the preferred embodiment of the present invention shall be described in reference to a solid state sensor that is selectively tuned to detect the presence of a halogen gas contained within the sample atmosphere to the exclusion of other gases or vapors , including water vapor , that are capable of reacting with the sensing element to produce a troublesome interference signal that could block or otherwise mask the signal of primary interest . it should be clear , however , that the invention is not restricted by the disclosure and the invention has a broader application than that herein described . referring now to fig1 the present sensing apparatus , which is generally referenced 10 , is shown housed within a hand held probe 12 . the probe includes a housing 13 , which encloses the sensing device 10 , and a hollow &# 34 ; sniffer &# 34 ; tube 14 of elongated construction . although not shown , a suction producing means is further provided that is operatively connected to the probe and which is arranged to draw a relatively low velocity stream of test atmosphere through the sniffer tube past sensing element 16 as depicted by the arrows . in operation , the open end of the sniffer tube is directed into an area containing the subject atmosphere to be tested and a sample of the atmosphere pulled into the housing with a minimum amount of turbulence where it is allowed to quietly blanket the sensor . sensing device 10 , which is contained within housing 13 , includes a cylindrical solid state sensing element 16 that is contained within a shield 17 of substantially cylindrical form . an elongated electrode 15 is coaxially aligned within the sensing element and extends outwardly from the element beyond the two end faces of the shield . the upper extended end of the electrode , as viewed in fig1 is arranged to support a semicircular flow deflector 30 within entrance region 11 through which the sniffer tube 14 discharges a sample flow into the housing 13 . the outer surface of the deflector is contoured to generally complement the interior wall of the housing within the entrance region to establish an annular entrance into the housing through which a test sample is admitted . the deflector , in operation , protects the thermally sensitive components of the sensing apparatus from direct impingement by the incoming flow stream thereby insuring that the operating temperature of the detecting system remains relatively stable during the test period . as will be explained in greater detail below , the ability to maintain stable conditions at the surface of the sensing device plays an important role in the ability of the present device to selectively discern the presence of one reactive gas or vapor in the presence of one or more other reactive constituents . the opposite or lower extended end of the electrode is passed through the transversely extended bottom wall 24 of the housing and is secured by any suitable means therein to support the electrode and thus the sensing element assembly , in axial alignment within the housing . the lower end of the electrode , that passes downwardly through the wall , is electrically connected to the negative side of a biasing battery 25 , the function of which will be explained below . a heating coil 20 , formed of a single piece of platinum wire , is spirally would about the outer surface of shield 17 . in assembly , the turns of the coil are securely seated within a helical groove 19 formed in the shield to provide for a uniform spacing between turns . the terminal ends 22 , 23 of the coil are turned downwardly and brought through the bottom wall 24 of the housing . the ends of the coil are connected over a d . c . power supply in the form of battery 21 which provides power by which the coil is energized . the temperature produced at the outer surface of the shield is a function , among other things , of the number of turns per inch of the coil and the power output of the battery . as can be seen by varying one or both of these parameters , the operating temperature at the surface of the sensing device can be conveniently controlled . an electrical detecting circuit made up of previously noted biasing battery 25 and ammeter 27 is connected between the lower terminal 22 of the heating coil , which represents electrical ground in the electrical system , and the electrode 15 . a biasing potential is thus placed over the heater coil and the electrode . the shield is formed of a selected material that will prevent current from flowing in the circuit until such time as an electron flow is established through the shield . preferably , in the illustrated embodiment of the invention , the solid state sensing element 16 is formed of a metal salt , generally selected from a class of materials including sodium silicate and lithium silicate which contain alkali metal ions . the solid state sensing element 16 is fabricated by first placing an anhydrous salt of the selected material in a crucible and heating the material to about 1200 ° c . for thirty minutes . the material is removed from the crucible and allowed to cool at room temperature . upon cooling , the material , which is now in a hard ceramic form , is ground to a fine powder in a grinding jar , ballmill , or the like . next , elongated wire electrode 15 is supported in axial alignment within the shield 17 and the prepared powder tamped into the cylinder so that it contacts both the inner wall of the cylinder and the outer wall of the electrode to completely fill the void therebetween . sufficient pressure is applied to the powder to produce a high strength mechanical bond between the adjacent particles and the surrounding components thus providing for a relatively unitized homogeneous three element structure . the shield 17 is preferably formed of aluminum oxide which is substantially devoid of alkali metal ions and which exhibits good operating characteristics at elevated temperatures . in practice , helical groove 19 can be formed in the outer wall of the shield by any suitable forming or machining operation to a depth sufficient to securely support the heating coil in assembly to prevent unwanted slippage thereof and further strengthen the assembly . in operation , the shield 17 functions as an electrical barrier in the biasing network to block the flow of current between the heating coil wire and the electrode at ambient temperatures . accordingly , the electrode is held by the biasing battery at a relatively high negative potential , that is , a potential below the ground potential maintained at terminal 22 . accordingly , positive ions contained in sensing element 16 are drawn or otherwise attracted toward the electrode and become aligned therewith within the central core of the element . this condition is schematically depicted in fig2 . negative ions that might be present in the atmosphere adjacent the shield are prevented from moving across the depletion boundary and thus remain outside the shield . as can be seen , reverse biasing of the electrode tends to hold the positive and negative ions on opposite sides of the shield in an electrically balanced condition . this equilibrium is maintained until some unbalancing force is introduced into the system . by energizing the heated coil the outer surface of the shield is heated to a desired temperature within a predetermined range wherein a gas or vapor of a given constituent of primary interest is ionized . heating the shield also causes it to act as an ion control screen to selectively pass ions of the given gas or vapor of interest while effectively preventing the element from reacting with other constituents which may be present in the surrounding atmosphere . as a result , a great deal of the troublesome interference that has heretofore been encountered in this type of solid state sensing device is eliminated to provide for a more reliable and dependable piece of equipment that can be effectively utilized in a broader range of applications . by way of example , the present device is ideally well suited for detecting the presence of halogen gases in an air atmosphere also containing water vapor . in this application , the heating coil is formed of platinum wire which acts as a catalyst in the halogen ionization process to speed up the reaction and provide for lower operating temperatures . the surface temperature , in this case , is brought to a stable temperature somewhere within a range of between 750 ° c . and 850 ° c . to achieve this desired operating temperature a 0 . 006 inch diameter heater wire wound to between 30 and 40 turns per inch is employed which is energized using a 5 volt source of d . c . power . the electrode is biased to a negative 3 . 65 volts using a battery connected in the circuitry as described above while the wall thickness of the aluminum oxide shield is maintained at between 0 . 09 and 0 . 10 inches . under these conditions it has been found that the presence of a halogen gas can be accurately detected in an atmosphere containing water vapor that is brought into operative communication with the presence sensor without producing interference signals which have heretofore caused a great deal of difficulty in this particular application . as can be seen , the sensor of the present invention , because of its simplicity , can be conveniently constructed with very little expense on a mass production basis . the device is compact , light and portable and , because of its selectivity , ideally suited for detecting the presence of halogen gases in a wide range of applications . while this invention has been described with reference to the structure disclosed herein , it is not confined to the specific details as set forth and the application is intended to cover such modifications or changes as may come within the scope of the following claims .
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as illustrated in fig1 , the present invention is a thin - film solar cell , indicated generally at 10 . the thin - film solar 10 cell has a flexible metallic substrate 12 preferably constructed from an aluminum ( al ) material or a stainless steel material and a semiconductor absorber layer 14 deposited on the flexible metallic substrate 12 . the surface of the flexible metallic substrate 12 can be polished ( to benefit the film structure of the absorber layer 14 and morphology ) or it may be textured ( to increase the path length of the reflected light ). a chromium adhesion layer , although not always required , can be added to increase adhesion , i . e ., a chromium adhesion layer between approximately 100 å and 400 å . furthermore , the flexible metallic substrate 12 can be thin and flexible , i . e ., approximately 25 μm to approximately 100 μm , in order that the thin - film solar cell 10 is lightweight , or the flexible metallic substrate 12 can be thick and rigid to improve handling of the thin - film solar cell 10 . in an embodiment of the present invention , the semiconductor absorber layer 14 is a deposition of high quality cu ( in , ga ) se 2 ( cigs ) thin films providing the fabrication of a high efficiency thin - film solar cell 10 . example processes of deposition of the semiconductor absorber layer 14 are described in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 436 , 204 and u . s . pat . no . 5 , 441 , 897 , which are assigned to the same assignee of the present application and are hereby herein incorporated by reference . it should be noted that the deposition of the cigs thin film 14 onto the flexible metallic substrate 12 can be by any of a variety of common techniques including , but not limited to , evaporation , sputtering electrodeposition , chemical vapor deposition , etc . while the deposition of the cigs thin film 14 has been demonstrated before on other metal foil substrates such as titanium and molybdenum , the fundamental hurdle for the deposition of cigs thin films 14 onto the aluminum substrate 12 is that the aluminum in the aluminum substrate 12 reacts with the selenium in the cigs thin film 14 to form al 2 se 3 ( an unstable compound in air ). furthermore , at high temperatures , the aluminum within the aluminum substrate 12 alloys with the copper , indium , and gallium in the cigs thin film 14 . with the reaction between the aluminum and the copper and the alloy of aluminum with the copper , indium , and gallium , the aluminum substrate 12 would be essentially consumed during the deposition of the cigs thin film 14 on the aluminum substrate 12 . a requirement for a properly functioning thin - film solar cell 10 is that the substrate be inert to the film deposited on the substrate . in order to overcome the consumption of the aluminum substrate 12 with the cigs thin film 14 during deposition of the cigs thin film 14 onto the aluminum substrate 12 , the inventors of the present application discovered that a layer of suitable back metal contact ( i . e ., conductive metal layer ) 16 can be deposited on one or both surfaces of the aluminum substrate 12 between the aluminum substrate 12 and the cigs thin film 14 . the back metal contact layer 16 protects and isolates the aluminum substrate 12 from the fluxes of the selenium in the cigs thin film 14 during the deposition of the cigs thin film 14 onto the aluminum substrate 12 . preferably , the back metal contact layer 16 is constructed from a molybdenum ( mo ) material . the molybdenum back metal contact layer 16 preferably has a thickness between approximately 0 . 1 μm and approximately 1 . 0 μm although having a molybdenum back metal contact layer 16 with a thickness less than approximately 0 . 1 μm and greater than approximately 1 . 0 μm is within the scope of the present invention . furthermore , it should be noted that other back metal contact layers 16 besides a molybdenum back metal contact layer 16 can be used including , but not limited to , a molybdenum / gold combination , nickel , graphite , etc ., ( all which have been commonly employed in conventional solar cells ). in addition , as illustrated in fig2 , when depositing the cigs thin film 14 , a seed layer 18 of in2se3 or ( in , ga ) 2se3 can be deposited on the molybdenum back metal contact layer 16 which also adds protection of the aluminum substrate 12 from the cigs thin film 14 . the seed layer 18 of in2se3 is then followed by the cigs thin film 14 deposition scheme as described in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 436 , 204 and u . s . pat . no . 5 , 441 , 897 , for instance . while the molybdenum back metal contact layer 14 is sufficient to protect the aluminum substrate 12 , the in2se3 seed layer 18 is an added protection at the start of the cigs thin film 16 deposition , but will end up reacting with the copper , indium , gallium , and selenium fluxes during the cigs thin film 14 growth , and is accounted for in the final cigs thin film 14 composition . in a variation of the above - described cigs thin film 14 deposition scheme , as illustrated in fig3 , 4 , and 5 , an insulation layer 20 of one or more oxides of silicon ( sio x ), and / or al 2 o 3 ( preferred ) can be deposited on the aluminum substrate 12 followed by the molybdenum back metal contact layer 16 . the insulation layer 20 serves as an additional protection for the aluminum substrate 12 with the molybdenum back contact layer 16 . the primary function , however , of the thin insulation layer 20 is to allow the use of cigs thin films 14 on the aluminum substrates 12 , in monolithically integrated modules , based on cigs solar cells . in this configuration , the aluminum substrate 12 must be electrically isolated from the molybdenum back metal contact layer 16 in order to accomplish the monolithic interconnect of individual solar cells into a module . in monolithic interconnect cigs modules , the aluminum substrate 12 serves as the substrate and the one or more oxides of silicon ( sio x ), and / or al 2 o 3 insulation layer 20 serves as an electric isolation between the aluminum substrate 12 and the molybdenum back metal contact layer 16 . the molybdenum back contact metal layer is the back contact and the cigs thin film 14 is the absorber . therefore , the thin - film solar cell 10 of the present invention can be constructed in at least the following two variations : 1 . al / mo / cigs / cds / zno . this structure is for a single , stand - alone thin - film solar cell 10 . 2 . al /( al 2 o 3 and / or sio x )/ mo / cigs / cds / zno )). this structure is necessary for monolithic interconnected modules made up of several thin - film solar cells 10 and can be used for the single , stand - alone thin - film solar cell 10 . in yet another embodiment of the thin - film solar cell 10 of the present invention , the al 2 o 3 insulation layer 20 can be deposited on the aluminum substrate 12 by any of a variety of common techniques including , but not limited to , evaporation , sputtering electrodeposition , chemical vapor deposition , etc . in still another embodiment of the thin - film solar cell 10 , the al 2 o 3 insulation layer 20 can be constructed by anodizing the aluminum substrate 12 . the anodization essentially converts the surfaces of the aluminum substrate 12 to al 2 o 3 by electrolytic means . it should be noted that in this embodiment , the adhesion layer between the aluminum substrate 12 and alumina , as described above , is not necessary . to complete the construction of the thin - film solar cell 10 , the cigs can be paired with a ii – vi film 22 to form a photoactive heterojunction . in an embodiment of the present invention , the ii – vi film 22 is constructed from cadmium sulfide ( cds ) although constructing the ii – vi films 22 from other materials including , but not limited to , cadmium zinc sulfide ( cdzns ), zinc selenide ( znse ), etc ., are within the scope of the present invention . a transparent conducting oxide ( tco ) layer 23 for collection of current is applied to the ii – vi film . preferably , the transparent conducting oxide layer 23 is constructed from zinc oxide ( zno ) although constructing the transparent conducting oxide layer 23 from other materials is within the scope of the present invention . a suitable grid contact 24 or other suitable collector is deposited on the upper surface of the tco layer 23 when forming a stand - alone thin - film solar cell 10 . the grid contact 24 can be formed from various materials but should have high electrical conductivity and form a good ohmic contact with the underlying tco 23 . in an embodiment of the present invention , the grid contact 24 is constructed from a metal material , although constructing the grid contact 24 from other materials including , but not limited to , aluminum , indium , chromium , or molybdenum , with an additional conductive metal overlayment , such as copper , silver , nickel , etc ., is within the scope of the present invention . furthermore , one or more anti - reflective coatings ( not shown ) can be applied to the grid contact 24 to improve the thin - film solar cell &# 39 ; s 10 collection of incident light . as understood by a person skilled in the art , any suitable anti - reflective coating is within the scope of the present invention . the thin - film solar cell 10 is singular in nature and has variable size , ranging from approximately 1 - cm 2 to approximately 100 - cm 2 or even larger . in order to series connect singular thin - film solar cells 10 , the thin - film solar cells 10 must be separated by cutting or slitting the flexible metallic substrate 12 and then reconnecting the grid contact 24 of one thin - film solar cell 10 to the flexible metallic substrate 12 of another thin - film solar cell 10 . in the monolithic integration , the monolithic integrated scheme can be followed to connect the thin - film solar cells 10 . the thin - film solar cell 10 of the present invention provides a great advantage over conventional solar cells . the thin - film solar cell 10 with the flexible metallic substrate 12 , as described herein , is lighter , less space consuming , and less expensive than using glass or other metallic substrates . lightness and size are especially useful in space applications where these criteria are important factors . furthermore , the thin - film solar cell 10 of the present invention can be rolled and / or folded , depending on the desires of the user . the foregoing exemplary descriptions and the illustrative preferred embodiments of the present invention have been explained in the drawings and described in detail , with varying modifications and alternative embodiments being taught . while the invention has been so shown , described and illustrated , it should be understood by those skilled in the art that equivalent changes in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention , and that the scope of the present invention is to be limited only to the claims except as precluded by the prior art . moreover , the invention as disclosed herein , may be suitably practiced in the absence of the specific elements which are disclosed herein .
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the following description assumes , for simplicity and purely by way of example , that fets referred to are mosfets and a supply voltage + vdd is 5 . 0 volts . the fets are n - channel mosfets . p - channel mosfets are specifically identified . the multi - port sram core array shown in fig1 consists of four differential read ports with indirect data access via gated , bit line pull - down transistors and one single - ended write - only port with local bit line inversion to give pseudo - differential write access . the multi - port sram core array shown in fig1 has a five - port storage element ( core cell ) and includes one write port and four differential read ports with indirect data access . the multi - port sram core array has a core cell 10 which includes two inverter latches 11 and 12 . each of the inverter latches 11 and 12 has a cmos ( complementary metal oxide semiconductor ) inverter . the input and the output terminals of the inverter latch 11 are connected to the output and the input terminals of the inverter latch 12 , respectively . the source of a fet 14 is connected to the drain of a fet 16 and the source of a fet 18 is connected to the drain of a fet 20 . similarly , the source of a fet 22 is connected to the drain of a fet 24 and the source of a fet 26 is connected to the drain of a - fet 28 . the source of a fet 30 is connected to the drain of a fet 32 and the source of a fet 34 is connected to the drain of a fet 36 . the source of a fet 38 is connected to the drain of a fet 40 and the source of a fet 42 is connected to the drain of a fet 44 . the output terminal of the inverter latch 11 and the input terminal of the inverter latch 12 are connected to the gates of the fets 16 , 24 , 32 and 40 and the drain of a fet 46 . the input terminal of the inverter latch 11 and the output terminal of the inverter latch 12 are connected to the gates of the fets 20 , 28 , 36 and 44 and the drain of a fet 48 whose source is connected to the drain of a fet 50 . the sources of the fets 16 , 20 , 24 , 28 , 32 , 36 , 40 , 44 and 50 are connected to the ground terminal . the gates of the fets 46 and 48 are connected to a line 52 on which a write word line signal wlw is present . the gate of the fet 50 and the source of the fet 46 are connected to a line 54 on which a write bit line signal blw representing data &# 34 ; zero &# 34 ; or &# 34 ; one &# 34 ; is present . a line 56 on which a word line read signal wlra is present is connected to the gates of the fets 14 and 18 . a line 58 on which a word line read signal wlrb is present is connected to the gates of the fets 22 and 26 . a line 60 on which a word line read signal wlrc is present is connected to the gates of the fets 30 and 34 . a line 62 on which a word line read signal wlrd is present is connected to the gates of the fets 38 and 42 . the drains of the fets 18 , 26 , 34 and 42 are connected to bit lines 64 , 66 , 68 and 70 , respectively , on which read bit line signals blra , blrb , blrc and blrd are present . the drains of the fets 14 , 22 , 30 and 38 are connected to bit lines 72 , 74 , 76 and 78 , respectively , on which read bit line signals blrna , blrnb , blrnc and blrnd are present . the bit lines 64 and 72 , 66 and 74 , 68 and 76 , 70 and 78 are pairs of bit lines and on the respective pairs , the read bit line signals blra and blrna , blrb and blrnb , blrc and blrnc , and blrd and blrnd are which are differential signals are present . fig2 shows a detail of the core cell 10 of the multi - port sram core array . the core cell 10 is a well known sram storage element which includes two cmos inverters . in fig2 the drains of a p - channel fet 80 ( a load device ) and an n - channel fet 82 ( a drive device ), which define one cmos inverter , are connected to the gates of a p - channel fet 84 ( a load device ) and an n - channel fet 86 ( a drive device ), which define the other cmos inverter . similarly , the drains of the fets 84 and 86 are connected to the gates of the fets 80 and 82 . the sources of the fets 80 and 84 are connected to the voltage terminal of the supply voltage + vdd ( 5 . 0 volts ). the sources of the fets 82 and 86 are connected to the ground terminal . the junction of the drains of the fets 80 and 82 defines node cn . the junction of the drains of the fets 84 and 86 defines node c . nodes cn and c are data input and output terminals of the core cell 10 . fig3 ( a )- 3 ( d ) are timing charts which illustrates the operation of the multi - port sram core array shown in fig1 and 2 . operation of the multi - port sram core array will now be described with reference to fig1 and 3 ( a )- 3 ( d ). the write access port of the embodiment multi - port sram core array is single - ended . a single - ended write port is desirable to reduce write power and may eliminate , for example , 50 % of the write bit lines from the core array as compared to traditional differential writes . the fet 46 provides the traditional single - ended n - channel access to node c , resulting in high - speed write access for writing data &# 34 ; zero &# 34 ;. the fet 46 is easily margined for high - speed writing against the weak p - channel pull - up fet 84 since it is in common - source mode . however , the fet 46 has insufficient drive to write data &# 34 ; one &# 34 ; into the core cell 10 ( i . e ., node c &# 34 ; high &# 34 ;), since it would be in the source - follower pull - up mode ( by the fet 86 ) where drive capability is significantly reduced . marginlug of the n - channel pull - down fet 86 in the core cell 10 versus the fet 46 is not feasible for high - speed write access . to achieve the high - speed write to data &# 34 ; one &# 34 ;, a pseudo bit line inversion is applied through the fets 48 and 50 to pull node cn towards ground , when both the write bit line signal blw on the line 54 and the write word line signal wlw on the line 52 are &# 34 ; high &# 34 ;. the fet 48 acts as the write access device , while the fet 50 gates the pull - down of node cn , when the write bit line signal blw on the line 54 contains data &# 34 ; one &# 34 ;. in spite of the weak p - channel pull - up in the core cell 10 , since the fets 48 and 50 connected in series thereto are in common - source mode , the core cell 10 write speed is improved . in the embodiment multi - port sram core array , when data &# 34 ; zero &# 34 ; or &# 34 ; one &# 34 ; is required to be written into the core cell 10 , the write word line signal wlw on the line 52 is &# 34 ; high &# 34 ;. in a case of data &# 34 ; zero &# 34 ;, the write bit line signal blw on the line 54 is &# 34 ; low &# 34 ;. in response to &# 34 ; high &# 34 ; at the write word line signal wlw , the fet 46 becomes conductive and node c is pulled - down to &# 34 ; low &# 34 ; through the on fet 46 . in response to the pull - down at node c , node cn is pulled - up by the fet 80 . therefore , the fet 86 becomes on , causing node c to maintain &# 34 ; low &# 34 ;. in a case of data &# 34 ; one &# 34 ;, the write bit line signal blw on the line 54 is &# 34 ; high &# 34 ;. in response to &# 34 ; high &# 34 ; at the write word line signal wlw and the write bit line signal blw , the fets 48 and 50 become conductive and node cn is pulled - down towards the ground level (&# 34 ; low &# 34 ;). in response to the pull - down at node cn , node c is pulled - up by the fet 84 . therefore , the fet 82 becomes on , causing node cn to maintain &# 34 ; low &# 34 ;. the read access port of this embodiment of the multi - port sram core array is differential . the indirect read data access scheme consists of the fets 14 , 16 , 18 and 20 . it supports a large number of parallel read ports without incurring the stability problems of traditional pass - transistor access cells , since there is never any direct access from the read bit lines ( on which a differential read bit line signals blr and blrn are present ) to the data storage nodes ( c and cn ). thus , the cell is inherently stable under all read conditions and need only be margined to meet the write access and soft - error immunity criteria . while the core cell 10 stores data &# 34 ; zero &# 34 ;, nodes cn and c are &# 34 ; high &# 34 ; and &# 34 ; low &# 34 ;, respectively . while the word line read signal wlra on the line 56 , for example , is &# 34 ; high &# 34 ;, the fets 18 and 14 are gated . in response to &# 34 ; high &# 34 ; at node cn , the fets 20 and 18 become on and the bit line 64 is pulled - down by the on fets 20 and 18 , with the result that the read bit line signal blra becomes &# 34 ; low &# 34 ;. because node c is &# 34 ; low &# 34 ;, the fets 16 and 14 are off and the read bit line signal blrna on the line 72 is &# 34 ; high &# 34 ;. hence , by the gating and pull - down functions of the fets , data &# 34 ; zero &# 34 ; is read . similarly , while the word line read signal wlrb on the line 58 is &# 34 ; high &# 34 ;, the fets 26 and 22 are gated . in response to &# 34 ; high &# 34 ; at node cn , the fets 28 and 26 become conductive and the bit line 66 is pulled - down by the on fets 28 and 26 , with the result that the read bit line signal blrb becomes &# 34 ; low &# 34 ;. because node c is &# 34 ; low &# 34 ;, the fets 24 and 22 are nonconductive and the read bit line signal blrnb on the line 74 is &# 34 ; high &# 34 ;. hence , differential data &# 34 ; zero &# 34 ; is read between the bit lines 66 and 74 . while the core cell 10 stores data &# 34 ; one &# 34 ;, nodes cn and c are &# 34 ; low &# 34 ; and &# 34 ; high &# 34 ;, respectively . while the word line read signal wlra on the line 56 , for example , is &# 34 ; high &# 34 ;, the fets 18 and 14 are gated . in response to &# 34 ; high &# 34 ; at node c , the fets 16 and 14 become on and the bit line 72 is pulled - down , with the result that the read bit line signal blrna becomes &# 34 ; low &# 34 ;. because node cn is &# 34 ; low &# 34 ;, the fets 20 and 18 are off and the read bit line signal blra on the line 64 is &# 34 ; high &# 34 ;. hence , by the gating and pull - down functions of the fets , data &# 34 ; one &# 34 ; is read . similarly , while the word line read signal wlrb on the line 58 is &# 34 ; high &# 34 ;, the fets 26 and 22 are gated . in response to &# 34 ; high &# 34 ; at node c , the fets 24 and 22 become conductive and the bit line 74 is pulled - down , with the result that the read bit line signal blrnb becomes &# 34 ; low &# 34 ;. because node cn is &# 34 ; low &# 34 ;, the fets 28 and 26 are nonconductive and the read bit line signal blrb on the line 66 is &# 34 ; high &# 34 ;. hence , differential data &# 34 ; one &# 34 ; is read between the bit lines 74 and 66 . although particular embodiment of the present invention have been described in detail , it should be appreciated that numerous variations , modifications , and adaptations may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention as defined in the claims .
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while the term “ traffic surveillance ” is used herein , it may also refer to other traffic applications , such as “ traffic monitoring ”, etc . the invention discussed here may be applied to the case of more than three radars . a doppler - vision - radar traffic surveillance system is shown in fig2 where 1 — the sensor system which may include a sensor suite / recording device or apparatus , 2 — a target tracking device , 3 — a first moving doppler radar motion ray , 4 — a second moving doppler radar motion ray , and 5 — a radar direction ray connecting the sensor apparatus 1 to a moving vehicle 6 . fig3 shows the layout of the sensor apparatus 1 where 7 — a first moving doppler radar , 8 — a second moving doppler radar , 9 — a fixed or stationary doppler radar , 10 — a data processing device , such as a computer , laptop , personal computer , pda or other such device , and 11 — data recording device , such as a hard drive , a flash drive or other such device . the functional flow chart of the system is shown in fig4 . in the following , we will describe the functional blocks . doppler radars illustrated in this patent are continuous wave ( cw ) radars . analog - to - digital conversion ( adc ) may be performed in 101 , 102 and 103 to convert analog signals to digital signals . if digital signals are directly available from the radars , this adc step may be skipped . assume the current time is k in discrete time . the doppler frequencies of the moving vehicle p , 6 in fig3 , induced by both moving doppler radars may be given by ( steps 104 and 106 in fig4 ) f d k 1 = k 1 [ ν tk cos ( φ tk )+ ν r1k cos ( θ r1k )] ( 1 ) f d k 2 = k 2 [ ν tk cos ( φ tk )+ ν r2k cos ( θ r2k )]. ( 2 ) where k 1 and k 2 may be doppler conversion constants for the first and second moving doppler radars ( 7 and 8 in fig3 ), and θ r1k , θ r2k and θ tk are depicted in fig3 without time index k . a fixed doppler radar 9 may be used to sense the moving vehicle motion ( step 105 in fig4 ) where k 3 may be the doppler conversion constant for the fixed doppler radar ( 9 in fig3 ). in steps 107 and 108 of fig4 , since all three radars 7 , 8 , 9 may be located together and assuming that the distance from the sensor suite to the moving vehicle 6 may be much larger than the distance between radars 7 , 8 , 9 , the following doppler differences may be obtained as where the impact of the moving vehicle may have been removed . eqs . ( 4 ) and ( 5 ) may actually recover the substantially independent motion doppler signals of the first and second moving doppler radars 7 , 8 , except for the conversion constants . in step 109 , the doppler ratio may be calculated as in step 110 , the doppler vector of moving radar two may be scaled as 6 . subtract the doppler vector of moving radar one from the scaled doppler vector in step 111 , the doppler vector of moving radar one may be subtracted from the scaled doppler vector of moving radar two in step 112 of fig4 , the direction vector n k pointing to the moving vehicle perpendicular to ν r12k may be found , and a pointing direction angle α k ( step 113 in fig4 ) may be calculated . this pointing direction angle is the los angle of the moving vehicle . λ 1 = k 3 ν tk cos ( δ k ), λ 2 = k 3 ν tk sin ( δ k ). ( 11 ) by modeling the vehicle &# 39 ; s kinematics with a constant velocity model and the road structure with a straight line model ( step 115 in fig4 ), eq . ( 11 ) may become we may assume that the vehicles may follow the road lane markings and the vehicle &# 39 ; s heading angle ( λ k in fig5 ) may reflect the road structure which may be learnt from the traffic flow ( step 114 in fig4 ). with a collection of n doppler frequencies of the fixed doppler radar , a least square approach may be used to calculate { circumflex over ( λ )} 1 and { circumflex over ( λ )} 2 using eq . ( 10 ). the road structure may be calculated by ( steps 114 of fig4 ) note : a different moving vehicle heading direction may result in different signs of angles in eq . ( 9 ). once the road structure { circumflex over ( δ )} is learnt , accurate vehicle speed { circumflex over ( ν )} tk may be calculated from ( step 116 in fig4 ) f d k 3 = k 3 ν tk cos ({ circumflex over ( α )} k −{ circumflex over ( δ )} k ). ( 14 ) once the pointing direction angle , { circumflex over ( α )} k , is known , the target tracking device ( 2 in fig2 and step 117 in fig4 ) may continuously point to the vehicle to maintain continuous surveillance . each vehicle &# 39 ; s speed { circumflex over ( ν )} tk and direction angle { circumflex over ( α )} k are continuously recorded in the data recording device ( 11 in fig3 and step 118 in fig4 ). fig5 shows the motion pattern of two moving doppler radars whose motion vectors , ν r1k and ν r2k , are defined by angles , θ 1 and θ 2 , along the radar motion rays , 3 and 4 . fig5 also shows the relationship between the scaled motion vector , ν r2k and its perpendicular vector , ν r12k , and the relationship between the perpendicular vector and the moving vehicle direction vector , n k , and the vehicle los angle , α k . note : this patent application is in reference to the following patent applications of both inventors : application numbers 12255081 and 12266227 . patent applications 12255081 is for 3d imaging where it uses three radars and one video camera and requires the sensor suite to move with a known motion . patent applications 12266227 requires also three radars and a video camera and precise registration between the radars and the camera is needed . this patent application is also in reference to the following patent application of the first inventor : application number 12333735 , where it also requires three radars and one video camera and a fusion algorithm of radar and video signals is presented . this invention uses only three radars and no cameras , but recovers the same information as a camera .
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the invention is now described within the context of one or more embodiments , although the description is intended to be illustrative of the invention as a whole , and is not to be construed as limiting the invention to the embodiments shown . it is appreciated that various modifications may occur to those skilled in the art that , while not specifically shown herein , are nevertheless within the true spirit and scope of the invention . as will be appreciated by one skilled in the art , aspects of the present invention may be embodied as a system , method or computer program product . accordingly , aspects of the present invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment , an entirely software embodiment ( including firmware , resident software , micro - code , etc .) or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may all generally be referred to herein as a “ circuit ,” “ module ” or “ system .” furthermore , aspects of the present invention may take the form of a computer program product embodied in one or more computer readable medium ( s ) having computer readable program code embodied thereon . any combination of one or more computer readable medium ( s ) may be utilized . the computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium . a computer readable storage medium may be , for example , but not limited to , an electronic , magnetic , optical , electromagnetic , infrared , or semiconductor system , apparatus , or device , or any suitable combination of the foregoing . more specific examples ( a non - exhaustive list ) of the computer readable storage medium would include the following : an electrical connection having one or more wires , a portable computer diskette , a hard disk , a random access memory ( ram ), a read - only memory ( rom ), an erasable programmable read - only memory ( eprom or flash memory ), an optical fiber , a portable compact disc read - only memory ( cd - rom ), an optical data storage device , a magnetic data storage device , or any suitable combination of the foregoing . in the context of this document , a computer readable storage medium may be any tangible medium that can contain , or store a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system , apparatus , or device . a computer readable signal medium may include a propagated data signal with computer readable program code embodied therein , for example , in baseband or as part of a carrier wave . such a propagated signal may take any of a variety of forms , including , but not limited to , electro - magnetic , optical , or any suitable combination thereof . a computer readable signal medium may be any computer readable medium that is not a computer readable storage medium and that can communicate , propagate , or transport a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system , apparatus , or device . program code embodied on a computer readable medium may be transmitted using any appropriate medium , including but not limited to wireless , wireline , optical fiber cable , rf , etc ., or any suitable combination of the foregoing . computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of the present invention may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages , including an object oriented programming language such as java , smalltalk , c ++ or the like and conventional procedural programming languages , such as the “ c ” programming language or similar programming languages . the program code may execute entirely on the user &# 39 ; s computer , partly on the user &# 39 ; s computer , as a stand - alone software package , partly on the user &# 39 ; s computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server . in the latter scenario , the remote computer may be connected to the user &# 39 ; s computer through any type of network , including a local area network ( lan ) or a wide area network ( wan ), or the connection may be made to an external computer ( for example , through the internet using an internet service provider ). aspects of the present invention are described below with reference to flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams of methods , apparatus ( systems ) and computer program products according to embodiments of the invention . it will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams , and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams , can be implemented by computer program instructions . these computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer , special purpose computer , or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine , such that the instructions , which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus , create means for implementing the functions / acts specified in the flowchart and / or block diagram block or blocks . these computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer readable medium that can direct a computer , other programmable data processing apparatus , or other devices to function in a particular manner , such that the instructions stored in the computer readable medium produce an article of manufacture including instructions which implement the function / act specified in the flowchart and / or block diagram block or blocks . the computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer , other programmable data processing apparatus , or other devices to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer , other programmable apparatus or other devices to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide processes for implementing the functions / acts specified in the flowchart and / or block diagram block or blocks . reference is now made to fig1 which is a simplified conceptual illustration of a system for managing mid - dialog session initiation protocol ( sip ) messages , constructed and operative in accordance with an embodiment of the invention . in the system of fig1 , a sip application server 100 is configured with a sip container 102 and a sip application 104 . beyond their known configurations in the art with respect to managing and processing sip - related transactions relating to sip application sessions , sip sessions and sip dialogs , sip application server 100 , sip container 102 , and sip application 104 are preferably configured to operate as described hereinbelow . sip container 102 preferably includes an incoming message processor 106 and an unknown message processor 108 . incoming message processor 106 is preferably configured to determine whether a sip message that is received by sip container 102 , such as from a sip user agent client ( uac ), is a mid - dialog sip message and , if so , whether the mid - dialog sip message is associated with a sip session / dialog that is managed by sip container 102 . unknown message processor 108 is preferably configured such that if the mid - dialog sip message is not associated with a pre - existing sip session / dialog that is managed by sip container 102 , then unknown message processor 108 creates a new sip session and associates the new sip session with the mid - dialog sip message . unknown message processor 108 identifies that sip application 104 is associated with the mid - dialog sip message , such as using an application identifier included in the mid - dialog sip message , and provides the mid - dialog sip message in the context of the new sip session to sip application 104 via a callback to sip application 104 , where this callback is preferably an out - of - sip - protocol callback . if unknown message processor 108 receives an acknowledgement from sip application 104 that sip application 104 will accept the mid - dialog sip message for normal sip processing , sip container 102 provides the mid - dialog sip message in the context of the new sip session to sip application 104 via another callback to sip application 104 , where this callback is preferably a normal , in - sip - protocol callback . sip application 104 preferably includes a non - sip message processor 110 and a sip session / dialog reconstructor 112 . non - sip message processor 110 preferably includes a non - sip api configured to receive the out - of - sip - protocol callback from sip container 102 that includes the mid - dialog sip message in the context of the new sip session . sip session / dialog reconstructor 112 is preferably configured to decide whether it is able to accept the mid - dialog sip message for normal sip processing , which may require successfully reconstructing some or all of the state information of the original sip session / dialog associated with the mid - dialog sip message . if sip session / dialog reconstructor 112 decides that it is able to accept the mid - dialog sip message for normal sip processing , then non - sip message processor 110 sends an out - of - sip - protocol acknowledgement to sip container 102 indicating that sip application 104 will accept the mid - dialog sip message for normal sip processing . any of the elements shown in fig1 are preferably implemented by one or more computers , such as computer 114 , in computer hardware and / or in computer software embodied in a non - transitory , computer - readable medium in accordance with conventional techniques . reference is now made to fig2 a , which is a simplified flowchart illustration of an exemplary method of operation of sip container 102 of the system of fig1 , operative in accordance with an embodiment of the invention . in the method of fig2 a , a mid - dialog sip message is received ( step 200 ), such as where the mid - dialog sip message is sent from a sip user agent client ( uac ) and where the recipient of the mid - dialog sip message is a sip container . if the mid - dialog sip message is not associated with a sip session / dialog that is managed by the recipient ( step 202 ), a new sip session is created and associated with the mid - dialog sip message ( step 204 ). the sip application that is associated with the mid - dialog sip message is identified ( step 206 ), such as using an application identifier included in the mid - dialog sip message . the mid - dialog sip message is provided to the identified sip application in the context of the new sip session via a callback ( step 208 ), where this callback is preferably an out - of - sip - protocol callback . if an acknowledgement is received from the sip application accepting the mid - dialog sip message for normal sip processing ( step 210 ), then the mid - dialog sip message is provided to the identified sip application in the context of the new sip session via another callback ( step 212 ), where this callback is preferably a normal , in - sip - protocol callback . reference is now made to fig2 b , which is a simplified flowchart illustration of an exemplary method of operation of sip container 102 of the system of fig1 , operative in accordance with an alternative embodiment of the invention . the method of fig2 b is substantially similar to the method of fig2 a with the notable exception that steps 204 - 212 are performed only if the mid - dialog sip message is associated with a cluster , such as of sip containers and / or sip application servers , that is known to the recipient of the mid - dialog sip message ( step 214 ), such as where the recipient of the mid - dialog sip message is part of a backup cluster for the cluster associated with the mid - dialog sip message . reference is now made to fig3 , which is a simplified flowchart illustration of an exemplary method of operation of sip application 104 of the system of fig1 , operative in accordance with an embodiment of the invention . in the method of fig3 , an out - of - sip - protocol callback is received by a sip application , such as from a sip container , where the callback includes a mid - dialog sip message in the context of the new sip session ( step 300 ). a determination is made whether the mid - dialog sip message can be accepted for normal sip processing ( step 302 ), which may require successfully reconstructing some or all of the state information of the original sip session / dialog associated with the mid - dialog sip message . if the sip application decides that it is able to accept the mid - dialog sip message for normal sip processing ( step 304 ), then an out - of - sip - protocol acknowledgement is sent to the requestor indicating that the sip application will accept the mid - dialog sip message for normal sip processing ( step 306 ). referring now to fig4 , block diagram 400 illustrates an exemplary hardware implementation of a computing system in accordance with which one or more components / methodologies of the invention ( e . g ., components / methodologies described in the context of fig1 - 3 ) may be implemented , according to an embodiment of the invention . as shown , the techniques for controlling access to at least one resource may be implemented in accordance with a processor 410 , a memory 412 , i / o devices 414 , and a network interface 416 , coupled via a computer bus 418 or alternate connection arrangement . it is to be appreciated that the term “ processor ” as used herein is intended to include any processing device , such as , for example , one that includes a cpu ( central processing unit ) and / or other processing circuitry . it is also to be understood that the term “ processor ” may refer to more than one processing device and that various elements associated with a processing device may be shared by other processing devices . the term “ memory ” as used herein is intended to include memory associated with a processor or cpu , such as , for example , ram , rom , a fixed memory device ( e . g ., hard drive ), a removable memory device ( e . g ., diskette ), flash memory , etc . such memory may be considered a computer readable storage medium . in addition , the phrase “ input / output devices ” or “ i / o devices ” as used herein is intended to include , for example , one or more input devices ( e . g ., keyboard , mouse , scanner , etc .) for entering data to the processing unit , and / or one or more output devices ( e . g ., speaker , display , printer , etc .) for presenting results associated with the processing unit . the flowchart and block diagrams in the figures illustrate the architecture , functionality , and operation of possible implementations of systems , methods and computer program products according to various embodiments of the invention . in this regard , each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent a module , segment , or portion of code , which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function ( s ). it should also be noted that , in some alternative implementations , the functions noted in the block may occur out of the order noted in the figures . for example , two blocks shown in succession may , in fact , be executed substantially concurrently , or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order , depending upon the functionality involved . it will also be noted that each block of the block diagrams and / or flowchart illustration , and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and / or flowchart illustration , can be implemented by special purpose hardware - based systems that perform the specified functions or acts , or combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions . it will be appreciated that any of the elements described hereinabove may be implemented as a computer program product embodied in a computer - readable medium , such as in the form of computer program instructions stored on magnetic or optical storage media or embedded within computer hardware , and may be executed by or otherwise accessible to a computer ( not shown ). while the methods and apparatus herein may or may not have been described with reference to specific computer hardware or software , it is appreciated that the methods and apparatus described herein may be readily implemented in computer hardware or software using conventional techniques . while the invention has been described with reference to one or more specific embodiments , the description is intended to be illustrative of the invention as a whole and is not to be construed as limiting the invention to the embodiments shown . it is appreciated that various modifications may occur to those skilled in the art that , while not specifically shown herein , are nevertheless within the true spirit and scope of the invention .
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reference will now be made to the drawings to describe the present invention in detail . fig1 - 5 illustrate an lga socket 100 in accordance to a preferred embodiment of the present invention , which is generally used for connecting a cpu 3 to a pcb 4 . the lga socket 100 includes an insulative housing 1 having a plurality of terminals 2 received therein . the cpu 3 and the pcb 4 both define a plurality of pads 30 , 40 . referring to fig1 and 2 , the insulative housing 1 made of insulative material and having a planar structure . the insulative housing 1 includes a top surface 10 , a bottom surface 11 opposite thereto and defines a plurality of passageways 12 extending from the top surface 10 to the bottom surface 11 and arranged in rows . each passageway 12 has a receiving hole 120 and a retaining solt 121 communicating with the receiving hole 120 and located at one side of the receiving hole 120 . the retaining solt 121 is used to retain the terminals 2 in the insulative housing 1 and has a plurality of inclined guiding surface 122 for guiding the terminal 2 attached to the insulative housing 1 . the passageways 12 located in the longitudinal row are designated as a passageway group ( not labeled ) which includes seven passageways 12 which are marked with t 1 to t 7 one by one . the housing 1 is divided into two areas respectively marked with a and b . the passageways t 1 to t 3 of a passageway group belongs to area a , and the passageways t 4 to t 7 belongs to area b . the guiding surface 122 of the passageways t 1 to t 3 in area a are located at the top surface 10 for guiding the terminals 2 attached to the insulative housing 1 in an up to down direction . while the guiding surface 122 of the passageways t 4 to t 7 in area b are located at the bottom surface 11 of the insulative housing 1 for guiding the terminals 2 into the insulative housing 1 in a down to up direction . the pitch p 1 of the retaining solt 121 in area a is larger than the pitch p 2 of the retaining solt 121 s in area b . the distance between the retaining solt 121 of the passageway t 3 in area a and the retaining solt 121 of the passageway t 4 in area b is equal to the pitch p 1 . referring to fig3 to fig5 , the terminal 2 stamped from metallic material includes a base portion 20 , a pair of elastic arms bending from a middle portion of the base portion 20 , a holding portion 23 and a guiding portion 24 respectively extending from opposite ends of the base portion 20 in a vertical direction . the pair of elastic arms includes an upper arm 25 extending upwardly from the base portion 20 and a lower arm 26 extending downwardly from the base portion 20 . the upper arm 25 has a first arm portion 250 extending upwardly from the base portion 20 and a first extending portion 251 extending obliquely from an end of the first arm portion 250 . the first extending portion 251 extends beyond the top surface 10 of the insulative housing 1 . the lower arm 26 has a lower arm portion 260 extending downwardly from the base portion 20 and a second extending portion 261 extending obliquely from an end of the lower arm portion 260 and beyond the bottom surface 11 of the insulative housing 1 . the length of the first arm portion 250 is the same with that of the second first arm portion 260 . a first contacting portion 220 is arc shaped and formed at free end of the first extending portion 251 for contacting with the pad 30 of the cpu 3 . a second contacting portion 221 is also arc shaped and formed at free end of the second extending portion 261 for contacting with the pad 40 of the pcb 4 . the holding portion 23 extending vertically from two sides of the base portion 20 can match with the retaining solt 121 of the insulative housing 1 to retain the terminal 2 therein . the base portion 20 , the holding portion 23 and the guiding portion 24 are disposed in a same vertical plane . the terminals 2 received in the insulative housing 1 are also arranged in different rows either in the transversal direction or in the longitudinal . the terminals in the longitudinal row are designated as a terminal group and include two types of terminals 2 which are arranged side by side and have an identical structure . each group has seven terminals numbered one by one with s 1 to s 7 from left to right . the terminals s 1 to s 7 can be divided into two types according to the assembling direction thereof . the terminals s 1 to s 3 are received in the passageways t 1 to t 3 in area a one by one and attached to the insulative housing 1 from a top surface 10 . the terminals s 4 to s 7 received in the passageways t 4 to t 7 one by one and attached to the isulative housing 11 from the bottom surface 11 . the holding portions 23 of the terminals s 1 to s 3 extend upwardly from the base portions 20 , and the guiding portions 24 of the terminals s 1 to s 3 extend downwardly from the base portions 20 for guiding the terminals s 1 to s 3 into the passageways t 1 to t 3 . the length of the first extending portion 251 of the terminals s 1 to s 3 is longer than the length of the second extending portion 261 of the same terminal 2 . the lengths of the first extending portions 251 of the terminals s 1 to s 3 are reduced gradually one by one from left to right . the lengths of the second extending portions 261 of terminals s 1 to s 3 are the same from left to right . because the pitch p 1 of area a is the same , a pitch p 4 between the first contacting portions 220 of the adjacent terminals 2 in the left portion is the same , a pitch p 3 between the second contacting portions 221 of the adjacent terminals 2 in the left portion is also the same . the pitch p 4 is smaller than the pitch p 3 , and the difference between the pitch p 3 and the pitch p 4 is equal to the difference between the pitch p 1 and the pitch p 2 . that is to say that p 3 minus p 4 equal to p 1 minus p 2 . while the holding portions 23 of the terminals s 4 to s 7 all extend downwardly from the base portions 20 . the guiding portions 24 of the terminals s 4 to s 7 extend upwardly from the base portions 20 for guiding the terminals s 4 to s 7 into the passageways t 4 to t 7 from the bottom surface 11 . the lengths of the first extending portion 251 and the second extending portion 261 of the terminal s 4 are equal . the length of the first extending portion 251 of the terminals s 5 to s 7 is shorter than the length of the second extending portion 261 of the same terminals s 5 to s 7 . the lengths of the first extending portions 251 of the terminals s 4 to s 7 are the same , and the lengths of the second extending portions 261 of the terminals s 4 to s 7 are increased one by one from left to right . because the pitch p 2 of the passageways 12 in b area is the same , the pitch between the adjacent first contacting portions 220 of the terminals s 4 to s 7 is the same , and the pitch between the adjacent second contacting portions 221 of the terminals s 4 to s 7 is also the same . in addition , the lengths of the first extending portions 251 of the terminals s 1 to s 4 are respectively equal to the lengths of the second extending portions 261 of the terminals s 7 to s 4 . the lengths of the second extending portions 261 of the terminals si to s 4 are respectively equal to the lengths of the first extending portions 251 of the terminals s 7 to s 4 . so that the lengths of the first extending portions 251 of the terminals s 1 to s 4 in the same terminal group are reduced one by one from left to right , the lengths of the second extending portions 261 of the terminals s 4 to s 7 in the same terminal group are increased one by one from left to right . because the pitch p 2 between the retaining solt 121 of the passageways t 4 to t 7 is shorter than the pitch p 1 between the retaining solt 121 of the passageways t 1 to t 4 , the first contacting portions 220 of the terminals s 4 to s 1 are gradually and closely arranged and the second contacting portions 221 of the terminals s 4 to s 7 are gradually diffusely after the terminals s 1 - s 7 secured to the isulative housing 1 . by the pitch compensation of the passageways t 4 to t 7 , the pitch of the first contacting portions 220 of the terminals s 4 to s 7 and the pitch of the second contacting portions 221 of the terminals s 4 to s 7 are respectively equal to the pitch p 4 and the pitch p 3 , which is also described as p 4 = p 3 + p 2 − p 1 . so the pitches of the first contacting portions 220 of all the terminals s 1 to s 7 are the same and equal to the pitch p 4 , and the pitches of the second contacting portions 221 of the terminals s 1 to s 7 are also the same and equals to the pitch p 3 . then , the lga socket 100 can electrically connect the cpu 3 and the pcb 4 with different pad pitches . the lga socket 100 can electrically connect the cpu 3 having fine pad pitches and the pcb 4 having coarse pad pitches . in addition , the lga socket 100 achieves the electrical connection between the cpu 3 and the pcb 4 through the first contacting portions 220 abutting against the pads 30 of the cpu 3 and the second contacting portions 221 abutting against the pads 40 of the pcb 4 rather than solder balls also reducing the height of the lga socket 100 . it is also can be seen that the top and lower arms 250 , 260 of the central terminals s 4 of the terminals s 1 - s 7 extend from the base portion 20 with the same length , and the top and lower arms 250 , 260 of the terminals s 1 , s 2 , s 3 , s 5 , s 6 , s 7 extend from the base portion 20 with different lengths . furthermore , the terminals s 1 , s 2 , s 3 are essentially similar to the terminals s 7 , s 6 , s 5 , respectively . therefore , the manufacture process of the terminals is also facilitated . while the preferred embodiments in accordance with the present invention has been shown and described , equivalent modifications and changes known to persons skilled in the art according to the spirit of the present invention are considered within the scope of the present invention as defined in the appended claims .
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reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the invention , examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings . while the invention will be described in conjunction with the preferred embodiments , it will be understood that they are not intended to limit the invention to these embodiments . on the contrary , the invention is intended to cover alternatives , modifications and equivalents , which may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims . furthermore , in the following detailed description of the present invention , numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention . however , it will be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details . in other instances , well - known methods , procedures , components , and circuits have not been described in detail so as not to unnecessarily obscure aspects of the present invention . some portions of the detailed descriptions which follow are presented in terms of procedures , logic blocks , processing , and other symbolic representations of operations on data bits within a computer memory . these descriptions and representations are the means used by those skilled in the data processing arts to most effectively convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art . a procedure , logic block , process , etc ., is here , and generally , conceived to be a self - consistent sequence of steps or instructions leading to a desired result . the steps are those requiring physical manipulations of physical quantities . usually , though not necessarily , these quantities take the form of electrical or magnetic signals capable of being stored , transferred , combined , compared , and otherwise manipulated in a computer system . it has proven convenient at times , principally for reasons of common usage , to refer to these signals as bits , bytes , values , elements , symbols , characters , terms , numbers , or the like . it should be borne in mind , however , that all of these and similar terms are to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient labels applied to these quantities . unless specifically stated otherwise as apparent from the following discussions , it is appreciated that throughout the present invention , discussions utilizing terms such as “ receiving ” or “ assembling ” or “ combining ” or “ forwarding ” or “ identifying ” the like , refer to the action and processes of a computer system ( e . g ., process 300 of fig3 ), or similar electronic computing device , that manipulates and transforms data represented as physical ( electronic ) quantities within the computer system &# 39 ; s registers and memories into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within the computer system memories or registers or other such information storage , transmission or display devices . fig2 is a block diagram of graphics computer system 200 upon which the embodiments of the present invention can be implemented . computer system 200 exemplifies a computer - controlled graphics systems for generating complex or three - dimensional images . computer system 200 comprises a bus or other communication means 210 for communicating information , and a processor 202 coupled with bus 210 for processing information . computer system 200 further comprises a random access memory ( ram ) or other dynamic storage device 201 ( main memory 201 ) coupled to bus 210 for storing information and instructions to be executed by processor 202 . main memory 201 also may be used for storing temporary variables or other intermediate information during execution of instructions by processor 202 . data storage device 207 is coupled to bus 210 and is used for storing information and instructions . furthermore , signal input / output ( i / o ) communication device 208 is used to couple computer system 200 onto , for example , a network . computer system 200 can also be coupled via bus 210 to an alphanumeric input device 222 , including alphanumeric and other keys , which is used for communicating information and command selections to processor 202 . another type of user input device is mouse 223 ( or a like device such as a trackball or cursor direction keys ) which is used for communicating direction information and command selections to processor 202 and for controlling cursor movement on display device 221 . this input device typically has two degrees of freedom in two axes , a first axis ( e . g ., x ) and a second axis ( e . g ., y ), which allows the device to specify positions in a plane . in accordance with the present invention , also coupled to bus 210 is graphics subsystem 211 . processor 202 provides graphics subsystem 211 with graphics data such as drawing commands , coordinate vertex data , and other data related to an object &# 39 ; s geometric position , color , and surface parameters . in general , graphics subsystem 211 processes the graphical data , converts the graphical data into a screen coordinate system , generates pixel data ( e . g ., color , shading , texture ) based on the primitives ( e . g ., points , lines , and polygons including triangles and quadrangles , as well as polygon meshes , strips and the like ), and performs blending , anti - aliasing , and other functions . the resulting data are stored in framebuffer 230 . a display subsystem ( not shown ) reads framebuffer 230 and displays the image on display device 221 . fig3 is a flowchart of the steps in a process 300 for generating a graphics image using a triangle - based database in a quad - based graphics system in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention . process 300 can be implemented via computer - readable program instructions stored in a memory unit ( e . g ., main memory 201 and / or data storage device 207 ) and executed by processor 202 and graphics subsystem 211 of computer system 200 ( fig2 ). the present invention is described in a context wherein triangle primitives are opportunistically combined to form quadrangle primitives . however , it is appreciated that the method of the present invention can be extrapolated to other geometric shapes , including geometric shapes that may not be currently in use in the field of computer graphics . in step 310 , the objects to be used to render a scene are described as a collection of vertices . in the present embodiment , these objects can consist of points , lines , triangles ( including triangle fans , meshes , and strips ), and quadrangles ( including quad strips ). with regard to the present embodiment of the present invention , connected triangles ( including triangle fans , meshes and strips ) are of particular interest . the vertices can be represented using world coordinates ( e . g ., x , y , z , w ) or surface normal coordinates ( e . g ., n x , n y , n z ). triangle fans , meshes and strips and quad strips are known in the art . in step 315 , the vertices are transformed in order to project the objects from three - dimensional space into two - dimensional ( screen ) space . alternatively , the vertices are represented in window space and transformed at a later time into screen space . in step 320 of fig3 , the vertices are accumulated and used to form primitives . graphics subsystem 211 , using a known system of graphics instructions ( such as opengl by silicon graphics , inc ., of mountain view , calif . ), can be instructed to assemble a triangle primitive using a particular set of vertices . accordingly , when these vertices are received by graphics subsystem 211 , they are assembled into a primitive describing a triangle . similarly , other vertices are subsequently received and used to form primitives , including additional triangle primitives . connected triangles are formed when two triangle primitives share a side ( that is , they share two vertices ). for example , graphics subsystem 211 receives three vertices and assembles them into a first triangle primitive . a fourth vertex is received by graphics subsystem 211 and paired with two of the vertices from the first triangle primitive to form a second triangle primitive . that is , two of the vertices previously received from the object database can be reused to form another triangle in combination with a new vertex . thus , triangles are individually formed , and so each triangle can be separately processed . connected triangles can be combined into a set of primitives such as a triangle strip , a triangle fan , or a triangle mesh . as will be seen , in accordance with the present invention , connected triangles can be opportunistically combined to form quadrangles , and each quadrangle formed by pairing connected triangles can be processed at once as a single quadrangle ( instead of consecutively as two triangles ). in step 330 , if connected triangles ( e . g ., triangle fans , strips and meshes ) are present , then process 300 proceeds to step 335 ; otherwise , process 300 proceeds directly to step 350 . in step 335 , for connected triangles , the surface ( front or back ) that is to be displayed is identified for each triangle . this information is needed in order to determine whether one of the triangles folds over and obscures the other triangle or a portion thereof ( see fig4 d ). if the front face of one of the connected triangles is to be displayed , and the back face of the other of the connected triangles is to be displayed , this would indicate that one of the connected triangles is folded over and partially obscuring , or possibly entirely obscuring , the other triangle . in step 340 , if the surfaces to be displayed are determined to be equal for the connected triangles ( that is , the same face of each of the connected triangles will be displayed ), then process 300 proceeds to step 345 . otherwise , process 300 proceeds directly to step 350 . thus , if different surfaces are to be displayed , then the connected triangles are not opportunistically combined into quadrangles as described in step 345 . in step 345 , if the same surface ( front or back ) of the connected triangles will be shown , the triangles may be combined ( paired ) to form a quadrangle ( see fig4 b ). however , in accordance with the present invention , connected triangles do not have to be paired and , under certain circumstances , will not be . for example , if the downstream portion of graphics subsystem 211 is idle or otherwise ready to process a triangle , a triangle can be launched immediately for subsequent processing . also , in the case in which an odd number of triangle primitives is being used , it will be necessary to process at least one triangle individually . conversely , if the downstream portion of graphics subsystem 211 is busy or otherwise not ready to process a triangle , then that triangle may not be launched . in this case , connected triangles can be combined to form quadrangles in accordance with the present invention . in step 350 , the primitives ( points , lines , triangles , quadrangles , etc .) formed in the preceding steps of process 300 are launched . individual triangles can be individually launched . similarly , connected triangles can be launched individually if they will be displaying different faces ( e . g ., one triangle partially overlaps or obscures the other triangle ; see step 340 ). connected triangles can also be launched individually if , as described above , the downstream portion of the graphics subsystem is idle or otherwise ready . connected triangles paired to form quadrangles ( from step 345 ) can also be launched in step 350 . in this latter case , the connected triangles are processed as a single quadrangle instead of as two triangles . consequently , in accordance with the present invention , instead of processing three edges and three vertices twice ( for a total of six edges and six vertices ), only four edges and four vertices are processed . thus , by combining two connected triangles to form a single quadrangle , the amount of processing can be reduced by up to one - half . connected triangles can be processed with the efficiency of quadrangles without reformulating the triangle - based object database to a quad - based one . the present invention therefore more fully utilizes the capabilities of a quad - based rendering system when processing triangle - based databases , with resultant improvements in processing performance and efficiency . these improvements include , but are not limited to , locality of reference for texture , color and depth accesses to and from memory . buffering and / or caching requirements for these data can be reduced . in summary , in the present embodiment of the present invention , connected triangles ( including triangle fans , meshes , and strips ) can be opportunistically paired to form quadrangle primitives , which can be launched and processed as quadrangles ( instead of as two triangles ) in accordance with the present invention . fig4 a , 4b , 4 c and 4 d illustrate exemplary triangle primitives and quadrangle primitives in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention . fig4 a illustrates an exemplary triangle primitive 410 having vertices 411 , 412 and 413 . fig4 b illustrates the case in which adjacent triangles are combined to form a quadrangle in accordance with the present invention . triangle primitive 410 is formed first , with vertices 411 , 412 and 413 . a fourth vertex 414 is added , and a second triangle primitive 420 is formed by reusing vertices 412 and 413 with vertex 414 . in the case in which triangle primitives 410 and 420 are combined , a quadrangle primitive 430 ( with vertices 411 , 412 , 413 and 414 ) is formed . as described above in conjunction with fig3 , quadrangle primitive 430 is processed as a single entity in accordance with the present invention . in the case in which adjacent triangles are paired to form a quadrangle , it may be necessary to indicate flat shading or flat lighting of the resultant quadrangle in a manner different than that used for a case of a quadrangle - based display list . in the present embodiment , flat shading or flat lighting attributes are associated with the third and fourth vertices of the formed quadrangle ( e . g ., vertices 413 and 414 of quadrangle 430 ). vertex 413 is thus used for flat shading or lighting for triangle primitive 410 , and vertex 414 is used for the same for triangle primitive 420 . in contrast , an opengl - compliant quad or quad strip database relies solely on the attributes of the final vertex of each quad , for flat shading and / or lighting . it is appreciated that , in other embodiments , different techniques may be used to indicate flat shading and lighting , and other characteristics may differentiate the treatment of quads versus paired triangles . fig4 c illustrates the case in which two adjacent triangles ( 410 and 440 ) are not combined in accordance with the present invention . triangle primitive 410 is formed first , with vertices 411 , 412 and 413 . a fourth vertex 415 is added , and a second triangle primitive 440 is formed by reusing vertices 412 and 413 with vertex 415 . however , although adjacent , triangle primitives 410 and 440 are not combined . as explained above , for various reasons triangle primitive 410 may be processed individually , separately from triangle primitive 440 . subsequently , a fifth vertex 416 is added , and a third triangle primitive 450 is formed by reusing vertices 413 and 415 with vertex 416 . in the case in which triangle primitives 440 and 450 are combined in accordance with the present invention , a quadrangle primitive 460 ( with vertices 412 , 413 , 415 and 416 ) is formed . as described in conjunction with fig3 , quadrangle primitive 460 is processed as a single entity in accordance with the present invention . fig4 d illustrates the case in which adjacent triangles overlap . triangle primitive 470 is formed first , with vertices 491 , 492 and 493 . a fourth vertex 494 is added , and a second triangle primitive 480 is formed by reusing vertices 492 and 493 with vertex 494 . however , in this case , the front surface of triangle primitive 470 will be displayed , the back surface of triangle primitive 480 will be displayed , and triangle primitive 480 partially obscures triangle primitive 470 . thus , in the present embodiment , adjacent triangle primitives 470 and 480 would not be combined to form a quadrangle . the two triangle primitives 470 and 480 would be processed individually and in order , so that triangle primitive 480 would correctly obscure triangle primitive 470 . in another embodiment , triangle primitives 470 and 480 can be rendered at the same time . in that embodiment , one triangle primitive ( e . g ., 480 ) is given priority over the other ( e . g ., 470 ) so that they will be correctly displayed , with triangle primitive 480 partly obscuring triangle primitive 470 . in summary , the present invention provides a method and system that can more efficiently process connected - triangle - based databases such as those used in computer graphics . in particular , the present invention provides a method and system that can be used to enhance a quad - based rendering system . the present invention opportunistically combines connected triangle primitives ( including triangle fans , meshes , and strips ) to form a quadrangle primitive . the quadrangle primitive can be launched and processed instead of consecutively launching and processing individual triangle primitives . consequently , in the case of two connected triangles , instead of processing three edges and three vertices twice ( for a total of six edges and six vertices ), only four edges and four vertices are processed . thus , by processing connected triangles as a quadrangle in accordance with the present invention , the amount of primitives can be reduced by up to one - half . connected triangles can be processed with the efficiency of quadrangles without reformulating the triangle - based object database to a quad - based one . the present invention therefore more fully utilizes the capabilities of a quad - based rendering system when processing connected - triangle - based databases , with resultant improvements in processing performance and efficiency . the preferred embodiment of the present invention , method and apparatus for rendering a quadrangle primitive , is thus described . while the present invention has been described in particular embodiments , it should be appreciated that the present invention should not be construed as limited by such embodiments , but rather construed according to the following claims .
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in the following detailed description , a method and apparatus according to the present invention will be described in conjunction with its application to a casino environment , thus incorporating wagers , payouts , etc . those of ordinary skill in the art will readily comprehend alternative applications of the present invention outside a casino environment , and the invention is not meant to be limited to the described application . for example , the game may be embodied in a video game that is played for entertainment purposes against a computer or the like . alternatively , players may play the game without wagers in a head - to - head format with one player acting as a dealer , with the players simply keeping track of wins and losses . with reference to fig1 triple hand poker according to the present invention may be played on a blackjack style or poker style table with a dealer also acting as a banker in the house banked version . typically , a standard 52 - card deck of playing cards is used . the playing surface or table layout 10 includes a playing area 12 for each player , each with three primary wager areas for high 14 , mid 16 and low 18 . the playing area 12 also includes two secondary wager areas for a copy wager 20 and a pair wager 22 . three card hand areas are provided for each player for a high hand 24 , mid hand 26 , and low hand 28 . a dealer area 30 similarly contains three card hand areas for a high hand 32 , mid hand 34 and low hand 36 . rules and payoffs are displayed at 38 . in a preferred operating mode , to play the game , each player places three equal compulsory wagers at wager areas 14 , 16 and 18 . each player may also place optional wagers at either or both secondary wager areas 20 , 22 . each player and the dealer receive five cards in rotation . in this context , by dealing only five cards to each player and the dealer , up to seven players may play the game at one time . each player and the dealer then create three hands with the five cards being two hands of two cards each and one hand of one card . the players &# 39 ; two - card high hands are placed at hand area 24 , the two - card mid hands are placed at hand area 26 , and the one - card low hands are placed at hand area 28 . after all players have acted , the dealer cards are exposed and set into three similar hands of two cards , two cards and one card and placed respectively at card hand areas 32 , 34 and 36 . in the operating embodiment , the high hand must be better than the mid hand , and the mid hand must be better than the low hand for all players and the dealer . the exact method of dealer hand set depends on the version in operation , which can be set according to casino - specific rules . for example , in one playing embodiment , only pairs and high cards have rank value . in this embodiment , a preferred standard house way of setting hands is provided according to predetermined hand - forming rules as follows : ( 1 ) with a hand of two pair , the high hand is a high pair , the mid hand is a low pair , and the low hand is an odd card ; ( 2 ) with a hand of one pair , the high hand is a pair , the mid hand contains a high card and a low card , and the low hand is an odd card ; and ( 3 ) with a hand of no pair , the high hand is a highest card and a lowest card , the mid hand is a second highest card and a second lowest card , and the low hand is a third highest card . in an alternative “ no pair ” forming rule , ( 3 ) the high hand is a highest card and a second lowest card , the mid hand is a second highest card and a lowest card , and the low hand is a third highest card . this provides a simple fixed house way capable of being implemented by any dealer . additionally , the player perception is that the house is restricted in playing strategy . in another playing embodiment , a two - card straight flush , a two - card straight and a two - card flush also have rank value . with these additional hands , the manner of setting the dealer hands can be varied significantly according to house rules . in either playing mode , a rule may be established that pairs in the dealer hands are never split . the dealer then evaluates each player hand in rotation . the respective dealer and player high hands 24 , 32 are compared , the mid hands 26 , 34 are compared , and the low hands 28 , 36 are compared . each wager at wager areas 14 , 16 and 18 independently either wins a fixed payout ( such as 1 to 1 ) or loses based on the specific comparison . the comparison is made based on poker combinations and rules inasmuch as such rules are applicable with hands of two cards , two cards and one card , respectively . the payout may be altered either in the player &# 39 ; s favor or the casino &# 39 ; s favor , and the invention is not meant to be limited to the described example . in an alternative playing mode , the three primary wager areas 14 , 16 and 18 are replaced with a single wager area , wherein if the player wins two or three of the hands , then the wager wins a payout of , for example , 1 to 1 . if the player loses two or three of the hands , then the wager is lost . in the event of an exact same hand , for example , a hand having an equal poker rank , this specific hand is regarded as a copy , and house rules apply accordingly . preferably , the house wins a copy hand wager . the rules for resolving copy hands can be altered , however , to modify the casino house advantage . for example , although the house may win one copy , the player may win two - or three - copy hands . odds above 1 to 1 could apply in this instance . another example is that the house wins a copy on an exact nominated hand ( e . g ., low ) but the player wins a copy on either of the other exact nominated hands ( in this case , high and mid ). if a player places one or more secondary proposition wagers , these wagers are paid appropriately during the dealer &# 39 ; s evaluation of each player &# 39 ; s hands . a copy proposition wager at secondary wager area 20 wins an appropriate payoff upon the occurrence of a copy hand between the player and the dealer . the payoff may be increased as the number of copy hands increases , providing different payoffs , or there may be a composite payoff . similar rules apply with respect to the pair proposition wager at wager area 22 . the pair proposition wager wins a payoff upon the occurrence of a pair in one of the two two - card player hands . the payoff may increase as the total poker rank increases , or the wager may be awarded a composite payoff . dealer hand pairs etc . may also be incorporated into the pair proposition wager . in yet another operating mode , there are additional competition wagers that may be placed by the players . a hand not being played by a player is designated as an empty hand or dragon hand , and a player may also wager on the dragon hand against the dealer hand . with fewer cards used , there is the possibility of a minimum of two dragon hands . alternatively , the dealer may have as many as three hands that the players can wager against . thus , a first competition wager option is that all players may bet against the dealer hand on any hand that does not have a designated player . a second competition wager option is that the player hand is bet against any hand that does not have a designated player , with these hands deemed to be dealer hands for this purpose . as would be apparent to those skilled in the relevant art , the invention can be embodied in a wide variety and forms of media such as , but not limited to , single player slot video machines , multi - player slot video machines , electronic games and devices , lottery terminals , scratch - card formats , software , as well as in - flight , home and internet entertainment . in addition , the invention can be readily implemented as a computer program product ( e . g ., floppy disk , compact disk , etc .) comprising a computer readable medium having control logic recorded therein to implement the features of the invention as described in relation to the other preferred embodiments . control logic can be loaded into the memory of a computer and executed by a central processing unit ( cpu ) to perform the operations described herein . in this context , referring to fig2 a block diagram is illustrated showing the components of an apparatus configured for playing the game according to the invention . the apparatus includes a display 40 , a player interface 42 , and circuitry 44 for effecting game play and including structure for receiving wagers , dealing hands and resolving wagers according to the game rules . that is , a processing circuit 44 is programmed to effect game play according to the rules of the game , enabling players to selectively form high , mid and low hands and automatically forming dealer hands according to hand - forming rules . the system resolves competition wagers based on a comparison of the player high , mid and low hands with the respective dealer hands , and resolves proposition wagers according to game rules . the triple hand game according to the present invention enables a number of advantages not previously recognized in existing games . the incidence of pushes , which occurs often in conventional double hand poker , has been eliminated . the calculation and collection of commission has been eliminated , thereby also eliminating the associated errors and collection problems . the house way may be set to eliminate any variation and subsequent potential dealer error . an alternative house way allowing variation from standard set in certain situations offers only minimal opportunity for strategy variation and subsequent potential dealer error . the simplicity of hand setting also enables ease of player and dealer acceptance . the wager embodiment of three wagers is attractive to players . this creates more wagers on the table and a higher payoff frequency , although one of the payoff situations is an overall player loss . the proposition wagers of copy and pair both have sufficient frequency to appear to be accessible and allow rewarding odds payoffs . the extra wager options on additional hands is beneficial where there is a low player table occupancy . while the invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments , it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the disclosed embodiments , but on the contrary , is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims .
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referring to the drawings , and specifically to fig1 the apparatus of the invention will be described . the apparatus has a filament pay - off device 10 , a coating material applicator , a low - pressure air applicator 14 , an air - material mixer 16 , a centering die 18 , a material collector 20 , a coating die 22 , and a filament take - up device 24 . the term “ filament ” is used herein for all strand materials whether a single filament or a cord formed of many filaments . the filaments may be steel , organic , or any other strand material . while the embodiments herein described primarily relate to the manufacture of steel cord for reinforcing various articles , the apparatus of the invention has utility in coating all sorts of filaments other than the filament used in the production of the reinforcement materials . the filament pay - off device 10 includes a spool 26 on which the filament to be coated is stored . the spool 26 is mounted on a spindle ( not illustrated ) to permit free rotation of the spool 26 . operatively associated with the spool 26 is a brake 28 that restrains the rotation of the spool 26 as the filament 2 is being pulled from the spool 26 so as to prevent entanglements . the filament 2 travels about pulleys 30 as it travels to the coating apparatus . at any point 32 along the filament path , depending upon the end use of the coated filament or the initial state of the filament 2 on the pay - off device 10 , conventional wire cabling apparatus , such as twisting , bunching , or stranding machines , may be employed . thus , many filaments 2 of similar or different sizes may be cabled to the desired wire structure by conventional cabling equipment prior to the coating . alternatively , if the coating apparatus is located in an organic filament manufacturing plant , the pay - off device 10 may be eliminated and the filament may be formed immediately prior to the coating operation . in all instances , conventional forming , twisting , and cabling operations can be used in add to or in substitution of the pay - off device 10 . the term “ flowable material ” is used herein for the general class of coating materials applied by the method and apparatus of the invention . while the specific embodiments herein described refer to viscous oil that carry active ingredients to improve the tire durability , other flowable coating materials are contemplated as being within the general class of materials which can be applied by the method and apparatus of the invention . these materials include those which are initially flowable but later hardened by curing or thermosetting the material and also coating materials which may include up to about 90 % by weight of solvent or water to render them flowable and later reversible by driving the solvent or water from the material . in the manufacture of tire steel cords , several different materials can be applied using the method and apparatus of the invention . these include rubber process oil with viscosity up to 2000 sus , corrosion inhibitor such as calcium salts and the wire - bonding agent such as cobalt salts . the flowable material is provided by the material applicator 12 , which may be described as a positive displacement delivery system . the flowable material applicator 12 has a chute 34 by which the material is supplied to the applicator 12 , a material reservoir 36 in which the material is stored , and a positive displacement pump 38 which delivers the flowable material to the air material mixer 16 . an additional control device ( not illustrated ) may be associated with the positive displacement pump 38 to control the actual amount of flowable material delivered . an exact amount of flowable material is delivered through the tube 40 to the air material mixer 16 . if it is desired that the flowable material be mixed with solvent or water , both the coating material and the solvent may be fed into the applicator 12 via the chute 34 . the reservoir 36 may also be provided with a mixing apparatus 42 having associated therewith a separate control . when using temperature sensitive flowable materials , the reservoir 36 may be provided with a temperature control means 44 by which the temperature of the material in the reservoir 34 can be controlled . the fluid material applicator 12 may be a constant volume material ejector , an intermeshing multi - screw pump , or a gear pump , all having some or all of the features described above . since the coating thickness is less than 2 μm , at a regular wire process speed the amount of flowable material needed from a material applicator is about 0 . 06 cc / second or less . under this situation , a stable flow rate of viscous material is not obtainable from a conventional fluid material applicator , resulting in poor coating uniformity on the filament 2 . to overcome this difficulty , compressed air is combined with the flowable material . the air applicator 14 supplies compressed air to the mixer 16 through the air tube 46 . the needed air pressure is controlled by device 48 . compressed air provides two major functions . first , the air that is introduced in to the mixer 16 crushes the flowable material into numerous tiny droplets so that the flowable material is uniformly dispersed through the material dispenser tube 52 toward the filament 2 without generating a hazardous mist . secondly , the higher air pressure at the end of the delivery tube forces the flowable material onto the filament 2 , and toward any interior strands of filament 2 , thereby improving the coating penetration . as already noted , flowable material via tube 40 and compressed air via air tube 46 are delivered to the air material mixer 16 . the material is crushed by the compressed air and is delivered to the coating chamber 50 by means of the material dispenser tube 52 . coating of the filament 2 occurs within the coating chamber 50 . the coating chamber 50 has a top entrance bore 54 and a bottom exit hole 56 . the coating chamber 50 houses the centering die 18 , the material collector 20 , and the coating die 22 . a sealing attachment 58 is located beneath the coating chamber 50 and operates with the chamber components to execute the desired coating . the major function and specification of each component will be best understood by reference to the following description . referring to fig1 and 2 , the coating chamber 50 , commences with the entrance bore 54 and terminates with the exit hole 56 at the bottom . centering die 18 is located below the entrance bore 54 and the coating die 22 is located above the exit hole 56 . the size of the entrance bore 54 is determined by the size of the centering die 18 . to permit removal of the centering die 18 for replacement or general maintenance , the entrance bore 54 is slightly larger than the centering die 18 . additionally , as illustrated in fig1 to hold the centering die in position within the chamber 50 , the size of the centering die is larger than the size of the main portion of the chamber 50 . however , in a different variation , the centering die 18 may be larger than the entrance bore 54 , so that the centering die 18 stays in place at the top of the chamber 50 without any additional external support . the size of the main portion of the chamber 50 is determined by the size requirements of the coating die 22 . in the illustrated embodiment , the chamber 50 is slightly larger in size than that of the coating die 22 so that the coating die 22 can be easily slide in or out of the chamber 56 when die replacement or a general maintenance is needed . the exit hole 56 has a diameter less than that of the coating die 22 so that the coating die 22 stays at the bottom of the chamber 50 without additional support . located above the coating die 22 is the funnel - shaped material collector 20 . the material collector 20 has a converging interior wall 60 that interconnects with the underneath coating die 22 . the interior wall 60 defines a cavity into which stray coating material can be collected . preferably , the cavity will hold about 1 . 0 cc of material . the collected material then drips down to the coating die 22 to continue coating the filament 2 . in a different embodiment , both the material collector 20 and the coating die 22 may be replaced with just a single coating die with a flared opening in order to collect any stray coating material . along the wall of the coating chamber 50 there is one or more inclined through - holes 62 , allowing the material dispenser tube 52 to slide into the coating chamber 50 . the tube 52 defines an angle a with filament 2 . angle α can be any value between 10 ° and 90 °. in a specific embodiment , the angle α is about 45 °. as seen in fig1 the end of the material dispenser tube 52 is located close to the material collector 22 and the moving filament 2 so that the flowable material is directed onto the filament 2 and any stray material will collect in the material collector 22 . the coating chamber 50 is set inside a support frame 64 . in order to prevent material from leaking from the bottom of the coating chamber 50 , the sealing attachment 58 is inserted between the coating chamber 50 and the support frame 64 . at the center of the sealing attachment 58 , there is an exit hole 66 with a diameter equal or smaller than the overall diameter of the coated filament 4 . the sealing attachment 58 is shaped to form a spherical cone with the hole 66 at the apex , thereby forming an open area 68 . in one embodiment , the area 68 is defined about 120 - degree angle bisected by the longitudinal centerline of the attachment 58 . the spherical cone configuration , and the open area 68 , can be preformed before inserting the sealing attachment 58 into position . the configuration can also be formed on a flat piece of sealing attachment 58 by a skillful practice of tightening the screws 70 . the sealing attachment 58 provides two functions . first , there is a chance that the coating material may accumulate at the exit hole 66 and then the accumulation will start to drip downwards . due to the presence of the sealing attachment 58 , the leaking drops are retained in the area 68 around the coated filament 4 , so that a coating of 100 % efficiency is obtained . second , it is possible , but not desired , that some of the tiny flowable material droplets inside the mixer 16 may combine into big droplets on the wire surface , potentially degrading the coating uniformity . to improve the coating uniformity , the sealing attachment 58 smears or smoothes out those big droplets by rubbing the surface of moving coated filament 4 . the sealing attachment 58 is preferably formed of resilience elastomeric material such as rubber with a preferred thickness of about 1 - 2 mm . in fig2 the support frame 64 is shown in side view to indicate the needed alignment of the centering die 18 , and the coating die 22 . additionally , a housing 72 may be positioned with the support frame 64 to house the coating chamber 50 and maintain the chamber in a vertical orientation . below the base of the support frame 64 is a take - up pulley 74 . as illustrated in fig1 the pulley 74 preferably has a v - groove in which the coated filament 4 travels . due to the interaction between the surface of the pulley 74 and the coated filament 4 , the coating is further pushed into the filament 4 and any remaining excess spots of coating are smoothed out . to prevent a build up of coating and any possible contamination on the pulley 74 , a shield 76 may be added to the side of the support frame 64 that will wipe off any excess coating . the shield 76 can be formed of any type of cleaning paper . a set of guide rollers 78 are mounted on top of the support frame 64 to pre - align the filament 2 prior to the filament 2 entering the centering die 18 . the support frame 64 is also connected to a linear drive 80 for the take - up spool 82 . linear drive 80 travels back and forth along the axis 84 in association with the rotation of the take - up spool 82 during the take - up operation to evenly spool the coated filament 4 onto the take - up spool 82 . the spool 82 may be a conventional spool on which coated filaments are conventionally stored or shipped . the spool 82 is mounted on a spindle ( not illustrated ) for rotation . operatively connected to the spool 82 is a spool driver 86 that drives the spool 82 and pulls the filament 2 from the spool 26 of the pay - off device 10 . filament 2 is unwound from the pay - off spool 26 , passing over any necessary pulleys 30 to prevent the filament 2 from becoming entangled . the illustrated filament 2 may be cabled or otherwise formed prior to passing over the last pulley 30 and passing between the guide rollers 78 . the filament 2 is guided into the coating apparatus by the guide rollers 78 and passes through the centering die 18 . a flowable material containing an oil - based , water - based , or organic based coating material to be applied to the filament 2 is stored in the reservoir 36 at a flowable temperature . the flowable material passes through tube 40 and into the air material mixer 16 . compressed air is also delivered to the mixer 16 via air tube 46 at a desired pressure ; the pressure being selected by controls 48 . the specific air pressure is closely controlled . the air pressure must be high enough to mix the flowable material in the mixer and force the flowable material down to any central core or strands of the filament 2 , but still low enough to prevent the formation of a mist . to avoid forming a mist , the air pressure must be controlled in accordance to the viscosity of the flowable material . for an oil - based material of 500 sus viscosity , the air pressure is preferable controlled at 2 - 3 psi . the mixed flowable material and compressed air is delivered by the dispenser tube 52 and is deposited onto the surface of the filament 2 just before the filament enters the material collector 20 and the coating die 22 . coating material that misses the filament 2 is collected by material collector 20 , and then either drips down to the coating die 22 or accumulates inside the cavity of the collector 20 . normally the stray material that is collected by the material collector 20 quickly drips down to the coating die 22 with the help of the moving filament 2 . the specific amount of the coating material to be applied to the filament 2 is accurately metered . if there is an excess of flowable material , the material may drip from the hole 66 . also , too great an excess of flowable material of the coated filament 4 may also result in the dripping of the flowable material from the take up spool 82 causing problems in handling the spools 82 . for these reasons , the material applicator 12 is provided with controls . however , if the coating layer is thicker than desired , the control is thereafter adjusted to reduce the amount of material being delivered . conversely , if the coating layer proves to be insufficient , the control is adjusted so as to accumulate a tiny pool of flowable material inside collector 20 for an extra short - term dip coating before the filament 2 passes through the coating die 22 . additionally , if it is believed that at the initial coating act , the actual coating thickness may be slightly less than what is expected and desired , the operator can pre - spray flowable material into material collector 20 for 10 - 20 seconds before the coating start to generate a short - term dip pool . after passing through the coating die 22 , the coated filament 4 passes through the chamber exit hole 56 and into the open area 68 and then through the exit hole 66 in the sealing attachment 58 . the provision of the sealing attachment 58 with the open area 68 provides the filaments 4 with a surprisingly uniform coating thickness along the wire . conversely , when the open area 68 is not present , coating thickness of lower uniformity is found . after passing through the attachment exit hole 66 , the coated filament 4 travels over the take up pulley 74 and is wound onto the take - up spool 82 . to maintain even winding of the coated filament 4 on the take - up spool 82 , as needed , the coating apparatus , by means of the linear drive 80 travels along the axis 84 . the operation and function of the take - up device 24 was described earlier . however , the speed at which the take - up device 24 was driven was not mentioned . the speed is not limited in any way by the method of the invention . the pay - off device 10 and the take - up device 24 themselves solely limit the speed of coating when applying any of the coating materials mentioned herein . when the pay - off device 10 is eliminated and conventional cabling operations are substituted therefore , the speed at which the driver 84 drives the take - up device 24 is solely limited by the take - up device 24 itself . the method of the invention has been successfully used with filaments in a wide range of sizes . the method and apparatus of the invention can also coat cords of rectangular cross - sections and of other cross - sections so long as the coating die 22 can be provided in geometrically similar shapes . coating materials of various types have been successfully applied to filaments of various sizes in accordance with the method of this invention by the apparatus above , the coating materials having a viscosity from about 100 - 2000 sus . for the manufacture of cords used in reinforcing tires , metallic cords are treated to improve the ability of the cored to adhere to rubber and increase the corrosion resistance of the cord . a surprising characteristic of all steel cords coated in accordance with the apparatus and method of the present invention is the coating uniformity and the continuity . the continuity and uniformity of thin coatings applied from solution permits a reliance upon a single coat of the viscous material , something atypical in this industry . the flowable material contains a soluble bonding agent and / or corrosion inhibitor . the deposit of the flowable material results in improved wire adhesion , improve cable fatigue resistance and wire corrosion resistance . the treated filaments are then contacted with vulcanizable rubber compositions to form metal reinforced rubber plies . these plies may be used to manufacturer tires and also other rubber articles such as conveyor belts , hoses , and the like . the metallic cord to be coated according to the present invention may be steel , zinc - plated steel or brass - plated steel . preferably , the metallic cord is brass plated steel . the steel substrate may be derived from those known to those skilled in the art . for example , the steel used for wire may be conventional tire cord rod including aisi grades 1070 , 1080 , 1090 and 1095 . the steel may additionally contain varying levels of carbon and microalloying elements such as cr , b , ni and co . the term “ cord ” means one or more of a reinforcing element , formed by one or more filaments or wires which may or may not be twisted or otherwise formed . therefore , cords using the present invention may comprise from one ( monofilament ) to multiple filaments . the number of total filaments or wires in the cord may range from 1 to 134 . preferably , the number of filaments or wires per cord ranges from 1 to 49 . the number of cord constructions which can be treated according to the present invention are numerous . representative examples of such cord constructions include 2 ×, 3 ×, 4 ×, 5 ×, 6 ×, 7 ×, 8 ×, 11 ×, 12 ×, 27 ×, 1 + 2 , 1 + 3 , 1 + 4 , 1 + 5 , 1 + 6 , 1 + 7 , 1 + 8 , 1 + 14 , 1 + 15 , 1 + 16 , 1 + 17 , 1 + 18 , 1 + 19 , 1 + 20 , 1 + 26 , 2 + 1 , 2 + 2 , 2 + 5 , 2 + 6 , 2 + 7 , 2 + 8 , 2 + 9 , 2 + 10 , 2 / 2 , 2 / 3 , 2 / 4 , 2 / 5 , 2 / 6 , 3 + 1 , 3 + 2 , 3 + 3 , 3 + 4 , 3 × 4 , 3 + 6 , 3 × 7 , 3 + 9 , 3 / 9 , 3 + 9 + 15 , 4 + 3 , 4 × 4 , 5 / 8 / 14 , 7 × 2 , 7 × 3 , 7 × 4 , 7 × 7 , 7 × 12 , 7 × 19 , 5 + 1 , 6 + 1 , 7 + 1 , 8 + 1 , 11 + 1 , 12 + 1 , 2 + 7 + 1 , 1 + 4 + 1 , 1 + 5 + 1 , 1 + 6 + 1 , 1 + 7 + 1 , 1 + 8 + 1 , 1 + 14 + 1 , 1 + 15 + 1 , 1 + 16 + 1 , 1 + 17 + 1 , 1 + 18 + 1 , 1 + 19 + 1 , 1 + 20 + 1 , 2 + 2 + 8 , 2 + 6 + 1 , 2 + 7 + 1 , 2 + 8 + 1 , 2 + 9 + 1 , 2 + 10 + 1 , 2 + 2 + 8 + 1 , 3 + 9 + 15 + 1 , 27 + 1 , 1 + 26 + 1 , 7 × 2 + 1 , 3 + 9 + 1 , 3 / 9 + 1 , 7 × 12 + 1 and 7 × 19 + 1 . the filaments in the cord constructions may be preformed , waved or crimped . the preferred cord constructions include 2 ×, 3 ×, 1 + 5 , 1 + 6 , 1 + 18 , 2 + 7 , 3 + 2 , 3 + 3 and 3 / 9 + 1 . the diameter of an individual wire or filament that is encapsulated or used in a cord that is encapsulated may range from about 0 . 08 to 0 . 5 mm . preferably , the diameter ranges from 0 . 15 to 0 . 42 mm . the tensile strength of the steel filaments in the cord should be at least 3040 mpa −( 1200 × d ) when d is the diameter of the filament . preferably , the tensile strength of each filament ranges from about 3040 —( 1200 × d ) to 4400 mpa —( 2000 × d ). the flowable material is applied to the filament 2 in an amount equal to what is needed to form a coat of 1 - 2 μm or less in thickness . while there have been described above the principles of this invention in connection with specific apparatus , it is to be clearly understood that this description is made only by way of example and not as a limitation to the scope of the invention .
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it is believed that one skilled in the art can , based on the description herein , utilize the present invention to its fullest extent . the following specific embodiments are , therefore , to be construed as merely illustrative , and not limitative of the remainder of the disclosure in any way whatsoever . a compound of the present invention can be tested for farnesyl transferase inhibiting activity by testing said compound in a farnesyl transferase in vitro assay , such as the assay described below . unless defined otherwise , all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs . also , all publications , patent applications , patents , and other references mentioned herein are incorporated by reference . farnesyl transferase activity is assayed by [ 3 h ] farnesylation of recombinant human h - ras protein wild type , using microplate and filtration method . incubation mixture contains , in a total volume of 25 μl : 50 mm tris hcl ( ph 7 . 5 ), 5 mm dithiothreitol , 20 μm zncl 2 , 40 mm mgcl 2 , 0 . 6 μm [ 3 h ] farnesyl pyrophosphate ( 22 . 3 ci / mmol ), 4 μm h - ras and 10 μg of farnesyl transferase from human brain cytosol . test compounds are added in adequate solvent and incubations start by addition of farnesyl transferase . after approximately 60 minutes at approximately 37 ° c ., the reaction is stopped by addition of 100 μl of 10 % hcl in ethanol and allowed to incubate approximately 15 minutes at approximately 37 ° c ., then 150 μl of absolute ethanol are added and incubation mixture is filtered on unifilter gf / b microplates and washed 6 times with ethanol . after addition of 50 μl of microscint 0 , plates were counted on a packard top count scintillation counter . geranylgeranyl transferase activity is assayed by the same method , but using 4 μm human recombinant h - ras cvll type , 0 . 6 μm [ 3 h ] geranylgeranyl - pyrophosphate ( 19 . 3 ci / mmmol ) and 100 μg of geranylgeranyl transferase from human brain . the following is a description of the synthesis of compounds 1 , 4 , 9 . compounds 2 , 3 , 5 - 8 , 10 - 20 can be prepared in an analogous manner by a person of ordinary skill in the art using appropriate starting materials . compounds 21 , 28 , 29 , and 30 were prepared using the reactions summarized in reaction scheme i . compound 22 was prepared using the reactions summarized in reaction schemes ii and iv . compounds 25 , 26 , and 27 were prepared using the reactions summarized in reaction scheme v . compound 31 may be prepared using the reactions summarized in scheme iii . other compounds of the invention can be prepared in an analogous manner by a person of ordinary skill in the art using appropriate starting materials . the compounds of the invention were prepared using standard solution phase methodologies , e . g ., as described in greenstein , et al ., chemistry of the amino acids , vols . 1 - 3 ( j . wiley , new york ( 1961 )); and m . bodanszky , et al ., the practice of peptide synthesis ( springer - verlag , 1984 )). the condensation reactions were carried out in an inert organic solvent , e . g ., dimethylformide , dichloromethane , tetrahydrofuran , benzene or acetonitrile , using a suitable mild condensing agent , e . g ., 1 -( 3 - dimethylaminopropyl )- 3 - ethylcarbodiimide - hcl ( edc ), 0 - benzotriazol - 1 - yl - n , n , n ′, n ′- tetramethyluronium hexafluorophosphate ( hbtu ), and optionally a catalyst , e . g ., 1 - hydroxybenzotriazole ( hobt ). the reaction temperature was maintained below room temperature (− 15 ° c . to room temperature ) in order to minimize side reactions . cyclic disulfide formation was carried out under high dilute condition using various oxidizing agents ( e . g . oxygen , iodine , immobilized oxidizing agent like ekathioxt resin , ( ekagen corp ., menlo park , calif ., etc . )), in various solvents ( e . g . water , alcohol , acetonitrile , tetrahydrofuran ( thf ), acetic acid , chloroform , etc .). see , e . g ., b . kamber , et al ., helv . chim . acta , 63 ( 96 ): 899 ( 1980 ). compounds where r 8 , together with r 9 , forms ch 2 ch 2 can be made according to the methods of williams , et al ., j ., med . chem . 39 ( 7 ): 1346 ( 1996 ), e . g ., by starting with protected cysteine . 2 - alkylpiperazines were synthesized similarly according to the procedure described in org . prep . proc . int . 1990 , 22 , 761 - 768 . replacement of hydroxyl group by protected sulfur were carried out by mitsunobu reactions . ( synthesis 1981 , 1 ; tet . lett . 1981 , 3119 etc .) the protected cysteinal was prepared according to the procedure put forth by o . p . goel , et al ., ( org . syn . 1988 , 67 , 69 - 75 ). the reductive alkylation can be accomplished with various agents , e . g . sodium triacetoxyborohydride , ( na ( oac ) 3 bh ), sodium cyanoborohydride or pyridine - borane complex , in solvents such as dichloromethane , dichloroethane , methanol or dimethylformamide , etc . the intermediate and final products were isolated and purified by standard methods , eg ., column chromatography or hplc . to an ice - cooled solution of n - t - butoxycarbonyl - l - cysteine ( 8 . 0 g ) and n , o - dimethylhydroxylamine hydrochloride ( 7 . 1 g ) in 80 ml dimethylformide was added 4 . 2 ml diethylcyanophosphonate and 14 . 7 ml diisopropylethylamine , and after stirring at 0 ° c . for about 1 hour , the reaction mixture was allowed to room temperature overnight . volatile substances were removed in vacuo to dryness , and the residue was partitioned between ethylacetate and water . ethylacetate layer was washed with aqueous nahco 3 , water , and dried ( mgso 4 ). solvent was evaporated in vacuo to dryness , and the residue was chromatographed on silica gel ( 165 g ) using chcl 3 as an eluant . appropriate fractions were pooled , and solvent was removed in vacuo to dryness . white foam 8 . 08 g tlc ( silica gel : chcl 3 / acetone = 9 : 1 r f = 0 . 58 ). to an ice - cooled solution of n - t - butoxycarbonyl s - trityl - l - cysteinyl - n , o - dimethylamide ( 0 . 85 g ) in 20 ml tetrahydrofuran ( thf ) was added dropwise 3 ml 1 . 0 m liah 4 in thf under nitrogen atmosphere . after the mixture was stirred for about 30 minutes at 0 ° c ., 1m khso 4 was slowly added , and the resulting emulsion was filtered through diatomaceous earth pad and further washed with ethylacetate . after drying over anhydrous mgso 4 , the solvent was removed in vacuo to dryness resulting in 0 . 7 g of the above - titled compound tlc ( silica gel ; chcl 3 / acetone = 4 : 1 ; r f = 0 . 88 ). to an ice - cooled solution of n - t - butoxycarbonyl - l - 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 - tetrahydro - 3 ( s )- isoquinoline ( 2 . 77 g ) and l - methionine methylester hydrochloride ( 2 . 0 g ), 1 - hydroxybenzotriazole ( hobt ) ( 1 . 37 g ) and o - benzotriazol - 1 - yl - n , n , n ′, n ′- tetramethyl - uronium hexafluorophosphate ( hbtu ) ( 3 . 87 g ) in 30 ml dimethylformide was added 4 . 9 ml diisopropylethylamine ( diea ). after stirring at 0 ° c . for about 30 minutes , the reaction mixture was allowed to room temperature overnight . volatile substances were evaporated in vacuo to dryness , and the residue was partitioned between etoac and water . etoac layer was washed with aqueous nahco 3 , water , and dried ( mgso 4 ). solvent was evaporated in vacuo to dryness . it was treated is with 50 % trifluoracetic acid in chloroform ( 40 ml ) containing 4 . 8 ml triethylsilane for about 1 hour , and volatile substances were removed in vacuo to dryness . trace of trifluoroacetic acid ( tfa ) was further evaporated with toluene . to the above l - 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 - tetrahydro - 3 ( s )- isoquinolinecarbonyl methionine methylester tfa salt ( 2 . 2 g ) in dichloromethane ( 20 ml ) cooled to 0 ° c . was added 1 . 2 ml diea followed by a solution of hobt ( 0 . 7 g ), n - t - butoxycarbonyl - s - acetamidomethyl penicillin ( 1 . 6 g ) in dmf ( 3 ml ), and edc ( 1 . 2 g ). the mixture was stirred at 0 ° c . for about 30 minutes aryl then allowed to room temperature overnight . volatile substances were removed in vacuo to dryness . the residue was partitioned between etoac and water . ethylacetate layer woks washed with aqueous nahco 3 , water , and then dried ( mgso 4 ). solvent was evaporated in vacuo to dryness to yield 3 . 3 g orange solid . n - t - butoxycarbonyl - s - acetamidomethyl - penicillaminyl - 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 - tetrahydro - 3 [ s ]- isoquinolinecarbonyl methionine methylester ( 3 . 3 g ) was treated with 50 % tfa in ch 2 cl 2 ( 20 ml ) containing 1 ml triethylsilane for about 30 minutes volatile substances were removed in vacuo to dryness . trace of tfa was ; removed by co - evaporation with toluene several times . the tfa salt was dissolved in chcl 3 ( 30 ml ), treated with excess triethylamine , washed with water , dried ( mgso 4 ), and solvent : was evaporated in vacuo to give free base . to a solution of 2 ( r )- t - butoxycarbonylamino - 3 - triphenyl methyl - mercapto - propanal ( 0 . 7 g ) and l -[ s - acetamido methylpenicillaminyl - 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 - tetrahydro - 3 ( s )- isoquinolinecarbonyl methionine methylester ( 0 . 43 g ) in ch 2 cl 2 ( 20 ml ) containing 1 % acetic acid was added triacetoxysodiumborohydride na ( oac ) 3 bh ( 360 mg ) in one portion . after stirring for about 2 hours , the mixture was washed with water , 5 % aqueous nahco 3 , water , and then dried ( mgso 4 ). the solvent was evaporated in vacuo to dryness , and the residue was chromatographed on silica gel ( 50 g ) using chcl 3 / acetone ( 19 : 1 to 9 : 1 ) as eluants . appropriate fractions were pooled and solvents were removed in vacuo to dryness resulting in a white foam ( 390 mg ) of the above title compound . tlc ( silica gel ; chcl 3 / acetone = 4 : 1 ; r f = 0 . 4 ). to a solution of n -[ 2 ( r )-( t - butoxycarbonyl ) amino - 3 - triphenylmethylmercaptopropyll - l -[ s - acetamidomethyl - penicillaminyl ]- 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 - tetrahydro - 3 ( s )- isoquinoline carbonyl methionine methylester ( 500 mg ) in 50 ml 90 % aqueous meoh was added dropwise a solution of iodine ( 250 mg ) in methanol ( meoh ) ( 10 ml ). after stirring for about 1 hour , most of methanol was removed in vacuo to a small volume , diluted with water , and extracted with ethylacetate . the ethylacetate extract was washed with water , aqueous na 2 s 2 o 3 , water , and then dried ( mgso 4 ) . the solvent was evaporated in vacuo to dryness resulting in 400 mg of the above title compound . crude n -[ 2 ( r )-( t - butoxycarbonyl ) amino - 3 - mercaptopropyl ]- l - penicillaminyl ]- 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 - tetrahydro - 3 ( s )- isoquinoline carbonyl methionine methylester cyclic disulfide ( 400 mg ) was treated with 90 % trif luoroacetic acid ( tfa ) in water tfa / h 2 o ( 9 : 1 ) ( 10 ml ) for about 30 minutes volatile substances were removed in vacuo to dryness , and a trace of tfa was evaporated with toluene several times and triturated with hexane , decanted , and then dried . crude product was subjected to preparative high performance liquid chromatography ( hplc ) using c 18 column and 0 . 19 tfa and ch 3 cn as mobile phase . appropriate fractions were pooled , and solvents were removed giving the above title compound as a white solid ( 78 mg ). m / e = 541 . 1 . to a solution of n -[ 2 ( r )-( t - butoxycarbonyl )- amino - 3 - triphenylmethylmercaptopropyl ]- l -[ s - acetamidomethyl penicillaminyl ]- 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 - tetrahydro - 3 ( s )- isoquinolinecarbonyl methionine methylester ( example i e ))( 500 mg ) in 10 meoh ( 50 ml ) was added 2 ml 2 n - naoh . after 30 minutes , most of meoh was removed in vacuo to a small volume , diluted with water , acidified with 5 % aqueous citric acid , and extracted with ethylacetate . the ethylacetate extract was then dried ( mgso 4 ). solvent was evaporated in vacuo to dryness . the residue was treated with 50 % tfa in ch 2 cl 2 containing triethylsilane ( et 3 sih ) ( 0 . 5 ml ) for about 40 minutes volatile substances were removed in dryness , and a trace of tfa was evaporated with toluene and then dried . crude product was purified by preparative hplc giving the above titled compound ( 100 mg ) as a white solid . m / e = 600 . 2 to an ice - cooled solution of n -[ t - butoxycarbonyl )- s - acetamidomethyl penicillamine ( bachem california , torrance , is calif .) ( 0 . 64 g ), 2 , 3 - dimethylaniline ( 0 . 25 g ), hydroxybenzotriazole ( 0 . 41 g ) in dimethylformide ( dmf )/ ch 2 cl 2 ( 1 : 1 , 20 ml ) was added 1 -( 3 - dimethylaminopropyl )- 3 - ethylcarbodiimide ( edc ) ( 0 . 57 g ). the mixture was stirred at . 0 - 5 ° c . for about 30 minutes and then the temperature was slowly allowed to room temperature overnight . after evaporation of the solvents , the residue was partitioned between ethyl acetate ( etoac ) and water . etoac extracz was washed with aqueous nahco 3 , water , and then dried ( mgso 4 ). the solvent was evaporated in vacuo to dryness . the residue was chromatographed on silica gel ( 40 g ) using chcl 3 / acetone = 19 : 1 as eluants , appropriate fractions were pooled , and solvents were removed in vacuo to dryness giving 350 mg of the above titled compound tlc ( silica gel : chcl 3 / acetone = 4 : 1 , r f − 0 . 77 ). [ n - t - butoxycarbonyl - s - acetamidomethyl ]- penicillaminyl - 2 , 3 - dimethylanilide was treated with 50 % tfa in ch 2 cl 2 ( 20 ml ) for about 30 minutes volatile substances were removed in vacto to dryness . trace of tfa was removed by co - evaporation with toluene several times . the tfa salt was dissolved in chcl 3 ( 30 ml ), treated with excess triethylamine , washed with water , dried ( mgso 4 ), and solvent was evaporated in vacuo to give free base . to a stirred solution of 2 ( r )- t - butoxycarbonylamino - 3 - triphenylmethylmercaptopropanal ( 0 . 5 g ; example 1b ) and l -[ s - acetamidomethylpenicillaminyl - 2 , 3 - dimethylanilide tfa salt ( 0 . 3 g ) in meoh containing 1 % acetic acid ( hoac ) ( 10 ml ) was added portionwise nacnbh 3 ( 100 mg ). the mixture was stirred at room temperature overnight . most of the solvent was evaporated in vacuo to a small volume , which was partitioned between etoac and water . etoac layer was further washed with aqueous nahco 3 , water , and then dried ( mgso 4 ). after evaporation of solvent , the residue was chromatographed on silica gel ( 30 g ) using chcl 3 - acetone ( 19 : 1 to 9 : 1 ) as eluants . appropriate fractions were pooled , and solvents were evaporated in vacuo to dryness giving 360 mg of the above titled compound . tlc ( silica gel : chcl 3 / acetone = 9 : 1 , r f = 0 . 13 . to a stirred solution of n -[ 2 ( r )-( t - butoxycarbonyl ) amino - 3 - triphenylmethylmercaptopropyl ]- l -[ s - acetamidomethyl penicillaminyl ]- 2 , 3 - dimethylamilide ( 350 mng ) in 50 ml 90 % meoh in water was added a solution of iodine ( 250 mg ) in meoh ( 5 ml ). after 1 hour , most of the solvent was evaporated in vacua to a small volume , diluted with water , extracted with etoac . etoac layer was washed with aqueous na 2 s 2 o 3 , water , then dried ( mgso 4 ) solvent was removed in vacuo to dryness ( 220 mg ), treated with 90 % aqueous tfa ( ml ) for about 30 minutes , andi volatile substances were removed in vacuo to dryness . crude product was purified by preparative hplc giving 62 mg of the above titled compound as a white solid . m / e = 340 . 2 . synthesis of 1 -[ 2 ( r )- amino - 3 - mercaptopropyl ]- 2 ( s )- 2 - mercaptoethyl )- 4 -( 1 - naphthoyl )- piperazine - 1 , 2 - cyclodisulfide , ( compound 28 ), 1 -[ 2 ( r ) - amino - 3 - mercaptopropyl ]- 2 ( s )- 2 - mercaptoethyl )- 4 -( 1 - naphthoyl ) - piperazine , ( compound 30 ), and bis - 1 , 1 ′- 2 , 2 ′-[ 2 ( r )- amino - 3 - mercaptouropyl ]- 2 ( s )-[ 2 - mercaptoethyl )- 4 -( 1 - naphthoyl )- piperazine - tetrasulfide , ( compound 29 ) to an ice - cooled solution of boc - aspartic acid β - benzyl ester ( 10 g ), hydroxybenzotriazole ( hobt , 4 . 2 g ), and n - benzylglycine ethyl ester ( 6 . 4 g ) in 80 ml ch 2 cl 2 was added a cold solution of dicyclohexylcarbodiimide ( dcc , 7 . 1 g ) in 20 ml ch 2 cl 2 . the reaction was stirred for about 1 hour at 0 - 5 ° c ., then overnight at room temperature . trhe precipitate was filtered of f and the filtrate was evaporated in vacua to dryness . the residue was partitioned between ethyl acetate and water . the organic layer was washed with 100 ml aqueous nahco 3 , water , then dried ( mgso 4 ). solvent was removed in vacuo to dryness to give 16 g . tlc ( silica gel : chcl 3 / acetone = 9 : 1 , r f = 0 . 55 ). this was treated with 50 % trifluoroacetic acid in chcl 3 ( 40 ml ) for about 1 hour and the volatile substances were removed in vacuo to dryness . the residue was partitioned between ethyl acetate and saturated aqueous nahco 3 . the organic layer was then dried ( mgso 4 ) and the solvent was evaporated in vacuo to give 10 g . tlc ( silica gel , chcl 3 / acetone = 9 : 1 , r f = 0 . 14 ). to an ice - cooled solution of the product from step a ( 9 . 73 g ) in 200 ml tetrahydrofuran ( thf ) was added portion wise a 50 % mineral dispersion of lithium aluminum hydride ( 12 . 5 g ) under a nitrogen atmosphere . the reaction mixture was refluxed overnight . after cooling in an ice bath , saturated aqueous na 2 so 4 was added dropwise to decompose excess lah and the white slurry in thf was filtered through a diatomaceous earth pad . the filtrate was concentrated in vacuo to dryness and the residue was dissolved in dichloromethane ( 55 mg ), treated with di - tert - butyl dicarbonate ( 5 . 9 g ), and stirred for about 1 hour . aqueous saturated nahco 3 ( 25 ml ) was added and stirred for about 2 hours . the organic layer was washed with saturated sodium chloride and dried ( mgso 4 ). after evaporation of solvent , the residue was chromatographed on silica gel ( 160g ) using chcl 3 / meoh ( 19 : 1 ) as eluent . appropriate fractions were pooled , and solvents were removed in vacuo to dryness , to give 8 . 7 g of a glass . tlc ( silica gel : chcl 3 / meoh = 9 : 1 , r f = 0 . 56 ). the product from step b ( 8 . 7 g ) was dissolved in ethanol ( 35ml ) treated with pd ( oh ) 2 - charcoal ( 0 . 8 g ) and acetic acid ( 3 ml ). hydrogenation was carried out under 30 p . s . i overnight . the reaction mixture was filtered through a diatomaceous earth pad and the solvent was removed in vacuid to dryness . to a solution of the product from step c ( 8 . 4 g ) in acetonitrile ( 40 ml ) was added 110 ml 1n aqueous naoh followed by a solution of 1 - naphthoyl chloride ( 5 . 14 g ) in acetonitrile ( 20 ml ). after about 3 hours stirring , most of the acetonitrile was removed in vacuo and the remaining mixture was extracted with chloroform . it was dried ( mgso 4 ) and the solvent was removed in vacuo to dryness , to give 8 . 12 g . of product . tlc ( silica gel : chcl 3 / meoh = 9 : 1 , r f = 0 . 64 ). to an ice - cooled solution of triphenylphosphine ( 0 . 53 g ) in 5 ml dry thf was added dropwise a solution of diethylazodicarboxylate ( dead , 0 . 25 g ) in 2 ml thf . after stirring at 0 - 5 ° c . for about 30 minutes , a solution of the product from step d ( 0 . 4 g ) and triphenylmercaptan ( 0 . 55 g ) in 10 ml thf was added dropwise . the mixture was stirred at 0 - 5 ° c . for about 1 hour and room temperature for about 1 hour . the solvent was evaporated in vacuo to dryness and the residue was chromatographed on silica gel ( 40 g ) using chcl 3 as eluent . appropriate fractions were pooled and the solvent was removed in vacuo to dryness , to give a pale yellow foam 420 mg . mass spec ( electrospray ) 665 . 2 ( 643 + 23 ( sodium )). tlc ( silica gel : chcl 3 / acetone = 9 : 1 r f = 0 . 53 ) to a stirred solution of the product from step e ( 2 . 2 g ) in 30 ml ch 2 cl 2 was added 10 ml trifluoroacetic acid ( tfa ). the mixture was stirred for about 30 minutes . volatile substances were removed in vacuo to dryness . the residue was dissolved in chcl 3 ( 50 ml ) and treated with excess triethylamine ( 4 ml ). the mixture was washed with water , then dried ( mgso 4 ) and volatile substances were removed in vacuo to dryness , to give a pale yellow glass , 2 . 1 g ; tlc ( silica gel ; chcl 3 / meoh = 9 : 1 , r f = 0 . 63 ) to a solution of the product from step f ( 0 . 9 g ) and 2 ( r )- n - tert - butoxycarbonylamino - 3 - triphenylmethylthiopropanal ( 1 . 2 g ) prepared according to the procedure of o . p . goel , et al ., ( org . syn . 1988 , 67 , 69 - 75 ), in ch 2 cl 2 ( 20 ml ) containing 1 % acetic acid , was added 4 g of molecular sieves 4 å followed by portion wise addition of na ( oac ) 3 bh ( 1 g ) over a 30 minutes period . after stirring for about 2 hours , the mixture was filtered and the filtrate was washed with water , 5 % aqueous nahco 3 , water , and then dried ( mgso 4 ). the solvent was evaporated in vacuo to dryness , and the residue was chromatographed on silica gel ( 60 g ) using chcl 3 as an eluent . appropriate fractions were pooled and solvent was removed in vacuo to dryness , to give 0 . 6 g white foam . tlc ( silica gel , chcl 3 / acetone = 9 : 1 ; r f = 0 . 55 ); mass spec ( electro spray ) 974 . 3 . to a stirred solution of the product from step g ( 0 . 7 g ) in chcl 3 / ch 3 oh ( 1 : 3 , 60 ml ) was added a solution of iodine in methanol ( 0 . 2 g in 5 ml ). after stirring for about 40 minutes most of the solvents were removed in vacuo to dryness and the residue was partitioned between ethyl acetate ( 30 ml ) and 5 % aqueous na 2 s 2 o 3 the organic layer was washed with water , then dried ( mgso 4 ). after evaporation of solvent the residue was treated with 50 % trifluoroacetic acid in dichloromethane ( 10 ml ) for about 30 minutes . volatile substances were removed in vacuo to dryness and the residue was triturated with ether and filtered . the crude product was subjected to preparative high performance liquid chromatography ( hplc ) using a c 18 column and 0 . 1 % aqueous tfa and ch 3 cn as the mobile phase . earlier fractions ( retention = 5 minutes , ch 3 cn / 0 . 1 % aqueous tfa = 50 : 50 , elution rate = 1 ml / min ) gave the white solid 1 , 2 cyclodisulfide ; mass . spec . ( electrospray ) 388 . 1 . later fractions ( retention time = 7 . 2 minutes using the same isocratic conditions ) gave the dimer ; mass spec . ( electrospray )= 775 . 1 the ratio of cyclic disulfide and dimeric tetrasulfide was about 4 to 1 . alternative cyclization of compound 30 using immobilized oxidizing resin ( ekathiox ™ resin ) or air the product from step g ( 450 mg ) was treated for about 30 minutes with 50 % tfa in ch 2 cl 2 ( 10 ml ) containing 1 ml triethylsilane . volatile substances were then removed in vacuo to dryness . the residue was triturated with ether , filtered , then dried , resulting in 280 mg of 1 -[ 2 ( r )- amino - 3 - mercaptopropyl ]- 2 ( s )-( 2 - mercaptoethyl )- 4 -( 1 - naphthoyl )- piperazine , ( compound 30 ). mass spec ( electrospray ) 390 . 3 100 mg of the product from step a ) was dissolved in 10 ml aqueous ch 3 cn ( h 2 o / ch 3 cn = 7 . 3 ), and treated with 3 g of ekathiox ™ resin ( 0 . 34 mmoles / gm ). the mixture was stirred at room temperature for about 6 hours . the mixture was then filtered , the resin washed with aqueous methanol ( 1 : 3 ), and most of the organic solvent was removed in vacuum to a small volume . the concentrate was subjected to preparative hplc using 0 . 1 % aqueous tfa and ch 3 cn as mobile phase . appropriate fractions were pooled and most of the solvents removed in vacuo to small volume . the concentrate was then lyophilized . alternatively , the solution of 1 -[ 2 ( r )- amino - 3 - mercaptopropyl ]- 2 ( s )-( 2 - mercaptoethyl )- 4 -( 1 - naphthoyl )- piperazine ( compound 30 ) in aqueous ch 3 cn was stirred with air in ph 6 - 8 range . in both instances the reaction mixture showed a distribution of the cyclic disulfide and the tetrasulfide dimer in the ratio of about 4 to 1 . it is to be understood that while the invention has been described in conjunction with the detailed description thereof , that the foregoing description is intended to illustrate and not limit the scope of the invention , which is defined by the scope of the appended claims . other aspects , advantages , and modifications are within the claims .
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in fig1 there is illustrated , in exploded view , a touch pad housing 12 affixed to a touch workpad 10 , shown in a broken away manner and in part only . the housing 12 forms a rectangular shaped recessed window 14 within which is housed a touch overlay 16 or template . the touch overlay 16 can be one of the myriad of configurations , diagrams or patterns designed to emulate input devices , including , but not limited to , a keyboard , a phone keypad , a calculator , a remote control device and any other similar input station . for illustration purposes only , the touch overlay 16 in fig1 is a keyboard . the touch workpad 10 , dependent on the touch overlay 16 installed and registered to the housing 12 , is responsive to directed signals sent as a result of touch stimulation of a selected key or character or area of the overlay , and functions with a computer system to act as an input in compliance with the selected overlay . the overlay or template 16 is generally transparent , excepting , for example , for an outline of the input device depicted on the overlay . however , the overlay 16 can be coded with opaque sectors or areas of the overlay in such a way that when the overlay is installed in the touch pad housing 12 , the coded portions , whether transparent or opaque or some other degree of transparency , are aligned with sensor , scanner or detector interface devices 20 . devices 20 are shown in fig4 as exemplary and schematically and only on one side of an overlay , but in fact are positioned to be in alignment with exemplary apertures 21 of fig1 and 3 , which devices 20 preferably optically read the overlay and send signals which identify the overlay to the system software . the apertures 21 could be juxtaposed to the sensors 20 in any of a myriad of patterns disposed in selected areas of the overlay 16 . in the alternative , the overlay 16 could have other indicia , including bar codes , at similar locations as those apertures 21 shown in fig1 or cutouts incorporated along the boundary edge or edges of the overlay which cutouts or indicia represent , e . g ., a six bit binary code . the binary code may contain a first part which contains emulation information and a second part which contain an overlay number code which the system software is able to use for special functions . see tables v and vi for more specifics of the binary codes transmitted . therefore it is appreciated that a variety of coding , either magnetic , optical or physical may be sensed by mode or identification sensors . the overlay 16 is interchangeable and preferably generally flexible and consists of a suitable durable plastic material . as presented the edges , or other suitable aspects of the overlay 16 contain transparent or opaque apertures or sectors , such as circles , that in combination define a binary code which represents the unique overlay 16 . any overlay not identifiable by the interface device 20 passes the binary code on through interface 64 of fig5 to the host computer and cpu 74 for local identification . translation , once identified , could then occur for the application - specific overlay . the input device 20 could also detect the change of overlays and send a signal to the host device to launch or terminate the application required by the overlay . for example , the calculator overlay , when installed would launch the calculator program . likewise , if the overlay were a scientific calculator , the calculator would run in the scientific mode . also , simply , any application program could be terminated by removing the overlay from the input device or workpad 10 . fig2 and 3 , respectively , depict overlays 17 and 19 which illustrate , for example , for overlay 17 , a phone keypad , and for overlay 19 , a remote control pad . referring more specifically to fig5 a touch workpad 10 , is shown . the workpad 10 and its assembly comprises the housing 12 having the rectangular recessed window 14 which surrounds the edges of the exemplary rectangular touch overlay 16 . the sensors / detectors 20 , for example , optically detect and produce sensor signals as a function of the coding read from the selected overlay 16 . these sensor signals accordingly identify and pass through interface 64 information of a recognized overlay layout , which is provided to a pc interface 66 of fig6 and with the necessary intelligence and logic to correspond the information of digitized signals with a program or application 82 operational in the personal computer of fig6 . a wired stylus , not illustrated but of a general and well known configuration , is attached to the touch pad 10 with a switch mounted on the side . the switch is wire ored with a center button of the touch pad and is used to allow the operator to change the operating mode of the stylus . since the stylus requires pressure for detection , the button is used to provide a trail for the stylus tip as it travels on the touch pad . the touch pad 10 , as previously described , contains sensors / detectors 20 , typically six , to detect the presence of an overlay . a finger of a user acts as a stylus to touch areas on the overlay for certain applications . the touch pad 10 , in one preferred embodiment , contains five buttons , with three located at the bottom area of the touch pad controller and one each on , optional , joystick knobs . workpad cable 28 is the connecting link between the workpad 10 and the computer system of fig6 with which the user is communicating . the workpad cable 28 provides power to the workpad 10 as well as to energize , for operation , the pressure sensitive x - y coordinate array disposed below or as a part of the overlay 16 and to transmit touch signals to operate the overlay in finger touch . as discussed in connection with fig5 the touch workpad 10 communicates with the personal computer of fig6 via cable 28 . vertical x ( x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 , . . . xn ) and horizontal y ( y1 , y2 , y3 , y4 , . . . yn ) conductors cover the entirety of the surface over which the overlay is disposed . this provides for the generation of signals even from areas on each overlay which are outside of the depicted outline for the selected input device and its configuration , such as a keyboard array of keys , illustrated in fig1 . the vertical x conductors are connected through the x bus 38 and the horizontal y conductors are connected through the y bus 40 to the wire selection multiplexer 42 , respectively . the touch pad 10 is a pressure sensitive array of horizontal and vertical lines . the considered horizontal resolution is , for example , 256 lines and the vertical resolution is , for example , 200 lines . output of the touch pad 10 is an analog voltage for each of the axis . the top left corner of the touch pad is location 0 . 0 . the bottom left is , for example , location 0 . 199 . the top right location is , for example , location 255 . 0 . the bottom right location is , for example , location 255 . 199 . the wire selection multiplexer 42 is connected through the mode multiplexer 50 to the pressure sensitive measurement device 52 which is used for finger touch detection . the wire selection multiplexer 42 can also be connected through the mode multiplexer 50 to the oscillator driver 54 and can be used to drive the x bus 38 and the y bus 40 for other detection operations . for certain applications , such as selecting items from a list , finger sensing methods have been found more convenient . the output of the capacitance measurement device 52 is connected through the analog - to - digital converter 56 to the workpad bus 58 . the workpad bus 58 is connected via workpad interface 64 to the cable 28 which connects to a pc interface 66 in the personal computer of fig6 . the pc interface 66 communicates to the main system bus 68 . if an overlay 16 is not known to the interface 64 , it passes the transmitted identifying binary code to the host computer for local identification . the interface 64 can also detect a change in overlays and sends a signal to terminate the current application or launch the application required by the overlay , e . g ., a calculator overlay launches the calculator program . also , the application program of element 82 can be terminated by the removal of an overlay 16 from the touch pad housing 12 . the system , in its illustrated embodiment , uses a motorola 68hc705cb input - micro controller 90 , or equivalent , to transfer messages from the input devices , e . g ., touch pad 10 , to the system processor 74 and to perform other system functions . a system input controller ( sic ) 90 is located in the i / o space and is accessible at the addresses decoded and defined by a general purpose input / output ( gpi0 ) 1 of a control program ( cp ) 1 application specific integrated circuit ( asic ). all i / o transfers to and from the sic 90 are 8 bits . the system functions the system input controller 90 performs include a system reset , where a power - on reset resets the sic 90 which resets the cp / 1 . input data from i / o controllers will be sent to the system of fig6 via an asynchronous serial data message which consists of the device type , the device number , and input data . the input device data messages will be received and decoded by the sic 90 . the personal computer includes standard devices such as a cpu 74 , rom 76 , disk storage 78 , a memory 80 which stores operating system 81 and exemplary application programs 82 , keyboard 84 and standard display 86 , as schematically illustrated in fig6 . each respective application program of the myriad of application programs in the applications box 82 can , in accordance with the principles of this invention , be operational and functional directly from the output signals of the work pad 12 which are configured to each respective and specific application program or a series of programs corresponding or coded to a specific overlay pattern or patterns . in each case the coding for a particular coordinate location is not hard coded or fixed to a particular meaning . the coding for each overlay is known to the application running at the time , or to another identifiable application , and each application uses a particular code as necessary for its own use . all of the work pad 12 or digitizer data is passed to the identified application regardless of what overlay code current overlaid on the work pad 12 . in this manner the software can relate to routines within the application or elsewhere which relate to the specific overlay . although the cpu 74 can be a 376 , preferably it has been modified to start and run in 32 bit mode . joysticks or other pointing type devices are also optionally installed . any standard display 86 is typically a crt . the wire selection multiplexer 42 and the mode multiplexer 50 connect selected patterns of a plurality of the horizontal and vertical conductors from the overlay 16 to either the capacitance measurement device 52 or the 40 kilohertz oscillator driver 54 , in response to control signals applied over the control inputs 60 and 62 from the bus 58 by a control processor of the pc interface 66 . during finger touch operations , the capacitance measuring device 52 has its input coupled through the mode multiplexer 50 and the wire selection multiplexer 42 to selected single conductors in the horizontal and vertical conductor array in the overlay 16 in response to control signals from the pc interface 66 . the output of the pressure measurement device 52 is converted to digital values by the aid converter 56 and is supplied over the bus 58 to the pc interface 66 . the pc interface 66 executes a sequence of stored program instructions to detect the horizontal array conductor pair and the vertical array conductor pair disposed below the overlay 16 at the location being touched by the operator &# 39 ; s finger and coordinated with the applicable program in box 82 in correspondence to the overlay 16 . regarding transfers from the sic 90 to the system , where the bios presents the data to software via software interrupts , when an input controller has data or a message for the system processor 74 , the sic 90 , will signal the processor 74 by pulling a10 pin low on the cp / 1 . the cp / 1 will then trigger the irq of an exemplary 376 cpu - processor 74 . during the interrupt acknowledge cycle of a 376 processor the cp / 1 will place on the processor bus 68 the address of the interrupt routine responding to analog interrupt 0 ( ai0 ). the sequence to respond to an interrupt generated by the sic 90 starts with sic 90 providing a single byte indicating the number of timer ticks since the last interrupt service and the number of the io device messages to be transferred . the format of the first byte is as illustrated in table i , below : table 1______________________________________bits 7 - 4 bits 3 - 0______________________________________number of io device messages number of timer ticks since last service ( 0 - 15 ) ( 0 - 15 ) ______________________________________ additional data is transferred based on the number of io device messages . a transfer sequence from the sic 90 to the system is , for example , as illustrated in table ii , as follows : table ii______________________________________ valuebyte # ( hex ) description______________________________________0 21 2 io device messages , 1 timer tick since last service1 02 2 bytes for first io device message2 12 byte # 1 : message identifier ( joystick # 1 ) 3 80 byte # 2 joystick position information ( up position ) 4 04 4 bytes for second io device message5 04 byte # 1 : message identifier ( coordinate / touchpad # 0 ) 6 01 byte # 2 : button 0 depressed7 64 byte # 3 : x coordinate ( 64 ) 8 32 byte # 4 : y coordinate ( 32 ) ______________________________________ if the timer is disabled , the timer tick value will be 0 . any additional io device messages received during the transfer of the current information will be sent on to the next interrupt sequence . interrupts occur on 50 ms internals . once a message has started , no more than 3 milli - seconds between successive bytes is preferably allowed . if this time is exceeded , the entire message is considered invalid and must be discarded . the 3 ms time is from the end of the stop bit to the beginning of the next start bit . this prevents system lock - up in the event of an io controller malfunction or cable problem . the 3 ms time is 1 . 5 times the nominal time to transfer one byte of information over the serial bus . the following table iii describes the io device message transferred by the sic 90 to the system bios for the touch pad overlay on touch pad 10 . this information is passed to the application software 82 via a software interrupt through control of the cpu 74 . table iii______________________________________device byte 0 byte 1 ( device id ) byte bytetype count ( bits 4 - 7 ) ( bits 0 - 3 ) byte 2 3 4______________________________________touchpad 2 device 5 overlay n / a n / aoverlay number codemessage in chain ( 0 - 63 ) ______________________________________ the following table iv describes sic 90 output messages , including the message type , structure , and data to be transferred to the sic 90 by the 376 processor 74 . table iv______________________________________ byte 0 high lowsystem message nibble nibble byte 1______________________________________timer interrupt enable f = disable 0 n / a 0 = enablenv - memory address segment # 1 address ( 0 - 255 ) nv - memory write 0 2 data written to nvramnv - memory read 0 3 data read from nvramps / 2 output 0 4 output data ( ps / 2 ) serial output 0 5 output data ( serial ) system reset f f n / a______________________________________ notes : 1 . segment number is 0 or 1 ; and 2 . the address of nvram will automatically be incremented after each nvra read or write . ( for example , a 5 byte read of nvram data can be accomplished by doing an address cycle followed by 5 nvram read cycles .) the sic 90 will also be responsible for providing the inter - integrated circuit ( i 2 c ) serial interface or synchronous two - wire bus to the system processor 74 . the first byte sent to the sic 90 will be of message type 1 . the upper nibble , or half byte , of write / read messages to the sic 90 will contain the segment number for the memory nvram 92 , as illustrated in fig6 . the default nvram for the system is 512 bytes long so the current design will only allow values 0 , and 1 in the upper nibble . a 0 indicates the address field will be a byte in the range 0 - 255 . whereas a 1 in the upper nibble indicates the address written is in the range 256 - 511 . the next byte sent to the sic 90 is an 8 bit address for the nvram 92 read / write cycle . this address is the byte in the 256 byte segment that the data will be read from or written to the memory 92 . additional commands can be sent ( message type 2 & amp ; 3 ) to write and read the nvram 92 . after each write or read cycle , the sic 90 will automatically increment the address for the next nvram 92 write or read cycle . a new address command ( message type 1 ) can be sent at any time to load a new address to the sic 90 . the hc05 controller of sic 90 keeps the system processor 74 on hold , ready = 1 , while processing any nvram 92 operation . the nvram 92 operations will slow the system down and , but for the data types to be stored , this will not result in unreasonable or unsatisfactory operation . there can be a multitude of input messages to the system of fig6 generated by external input control devices . the first byte is a byte count . the second byte is a device id . the device id contains two parts . the high nibble is a device number of the io chain and the low nibble is the identifier for the device . additional bytes may or may not be sent depending on the device type . a checksum is always the last byte . device messages use the following format , as illustrated in table v . table v______________________________________byte count id (#/ type ) byte 0 ... byte n - 1 checksum______________________________________ the checksum is a value which forces the sum of the entire message packet to be zero when all bytes of the message are added using an 8 bit checksum and ignoring any carry . messages are only sent when a change from a previously reported state has occurred . this keeps message transmissions to a minimum . below in table vi is a typical example of a message packet for the touch pad . table vi______________________________________byte # value ( hex ) description______________________________________0 03 byte count ( 3 ) 1 04 id : touchpad code2 01 byte 0 : button info3 10 byte 1 : x coordinate4 20 byte 2 : y coordinate5 c8 checksum______________________________________ there are optionally two digital joysticks , not illustrated , on each touch pad and are supported as device type 2 . each joystick has a unique chain number . the left joystick is odd , ( 1 , 3 , 5 , 7 , 9 , etc .) and the right joystick is even ( 0 , 2 , 4 , 6 , 8 , etc .). each joystick is reported independently and has a fixed length message . the joysticks in the touch pad only have one button . any other button is always reported as zero . the touch pad 10 is supported as a device type 4 . the first byte following the id is used to report button information . the next byte is used to report the absolute x position . the absolute y position is next in sequence . the absolute x and y values are each 1 byte and are limited to a range of 0 - 255 . this is a fixed length message . the touch pad 10 is an absolute coordinate device and uses the following byte to respond for the buttons , as illustrated in table vii . table vii______________________________________bit 7bit 6 bit 5 bit 4 bit 3 bit 2 bit 1 bit 0______________________________________0 0 0 0 0 right center left______________________________________ touchpad overlays 16 are reported in the preferred embodiment as device type 5 . touchpad overlays 16 are sensed using a 6 bit sensor in the touch pad 10 . when an overlay change is sensed by interface 64 of the touch pad 10 , a message is generated . all overlay codes are application dependent and the application of application program 82 recognizes the codes of each overlay 16 . this message is a fixed length message . 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 .
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referring to fig3 there is shown one example of data block with a 4 × 4 size . in practice , in the case of a data block with an n × n size , where n ≧ 2 , there are four differences between the actual positions of the present and previous data , namely , 1 , n - 1 , -( n - 1 ) and n . the four differences are repeatedly produced , in the order 1 , n - 1 , n , -( n - 1 ), -( n - 1 ), 1 , n - 1 , n - 1 , n - 1 , m , . . . the rule of the differences being produced as mentioned above can be summarized as follows . secondly , n - 1 and -( n - 1 ) are in turn produced with the number of times being incremented by one . that is , n - 1 is once , -( n - 1 ) is twice , n - 1 is three times and -( n - 1 ) is four times . thirdly , if any one of n - 1 and -( n - 1 ) is produced ( n - 1 ) times with the number of times being incremented by one , then they are produced with the number of times being decremented by one . for example , n - 1 is produced ( n - 1 ) times if n is an even number , whereas -( n - 1 ) is produced ( n - 1 ) times if n is an odd number . fourthly , 1 and n are in turn inserted once before and after n - 1 or -( n - 1 ) is produced . then , only one of 1 and n is repeated about the time that n - 1 or -( n - 1 ) is produced ( n1 ) times . namely , 1 is repeated if n is an even number , whereas n is repeated if it is an odd number . referring to fig4 there is a block diagram of a scanning format conversion circuit which is constructed on the basis of the above - mentioned rule in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention . as shown in this drawing , the scanning format conversion circuit comprises an up / down counting circuit 100 , a down counting circuit 101 , first to third selection circuits 102 - 104 , a comparison circuit 105 , a phase change circuit 106 , and an accumulation circuit 107 . the operation of the scanning format conversion circuit with the above - mentioned construction in accordance with the embodiment of the present invention will hereinafter be described in detail with reference to fig4 . the up / down counting circuit 100 is adapted to perform an up counting operation from 1 to n - 1 and then a down counting operation from n - 1 to 1 . the up / down counting circuit 100 is loaded with 1 at its initial state and then controlled in response to a carry signal from the down counting circuit 101 in such a manner that it holds its count until the carry signal is generated from the down counting circuit 101 . the down counting circuit 101 is loaded with an output value from the up / down counting circuit 100 . then , the down counting circuit 101 performs a down counting operation from the loaded value to 0 . the down counting circuit 101 generates the carry signal at the moment that its count becomes 0 , and then applies the generated carry signal to the up / down counting circuit 100 . the first selection circuit 102 is adapted to input the carry signal from the down counting circuit 101 as its selection control signal . the first selection circuit 102 selects in turn n - 1 and -( n - 1 ) in response to the carry signal from the down counting circuit 101 . the second selection circuit 103 is adapted to input the carry signal from the down counting circuit 101 as its selection control signal . the second selection circuit 103 selects in turn 1 and n in response to the carry signal from the down counting circuit 101 . the third selection circuit 104 is adapted to input the carry signal from the down counting circuit 101 as its selection control signal . the third selection circuit 104 selects one of output signals from the first and second selection circuits 102 and 103 in response to the carry signal from the down counting circuit 101 . the comparison circuit 105 is adapted to compare the output value from the up / down counting circuit 100 with n - 1 . the phase change circuit 106 is adapted to change an output phase of the second selection circuit 103 in response to an output signal from the comparison circuit 105 so that only one of 1 and n can be repeatedly selected by the second selection circuit 103 about the time that n - 1 or -( n - 1 ) is selected ( n - 1 ) times by the first selection circuit 102 while 1 and n are in turn selected by the second selection circuit 103 . the accumulation circuit 107 is adapted to accumulate an output signal from the third selection circuit 104 to generate an address output signal . referring to fig5 there is shown a detailed circuit diagram of the scanning format conversion circuit in fig4 in accordance with the embodiment of the present invention . as shown in this drawing , the up / down counting circuit 100 is provided with an up / down counter ( udc ) 11 for performing the up / down counting operations . the down counting circuit 101 is provided with a down counter ( dc ) 12 for performing the down counting operation . the first selection circuit 102 includes a first toggle flip - flop ( tff ) 16 and a first multiplexer ( mux ) 13 . the second selection circuit 103 includes a second toggle flip - flop 17 and a second multiplexer 14 . the third selection circuit 104 is provided with a third multiplexer 15 . the comparison circuit 105 is provided with a comparator 19 . the phase change circuit 106 includes first to fourth latch circuits ( lc &# 39 ; s ) 21 - 24 and an rs flip - flop ( rsff ) 18 . the accumulation circuit 107 includes fifth and sixth latch circuits 25 and 26 and an accumulator 20 . the operation of the scanning format conversion circuit with the above - mentioned construction in accordance with the embodiment of the present invention will hereinafter be described in more detail with reference to fig5 . first , a reference clock signal clk is applied to the up / down counter 11 , the down counter 12 and the latch circuits 21 , 22 , 24 , 25 and 26 , and a start signal clr is applied to the up / down counter 11 , the down counter 12 and the first and second toggle flip - flops 16 and 17 . upon receiving the reference clock signal clk and the start signal clr , the up / down counter 11 performs the up counting operation from 1 to n - 1 . then , the up / down counter 11 performs the down counting operation from n - 1 to 1 in response to an output signal from the rs flip - flop 18 at the moment that its count becomes n - 1 . the down counter 12 is loaded with an output value from the up / down counter 11 . then , the down counter 12 performs the down counting operation from the loaded value to 0 . the down counter 12 generates the carry signal at the moment that its count becomes 0 , the carry signal being enabled to 1 . in other words , upon receiving the start signal clr , the up / down counter 11 is loaded with 1 to perform the up counting operation . at this time , the up / down counter 11 is enable by the output signal or the carry signal from the down counter 12 . as a result , the up / down counter 11 holds its count until the output signal from the down counter 12 becomes 1 . namely , the up / down counter 11 holds its output value until the down counter 12 ends its down counting operation for the previous values . the down counter 12 is load - enabled when its output signal becomes 1 . as a result , the down counter 12 is loaded with the output value from the up / down counter 11 . for example , in the case where the output value from the up / down counter 11 is 2 , the down counter 12 performs the down counting operation from 1 to 0 . upon counting 0 , the down counter 12 transfers the carry signal to the up / down counter 11 to enable it . the carry signal from the down counter 12 is also applied as a load enable signal to the down counter 12 . as a result , new values are counted by both the up / down counter 11 and the down counter 12 . as compared with the up / down counter 11 , the down counter 12 generates its output at an interval corresponding to the loaded value . for example , if the loaded value is 2 , then 2 and 1 are counted between 0 and 0 , resulting in the interval being 2 . also , if the loaded value is 3 , then 3 , 2 and 1 are counted between 0 and 0 , resulting in the interval being 3 . the first toggle flip - flop 16 generates repeatedly 1 and 0 in response to the output signal or the carry signal from the down counter 12 . then , the first toggle flip - flop 16 applies its output signal t1 as a selection control signal sel to the first multiplexer 13 . the first multiplexer 13 outputs n - 1 when the output signal t1 from the first toggle flip - flop 16 is 1 and -( n - 1 ) when the output signal t1 from the first toggle flip - flop 16 is 0 . at this time , because the down counter 12 generates its output at an interval corresponding to the loaded value , the first multiplexer 13 generates n - 1 or -( n - 1 ) at the corresponding interval . the comparator 19 compares the output value from the up / down counter 11 with n - 1 . if the output value from the up / down counter 11 is the same as n - 1 as a result of the comparison , the comparator outputs 1 , thereby causing the rs flip - flop 18 to output 1 . the output value from the rs flip - flop 18 is latched into the third latch circuit 23 at the moment that the up / down counter 11 starts the down counting operation , namely , the second latch circuit 22 outputs 1 and the comparator 19 outputs 0 . an output signal d2 from the fourth latch circuit 24 is obtained by delaying an output signal d1 from the third latch circuit 23 by one clock cycle . the output signals d1 and d2 from the third and fourth latch circuits 23 and 24 are exclusive - nored and then anded with the start signal clr . the resultant signal d3 is applied to a reset terminal of the second toggle flip - flop 17 . as a result , the second toggle flip - flop 17 is reset by the signal d3 when the up / down counter 11 starts the down counting operation again . upon being reset , the second toggle flip - flop 17 generates repeatedly 1 and 0 again from the beginning . unlike the first toggle flip - flop 16 , the second toggle flip - flop 17 does not receive only the carry signal from the down counter 12 as its clock . namely , the second toggle flip - flop 17 receives as the clock the result obtained by exclusive - oring a least significant bit ( lsb ) of n and the carry signal from the down counter 12 . this reason is to operate the circuit normally regardless of whether n is an odd or even number . in other words , in the case where n is an odd number , 1 must not be repeated but n must be repeated at the moment that the up / down counter 11 starts the down counting operation , as seen from the above - mentioned rule . for this reason , it is advantageous to invert a waveform of an output signal t2 from the second toggle flip - flop 17 . in the case where n is an even number , the second multiplexer 14 outputs 1 when the output signal t2 from the second toggle flip - flop 17 is 1 and n when the output signal t2 from the second toggle flip - flop 17 is 0 . if n is an odd number , the second multiplexer 14 generates its output value in the opposite manner to the case where n is an even number , i . e . the second multiplexer 14 outputs n when the output signal t2 is 1 and outputs 1 when the output signal t2 is 0 . the third multiplexer 15 receives the carry signal from the down counting circuit 101 as its selection control signal . the third multiplexer 15 selects one of output values mux1 and mux2 from the first and second multiplexers 13 and 14 in response to the carry signal from the down counter 12 . an output value mux3 from the third multiplexer 15 is latched into the fifth latch circuit 25 and then added with an output value from the sixth latch circuit 26 by the accumulator 20 . in result , the accumulator 20 sends its output signal as an address output signal adout through the sixth latch circuit 26 . as apparent from the above description , according to the present invention , the scanning format conversion circuit is provided with the pure logic circuit to convert the progressive scanning format into the zig - zag scanning format and vice versa , thereby simplifying the implementation of asic . therefore , the scanning format conversion circuit can perform the scanning format conversion operation regardless of a block size as compared with the conventional one in which a rom size is varied as the block size is varied . although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed for illustrative purposes , those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications , additions and substitutions are possible , without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims .
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referring now to the fig .&# 39 ; s 1 - 5 , one preferred embodiment of the invention is shown in an exploded view . in this embodiment the invention includes a reel housing 1 which includes a threaded stud 5 and a mounting flange 1 a . a spool 2 is mounted on stud 5 and rotates on a pair of inner and outer bushings 6 . in one preferred embodiment bushings 6 are self - lubricated , or made of a low friction material such as a teflon ®. doing so eliminates the need to lubricate the spool , increasing its usability in the field . spool 2 includes an inner flange 2 a , a middle flange 2 b , and an outer flange 2 c . inner flange 2 a and middle flange 2 b define a first line spool portion 2 d . middle flange 2 b and outer flange 2 c define a second line spool portion 2 e . a braking surface 2 f is provided on the peripheral surface of outer flange 2 c . a handle knob 3 is mounted on spool 2 by pin 4 . a first washer 8 and a spring washer 9 are mounted on stud 5 , and the whole rotating assembly is retained on stud 5 by a retaining nut 7 . in operation the reel is mounted on a rod at flange mounting flange 1 a in typical fashion . a first fly line is wound onto first line spool portion 2 d , and a second fly line is wound onto second line spool portion 2 e . one of the lines is threaded through the line guides of the fishing rod for use in a normal fashion , while the other is retained on the spool by a resilient line retainer 10 . if the conditions arise that require the use of the different line on the other spool , the first line is rewound onto the first line spool portion 2 d . the retainer 10 is moved from the line on the second line spool portion to the line on the first line spool portion , and the other fly line is extended and threaded through the line guides for use . it is often the case when fly fishing that the momentum of the fly line as it is thrown can result in an over spinning of the spool and cause tangling of the line . this is referred to as backlash . in this embodiment of the invention retaining nut 7 and spring washer 9 cooperate to preload a frictional force on spool to limit the over spinning of the spool . nut 7 is adjustable to provide a continuously variable range of adjustment as required for different line weights and rods . in addition to the preloading provided by the retaining nut and spring washer , the spool in includes an angles shoulder portion 2 f that serves as a “ braking surface .” as the line is thrown , the user &# 39 ; s heel of the user &# 39 ; s hand is gently pushed against shoulder 2 f to slow the spinning spool , and in that way to accurately place the lure at the desired position . the angle and position of the braking shoulder 2 f is such that the user can conveniently brake or slow the spinning spool with the heel of his hand while holding the rod in the normal fashion . in one preferred embodiment the reel housing and spool assembly are manufactured in a lightweight , non - corroding metal such as aluminum or titanium , permitting the reel to be used in salt water environments without danger of corroding . however , the invention is not limited to any particular material of construction , and could be made of other metallic or polymeric materials . in another aspect of this embodiment of the invention , the reel housing and spool flanges are drilled with numerous holes to further lighten the assembly and increase the sensitivity of the fly rod and reel , although the invention is not so limited . in another preferred embodiment as shown in fig6 - 10 , the reel operated in a similar manner . this embodiment differs in the design of the shaft and retainers used to mount the spool onto the shaft . referring to fig6 shaft 16 is mounted on reel housing 14 by means of washer 13 and shaft retaining nut 11 . spool 15 is mounted on shaft 16 by means of respective inner and outer bushings 3 a and 3 b . d - hole washer 17 , spring washer 18 , tension control washer 12 and spool retaining nut 19 . the tension on tension control washer 12 is adjusted by means of turning spool retaining nut 19 to tighten or loosen tension control washer 12 on shaft 16 . tension is transmitted from tension control washer 12 to spool 15 through tension spring 18 . spool retaining nut 19 can be adjusted to provide any level of spool rotation resistance desired . this embodiment also differs from the first preferred embodiment in that a pair of spool turning knobs 20 a and 20 b are provided , as opposed to a single knob . having described the invention by reference of several preferred embodiments , it will be apparent to those of skill in the art that the illustrated embodiments could be varied in detail and arrangement without departing from the scope of the claims .
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this disclosure describes submersible pump housings with seal bleed ports . features , systems , and methods associated with submersible pump housings with seal bleed ports represent possible implementations and are included for illustration purposes and should not be construed as limiting . moreover , it will be understood that different implementations can include all or different subsets of aspects described below . furthermore , the aspects described below may be included in any order , and numbers and / or letters placed before various aspects are done for ease of reading and in no way imply an order , or level of importance to their associated aspects . fig1 shows a section of an example electric submersible pump ( esp ) 100 of the centrifugal type . the illustrated section shows a base - end portion of the centrifugal esp 100 . an impeller region 102 inside the pump housing generates high thrust pressure as the impeller accelerates fluid radially outward and axially upward , or toward a wellhead of an esp installation . at the periphery of the pump housing , the fluid in the interior high pressure compartment 104 that includes the impeller region 102 extends to a location at which the end seal 106 is situated to seal off the high thrust pressure and highly mobilized fluid from flowing out to the exterior of the pump housing or from flowing out to the next component in a stack of components . in the example centrifugal esp 100 with seal bleed ports 108 , the end seals 106 are inboard of the threaded end regions 110 of the pump housing in order to contain the high pressure compartment 104 and prevent the threaded end region 110 from participating in the interior high pressure compartment ( s ) of the esp 100 . this arrangement of having the end seals 106 inboard of the threads 110 increases the maximum pressure rating of the pump housing , because the threaded end regions 110 of conventional pumps are subject to increased stresses over the non - threaded regions of conventional pump housings when subjected to interior pump pressures . in fig1 , the bleed ports 108 or vent ports are located just outboard of the end seal 106 to provide a leak path for fluid that seeps or blows by the end seal 106 . the terms “ port ” and “ hole ” as used herein , are used representatively to mean a fluid path , passageway , port , hole , lumen , channel , vent , etc ., enabling the movement of fluid from one location to another . the vent ports do not have to be “ holes ,” such as a round , straight passages as drilled by a bit . for example , the term bleed ports 108 can mean a vent passage that is a milled castellation ( s ) in the end face of either the housing or end cap ( base or head ). in an implementation , the vent passage , leak path , or seal bleed ports 112 may be located outboard of the threaded end region 110 , instead of just outboard of the end seal 106 as seal bleed ports 108 are . locating the bleed ports 112 outboard of the threads 110 utilizes the threads 110 to dissipate leakage fluid pressure and minimize jetting velocity of fluid that has escaped the end seal 106 . the term “ outboard ” or “ outboard of ” as used herein , means “ outside ” or “ on the other side of ” a designated feature that is closer to , or more “ inboard ,” to the pump &# 39 ; s high thrust pressure compartments or to the fluids being accelerated by the pump . correspondingly , “ inboard ,” as used herein , means “ inside of ,” in first contact with , or in closer contact with the high thrust pressure generated by the pump than a designated feature that is therefore more “ outboard .” fig2 shows an example centrifugal esp 200 with cutaway housing 202 . the illustrated section shows a head - end portion of the example centrifugal esp 200 . the example centrifugal esp 200 includes one or more impeller regions 204 in a high thrust pressure compartment . an end seal 206 is positioned inboard of one or more fluid bleed ports 208 . the end seal 206 is also positioned inboard of a threaded end region 210 . the illustrated bleed ports 208 are radially - directed to form a leak path from outboard of the end seal 206 to the exterior of the housing 202 . in this manner , an internal pressure differential caused by the pumping action of the example centrifugal esp 200 is sealed off from the end threads 210 , and the hoop stresses in the same threaded region 210 are significantly reduced to enable a higher maximum pressure rating for the overall housing 202 of the example centrifugal esp 200 . any fluid leakage that does seep past the end seal 206 on account of the high pressure that is inboard of the end seal 206 is allowed to escape the housing 202 without building up at the threaded region 210 . the bleed ports 208 form a leak path that is situated from inside to outside the housing 202 just outboard of the end seal 206 . the leak path can be implemented so that a very small leakage of fluid past the end seal 206 does not pressure the space or volume that may exist between the end seal 206 and the contact face between the head ( or the base ) and the centrifugal pump housing 202 . if this volume is pressured , then the same undesired stress state that exists in conventional housings occurs . in an implementation , the leak path can be created by drilling small radial holes in the housing 202 just downstream ( outboard ) of the end seal ( s ) 206 . in an implementation , the seal bleed ports 214 may be located to form a leak path outboard of the threaded end region 210 , instead of just outboard of the end seal 206 as seal bleed ports 208 are . locating the bleed ports 214 outboard of the threads 210 utilizes the threads 210 to dissipate leakage fluid pressure and minimize jetting velocity of fluid that has escaped the end seal 206 . the head - end of compression ring ( cr ) style pumps also requires a bleed path , such as port 212 , for weepage that may occur past the compression ring - to - head seal . fig3 shows a centrifugal pump housing 302 with inboard seal 306 , bleed port 308 , and an example housing lockplate protector 310 . the lockplate protector 310 covering the bleed port 308 shown in fig3 can be used to protect the well casing from any damage due to fluid leaking from the radial bleed port 308 in the housing 302 . the lockplate protector 310 can be a standard lockplate except that the housing - facing side of the lockplate can be stepped to allow bleed fluid to be deflected axially along the housing 302 rather radially toward the bore of the well casing . in an implementation , an example submersible pump includes a housing , an interior compartment of the housing for fluid at high thrust pressure , a threaded end region of the housing , an inboard end seal to seal off the threaded end region from the interior compartment , and at least one bleed port or hole outboard of the end seal for allowing leakage of fluid from the interior compartment past the end seal to escape radially from the end seal through the housing . the example submersible pump may comprise a centrifugal electric submersible pump ( esp ) for the oil and gas industries . the housing may comprise a diffuser of the centrifugal esp . the inboard end seal protects the threads to increase the pressure rating of the housing . the at least one bleed port can relieve a pressure between the end seal and a contact face between the submersible pump housing and a head or a base connecting to the submersible pump . a lockplate protector over the bleed port can protect a well casing from the leakage of fluid from the interior compartment past the end seal . the lockplate protector can be stepped to deflect fluid axially along the housing instead of radially toward a bore of the well casing . when the submersible pump is a compression ring ( cr ) style pump , a leak port can be used for weepage past a compression ring - to - head seal . a centrifugal esp may operate at temperatures of up to approximately 149 degree celsius and pressures of up to approximately 6 , 000 pounds per square inch or approximately 41 megapascals in a downhole environment of up to approximately 12 , 000 feet or 3 . 7 kilometers deep . the centrifugal esp can use up to approximately 1000 horsepower or 750 kilowatts of power and has a speed of rotation of a rotor of up to approximately 4000 revolutions per minute . even in such harsh conditions , the end seal protects the threaded end region from the fluid at high thrust pressure in the interior compartment of the centrifugal esp . in an implementation , a centrifugal pump housing includes a diffuser for directing high thrust fluid accelerated by an impeller , an end seal inboard of each threaded end of the centrifugal pump housing , and at least one leak port outboard of each end seal to relieve a fluid seeping from inside the centrifugal pump housing past each end seal . each leak port can relieve a pressure between a respective end seal and a contact face between the centrifugal pump housing and a head or a base . a lockplate protector can be used over the leak port . the lockplate protector protects the well casing from a fluid leaking from the leak port . the lockplate protector can be stepped to deflect fluid axially along the centrifugal pump housing instead of allowing the fluid to escape radially toward a bore of the well casing . fig4 shows an example method 400 of increasing the pressure rating of a submersible pump housing . in an implementation , the submersible pump can be a centrifugal esp . in the flow diagram , operations are shown in individual blocks . at block 402 , an end seal is located inboard of the threaded portion of a submersible pump housing to seal internal pressure from the threaded portion . at block 404 , radial bleed ports are located outboard of the end seal to relieve pressure of small blow - by or seepage past the end seal . the example method enables an internal pressure differential of the submersible pump to be sealed from the end threads , and the hoop stresses in the threaded region of the housing to be significantly reduced , achieving a higher pressure rating for the example submersible pump housing . although only a few example embodiments have been described in detail above , those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that many modifications are possible in the example embodiments without materially departing from the subject matter . accordingly , all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of this disclosure as defined in the following claims . in the claims , means - plus - function clauses are intended to cover the structures described herein as performing the recited function and not only structural equivalents , but also equivalent structures . it is the express intention of the applicant not to invoke 35 u . s . c . § 112 , paragraph 6 for any limitations of any of the claims herein , except for those in which the claim expressly uses the words ‘ means for ’ together with an associated function .
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according to the invention , fig1 very schematically illustrates a polarization system for enhancing the nuclear polarization of the nuclei of a liquid solution 1 over its thermodynamic value . this enhances the nmr signal . this system comprises a polarization source 3 , a sample of the liquid solution 1 that is to be studied and a polarization transfer means 5 . it will be noted that the liquid solution 1 needs to have nuclei 7 that have a nonzero nuclear spin , for example nuclei of the 1 h hydrogen isotope , 13 c carbon isotope or the like . any polarization source which contains nuclei 9 that have highly polarized identical spins ( p greater than 0 . 01 ) and that are highly concentrated ( concentration c above 0 . 01 mol / l ) are conceivable . thus , this polarization source 3 may consist of a rare gas that has been polarized by optical pumping and is chosen from the following collection of gases : xenon ( xe ), helium ( he ), neon ( ne ), krypton ( kr ) or mixtures thereof . advantageously , the polarization source 3 contains xenon ( xe - 129 ) or helium ( he - 3 ) polarized by a laser or hyperpolarized , these being the only two spin ½ rare gases , and therefore gases in respect of which polarizations higher than 1 % can be readily obtained . it will be noted that the polarization source 3 may also result from the addition of para - hydrogen to a carbon - carbon double bond or the prepolarization of a sample using the low temperature nuclear dynamic polarization process . to simplify the description , in that which follows we shall consider a polarization source 3 containing laser - polarized xenon - 129 ( hereinafter termed xenon ) 9 and a liquid solution 1 containing nuclei of hydrogen - 1 isotope 7 ( that is to say 1 h protons ). in that which follows , in order to describe the physical processes involved in mathematical terms , we shall consider a system made up of n xenon nuclei i k and one proton s . thus , for any proton 7 in the solution 1 , there is a dipolar interaction 11 between each xenon i k 9 and this proton 7 . the hamilton operator which describes this interaction is : where μ 0 is the magnetic permeability of vacuum ( μ 0 = 4π10 − 7 s . i . ), f ( θ , φ ) is a function dependent on the orientation ( θ , φ ) of the internuclear vector i k s with respect to the axis of the magnetic field b 0 . however , because of brownian motion in the liquid phase , the orientation of the internuclear vector varies . that means that this dipolar interaction averages out to zero . hence , this interaction contributes only through the relaxation ( the effect on the width of the resonance line ). however , in order for the brownian motion to be effective in averaging out this interaction , the internuclear vector between the xenon 9 and the proton 7 needs to be capable of adopting all directions in space . the relative diffusion of the xenon 9 and of the molecule bearing the proton 7 ( 1 h ) during the acquisition time therefore defines a sphere around the proton 7 within which sphere the average of the intermolecular dipolar interaction is zero . there therefore remains a contribution from distant xenon atoms 9 . the dipolar contribution from a distant xenon atom is dependent on the distance r between the xenon 9 and the proton and decays with ( 1 / r 3 ). the contribution experienced by the proton s is in fact the sum of all the individual contributions of each xenon : in practice , since the xenon concentration is high it is possible to adopt a continuous model and replace the discrete sum with an integration over the entire volume of the sample ; their compensates for the decay in ( 1 / r 3 ) of the dipolar contribution . two types of phenomenon may then arise . in the first , we are interested only in the proton and we can therefore factor into equation ( 5 ) the contributions of each xenon and ultimately adopt the average value of the i k . from the point of view of the proton s , this all amounts to there being an additional magnetic field contribution parallel to b 0 . this additional magnetic field b is created by all of the xenon atoms together and is experienced by the proton . the other type of phenomenon occurs when the protons and the xenons are excited simultaneously . when this happens , the same equation ( 5 ) shows that there is coupling between the two spin systems . the existence of this average dipolar coupling ( equation 5 ) implies that there is coupling between the nuclear spin system of the proton 7 and the spin system of the xenon 9 . this coupling is now coherent because it directly influences , for example , the resonant frequency of the protons 7 through the field b rather than mainly their line width . in fact , the greater the amount of xenon 9 and the greater the polarization of this xenon 9 , the more significant this dipolar contribution will be . this phenomenon is described as the dipolar field created by the entire polarization source 3 on the protons 9 . this dipolar field is dependent upon the geometry of the container of the polarization source 3 . the value of this magnetic field created by this magnetizing of the xenon 9 via the dipolar interaction is : where m xe is the magnetization of the xenon 9 per unit volume . this is expressed as : where c is the concentration of the xenon 9 in mol / l − 1 , n is avogadro &# 39 ; s number and − ½ ≦ ζ ≦ 1 is a factor dependent on the geometry of the sample , and which has , for example , been fully tabulated for samples of ellipsoidal shape . under the polarization and concentration conditions described in the invention , the magnetization associated with this xenon 9 is very strong , several times that of the protons 7 of water placed in a 14 t magnetic field at ambient temperature . the field b ( equation 6 ) may actually be of the order of several 10 − 7 t . however , since the hamilton operator associated with this dipolar coupling ( equation 5 ) between the spin systems of the polarization source 3 ( xenons ) and of the liquid solution 1 ( protons ) switches with the zeeman - hamilton operator , it is necessary to resort to a sequence of pulses to ensure that , as a result of this coupling , the magnetization of the protons 7 and that of the xenon 9 are very closely linked and polarization transfer can take place . this is achieved in the invention by means of a coherence transfer of the hartmann - hahn type [ see document 1 ]. thus , according to the invention , a polarization transfer of the hartmann - hahn type is performed between the polarization source 3 ( xenon ) and the nuclei 7 ( protons ) of the liquid solution 1 via the coherent coupling resulting from the long - range dipolar field created by the polarization source 3 and experienced by the protons . specifically , the polarization transfer means 5 comprises a first irradiation means ( for example obtained using a first coil ) and a second irradiation means ( for example obtained using a second coil ). the first irradiation means generates a first irradiation 13 that is continuous or composite in a radiofrequency field of amplitude ω 1 s / γ s and of which the frequency ω 0 s / 2π , more commonly termed ω 0 s , is close to the resonant frequency ω s of the spins of the nuclei 7 in the magnetic field b 0 and the second irradiation means generates a second continuous or composite irradiation 15 in a radiofrequency field of amplitude ω 1 1 / γ 1 and of which the frequency ω 0 1 / 2π , more commonly termed ω 0 1 , is close to the resonant frequency ω 1 of the spins of the nuclei 9 of the polarization source 3 in the magnetic field b 0 . it is preferable for the differences | ω 0 s − ω s | and | ω 0 1 − ω 1 | to remain less than 10 6 rad . s − 1 respectively and preferable for them to be below 10 ω 1 s and 10 ω 1 1 , respectively . thus , the polarization transfer is performed by applying the continuous or composite first irradiation 13 in a radiofrequency field to the spins of the nuclei 7 of the liquid solution 1 and by applying the continuous or composite second irradiation 15 in a radiofrequency field to the spins of the nuclei 9 of the polarization source 3 . in order to make sure that the dipolar interaction does not switch with the zeeman - hamilton operator , it is advantageous for the first and second irradiations 13 and 15 to exhibit a mutual difference in amplitude | ω 1 1 − ω 1 s | of less than 10 times the amplitude of the dipolar coupling δ between the spins of the nuclei of the polarization source 3 and those of the liquid solution 1 : by way of example , the first and second irradiations 13 and 15 may differ in amplitude from one another by less than one times the amplitude of the dipolar field created by the polarization source 3 and experienced by the spins of the nuclei 7 of the liquid solution 1 . specifically , continuous irradiations 13 , 15 or series of composite pulses affecting protons 7 of the liquid solution 1 and xenons 9 of the polarization source 3 mean that the effective fields in the double rotating frame and felt by the xenons 9 and the proton 7 ( frame rotating at ω 0 1 in the case of the proton 7 and rotating at ω 0 s in the case of the xenon 9 ) best coincide ; the scale being the dipolar coupling δ between the xenon 9 and the proton 7 . thus , under these conditions , the dipolar interaction no longer switches with these zeeman - hamilton operators : in the double rotating frame with the axes oz aligned with the effective fields . the system therefore evolves under the effect of the dipolar coupling δ . furthermore , given that the polarization source 3 contains a great many xenon atoms 9 , a statistical process emerges and means that the spin temperatures of the xenon 9 and of the protons 7 which have recoupled in the rotating frame will converge toward the same value . this results in a cooling of the spin system of the protons 7 and therefore in an increase in the polarization thereof and therefore in their magnetization , which is therefore accompanied by a gain in signal . in fact , the conditions defined here correspond to an extension of the hartmann - hahn conditions [ see document 1 ]. these conditions are actually : | ω 0 s = ω s |, | ω 0 1 = ω 1 | and | ω 1 1 = ω 1 s |. they correspond to the cases of continuous irradiation . thus , the invention consists in transferring polarization from the xenon to the protons using the dipolar coupling there is between these . to do that , it is therefore necessary to contrive to obtain an effective hamilton operator in the double rotating frame which is dipolar coupling . since , in fact , the portion of interest is the type i z s z portion of this interaction ( equation 5 ), the dipolar recoupling conditions are in fact similar to those required for performing a transfer of magnetization of the heteronuclear hartmann - hahn type where it is the interactions through the chemical bonds that provide the coupling between the two baths . this last scenario has been the subject of many studies [ see document 3 ]. the major differences between these two types of transfer are the amplitude of the coupling which here is far weaker than the scalar coupling encountered in an nh or ch pair ( in excess of 90 hz ) and its highly non localized nature , since all the xenons have to be taken into consideration . through the similarity in form of the coupling hamilton operator , all the hartmann - hahn transfer sequences that use composite irradiations can be employed . sequences of the waltz - 16 , mlev - 16 , waltz - 8 , dipsi - 2 , dipsi - 2 - + -, mlev - 17 , shr - 1 , mgs - 1 , mgs - 2 type or even sequences based on adiabatic pulses may thus be used to good effect [ see document 3 ]. however , it will be observed that all the composite or multi - pulsed sequences in which there is no effective field are less effective than those which have an effective field . that is because in the former instance , the contribution of the dipolar energy will not be insignificant , because the effect of imperfections in the pulses in creating the effective hamilton operator will very quickly become significant by comparison with δ and finally because , for heteronuclear coupling , an isotropic transfer is 50 % slower than a transfer using an effective field [ see document 3 ]. the major benefit of using these sequences of multiple pulses is their ability to tolerate the effects associated with the discrepancy between the frequency of their radiation 13 , which is ω 0 1 ( or ω 0 s in the case of the irradiation 15 ) and the resonant frequency of the spin 7 , which is ω 1 ( or ω s in the case of the spin 9 ). this offers the ability to polarize all the protons of a molecule simultaneously . thus , the principle of the invention is to use a highly polarized and highly concentrated source 3 in order to have strong dipolar coupling between the spins of the nuclei 7 and 9 . this , by virtue of irradiations under hartmann - hahn conditions , makes it possible to lower the spin temperature of the irradiated nuclei 7 . under these conditions , it is clear that this method can be applied to any type of nuclear spin whatsoever . the major difference according to the isotope used will be the efficiency of the transfer and therefore the extent to which the signal obtained is enhanced . indeed , dipolar coupling δ ( equation 8 ) is proportional to the gyromagnetic ratio of the nucleus 7 to which transfer is made ( for example the proton ). in consequence , this coupling is , for example , four times weaker if the transfer is to 13 c rather than to 1 h . likewise , recourse to paramagnetic systems or to quadrupole nuclei is possible . still according to the expression of δ , it is clearly evident that , for the same concentration c and polarization p in a polarized nuclear system , the gyromagnetic ratio of this polarized isotope becomes the most significant factor when increasing δ and therefore facilitating the obtaining of hartmann - hahn conditions so as to increase the transfer rate and ultimately increase the signal gain . thus , helium 3 he becomes especially beneficial because its gyromagnetic ratio is 2 . 75 times higher than that of xenon - 129 . let us finally note that , in this method , there is nothing to dictate that the polarization source 3 ( for example the xenon ) and the liquid solution 1 ( for example containing the proton ) have to be closely mixed , because what causes the transfer is the coupling between the two spin systems which is brought about by the strong magnetization of the source which creates the average dipolar field which is itself experienced by the spins of the liquid solution 1 . it is therefore possible to conceive of compartmentalizing the polarization source 3 and the liquid solution 1 that is to be studied . indeed , the transfer principle involves using the dipolar field created by the source 3 of polarized nuclear spins in order to create coupling between the spin system of the source 3 and that of another species 7 ( contained in the liquid solution ) and thus succeed in transferring polarization . in practical terms , this dipolar field exists not only within the volume containing the polarization source 3 but extends to the outside simply as a result of the laws of magnetostatic theory . as a result , the system of polarized nuclear spins 7 ( xenon - 129 , helium - 3 or the like ) can be in a different compartment from the sample containing the liquid solution that is to be studied 1 . specifically , fig2 a and 2b very schematically show that the polarization source 3 can be physically separated from the liquid solution 1 . advantageously , the distance separating the polarization source 3 from the liquid solution 1 may correspond to a few nanometers and preferably be less than ten millimeters . however , because of this separation the dipolar field δ will decrease , the factor ζ ( equation 8 ) tending toward zero for the two samples as a function of the inverse of the cube of the distance separating them . thus , it is advantageous in the present state of the art to optimize the geometry and not exceed a separation of 10 millimeters . thus , the polarization system according to the invention may comprise a container 20 comprising a first compartment 23 containing the polarization source 3 and a second compartment 25 containing the liquid solution 1 . by way of example , the first and second compartments 23 , 25 may be two separate capillary tubes , which is a geometry which , for example , allowed w . s . warren et al . to observe multiple intermolecular coherences obtained through the dipolar field effect [ see document 4 ]. for example , fig2 b shows that the first compartment 23 may be positioned around the second compartment 25 . by way of example , a sample of the liquid solution 1 may be placed in a small central tube and the polarization source 3 may be placed in a second tube surrounding the first tube . in what follows , in order to have an expression for the signal gain of a proton in a liquid solution , we shall consider a model made up of n xenon atoms i k and one proton s . thus , at thermal equilibrium , the density matrix is given by : where tr ( a ) corresponds to the trace of the operator a , β l = h / kt is the inverse temperature of the system and where weak polarization at this temperature t is accepted . h corresponds to the zeeman - hamilton operator in the field b 0 considered : under these conditions , the signal from the xenon after a 90 ° pulse along an axis oy ( which transforms σ th to σ ′ th ) is proportional to : when the xenon is polarized by optical pumping , the xenon spin density matrix is : where σ ′ pol is the density matrix after the 90 ° pulse along oy . if the measured signal gain factor is denoted k xe , the inverse spin temperature of the polarized xenon can be deduced : it will be noted that throughout the hartmann - hahn transfer and for a short period of time ( typically representing a factor of 0 . 3 at most ) by comparison with the relaxation time along a “ spin lock ” field ( t 1ρ ), the energy of the spin system is constant . however , because of the dipolar coupling , the spin systems or spin baths of the xenon and of the proton will tend toward the same temperature in the double rotating field . by accepting that the irradiations are applied in this frame at resonance | ω 0 1 − ω 1 |=| ω 0 s − ω s |= 0 , the zeeman - hamilton operator { tilde over ( h )}= ω 1 1 σ k 1 z k + ω 1 s s z is assumed to be large by comparison with the dipolar interaction which means that the contribution of dipolar energy is negligible . thus , the energy is given by the following formula : where σ i and σ f are the density matrices at the start and end of irradiation . by using equation ( 13 ) and using β ′ pol to denote the inverse spin temperature of the xenon defined with respect to the amplitude of the radiofrequency field ( ω 1 1 ), it is possible to deduce the energy at the start : the value of β ′ pol is calculated below using the conservation of energy : at the end of spin lock , the energy calculation shows , according to the spin temperature model , that : where the hartmann - hahn condition ω 1 1 = ω 1 s has been used , and where β ′ f is the inverse spin temperature in the rotating fields in the steady state . this can be used to deduce the inverse spin temperature : thus , in the laboratory frame , when the radiofrequency irradiations are stopped and the changes in magnetization of the xenon and of the proton are therefore decorrelated : this can therefore be used to deduce the expected proton signal gain k h : the above calculation is performed for one proton and n xenons . by immediate extension for the case of a dilute system of protons 7 , n can be considered to be the ratio the xenon concentration to the proton concentration . according to equation ( 22 ), the polarization transfer will be effective if the magnetization of the xenon , through its number n of atoms ( by comparison with the number of protons ) and its level of polarization k xe is very high by comparison with that of the proton . the polarizations achieved for xenon can be as high as 70 %, namely k xe ≈ 50 000 for an 11 . 7 t magnetic field b 0 , so the expected signal gain for the protons can be as high as k h ≈ 12 000 when the ratio n between the number of xenon atoms and the number of proton atoms is large by comparison with 1 . equation ( 22 ) immediately shows , that under these same conditions , k h reaches the order of 6000 if there are as many xenons as there are protons , and rapidly tends toward 0 if there are more protons than there are xenons . the proposed solution is therefore particularly useful for weakly concentrated samples . obviously , by using helium - 3 instead of xenon - 129 it will be possible to enjoy a higher level of polarization ( up to 80 %) and especially a higher gyromagnetic ratio , and the signal gain will therefore also be improved . let us , however , note that for industrial embodiments in which the polarized gas is dissolved in the liquid solution , the poor solubility of helium by comparison with that of xenon makes it difficult to obtain very strong specific magnetization . this restriction disappears when the transfer is performed from polarized gas present in a compartment separate from the one containing the liquid solution ( see fig2 a ). however , it is important to point out that the above calculation is a thermodynamic calculation which defines the level of enhancement of the signal of a proton for a time that is relatively long by comparison with the transfer time but short ( a factor of 0 . 3 at most ) by comparison with the relaxation times t 1ρ in the rotating frame . in fact , for an interaction - free model , the relaxation time of xenon in the rotating frame needs to be of the order of the longitudinal relaxation time t 1 of xenon and therefore of the order of several minutes . by contrast , between t 1ρ for the protons and the inverse of the dipolar coupling 1 / δ , it is impossible to resolve their relative values . the maximum proton signal gain will therefore be reached only if the polarization transfer rate characterized by the dipolar coupling δ is large by comparison with the relaxation along the effective field 1 / t 1ρ . finally , the level of enhancement in signal k h observed is dependent on numerous factors or constraints , such as the quality with which the hartmann - hahn conditions are set , the inhomogeneity of the radiofrequency fields , the precision in the irradiation frequencies , and the type of continuous or composite irradiations used in order to allow the dipolar coupling to take effect . as far as implementing this approach is concerned , because of the way in which the polarization of the proton is prepared it is general and can therefore , advantageously once k h exceeds 1 , replace the delay in returning to thermodynamic equilibrium which precedes any sequence of pulses . in practical terms , it can be combined with any approach able to increase the polarization and therefore the signal of a dilute spin system . it is thus possible to combine a return to thermodynamic equilibrium followed by a polarization transfer using the method described here in order also to enjoy thermal polarization . it is even possible , following this polarization transfer , to supplement this with a second transfer using the scalar coupling between nuclei of one and the same molecule in order to polarize these nuclei . the benefit of such an approach if considering , for example , a 15 n — h system , lies in the more effective transfer in the case of xenon to the proton ( γ n / γ h = 0 . 1 ) resulting from a higher δ , and the good efficiency of the inept - transfers from the proton to nitrogen - 15 . let us finally note that the use of composite sequences for the hartmann - hahn transfer opens the way to improving the polarization of all the protons at once . from an industrial implementation standpoint , since the polarization transfer on the one hand and the relaxation on the other hand will lead to a reduction in the polarization of the xenon , it is necessary to anticipate renewing part of the polarization source between transfers so as to achieve a steady state , thus opening the way to use of this method combined with any one - dimensional , two - dimensional , three - dimensional or more liquid - state nmr sequence . in the present state of the art , a transfer such as this is conceivable only if the dipolar coupling δ between the nuclei of the polarization source and those of the solution is greater than 0 . 1 hz . it is , however , preferable for it to be higher than 1 hz . reference will now be made to fig3 to 8 which illustrate one example according to the invention for enhancing an nmr signal of a liquid solution over that obtained from thermodynamic equilibrium , using strongly polarized xenon . the experimental choices which have been taken in order to make it possible to achieve the results set out here are based on the technical constraints of the equipment used , which is designed to polarize a small amount of xenon - 129 . specifically , according to the invention , it is preferable for the two radiofrequency fields 13 , 15 applied to the proton 7 and xenon 9 channels to be identical to within d so that transfer can occur effectively . as a result , the ability to employ this polarization transfer method is dependent upon the magnitude of the dipolar coupling d . these constraints are particularly tight since , given the equipment used , the irradiations 13 and 15 are created by two distinct coils and are therefore created under conditions in which the effects of inhomogeneity of the radiofrequency fields are at their maximum . in addition , a hartmann - hahn - type transfer has never been described using such a weak scalar coupling between two spin species [ see document 3 ]. by way of comparison , scalar couplings through the bonds which , in liquid phase , provide this type of transfer between the spins of different isotopes generally exceed 90 hz . it is therefore essential to maximize the dipolar coupling δ , that is to say the polarization of the nuclei of the source and the concentration thereof . this is because the choice of polarization source is set by the equipment and it is not possible , by choosing another nucleus , to alter the gyromagnetic ratio γ 1 . the choices made therefore consisted in maximizing the product cp by increasing the amount of xenon in the optical pumping cell ( but not excessively , as to do so would have a detrimental effect on p ), using 129 xe - enriched xenon , minimizing the volume of the sample and using a solvent in which the solubility of xenon is very great . specifically , in order to attain the conditions required to allow a hartmann - hahn - type polarization transfer , use is preferably made of 129 xe - enriched xenon ( containing more than 96 % of 129 xe ) and conditions that ensure good production of polarized gas . by way of example , it is possible to use xenon partial pressures in excess of 40 torr during optical pumping in order to maximize the amount of polarized xenon and therefore the magnetization of the xenon . fig3 very schematically illustrates that , after optical pumping 31 , the xenon 9 is condensed in a tube 33 immersed in a liquid - nitrogen - cooled solenoid 35 . the xenon 9 contained in this tube 33 is therefore heated in the leakage field of the superconductor magnet 36 of the nmr spectrometer . it is then condensed in a tube 37 containing the liquid test solution 1 , this tube 37 having been degassed beforehand . in order to maximize the magnetization per unit volume which in fact defines the amplitude of the dipolar coupling between the two spin systems , it is preferable to use a shortened thick - walled nmr tube 37 , for example a tube 37 with an outside diameter of 5 mm , a wall thickness of 1 . 4 mm and an overall length of 150 mm . to begin with , the tube 37 contains a solution of 3 , 3 - diethoxy - 1 - propyne dissolved in deuterated ( 99 %) cyclohexane prepared at ambient temperature . typically , the pressure inside this tube 37 just after the addition of the polarization source 3 ( that is to say the gaseous xenon 9 ) is of the order of eight atmospheres . the tube 37 is then profusely agitated in order to dissolve the xenon 9 , then placed back inside the magnet 36 of the nmr spectrometer . by way of example , the nmr spectrometer may be of the bruker drx500 type equipped with a bruker broadband inverse probe . in this case , the 1 h channel and the xenon - 129 ( hereinafter termed xenon ) channel use two different coils 41 and 43 respectively . there is therefore no correlation in the inhomogeneities of the radiofrequency fields created by these two coils 41 and 43 . the first coil generates the first irradiation 13 on the proton nuclei 7 and the second coil generates the second irradiation 15 on the xenon nuclei 9 . it will be noted that the fact that there is strong magnetization of the laser - polarized xenon 9 per unit volume causes a frequency shift ( equation 8 ) of the proton 7 in this tube 37 ( considered to be an infinite cylinder ) as expressed by the following equation : in this example we can expect a shift of 6 . 3 hz for a xenon concentration of 1 mol / l − 1 and a polarization of 15 %. hence , fig4 shows a sequence 50 of pulses using the proton h channel 51 and the xenon channel 53 . this sequence 50 is used to measure the dipolar coupling between the xenon 9 and the protons 7 . thus , a series of n proton spectra 57 is acquired . each spectrum 57 is acquired following excitation of the magnetization of the protons by a pulse 56 on the proton channel 51 . once each spectrum has been acquired , a pulse 55 at angle θ is applied to the xenon channel 53 to reduce the magnetization of the xenon by a factor cos θ . once the xenon 9 has been added , the nmr tube 37 has been placed in the magnet 36 of the nmr spectrometer and the spatial homogeneity of the magnet has been optimized by deuterium resonance , any field locking is eliminated so that there is no compensation for the modification of the magnetization of the xenon 9 . next , a series of one - dimensional spectra on the proton channel following the sequence of pulses 50 is recorded , effecting a pulse 55 at angle θ (& lt ; 90 °) on the xenon channel 53 between acquisitions . it will be noted that a variation in the resonant frequency of each of the proton peaks ( identical variation for all ) is obtained through the series of spectra . in parallel with this , a variation in the intensity of the proton signal 57 is observed . this is the result of the combined action of an excessively short recovery time between each proton acquisition and of the variable spinoe effect that follows from the reduction in the magnetization of the xenon . it is thanks to this effect that the sign of the polarization of the xenon can be determined absolutely . in effect , fig5 illustrates the variation in resonant frequency of the protons as a function of the number of pulses applied to the xenon . the dipolar coupling determined is equal to − 3 . 05 ± 0 . 05 hz for negative polarization 61 of the xenon and 4 . 32 ± 0 . 10 hz for positive polarization 63 , respectively . an estimate of the product cp ( see equation 23 ) can be deduced from the adjusted ( δ cos n - 1 θ + b ) curve where δ is the initial frequency shift resulting from the dipolar coupling , θ is the xenon pulse angle , n is the number of the proton spectrum and b is the proton resonant frequency limit value . by comparing the laser - polarized xenon signal with the signal from xenon at thermodynamic equilibrium , it is possible to deduce that , in this example , the polarization of the dissolved xenon is 9 . 6 %. by way of example and in order to illustrate the existence of a dipolar field created by a polarization source present in one compartment and experienced by protons in another compartment , a sealed cylindrical capillary tube 1 . 1 mm in external diameter chiefly containing deuterated benzene was inserted into the previous tube . this is the configuration of fig2 b where the capillary tube corresponds to the compartment 25 . the external compartment 23 contained a solution , the solvent for which was perdeuterated cyclohexane and 0 . 7 % chloroform ( purity 99 %, analysis grade by merck ). impurities present in trace form yield various fine lines with shorter 1 h relaxation times . the same experimental procedure was used as before ( addition of xenon that has been negatively polarized to a level of 6 . 4 %, agitation , adjustment of homogeneity , stopping the locking of the field b 0 , and starting the sequence 50 ). the map 70 of fig6 corresponds to a sub - portion of the two - dimensional spectrum obtained . the horizontal dimension corresponds to the proton resonant frequency dimension and the vertical dimension corresponds to the series of spectra . this map is depicted in the form of a series of level curves . distinct behavior in the vertical dimension can be clearly seen on peaks 71 , 73 and 74 when these are compared with a constant frequency illustrated by the two dotted lines 75 and 76 . the plot of the left - hand peak 71 sees an increase in frequency during the experiment , while the plot of the right - hand pair 73 and 74 sees a decrease in frequency . likewise , the intensity of the peak 71 increases throughout the experiment while the reduction in magnetization of the polarized xenon leads to a weaker spinoe effect and therefore to an increase in the proton signal because t xe & lt ; 0 . determining the maximum frequency of these peaks for each spectrum and adjusting using the above procedure leads to a dipolar coupling δ of 5 . 4 ± 0 . 3 hz for the peaks ( of the peak 71 type ) corresponding to the compartment 23 in which the xenon is dissolved and of the order of − 1 . 2 ± 0 . 5 hz for the peaks ( of the peaks 73 and 74 type ) of the internal compartment 25 . a quick magnetostatic calculation clearly demonstrates that the magnetic field created by the polarized xenon in the internal cylinder ( compartment 23 , the compartment in which there is no xenon ) has to be of opposite sign to the magnetic field in the external cylinder ( compartment 25 ). with dipolar coupling of the order of 2 to 4 hz between the xenons and the protons and the use of two distinct coils 41 and 43 to create the two irradiations 13 and 15 , a hartmann - hahn coherence transfer can take place effectively only if the difference in amplitude of the radiofrequency fields | ω 1 1 − ω 1 s | is typically below this value . as the radiofrequency fields are known to be inhomogeneous , and when use is being made of a conventional probe wherein the two , proton and xenon , channels correspond to different coils 41 and 43 , where there is therefore no correlation of the inhomogeneities of the radiofrequency field , it is inadvisable to use strong radiofrequency fields in which the inhomogeneities would be far greater than the dipolar coupling . under these circumstances , it is preferable to resort to the simplest hartmann - hahn transfer sequence with low - power continuous irradiation . in effect , fig7 illustrates a pulse sequence used to observe the transfer of polarization from the xenon 9 to the protons 7 using the average dipolar coupling . the spin lock 85 on the xenon channel 53 is between two pulses 87 and 89 of 90 ° and opposite phase ( x and − x ) intended to place the magnetization of the xenon 9 in the transverse plane initially and along the static field at the end of the mixing time t m . the spin lock 85 is applied simultaneously to the proton channel 51 and to the xenon channel 53 with exactly the same radiofrequency field amplitude | ω 1 1 − ω 1 s |= 0 . the proton signal 88 is detected after the spin lock 85 . in addition , simply reversing the phase of the irradiation by 180 ° in the middle of the irradiation time is also performed in order partially to compensate for the effects of the inhomogeneity of the radiofrequency fields . in this example , it is preferable to use low - amplitude radiofrequency fields so that the inhomogeneity is of the order of the dipolar coupling measured . measuring the amplitude of the xenon ( or proton ) radiofrequency field consists , in the known way , of nutating the magnetization of the xenon ( or of the proton ) followed by a purge gradient and a read pulse . in order to avoid any artefact in the measurement , irradiation of increasing duration is applied simultaneously to both proton and xenon channels 51 and 53 . thus , it is possible to determine the hartmann - hahn conditions , | ω 1 1 = ω 1 s |, to within 1 hz . by way of example , it is possible to employ a radiofrequency field in which the field inhomogeneity ( line width at half - height ) is of the order of 1 . 8 hz , and in which the field amplitude | ω 1 1 / 2π | is 46 . 87 hz for maximum probability . by using the sequence of fig7 , with irradiation applied for t m = 800 ms , the proton spectra 91 and 93 shown in fig8 are obtained with xenon polarizations of opposite sign . in effect , fig8 shows a first spectrum 90 corresponding to the thermal signal of a proton , a second spectrum 91 obtained with negative polarization of the xenon with respect to the thermodynamic polarization and after use of the excitation method described above ( see fig7 ), and a third spectrum 93 obtained with positive polarization of the xenon with respect to the thermodynamic polarization and use of the excitation method described above ( see fig7 ). the proton signals 91 and 93 obtained correspond respectively to 0 . 40 times and to − 1 . 85 times the thermal signal 90 of this same proton . thanks to the xenon magnetization measured before these spectra were acquired , it is possible to estimate a xenon - proton dipolar coupling δ of 2 . 9 hz and − 2 . 1 hz respectively . as an alternative , it is conceivable to replace the spin lock 85 with a sequence of composite pulses , it being possible for the irradiations to be caused by probes with a single dual - tuned or triple - tuned coil , that is to say wherein the coils 41 and 43 are identical . 1 h , 129 xe dual - tuning would provide very good correlation between the radiofrequency fields because the same coil would be used to create the excitation field . it will be noted that the implementation involving two pulses of 90 ° on the xenon bounding the irradiations to hartmann - hahn conditions , can easily be included in the recoupling sequence . immediate extension of the methods of adiabatic demagnetization in the rotating frame for which there is adiabatic rotation of the magnetization of the xenon , followed by adiabatic reduction in the amplitude of the radiofrequency field ( so as to satisfy the hartmann - hahn conditions by virtue of another irradiation of the proton ) followed by a return of the magnetization of the xenon in accordance with b 0 through a further adiabatic rotation is entirely feasible . let us finally note that it is also possible , in order to enhance the proton signal , to make use of the magnetization thereof at thermodynamic equilibrium ( equation 3 ) via a pulse on the proton channel preceding the spin lock 85 . the phase of this pulse is obviously dependent on the sign of the xenon polarization . 1 . s . r . hartmann and e . i . hahn , nuclear double resonance in the rotating frame . phys , rev ., ( 1962 ) 128 2042 - 2053 . 2 . m . g . schwendinger , j . quant , j . schleucher , s . j . glaser and c . griesinger , broadband heteronuclear hartmann - hahn sequences . j . magn . reson . a , ( 1994 ) 111 115 - 120 . 3 . s . j . glaser and j . j . quant , homonuclear and heteronuclear hartmann - hahn transfer in isotropic liquids , in adv . magn . opt . reson ., w . s . warren , editor . ( 1996 ), academic press inc . : san diego , p . 59 - 252 . 4 . w . richter , s . lee , w . s . warren and q . he , imaging with intermolecular multiple - quantum coherences in solution nuclear magnetic resonance . science , ( 1995 ) 267 654 - 657 . 5 . h . w . long , h . c . gaede , j . shore , l . reven , c . r . bowers , j . kritzenberger , t . pietrass , a . pines , p . tang and j . a . reimer , high - field cross polarization nmr from laser - polarized xenon to a polymer surface . j . am . chem . soc ., ( 1993 ) 115 8491 - 8492 . 6 . j . smith , l . j . smith , k . knagge , e . macnamara and d . raftery , hyperpolarized xenon - mediated cross - polarization to material surfaces observed at room temperature and above . j . am . chem . soc ., ( 2001 ) 123 2927 - 2928 .
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refer first to fig1 , which illustrates an exemplary mobile - payment and online ordering transaction system and network that includes user equipment ( e . g ., a consumer computing device or mobile device ) 102 linked to a network 104 ( e . g ., a cellular telephone network , the internet , or any wide - area network or combination of networks capable of supporting point - to - point data transfer and communication ) of various interconnected devices to support wired , wireless , or any two - way communication . throughout this disclosure , the term device 102 may be referred to as “ mobile device 102 ” for exemplary purposes , but such references are not meant to preclude the use of any consumer computing device as the device 102 . the network 104 connects various devices , including a transaction server 106 , one or more merchant systems ( e . g ., pos terminals or online pos portals ) 108 and related components , a payment server 110 , one or more third - party online ordering servers 111 , an item data - management server 117 , a promotion - management server 119 , one or more delivery providers 121 . one or more third - party online ordering aggregator services 131 , 141 , and a third - party payment gateway 151 and server 152 associated therewith utilizing , again , wired , wireless , or any two - way communications . for clarity , a distinction is drawn in the figure between the third - party payment processor 151 , which may be an account - issuing institution or a payment - processing institution , for example , and the server 152 controlled by this party in processing transactions as herein described . in the ensuing discussion , however , the payment gateway 151 and the server 152 are referred to somewhat interchangeably as the context warrants . each merchant system 103 may be associated with a merchant who offers goods or services for sale to the user possessing the device 102 . in one embodiment , the merchant system 108 is a pos system ( e . g ., an electronic cash register ) that includes or connects to a code reader or scanner ( hereafter “ reader ”) 112 among other components . the merchant system 108 may also include beacon hardware 114 , as part of the scanner 112 or as another connected or unconnected device , that transmits a bluetooth or ble signal containing an identifier known to the transaction server 106 and associated within the transaction system with the location of merchant system 108 . the reader 112 , may be capable of reading and / or decoding , for example , a barcode , a radiofrequency identification ( rfd ) code , or a bar code or “ quick response ” ( qr ) code , and / or receiving signals , such as nfc signals , bluetooth signals , ble signals , ibeacon signals , audio signals , or infrared signals . in addition , the reader 112 may be mobile , or physically associated with the merchant system 108 . the payment server 110 may be operated by a payment - processing entity responsible for authenticating , processing , and / or actually performing the payment transaction . for example , a so - called “ direct ” payment processor represents the financial - processing backend provider to credit - card issuers and payment services such as paypal . an “ indirect ” payment processor is an independent entity processing transactions for multiple payment services and maintains its own records and data . the third - party server 111 may be in communication with the merchant system 108 and / or authorized by the merchant 108 to accept orders on the merchant &# 39 ; s behalf the third - party online ordering aggregator services 131 , 141 may each have business relationships with the merchant 108 and are authorized to accept online orders on behalf of the merchant . in one implementation , the merchant 108 and / or online ordering providers 111 , 131 , 141 do not offer a delivery service and the transaction server 106 may communicate with a server of the delivery provider 121 to arrange delivery of the items ordered from the merchant 108 to a specified delivery address at a specified time designated by the user . the third - party payment gateway 151 and associated server 152 process transactions made by the usersing the payment instrument registered with transaction server 106 at physical and online points of sale . the transaction server 106 may be configured to communicate via secure application programming interfaces to the server 152 of third - party payment gateway 151 , such as a bank server , information concerning the payment instrument registered by the user with the transaction server 106 , and to receive in response information concerning the locations ( either by address or by latitude / longitude data obtained via a pos system 108 ), merchants , amounts , and / or items associated with transactions by the usersing that payment instrument referring to fig2 a , in various embodiments , the mobile device 102 includes a conventional display 202 , a user interface 204 , a processor 206 , and a memory 208 , and one or more transmitter / receivers 209 capable of transmitting and / or receiving signals such as cellular signals , wireless signals , radiofrequency signals , nfc signals , bluetooth signals , ibeacon signals , audio signals , or infrared signals . the memory 208 includes an operating system ( os ) 210 , such as google android , nokia symbian , blackberry rim or microsoft windows mobile , and a code process 212 that implements the device - side functions as further described below . the mobile device 102 alone may not require a network to be used in the context of the present invention . in addition , additional transactional information may be embedded in the code process 212 for transmission through the network 104 for later processing on a back - end server ( e . g ., the payment server 110 ). as used herein , the term “ mobile device ” used for transacting a mobile payment refers to a “ smart phone ” or tablet with advanced computing ability that , generally , facilitates bi - directional communication and data transfer using a mobile telecommunication network , and is capable of executing locally stored applications and / or payment transactions . mobile devices include , for example , iphones ( available from apple inc ., cupertino , calif . ), blackberry devices ( available from research in motion , waterloo , ontario , canada ), or any smart phones equipped with the android platform ( available from google inc ., mountain view , calif . ), tablets , such as the ipad and kindle fire , and personal digital assistants ( pdas ). referring to fig2 b , in some embodiments , the transaction server 106 includes a processor 222 , a memory 224 having an operating system 226 , a code payment process 228 , a service application 230 , a web - server block 236 , and a storage device 238 . the code payment process 228 implements the server - side functions of facilitating secure mobile payments as further described below and in , for example , u . s . pat . nos . 8 , 639 , 619 , 8 , 694 , 438 , and 8 , 838 , 501 , which are incorporated by reference herein in their entireties . the service application 230 , integrating a code - generation module 232 with a communication module 234 , generates a unique user identifier and communication with a consumer device 102 , such as a mobile device . more specifically , the code - generation module 232 may generate a unique code tied to the information received from the user via the communication module 234 ; the generated code may then be transmitted back to the consumer device or mobile device 102 via the communication module 234 . the code - generation module 232 functions similarly to a conventional code - generator that converts the input information into a form that can be readily read or executed by a machine . the communication module 234 may be a conventional component ( e . g ., a network interface of transceivers designed to provide communications with a network , such as the internet and / or any other land - based or wireless telecommunications network or system , and , through the network , with a consumer &# 39 ; s device 102 . to enable the handling of requests from the mobile device 102 , the memory 224 contains a web - server block 236 , which can be a conventional web server application executed by the processor 222 . the transaction server 106 may include a database 240 that resides in the storage device 238 and / or an external mass - storage device 242 accessible to the transaction server 106 . the database 240 includes user , merchant , third - party online ordering service , third - party online ordering aggregator service , and delivery service partitions ( or separate databases ). the user database stores , for example , a record of each registered user and payment information for the user , e . g ., a code , signal and / or a token associated with each user record . the readable code may be a mature code ( e . g ., displayable as a qr code or a bar code ), a seed code that can generate a mature code later , or an authentication token . in one embodiment , the readable code is unchangeable . in another embodiment , the readable code is reset periodically ( e . g ., in a predetermined period of time ), or upon request or manual intervention , for security purposes or upon receiving a request from the user . the merchant partition ( or database ) may include records each specifying a merchant , goods sold by the merchant , a geolocation of and , as described below , a current wait time for order preparation received from the pos system of the specified merchant ( or from a web server via a script , or from an ordering server via an api call that allows the transaction server 106 to receive wait - time data ). likewise , the partitions ( or databases ) of the third - party online ordering service , third - party online ordering aggregator service , and delivery service may include records specifying third - parties authorized by the merchant to accept orders on the merchant &# 39 ; s behalf , third - party online ordering aggregator services having business relationships with various merchants and authorized to accept online orders on behalf of the merchant , and delivery providers , respectively . the server 106 also includes a geolocation application 244 . as used herein , the term “ geolocation ” refers generally to an approximate terrestrial location , whether expressed in terms of gps coordinates , a cellular location , an address , etc . as explained in greater detail below , geolocation application 244 computes expected travel times between a user geolocation and a merchant &# 39 ; s order pickup site . geolocation application 244 may communicate with third - party mapping and / or traffic - monitoring services in computing travel times . referring to fig2 b , in some embodiments , the transaction server 106 , a processor 222 , a memory 224 having an operating system 226 , a code payment process 228 , a service application 230 , and a web - serer block 236 and a storage device 238 . the code payment process 228 implements the server - side functions of facilitating secure mobile payments as further described below . the service application 230 , integrating a code - generation module 232 with a communication module 234 , generates a unique user identifier and communication with the mobile device 102 . more specifically , the code - generation module 232 may generate a unique code tied to the information received from the user via the communication module 234 ; the generated code may then be transmitted back to the mobile device 102 via the communication module 234 . the code - generation module 232 functions similarly to a conventional code - generator that converts the input information into a form that can be readily read or executed by a machine . the communication module 234 may be a conventional component ( e . g ., a network interface or transceiver ) designed to provide communications with a network , such as the internet and / or any other land - based or wireless telecommunications network or system , and , through the network , with the mobile device 102 . to enable the handling of requests from the mobile device 102 , the memory 224 contains a web - server block 236 , which can be a conventional web server application executed by the processor 222 . the transaction server 106 may implement the functions of payment and identity - management servers 108 , 115 and may include a user database 240 that resides in the storage device 238 and / or an external mass - storage device 242 ; the user database 240 stores , for example , a record of each registered user and a readable code or signal associated with each user record . the readable code may be a mature code ( e . g ., a qr code or a bar code ), a seed code that can generate a mature code later , or an authentication token . in one embodiment , the readable code is unchangeable . in another embodiment , the readable code is reset periodically ( e . g ., in a predetermined period of time ) for security purposes or upon receiving a request from the user . the user database 240 ( or another similar database ) also stores a record for each user containing user demographic information , and such user records can be relationally associated with other information concerning the user in the user database 240 or other server databases , including for example , records containing transaction data , item data , and promotional data . for example , the user database may include records for each transaction initiated by a user via the transaction server 106 at a merchant system 108 , including for example , the date , time , location , and amount of each transaction . the user database may include records identifying each item purchased on connection with each transaction initiated by a user via the transaction server 106 at a merchant system 108 . these records are associated with the user record for a registered user and directly or indirectly with the identifying and demographic information for the user and / or the readable code or signal associated with each user record . the transaction server 106 may implement the functionality of item data - management server 117 and may include an item - data database 250 that resides in the storage device 238 and / or an external mass - storage device 242 accessible to the item data - management server 115 , the payment and identity - management server 115 ; and may also implement the functionality of the promotion - management server 119 . the item data - management server 117 may function to apply labels to records associated with item data stored in connection or association with user records , either based on rules , logic , or algorithms created previously within the server and / or manual instructions to the server to apply such labels , for example , through a web - based gui presented by the item data - management server 117 or promotion - management server 119 . the item data - management server 117 may also function to apply labels to item data received from merchant systems 108 in bulk , and thereby create rules for the automated application of labels to item data contained in transaction data received in future transactions . the item data - management server 117 may also function to apply labels based on predictive or machine - learning algorithms applied to item data received from merchant pos systems 108 ( for example , the item data - management server 117 may be configured to determine automatically that the description of an item within a merchant system containing some form of the word “ coca - cola ” should be labeled as “ coke ”). the item - data database 250 may store , for example , records of individual items purchased by users in pos transactions via the transaction server 106 . the item - data database 250 may also store , for example , records identifying all items sold by a given merchant , along with the descriptions or identifiers or codes used within such merchant system 108 to refer to or identify each item . the item - data database 250 may also store information concerning labels available within the transaction server 106 to identify individual items and associations between transaction system labels and individual items . the transaction server 106 may include a promotion - management server 119 and may include a promotions database 260 that resides in the storage device 238 and / or an external mass - storage device 242 accessible to the promotion - management server 119 . the promotion - management server 119 may function to present a web - based gui for the creation of promotional oilers and campaigns , including for example , redemption rules and distribution criteria , to distribute promotional offers to user devices associated with users according to said criteria , and to apply redemption rules to transaction and item data received from merchant pos systems 108 in connection with requested transactions . the promotion database 260 stores , for example , a record of each promotion designed and created by a promotion sponsor , including for example , information concerning the criteria for identifying recipients of the offer , criteria for the redemption of the offer by eligible recipients , the nature or amount of the promotional offer , and promotion sponsor information . these records may be relationally associated with user records contained in the user database 240 . the transaction server 106 , the payment and identity - management server 115 , item data - management server 117 , and promotion - management server 119 may be individual server devices or combinations of devices or may be implemented as a single server device , as noted above , or in a combination of devices . user accounts . the transaction server 106 described herein , in one embodiment , permits users to establish accounts with the transaction system by providing information including at least : ( i ) some addressable information of the user , such as an email address , ip address , device identifier , phone number , or the like ; and ( ii ) sonic financial account information , such as a debit or credit card account number , a prepaid credit card account number , a bank account number , or the like . upon establishing an account , the transaction system assigns a user an identification token , which may be encoded or represented in the form of a bar code , qr code or other pattern that can be read or scanned by an optical scanner , either from the display of a computing or mobile device or a printed paper or card , which may be an alphanumeric code , or which may be encoded or represented as data that can be communicated to pos terminal system by a computing or mobile device using a proximity wireless communication technology , such as nfc , bluetooth , or ibeacon technology , or an alphanumeric that may be communicated to a pos terminal or entered into an online pos , or a combination of these methods . the identification token is associated in the transaction server 106 with the user &# 39 ; s information , including the at least some addressable identification information and financial account information , and stored in the user database 240 . the user may initiate a purchase transaction at a merchant system 108 ( such as a pos terminal or online pos ) by presenting , displaying , or communicating the user identification token to the merchant , for example , via a reader or scanner 112 in connection with a merchant pos terminal 108 . the merchant seeks authorization of the purchase transaction by communicating , over established , existing networks 104 , information to the transaction server 106 including at least the transaction amount and user identification token . the merchant also may submit information including a merchant identification token assigned by the transaction server 106 . the transaction server 106 may in turn submit a charge to a financial account associated with the user identification token using known methods for processing electronic transactions , including through a payment processor 110 . the transaction server 106 makes or facilitates payment to the merchant . user payment transactions , in various embodiments , payment transactions in accordance herewith may include or consist of three phases : an activation phase , a registration phase , and a use phase . in the activation phase , the user first provides identifying information to the transaction system / management server 106 using , for example , a mobile device 102 . the code - generation module 232 of the transaction server 106 then generates a unique user identifier tied to an account created for the user ; the user &# 39 ; s account , in turn , may be represented by a record in a user database 260 maintained by the transaction server 106 . the user record includes , for example , the transmitted user information and / or generated user identifier , as well as other information ( name , address , wireless phone number , etc .) uniquely identifying the user ; the user record may be part of , or include a pointer to , the user &# 39 ; s financial account information . in some embodiments , the unique user identifier is a seed code utilized to generate a unique mature code ( e . g ., a qr code or other codes ) that can be captured by , for example , a merchant &# 39 ; s pos terminal 108 , in one embodiment , the generated unique mature code is stored in the database 260 and successively transmitted to the user &# 39 ; s mobile device 102 via , for example , wireless cell phone communication , ultrasound , bluetooth , near - field communication , internet , or a mobile application . in another embodiment , the unique mature code is directly sent to the mobile device 102 without being stored in the database 260 . this unique mature code may be later presented to the merchant system 108 when the user purchases goods or services , as further described below . because the mature qr code maps to the user &# 39 ; s identity information stored in the database 260 only and contains no information about any user &# 39 ; s payment tokens ( e . g ., credit or debit card information ) or payment instrument data , hacking the management server 106 alone cannot provide sufficient information to conduct a fraudulent payment . additionally , the unique identifier may be used as a seed to generate a multitude of qr codes all of which can be decoded back to a single unique qr code , allowing for new qr codes to be generated and pushed to the mobile device 102 on a periodic , per - transaction or time - out basis ; the same key , generated with respect to the unique qr code , can be used to validate any of these additional qr codes . in addition , the qr code may be reset upon receiving a request from the user , for example , at the beginning of each transaction ; this further prevents a fraudulent use of the qr code . although the discussion herein focuses on qr codes for purposes of illustration , the present invention is not limited to any particular form of code . in addition , any suitable mechanism for representing and transferring the code derived from a seed code may be used . for example , ultrasound , bluetooth , nfc or other communication media besides visual representation and automated recognition may be used and are within the scope of the current invention , in the registration phase , the user registers a payment instrument ( e . g ., a credit card , debit card , a bank account , or a pre - loaded payment card ) to her user account . in a representative transaction flow , the user first issues a registration request to the transaction server 106 using the mobile device 102 or a web application . the transaction server 106 responds to the request with a registration form ( e . g ., in the form of a web page ), which is displayed on the device 102 in a manner that permits the user to enter information identifying the payment instrument to be registered . in one embodiment , the registration form includes a client - side script that directly submits the data entered by the user to a third - party payment processor &# 39 ; s gateway over , for example , a secure socket layer ( ssl ) connection . the user - entered data is stored in or by the third - party payment gateway 151 , which also generates a “ redirect ” uniform resource locator ( url ) that includes the internet address of the transaction server 106 and a token that identifies the payment instrument , but which does not identify the user . when the user submits the entered registration data , the client - side script causes a request for the redirect url also to be transmitted to the gateway 151 . when the redirect url arrives at the mobile device 102 and is processed by the user &# 39 ; s browser , it redirects the browser back to the management server 106 without displaying any content , thus creating the impression that the user has never left the management server site . in another representative transaction flow , the user transmits information about the payment instrument to the management server 106 using the mobile device 102 . the management server 106 encrypts the received information with a one - way key and passes the encrypted data to the third - party payment gateway 151 . the third - party gateway 151 , which is the only party having the key to decrypt the data in the transaction , generates a token that identifies the registered payment instrument . the generated token is transmitted back to the management server 106 and stored therein for transacting future payments . because the data including a user &# 39 ; s identity and payment instrument are separately stored in the management server 106 and the third - party payment gateway 151 , respectively , unauthorized access to any one of the records therein is insufficient to initiate a payment transaction under the user &# 39 ; s name ; this , again , ensures the security of the mobile payment . in various embodiments , the token generated by the third - party payment gateway 151 is transmitted to the transaction server 106 . the transaction server 106 associates the token with the user &# 39 ; s account record and stores it in the database 260 as a payment identifier . upon receiving a payment request from the user , the transaction server 106 uses the stored token to initiate the payment transaction through the third - party payment gateway 320 , against the payment instrument previously submitted , without ever having knowledge or possession of the payment - instrument data itself . since the payment - instrument data is not stored and cannot be obtained by the management server 106 , this approach , again , prevents fraudulent payments . in the use phase , the management server 106 executes the instructions of the code payment process 222 and transmits a qr code to the user &# 39 ; s mobile device 102 for presentation to a merchant ; as noted above , the qr code may be revised periodically for security purposes , and is typically generated using encryption based on user - specific information in the database 260 . a payment transaction is initiated when the user presents the qr code stored in the mobile device 102 to the merchant system 108 . the merchant system 108 may scan the code using , e . g ., a pos integrated scanner , and thereupon transmits the scanned data along with the payment amount to the management server 106 . the merchant system 108 may also communicate to the management server 106 , along with the scanned data or in a separate communication , information concerning item data for the transaction , which may include for example , an identification of individual items purchased by the user in that transaction the identification of items within the item data may include textual descriptions used within the merchant system 108 to identify items , codes used to identify items , and / or labels used by the management server 106 to identify items . at the time of the payment transaction , neither the merchant 108 nor the user has access to the underlying payment instrument ; the qr code merely identifies the user . further , in the case of a qr code that resets , even an image of the presented qr code may not be used again for future payments ( as the user would by then have a new qr code ). in various embodiments , upon receiving the qr code and payment amount and / or item data from the merchant system 108 , the management server 106 decodes the qr code and matches the information therein to the user &# 39 ; s record stored in the database 260 . the management server 106 then retrieves the stored payment token associated with the user &# 39 ; s account and passes the token and the amount to be charged to the third - party gateway 151 for authorizing a payment . the third - party payment gateway 151 authorizes and processes ( or rejects ) the payment request against the payment instrument corresponding to the token , and creates an associated transaction identifier or rejection code . the created identifier or code may be sent to the management server 106 for re - transmission to the merchant system 108 , or may instead be sent directly to the merchant system 108 to complete the transaction . where the created identifier is first handled by the management server 106 before transmittal to the merchant system 108 , the management server 106 may generate and provide additional information ( e . g ., tracking information ) to the merchant system 108 to enable a closed - loop environment of consumer information e . g ., effectiveness of advertisement , consumer demographics , and referral information . again , because none of the user &# 39 ; s mobile device 102 , the merchant system 108 , the management server 106 , or the third - party gateway 151 possesses both user identity information and the underlying payment instrument , this triple - blind payment system provides high security for the user &# 39 ; s identity and privacy ; accordingly , the possibility of financial losses for the customer is minimized during an m - payment transaction in accordance herewith . mapping item data . in various embodiments , upon receiving the qr code and payment amount and item data from the merchant system 108 , the transaction system or management server 106 may store item data for the transaction in association with user record , either in a user database 240 , or in a separate item - data database 250 . an exemplary item record includes information concerning item data received by the transaction system from a merchant pos device integrated with the transaction system . the transaction server 106 , for example , using the item data - management server 117 , identifies within the item - data database 250 any associations created between the description of identifiers of individual items received in the item data from the merchant system 108 as part of the transaction and applies and stores with such item data the appropriate label established within the transaction server 106 . for example , upon receiving a transaction request for the purchase of a bag of potato chips and a soft drink , the item data - management server 117 may store the item data within a record within item - data database 250 . associate the data with a user record contained within user database 240 , and may further associate with each item within the item data one or more labels used in the transaction server 106 based on associations created for each item description , as explained below . alternatively , the item data - management server 117 may apply matching , machine - learning or other conventional algorithms , or a rule , to identify an appropriate label or labels based on the nature of the description contained in the item data received from merchant system 108 . for example , a description of a bag of potato chips used within merchant system 108 ( such as , “ chips , bbq large ”) may have been previously associated with transaction system labels for “ chips ,” “ barbeque chips ,” “ gluten - free ,” “ snacks ,” or with a specific brand identifier such as “ lays .” the item data - management server 117 applies rules for the association of labels established within the transaction server 106 by a merchant or third - party user of the system , or an administrator of the system , in the manner described below . the item data - management server 117 may also apply conventional algorithms and logic for selecting a label or labels to associate with item data based on similarities between an available label and the description of the item received from the merchant system 108 . for example , the item data - management server 117 may apply algorithms to determine that a description containing the word “ chips ” should be labeled with at least “ chips .” the present invention , in various embodiments , provides a number of ways to establish associations between labels in the transaction server 106 and item data descriptions used within a given merchant system 108 in order to enable the transaction system to apply labels upon the receipt of transaction data and item data . as discussed above , item data may be provided to the transaction server 106 by the merchant system 108 with each transaction and stored by the transaction server 106 , for example , in item - data database 250 . such data can be associated not only with the user identification or code for the transaction , but also with the merchant identifier or code submitted with the transaction request , such that all of the item data associated with an individual merchant , whenever and however received from the merchant system 108 , can be recalled from item - data database 250 based on a given merchant identifier . in another embodiment , rather than receiving item data from the merchant payment system in each transaction , the transaction server 106 may receive and store all item data stored within a merchant system 108 in a single communication . for example , a merchant may “ seed ” the item data within the transaction system by entering a “ test ” transaction within the merchant system 108 containing every unique individual item identifier , descriptor , or code from the merchant &# 39 ; s inventory or menu , along with a merchant identifier assigned by the transaction server 106 . ( the merchant can then refund the test transaction so that no actual charge or payment is created within the transaction server 106 .) in another embodiment , rather than receiving and labeling item data from the merchant payment system in each transaction , the transaction server 106 may receive and store all item data stored within a merchant system 108 in a single communication . for example , a merchant may “ seed ” the item data within the transaction system by entering a “ test ” transaction within the merchant system 108 containing every unique individual item identifier , descriptor , or code from the merchant &# 39 ; s inventory or menu . the transaction server 106 can then display the list of items and identifiers or descriptors to the merchant via a gui web interface , for example , via the promotion - management server 117 . ( the merchant can then refund the test transaction so that no actual charge or payment is created within the transaction server 106 .) using the web - based gui , the merchant can tag or label an item ( or several items ) as , for example , “ fish tacos ” to be eligible for a future “$ 2 off fish tacos ” promotion distributed to its customers , and / or to tag or label items “ chips ” or with a specific third - party brand such as “ lays ” in order to enable third parties to target future consumer promotional rewards at such items . after receiving item data from merchant system 108 , however , and whenever it is received , the transaction server 106 can display the list of items and identifiers or descriptors to the merchant via a gui web interface — for example , via the promotion - management server 119 . the promotion - management server 119 is configured to access item data received from merchant payment system 108 and stored within the transaction server 106 and to present a list of unique item descriptions via a web - based gui to a merchant or other party with appropriate permissions to access data via transaction server 106 . using the web - based gui , the merchant or other party would then be able to tag or label an item ( or several items ) as “ fish tacos ” to be eligible for a future “$ 2 off fish tacos ” promotion distributed to its customers , and / or to tag or label items “ chips ” or with a specific third - party brand such as “ lays ” in order to enable third parties to target future consumer promotional rewards at such items . as another example , a merchant may label all salad items displayed in the gui by the promotion management server 119 as “ salad ” and all of the soup items displayed in the gui by the promotion management server 119 as “ soup .” establishment of promotional offers and campaigns . in various embodiments , the transaction server 106 for example , via the promotion - management server 119 — in addition to providing a web - based gui or other interface for merchants to label data , can provide a ewe - based gui or other interface for patties to design promotional campaigns comprising a promotional offer redeemable at a point of sale ( i . e ., $ 2 off of soup ), criteria for selecting recipients of the redeemable promotional offer ( i . e ., users that have never purchased soup at merchant &# 39 ; s locations ), and / or criteria for redemption of the promotional offer ( i . e ., good only on friday ). the promotion - management server 119 may create a promotional offer record to be stored in a promotions database 260 identifying information about the created promotion , such as the amount of the promotion , the identity of the party funding the promotion ( in this example the retail merchant ), information concerning the locations and times at which the promotion may be redeemed , and identifying the items for which the promotion will apply , using labels previously established in the transaction system by the merchant or another party and associated with one or more inventory or menu items as identified within the merchant system 108 ( in this example , “ soup ”). the promotion - management server 119 may have access to user information within the transaction system , for example , user records stored within a user database 240 and to the transaction data and item data associated with each user . upon the entry of criteria for selecting recipients of a promotional offer by a merchant or other party , the promotion - management server 119 may produce a list of user recipients with criteria matching the entered criteria , for example , users who have purchased any items labeled “ soup ” within the last 30 days at any of the locations of a particular merchant . alternatively , a third - party might seek a list of eligible recipients who have not purchased items labeled “ coke ” within the last 30 days at any merchant location . users identified as eligible recipients may be identified anonymously , by category , or using user information such as name , email address , phone number , or mobile device id . a promotion sponsor may select all or some of eligible recipients to receive an offer . in some embodiments , the promotion sponsor may establish the promotion with additional criteria to the redemption of the promotion by the promotion recipient . for example , the promotion may be designated such that it may only be redeemed by a recipient after the recipient has purchased five of an identified requisite item ( such as an item labeled “ coke ”), or when the recipient has , in the same transaction , purchased another specified item . the promotion sponsor may also include limitations on redemption of a promotion tied to activity other than activity of the receiving consumer . for example , the promotion sponsor may restrict a promotion to a set number of redemptions each day , to a certain time period of a day , or to become redeemable only after some other condition has been achieved , such as the 100th transaction of a day . distribution of promotions , campaigns and / or offers . upon the establishment of a promotional offer by a promotion sponsor via the transaction server 106 and / or promotion - management server 119 , a notice may be sent to a recipient user based on information stored in association with a user record for the user , such as an email address , phone number , or mobile device identifier . in various embodiments , the notification is directed to a software application executing on a mobile consumer device 102 , which software application can be used to display or transmit a consumer identifier , in the form of a qr code or nfc or ble communication , to a merchant point of sale system 108 at a retail location . the notification can inform the user that a promotional offer will be applied to her next purchase meeting the specified redemption criteria , or can require an action by the user in order to activate the promotion offer within the transaction server 106 , such as clicking a link to a url that directs the transaction server 106 , and / or the promotion - management server 119 , to activate the promotional offer for that user . the promotion - management server 119 can also store data in association with a promotional record concerning the identity of users who “ claimed ” the promotion and the timing of such claims . application / redemption of rewards / promotions . upon creation of a promotion record or records by a promotion - management server 119 , which may include information concerning the identified eligible recipients , the promotion records may be relationally associated with user records contained in the user database 240 for the eligible recipients by updating the user records to reflect the availability of the promotional offer . this association can be created by a promotion - management server 119 upon creation of the promotional offer record or upon “ claiming ” of the promotion offer by a recipient user in response to a notification . following the association by the transaction server 106 of a promotional offer with a receiving user &# 39 ; s transaction - system account ( i . e ., a user identification token ), the receiving user can present a user identification token provided to the user by the transaction server 106 at a merchant &# 39 ; s pos or online payment system 108 to initiate payment for a purchase transaction . upon presentation of the user identification token , such as by scanning a qr code on the display of a mobile device 102 at an optical scanner 112 in connection with merchant system 108 , the merchant communicates the user identification token , transaction amount , and any other information to the transaction server 106 , as in a standard transaction system transaction , over existing , established networks such as network 104 . in response to receiving a transaction request , the transaction server 106 queries the user record associated with the user token received in the transaction data to determine whether any available promotions are associated with the user record and , if so , whether the received transaction data and item data meet the criteria established in the promotion record for the application of the specified reward , as part of this process , the transaction server 106 — for example , via item data - management server 117 — may cause item data received in the transaction request to be stored and / or associated with labels based on rules established previously by the merchant or another party as described herein , such labels are then available to the transaction system to determine whether item data received in the transaction request from merchant system 108 satisfy criteria specified in any available promotion record for the application of a promotion . for example , when the transaction server 106 receives a transaction request from a merchant for the purchase of items identified in item data , the transaction server 106 may create a transaction record and associate an item in the item data with the label “ soup .” the transaction server 106 identifies , based on the user identifier received in the transaction data , that the user has received a promotional offer for $ 2 off of any item labeled “ soup ” within the transaction server 106 purchased at particular merchant locations . transaction server 106 then identifies that the item data in the transaction request from merchant system 108 and stored in the resulting transaction record meets the criteria for application of the identified reward because there is an item associated with the label “ soup ,” and the merchant location identified in the transaction data matches the location criteria specified in the promotion record . the promotional offer amount in a promotion record associated with the receiving user &# 39 ; s account in the transaction server 106 , for which transaction and / or item data in a current transaction satisfies promotion criteria , may then be applied automatically by the transaction server 106 to the transaction amount . the transaction server 106 recognizes the association of a promotion amount prior to retrieving a user &# 39 ; s financial instrument token and submitting the token and transaction to a payment - processing server 110 . the transaction server 106 stores the transaction information and stores information identifying the redemption of the promotion . the transaction server 106 returns a message to the merchant system 108 approving the transaction . this approval message need not notify the merchant that any promotional offer , whether sponsored by the retail merchant or a third - party , was redeemed and applied as part of the transaction . in this way , the transaction system of the present invention enables the redemption of promotional rewards targeted to users based on item - level data , and payment for the retail transaction , simply through the user &# 39 ; s presentation of an identifier to the merchant retail pos system 108 , in a single step . the transaction server 106 also generates a receipt message to the user , which may be communicated via email , sms , or notification directly to a software application executing on the consumer mobile device 102 , for example , the software application used to communicate the user identifier assigned by the transaction system to the merchant system 108 . the receipt notification informs that user that a promotional offer was applied and that the transaction amount paid or to be paid by the user was reduced by the amount of the applied promotional offer . these receipt notification messages may be customized by the promotion sponsor or retail merchant . payment facilitation . the transaction server 106 may facilitate payment of the transaction amount by the transaction server 106 to a financial account associated with the merchant system 108 . if the promotional offer was sponsored by the retail merchant at which the transaction took place , the payment to the merchant financial account by the transaction server 106 may be for amount of the retail transaction less the amount of the promotional offer redeemed . if the redeemed promotion was sponsored by a party other than the retail merchant submitting the transaction request , the payment to the merchant financial account may be for the full amount of the transaction , without subtraction of the amount of the promotional offer . the transaction server 106 may then create a second transfer of funds , this time in the form of a debit to the financial account associated with the party that sponsored the redeemed promotional offer , as identified in connection with the promotion record for the redeemed offer . the transaction server 106 may further submit a charge to the user &# 39 ; s associated financial account , by submitting a user &# 39 ; s financial instrument token to a payment processor server 110 in the manner disclosed above , for the transaction amount minus the amount of the redeemed promotional offer . the transaction server 106 provides digital receipts or messages to the receiving user concerning the transaction , for example , by communication to an application on the user &# 39 ; s computing or mobile device 102 integrated with the transaction server 106 and / or using addressable information associated with the user &# 39 ; s account , such as an email address . the message to the receiving user may identify the balance remaining on the digital gift card associated with the user &# 39 ; s transaction system account . in this way , the transaction server 106 receives payment , from the user and in some cases a third - party promotion sponsor , equal to the amount that the transaction server 106 transfers to the financial account associated with the retail merchant system 108 that initiated the transaction request . earning rewards . in various embodiments , the transaction system of the present invention permits the promotions described herein to be distributed and associated with eligible recipient user accounts dynamically , for example , upon the completion of the user of a qualifying purchase of a specified item . as an example , the promotional campaign and offer created by a promotion sponsor may condition the receipt of a promotion upon the future purchase by any user of any “ coke ” item . upon the purchase of a “ coke ” item , the promotion delivered to the user presents the user with $ 2 off the next purchase of “ chips .” in this example , the promotion - management server 119 may create a promotion record upon input through a web - based gui or other interface fro the promotion sponsor reflecting the criteria for the delivery of the promotional offer to eligible recipients . however , because the delivery of the promotion is conditioned upon a future purchase , no eligible recipients are identified for the promotion . the promotion may be delivered dynamically to eligible recipients in various manners consistent with the present invention . for example , the transaction server 106 , upon the receipt of transaction data from a merchant system 108 may determine whether the transaction data and / or item data received matches the criteria to trigger delivery of any promotional offers stored in a promotions database 260 . alternatively , the user record may be updated with received transactional information in the ordinary course as described herein , and the promotion - management server 119 may update its query on connection with the created promotion to identify eligible recipients and deliver promotional offer notifications as receipt eligibility criteria are satisfied in future transactions . data reporting and analytics . the transaction server 106 may provide a further benefit in that the recorded transaction information may be analyzed , individually or in the aggregate , to identify trends in consumer behavior associated with the receipt and redemption of any given promotion , or with respect to any given item contained within a merchant payment system , such as the average amount spent by users when earning or redeeming item - level promotions , additional items purchased along with a promoted item , and / or purchases of the promoted item within a period of time following the redemption of the promotion . such information may be combined with other information within the transaction server 106 concerning user purchasing behaviors , and communicated to purchasing or receiving users , or to merchants , suppliers , or manufacturers in communication with the transaction server 106 , for a variety of purposes apparent to those of skill in the art . importantly , as a result of consistent use of labels to define items in item - level promotions , the economics of a promotion are normalized across merchants and a degree of success can be assessed for the campaign as a whole by aggregating merchant - level success rates . moreover , success can be assessed consistently across merchants . for example , by comparing success rates among merchants , it may be determined that consumers in warm climates are unexpectedly more responsive to a promotion seemingly unrelated to outdoor temperature . such insights may be more easily exploited than explained , which is often the case with analytically driven assessments . normalized comparisons provide “ apples - to - apples ” comparisons for metrics such as consumer responsiveness , the effect of different price points or promotion levels , etc . with merchants segmented geographically , by type , by prestige , or any other suitable criterion . messaging . in certain embodiments , the transaction server 106 may be configured to deliver a message to a recipient of a promotion by delivering a message to an app installed and / or executing on a consumer mobile device 102 , or by email to a consumer promotion recipient who is a registered user of the transaction system or through other means such as text or sms message . the messaging by the transaction server 106 may be configured by the promotion sponsor via a gui used to establish and distribute a promotional offer , and may be configured to be triggered and delivered to a consumer registered with the transaction system upon satisfaction of certain criteria , including , for example , location criteria . for example , the merchant system 108 , in addition to or in connection with optical scanner 112 , may additionally include a transmitter 118 ( i . e ., a beacon ) communicating an identifier via bluetooth , ble , radio frequency , or similar proximity wireless communication . the transmitter 118 need not be connected to or part of merchant system 108 . upon detection of a signal from transmitter 118 , a software app executing or installed on a consumer mobile device 102 can communicate the identifier over an existing network to the transaction server 106 indicating that the consumer mobile device 102 is in proximity to a particular merchant location with which the transmitter 118 is associated in the memory of transaction server 106 . the communication may also include a user code or token identifying the user to the transaction server 106 . alternatively , the communication from consumer mobile device 102 to transaction server 106 used to trigger a promotion marketing communication may utilize means other than a communication from a bluetooth or btu , transmitter 118 , such as cps data from the consumer mobile device 102 , to indicate the location of the consumer near a retail merchant location at which a promotion may be redeemed . upon receipt of that communication , the transaction server 106 , through the promotion - management server 119 , may match the user identifier in the user database 240 , and match the merchant location within the promotions database 260 and / or item - data . database 250 , to determine whether the user is the recipient of any promotions that may be redeemed for items ( such as a “ coke ”) sold at the merchant location associated with the identified transmitter 118 . if a promotion is identified , the transaction server 106 may communicate a message to be displayed on a consumer mobile device 102 notifying the user that the user may redeem a promotion for a specified item by using a software app on consumer mobile device 102 to initiate a transaction at the retail merchant &# 39 ; s pos in communication with the transaction server 106 . for example , such a message may inform a user : “ pay here with the [ xyz ] app and save $ 2 on any coke product ;” or “ buy a coke here with the [ xyz ] app and get a free bag of chips .” where there are multiple matches for messages that may be delivered to a promotion recipient , the transaction server 106 may arbitrate between available messages , including for example , by giving priority to a message of a promotion sponsor that has paid a premium fee to the system provider , by randomly selecting a message , or by selecting a message that the consumer recipient has not yet received in lieu of delivering a repeat message to the consumer . the transaction server 106 may retain data on messages delivered to registered users in this fashion , including the timing and content of messaging , in order to determine , based on a user &# 39 ; s purchasing transaction history , whether the messaging and promotions are effective at influencing consumer behavior . error correction . in connection with the digital receipts generated by transaction server 106 and communicated to a user following a transaction , for example , at a consumer mobile device 102 , the system may also provide a consumer - interactive feature to permit the user to identify any apparent errors in the redemption or application of promotions to the items purchased by the user . for example , the receipt for a transaction may permit the user to click on an item in the receipt via , e . g ., an embedded html interface , or through a native interface generated within a software app executing on consumer mobile device 102 , the transaction server 106 may then query the user database 240 to identify any promotions available to that user , and display to the user a list of such promotions . by selecting one of the displayed promotions , the user can request that the transaction server 106 apply the selected promotion to an item . to the extent that the provider of transaction server 106 identifies that the consumer is correct and an available promotion was mistakenly not applied to a purchased item , the transaction server 106 can apply the promotion retroactively and prior to the submission of a charge to the user &# 39 ; s registered payment instrument via a payment processor . item - level ordering . the transaction server 106 may provide content data , such as merchant information , location information , menu or available item information , pricing information , and / or nutritional information , to an app running on the user &# 39 ; s device 102 to enable the app to display a listing of merchants near the user &# 39 ; s location , or some other specified location , at which the user can create an order using the app in communication with the transaction server 106 . the list may be classified for display to the user in a variety of forms , including , for example , by type of goods available , nature of the retail merchant , location , price range , user reviews , popularity , the user &# 39 ; s past orders or other user data stored in the transaction server 106 concerning the user , or other criteria stored by or available to the transaction server 106 . the transaction server 106 may also provide information to an app identifying menu items and / or items available for purchase or order at each merchant , for example , through the use of expanding windows or new windows when the user selects or clicks on one of the merchants displayed in the list view . the transaction system 106 may acquire menu , item , pricing , nutritional , or other information concerning the goods and services offered by a merchant through various forms of communication to servers of the retail merchant or affiliated with the retail merchant that store such information and / or make the information available to consumers via web applications of the merchant or others . for example , menu information for a merchant may be stored on servers of third - party ordering aggregators , which work with multiple unaffiliated services , or on servers of a provider of a proprietary , merchant - branded website or ordering mobile app . information may be obtained by the transaction server 106 through communication to such servers , either through publicly accessible apis or through dedicated communications designed specifically for each third - party and authorized and permitted by such party . menu information may also be publicly available from a number of public - facing websites . details of an exemplary system are described , for example , in the &# 39 ; 835 application mentioned above . generally , those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that all parameters , dimensions , materials , and configurations described herein are meant to be exemplary and that the actual parameters , dimensions , materials , and / or configurations will depend upon the specific application or applications for which the inventive teachings is / are used . those skilled in the art will recognize , or be able to ascertain using no more than routine experimentation , many equivalents to the specific inventive embodiments described herein . it is , therefore , to be understood that the foregoing embodiments are presented by way of example only and that , within the scope of the appended claims and equivalents thereto , inventive embodiments may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described and claimed . inventive embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to each individual feature , system , article , material , kit , and / or method described herein . in addition , any combination of two or more such features , systems , articles , materials , kits , and / or methods , if such features , systems , articles , materials , kits , and / or methods are not mutually inconsistent , is included within the inventive scope of the present disclosure . as used herein , the term “ or ” is intended to mean an inclusive “ or ” rather than an exclusive “ or .” that is , unless specified otherwise , or clear from context , “ x employs a or b ” is intended to mean any of the natural inclusive permutations . that is , if x employs a ; x employs b ; or x employs both a and b , then “ x employs a or b ” is satisfied under any of the foregoing instances . moreover , articles “ a ” and “ an ” as used in the subject specification and annexed drawings should generally be construed to mean “ one or more ” unless specified otherwise or clear from context to be directed to a singular form , in addition , the terms like “ user equipment ,” “ mobile station ,” “ mobile ,” “ communication device ,” “ access terminal ,” “ terminal ,” “ handset ,” and similar terminology , refer to a wireless device ( e . g ., cellular phone , smart phone , computer , pda , set - top box , internet protocol television ( ptv ), electronic gaming device , printer , and so forth ) utilized by a user of a wireless communication service to receive or convey data , control , voice , video , sound , gaming , or substantially any data - stream or signaling - stream . the foregoing terms are utilized interchangeably in the subject specification and related drawings . the terms “ component ,” “ system ,” “ platform ,” “ module ,” and the like refer broadly to a computer - related entity or an entity related to an operational machine with one or more specific functionalities . such entities can be hardware , a combination of hardware and software , software , or software in execution . for example , a component may be , but is not limited to being , a process running on a processor , a processor , an object , an executable , a thread of execution , a program , and / or a computer . by way of illustration , both an application running on a server and the server can be a component . one or more components may reside within a process and / or thread of execution and a . component may be localized on one computer and / or distributed between two or more computers . also , these components can execute from various computer readable media having various data structures stored thereon . the components may communicate via local and / or remote processes such as in accordance with a signal having one or more data packets ( e . g ., data from one component interacting with another component in a local system , distributed system , and / or across a network such as the internet with other systems via the signal ). the processing unit that executes commands and instructions may be a general purpose computer , but may utilize any of a wide variety of other technologies including a special purpose computer , a microcomputer , minicomputer , mainframe computer , programmed microprocessor , micro - controller , peripheral integrated circuit element , a csic ( customer - specific integrated circuit ), asic ( application - specific integrated circuit ), a logic circuit , a digital signal processor , a programmable logic device , such as an fpga ( field - programmable gate array ), pld ( programmable logic device ), pla ( programmable logic array ), rfid processor , smart chip , or any other device or arrangement of devices that is capable of implementing the steps of the processes of the invention . various implementations of the systems and techniques described here can be realized in digital electronic circuitry , integrated circuitry , specially designed asics ( application specific integrated circuits ), computer hardware , firmware , software , and / or combinations thereof . these various implementations can include implementation in one or more computer programs that are executable and / or interpretable on a programmable system including at least one programmable processor , which may be special or general purpose , coupled to receive data and instructions from , and to transmit data and instructions to , a storage system , at least one input device , and at least one output device . these computer programs ( also known as programs , software , software applications or code ) include machine instructions for a programmable processor , and can be implemented in a high - level procedural and / or object - oriented programming language , and / or in assembly / machine language . as used herein , the terms “ machine - readable medium ” “ computer - readable medium ” refers to any computer program product , apparatus and / or device ( e . g ., magnetic discs , optical disks , memory , programmable logic devices ( plds )) used to provide machine instructions and / or data to a programmable processor , including a machine - readable medium that receives machine instructions as a machine - readable signal . the term “ machine - readable signal ” refers to any signal used to provide machine instructions and / or data to a programmable processor . the mobile device 102 acts as a gateway for transmitting the user &# 39 ; s data to the network 104 . the mobile device 102 can support multiple communication channels for exchanging multimedia and other data with the servers 106 , 110 and other devices using a wi - fi lan ( e . g ., ieee 802 . 11 standard ) for internet access , a short - range bluetooth wireless connection for point - to - point access , and / or an nfc channel for close - proximity access . the storage devices 238 , 242 may include computer storage media in the form of volatile and / or nonvolatile memory such as read only memory ( rom ) and random access memory ( ram ). a basic input / output system ( bios ), containing the basic routines that help to transfer information between elements , such as during start - up , is typically stored in rom . ram typically contains data and / or program modules that are immediately accessible to and / or presently being operated on by processing unit . the data or program modules may include an operating system , application programs , other program modules , and program data . the operating system may be or include a variety of operating systems such as microsoft windows operating system , the unix operating system , the linux operating system , the xenix operating system , the ibm aix operating system , the hewlett packard ux operating system , the novell netware operating system , the sun microsystems solaris operating system , the os / 2 operating system , the beos operating system , the macintosh operating system , the apache operating system , an openstep operating system or another operating system of platform . the storage devices 238 , 242 may also include other removable / nonremovable , volatile / nonvolatile computer storage media . for example , a hard disk drive may read or write to nonremovable , nonvolatile magnetic media . a magnetic disk drive may read from or writes to a removable , nonvolatile magnetic disk , and an optical disk drive may read from or write to a removable , nonvolatile optical disk such as a cd - rom or other optical media . other removable / nonremovable , volatile / nonvolatile computer storage media that can be used in the exemplary operating environment include , but are not limited to , magnetic tape cassettes , flash memory cards , digital versatile disks , digital video tape , solid state ram , solid state rom , and the like . the storage media are typically connected to the system bus through a removable or non - removable memory interface . the foregoing description does not represent an exhaustive list of all possible implementations consistent with this disclosure or of all possible variations of the implementations described . a number of implementations have been described . nevertheless , it will be understood that various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the systems , devices , methods and techniques described herein . for example , various forms of the flows shown above may be used , with steps re - ordered , added , or removed . accordingly , other implementations are within the scope of the following claims . the terms and expressions employed herein are used as terms and expressions of description and not of limitation , and there is no intention , in the use of such terms and expressions , of excluding any equivalents of the features shown and described or portions thereof . in addition , having described certain embodiments of the invention , it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that other embodiments incorporating the concepts disclosed herein may be used without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . accordingly , the described embodiments are to be considered in all respects as only illustrative and not restrictive .
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fig3 illustrates an exemplary data processing system 10 according to the present invention . the data processing system 10 includes digital circuitry 11 , in this example data processing circuitry in the form of an application specific integrated circuit ( asic ), which communicates with a plurality of peripheral circuitries 33 , 35 , 37 and 39 via respective busses 41 , 43 , 45 and 47 , which busses cross the external pin boundary 31 of the asic 11 . as the following description will demonstrate to workers in the art , the nature an quantity of peripheral circuitries 33 , 35 , 37 and 39 , as well as their interconnection with digital circuitry 11 and with one another , do not represent critical elements of the present invention . the nature , quantity and connection of the peripheral circuitries in the system 10 of fig3 can be as varied as necessary to realize any desired system application heretofore or hereafter conceivable , without departing from the scope of the present invention . the asic 11 includes a core 13 which primarily includes data processing circuitry such as , for example , a microprocessor , a digital signal processor or a micro - controller . the core 13 is connected to support logic modules 15 , 17 , 19 and 21 via respective busses 23 , 25 , 27 and 29 . the logic modules 15 , 17 , 19 and 21 can be suitably customized for interfacing with respective peripherals 33 , 35 , 37 and 39 via busses 41 , 43 , 45 and 47 at the pin boundary 31 of the asic device 11 . the input / output signals from core 13 , as carried on busses 23 , 25 , 27 and 29 , may often be unavailable for external access at the busses 41 , 43 , 45 and 47 on the external pin boundary 31 . in order to provide external access to the input / output signals carried on busses 23 , 25 , 27 and 29 for emulation and testing purposes , the core 13 is provided with parallel signature analysis circuitry 49 . the parallel signature analysis circuitry 49 has a serial scan input and a serial scan output respectively connected to test data input ( tdi ) and test data output ( tdo ) pins at the pin boundary 31 . the tdi and tdo pins are provided for connection to an external test controller from which serial test data inputs are received and to which serial test data outputs are provided . fig4 illustrates the parallel signature analysis ( or psa ) circuitry 49 in more detail . in fig4 selected signals , for example from one or more of busses 23 , 25 , 27 and 29 , are provided as inputs ind0 , ind1 . . . ind15 of psa circuitry 49 . the signal at ind0 is qualified by and gate 51 for input to the master stage mlat0 of shift register latch srl0 , and is also qualified by and gate 53 for input to the slave stage slat0 of srl0 . the signal at ind1 is qualified for input to the master and slave stages of srl1 by respective and gates 55 and 57 , and the signal at ind15 is qualified for input to the master and slave phases of srl15 by respective and gates 59 and 61 . the input structure for signals ind2 - ind4 is omitted from fig4 but is preferably identical to the input structure associated with signals ind0 , ind1 and signal tm0 is used to select whether the signals at ind0 - ind15 are input to the master or slave stage of the associated srl . by operation of invertor 65 and the inverting input 67 of and gate 51 , ind0 - ind15 are input to the respective master stages when the signal tm0 is low . thus , when signal tm0 is low , signals at ind0 , ind1 . . . ind15 are passed through the respective and gates 51 , 55 . . . 59 for input to respective exclusive - or gates 71 , 73 . . . 75 . the signals ind0 , ind1 . . . ind15 are qualified at respective and gates 53 , 57 . . . 61 by the output of and gate 63 whose inputs are tm0 and a scan signal inverted by inverting input 69 of and gate 63 . the scan signal of fig4 is logic one when scanning data through srl0 - srl19 , and is otherwise logic zero . thus , the signals at ind0 - ind15 cannot be qualified for input to their respective slave latch stages when data is being scanned through srl0 - srl19 ( i . e ., when the scan clock of fig4 is active ). this use of the scan signal to qualify inputs to the slave latch stages is important because the slave latch stages are clocked by the slave clock lst during scanning operations , and thus inputs from ind0 , ind1 . . . indl15 must not be applied to exclusive - or gates 77 , 79 . . . 81 during scanning operations . because the scan signal is a logic 1 when scanning , and gates 53 , 57 . . . 61 apply logic 0 to the inputs of exclusive - or gates 77 , 79 . . . 81 by virtue of the low output issued from and gate 63 in response to the inversion of the scan signal at inverting input 69 . exclusive - or gates 77 , 79 . . . 81 each have on input connected to the data output of the respective master latch stage immediately upstream thereof . exclusive - or gate 71 has an input connected to a feedback signal fb , and exclusive - or gate 73 has an input connected to the data output of the slave latch stage immediately upstream thereof , namely slat0 . the data output of slat0 is also connected to the scan input ( si ) of master latch stage mlat1 of srl1 . exclusive - or gate 75 has an input connected to the data output of the slave stage slat14 of srl14 ( not shown ), and the data output of slat14 is also connected to the scan input of mlat15 . although srl &# 39 ; s 2 - 14 are not shown , the inputs to the master and slave latch stages thereof are preferably developed in the manner disclosed with respect to srl0 , srl1 and srl15 . the feedback signal fb can be developed by combining the data outputs of srl16 - srl19 for the psa operation desired , as is well known in the art . for example , the feedback signal fb could be obtained by exclusive - oring the outputs of srl16 , srl17 , srl18 and srl19 . as one example of operation of the psa circuitry 49 , the clock signals mtl , lst and the scan clock can be gated active throughout the core 13 . thereafter , the scan clock and the slave clock lst can be gated active and a predetermined seed value can then be scanned into srl0 - srl19 , as is well known in the art . after the seed value has been established in srl0 - srl19 , all clocks can again be gated off , and tm0 can be taken to a logic 0 level , thereby qualifying inputs ind0 , ind1 . . . ind15 at and gates 51 , 55 . . . 59 while also driving low the outputs of and gates 53 , 57 . . . 61 . thereafter , the master clock lmt and the slave clock lst can be gated on for a desired number of master / slave clock cycles , during which exclusive - or gates 71 , 73 . . . 75 and srl0 , srl1 . . . srl15 operate in the same manner as the conventional parallel signature analyzer of fig1 to capture and compress the signals ind0 - ind15 . the low outputs of and gates 53 , 57 . . . 61 cause the respective exclusive - or gates 77 , 79 . . . 81 to pass the respective data outputs of the master latch stages directly to the respective data inputs of the slave latch stages . thus , in the above - described operation , each of the signals ind0 - ind15 is sampled on each master clock pulse and compressed into a parallel signature , as in fig1 . when the desired number of master / slave clock cycles have occurred , the master clock lmt and the slave clock lst can again be gated inactive . thereafter , the scan clock and the slave clock lst can be gated active and the contents of srl0 - srl19 can be scanned out to the tester for comparison to the expected signature . thereafter , the scan clock and the slave clock lst can be gated inactive , and the core logic can be reset to the same logic state that it was in immediately before the previous compression process was performed . thereafter , tm0 can be taken high to qualify ind0 , ind1 . . . ind15 at respective and gates 53 , 57 . . . 61 , while driving low the outputs of and gates 51 , 55 . . . 59 . thereafter , the master clock lmt and the slave clock lst can be gated active for the same number of cycles as before , whereby each of the signals ind0 - ind15 is sampled and compressed on the slave pulse of each master / slave clock cycle . the data sampling and data compression are accomplished in the same manner as previously done when sampling on the master clock pulses , except in this instance the slave latch stages perform the function that was performed by the master latch stages in the previous iteration and the master latch stages in this instance perform the same function performed by the slave latch stages in the previous iteration . when the master clock lmt and the slave clock lst are gated inactive at the end of the desired sampling period , the scan clock and the slave clock lst con be gated active to scan out the contents of srl0 - srl19 for comparison to the expected signature . the above - described operation thus provides , in two iterations of sampling and compression , a signature of signals ind0 - ind15 as sampled on the master clock lmt ( first iteration ), and a signature of the signals ind0 - ind15 as sampled on the slave clock lst ( second iteration ). because the core logic is reset before the second iteration to the same state that it was in immediately prior to the first iteration , any signals is sampled on the master clock during any desired time period under any desired operating conditions ( first iteration ) can also be sampled on the slave clock during the same time period and under the same operating conditions ( second iteration ). fig6 shows how node a from fig2 would be sampled ( assuming falling edge clocking of all latches ) on both the master clock lmt and the slave clock lst in the embodiment of fig4 . as shown in fig6 the transitioning of node a is captured by the slave clock sampling of fig4 . it should also be noted that it may not be necessary to provide every targeted signal of core 13 as a data input to psa circuitry 49 . for example , busses 23 , 25 , 27 and 29 of fig3 may represent many more than 16 signals , yet the psa circuitry 49 of fig4 could accommodate all of them if the signals are suitably combined to produce the signals ind0 - ind15 . for example , if the signals are independent of one another , then they could be suitably exclusive - ored to produce ind0 - ind15 , sad if the signals are dependent upon one another , then they could be suitably multiplexed to produce ind0 - ind15 . in this manner , it is possible to obtain compressed data signatures of runny more than 16 signals using the 16 - input psa circuitry 49 of fig4 although additional iterations would be necessary if the targeted signals were multiplexed to produce ind0 - ind15 . fig5 illustrates another exemplary embodiment 49a of the psa circuitry of fig3 . in fig5 srl0 - srl19 are not shown divided into a master latch stage and a slave latch stage because , in this embodiment , the data output of each master latch stage is directly connected to the data input of the associated slave latch stage . in the embodiment ; of fig5 latches 83 , 85 . . . 87 are used in conjunction with multiplexers 89 , 91 . . . 93 and multiplexer 95 to permit the psa circuitry 49a to sample and compress signals ind0 - ind15 on any desired clock of a multiple phase clock system . if signals ind0 - ind15 are to be sampled on master clock lmt , then control signal tmy is taken low , whereby the respective signals ind0 - ind15 are applied to exclusive - or gates 71 , 73 . . . 75 and are sampled and compressed on the master clock . however , if it is desired to sample signals ind0 - ind15 on slave clock lst or any one of a plurality of clocks lst1 - lstx , which may represent the slave clock delayed by respective amounts of time , then tmy is set to logic 1 whereby the data outputs of latches 83 , 85 . . . 87 are connected to exclusive - or gates 71 , 73 . . . 75 . the clock selected for sampling is output from multiplexer 95 in response to multiplexer control signals tm0 - tmx . the latches 83 , 85 . . . 87 then sample signals ind0 - ind15 on the clock selected by multiplexer 95 , and the sampled signals are then available to be applied via multiplexers 89 , 91 . . . 93 to exclusive - or gates 71 , 73 . . . 75 . the signals sampled by latches 83 , 85 . . . 87 are then compressed into the data signature on the next pulse of master clock lmt . as discussed above with respect to fig4 the signals ind0 - ind15 can be sampled and compressed for any desired re , tuber of master / slave clock cycles and with the core logic set to a known , desired state immediately before sampling and compression , and this process can be repeated for as many iterations as necessary to obtain sampling on as many clocks as desired . the combining of signals to produce ind0 - ind15 , as described above with respect to fig4 is equally applicable to the fig5 embodiment . referring again to fig3 workers in the art will readily recognize that the psa circuitry 49 is applicable to virtually any digital circuitry which utilizes multiple clock phases , and thus could be provided in logic modules 15 , 17 , 19 , 21 or in peripherals circuitries 33 , 35 , 37 and 39 . moreover , the asic device 11 is merely provided as an example of digital circuitry according to the present invention . workers in the art will readily recognize that the digital data processing circuitry 11 of fig3 could take other forms , for example digital data processing circuitry 11 could be a plurality of separate integrated circuits provided on a circuit board or , as another example , digital data processing circuitry 11 could be a plurality of printed circuit boards each including a plurality of integrated circuits . the present invention provides an advancement in all digital circuitry which utilizes multiple clock phases , and is entirely independent of the manner in which such digital circuitry is physically realized . although , exemplary embodiments of the present ; invention are described above , this description does not limit the scope of the invention , which can be practiced in a variety of embodiments .
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the present invention will be described with respect to the blockage , detection , and conversion of x - rays . however , one skilled in the art will appreciate that the present invention is equally applicable for the detection and conversion of other high frequency electromagnetic energy . the present invention will be described with respect to a “ third generation ” ct scanner , but is equally applicable with other ct systems . referring to fig1 and 2 , a computed tomography ( ct ) imaging system 10 is shown as including a gantry 12 representative of a “ third generation ” ct scanner . gantry 12 has an x - ray source 14 that projects a beam of x - rays 16 toward a detector array 18 on the opposite side of the gantry 12 . detector array 18 is formed by a plurality of detectors 20 which together sense the projected x - rays that pass through a medical patient 22 . each detector 20 produces an electrical signal that represents the intensity of an impinging x - ray beam and hence the attenuated beam as it passes through the patient 22 . during a scan to acquire x - ray projection data , gantry 12 and the components mounted thereon rotate about a center of rotation 24 . rotation of gantry 12 and the operation of x - ray source 14 are governed by a control mechanism 26 of ct system 10 . control mechanism 26 includes an x - ray controller 28 that provides power and timing signals to an x - ray source 14 and a gantry motor controller 30 that controls the rotational speed and position of gantry 12 . a data acquisition system ( das ) 32 in control mechanism 26 samples analog data from detectors 20 and converts the data to digital signals for subsequent processing . an image reconstructor 34 receives sampled and digitized x - ray data from das 32 and performs high speed reconstruction . the reconstructed image is applied as an input to a computer 36 which stores the image in a mass storage device 38 . computer 36 also receives commands and scanning parameters from an operator via console 40 that has a keyboard . an associated cathode ray tube display 42 allows the operator to observe the reconstructed image and other data from computer 36 . the operator supplied commands and parameters are used by computer 36 to provide control signals and information to das 32 , x - ray controller 28 and gantry motor controller 30 . in addition , computer 36 operates a table motor controller 44 which controls a motorized table 46 to position patient 22 and gantry 12 . particularly , table 46 moves portions of patient 22 through a gantry opening 48 . referring to fig3 , a collimator assembly 50 having a pair of collimator mandrels 52 and 54 that are constructed to collimate x - rays projected toward a patient and detector assembly or array . each collimator mandrel 52 , 54 is designed to be rotated along a lengthwise axis by pivot assemblies 56 . as will be described in greater detail below , collimator mandrel 52 is rotated clockwise and collimator mandrel 54 is rotated counterclockwise to define the width of the aperture 58 that is formed between the pair of mandrels . however , one skilled in the art would readily recognize that other rotational orientations are possible and contemplated to achieve a desired aperture shape and / or width . x - rays are projected from an x - ray tube toward the collimator assembly 50 . the mandrels 52 , 54 are positioned relative to one another to define an aperture size tailored to the specific ct study to be carried out . in this regard , each mandrel is designed and constructed of material to block or prevent passage of those x - rays that are not passed through aperture 58 . as such , each mandrel 52 , 54 has a complexly - shaped outer layer 60 , 62 of attenuating material . that is , each outer layer extends circumferentially around a rod 64 , 66 of base material and a non - constant diameter . the rods 64 , 66 form a solid and rigid base for the layers of attenuating material . preferably , the rods are constructed of steel , but other materials are possible . the attenuating layers may be fabricated from tungsten or other attenuating epoxy or alloy . as shown , each rod 64 , 66 has a circular or constant diameter . in contrast , each mandrel , as a result of the non - circular attenuating layer , has a complex shape . this complexity in shape allows the collimator assembly to provide a more variable aperture size without a change in the collimator assembly itself . simply , in one preferred embodiment , the mandrels 52 and 54 have oblong or egg - like cross - sectional shapes that extends the entire length of rods 64 and 66 , respectively . however , the manufacturing process described herein allows for other mandrel shapes as well as varying attenuating layer thickness along the length of the rods . referring now to fig4 , a side view of the collimator assembly 50 illustrates a first or minimum aperture size that can be achieved by dynamically controlling the rotation of the mandrels 52 and 54 . in the relative position illustrated , each mandrel has been rotated to maximize the amount of attenuating material 60 , 62 axially positioned between each rod 64 , 66 . as a result , the size of aperture 58 is affected to control the expanse and coverage of x - ray beams 16 projected toward the patient ( not shown ) and detector assembly 18 . in fig5 , the collimator assembly 50 is shown with a maximum aperture size . to achieve a maximum in the size of aperture 58 , eccentrics 56 rotate each mandrel 52 and 54 such that the thinnest amount of attenuating material is positioned adjacent the x - ray path through the aperture 58 . as a result , more of the x - ray beam is allowed pass through the collimator assembly unaltered by mandrels 52 and 54 . eccentric assemblies 56 may be rotated mechanically by a user or , preferably , by a controller mechanism that is electronically controlled to rotate the mandrels based on a desired aperture size . further , while fig5 illustrates rotation of both mandrels compared to that shown in fig3 , one mandrel may be rotated while the other mandrel remains stationary . additionally , since each mandrel may be rotated independently by eccentrics 56 , one mandrel may be rotated more than the other mandrel . as a result , the number of aperture sizes that is possible is a function of the degree change in attenuating material thickness around each rod . moreover , one mandrel may have a layer of attenuating material that is dimensionally different from the layer of attenuating material around the other mandrel . in this regard , the number of aperture sizes available is increased . fig6 is a side view similar to that of fig4 but illustrates a second or maximum aperture size that is achieved as a result of the relative rotation of both mandrels 52 and 54 . the position of each rod 64 and 66 remains fixed , but each mandrel is caused to rotate along a lengthwise axis through the center of the rod . as a result , the thickness of the attenuating layer placed in the x - ray path is variably controlled to fit the particulars of the ct study . as is shown , aperture 58 has a much larger size in fig6 than in fig4 ; therefore , the x - ray path therebetween is much larger which allows for greater coverage in the z - direction on detector 18 . the collimator mandrel profile illustrated in fig3 - 6 represents one embodiment of the shape each collimator mandrel may have . however , as will be described , the manufacturing process disclosed herein is capable of constructing other - shaped mandrels than that illustrated in fig3 - 6 . for example , the mandrels could be constructed to have lobes or other geometrical shapes to achieve the desired aperture shape . shown in fig7 is a cross - sectional view illustrating the construction of a collimator mandrel in accordance with the present invention . the construction process begins with the formation of a cylindrically or other shaped rod 68 of base material having a constant cross - section . the rod 68 is constructed to have an eccentric pivot 70 on each end to support rotation of the mandrel once assembled and fit in the ct system . as noted above , the rod is preferably constructed of a solid , rigid material , i . e . steel , that is designed to receive and support a layer of attenuating material , such as tungsten , lead , a high atomic weight alloy , or epoxy laden with high atomic weight material . rod 68 is placed is a cast 72 that envelops the rod . the cast 72 envelopes the rod such that a void 74 is created circumferentially around the outer surface of the rod 68 between the inner surface of cast . the void defines the dimensions , thickness , and shape of a layer of attenuating material to be deposited or otherwise formed to the outer surface of the rod . in the example illustrated in fig7 , a highly attenuative epoxy or resin is deposited in void 74 and is allowed to cure . once cured , the cast is removed and a tapered layer of attenuating material affixed to the outer surface of the rod results . however , use of a cast and the filling of a void between the cast and rod illustrates only one technique for forming a complexly shaped mandrel . for example , a thin layer of tungsten or other attenuative layer could be vapor or chemically deposited about the rod in a controlled manner such that a non - circular cross - sectioned or other complex shaped mandrel is constructed . in another embodiment , a thin layer of attenuating material could be sealed against the rod or core material using adhesive , glues and other intermediaries . further , given the cast layer provides the x - ray attenuation , other attenuating materials other than tungsten may be used . as a result , the non - tungsten layer with improved machineability could be sealed against the rod and machined to provide the desired complex shape . referring now to fig8 , package / baggage inspection system 100 includes a rotatable gantry 102 having an opening 104 therein through which packages or pieces of baggage may pass . the rotatable gantry 102 houses a high frequency electromagnetic energy source 106 as well as a detector assembly 108 having scintillator arrays comprised of scintillator cells . a conveyor system 110 is also provided and includes a conveyor belt 112 supported by structure 114 to automatically and continuously pass packages or baggage pieces 116 through opening 104 to be scanned . objects 116 are fed through opening 104 by conveyor belt 112 , imaging data is then acquired , and the conveyor belt 112 removes the packages 116 from opening 104 in a controlled and continuous manner . as a result , postal inspectors , baggage handlers , and other security personnel may non - invasively inspect the contents of packages 116 for explosives , knives , guns , contraband , and the like . therefore , in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention , a method of manufacturing a collimator mandrel for a ct imaging system includes the steps of forming a core of base material and applying a tapered layer of attenuating material to the core . in accordance with another embodiment of the invention , a ct collimator mandrel comprises a solid core positioned within a layer of attenuating material . the mandrel is formed by shaping a bulk of supporting material into a core and positioning the core in a cast such that a non - uniform void is created between an outer surface of the core and an inner surface of the cast . the mandrel is further formed by injecting attenuating material into the void and removing the cast upon curing of the attenuating material . according to yet another embodiment , a process of constructing a mandrel for a ct imaging system is provided and includes the steps of forming a solid cylindrical rod of first material and depositing a layer of second material designed to substantially block x - rays on the cylindrical rod . the present invention has been described in terms of the preferred embodiment , and it is recognized that equivalents , alternatives , and modifications , aside from those expressly stated , are possible and within the scope of the appending claims .
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according to certain embodiments of the invention , the refrigeration system may be a two stage joule - thomson system with a closed loop precool circuit and either an open loop or a closed loop primary circuit . a typical refrigerant for the primary circuit would be r - 508 b , and a typical refrigerant for the precool circuit would be r - 410 a . in the ablation mode , the system may be capable of performing tissue ablation at or below minus 70 . degree . c . while in contact with the tissue and circulating blood . in the mapping mode , the system may be capable of mapping by stunning the tissue at a temperature between minus 10 . degree . c . and minus 18 . degree . c . while in contact with the tissue and circulating blood . these performance levels may be achieved while maintaining the catheter tip pressure at or below a sub - diastolic pressure of 14 psia . as shown in fig1 , one embodiment of the apparatus 10 of the present invention is an open loop system using a pressure bottle for the refrigerant source . such a system can include a primary refrigerant supply bottle 200 , a primary refrigerant fluid controller 208 , a catheter 300 , a primary refrigerant recovery bottle 512 , a secondary refrigerant compressor 100 , a precool heat exchanger 114 , and various sensors . in certain embodiments , all but the catheter 300 and the precool heat exchanger 114 may be located in a cooling console housing . the precool heat exchanger 114 is connected to the console by flexible lines 121 , 221 . pressure of the refrigerant in the primary refrigerant supply bottle 200 is monitored by a primary refrigerant supply pressure sensor 202 . output of primary refrigerant from the supply bottle 200 is regulated by a pressure regulator 204 , which , in certain embodiments , can receive refrigerant from the bottle 200 at a pressure above 350 psia and regulate it to less than 350 psia . a primary refrigerant relief valve 206 is provided to prevent over pressurization of the primary system downstream of the pressure regulator 204 , for example , above 400 psia . the flow rate of primary refrigerant is controlled by the fluid controller 208 , which can be either a pressure controller or a flow controller . a feedback loop may be provided to control the operation of the fluid controller 208 . the feedback signal for the fluid controller 208 can come from a pressure sensor 310 or a flow sensor 311 , on the effluent side of the catheter 300 , discussed below . a primary refrigerant high pressure sensor 210 is provided downstream of the fluid controller 208 , to monitor the primary refrigerant pressure applied to the precool heat exchanger 114 . the high pressure side 212 of the primary loop passes through the primary side of the cooling coil of the precool heat exchanger 114 , then connects to a quick connect fitting 304 on the precool heat exchanger 114 . similarly , the low side quick connect fitting 304 on the precool heat exchanger 114 is connected to the low pressure side 412 of the primary loop , which passes back through the housing of the precool heat exchanger 114 , without passing through the cooling coil , and then through the flow sensor 311 . the catheter tip pressure sensor 310 monitors catheter effluent pressure in the tip of the catheter 300 . the control system maintains catheter tip pressure at a sub - diastolic level at all times . the low pressure side 412 of the primary loop can be connected to the inlet 402 of a vacuum pump 400 . a primary refrigerant low pressure sensor 410 monitors pressure in the low side 412 of the primary loop downstream of the precool heat exchanger 114 . the outlet 404 of the vacuum pump 400 can be connected to the inlet 502 of a recovery pump 500 . a 3 way , solenoid operated , recovery valve 506 is located between the vacuum pump 400 and the recovery pump 500 . the outlet 504 of the recovery pump 500 is connected to the primary refrigerant recovery bottle 512 via a check valve 508 . a primary refrigerant recovery pressure sensor 510 monitors the pressure in the recovery bottle 512 . a 2 way , solenoid operated , bypass valve 406 is located in a bypass loop 407 between the low side 412 of the primary loop upstream of the vacuum pump 400 and the high side 212 of the primary loop downstream of the fluid controller 208 . a solenoid operated bypass loop vent valve 408 is connected to the bypass loop 407 . in the catheter 300 , the high pressure primary refrigerant flows through an impedance device such as a capillary tube 306 , then expands into the distal portion of the catheter 300 , where the resultant cooling is applied to surrounding tissues . a catheter tip temperature sensor 307 , such as a thermocouple , monitors the temperature of the distal portion of the catheter 300 . a catheter return line 308 returns the effluent refrigerant from the catheter 300 to the precool heat exchanger 114 . the high and low pressure sides of the catheter 300 are connected to the heat exchanger quick connects 304 by a pair of catheter quick connects 302 . as an alternative to pairs of quick connects 302 , 304 , coaxial quick connects can be used . in either case , the quick connects may carry both refrigerant flow and electrical signals . in the precool loop , compressed secondary refrigerant is supplied by a precool compressor 100 . an after cooler 106 can be connected to the outlet 104 of the precool compressor 100 to cool and condense the secondary refrigerant . an oil separator 108 can be connected in the high side 117 of the precool loop , with an oil return line 110 returning oil to the precool compressor 100 . a high pressure precooler pressure sensor 112 senses pressure in the high side 117 of the precool loop . the high side 117 of the precool loop is connected to an impedance device such as a capillary tube 116 within the housing of the precool heat exchanger 114 . high pressure secondary refrigerant flows through the capillary tube 116 , then expands into the secondary side of the cooling coil of the precool heat exchanger 114 , where it cools the high pressure primary refrigerant . the effluent of the secondary side of the precool heat exchanger 114 returns via the low side 118 of the precool loop to the inlet 102 of the precool compressor 100 . a low pressure precooler pressure sensor 120 senses pressure in the low side 118 of the precool loop . instead of using primary refrigerant supply and return bottles , the apparatus can use one or more primary compressors in a closed loop system . fig2 shows a second embodiment of the apparatus of the present invention , with a single compressor system . this embodiment would be appropriate in applications where the high side and low side pressures can be adequately controlled with a single compressor . in the apparatus 10 ′ of this type of system , the low side 622 of the primary loop conducts the effluent of the catheter 300 to the inlet 602 of a primary refrigerant compressor 600 . the compressor 600 compresses the primary refrigerant , and returns it from the compressor outlet 604 via the high side 612 of the primary loop to the primary side of the precool heat exchanger 114 . a primary refrigerant high pressure sensor 614 is provided in the high side 612 of the primary loop , to monitor the primary refrigerant pressure applied to the precool heat exchanger 114 . a primary refrigerant high pressure flow sensor 312 can be provided in the high side 612 of the primary loop . a primary refrigerant low pressure sensor 610 monitors pressure in the low side 622 of the primary loop downstream of the precool heat exchanger 114 . a primary loop filter 608 can be provided in the low side 622 of the primary loop . a 2 way , solenoid operated , primary refrigerant charge valve 626 and a primary refrigerant reservoir 628 can be provided in the low side 622 of the primary loop . a high pressure after - cooler 605 can be provided downstream of the primary refrigerant compressor 600 . as further shown in fig2 , a 2 way , solenoid operated , primary loop bypass valve 606 is located in a bypass loop 607 between the low side 622 of the primary loop upstream of the compressor 600 and the high side 612 of the primary loop downstream of the compressor 600 . opening of the primary loop bypass valve 606 can facilitate startup of the primary compressor 600 . a precool loop filter 101 can be provided in the low side 118 of the precool loop . further , a 2 way , solenoid operated , precool loop bypass valve 111 is located in a bypass loop 119 between the low side 118 of the precool loop upstream of the compressor 100 and the high side 117 of the precool loop downstream of the compressor 100 . opening of the precool loop bypass valve 111 can facilitate startup of the precool compressor 100 . a purification system 900 can be provided for removing contaminants from the primary refrigerant and the secondary refrigerant . solenoid operated 3 way purification valves 609 , 611 are provided in the high side and low side , respectively , of the primary loop , for selectively directing the primary refrigerant through the purification system 900 . similarly , solenoid operated 3 way purification valves 115 , 113 are provided in the high side and low side , respectively , of the precool loop , for selectively directing the secondary refrigerant through the purification system 900 . the remainder of the precool loop , the precool heat exchanger 114 , and the catheter 300 are the same as discussed above for the first embodiment . in applications where separate low side and high side pressure control is required , but where a closed loop system is desired , a two compressor primary system may be used . fig3 shows a third embodiment of the apparatus of the present invention , with a dual compressor system . in the apparatus 10 ″ of this type of system , the low side 622 of the primary loop conducts the effluent of the catheter 300 to the inlet 616 of a low side primary refrigerant compressor 618 . the low side compressor 618 compresses the primary refrigerant , and provides it via its outlet 620 to the inlet 602 of a high side primary refrigerant compressor 600 . a low pressure after - cooler 623 can be provided downstream of the low side compressor 618 . the high side compressor 600 further compresses the primary refrigerant to a higher pressure and returns it via its outlet 604 and via the high side 612 of the primary loop to the primary side of the precool heat exchanger 114 . a primary refrigerant high pressure sensor 614 is provided in the high side 612 of the primary loop , to monitor the high side primary refrigerant pressure upstream of the precool heat exchanger 114 . a primary refrigerant low pressure sensor 610 monitors pressure in the low side 622 of the primary loop downstream of the precool heat exchanger 114 . a primary refrigerant intermediate pressure sensor 624 monitors pressure between the outlet 620 of the low side compressor 618 and the inlet 602 of the high side compressor 600 . the high side compressor 600 and the low side compressor 618 are separately controlled , using feedback from the catheter tip pressure sensor 310 and / or the flow sensors 311 , 312 . as further shown in fig3 , a 3 way , solenoid operated , bypass valve 606 ′ is located in a bypass loop 607 between the low side 622 of the primary loop upstream of the low side compressor 618 and the high side 612 of the primary loop downstream of the high side compressor 600 . a third port is connected between the high side and low side compressors . the precool loop , the precool heat exchanger 114 , and the catheter 300 are the same as discussed above for the first and second embodiments . fig4 shows a control diagram which would be suitable for use with the apparatus shown in fig1 . a computerized automatic control system 700 is connected to the various sensors and control devices to sense and control the operation of the system , and to provide safety measures , such as shut down schemes . more specifically , on the sensing side , the low pressure precool sensor 120 inputs low side precool pressure pa , the high pressure precool sensor 112 inputs high side precool pressure pb , the primary supply pressure sensor 202 inputs supply bottle pressure p 1 , the primary recovery pressure sensor 510 inputs recovery bottle pressure p 2 , the high pressure primary sensor 210 inputs high side primary pressure p 3 , the low pressure primary sensor 410 inputs low side primary pressure p 4 , the catheter tip pressure sensor 310 inputs catheter tip pressure p 5 , the temperature sensor 307 inputs catheter tip temperature t , and the flow sensor 311 inputs primary refrigerant flow rate f . further , on the control side , the control system 700 energizes the normally closed bypass valve 406 to open it , energizes the normally open vent valve 408 to close it , and energizes the recovery valve 506 to connect the vacuum pump outlet 404 to the recovery pump inlet 502 . finally , the control system 700 provides a pressure set point spp or flow rate set point spf to the fluid controller 208 , depending upon whether it is a pressure controller or a flow controller . fig5 shows a control diagram which would be suitable for use with the apparatus shown in fig2 or fig3 . a computerized automatic control system 700 is connected to the various sensors and control devices to sense and control the operation of the system , and to provide safety measures , such as shut down schemes . more specifically , on the sensing side , the low pressure precool sensor 120 inputs low side precool pressure pa , the high pressure precool sensor 112 inputs high side precool pressure pb , the high pressure primary sensor 614 inputs high side primary pressure p 3 , the low pressure primary sensor 610 inputs low side primary pressure p 4 , the catheter tip pressure sensor 310 inputs catheter tip pressure p 5 , the temperature sensor 307 inputs catheter tip temperature t , and the flow sensors 311 , 312 input primary refrigerant flow rate f . further , on the control side , the control system 700 energizes the normally closed primary loop bypass valve 606 , 606 ′ to open it , and the control system 700 energizes the normally closed precool loop bypass valve 111 to open it . the control system 700 also energizes the primary loop purification valves 609 , 611 to selectively purify the primary refrigerant , and the control system 700 energizes the precool loop purification valves 113 , 115 to selectively purify the secondary refrigerant . finally , the control system 700 provides a minimum high side pressure set point pl 2 to the controller 601 of the primary compressor 600 in the system shown in fig2 . alternatively , in the system shown in fig3 , the control system 700 provides a minimum high side pressure set point pl 2 b to the controller 601 of the high side primary compressor 600 , and the control system 700 provides a maximum low side pressure set point pl 2 a to the controller 619 of the low side primary compressor 618 . a numeric digital display , or a graphical display similar to that shown in fig6 , is provided on the cooling console to assist the operator in monitoring and operating the system . for example , on a single graphical display , graphs can be shown of catheter tip temperature t , high side primary pressure p 3 , low side primary pressure p 4 , and primary flow rate f , all versus time . further , on the same display , the operator can position a vertical cursor at a selected time , resulting in the tabular display of the instantaneous values of t , p 3 , p 4 , and f , as well as the average , maximum , and minimum values of these parameters . the present invention will now be further illustrated by describing a typical operational sequence of the open loop embodiment , showing how the control system 700 operates the remainder of the components to start up the system , to provide the desired refrigeration power , and to provide system safety . the system can be operated in the mapping mode , where the cold tip temperature might be maintained at minus 10 c ., or in the ablation mode , where the cold tip temperature might be maintained at minus 65 c . paragraphs are keyed to the corresponding blocks in the flow diagram shown in fig7 . suggested exemplary pressure limits used below could be pl 1 = 160 psia ; pl 2 = 400 psia ; pl 3 = 500 psia ; pl 4 = 700 psia ; pl 5 = 600 psia ; pl 6 = 5 psia ; pl 7 = diastolic pressure ; pl 8 = 375 psia ; and pl 9 = 5 psia . temperature limits , flow limits , procedure times , and procedure types are set by the operator according to the procedure being performed . perform self tests ( block 802 ) of the control system circuitry and connecting circuitry to the sensors and controllers to insure circuit integrity . read and store supply cylinder pressure p 1 , primary low pressure p 4 , and catheter tip pressure p 5 ( block 804 ). at this time , p 4 and p 5 are at atmospheric pressure . if p 1 is less than pressure limit pl 2 ( block 808 ), display a message to replace the supply cylinder ( block 810 ), and prevent further operation . if p 1 is greater than pl 2 , but less than pressure limit pl 3 , display a message to replace the supply cylinder soon , but allow operation to continue . read precool charge pressure pb and recovery cylinder pressure p 2 ( block 806 ). if pb is less than pressure limit pl 1 ( block 808 ), display a message to service the precool loop ( block 810 ), and prevent further operation . if p 2 is greater than pressure limit pl 4 ( block 808 ), display a message to replace the recovery cylinder ( block 810 ), and prevent further operation . if p 2 is less than pl 4 , but greater than pressure limit pl 5 , display a message to replace the recovery cylinder soon , but allow operation to continue . energize the bypass loop vent valve 408 ( block 812 ). the vent valve 408 is a normally open two way solenoid valve open to the atmosphere . when energized , the vent valve 408 is closed . start the precool compressor 100 ( block 814 ). display a message to attach the catheter 300 to the console quick connects 304 ( block 816 ). wait for the physician to attach the catheter 300 , press either the ablation mode key or the mapping mode key , and press the start key ( block 818 ). read the catheter tip temperature t and the catheter tip pressure p 5 . at this time , t is the patient &# 39 ; s body temperature and p 5 is atmospheric pressure . energize the bypass loop valve 406 , while leaving the recovery valve 506 deenergized ( block 820 ). the bypass valve 406 is a normally closed 2 way solenoid valve . energizing the bypass valve 406 opens the bypass loop . the recovery valve 506 is a three way solenoid valve that , when not energized , opens the outlet of the vacuum pump 400 to atmosphere . start the vacuum pump 400 ( block 822 ). these actions will pull a vacuum in the piping between the outlet of the fluid controller 208 and the inlet of the vacuum pump 400 , including the high and low pressure sides of the catheter 300 . monitor p 3 , p 4 , and p 5 ( block 824 ), until all three are less than pressure limit pl 6 ( block 826 ). energize the recovery valve 506 and the recovery pump 500 ( block 828 ). when energized , the recovery valve 506 connects the outlet of the vacuum pump 400 to the inlet of the recovery pump 500 . de - energize the bypass valve 406 , allowing it to close ( block 830 ). send either a pressure set point spp ( if a pressure controller is used ) or a flow rate set point spf ( if a flow controller is used ) to the fluid controller 208 ( block 832 ). where a pressure controller is used , the pressure set point spp is at a pressure which will achieve the desired refrigerant flow rate , in the absence of plugs or leaks . the value of the set point is determined according to whether the physician has selected the mapping mode or the ablation mode . these actions start the flow of primary refrigerant through the catheter 300 and maintain the refrigerant flow rate at the desired level . continuously monitor and display procedure time and catheter tip temperature t ( block 834 ). continuously monitor and display all pressures and flow rates f ( block 836 ). if catheter tip pressure p 5 exceeds pressure limit pl 7 , start the shutdown sequence ( block 840 ). pressure limit pl 7 is a pressure above which the low pressure side of the catheter 300 is not considered safe . if f falls below flow limit fl 1 , and catheter tip temperature t is less than temperature limit tl 1 , start the shutdown sequence ( block 840 ). flow limit fl 1 is a minimum flow rate below which it is determined that a leak or a plug has occurred in the catheter 300 . fl 1 can be expressed as a percentage of the flow rate set point spf . temperature limit tl 1 is a temperature limit factored into this decision step to prevent premature shutdowns before the catheter 300 reaches a steady state at the designed level of refrigeration power . so , if catheter tip temperature t has not yet gone below tl 1 , a low flow rate will not cause a shutdown . if p 3 exceeds pressure limit pl 8 , and f is less than flow limit fl 2 , start the shutdown sequence ( block 840 ). pl 8 is a maximum safe pressure for the high side of the primary system . flow limit fl 2 is a minimum flow rate below which it is determined that a plug has occurred in the catheter 300 , when pl 8 is exceeded . fl 2 can be expressed as a percentage of the flow rate set point spf . if p 4 is less than pressure limit pl 9 , and f is less than flow limit fl 3 , start the shutdown sequence ( block 840 ). pl 9 is a pressure below which it is determined that a plug has occurred in the catheter 300 , when flow is below fl 3 . fl 3 can be expressed as a percentage of the flow rate set point spf . an exemplary shutdown sequence will now be described . send a signal to the fluid controller 208 to stop the primary refrigerant flow ( block 840 ). energize the bypass valve 406 to open the bypass loop ( block 842 ). shut off the precool compressor 100 ( block 844 ). continue running the vacuum pump 400 to pull a vacuum between the outlet of the fluid controller 208 and the inlet of the vacuum pump 400 ( block 846 ). monitor primary high side pressure p 3 , primary low side pressure p 4 , and catheter tip pressure p 5 ( block 848 ) until all three are less than the original primary low side pressure which was read in block 804 at the beginning of the procedure ( block 850 ). then , de - energize the recovery pump 500 , recovery valve 506 , vent valve 408 , bypass valve 406 , and vacuum pump 400 ( block 852 ). display a message suggesting the removal of the catheter 300 , and update a log of all system data ( block 854 ). similar operational procedures , safety checks , and shutdown procedures would be used for the closed loop primary system shown in fig2 or fig3 , except that the primary compressor 600 or compressors 600 , 618 would provide the necessary primary refrigerant flow rate in place of the supply and recovery cylinders , the fluid controller , and the vacuum and recovery pumps . as with the open loop system , the closed loop system can be operated in the mapping mode , where the cold tip temperature might be maintained at minus 10 c ., or in the ablation mode , where the cold tip temperature might be maintained at minus 65 c . as a first option to achieve the desired cold tip temperature , the precool bypass valve 111 can be adjusted to control the liquid fraction resulting after expansion of the secondary refrigerant , thereby adjusting the refrigeration capacity . under this option , primary refrigerant high and low pressures are kept constant . as a second option , or in combination with the first option , primary refrigerant flow rate can be by means of operating controllers 601 , 619 on the primary compressors 600 , 618 to maintain a high pressure set point spp which will achieve the desired flow rate , resulting in the desired cold tip temperature . a service mode is possible , for purification of the primary and secondary refrigerants . in the service mode , the normally open bypass valves 111 , 606 are energized to close . the primary loop purification valves 609 , 611 are selectively aligned with the purification system 900 to purify the primary refrigerant , or the precool loop purification valves 113 , 115 are selectively aligned with the purification system 900 to purify the secondary refrigerant . in either the mapping mode or the ablation mode , the desired cold tip temperature control option is input into the control system 700 . further , the type of catheter is input into the control system 700 . the normally closed charge valve 626 is energized as necessary to build up the primary loop charge pressure . if excessive charging is required , the operator is advised . further , if precool loop charge pressure is below a desired level , the operator is advised . when shutdown is required , the primary loop high side purification valve 609 is closed , and the primary loop compressors 600 , 618 continue to run , to draw a vacuum in the catheter 300 . when the desired vacuum is achieved , the primary loop low side purification valve 611 is closed . this isolates the primary loop from the catheter 300 , and the disposable catheter 300 can be removed . referring to fig8 , a system for performing cryoablation procedures is shown and generally designated 910 . as shown , the system 910 includes a cryoablation catheter 912 and a primary fluid source 914 . preferably , the primary fluid is nitrous oxide ( n 2 o ) and is held in source 914 at a pressure of around 750 psig . fig8 also shows that the system 910 includes a console 916 and that the console 916 is connected in fluid communication with the primary fluid source 914 via a fluid line 918 . console 916 is also connected in fluid communication with the catheter 912 via a fluid line 920 . further , the console 916 is shown to include a precooler 922 , an exhaust unit 924 , and a computer 926 . in detail , the components of the catheter 912 will be best appreciated with reference to fig9 . there , it will be seen that the catheter 912 includes a catheter tube 928 that has a closed distal end 930 and an open proximal end 932 . also included as part of the catheter 912 , are a supply tube 934 that has a distal end 936 and a proximal end 938 , and a capillary tube 940 that has a distal end 942 and a proximal end 944 . as shown , the distal end 936 of supply tube 934 is connected with the proximal end 944 of the capillary tube 940 to establish a supply line 946 . specifically , supply line 946 is defined by the lumen 948 of supply tube 934 and the lumen 950 of capillary tube 940 . it is an important aspect of the system 910 that the diameter ( i . e . cross section ) of the supply tube 934 is greater than the diameter ( i . e . cross section ) of the capillary tube 940 . the consequence of this difference is that the supply tube 934 presents much less impedance to fluid flow than does the capillary tube 940 . in turn , this causes a much greater pressure drop for fluid flow through the capillary tube 940 . as will be seen , this pressure differential is used to advantage for the system 910 . still referring to fig9 , it is seen that the supply line 946 established by the supply tube 934 and capillary tube 940 , is positioned coaxially in the lumen 952 of the catheter tube 928 . further , the distal end 942 of the capillary tube 940 ( i . e . also the distal end of the supply line 946 ) is displaced from the distal end 930 of catheter tube 928 to create an expansion chamber 954 in the tip section 956 of the catheter 912 . additionally , the placement of the supply line 946 in the lumen 952 establishes a return line 958 in the catheter 912 that is located between the supply line 946 and the wall of the catheter tube 928 . optionally , a sensor 960 can be mounted in expansion chamber 954 ( tip section 956 ). this sensor 960 may be either a temperature sensor or a pressure sensor , or it may include both a temperature and pressure sensor . in any event , if used , the sensor 960 can be of a type well known in the art for detecting the desired measurement . although fig9 shows both a pressure sensor 962 and a valve 964 positioned at the proximal end 938 of the supply tube 934 , this is only exemplary as the sensor 962 and valve 964 may actually be positioned elsewhere . the import here is that a pressure sensor 962 is provided to monitor a working fluid pressure , “ p w ,” on a fluid refrigerant ( e . g . n 2 o ). in turn , this pressure “ p w ” is controlled by a valve 964 as it enters the inlet 966 of the supply line 946 . further , fig9 shows that a pressure sensor 968 is provided to monitor a return pressure “ p r ” on the fluid refrigerant as it exits from the outlet 970 of the return line 958 . fig1 indicates that the various sensors mentioned above are somehow electronically connected to the computer 926 in console 916 . more specifically , the sensors 960 , 962 and 968 can be connected to computer 926 in any of several ways , all known in the pertinent art . further , fig1 indicates that the computer 926 is operationally connected with the valve 964 . the consequence of this is that the computer 926 can be used to control operation of the valve 964 , and thus the working pressure “ p w ”, in accordance with preprogrammed instructions , using measurements obtained by the sensors 960 , 962 and 968 ( individually or collectively ). a schematic of various components for system 910 is presented in fig1 which indicates that a compressor 972 is incorporated as an integral part of the precooler 922 . more specifically , the compressor 972 is used to compress a secondary fluid refrigerant ( e . g . freon ) into its liquid phase for subsequent cooling of the primary refrigerant in the precooler 922 . for purposes of the present invention , the secondary fluid refrigerant will have a normal boiling point that is at a temperature sufficiently low to take the primary fluid refrigerant to a sub - cool condition ( i . e . below a temperature where the primary fluid refrigerant will be fully saturated ). for the present invention , wherein the primary fluid refrigerant is nitrous oxide , the temperature is preferably around minus forty degrees centigrade ( t sc =− 40 ° c .). the operation of system 910 will be best appreciated by cross referencing fig1 with fig1 . during this cross referencing , recognize that the alphabetical points ( a , b , c , d and e ), shown relative to the curve 974 in fig1 , are correspondingly shown on the schematic for system 910 in fig1 . further , appreciate that curve 974 , which is plotted for variations of pressure ( p ) and temperature ( t ), represents the fully saturated condition for the primary fluid refrigerant ( e . g . nitrous oxide ). accordingly , the area 976 represents the liquid phase of the refrigerant , and area 978 represents the gaseous phase of the refrigerant . point a ( fig1 and fig1 ) represents the primary fluid refrigerant as it is drawn from the fluid source 914 , or its back up source 914 ′. preferably , point a corresponds to ambient temperature ( i . e . room temperature ) and a pressure greater than around 700 psig . after leaving the fluid source 914 , the pressure on the refrigerant is lowered to a working pressure “ p w ” that is around 400 psig . this change is controlled by the regulator valve 964 , is monitored by the sensor 962 , and is represented in fig1 as the change from point a to point b . the condition at point b corresponds to the condition of the primary refrigerant as it enters the precooler 922 . in the precooler 922 , the primary refrigerant is cooled to a sub - cool temperature “ t sc ” ( e . g . − 40 ° c .) that is determined by the boiling point of the secondary refrigerant in the precooler 922 . in fig1 this cooling is represented by the transition from point b to point c . note that in this transition , as the primary fluid refrigerant passes through the precooler 922 , it changes from a gaseous state ( area 978 ) into a liquid state ( area 976 ). point c in fig1 represents the condition of the primary fluid refrigerant as it enters the supply line 946 of cryocatheter 12 at the proximal end 938 of supply tube 934 . specifically , the pressure on the primary fluid refrigerant at this point c is the working pressure “ p w ”, and the temperature is the sub - cool temperature “ t sc ”. as the primary fluid refrigerant passes through the supply line 946 of catheter 12 , its condition changes from the indications of point c , to those of point d . specifically , for the present invention , point d is identified by a temperature of around minus eighty eight degrees centigrade (− 88 ° c .) and an outlet pressure “ p o ” that is close to 15 psia . further , as indicated in fig1 , point d identifies the conditions of the primary fluid refrigerant after it has boiled in the tip section 956 as it is leaving the supply line 946 and entering the return line 958 of the catheter 12 . the exhaust unit 924 of the catheter 912 is used to evacuate the primary fluid refrigerant from the expansion chamber 954 of tip section 956 after the primary refrigerant has boiled . during this evacuation , the conditions of the primary refrigerant change from point d to point e . specifically , the conditions at point e are such that the temperature of the refrigerant is an ambient temperature ( i . e . room temperature ) and it has a return pressure “ p r ”, measured by the sensor 968 , that is slightly less than “ p o ”. for the transition from point d to point e , the main purpose of the exhaust unit 924 is to help maintain the outlet pressure “ p o ” in the tip section 956 as near to one atmosphere pressure as possible . earlier it was mentioned that the mass flow rate of the primary fluid refrigerant as it passes through the catheter 912 has an effect on the operation of the catheter 912 . essentially this effect is shown in fig1 . there it will be seen that for relatively low mass flow rates ( e . g . below point f on curve 980 shown in fig1 ), increases in the mass flow rate of the refrigerant will cause lower temperatures . refrigerant flow in this range is said to be “ refrigeration limited .” on the other hand , for relatively high mass flow rates ( i . e . above point f ), increases in the mass flow rate actually cause the temperature of the refrigerant to rise . flow in this range is said to be “ surface area limited .” because the system 910 is most efficient at the lowest temperature for the refrigerant , operation at point f is preferred . accordingly , by monitoring the temperature of the refrigerant in the tip section 956 , “ t t ”, variations of t t can be used to control the mass flow rate of the refrigerant , to thereby control the refrigeration potential of the catheter 912 . in operation , the variables mentioned above ( p w , p o , p r , and t t ) can be determined as needed . system 910 then manipulates the regulator valve 964 , in response to whatever variables are being used , to vary the working pressure “ p w ” of the primary fluid refrigerant as it enters the supply line 946 . in this way , variations in “ p w ” can be used to control “ p o ” and , consequently , the refrigeration potential of the catheter 912 . while the particular invention as herein shown and disclosed in detail is fully capable of obtaining the objects and providing the advantages herein before stated , it is to be understood that it is merely illustrative of the presently preferred embodiments of the invention and that no limitations are intended to the details of construction or design herein shown other than as described in the appended claims .
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when referred to herein , the terminology “ wireless transmit / receive unit ( wtru )” includes but is not limited to a user equipment ( ue ), a mobile station , a fixed or mobile subscriber unit , mobile station ( ms ), a pager , a cellular telephone , a personal digital assistant ( pda ), a computer , or any other type of user device capable of operating in a wireless environment . when referred to herein , the terminology “ base station ” includes but is not limited to a node - b , a site controller , an access point ( ap ), or any other type of interfacing device capable of operating in a wireless environment . the subject matter disclosed herein may be applicable to all realizations of the muros / vamos concept . they are applicable to , for example , approaches that use : ( 1 ) oscs multiplexed signals by means of modulation , including qpsk modulation ; ( 2 ) signals relying on interference - cancelling receivers which employ , for example , downlink advanced receiver performance ( darp ) technology ; and ( 3 ) a combination of osc and signals relying on interference - cancelling receivers . additionally , although examples may be provided indicating a particular modulation type , the principles described herein may equally be applied to other modulation types , including gmsk ( guassian minimum shift keying ), 8 - phase shift keying ( 8 - psk ), 16 - quadrature amplitude modulation ( qam ), 32 - qam , and other modulation types . variable sacch misalignments may be used to improve the sacch allocation in geran multiframes . for example , variable sacch misalignments may be used in scenarios involving multiplexing with a muros / vamos capable wtru or a legacy wtru . according to this method , the sacch occurrences for muros / vamos multiplexed users may be misaligned or shifted to provide the opportunity to exclusively use the full timeslot resource for a single user . alternatively , the sacch occurrences may be misaligned or shifted to provide a transmission opportunity to achieve better control channel decoding performance . the following examples apply to both the full rate and half rate scenarios . fig2 shows a transmission scenario using a variable misalignment of control data on the facch or sacch in the context of muros / vamos . fig2 shows a bs 200 in communication with a first wtru 202 and a second wtru 204 . the first wtru 202 performs 206 a resource assignment , registration , or other set up procedure as described above . the second wtru 204 performs 208 a similar procedure . performance of the set up procedures 206 , 208 may involve communication of signals from the bs 200 to the wtrus 202 , 204 as described above , the signals indicating a relationship between the wtrus and identifiers that will correspond to the wtrus 202 , 204 in subsequent sacch / facch transmissions . the first wtru 202 receives data 210 from the bs 200 on a first osc in a timeslot . the second wtru 204 receives data 212 from the bs 200 on a second osc in the timeslot . the bs 200 generates a facch or sacch transmission as described above and sends the transmission 214 , 216 to both the first wtru 202 and the second wtru 204 . fig3 is a diagram of an example osc multiframe misalignment . in this example , the mapping of sacch and the idle frame occurrences may be swapped for the muros / vamos capable wtru . referring to fig3 , a first wtru may use a first osc multiframe 310 when using muros / vamos resources . a second wtru may use an osc multiframe 320 when using the same muros / vamos resource . in the first osc multiframe , the sacch frame is in slot 12 and the idle frame is in slot 25 . in the second osc multiframe 320 , the sacch frame and the idle frame are swapped such that the sacch frame is in slot 25 and the idle frame is in slot 12 . this swapping of the sacch and idle frames allows both wtrus to decode the sacch and allow muros / vamos operation in weak signal and / or strong interference conditions . fig4 is a diagram of an example sacch transmission scenario 400 . based on the osc multiframe misalignment described above , transmission of the sacch to the first wtru may be performed using the full power per timeslot , or a more robust modulation type such as gmsk . the bs 410 informs the muros / vamos capable wtrus 420 , 430 , for example , during the channel assignment phase , that a sacch frame and idle frame are swapped in the multiframe configuration 440 . the bs 410 then sends a sacch frame in each of the two osc frames in every multiframe 450 , one for the first wtru 460 and another one for the second wtru 470 . it is important to realize that , when doing so , the bs may choose to transmit a gmsk burst during the sacch frame with higher power as opposed to a qpsk burst since one of the wtrus always assumes that this frame is an idle one . in the event that two muros / vamos capable wtrus are multiplexed in the same timeslot , both of them must be notified by the network about the applied sacch / idle configuration . when a legacy wtru is assigned to use muros / vamos resources along with a muros / vamos - capable wtru , the legacy wtru must use the legacy multi - frame format ( sacch in frame 13 ), whereas the muros / vamos - capable wtru uses the modified format ( sacch in frame 26 ). fig5 is an example of a full rate multiframe misalignment scenario 500 in a wireless communication system with legacy wtrus and muros / vamos - capable wtrus . referring to fig5 , wtru1 510 and wtru2 520 are two wtrus paired on a channel multiframe , where wtru1 510 is a legacy wtru and wtru2 520 is a muros / vamos - capable wtru . as shown in fig5 , the sacch frame for wtru1 510 is shifted forward to frame 14 , and the sacch frame for wtru2 520 is shifted to frame 25 . the depicted frame shift of the sacch is for illustration only and it is understood that the shift is variable . additionally , the number of frames of the shift may change from multiframe to multiframe . fig6 is an example of a multiframe misalignment that may be adapted for a half rate scenario applying similar principles as described above . an alternative method of improving the sacch performance includes applying a power offset in the transmit power level of the sacch frames when compared to the tch frames . the power offset may be configurable , or a fixed rule - based power offset compared to either one or more reference frames . in yet another alternate method , the sacch performance may be improved by modifying a radio link failure criterion used in legacy gsm networks such that the radio link failure criterion does not rely on the associated control channels , or at least , not exclusively . for example , an rlt criterion may be used as a threshold for the number of rlt failures before a call is dropped . in this example , the rlt criterion may be modified to check against missed sacch decodings and / or link quality , such as bit error rate ( ber ) or other representative quality measures , as observed on the traffic channel . the rlt criterion may be relaxed through increasing the rlt value for wtrus operating in muros / vamos environments . in another embodiment , stealing flags may be used to indicate resource sharing among oscs assigned to different wtrus for control channel transmission . fig7 is a flow diagram of a method 700 for a wtru to receive a facch on a sub - channel reserved for another wtru . the wtru receives 701 a frame . the frame may be a voice frame or a facch control frame . the wtru analyzes 702 the frame to check if stealing flags are set to indicate a facch transmission . if the stealing flags are not set , the wtru does not decode 704 for a facch transmission . if the stealing flags are set to indicate a facch transmission , then the wtru decodes 708 the facch transmission on sub - channels of one or more wtrus with which it is multiplexed . alternatively , the wtru may decode the facch transmission on its own sub - channel as well as the sub - channel of one or more other wtrus . in another alternative , resource stealing from the other osc may be used to convey the associated control channel ( sacch or facch ) to a wtru . stealing flags may indicate not only the presence of the facch , but also which osc the facch is carried on . for example , where qpsk or 16 - qam is used , the two stealing flag bits may indicate an osc based on the following organization : “ 00 ” indicates a speech frame ; “ 01 ” indicates a facch on a first osc ; and “ 11 ” indicates a facch on a second osc . the specific code points may of course be changed as their meanings are implementation details . alternatively , rules may be defined to determine when a facch for a first wtru may be carried on the osc allocated for a second wtru . for example , the first wtru may search for a facch addressed to it by decoding a second wtru &# 39 ; s osc at every nth occurrence or according to a pre - determined assignment pattern . a wtru may decode sacch transmissions on the other osc to determine if a message for it is carried there when multi - frame structures for individual wtrus or groups of wtrus are offset compared to those corresponding to other oscs . an identifier indicating a recipient wtru of a sacch or facch message may be realized in layer one , layer two , or layer three messages , used individually or in combination . for example , a portion of an identifier may be carried in layer two , while another portion of the identifier may be carried in layer three . as a more specific example , a stealing flag may indicate the presence of the facch to a wtru , and / or indicate a sub - channel on which the facch should be received . the facch message itself may then also include an indicator according to any of the embodiments described above that identifies the wtru as the recipient . fig8 is a flow diagram of an example approach to sending control information targeted at a wtru in the context of osc using layer one parameters . in the dl , a bs transmits system information messages to wtrus over the majority of the sacch lifetime . in most instances , the layer three information included in the system information message is the same for all of the wtrus multiplexed on a same timeslot using osc . however , there are also two layer one parameters ( the timing advance ( ta ) and the power command ( pc )) that are sent in lapdm frames used for sacch . these two parameters are appended as two octets by layer one onto the lapdm frames for sacch . therefore , although the layer three contents of the system information messages may be the same for multiple wtrus multiplexed onto a timeslot , the layer one parameters may be different for the different wtrus . fig8 shows layer one parameters sent to the wtrus in an osc pair in alternating sacch frames . the first wtru 802 performs 806 a resource assignment , registration , or other set up procedure to coordinate communications with the bs 800 . the second wtru 804 performs 808 a similar procedure . performance 806 , 808 of the set up procedures may involve the transmission of signals from the bs 800 to the wtrus 802 , 804 for coordinating the reception and interpretation of layer one parameters as described in further detail below . for example , the set up procedures may involve data transmitted from the bs 800 to the wtrus 802 , 804 indicating that sacch frames will include layer one parameters for the two wtrus 802 , 804 on an alternating basis . the first wtru 802 receives data 810 from the bs 800 on a first osc in a timeslot . the second wtru 804 receives data 812 from the bs 800 on a second osc in the timeslot . the bs 800 generates a first sacch transmission containing layer one parameters such as the ta and pc parameters as described above , with the intended recipient being the first wtru , and the frame is received 814 by the first wtru 802 . the first wtru 802 processes 816 the control data in the frame including the layer one parameters and reacts accordingly . the second wtru may or may not also receive and process the first sacch frame ( not depicted ), though it will be configured to ignore the layer one parameters included in the frame . the bs 800 generates the next sacch frame to contain layer one parameters intended for the second wtru 804 and transmits 818 the second sacch frame . the second sacch frame is received and the layer one parameters are processed 820 by the second wtru 804 , and the second wtru 804 reacts accordingly . the second sacch frame may or may not be received and processed by the first wtru ( not depicted ), but the first wtru 802 may be configured to ignore the layer one parameters included in the frame . this method may then continue , with alternating sacch transmissions including layer one parameters for the two wtrus 802 , 804 . in addition to alternating sacch transmissions as shown in fig8 , the sacch transmissions may be sent according to various other orders and transmission patterns . as shown in fig8 , the rules for associations between the orders of the sacch and the intended recipients may be signaled during a set up procedure as described in fig8 . alternatively , the rules may be derived implicitly based on known parameters . further , a rule associating a particular sacch occurrence with either a single wtru or group may be used . for example , a first wtru may decode the sacch at predetermined occurrences , but will disregard the layer one parameters received at these occurrences because they are intended for a second wtru . the first wtru also decodes the sacch at other predetermined occurrences , but does act on the layer one parameters received at these other occurrences . the sets of predetermined occurrences may or may not overlap . fig9 is a diagram of an example multiframe format 900 using a common sacch addressed to more than one wtru using a muros / vamos timeslot . the multiframe 900 includes 26 frames , some of which are control channel frames 910 . each frame is divided into 8 timeslots , and each timeslot may be divided into a plurality of sub - channels , for example a first osc 920 and a second osc 930 . in a first example , information specific to a particular wtru , such as layer one information containing ta and pc , may be multiplexed in several occurrences of the control channel frame 910 . since only a single sacch or facch is required , the number of channel bits available is doubled for increased channel coding . alternatively , the same number of channel coded bits may be achieved using a more robust modulation type such as gmsk . it is possible to apply this method to interlace or schedule either exclusively , or a combination of a certain number of individual sacchs addressed to a wtru , with a certain number of common sacchs addressed to more than one wtru , for example using a first osc 920 for wtru1 and a second osc 930 for wtru2 . alternatively , a repeated sacch and / or repeated facch feature 810 may be used in conjunction with muros / vamos operation . alternatively , a higher number of occurrences per multi - frame ( or time period ) than in legacy gsm speech multiframes is used for the associated control channels 910 in conjunction with muros / vamos operation . the increased number of transmission opportunities may in turn be used to provide more decoding opportunities to the wtru ( and therefore , increase the chance not to meet the radio link timeout criteria ), or to increase the channel coding and improve upon decoding robustness . in yet another alternative , incremental - redundancy , repetition and / or chase combining methods may be used for the associated control channels when used in conjunction with muros / vamos mode of operation . these may be employed upon successive occurrences of sacch or facch . fig1 is a functional block diagram of a wtru 1000 and a bs 1050 configured in accordance with the methods described above . the wtru 1000 includes a processor 1001 in communication with a receiver 1002 , transmitter 1003 , and antenna 1004 . the processor 1001 may be configured to process misaligned or shifted facch and sacch messages as described above . the bs 1050 includes a processor 1051 in communication with a receiver 1052 , transmitter 1053 , antenna 1054 , and a channel allocator 1055 . the channel allocator 1055 may be part of the processor 1051 , or it may be a separate unit in communication with the processor 1051 . the channel allocator 1055 may be configured to generate misaligned or shifted facch and sacch messages as described above . the wtru 1000 may include additional transmitters and receivers ( not depicted ) in communication with the processor 1001 and antenna 1004 for use in multi - mode operation , as well as other components described above . the wtru 1000 may include additional optional components ( not depicted ) such as a display , keypad , microphone , speaker , or other components . although features and elements are described above in particular combinations , each feature or element can be used alone without the other features and elements or in various combinations with or without other features and elements . the methods or flow charts provided herein may be implemented in a computer program , software , or firmware incorporated in a computer - readable storage medium for execution by a general purpose computer or a processor . examples of computer - readable storage mediums include a read only memory ( rom ), a random access memory ( ram ), a register , cache memory , semiconductor memory devices , magnetic media such as internal hard disks and removable disks , magneto - optical media , and optical media such as cd - rom disks , and digital versatile disks ( dvds ). suitable processors include , by way of example , a general purpose processor , a special purpose processor , a conventional processor , a digital signal processor ( dsp ), a plurality of microprocessors , one or more microprocessors in association with a dsp core , a controller , a microcontroller , application specific integrated circuits ( asics ), field programmable gate arrays ( fpgas ) circuits , any other type of integrated circuit ( ic ), and / or a state machine . a processor in association with software may be used to implement a radio frequency transceiver for use in a wireless transmit receive unit ( wtru ), user equipment ( ue ), terminal , base station , radio network controller ( rnc ), or any host computer . the wtru may be used in conjunction with modules , implemented in hardware and / or software , such as a camera , a video camera module , a videophone , a speakerphone , a vibration device , a speaker , a microphone , a television transceiver , a hands free headset , a keyboard , a bluetooth ® module , a frequency modulated ( fm ) radio unit , a liquid crystal display ( lcd ) display unit , an organic light - emitting diode ( oled ) display unit , a digital music player , a media player , a video game player module , an internet browser , and / or any wireless local area network ( wlan ) or ultra wide band ( uwb ) module .
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with reference to the drawing , fig1 and 3 are views of an embodiment of the self - contained weighing system , indicated generally at 10 and constructed according to the teaching of the present invention . fig1 shows a top view of weighing system 10 , while fig2 and 3 are side views of system 10 taken along lines 2 -- 2 and 3 -- 3 , respectively . self - contained weighing system 10 is enclosed in a housing having generally two portions 12 and 14 . housing portion 12 houses a load cell 16 and printed circuit ( pc ) boards 18 , 20 and 22 containing digital circuitry , analog circuitry and a power supply , respectively . additionally , precaution is taken for overheating , electromagnetic and radio frequency noise using heat sinks , heat spreaders , and shielding devices , which are not shown in the drawing . the load cell 16 includes a top force supporting surface 24 which extends beyond the top surface of load cell 16 and a bottom force supporting surface 25 which extends beyond the bottom surface of load cell 16 . surface 24 includes a concavity 26 for receiving a protruding element of an aircraft or vehicle ( not shown ) designed and constructed for this purpose . the concavity 26 is generally spherical . a locating pin 28 is mounted to housing portion 12 directly opposing concavity 26 and is insertable into a hydraulic lift jack ( not shown ), which may be used to elevate the weighing system and the object supported thereon . self - contained weighing system 10 may be constructed with load cells of varying weight capacities , anywhere from , for example , five thousand pounds to two hundred thousand pounds . preferably , load cell 16 is manufactured by general electrodynamics corporation of arlington , tex . a transducer is coupled to weight supporting surface 24 and detects the change in resistance in the material due to stress caused by force on surface 24 . housing portion 12 further includes a top portion 30 and a bottom portion 32 ; the two portions are held firmly together with fasteners 34 , such as bolts . housing portion 14 is coupled to housing portion 12 and encloses the rest of the components of self - contained weighing system 10 , including a rechargeable battery 36 , a 16 × 1 alphanumeric liquid crystal display ( lcd ) 38 , and an lcd driver pc board 40 . lcd 38 , such as one manufactured by densitron , displays the weight of the object being weighed and the unit of measurement , as well as system status messages , such as low battery and recharge battery . additionally , lcd 38 may display error messages in association with the operation of system 10 . lcd 38 may be mounted in a tiltable assembly ( not shown ) so that the angle of viewing may be varied . a keyboard 42 is mounted on housing portion 14 and contains three depressible keys 44 , 46 and 48 . the keys 44 , 46 and 48 are associated with specific functions such as zero , power on / off , and unit of measurement , respectively . also mounted on the housing portion 14 are two receptacles 50 and 52 for recharging battery 36 and for connecting a portable terminal ( shown in fig4 ) to weighing system 10 , respectively . the function of the portable terminal will be discussed in detail below . it is to be noted that the positions of lcd 38 , keyboard 42 and receptacles 50 and 52 on housing portion 14 may differ from those shown in fig1 - 3 without departing from the teachings of the present invention . to allow cables to pass between housing portions 12 and 14 , two through holes 54 and 56 are drilled in the wall adjoining the two portions . self - contained weighing system 10 may also be used in crane weighing and lifting applications . in such applications , system 10 would include coupling members such as threaded assemblies in place of surface 24 , concavity 26 and locating pin 28 . constructed in this fashion , system 10 may be coupled between the crane and a load to measure the load weight . an annunciator ( not shown ) for overload alarm may be coupled to system 10 to sound an audible alarm . the annunciator may be coupled to system 10 through receptacle 52 . in another embodiment of the present invention , a plurality of self - contained weighing system 10 may be coupled to a platform to form a weighing scale . each self - contained weighing system 10 may be connected to a central display and / or computing unit ( not shown ) through receptacle 52 for a collective display of weights measured . referring to fig4 which provides an overview of the circuitry in system 10 , the differential output of a transducer 60 is coupled to one input of a four - to - one differential analog multiplexer ( mux ) 62 via lines 64 . transducer 60 produces differential load signals having amplitudes proportional to the weight of the object being measured . preferably , transducer 60 is of an electrical bridge type strain gage . analog mux 62 receives two other differential inputs : analog zero and analog max , which are voltage levels used during autocalibration to be discussed below . analog mux 62 is further coupled to a microprocessor 66 , preferably sc80c451 manufactured by signetics corporation , via lines 68 and 70 . analog mux 62 selects one of the three differential signals on its inputs , and outputs the selected signal on an output 72 depending on the state of control signals on lines 68 and 70 . output 72 of analog mux 62 is connected to circuit components in an amplifier section 74 , the details of which will be discussed below in conjunction with fig5 . the output of amplifier section 74 is coupled to an analog to digital ( a / d ) converter 76 , which converts the analog signal received at its input to a digital signal at its output . preferably , a / d converter 76 is model cs5501 or cs5503 manufactured by crystal semiconductor corporation of austin , tex . the output of a / d converter 76 is connected to microprocessor 66 . a memory 78 , including a rom ( read - only memory ), a ram ( random access memory ) and an eeprom ( electrically erasable and programmable read - only memory ), is coupled to microprocessor 66 for storage . microprocessor 66 also has internal ram ( not shown ). in addition , microprocessor 66 may possess features common to most microprocessor devices , such as input / output ( i / o ) ports , registers , buffers , an arithmetic logic unit ( alu ) and the like . an internal uart ( universal asynchronous receiver and transmitter ) 80 in microprocessor 66 is coupled to an rs232c level shifter 82 , which may be coupled to a portable terminal 84 through receptacle 52 ( shown in fig3 ). portable terminal 84 is used during a calibration step as part of the manufacturing process , and may or may not include real computing capability . portable terminal 84 includes a display screen and a plurality of keys . microprocessor 66 is further coupled to display 38 and keyboard 42 , both shown in fig3 to provide an interface to a human operator . a battery 86 supplies 12 volts of electrical power to self - contained weighing system 10 . the positive node of battery 86 is coupled to an emitter of a transistor 88 . a base of transistor 88 is connected to a drain of a metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor ( mosfet ) 90 . the base of transistor 88 is also connected to an input port of microprocessor 66 via line 92 , on which a signal on / off is delivered from the base of transistor 88 to microprocessor 66 . mosfet 90 is controlled by an on enable signal on line 94 generated by microprocessor 66 . one input of a comparator 96 is coupled to a collector of transistor 88 through a resistor 98 . comparator 96 compares the voltage level of battery 86 with a reference voltage source ref coupled to another input of comparator 96 , and produces at least one battery status signal on line 99 . line 99 is connected to an input port of microprocessor 66 . the details of this battery status signal producing section will be discussed in connection with fig7 below . referring to fig5 where like numerals refer to like elements in fig4 transducer 60 comprises strain gages 100 to 106 connected in an electrical bridge circuit which provide an analog load signal on lines 108 and 110 indicating the load applied on load cell 16 . excitation to the electrical bridge circuit is provided on lines 112 and 114 having positive six volts and approximately negative 5 . 4 volts , respectively . transducer 60 compensates for variations in ambient temperature by incorporating materials in the electrical bridge circuit that effectively cancel the temperature effects . such techniques for temperature compensation provide an accurate compensated load signal and are well known in the art . the analog load signal on lines 108 and 110 from transducer 60 are connected to an input of analog mux 62 . the other inputs of analog mux 62 are connected to a resistor circuit which provides differential analog zero and analog max voltages . the resistor circuit includes resistor 116 coupled between a positive six - volt source and a node 118 . node 118 is connected to a resistor 120 and three inputs of analog mux 62 . resistor 120 is coupled to a node 122 , which is also connected to an input of analog mux 62 . node 122 is further coupled to a variable resistor 124 through a resistor 126 . variable resistor 124 is further coupled to a negative six - volt source through a diode 128 . the anode of diode 128 is also connected to excitation line 114 of transducer 60 . constructed in this manner , the second set of inputs to analog mux 62 is the voltage level at node 118 , and the third set of inputs to analog mux 62 receives the differential voltage across resistor 120 . note that the fourth set of inputs of analog mux 62 is not used in this embodiment . analog mux 62 receives two control inputs mux0 and mux1 from microprocessor 66 , which determine which set of inputs is to be provided at the output lines 130 and 132 . output lines 130 and 132 of analog mux 62 are coupled to switches 136 and 138 . switches 136 and 138 are capable of switching rapidly between a first position and a second position . in the first position , switches 136 and 138 connect lines 130 and 132 to a capacitor 134 , while in the second position , the switches connect capacitor 134 in parallel with a capacitor 140 . one terminal of capacitor 140 is connected to ground . constructed in this fashion , one half of the charge accumulated on capacitor 134 is transferred to capacitor 140 each time switches 136 and 138 are moved to the second position , until approximately all of the charges on capacitor 134 are transferred to capacitor 140 , where it becomes ground referenced . capacitor 140 is further coupled to a non - inverting input of an operational amplifier 142 through resistors 144 . the inverting input of operational amplifier 142 is connected to ground through a resistor 146 , and is further coupled to its output through a resistor 148 and a capacitor 150 connected in parallel . preferably , operational amplifier 142 has a gain of approximately 12 . 5 , but it is adjustable through changing the resistance values of resistors 146 and 148 . the output of operational amplifier 142 is coupled to a non - inverting input of a second operational amplifier 152 , having a gain of approximately 4 . 8 , through a resistor 154 . the gain of operational amplifier 152 may be adjusted by varying the resistance values of resistors 178 and 182 . a unity gain operational amplifier 156 is coupled to the non - inverting input of second operational amplifier 152 through a resistor 158 . operational amplifier 156 has a feedback circuit consisting of a capacitor 160 and a resistor 162 connected in parallel to its inverting input . a resistor 164 is connected between the inverting input of operational amplifier 156 and a positive 2 . 5 - volt source ( shown in fig7 ). also connected to the 2 . 5 - volt source are three resistors 166 , 168 and 170 connected in series to ground . of these , resistor 168 is a variable resistor which is coupled to a non - inverting input of operational amplifier 156 . the non - inverting input of operational amplifier 156 is also coupled to ground through a capacitor 172 . the output of operational amplifier 152 is coupled to its inverting input through a capacitor 174 . coupled in parallel to capacitor 174 are serially connected variable resistor 176 and resistor 178 . variable resistor 176 is also coupled to the input ( analog in ) of a / d converter 76 via line 180 . a resistor 182 is connected in series between capacitor 174 , series resistors 176 , 178 and ground . a / d converter 76 is operable to receive the analog signal on line 180 , convert the analog signal to a digital signal , and provide it as an output ( digital out ) on line 184 to microprocessor 66 . in addition , a / d converter 76 receives and supplies a plurality of control signals from and to microprocessor 66 on lines 186 . a clock signal clk is provided as a synchronizing signal to a / d converter 76 on line 188 , the generation of which is to be discussed below . in fig6 microprocessor 66 receives , on line 184 , the digital signal , from a / d converter 76 , indicative of the weight applied to load cell 16 . a plurality of control signals , including sc1 , sc2 and cal on lines 190 to 194 , is transmitted between a / d converter 76 and microprocessor 66 . signals sc1 and sc2 control the type of calibration to be performed by a / d converter 76 on an active edge of signal cal . other control signals may be transmitted between a / d converter 76 and microprocessor 66 as required , but will not be enumerated herein . a / d converter 76 also receives two voltage levels , positive 2 . 5 volts on line 196 and ground on line 198 , as reference voltages during calibration . the functions of a / d converter 76 will be more apparent in the discussion below . an oscillator buffer ( not shown ) internal to microprocessor 66 is coupled to a ceramic or crystal oscillating resonator 200 on lines 202 and 204 . the resonator is preferably 1 . 8432 mhz and is coupled to ground between two capacitors 206 and 208 . the output of oscillator buffer on line 202 is connected to a clock input 210 of a data flip - flop 212 . a data input d of data flip - flop 212 is connected to its inverted output q via line 214 . a non - inverted output q of data flip - flop 212 is connected to a / d converter 76 as a clock signal clk on line 188 . in effect , the frequency of resonator 200 is divided by two by data flip - flop 212 , so that clock signal clk has a frequency of 0 . 9216 mhz microprocessor 66 is coupled to keyboard 42 having three keys in the form of switches 216 , 218 and 220 . switches 216 , 218 and 220 enable a user to reset system 10 , to turn system 10 on and off , and to toggle between measurement units pounds and kilograms , respectively . switch 218 is additionally connected via line 92 to transistor 88 ( fig4 ). note that keyboard 42 may include other additional functions as deemed necessary without departing from the teachings of the present invention . the discharged condition of battery 86 is monitored by comparator circuit 96 , which includes operational amplifiers 222 and 224 coupled to battery 86 through a resistor network . non - inverting inputs of operational amplifiers 222 and 224 are connected to an output of another operation amplifier 226 . an inverting input of operational amplifier 226 is coupled to its output through a resistor 228 . a non - inverting input of operational amplifier 226 is connected to a node 230 , which is connected to resistors 232 and 234 . resistor 234 is connected to ground at the terminal not connected to node 230 . coupled in parallel with resistors 232 and 234 are a capacitor 236 and a zener diode 238 . the parallel resistors , capacitor 236 and zener diode 238 are coupled to positive six volts through a resistor 240 . a capacitor 242 is further connected between both non - inverting inputs of operational amplifiers 222 and 224 and ground . the inverting inputs of operational amplifiers 222 and 224 are connected to two nodes between series connected resistors 244 , 246 , 248 and 250 , which are coupled in that order between positive six volts and ground . the inverting input of operational amplifier 222 is connected to a node 252 between resistors 246 and 248 , and the inverting input of operational amplifier 224 is connected to a node 254 between resistors 248 and 250 . a capacitor 256 is coupled in parallel with resistors 246 , 248 and 250 . resistor 244 is a variable resistor with its third terminal connected to positive six volts . operational amplifiers 222 and 224 provide two outputs , on lines 258 and 260 , indicating two battery discharge conditions : recharge and low battery , respectively . both signals are received by microprocessor 66 . signal low battery indicates that the charge stored in battery 86 has fallen below a first predetermined level , preferably 11 . 4 volts . signal recharge indicates that battery 86 should be recharged immediately since the charge stored therein has fallen below a second predetermined level less than the first predetermined level , preferably 11 . 1 volts . microprocessor 66 is also adapted to receive dip switch 262 settings configured to indicate the weight capacity of the load cell . as described previously , in the instant embodiment load cell 16 may have weight capacities with maximum weight varying from , for example , five thousand pounds to two hundred thousand pounds . the weight capacity , as indicated by dip switches 262 , allows microprocessor 66 to adjust the full range of the load signal to the full capacity of load cell 16 . referring to fig7 battery 86 is connected to an emitter of a transistor 270 . a base of transistor 270 is coupled to its emitter through a resistor 272 . the base of transistor 270 is further coupled to a drain of an n - channel mosfet 274 through a resistor 276 . an anode of a diode 278 is further connected to the drain of mosfet 274 and is connected to on / off switch 218 at its cathode . a source of mosfet 274 is connected to ground , and a gate thereof is coupled to ground through a resistor 280 . a signal on enable is transmitted on line 94 from microprocessor 66 and is received by the gate of mosfet 274 . positive six volts and negative six volts are available at nodes 282 and 284 , respectively . to provide the various voltage levels required to operate the analog and digital circuits in system 10 , a power supply 286 and a precision voltage reference 288 are each coupled to node 282 to generate a five - volt voltage level and a 2 . 5 - volt voltage level , respectively . a virtual ground circuit 300 is coupled to battery 86 to establish a virtual ground voltage level for system 10 . an inverting input of an operational amplifier 302 is coupled to positive six volts at node 282 through a resistor 304 and to negative six volts at node 284 through a resistor 306 . a non - inverting input of operational amplifier 302 is coupled to ground through a resistor 308 . the output of operational amplifier 302 is connected to the base of a transistor 310 through a resistor 312 . the base of transistor 310 is further coupled to node 284 through a resistor 314 . the emitter of transistor 310 is connected directly to node 284 . the collector of transistor 310 is coupled to node 282 through a resistor 316 , and is further coupled to a base of a transistor 318 through a resistor 320 . the emitter of transistor 318 is connected to ground and the collector thereof is connected to node 284 . in operation of the present invention , please refer to the flowcharts describing a program executed in microprocessor 66 shown in fig8 to 14 . as self - contained weighing system 10 is turned on by depressing on / off key 46 ( fig3 ), it closes switch 218 ( fig6 ) to ground and generates a low signal , which turns on transistor 270 ( fig7 ) and connects battery 86 to power supplies 286 and 288 supplying electrical power to the circuits of system 10 . microprocessor 66 is thus powered up , and generates the on enable signal . the on enable signal is received by mosfet 274 , turning it on . a current thus flows from the base of transistor 270 to the drain of mosfet 274 , which keeps transistor 270 on , even when on / off key 46 is released . referring to fig8 a power - on initialize routine 330 is shown . after microprocessor 66 is powered on , the i / o ports ( not shown ) for transmitting and receiving data from various points in system 10 , such as display 38 , keyboard 42 , rs232c level shifter 82 , a / d converter 82 , and memory 78 , are set up and initialized , as shown in block 332 . thereafter in block 334 , microprocessor 66 tests lcd display 38 by transmitting numerals 111 . . . 1 , 222 . . . 2 , through 999 . . . 9 to it , so that a human operator may visually check its operation . next in block 336 , a character is transmitted to portable terminal 84 through internal uart 80 and rs232c level shifter 82 , and a predetermined amount of time is set to wait for a response from portable terminal 84 as shown in block 338 . in block 340 , it is determined whether the character transmitted is echoed back as an acknowledge from portable terminal 84 . if so , portable terminal 84 is connected to system 10 , and a calibrate routine 342 is executed ; if not , the program proceeds to a foreground task 343 , to be discussed below . note that portable terminal 84 is used for calibrating system 10 during manufacturing , and that it is not used during actual weighing . proceeding to fig9 calibrate routine begins in block 344 , and a menu is displayed on the screen of portable terminal 84 prompting the user to select either load cell calibration or examination of the inputs of analog mux 62 . if the user chooses to examine the analog mux inputs in response to block 346 , a new menu is displayed providing choices a , b and c . choices a , b and c represent the load signal from transducer 60 , analog zero or analog max . in block 348 , it is determined whether choice a has been chosen . if so , the program proceeds to block 350 , where microprocessor 66 provides analog mux 62 select signals mux0 = 0 and mux1 = 0 in order to select the actual load signal from transducer 60 . in block 352 , the load signal , after being processed by amplifier section 74 and converted to a digital signal by a / d converter 76 , is received by microprocessor 66 and displayed as shown in block 354 . thereafter , in block 356 it is determined whether another character has been received from portable terminal 84 , whereupon the program returns to block 346 . otherwise , the code represented in blocks 352 and 354 is executed until a new character is received . analog mux input choices b and c are selected and executed in a similar fashion to choice a . if it is not choice c that is selected , but choice b as shown in block 358 , then microprocessor 66 selects analog zero by providing mux0 = 0 and mux1 = 1 , as shown i block 360 . as such , the voltage level at node 118 ( fig5 ) is produced at the output of analog mux 62 . in blocks 362 and 364 , analog zero is received by microprocessor 66 and displayed on portable terminal 84 . similarly , choice c or analog max is chosen and selected in blocks 368 , 370 , and the differential voltage between nodes 118 and 122 is converted into a digital signal and received by microprocessor 66 . after a choice is made , it is determined whether a new character has been received from portable terminal 84 , as shown in blocks 366 and 376 . if , in block 346 , the user chooses to calibrate the load cell , calibrate load cell routine 378 is executed . as shown in fig1 , calibrate load cell routine begins at block 380 . in block 382 , an a / d converter self calibration is performed . a / d converter 76 may be calibrated by providing voltage levels it may use as a zero scale point and a full scale point . a slope factor is calculated from the zero and full scale points , which represents the gain slope for the input to output transfer function of a / d converter 76 . in self calibration , a / d converter 76 is commanded by microprocessor 66 via signals sc1 , sc2 and cal on lines 190 to 194 to use voltage values lines 196 and 198 ( fig6 ) for the full scale point and the zero scale point , respectively . the self calibration is done internally by a / d converter 76 , and will not be discussed in detail herein . subsequent to a / d self calibration , the user is prompted in block 384 to apply a known load to load cell 16 and to enter the load weight value . the user may choose to do so or to exit , as shown in block 386 . typically , at least thirteen known loads are weighed in succession to collect thirteen sets of data consisting of a weight value and a weight signal as received by microprocessor 66 . the known loads may be weighed in any order , but the data may be sorted by a sort task ( not shown ) and stored in memory 78 in ascending or descending order . after enough data are gathered , the user may choose to exit in block 386 and microprocessor 66 proceeds to compute coefficients of at least two polynomials which fit the data , as shown in blocks 388 through 394 . because of characteristics associated with the response of load cell 16 to different load weights in a broad range , the data for load weights below five thousand pounds are curve fitted to one polynomial , while data for load weights above five thousand pounds are curve fitted to a second polynomial . the coefficients are computed and stored in memory 78 . the least square polynomial algorithm is based on a set of techniques collectively known as singular value decomposition . a book numerical recipes in c , the art of scientific computing by press et al . may be consulted for a discussion on this subject . subsequently , an auto calibration routine is called in block 396 and the program returns to foreground mode in block 398 . the details of auto calibration will be discussed in conjunction with fig1 below . it is important to note that the above routines related to portable terminal 84 are executed during calibration in the manufacturing process of the self - contained weighing system 10 and that system 10 is entirely self - contained during actual weighing . referring to fig1 , foreground task 400 weighs a load applied to load cell 16 ( fig2 ). the foreground task also determines whether auto calibration is required ( block 402 ). system 10 preferably performs auto calibration every 9 . 5 minutes to ensure accuracy of the system . auto calibration allows a / d converter 76 to compensate for system gain and offset errors . in auto calibration , instead of using a positive 2 . 5 volts level and ground as full and zero scale points , voltage values present on the analog in pin of a / d converter 76 is used for both scale points . if an auto calibration is needed , system 10 proceeds to auto calibration 404 . refer to fig1 , auto calibration begins in block 406 and begins by selecting analog zero as the output of analog mux 62 shown in block 408 . in order for the analog zero signal to stabilize and propagate properly to a / d converter 76 , program execution waits approximately one second in block 410 before proceeding on to block 412 . a / d converter 76 is commanded by microprocessor 66 via signals sc1 , sc2 and cal on lines 190 to 194 ( fig6 ) to receive the zero scale point . in block 414 and 416 , analog max is selected as the output of analog mux 62 and allowed to propagate and stabilize . a / d converter 76 then receives the analog max signal as the full scale point in block 418 . from the zero and full scale point values , a slope factor representing the gain slope for the input to output transfer function of the converter is calculated . the slope factor is saved and later used to calculate the digital output of a / d converter 76 during measurement conversions . in block 420 and 422 , the load signal from transducer 60 is selected and provided as input to a / d converter 76 , the program exits ( block 424 ) and returns to the foreground task in fig1 . in block 428 , microprocessor 66 collects the load signal from the output digital out of a / d converter 76 . a range comparison of the digital load signal is made in block 430 . if this digital load signal is all ones , then the load signal is out of range and is invalid . similarly , if the digital load signal is all zeros , then the load signal is also out of range and is equally invalid . if the load signal is out of range , an appropriate message is displayed on lcd 38 , shown in block 432 , and program execution returns to block 402 . if the digital load signal is valid , then a weight value is calculated in block 434 . a calculate weight routine is shown in fig1 and begins in block 440 . in block 441 , the polynomial is solved by plugging in the signal load from a / d converter 76 and using the set of coefficients for either weight less than or greater than five thousand pounds . this yields an error factor which may be added to or subtracted from the load signal to generate an accurate load signal which has compensated for the nonlinearity of load cell 16 and circuit electronics , as shown in block 442 . it is important to note that although the preferred embodiment of the present invention includes the least square polynomial algorithm , other mathematical techniques may also be employed , such as non - linear regression algorithms . in block 443 , the setting of dip switch 262 is received by microprocessor 66 , and in block 444 the corresponding maximum load factor is obtained from a look - up table 446 . look up table 446 may be arranged as shown . the left most column of look - up table 446 is the logic levels of dip switch 262 , each representing load cell types ; the middle column represents the maximum load capacities for each load cell type ; and the last column is the maximum load factor for each load cell type . the load signal value is divided by the maximum load factor to adjust the range of the load signal to the range of the weight capacity . the resultant number is the weight of the load being measured . the calculate weight routine ends here and returns to the foreground task in block 450 . after a weight value has been obtained from the calculate weight routine , a tare value , obtained during zeroing , which will be discussed below , is subtracted from the presently obtained weight value . the tare value represents any weight system 10 may have measured in addition to the load being applied . such weight may be the weight of any extraneous objects , such as jigs used during measurement . after block 460 , a unit flag is tested to determine whether a pound or a kilogram representation is desired on the display , and the weight value is adjusted accordingly , shown in blocks 462 and 464 . the resultant weight value is displayed on lcd 38 , as shown in block 466 . at this time , keys 44 , 46 and 48 on keyboard 42 ( fig3 ) are monitored in block 468 . if any one of keys 44 to 48 is depressed , a keyboard routine 470 is executed . the keyboard routine is shown in fig1 and begins in block 476 . the key depressed is first debounced in block 478 . in blocks 480 , 482 and 484 each key is tested to determine which key or keys are depressed . if the key depressed is zero key 46 , then execution advances to block 486 , where the load signal value is verified to be within predetermined limits . in block 488 , motion caused by external forces are detected by comparing a previously obtained load signal value to a load signal value presently obtained . if the comparison yielded a difference of more than a predetermined setpoint , motion is detected , and a motion error message is displayed , as shown in block 490 . if no motion is detected , the load signal is computed to obtain a tare value and saved , as shown in blocks 492 and 494 . the program returns to foreground task in block 496 . if the key depressed is on / off key 44 , then microprocessor 66 proceeds to shut down the system by disabling the on enable signal to mosfet 274 until there is no power , as shown in blocks 498 and 500 . the self - contained weighing system 10 is then shut down . if the key depressed is lb / kg key 46 , the unit flag is simply toggled , where in one state the desired unit is pounds and in the other it is kilograms , as shown in block 502 . the program proceeds to foreground task in block 496 . in summary , self - contained weighing system 10 may be operated without any external display screen , computing unit , or cable . the weight of an aircraft or heavy vehicle may be measured simply by placing one or more self - contained systems 10 at various weigh points of the load . the total weight of the load may then be computed by summing the weights displayed by system 10 . system 10 provides a weight calculation based on a least square polynomial computed by curve fitting a data set of weight values and weight signals . this weight computation provides an accurate weight measurement . in addition , errors caused by temperature variation , motion , and zero drifting are eliminated . although the present invention has been described in detail , it should be understood that various changes , substitutions and alterations can be made hereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims .
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the present invention provides a process for the preparation of c2 - fluoro substituted piperazine linked pyrrolo [ 2 , 1 - c ][ 1 , 4 ] benzodiazepines of formula ( ixa - f ) of the drawing accompanying the specification where n is 3 to 1 . 0 which comprises : methyl ( 2s )— n -[ 4 - benzyloxy - 5 - methoxy - 2 - nitrobenzoyl ]- 4 - fluorinatedpyrrolidine - 2 - carbonate of formula i was reduced with dibal - h in presence of organic solvent like ch 2 cl 2 cooled to − 78 ° c . for a period of 45 min isolating methyl ( 2s )— n -[ 4 - benzyloxy - 5 - methoxy - 2 - nitrobenzoyl ]- 4 - fluorinatedpyrrolidine - 2 - carboxaldehyde ii by conventional methods , protecting the above compound of formula ii with etsh in presence of organic solvent at room temperature isolating the methyl ( 2s )— n -[ 4 - benzyloxy - 5 - methoxy - 2 - nitrobenzoyl ]- 4 - fluorinatedpyrrolidine - 2 - carboxaldehydediethylthioacetal iii by known methods , reacting the above said thio compound of formula iii with known debenzylating agents in a conventional manner to give ( 2s )— n -[ 4 - hydroxy - 5 - methoxy - 2 - nitrobenzoyl ]- 4 - fluorinatedpyrrolidine - 2 - carboxaldehydediethylthioacetal of formula iv . accordingly , the present process provides a process for preparation for c2 - fluoro substituted piperazine linked pyrrolo [ 2 , 1 - c ][ 1 , 4 ] benzodiazepines of formula of the drawing accompanying the specification where n is 3 to 10 which comprises : reacting ( 2s )— n -[ 4 - hydroxy - 5 - methoxy - 2 - nitrobenzoyl ]- 4 - fluorinatedpyrrolidine - 2 - carboxaldehydediethylthioacetal of formula iv dibromoalkanes in an aprotic water miscible organic solvent like acetone , acetonitrile , thf , and dmf in presence of a mild inorganic bases like k 2 co 3 , csco 3 , and baco 3 upto refluxing temperature for a period upto 48 hours , isolating ( 2s )— n -[ 4 -( n - bromoalkoxy )- 5 - methoxy - 2 - nitrobenzoyl ]- 4 - fluorinatedpyrrolidine - 2 - carboxaldehydediethylthio - acetal of formula v with piperazine of formula vi in presence of mild inorganic bases like k 2 co 3 , csco 3 , and baco 3 and in the presence of aprotic water miscible organic solvent up to refluxing for a period of 48 hours isolating 1 , 1 ′-{[( bisalkane - 1 , n - diyl ) piperazine ] dioxy } bis ( 11as )- 2 - fluorinated - 7 - methoxy - 2 - nitrobenzoylpyrrolidin - 2 - carboxaldehyddiethylthioactal ] vii where n is 3 to 10 by conventional method , reducing the above nitro compound of formula vii with sncl 2 . 2h 2 o in presence of organic solvent upto a reflux temperature , isolating the 1 , 1 ′-{[( bisalkane - 1 , n - diyl ) piperazine ] dioxy } bis ( 11as )- 2 - fluorinated - 7 - methoxy - 2 - aminobenzoylpyrrolidin - 2 - carboxaldehydediethylthioactal ] of where n is 3 to 10 by know methods , reacting the above said amino compound of formula viii with known deprotecting agent in a conventional manner to give novel 1 , 1 ′-{[( bisalkane - 1 , n - diyl ) piperazine ] dioxy } bis [( 11as )- 2 - fluorinated - 7 - methoxy - 1 , 2 , 3 , 11a - tetrahydro - 5h - pyrrolo [ 2 , 1 - c ][ 1 , 4 ] benzodiazepine - 5 - one ] of formula ix where in n are as stated above . the precursor , methyl ( 2s )— n -[ 4 - benzyloxy - 5 - methoxy - 2 - nitrobenzoyl ]- 4 - fluorinatedpyrrolidine - 2 - carbonate of formula i ( intermediate of dc - 81 ) was prepared by literature method ( dc luca , l . ; giacomelli , g . ; porcheddu , a . org . lett . 2001 , 3 , 3041 ; demange , l . ; menez , a . ; dugave , c . tetrahedron . lett . 1998 , 39 , 1169 ; kamal , a . ; reddy , p . s . m . m . ; reddy , d . r . bioorg . med . chem . lett . 2004 , 14 , 2669 ; kamal , a . ; reddy , p . s . m . m . ; reddy , d . r . ; laxman , e . ; murthy , y . l . n . bioorg . med . chem . lett . 2004 , 14 , 5699 ; thurston , d . e . ; murthy , v . s . ; langley , d . r . ; jones , g . b . synthesis , 1990 , 81 ). same representative compound of formula ix present invention are given below these new analogues of pyrrolo [ 2 , 1 - c ][ 1 , 4 ] benzodiazepines dimers substituted at c2 - position linked at c8 position through piperazine moiety have shown promising anticancer activity in various cell lines . the molecules synthesized are of immense biological significance with potential sequence selective dna - binding property . this resulted in design and synthesis of new congeners as illustrated in scheme 1 and scheme 2 , which comprise : 1 . ether linkage at c - 8 position fluoro substituted at c2 - position of dc - 81 intermediates with piperazine moiety 2 . refluxing the reaction mixture for 24 - 48 h . 3 . synthesis of c8 - linked c2 - fluorosubstituted pbd antitumour antibiotic dimer imines . 4 . purification by column chromatography using different solvents like ethyl acetate , hexane , dichloromethane , chloromethane , and methanol . the process of preparation of new non - cross linking c2 - fluoro substituted piperazine linked pyrrolo [ 2 , 1 - c ][ 1 , 4 ] benzodiazepine is disclosed and claimed in applicant &# 39 ; s co - pending application no . the following examples are given by way of illustration and therefore should not be construed to the present limit of the scope of invention . a solution of ( 2s )— n -( 4 - hydroxy - 5 - methoxy - 2 - nitrobenzoyl )- 4 - fluoropyrrolidine - 2 - carboxaldehydediethylthioacetal iv ( 418 mg , 1 mmol ), 1 , 3 - dibromopropane ( 0 . 365 ml , 3 mmol ) and k 2 co 3 ( 825 mg , 5 mmol ) in dry acetone ( 40 ml ) was refluxed for 48 h . after the completion of reaction as indicated by tlc , etoac - hexane ( 6 : 4 ), the reaction mixture was poured on to the water and then extracted with ethylacetate . evaporation of the organic layer gave the crude product , which was further purified by column chromatography on silica gel eluting with etoac - hexane ( 1 : 1 ) gave the pure ( 2s )— n -[ 4 -( 4 - bromopropoxy )- 5 - methoxy - 2 - nitrobenzoyl )- 4 - fluoropyrrolidine - 2 - carboxaldehydediethylthioacetal of formula v ( 432 mg , 82 %). 1 h nmr : ( cdcl 3 , 200 mhz ): δ 1 . 31 - 1 . 40 ( m , 6h ), 2 . 28 - 2 . 48 ( m , 2h ), 2 . 49 - 2 . 64 ( m , 2h ), 2 . 68 - 2 . 91 ( m , 6h ), 3 . 64 ( m , 2h ), 3 . 99 ( s , 3h ), 4 . 25 ( t , 2h , j = 6 . 0 ), 4 . 56 ( d , 1h , j = 6 . 7 ), 4 . 76 ( m , 1h ), 5 . 0 - 5 . 33 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 88 ( s , 1h ), 7 . 68 ( s , 1h ) lcms : m / z 539 . 4 ( m + + na ). a solution of ( 2s )— n -[ 4 -( 4 - bromopropoxy )- 5 - methoxy - 2 - nitrobenzoyl )- 4 - fluoropyrrolidine - 2 - carboxaldehydediethylthioacetal of formula v . ( 539 mg , 1 mmol ), piperazine ( 43 mg , 0 . 5 mmol ) of the formula vi and k 2 co 3 ( 1380 mg , 10 mmol ) in dry acetone ( 20 ml ) was refluxed for 48 h . after the completion of reaction as indicated by tlc , etoac , the reaction mixture was on to the water and then extracted with ethylacetate . evaporation of the organic layer gave the crude product , which was further purified by column chromatography on silica gel eluting with etoac - hexane ( 9 : 1 ) gave the pure 1 , 1 ′-{[( bispropane - 1 , n - diyl ) piperazine ] dioxy } bis ( 11as )- 2 - fluoro7 - methoxy - 2 - nitrobenzoylpyrrolidin - 2 - carboxaldehydediethylthioactal ] ( 441 mg , 82 %). 1 h nmr ( cdcl 3 , 200 mhz ): δ 1 . 29 - 1 . 36 ( m , 12h ), 2 . 02 - 2 . 11 ( m , 4h ), 2 . 46 - 2 . 69 ( m , 12h ), 2 . 73 - 2 . 89 ( m , 8h ), 3 . 39 - 3 . 62 ( m , 4h ), 3 . 93 - 3 . 94 ( t , 4h ), 4 . 17 ( t , 4h ), 4 . 52 ( d , 2h , j = 6 . 79 ), 4 . 72 ( q , 2h , j = 6 . 79 ), 5 . 07 - 5 . 29 ( m , 2h ), 6 . 84 ( s , 2h ), 7 . 65 ( s , 2h ) esims : m / z 1003 ( m + ). the 1 , 1 ′-{[( bispropane - 1 , n - diyl ) piperazine ] dioxy } bis ( 11as )- 2 - fluoro7 - methoxy - 2 - nitrobenzoylpyrrolidin - 2 - carboxaldehydediethylthioactal ]. vii ( 1004 mg , 1 . 0 mmol ) was dissolved in methanol ( 20 ml ) and added sncl 2 . 2h 2 o ( 2 . 25 mg , 10 mmol ) was refluxed for 1 . 5 h . the reaction mixture was then carefully adjusted to ph 8 with saturated nahco 3 solution and then extracted with ethyl acetate ( 3 × 30 ml ). the combined organic phase was dried over na 2 so 4 and evaporated under vacuum to afford the crude . the 1 , 1 -{[( bispropane - 1 , n - diyl ) piperazine ] dioxy } bis ( 11as )- 2 - fluoro - 7 - methoxy - 2 - aminobenzoylpyrrolidin - 2 - carboxaldehydediethylthioacetal ]( 803 mg , 80 %). a solution of the 1 , 1 ′-{[( bispropane - 1 , n - diyl ) piperazine ] dioxy } bis ( 11as )- 2 - fluoro - 7 - methoxy - 2 - aminobenzoylpyrrolidin - 2 - carboxaldehydediethylthioactal ] of formula viii ( 944 mg , 1 mmol ), hgcl 2 ( 1035 mg , 5 mmol ) and caco 3 ( 500 mg , 5 mmol ) in ch 3 cn / h 2 o ( 4 : 1 , 16 ml ) was stirred at room temperature for 12 h . until tlc ( etoac ), indicates complete loss of starting material . then organic layer is evaporated in vacuum and the residue is diluted with etoac . to this saturated nahco 3 was added slowly at room temperature and the mixture is filtered through celite and washed with ethylacetate . the filterate is evaporated in vacuum to get crude . 1 , 1 ′-{[( bispropane - 1 , n - diyl ) piperazine ] dioxy } bis [( 11as )- 2 - fluoro - 7 - methoxy - 1 , 2 , 3 , 11a - tetrahydro - 5h - pyrrolo [ 2 , 1 - c ][ 1 , 4 ] benzodiazepine - 5 - one ], of formula ixa , which was further purified by column chromatography on silica gel eluting first with ethyl acetate to remove traces of mercuric salts and further eluted with chcl 3 - methanol ( 9 : 1 ) ( 613 mg , 65 %). 1 h nmr ( cdcl 3 , 200 mhz ): δ 1 . 73 - 2 . 1 ( m , 8h ), 2 . 45 - 2 . 76 ( m , 8h ), 3 . 46 - 3 . 91 ( m , 10h ), 3 . 93 ( s , 6h ), 4 . 02 - 4 . 25 ( m , 4h ), 5 . 35 - 5 . 48 ( dt , 2h ), 6 . 85 ( s , 2h ), 7 . 49 ( s , 2h ), 7 . 86 ( d , 2h , j = 3 . 66 hz ) esims : m / z 695 ( m + + 1 ). a solution of ( 2s )— n -( 4 - hydroxy - 5 - methoxy - 2 - nitrobenzoyl )- 4 - fluoropyrrolidine - 2 - carboxaldehydediethylthioacetal iv ( 418 mg , 1 mmol ), 1 , 4 - dibromobutane ( 0 . 35 ml 3 mmol ) and k 2 co 3 ( 675 mg , 5 mmol ) in dry acetone ( 30 ml ) was refluxed for 48 h . after the completion of reaction as indicated by tlc , etoac - hexan ( 6 : 4 ), the reaction mixture was poured on to the water and then extracted with ethylacetate . evaporation of the organic layer gave the crude product , which was further purified by column chromatography on silica gel eluting with etoac - hexan ( 1 : 1 ) gave the pure ( 2s )— n -[ 4 -( 5 - bromobutanoxy )- 5 - methoxy - 2 - nitrobenzoyl )- 4 - fluoropyrrolidine - 2 - carboxaldehydediethylthioacetal of formula v ( 355 mg , 85 %). 1 h nmr : ( cdcl 3 , 200 mhz ): δ 1 . 26 - 1 . 43 ( m , 6h ), 2 . 01 - 2 . 46 ( m , 4h ), 2 . 49 - 2 . 67 ( m , 2h ), 2 . 70 - 2 . 95 ( m , 6h ), 3 . 58 ( m , 2h ), 3 . 99 ( s , 3h ), 4 . 25 ( t , 2h , j = 6 . 0 ), 4 . 55 ( d , 1h , j = 6 . 7 ), 4 . 73 - 4 . 79 ( m , 1h ), 5 . 0 - 5 . 33 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 89 ( s , 1h ), 7 . 69 ( s , 1h ) lcms : m / z 553 ( m + ). a solution of ( 2s )— n -[ 4 -( 5 - bromobutanoxy )- 5 - methoxy - 2 - nitrobenzoyl )- 4 - fluoropyrrolidine - 2 - carboxaldehyde diethyl thioacetal of formula v . ( 553 mg , 1 mmol ), piperazine ( 43 mg , 0 . 5 mmol ) of the formula vi and k 2 co 3 ( 4014 mg , 10 mmol ) in dry acetone ( 30 ml ) was refluxed for 48 h . after the completion of reaction as indicated by tlc , etoac , the reaction mixture was on to the water and then extracted with ethylacetate . evaporation of the organic layer gave the crude product , which was further purified by column chromatography on silica gel eluting with etoac - hexane ( 9 : 1 ) gave the pure 1 , 1 ′-{[( bisbutane - 1 , n - diyl ) piperazine ] dioxy } bis ( 11as )- 2 - fluoro7 - methoxy - 2 - nitrobenzoylpyrrolidin - 2 - carboxaldehyddiethylthioactal ] ( 447 mg , 81 %). 1 h nmr ( cdcl 3 , 200 mhz ): δ 1 . 29 - 1 . 41 ( m , 12h ), 1 . 7 - 1 . 97 ( m , 8h ), 2 . 33 - 2 . 70 ( m , 12h ), 2 . 71 - 2 . 89 ( m , 8h ), 3 . 39 - 3 . 66 ( m , 4h ), 3 . 90 - 3 . 93 ( t , 4h ), 3 . 96 ( s , 6h ), 4 . 1 ( t , 4h ), 4 . 5 ( d , 2h , j = 7 . 5 ), 4 . 2 ( q , 2h , j = 6 . 79 ), 5 . 0 - 5 . 27 ( m , 2h ), 6 . 84 ( s , 2h ), 7 . 60 ( s , 2h ). the 1 , 1 ′-{[( bisbutane - 1 , n - diyl ) piperazine ] dioxy } bis ( 11as )- 2 - fluoro7 - methoxy - 2 - nitrobenzoylpyrrolidin - 2 - carboxaldehydediethylthioactal ]. vii ( 1032 mg , 1 . 0 mmol ) was dissolved in methanol ( 20 ml ) and added sncl 2 . 2h 2 o ( 2025 mg , 10 mmol ) was refluxed for 1 . 5 h . the reaction mixture was then carefully adjusted to ph 8 with saturated nahco 3 solution and then extracted with ethyl acetate ( 3 × 30 ml ). the combined organic phase was dried over na 2 so 4 and evaporated under vacuum to afford the crude . the 1 , 1 ′-{[( bisbutane - 1 , n - diyl ) piperazine ] dioxy } bis ( 11as )- 2 - fluoro - 7 - methoxy - 2 - aminobenzoylpyrrolidin - 2 - carboxaldehydediethylthioactal ] ( 825 mg , 80 %). a solution of the 1 , 1 ′-{[( bisbutane - 1 , n - diyl ) piperazine ] dioxy } bis ( 11as )- 2 - fluoro - 7 - methoxy - 2 - aminobenzoylpyrrolidin - 2 - carboxaldehydediethylthioactal ]. of formula viii ( 968 mg , 1 mmol ), hgcl 2 ( 1035 mg , 5 mot ) and caco 3 ( 500 mg , 5 mmol ) in ch 3 cn / h 2 o ( 4 : 1 , 16 ml ) was stirred at room temperature for 12 h until tlc ( etoac ), indicates complete loss of starting material . then organic layer is evaporated in vacuum and the residue is diluted with etoac . to this saturated nahco3 was added slowly at room temperature and the mixture is filtered through celite and washed with ethylacetate . the filterate is evaporated in vacuum to get crude 1 , 1 ′-{[( bisbutane - 1 , n - diyl ) piperazine ] dioxy } bis [( 11as )- 2 - fluoro - 7 - methoxy - 1 , 2 , 3 , 11a - tetrahydro - 5h - pyrrolo [ 2 , 1 - c ][ 1 , 4 ] benzodiazepine - 5 - one ], of formula ixb , which was further purified by column chromatography on silica gel eluting first with ethyl acetate to remove traces of mercuric salts and further eluted with chcl 3 - methanol ( 9 : 1 ) ( 580 mg , 60 %). 1 h nmr ( cdcl 3 , 200 mhz ): δ 1 . 26 - 1 . 94 ( m , 8h ), 2 . 11 - 2 . 47 ( m , 4h ), 2 . 59 - 2 . 75 ( m , 8h ), 3 . 48 - 3 . 86 ( m , 10h ), 3 . 93 ( s , 6h ), 4 . 0 - 4 . 25 ( m , 4h ), 5 . 27 - 5 . 55 ( m , 2h ), 6 . 82 ( s , 2h ), 7 . 49 ( s , 2h ), 7 . 85 ( d , 2h , j = 4 . 4 hz ). a solution of ( 2s )— n -( 4 - hydroxy - 5 - methoxy - 2 - nitrobenzoyl )- 4 - fluoropyrrolidine - 2 - carboxaldehydediethylthioacetal iv ( 418 mg , 1 mmol ), 1 , 5 - dibromopantane ( 0 . 5 ml , 0 . 5 mmol ) and k 2 co 3 ( 690 mg , 5 mmol ) in dry acetone ( 40 ml ) was refluxed for 48 h . after the completion of reaction as indicated by tlc , etoac - hexane ( 6 : 4 ), the reaction mixture was poured on to the water and then extracted with ethylacetate . evaporation of the organic layer gave the crude product , which was further purified by column chromatography on silica gel eluting with etoac - hexane ( 1 : 1 ) gave the pure ( 2s )— n -[ 4 -( 6 - bromopentanoxy )- 5 - methoxy - 2 - nitrobenzoyl )- 4 - fluoropyrrolidine - 2 - carboxaldehydediethylthioacetal of formula v ( 355 mg , 85 %). 1 h nmr : ( cdcl 3 200 mhz ): δ 1 . 26 - 1 . 41 ( m , 6h ), 1 . 74 - 2 . 0 ( m , 4h ), 2 . 35 - 2 . 47 ( m , 2h ), 2 . 49 - 2 . 65 ( m , 2h ), 2 . 70 - 2 . 92 ( m , 6h ), 3 . 58 - 3 . 66 ( m , 2h ), 3 . 98 ( s , 3h ), 4 . 25 ( t , 2h , j = 6 . 0 ), 4 . 57 ( d , 1h , j = 6 . 7 ), 4 . 75 - 4 . 85 ( m , 1h ), 5 . 0 - 5 . 34 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 88 ( s , 1h ). 7 . 70 ( s , 1h ) lcms : m / z 567 ( m + ). a solution of ( 2s )— n -[ 4 -( 6 - bromopentanoxy )- 5 - methoxy - 2 - nitrobenzoyl )- 4 - fluoropyrrolidine - 2 - carboxaldehydediethylthioacetal of formula v . ( 567 mg , 1 mmol ), piperazine ( 43 mg , 0 . 5 mmol ) of the formula vi and k 2 co 3 ( 1380 mg , 10 mmol ) in dry acetone ( 40 ml ) was refluxed for 48 h . after the completion of reaction as indicated by tlc , etoac , the reaction mixture was poured on to the water and then extracted with ethylacetate . evaporation of the organic layer gave the crude product , which was further purified by column chromatography on silica gel eluting with etoac - hexane ( 9 : 1 ) gave the pure 1 , 1 ′-{[( bipentane - 1 , n - diyl ) piperazine ] dioxy } bis ( 11as )- 2 - fluoro7 - methoxy - 2 - nitrobenzoylpyrrolidin - 2 - carboxaldehydediethylthioactal ] ( 453 mg , 80 %). 1 h nmr ( cdcl 3 , 200 mhz ): δ 1 . 25 - 1 . 36 ( m , 12h ), 1 . 39 - 1 . 89 ( m , 12h ), 2 . 25 - 2 . 61 ( m , 12h ), 2 . 70 - 2 . 86 ( m , 8h ), 3 . 39 - 3 . 63 ( m , 4h ), 3 . 96 ( s , 6h ), 4 . 0 ( t , 4h ), 4 . 12 ( t , 4h ), 4 . 54 ( d , 2h , j = 6 . 79 ), 4 . 75 ( q , 2h , j = 6 . 0 ), 5 . 0 - 5 . 3 ( m , 2h ), 6 . 84 ( s , 2h ), 7 . 62 ( s , 2h ). the 1 , 1 ′-{[( bipentane - 1 , n - diyl ) piperazine ] dioxy } bis ( 11as )- 2 - fluoro7 - methoxy - 2 - nitrobenzoylpyrrolidin - 2 - carboxaldehydediethylthioactal ]. vii ( 1060 mg , 1 . 0 mmol ) was dissolved in methanol ( 20 ml ) and added sncl 2 . 2h 2 o ( 2 . 25 mg , 10 mmol ) was refluxed for 1 . 5 h . the reaction mixture was then carefully adjusted to ph 8 with saturated nahco 3 solution and then extracted with ethyl acetate ( 3 × 30 ml ). the combined organic phase was dried over na 2 so 4 and evaporated under vacuum to afford the crude . the 1 , 1 ′-{[( bispentane - 1 , n - diyl ) piperazine ] dioxy } bis ( 11as )- 2 - fluoro - 7 - methoxy - 2 - aminobenzoylpyrrolidin - 2 - carboxaldehydediethylthioactal ] ( 837 mg , 79 %). a solution of the 1 , 1 ′-{[( bispentane - 1 , n - diyl ) piperazine ] dioxy } bis ( 11as )- 2 - fluoro - 7 - methoxy - 2 - aminobenzoylpyrrolidin - 2 - carboxaldehydediethylthioactal ] of formula viii ( 1000 mg , 1 mmol ), hgcl 2 ( 1355 mg , 5 mmol ) and caco 3 ( 500 mg , 5 mmol ) in ch 3 cn / h 2 o ( 4 : 1 , 16 ml ) was stirred at room temperature for 12 h until tlc ( etoac ), indicates complete loss of starting material . then organic layer is evaporated in vacuum and the residue is diluted with etoac . to this saturated nahco 3 was added slowly at room temperature and the mixture is filtered through celite and washed with ethylacetate . the filterate is evaporated in vacuum to get crude 1 , 1 ′-{[( bispentane - 1 , n - diyl ) piperazine ] dioxy } bis [( 11as )- 2 - fluoro - 7 - methoxy - 1 , 2 , 3 , 11a - tetrahydro - 5h - pyrrolo [ 2 , 1 - c ][ 1 , 4 ] benzodiazepine - 5 - one ], of formula ixc , which was further purified by column chromatography on silica gel eluting first with ethyl acetate to remove traces of mercuric salts and further eluted with chcl 3 - methanol ( 9 : 1 ) ( 560 mg , 56 %). 1 h nmr ( cdcl 3 , 200 mhz ): δ 1 . 44 - 2 . 09 ( m , 12h ), 2 . 30 - 2 . 51 ( m , 4h ), 2 . 52 - 3 . 0 ( m , 8h ), 3 . 47 - 3 . 87 ( m , 10h ), 3 . 93 ( s , 6h ), 4 . 0 - 4 . 1 ( m , 4h ), 5 . 27 - 5 . 58 ( m , 2h ), 6 . 9 ( s , 2h ), 7 . 49 ( s , 2h ), 7 . 9 ( d , 2h , j = 4 . 6 hz ). a solution of ( 2s )— n -( 4 - hydroxy - 5 - methoxy - 2 - nitrobenzoyl )- 4 , 4 - difluoropyrrolidine - 2 - carboxaldehydediethylthioacetal iv ( 436 mmol ), 1 , 3 - dibromopropane ( 0 . 3 ml , 3 mmol ) and k2co3 ( 690 mg , 5 mmol ) in dry acetone ( 40 ml ) was refluxed for 48 h . after the completion of reaction as indicated by tlc , etoac - hexane ( 6 : 4 ), the reaction mixture was poured on to the water and then extracted with ethylacetate . evaporation of the organic layer gave the crude product , which was further purified by column chromatography on silica gel eluting with etoac - hexane ( 1 : 1 ) gave the pure ( 2s )— n -[ 4 -( 4 - bromopropoxy )- 5 - methoxy - 2 - nitrobenzoyl )- 4 , 4 - difluoropyrrolidine - 2 - carboxaldehydediethylthioacetal of formula v ( 370 mg , 85 %). 1 h nmr ( cdcl 3 , 200 mhz ): δ 1 . 36 - 1 . 42 ( m , 6h ), 2 . 39 - 2 . 47 ( m , 2h ), 2 . 62 - 2 . 95 ( m , 6h ), 3 . 48 - 3 . 58 ( m , 2h ), 3 . 64 ( t , 2h , j = 6 . 0 hz ), 3 . 96 ( s , 3h ), 4 . 26 ( t , 2h , j = 5 . 2 hz ), 4 . 82 ( d , 1h ), 4 . 89 - 4 . 96 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 77 ( s , 1h ), 7 . 72 ( s , 1h ) lcms : m / z 580 ( m + + 23 ). a solution of ( 2s )— n -[ 4 -( 4 - bromopropoxy )- 5 - methoxy - 2 - nitrobenzoyl )- 4 , 4 - difluoro pyrrolidine - 2 - carboxaldehydediethylthioacetal of formula v . ( 557 mg , 1 mmol ), piperazine ( 43 mg , 0 . 5 mmol ) of the formula vi and k 2 co 3 ( 1380 ring , 10 mmol ) in dry acetone ( 30 ml ) was refluxed for 48 h . after the completion of reaction as indicated by tlc , etoac , the reaction mixture was on to the water and then extracted with ethylacetate . evaporation of the organic layer gave the crude product , which was further purified by column chromatography on silica gel eluting with etoac - hexane ( 9 : 1 ) gave the pure 1 , 1 ′-{[( bispropane - 1 , n - diyl ) piperazine ] dioxy } bis ( 11as )- 2 , 2 - difluoro7 - methoxy - 2 - nitrobenzoylpyrrolidin - 2 - carboxaldehydediethylthioactal ] ( 417 mg 75 %). 1 h nmr ( cdcl 3 , 200 mhz ): δ 1 . 25 - 1 . 39 ( m , 12h ), 2 . 0 - 2 . 14 ( m , 4h ), 2 . 58 - 2 . 66 ( m , 8h ), 2 . 69 - 2 . 88 ( m , 12h ), 3 . 45 - 3 . 79 ( m , 8h ), 3 . 94 ( s , 6h ), 4 . 1 ( t , 4h ), 4 . 78 ( d , 2h ), 4 . 85 - 4 . 96 ( m , 2h ), 6 . 7 ( s , 2h ), 7 . 6 ( s , 1h ) esims : m / z 1039 ( m + ). the 1 , 1 ′-{[( bispropane - 1 , n - diyl ) piperazine ] dioxy } bis ( 11as )- 2 , 2 - difluoro7 - methoxy - 2 - nitrobenzoylpyrrolidin - 2 - carboxaldehydediethylthioactal ]. vii ( 1039 mg , 1 . 0 mmol ) was dissolved in methanol ( 20 ml ) and added sncl 2 . 2h 2 o ( 2 . 25 mg , 10 . 0 mmol ) was refluxed for 1 . 5 h . the reaction mixture was then carefully adjusted to ph 8 with saturated nahco 3 solution and then extracted with ethyl acetate ( 3 × 20 ml ). the combined organic phase was dried over na 2 so 4 and evaporated under vacuum to afford the crude . the 1 , 1 ′-{[( bispropane - 1 , n - diyl ) piperazine ] dioxy } bis ( 11as )- 2 - 2 - difluoro - 7 - methoxy - 2 - aminobenzoylpyrrolidin - 2 - carboxaldehydediethylthioactal ] ( 779 mg , 75 %). a solution of the 1 , 1 ′-{[( bispropane - 1 , n - diyl ) piperazine ] dioxy } bis ( 11as )- 2 - 2 - difluoro - 7 - methoxy - 2 - aminobenzoylpyrrolidin - 2 - carboxaldehydediethylthioactal ]. of formula viii ( 976 mg , 1 . 0 mmol ), hgcl 2 ( 1355 mg , 5 . 0 mmol ) and caco 3 ( 686 mg , 5 . 0 mmol ) in ch 3 cn / h 2 o ( 4 : 1 , 16 ml ) was stirred at room temperature for 12 h . until tlc ( etoac ), indicates complete loss of starting material . then organic layer is evaporated in vacuum and the residue is diluted with etoac . to this saturated nahco 3 was added slowly at room temperature and the mixture is filtered through celite and washed with ethylacetate . the filterate is evaporated in vacuum to get crude 1 , 1 ′-{[( bispropane - 1 , n - diyl ) piperazine ] dioxy } bis [( 11as )- 2 - 2 - difluoro - 7 - methoxy - 1 , 2 , 3 , 11a - tetrahydro - 5h - pyrrolo [ 2 , 1 - c ][ 1 , 4 ] benzodiazepine - 5 - one ], of formula xid , which was further purified by column chromatography on silica gel eluting first with ethyl acetate to remove traces of mercuric salts and further eluted with chcl 3 - methanol ( 9 : 1 ) ( 745 mg , 55 %). 1 h nmr ( cdcl 3 , 200 mhz ): δ 1 . 45 - 1 . 92 ( m , 4h ), 1 . 99 - 2 . 20 ( m , 4h ), 2 . 48 - 2 . 99 ( m , 8h ), 3 . 1 - 3 . 88 ( m , 10h ), 3 . 96 ( s , 6h ), 3 . 98 - 4 . 24 ( m , 4h ), 6 . 80 ( s , 2h ), 7 . 49 ( s , 2h ), 7 . 82 ( d , 2h , j = 3 . 8 hz ). a solution of ( 2s )— n -( 4 - hydroxy - 5 - methoxy - 2 - nitrobenzoyl )- 4 , 4 - difluoro pyrrolidine - 2 - carboxaldehydediethylthioacetal iv ( 436 , mg 1 mmol ), 1 , 4 - dibromobutane ( 0 . 35 ml , 3 mmol ) and k 2 co 3 ( 690 mg , 5 mmol ) in dry acetone ( 40 ml ) was refluxed for 48 h . after the completion of reaction as indicated by tlc , etoac - hexane ( 6 : 4 ), the reaction mixture was poured on to the water and then extracted with ethylacetate . evaporation of the organic layer gave the crude product , which was further purified by column chromatography on silica gel eluting with etoac - hexane ( 1 : 1 ) gave the pure ( 2s )— n -[ 4 -( 5 - bromobutanoxy )- 5 - methoxy - 2 - nitrobenzoyl )- 4 , 4 - fluoropyrrolidine - 2 - carboxaldehydediethylthioacetal of formula v ( 353 mg , 81 %). 1 h nmr ( cdcl 3 , 200 mhz ): δ 1 . 28 - 1 . 40 ( m , 6h ), 2 . 0 - 2 . 5 ( m , 4h ), 2 . 58 - 2 . 79 ( m , 6h ), 3 . 51 ( t , 2h ), 3 . 75 -( m , 2h ), 3 . 96 -( s , 3h ), 4 . 10 ( t , 2h ), 4 . 79 ( d , 1h ), 4 . 85 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 74 ( s , 1h ) 7 . 6 ( s , 1h ) lcms : m / z 594 ( m + + na ). a solution of ( 2s )— n -[ 4 -( 5 - bromobutanoxy )- 5 - methoxy - 2 - nitrobenzoyl )- 4 , 4 - fluoro pyrrolidine - 2 - carboxaldehydediethylthioacetal of formula v . ( 571 mg , 1 mmol ), piperazine ( 43 mg , 0 . 5 mmol ) of the formula vi and k 2 co 3 ( 1380 mg , 10 mmol ) in dry acetone ( 40 ml ) was refluxed for 48 h . after the completion of reaction as indicated by tlc , etoac , the reaction mixture was on to the water and then extracted with ethylacetate . evaporation of the organic layer gave the crude product , which was further purified by column chromatography on silica gel eluting with etoac - hexane ( 9 : 1 ) gave the pure 1 , 1 ′-{[( bisbutane - 1 , n - diyl ) piperazine ] dioxy } bis ( 11as )- 2 , 2 - difluoro7 - methoxy - 2 - nitrobenzoylpyrrolidin - 2 - carboxaldehyddiethylthioactal ] ( 485 mg , 85 %). 1 h nmr ( cdcl 3 , 200 mhz ): δ 1 . 33 - 1 . 48 ( m , 12h ), 1 . 66 - 1 . 98 ( m , 8h ), 2 . 40 - 2 . 50 ( m , 8h ), 2 . 63 - 2 . 94 ( m , 12h ), 3 . 42 - 3 . 83 ( m , 8h ), 3 . 92 ( s , 6h ), 4 . 11 ( t , 4h ), 4 . 77 ( d , 2h ), 4 . 83 - 4 . 94 ( m , 2h ), 6 . 72 ( s , 2h ), 7 . 62 ( s , 2h ) esims : m / z 1067 ( m + ). the 1 , 1 ′-{[( bisbutane - 1 , n - diyl ) piperazine ] dioxy } bis ( 11as )- 2 , 2 - difluoro7 - methoxy - 2 - nitrobenzoylpyrrolidin - 2 - carboxaldehydediethylthioactal ]. vii ( 1067 mg , 1 . 0 mmol ) was dissolved in methanol ( 20 ml ) and added sncl 2 . 2h 2 o ( 2 . 25 mg , 10 . 0 mmol ) was refluxed for 1 . 5 h . the reaction mixture was then carefully adjusted to ph 8 with saturated nahco 3 solution and then extracted with ethyl acetate ( 3 × 20 ml ). the combined organic phase was dried over na 2 so 4 and evaporated under vacuum to afford the crude . the 1 , 1 ′-{[( bisbutane - 1 , n - diyl ) piperazine ] dioxy } bis ( 11as )- 2 - 2 - difluoro - 7 - methoxy - 2 - aminobenzoylpyrrolidin - 2 - carboxaldehyde - diethylthioacetal ] ( 810 mg , 76 %). a solution of the 1 , 1 ′-{[( bisbutane - 1 , n - diyl ) piperazine ] dioxy } bis ( 11as )- 2 - 2 - difluoro - 7 - methoxy - 2 - aminobenzoylpyrrolidin - 2 - carboxaldehydediethylthioactal ]. of formula viii ( 1007 mg , 1 mmol ), hgcl 2 ( 1355 mg , 5 . 0 mmol ) and caco 3 ( 500 mg , 5 mmol ) in ch 3 cn / h 2 o ( 4 : 1 , 16 ml ) was stirred at room temperature for 12 h . until tlc ( etoac ), indicates complete loss of starting material . then organic layer is evaporated in vacuum and the residue is diluted with etoac . to this saturated nahco 3 was added slowly at room temperature and the mixture is filtered through celite and washed with ethylacetate . the filterate is evaporated in vacuum to get crude 1 , 1 ′-{[( bisbutane - 1 , n - diyl ) piperazine ] dioxy } bis [( 11as )- 2 - 2 - difluoro - 7 - methoxy - 1 , 2 , 3 , 11a - tetrahydro - 5h - pyrrolo [ 2 , 1 - c ][ 1 , 4 ] benzodiazepine - 5 - one ], of formula ixe , which was further purified by column chromatography on silica gel eluting first with ethyl acetate to remove traces of mercuric salts and further eluted with chcl 3 - methanol ( 9 : 1 ) ( 523 mg , 52 %). 1 h nmr ( cdcl 3 , 200 mhz ): δ 1 . 56 - 1 . 94 ( m , 8h ), 1 . 99 - 2 . 35 ( m , 4h ), 2 . 49 - 2 . 99 ( m , 8h ), 3 . 29 - 3 . 87 ( m , 10h ), 3 . 93 ( s , 6h ), 3 . 98 - 4 . 37 ( m , 4h ), 6 . 89 ( s , 2h ), 7 . 46 ( s , 2h ), 7 . 83 ( d , 2h , j = 3 . 67 ). a solution of ( 2s )— n -( 4 - hydroxy - 5 - methoxy - 2 - nitrobenzoyl )- 4 , 4 - difluoropyrrolidine - 2 - carboxaldehydediethylthioacetal iv ( 436 mg , 1 mmol ), 1 , 5 - dibromopentane ( 0 . 37 ml 3 mmol ) and k 2 co 3 ( 1380 mg , 5 mmol ) in dry acetone ( 40 ml ) was refluxed for 48 h . after the completion of reaction as indicated by tlc , etoac - hexane ( 6 : 4 ), the reaction mixture was poured on to the water and then extracted with ethylacetate . evaporation of the organic layer gave the crude product , which was further purified by column chromatography on silica gel eluting with etoac - hexane ( 1 : 1 ) gave the pure ( 2s )— n -[ 4 -( 6 - bromopropoxy )- 5 - methoxy - 2 - nitro benzoyl )- 4 , 4 - fluoropyrrolidine - 2 - carboxaldehydediethylthioacetal of formula v ( 374 mg , 86 %). 1 h nmr ( cdcl 3 , 200 mhz ): δ 1 . 06 - 1 . 36 ( m , 6h ), 1 . 40 - 2 . 1 ( m , 4h ), 2 . 58 - 2 . 88 ( m , 6h ), 3 . 52 ( t , 2h ), 3 . 70 - 3 . 97 ( m , 2h ), 3 . 97 ( s , 3h ), 4 . 15 ( t , 2h ), 4 . 80 ( d , 1h ), 4 . 91 - 5 . 02 ( m , 1h ), 6 . 75 ( s , 1h ), 7 . 6 ( s , 1h ) lcms : m / z 608 ( m + + na ). a solution of ( 2s )— n -[ 4 -( 6 - bromopentanoxy )- 5 - methoxy - 2 - nitrobenzoyl )- 4 , 4 - fluoropyrrolidine - 2 - carboxaldehydediethylthioacetal of formula v . ( 585 mg , 1 mmol ), piperazine ( 43 mg , 0 . 5 mmol ) of the formula vi and k 2 co 3 ( 1380 mg , 10 mmol ) in dry acetone ( 40 ml ) was refluxed for 48 h . after the completion of reaction as indicated by tlc , etoac , the reaction mixture was on to the water and then extracted with ethylacetate . evaporation of the organic layer gave the crude product , which was further purified by column chromatography on silica gel eluting with etoac - hexane ( 9 : 1 ) gave the pure 1 , 1 ′-{[( bispentane - 1 , n - diyl ) piperazine ] dioxy } bis ( 11as )- 2 , 2 - difluoro7 - methoxy - 2 - nitrobenzoylpyrrolidin - 2 - carboxaldehydediethylthioactal ] ( 462 mg , 79 %). 1 h nmr ( cdcl 3 , 200 mhz ): δ 1 . 34 - 1 . 40 ( m , 12h ), 1 . 47 - 1 . 96 ( m , 12h ), 2 . 36 - 2 . 49 ( m , 4h ), 2 . 50 - 2 . 66 ( m , 8h ), 2 . 68 - 2 . 90 ( m , 8h ), 3 . 37 - 3 . 80 ( m , 8h ), 3 . 94 ( s , 6h ), 4 . 08 ( t , 4h ), 4 . 77 ( d , 2h ), 4 . 85 - 4 . 91 ( m , 2h ), 6 . 72 ( s , 2h ), 7 . 63 ( s , 2h ) esims : m / z 1095 ( m + ). the 1 , 1 ′-{[( bispentane - 1 , n - diyl ) piperazine ] dioxy } bis ( 11as )- 2 , 2 - difluoro7 - methoxy - 2 - nitrobenzoylpyrrolidin - 2 - carboxaldehydediethylthioactal ]. vii ( 1095 mg , 1 . 0 mmol ) was dissolved in methanol ( 20 ml ) and added sncl 2 . 2h 2 o ( 2 . 25 mg , 10 . 0 mmol ) was refluxed for 1 . 5 h . the reaction mixture was then carefully adjusted to ph 8 with saturated nahco 3 solution and then extracted with ethyl acetate ( 3 × 30 ml ). the combined organic phase was dried over na 2 so 4 and evaporated under vacuum to afford the crude . the 1 , 1 ′-{[( bispentane - 1 , n - diyl ) piperazine ] dioxy } bis ( 11as )- 2 - 2 - difluoro - 7 - methoxy - 2 - aminobenzoylpyrrolidin - 2 - carboxaldehydediethylthioactal ] ( 744 mg , 68 %). a solution of the 1 , 1 ′-{[( bispentane - 1 , n - diyl ) piperazine ] dioxy } bis ( 11as )- 2 - 2 - di - fluoro - 7 - methoxy - 2 - aminobenzoylpyrrolidin - 2 - carboxaldehydediethylthioactal ]. of formula viii ( 1035 mg , 1 mmol ), hgcl 2 ( 1355 mg , 5 mmol ) and caco 3 ( 500 mg , 5 . 0 mmol ) in ch 3 cn / h 2 o ( 4 : 1 , 16 ml ) was stirred at room temperature for 12 h . until tlc ( etoac ), indicates complete loss of starting material . then organic layer is evaporated in vacuum and the residue is diluted with etoac . to this saturated nahco 3 was added slowly at room temperature and the mixture is filtered through celite and washed with ethyl acetate . the filterate is evaporated in vacuum to get crude 1 , 1 ′-{[( bispentane - 1 , n - diyl ) piperazine ] dioxy } bis [( 11as )- 2 - 2 - difluoro - 7 - methoxy - 1 , 2 , 3 , 11a - tetrahydro - 5h - pyrrolo [ 2 , 1 - c ][ 1 , 4 ] benzo - diazepine - 5 - one ], of formula ixf , which was further purified by column chromatography on silica gel eluting first with ethyl acetate to remove traces of mercuric salts and further eluted with chcl 3 - methanol ( 9 : 1 ) ( 569 mg , 55 %). 1 h nmr ( cdcl 3 , 200 mhz ): δ 1 . 54 - 2 . 03 ( m , 12h ), 2 . 22 - 2 . 47 ( m , 4h ), 2 . 50 - 2 . 73 ( m , 8h ), 3 . 35 - 3 . 85 ( m , 10h ), 3 . 94 ( s , 6h ), 3 . 97 - 4 . 26 ( m , 4h ), 6 . 71 ( s , 2h ), 7 . 47 ( s , 2h ), 7 . 79 ( d , 2h j = 3 . 6 ) esims : m / z 787 ( m + + h ). biological activity : some of in vitro biological activity studies were carried out at the national cancer institute , maryland , usa . the above compounds were evaluated for in vitro anticancer activity against sixty human tumor cells derived from nine cancer types ( leukemia , non small cell cancer , colon cancer cns cancer , melanoma , ovarian cancer renal cancer , prostate cancer and breast cancer ) as per nci protocol . for each compound , dose response curves for each cell line were measured at a minimum of five concentrations at 10 - fold dilution . a protocol of 48 h continuous drug exposure was used , and a sulforhodamine b ( srb ) protein assay was used to estimate cell viability or growth . the concentration causing 50 % cell growth inhibition ( gi50 ), total cell growth inhibition ( tgi , 0 % growth ) and 50 % cell death ( lc - 50 % growth ) compared with the control was calculated . the mean graph midpoint values of log 10 tgi and log 10 lc50 as well as log 10 gi50 for ixa and ixd are listed in table 1 . as demonstrated by mean graph pattern compounds ixa and ixd are exhibit an interesting profile of activity and selectivity for various cell lines . the mean graph midpoint of log 10 tgi and log 10 lc50 showed similar pattern to the log 10 gi50 mean graph midpoints . among them ixa exhibits a wide spectrum of activity against fifty nine cell lines in nine cell panels , with gi50 value of & lt ; 95 nm . in the leukemia cell line the growth of ccrf - cem , hl - 60 ( tb ), k - 562 , molt - 4 , rpmi - 8226 and sr cell lines were affected by the . compound ixa with gi50 values as 10 , 10 , 15 , 10 , 22 , 10 . nm respectively . the gi50 values of compound ixa against non - small cell long cancer hop - 62 , hop 92 , nci - h23 , nci - h460 , nci - h522 cell lines are 12 , 96 , 32 , 10 , 10 , nm respectively . the gi50 values of compound ixa against colon cancer colo 205 , hct - 116 , sw - 620 cell lines are 40 , 28 , 56 nm respectively . the gi50 values of compound ixa against cns cancer sf - 268 , sf - 539 , snb - 19 , snb - 75 u251 11 , 11 , 28 , 33 , 15 nm respectively . the gi50 values of compound ixa against melanoma cancer lox , mvi , malme - 3m , m14 , sk - mel - 2 , sk - mel - 28 , uacc - 62 , 17 , 24 , 35 , 43 , 31 , 26 nm respectively . the gi50 values of compound ixa against ovarian cancer gi50 rov1 , ovcar - 3 , sk - ov - 3 , are in 59 , 48 , 70 nm respectively . the gi50 values of compound ixa renal cancer 786 - o , a498 , cak - 1 , sn12c , 39 , 66 , 28 , 18 , nm respectively in prostate cancer cell of compound ix a values shows against pc - 3 , du - 145 , 15 , 47 nm respectively . and the gi50 values of compound ixa against breast cancer mcf7 , hs578t , mda - mb - 435 , bt - 549 , t - 47d , mdamb - 468 10 , 48 , 34 , 95 , 13 , 10 , nm respectively in this studies the compound ixd exhibited cytotoxicity activity against fifty nine cell lines is nine cancer cell panels with gi50 values are in a range of 9 . 79 × 10 − 7 - 8 . 64 × 10 − 6 μm particularly in the compound ixd ig50 values against in leukemia cancer ccrf - cem , sr , 9 . 79 × 10 - 7 μm and 8 . 82 × 10 - 7 μm the cytotoxicity of ixa and ixd in selected cancer cell lines have been illustrated in table 2 . table 2 the average gi50 values for each cancer panel of compounds ixa and ix d have been illustrated in table 2 the dna binding affinity of the c2 - fluoro substituted piperazine linked pyrrolo [ 2 , 1c ][ 1 , 4 ] benzodiazepine dimers were subjected to thermal denaturation studies using calf thymus ( ct ) dna ( jones , g . b . ; davey , c . l . ; jenkins , t . c . ; kamal , a . ; kneale , g . g . ; neidle , s . ; webster , g . d . ; thurston , d . e . anti - cancer drug des . 1990 , 5 , 249 . mcconnaughie , a . w . ; jenkins , t . c . j . med . chem . 1995 , 38 , 3488 ). the studies for these compounds ( ixa - f ) were carried out by dna / ligand molar ratio is 1 : 5 the increase in the helix melting temperature ( δt m ) for each compound was examined at 0 h . the dna biding activity for these novel c2 - fluoro substituted piperazine linked pyrrolo [ 2 , 1c ][ 1 , 4 ] benzodiazepine dimers have been examined by thermal denaturation studies using calf thymus ( ct ) dna melting studies shows that these compounds stabilize the □ t m for ct - dna at ph 7 . 0 , incubated at 37 ° c ., were pbd / dna molar ratio is 1 : 5 interestingly , in this assay all compounds of fluoro substituted dimer ( ixa - f ) elevates the melting temperature ct - dna by margin of 11 - 38 ° c . after incubation for at 37 ° c . data for dsb - 120 and sjg - 136 are included in table - 3 for comparison . the synthetic dc - 81 dimer ( dsb - 120 ) gives a δt m 10 . 2 ° c . and sjc - 136 gives a □ t m of 25 ° c . under identical experimental condition .
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the invention can be implemented in numerous ways , including as a process ; an apparatus ; a system ; a composition of matter ; a computer program product embodied on a computer readable storage medium ; and / or a processor , such as a processor configured to execute instructions stored on and / or provided by a memory coupled to the processor . in this specification , these implementations , or any other form that the invention may take , may be referred to as techniques . in general , the order of the steps of disclosed processes may be altered within the scope of the invention . unless stated otherwise , a component such as a processor or a memory described as being configured to perform a task may be implemented as a general component that is temporarily configured to perform the task at a given time or a specific component that is manufactured to perform the task . as used herein , the term ‘ processor ’ refers to one or more devices , circuits , and / or processing cores configured to process data , such as computer program instructions . a detailed description of one or more embodiments of the invention is provided below along with accompanying figures that illustrate the principles of the invention . the invention is described in connection with such embodiments , but the invention is not limited to any embodiment . the scope of the invention is limited only by the claims , and the invention encompasses numerous alternatives , modifications , and equivalents . numerous specific details are set forth in the following description in order to provide a thorough understanding of the invention . these details are provided for the purpose of example , and the invention may be practiced according to the claims without some or all of these specific details . for the purpose of clarity , technical material that is known in the technical fields related to the invention has not been described in detail so that the invention is not unnecessarily obscured . techniques for lossless compression of a sequence of integer values are described herein . in some embodiments , a sequence of integer values may represent a fragment of an arbitrary image or sensor data . image data has become a dominant data type , and it is among the fastest growing segments of data generated by various sources in the digital information world . although lossy compression techniques such as jpeg have many use cases , they cannot satisfy the requirements of several important applications including medical imagery ( such as ct scan images , mri images and such ) and high definition film images . these applications require their images to be compressed and stored in a lossless manner , meaning that the compressed version can be decompressed to restore the original image in its entirety without any data loss . when data transmission and data storage systems employ compression methods to reduce network bandwidth and data storage footprint , they often require data to be divided into fragments . for example , a data transfer protocol often requires a data stream to be split into fragments in order to transfer a packet of data at a time . a de - duplication file system often requires data to be stored in relatively small units such as fixed - size blocks or variable - size segments . since an image can be quite large , it is highly desirable to have a lossless compression method that can compress small fragments of an image quickly and achieve high compression ratios and simpler hardware compression implementation . furthermore , fragments can be independently compressed and decompressed using either or both multiple computing elements ( or cores ) or multiple software elements ( or threads ). fig1 illustrates an embodiment of how a two - dimensional image is split into multiple one - dimensional fragments f i . each fragment may include a portion of one or more rows . fig2 illustrates an embodiment of how an image is laid out on disk and illustrates fragments and fragment boundaries . the lossless compression techniques disclosed herein may be used to compress each fragment efficiently in a lossless manner and may also be used to expand the compressed fragments without reference to other fragments or metadata . in various embodiments , the input to the compression algorithm is a sequence of k - tuples of integer values , originating from a fragment of image or sensor data . the sequence of values comprising the i th coordinate of every tuple is referred to as a channel ; there may be k such channels . for example , in the case of image data , each tuple may be associated with a single pixel . each channel here is a color component ( e . g ., red , green , and blue ), with the coordinates of one tuple representing the color information at a pixel . in various embodiments , the compression algorithm described herein may be used to encode the input losslessly by exploiting continuity properties within and across channels . in some embodiments , exploiting continuity properties is performed by at least performing transformations to eliminate redundancies within and across channels and losslessly encoding the resulting sequence based on statistics of the data . in some embodiments , a flexible encoding scheme that can adapt to the properties of the data but at the same time requires very little space to represent the properties of the data it depends on is used . fig3 illustrates an embodiment of an input sequence comprising tuples and showing channels comprising certain coordinates within the tuples . for example , for the first tuple of the sequence , each of a 1 , b 1 , and c 1 corresponds to a channel and is each represented as an integer value . for example , integer values of channel 1 ( a 1 , a 2 , . . . , a n ) may be associated with the red color component , integer values of channel 2 ( b 1 , b 2 , . . . , b n ) may be associated with the green color component , and integer values of channel 3 ( c 1 , c 2 , . . . , c n ) may be associated with the blue color component . in some embodiments , several transformations are performed as preprocessing prior to the performance of compression . in general , the goal of these transformations is to exploit the redundancies and continuity properties of the numeric values and convert them into smaller values that can be compressed more effectively . in various embodiments , the transformations are reversible , so that the original sequence of values may be obtained from the transformed sequence . in some embodiments , in point - wise channel transformations , redundancies across channels are eliminated by applying a reversible transformation to the channel values for a single pixel , where this transformation is applied for every pixel independently . in order to facilitate compression , optionally , the channels produced into a new set of channels may be transformed by means of a reversible transformation such that the new set of channels is better compressible than the original set . examples of transforms that may be used include ( reversible ) linear transformations as well as bit regrouping operations . as an example of the latter , the msbs ( most significant bytes ) of a few channels can be grouped together to produce a new channel to enable more efficient encoding . fig4 illustrates an embodiment of channel transformation . as shown in the given example , each integer comprises two bytes where one byte is the most significant byte while the other is the least significant byte . each original channel may comprise integers associated with the same color component . as shown in the example , the top original channel includes two byte integers associated with red , the middle original channel includes two byte integers associated with green , and the bottom original channel includes two byte integers associated with blue . the original channels may be transformed such that the top transformed channel comprises a series of most significant bytes from the original red channel and the original green channel , the middle transformed channel comprises a series of least significant bytes from the original red channel and the original green channel , while the bottom transformed channel remains the same as the original blue channel ( with its alternating most significant bytes and least significant bytes ). in some embodiments , potential channel transforms are evaluated by estimating the compressibility of the new channels they produce . in order to evaluate the potential channel transforms , a suitable function e ( x ) that estimates the number of bits required to encode a numeric value x is selected . for example , e ( x )= 1 + log 2 (| x |) may be used as an estimate of the number of bits needed to encode x . in some embodiments , in spatial data transformations , redundancies are eliminated and continuity within a channel is exploited by applying a reversible transformation to the values of a particular channel for consecutive pixels . let a be a particular ( transformed or not transformed ) channel ( i . e ., sequence of numeric values ) in a particular fragment that is desired to be compressed . then a i represents the i th element of channel a . let x represent the sequence obtained after the transformation . the following transformations could be used . differential transform : here every element is subtracted from the element preceding it . thus , xor transform : here an xor is taken of every element and the one preceding it . thus , in some embodiments , additional transformations may be considered , such as applying the differential transform twice and other such variations . having applied various transformations , compressing the sequence of values in each transformed channel is performed next . in some embodiments , the sequence of values ( for a single transformed channel ) is referred to as the “ input sequence .” in order to compress the input sequence , a variable length code that is adapted to the statistics of the values to be represented is used . then , in various embodiments , the encoding of the sequence will comprise a suitable representation of the statistics ( from which the variable length code can be reconstructed by the decoder ) followed by an encoding of the values themselves . however , since the space of possible values is very large , the statistics that are chosen to be used in designing the variable length codes should be selected such that representation of the statistics itself does not take up a lot of space . in order to do this , in some embodiments , the algorithm uses a quantization method to group numeric values . each numeric value is specified by two components : level and value bits . in some embodiments , the level specifies the high order bits and the value specifies the low order bits . later , in some embodiments , the algorithm computes the frequencies of levels in the sequence and this is used to design a variable length code for encoding levels . in some embodiments , the value bits are represented verbatim without encoding . fig5 illustrates an embodiment of mapping pixel values into the ( level , value ) form . in the given example , the levels are 2 i , and the computations of level and value for 7 and 13 are illustrated . in some embodiments , the scheme is implemented in the following way to allow for flexibility in partitioning values into level and value components and the ability to adapt to the characteristics of different data sources . in some embodiments , a sequence of thresholds is selected : 0 = t 0 & lt ; t 1 & lt ; t 2 & lt ; t 3 & lt ; . . . t i & lt ; t i + 1 & lt ; . . . , and the non - negative integers are partitioned into a collection of disjoint intervals : [ t 0 , t 1 ), [ t 1 , t 2 ), [ t 2 , t 3 ) . . . [ t i , t i + 1 ) . . . . in various embodiments , the level component specifies which interval [ t i , t i + 1 ) a value lies in , and the value component specifies a particular integer in the interval . a special case of this is when the thresholds are chosen such that for all i , ( t i + 1 − t i ) is a power of 2 . in this case , a numeric value v is encoded by indicating the interval [ t i , t i + 1 ) that v lies in ( specified by the level ) and further indicating the difference v − t i . more specifically , in order to specify non - negative value v , the unique i , such that t i ≦ v ≦ t i + 1 , is to be found . v is said to be at level i . now suppose t i + 1 − t i = 2 b . then the value bits for v are obtained by representing v − t i as a b bit integer . note that v − t i is an integer in the range [ 0 , 2 b − 1 ]. a further special case of this scheme is when consecutive thresholds are of the form t i = k · 2 b and t i + 1 =( k + 1 ) 2 b . in this case , the value bits for numbers in the interval [ t i , t i + 1 ) are simply the b least significant bits . note that in this special case , it is not necessarily the case that the same value of b applies to all consecutive thresholds . take the following example : t 0 = 0 , t 1 = 1 , t 2 = 2 , t 3 = 3 , t 4 = 4 , t 5 = 6 , t 6 = 8 , t 7 = 12 . . . . consider consecutive thresholds t 3 , t 4 : t 3 = 3 · 2 0 , t 4 = 4 · 2 0 ; here b = 0 . consider consecutive thresholds t 4 , t 3 : t 4 = 2 · 2 1 , t 5 = 3 · 2 1 ; here b = 1 . consider consecutive thresholds t 5 , t 6 : t 5 = 3 · 2 1 , t 6 = 4 · 2 1 ; here b = 1 . consider consecutive thresholds t 6 , t 7 : t 6 = 2 · 2 2 , t 7 = 3 · 2 2 ; here b = 2 . the sequence of thresholds : 0 = t 0 & lt ; t 1 & lt ; t 2 & lt ; t 3 & lt ; . . . t i & lt ; t i + 1 & lt ; . . . is adapted to the data . we could either determine these thresholds for image or sensor data of a particular kind and apply this predetermined sequence for all data of this kind ( data type adaptive ), or we could determine a sequence of thresholds adaptively for each image fragment we have to compress ( data instance adaptive ). in the former case , a threshold determination algorithm is applied on sample data to obtain a fixed sequence which is used for all data of that kind . in the latter case , the threshold determination algorithm is applied to each fragment separately to produce thresholds for use in encoding that particular fragment . here , the sequence of thresholds picked for each fragment must also be represented along with the encoding of the fragment . in some embodiments , the threshold determination algorithm selects thresholds such that ( i ) the observed distribution of values in each interval [ t i , t i + 1 ) is roughly uniform , and ( ii ) the total observed frequency of values in each interval [ t i , t i + 1 ) is at least some specified minimum . the latter property ensures that the number of thresholds selected is relatively small , which in turn controls the encoding cost . note that it may not be possible to achieve both these objectives simultaneously , so some relaxation may be used . fig6 illustrates an embodiment of a threshold selection algorithm . this algorithm additionally ensures that consecutive thresholds are of the form t i = k · 2 b and t i + 1 =( k + 1 ) 2 b . inputs into the threshold selection algorithm include the sequence of numeric values , depth d , and frequency threshold f t . the algorithm starts with all thresholds being set to powers of 2 . next , consider the interval [ 2 i , 2 i + 1 ). each such interval is split into two “ child ” intervals of equal length ( also powers of 2 ) which corresponds to adding a new threshold in the middle of the thresholds 2 i , 2 i + 1 . the new intervals produced would be [ 2 * 2 i − 1 , 3 * 2 i − 1 ) and [ 3 * 2 i − 1 , 4 * 2 i − 1 ). these intervals are further split into two children intervals each . the number of times such splitting is carried out is dictated by the depth d ( an input to the algorithm ) or until intervals of length l are obtained . typically the depth is set to 3 or 4 . note that if the depth is too high , the intervals get smaller and smaller , and the number of numeric values in the input sequence that will fall into each interval will get progressively smaller . next , analyze a sample of the sequence of numeric values and count the number of values that fall into each interval , yielding a frequency distribution over intervals . in some cases it is desired that the frequency of each interval is roughly the same and furthermore that the distribution of elements within each interval is roughly uniform . since the frequency distribution for all the smaller intervals is calculated , the frequency for all the larger intervals ( from which the smaller intervals were created ) can be easily calculated by simply summing the frequencies . it may be desirable to eliminate intervals that have very low frequencies because it is inefficient . if the frequency of a given interval is below a certain threshold f t ( another input to the algorithm ), then the interval is merged with its sibling interval , so that the resulting interval is their parent . in the example of fig6 , we start with interval [ 2 i , 2 i + 1 ). this parent interval is split into two children . the first child ends up being split again , but the second child is split and merged back so that the frequencies of all the intervals shown at the end are roughly the same . the ( unsigned ) elements of the input sequence are converted into levels using the thresholds determined by the algorithm above . henceforth , the described encoding scheme specifies the encoding for the levels . the value bits are transmitted separately ( usually without encoding ). fig7 illustrates an embodiment of a compression process 700 . let x be a sequence of values corresponding to a transformed channel ( obtained by the data transformation steps , e . g ., at 702 ) in a particular fragment . the threshold selection algorithm is executed at 704 to choose the thresholds for the compression algorithm . the absolute values of the entries in x are converted into levels at 706 as described above , to produce the sequence x l . the signs of the entries in the transformed array will be transmitted separately . the encoding of x l is performed using huffman codes at 708 . there are multiple possibilities for the creation of the huffman codes . one example technique is to have a 1 st order code which is the optimal huffman code over levels using frequencies of levels in this particular sequence . fig8 illustrates an embodiment of a 1 st order huffman code . another method is to create a 2 nd order huffman code , which consists of a code wherein each level is represented using information about the previous level in the sequence . this must be done carefully to ensure that the space required to represent the additional statistics ( required for the decoder to reconstruct the 2 nd order huffman codes ) do not swamp the space benefit achieved by using such codes . to achieve a smooth tradeoff between the representation space overhead and the encoding size of the improved codes ( and facilitate finding a sweet spot for this tradeoff ), in some embodiments , the set of levels is divided into a small number of groups and separate huffman codes are created for each of these groups . grouping of levels is done such that the total frequency of elements in each group is roughly equal . fig9 illustrates an embodiment of a process of performing a 2 nd order huffman code . the sweet spot for the aforementioned tradeoff is found by computing the total encoding cost ( including representation space overhead ) for several different choices for the number of groups . in some embodiments , the optimal value for the number of groups may either be determined based on the specific sequence of values to be encoded or may be determined based on a representative sample of the input . the encoded bits required to transmit the level information for the transformed sequence is determined based on the huffman codes . once the levels have been encoded , in some embodiments , the value bits themselves are transmitted verbatim . in other words , no additional encoding is done for these bits , and they are transmitted directly ( since it is reasonable to assume that these low order bits are random ). the signs of the elements might have to be transmitted depending upon the choice of transformation . in some embodiments , the signs can either be transmitted by combining them with the levels ( in which case , if a is a possible level , then − a would also be a possible level ) or transmitting them separately using one bit per non - zero sign element . the following are examples of applications for the disclosed compression techniques . however , nothing in this section should be interpreted as a limitation on the embodiments described above . storage systems can reduce their storage footprint by compressing their data segments or blocks . for example , a file system typically stores each file with multiple data segments or data blocks on a storage media in order to ease storage allocations and reclamations to reduce storage fragmentations . in order to store more data on the same physical storage capacity , some file systems compress data segments before storing them on storage media . a lossless compression algorithm such as gzip or lz may be applied on the data segments before storing them to storage media and a corresponding decompression algorithm is applied after the data segments are retrieved from the storage media . the compression techniques described herein may be employed in any storage tier ( primary , secondary , backup and archival , for example ). fig1 illustrates an embodiment of an archival storage system with such a compression . a hardware accelerator , sometimes called an intellectual property ( ip ) core , refers to special hardware support to implement a software algorithm . hardware accelerators can achieve much higher performance and lower power consumption than running their algorithms on a general - purpose central processing unit ( cpu ). ideal algorithms for hardware accelerators are simple and parallel , and require relatively small buffer or storage . the described techniques for compression may be implemented in hardware accelerators efficiently because each fragment requires a small data buffer ( e . g ., a few thousands of bytes ), even though an image can be quite large ( millions or billions of bytes ). a hardware accelerator may be designed to compress multiple fragments in parallel . designers have the option to implement the coordination of the parallel compression of multiple fragments either in the accelerator or in software running on the main cpu . fig1 illustrates an embodiment of the fragment compression algorithm implemented in hardware . in the media and entertainment industry , high - resolution cameras are used for capturing still and motion pictures . a common setup for much of the editing , production , and rendering software in this industry caches the individual frames ( as many as several thousand in a workstation ) from a store in which all frames are in individual files . each frame is effectively considered as a still image and can be processed as such . one trend in video capture is high definition capture . the delivery is not necessarily the same as the acquisition format , but the idea is to capture as high a resolution as possible and to down - sample in post - production . another trend for video capture is high frame rate . when the acquisition format and frame rate are the best possible , it gives that much more freedom to edit as needed in post - production . thus there is a need for cameras to support high resolution and high frame rate . by using raw sensor data output , data throughput and storage capacity of recording mediums can be limiting factors . accordingly , there is a desire to output raw sensor data with reduced throughput . one solution is to use some form of lossless compression on the frames . the techniques for compression described above lend themselves very well to satisfy all these requirements for lossless compression of the individual frames at high throughput , and the camera or chip maker can easily create chips with enough processing elements to handle very high data rates . for example , the compression algorithm may be implemented on a camera chip in a manner very similar to that depicted in fig1 . the ability to post process image and video content efficiently is a very important feature for the media and entertainment industry . it is often the case that an image has to undergo local edits in the post processing phase . however , the entire image has to be uncompressed in order to perform these edits . but because the compression techniques described herein work on fragments of images , rather than the entire image , local editing is enabled without making global changes to the compressed data . some applications for this feature are cropping of an image , highlighting a part of the image , picture within a picture and various other such effects . a further embodiment of the invention is to process an image in several repetitive steps exploiting the continuous nature of the data in more than one dimension thus improving the compression . the techniques for compression described herein may also be used in a combination of applications . for example , a post - processing movie editing software system could compress images prior to sending them over a network for backup , and the backup device could decompress the images at a future time without the use of the original software . although the foregoing embodiments have been described in some detail for purposes of clarity of understanding , the invention is not limited to the details provided . there are many alternative ways of implementing the invention . the disclosed embodiments are illustrative and not restrictive .
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referring now to the drawings , and in particular fig1 , there is shown a water softening system , generally designated by reference numeral 10 , that incorporates the present invention . the water softening system is designed to soften water when it is delivered to a residence or business . the system as shown , is advantageously designed and operated to prevent system failure as a result of brine crystallization . the system 10 includes two resin tanks 12 , 14 proximally positioned near an upstanding brine tank 16 and a valve assembly 18 that is supported atop the tanks . the valve assembly 18 is programmed to selectively maintain one of the tanks on - line with a household water supply system . the off - line tank is subjected to a regeneration cycle and then held off - line until the on - line tank is exhausted . the frequency with which the valve assembly 18 switches the tanks 12 , 14 from on - line operation to regeneration is controlled by metering the usage of softened water or the like . the valve assembly 18 is operative to connect one of the tanks to the household water supply and also controls regeneration of an exhausted tank . the valve assembly maintains a regenerated tank “ off - line ” until the “ on - line ” tank becomes exhausted . descriptions of the construction and operation of a control valves suitable for use in the present invention along with a complete description of a dual tank water softening system are described in u . s . pat . no . 3 , 891 , 522 to prior et al ., and u . s . pat . no . 4 , 298 , 025 to prior et al ., the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety . the softener tanks 12 , 14 are of known configuration and utilize common water softening chemicals . each tank typically includes cylinders 20 of glass fiber construction . the upper ends of the cylinders 20 are threaded with female 2½ inch n . p . t . threads for connection to the valve assembly 18 . riser pipes 24 , 26 depend centrally through the cylinders 20 . a pair of screens 28 , 30 communicate with the lower ends of the riser pipes 24 , 26 . suitable ion exchange softening chemicals , indicated by reference numeral 40 are positioned in the cylinders 20 , 22 surrounding the riser pipes 24 , 26 and the screens 28 , 30 . other resin tanks suitable for use in the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art in view of this disclosure . a complete description of the construction and operation of a resin tank suitable for use in the present invention can be found in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 337 , 153 to prior , the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference . the water softening process takes place as hard water passes through the tanks 12 , 14 . the water is channeled into the tanks 12 , 14 and is softened during its passage downwardly through the ion exchange chemicals 40 . hard water is hereinafter defined as water that contains certain multivalent salts , such as those of calcium or magnesium , which can form insoluble deposits in boilers and precipitates with soap . the resin 40 in the tanks 12 , 14 replaces or exchanges the hard ions in the source water with soft ions . softened water then enters the risers pipes 24 , 26 through the screens 28 , 30 and is directed back out of the tanks 12 , 14 . the brine tank 16 is an open ended cylindrical drum formed of suitable metal or plastic capped by a removable cover 50 . the brine tank provides a brine supply system that utilizes common ion replacement salts to regenerate the softening chemicals 40 . an upstanding brine well 52 is laterally positioned against a wall 53 in the brine tank 16 . those skilled in the art will recognize that the brine well could easily be positioned in other locations within the brine tank , e . g ., centrally . the brine well is an open ended top tubular member formed from suitable metal or plastic . the lower region of the brine well 52 includes apertures 54 such that the brine solution from a brine reservoir 56 extends into the brine well wherein the level of solution in the well 52 is at about the same level contained in the reservoir 56 . a screen 58 extends horizontally from wall to wall in the brine tank and around the brine well 52 . the screen is position about one - fourth of the way up the walls of the brine tank 16 . the screen includes support members 60 of a fixed length for positioning the screen off the floor of the brine tank and for supporting the weight of a granular salt material disposed thereon . the granular salt material 62 is deposited in the brine tank 16 and rests atop the screen 58 . the brine solution reservoir 56 is then defined below the screen 58 . the reservoir communicates with the valve assembly 18 through a conduit 70 , the fluid communication being controlled by a brine valve , generally designated by reference numeral 80 . the brine valve 80 is positioned in the brine well 52 . the brine valve serves a dual function in that it controls both the outflow of brine solution from the reservoir 56 to the valve assembly 18 during tank regeneration and controls the inflow of water to replenish the brine solutions used during replenishment . use of the brine control valve in accordance with the present invention prevents system failure caused by crystallization of salt in the brine . for example , crystals formed as a result of inactivity , temperature fluctuation , salt saturation or in any manner are prevented from causing system failure . referring now to fig2 , there is shown an exploded side elevational view of the brine control valve 80 in the well 52 . the brine control valve assembly 80 includes the brine conduit 70 that is connected to the valve assembly 18 via a port 72 in the wall of the tank 16 and provides passage of water during brine replenishment and also permits brine to be withdrawn during regeneration of the tanks 12 , 14 . connected to conduit 70 is a tee 82 . an opening 84 of tee 82 is connected to an assembly that is used to draw brine solution from the reservoir 56 to the tank 12 or 14 selected for resin regeneration . the tee opening 84 is laterally connected by conduit 86 to an elbow 88 . the elbow 88 is further connected by conduit 90 to a check valve 100 . a rigid tube 102 extends from the check valve 100 and is connected to an air check 104 . referring now to fig3 , there is shown a cross sectional view of the check valve 100 . the check valve 100 includes a cylindrical body 110 with upper and lower openings , 112 , 114 respectively . the conduit 90 is connected to the upper opening 112 by conventional compression fittings 116 . located within the body 110 is a piston assembly that includes an umbrella check 116 , a piston 118 , a quad ring 120 and a spring 122 . the umbrella check 116 is a flexible umbrella shaped silicone seal that is positioned in the body 110 as shown . as seen best in fig3 , the piston 118 includes a plurality of bores 118 a . in the preferred embodiment , the piston 118 includes eight bores 118 a each having a diameter of 0 . 027 inches . the umbrella check 116 allows fluid flow form the bores 118 a into the conduit 90 . however , flow from the conduit 90 into the bores 118 a is substantially inhibited . an umbrella check valve 116 suitable for this application is available from vernay laboratories under the designation vl 2287 - 101 . in the preferred embodiment , the seal 116 is formed from flouro silicone and has a durometer of 57 . the piston assembly functions to allow unidirectional passage of brine solution in the reservoir 56 through the air check 104 and then through conduits 102 , 90 , 86 and 70 during the regeneration cycle . during regeneration , the piston assembly decompresses the spring and the umbrella check unseats allowing passage of solution from the reservoir . it has been found that as long as the umbrella check unseats during regeneration , passage of brine will occur . the lower opening 114 is adapted to receive a compression fitting 124 for seating the piston assembly and for connecting to rigid tube 102 . a screen , not shown , is optionally positioned within the fitting to prevent any particulate from passing through the assembly . the air check assembly 104 includes a base portion 130 and a body portion 132 . the base portion includes a fluid passageway 134 to the body portion and is connected to conduit 102 . a tubular chamber 136 is disposed interiorly along a longitudinal axis of the body and is in communication with the passageway 134 . a buoyant ball bearing 138 is disposed in the chamber 136 . a series of horizontal slots 140 extend from an exterior surface of the body and are in communication with the chamber 136 . the diameter of the passageway at the interface between the boy and base portions is of a smaller diameter than the diameter of the ball bearing thereby providing a seat 142 for the ball bearing 138 such that when the ball bearing makes contact with the seat the passage of solution is prevented . an example of a suitable air check valve for use in the present invention is model no . fl500 , commercially available from fleck controls , inc . in operation , the ball bearing 138 disposed in the chamber 136 floats in the brine solution in the reservoir 56 . during tank regeneration , the valve assembly 18 causes a pressure change within the assembly that causes brine to be withdrawn from the reservoir . once the level of the brine reservoir 56 is at about the height of the lowest horizontal slot 140 , the ball bearing will become seated within the seat 142 of the chamber thereby preventing further passage of brine from being drawn . once the ball bearing is seated , a slight vacuum on the ball bearing 136 prevents the ball bearing from being dislodged and as such , prevents further withdrawal of brine from the reservoir . after the selected tank , 12 or 14 , is regenerated with brine , the valve assembly signals the system 10 to replenish the brine expended during regeneration . during brine replenishment , the valve assembly 18 directs pressurized water into conduit 72 which causes a brief pulse of pressure to be exerted on the umbrella check 116 of the check valve 100 . the umbrella check seats and causes the piston assembly to move downward compressing the spring and exerting a counter - pressure of a small volume of solution in conduit 102 . consequently , the solution in conduit 102 pulses through the air check assembly 104 , thereby releasing the vacuum on the ball bearing 136 in seat 142 . once the vacuum is removed , the ball bearing 136 is free to float in the chamber . as such , the ball bearing 136 will rise to the height of the brine solution in the reservoir 56 as it is being replenished or to the ceiling in the air check chamber depending on the height of the reservoir . the actual brine replenishment will be discussed in greater detail below . the applicants have found that without the back pulse provided by the check valve , the water treatment system would lock up during subsequent regeneration cycles . for example , simple ball check valves have been found to be inadequate and prone to hydraulic failure during multiple regeneration cycles . the brine replenishment system is connected to the other opening 140 of tee 82 . the brine replenishing assembly includes a rod and float assembly . the rod and float assembly , which will be described in detail below , is connected to the tee opening by means of an adapter 143 having a threaded end portion and a stem portion the stem portion is conventionally connected to the tee 82 . preferably , a metal screen ( not shown ) is inserted in the tee prior to attaching the stem to the tee . a press - in check valve ( not shown ) is inserted into the threaded end of the adapter 143 . the threaded end of the adapter 143 is then connected to the rod and float assembly . a suitable press - in check valve is available from flomatic systems , inc . and has a designation of rc - 256 . the rod and float assembly 160 includes a refill valve 162 . the refill valve includes a cylindrical body 164 with a lower opening 166 and an upper opening 168 . a rod 170 extends through openings in the sidewall of the body and controls the opening and closing of a valve body ( not shown ) disposed in the refill valve . the rod 170 is pivotally attached to a rigid tube 174 wherein the distal end of the tube includes a buoyant float 176 . as the height of the reservoir 56 changes during regeneration cycles , the float 176 causes the rod 170 to move the valve body 172 upwardly or downwardly in the body thereby opening or closing the refill valve depending on the height of brine solution in the reservoir 56 . for example , if the brine reservoir is low , the float and the corresponding angle of the rod will cause the valve body to rise and provide passage of water thereby permitting replenishment of the brine . in contrast , as the brine reservoir is replenished , the valve body lowers and slowly closes the passageway , whereby passage of water is prevented . the predetermined height of the rigid tube 124 and the float 176 are factors that control the amount of brine to be replenished . the lower opening 166 of the refill valve is connected to a dual nozzle assembly by means of conduit 180 . the dual nozzle assembly includes a first spray nozzle 190 that is positioned to release water in the brine well and a second spray nozzle 200 that is positioned to release water directly onto the granular salt bed . the conduit 180 is connected to tee 182 . a threaded reducer bushing 183 is connected to the one opening of the tee 184 . the first spray nozzle 190 is connected to the bushing 183 and as such , is positioned to spray water during brine replenishment cycles within the brine well 52 . an elbow 188 is connected to an other opening 186 of tee 182 . a flexible conduit 192 is connected to the elbow 188 and extends to a port 194 in the brine well 52 . the port 194 is located above height of the granular salt material 62 . the conduit 192 is connected to a connector 196 and elbow 198 that are secured to the port 194 in the brine well wall . a threaded reducer bushing 202 is attached to the elbow . the second spray nozzle 200 is threaded into the bushing 202 and is positioned to release spray directly onto the granular salt 62 . spray nozzles suitable for this application are available from hago manufacturing company , incorporated . during the time when brine is being drawn from the reservoir , the press - in check valve ( not shown ) located within the fitting 143 inhibits the flow of air into the brine conduit 70 via the nozzles 190 , 200 . the flow rates of each individual nozzle 190 , 200 are preferably controlled wherein a flow ratio at the second nozzle 200 compared to the first nozzle 190 is from about 4 : 1 to about 8 : 1 . more preferably , the flow ratios are at about 6 : 1 . the first nozzle 190 sprays pressurized water directly into the brine well 52 and as such , dilutes the residual brine in the reservoir with water and / or dissolves any salt crystals formed . simultaneously , the second nozzle 200 sprays water over the granular salt 62 to replenish the brine reservoir 56 to a level determined by positioning of the rod and float assembly 160 . since the water from the spray material must first pass through the granular salt material 62 , it is believed that the water from the first nozzle preferentially dilutes the brine reservoir to ensure that the solution is definitely lower in saturation . the applicants have found the preferred ratio of flow rates of each nozzle are important to maintain a target concentration of brine in the reservoir and be effective in preventing recrystallization . the aforementioned range of flow rates have been found to be effective for preventing system failure as a result of salt formation in the reservoir . the granular salt material 62 preferably includes soft ion donors including , but not limited to , salts such as potassium chloride and sodium chloride . other salts suitable for use in water softening systems will be apparent to those skilled in the art in view of this disclosure . the use of the dual nozzle assembly with the aforementioned flow rates dilutes and / or dissolves the brine reservoir during the brine replenishment cycle prior to or simultaneous with brine replenishment . the present invention is especially advantageous with those softening salts that exhibit solubility differences over a range of temperatures , e . g ., potassium chloride . many modifications and variations of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art in light of the foregoing disclosure . therefore , it is to be understood that , within the scope of the appended claims , the invention can be practiced otherwise than has been specifically shown and described .
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fig1 shows a caller &# 39 ; s communications terminal a associated with a home communications network hplmn . from the caller &# 39 ; s communications terminal a , a communications link needs to be set up to a communications terminal b which is likewise associated with the home communications network hplmn , the communications terminal b being activated ( registered ) in a foreign communications network fkn . the caller &# 39 ; s communications terminal a sends a setup request 1 to a switching center ssp in the home communications network hplmn . in this exemplary embodiment , the home communications network hplmn has a structure associated with an “ intelligent network ,” ( in ) and the switching center ssp operates as a “ service switching point ” ( ssp ). to produce the desired communications link between the caller &# 39 ; s communications terminal a and the communications terminal b , a message n 1 is sent from the service switching point ssp to a service control point scp . the service control point scp is a network node in the home communications network hplmn which has a sequence control function for controlling the setup of the communications link . the message n 1 transmitted to the service control point scp is taken as a basis for the service control point scp to perform sequences as for setting up the communications link between the caller &# 39 ; s communications terminal a and the communications terminal b . these sequences as are shown schematically in fig1 as an element denoted “ as ”. the communications link between the caller &# 39 ; s communications terminal a and the communications terminal b can incur charges for the communications terminal b . incur of charges for the called communications terminal arises , by way of example , when the communications terminal b is not in its home communications network but rather in a foreign communications network ( e . g . abroad ). this is only one example of a communications link which incurs charges for a called communications terminal , however . it is likewise possible for communication charges to be incurred for the called subscriber in the case of communications links within just one communications network as well . in the case shown in fig1 , the sequences as comprise ga 1 for charge billing for the communication charges incurred by the communications terminal b . from the standpoint of the communications terminal b , an incoming call is assumed to arrive ( mtc = mobile terminating call ). hence , ga 1 for charge billing is also called charge billing for mtc , and the sequences as are also called mtc service logic . if a communications link 5 — shown in dashes in fig1 — between the caller &# 39 ; s communications terminal a and the communications terminal b were actually set up ( possibly using other switching centers msc in the foreign communications network ), ga 1 for charge billing would bill the communication charges incurred by communications terminal b and would debit these charges from a charge account gk - b associated with the communications terminal b . however , in the present case , a communications link 5 is not actually set up , since there is a call forwarding service for the communications terminal b . this call forwarding service has the task of connecting communications links directed to the communications terminal b not to the communications terminal b , but rather of setting up a forwarding communications link 7 to a destination communications terminal c . thus , a call forwarding service is also referred to by the abbreviation ( cf ). in the case illustrated , call forwarding is used which can always be carried out irrespective of the presence of conditions , so - called call forwarding unconditional cfu . however , the method can likewise be used for other types of forwarding services , such as for forwarding in which the communications terminal b is already being used for telephony ( call forwarding busy ), in which the communications terminal b does not take a call ( call forwarding no answer ) or in which the communications terminal b cannot be reached ( call forwarding not reachable ). the latter case can arise , by way of example , when the communications terminal is off or when the location of the communications terminal b does not have sufficient network coverage . information about the exact type of the respective call forwarding service available is stored in the home communications network hplmn in a special network node , for example in the home location register hlr . this register is not shown in fig1 . the home location register hlr transmits ( not shown in fig1 ) to the service switching point ssp information about the call forwarding service available in this example — call forwarding unconditional — and the service switching point ssp then sends a further message n 2 to the service control point scp . the service control point scp then activates its forwarding sequence control function and performs forwarding sequences w - as . these forwarding sequences w - as are shown in fig1 as an element denoted “ w - as ”. the forwarding sequences w - as include ga 2 for billing charges for the call forwarding . the forwarding sequences w - as taking place ensure that the service switching point ssp sets up the forwarding communications link 7 to the destination communications terminal c . the necessary address of the destination communications terminal c for this purpose has likewise been transmitted by the home location register hlr ( not shown ) to the service switching point ssp in advance . since the destination communications terminal c , just like the calling communications terminal a , is activated ( registered ) in the home communications network hplmn , the charges for a communications link which is to be set up within the home communications network hplmn become due . these charges are billed to the caller &# 39 ; s communications terminal a by in ga 2 for billing charges for the call forwarding in the forwarding sequences w - as , and these charges are debited from a caller &# 39 ; s charge account gk - a . however , charge billing ga 1 does not need to calculate any communication charges for the communications terminal b , since the communications link 5 has not been set up to the communications terminal b . for this purpose , the service control point scp ( which serves as memory network node in this case ) includes a flag cf - f , as binary memory element , for storing forwarding information , and additionally includes a block flag bfm - f as a further memory location . the flag lf - f can be accessed both by the sequences as and by the forwarding sequences w - as . the exact interaction between the sequences as , the flag cf - f and the forwarding sequences w - as is shown in fig2 . fig2 shows an arrow t pointing vertically downward which represents a timeline . to the left of the arrow t , the sequences as of the sequence control function are shown in the manner of a sequence chart , and to the right of the arrow t , the forwarding sequences w - as of the forwarding sequence control function are shown . the sequences as of the sequence control function ( which is also referred to as mtc service logic ) are started ( top left - hand corner of fig2 ) when the first message n 1 , mentioned in connection with fig1 , reaches the service control point scp ( cf . fig1 ). first , an operation rrb ( answer ) is performed which activates an event detection point no 7 of the basic call state model ( bcsm ). this activation is also called arming . the operation rrb ( answer )= request report bcsm event ( answer ) involves , just like operations ac = apply charging , con = connect , idp = initial detection point and erb ( answer )= event report bcsm ( answer ) mentioned later , operations which are used within the context of the communication protocol inap ( intelligent network application protocol ). next , the operation ac is used to prepare the billing of the communication charges for the communications terminal b ( cf . fig1 ). the operation con ( b ) is then performed . this operation instructs the service switching point ssp to set up the communications link 5 to the communications terminal b . however , since a call forwarding service is active for the communications terminal b , the service switching point ssp does not set up the communications link 5 ( cf . fig1 ), but rather a further message n 2 is sent to the service control point scp . this further message n 2 ensures that the forwarding sequences w - as start to be performed in the service control point scp . this is symbolized in fig2 by the top horizontal arrow 10 , whose arrow tip points to the starting point of the forwarding sequences w - as . ( the messages n 1 and n 2 can be messages of the type initial detection point ( idp ), for example . directly after the operation con ( b ) has been performed , the sequences as set the block flag bfm - f in the service control point scp . this flag ensures that the communications terminal b cannot take another call ( bfm f = block further mobile terminating calls - flag ). the sequences as then wait for the arrival of an operation erb ( answer ) from the forwarding sequences w - as . the forwarding sequences w - as shown on the right of the arrow t first set the flag cf - f when they have started . in this way , forwarding information is stored . next , a further operation ac is performed in order to prepare the charging for the forwarding communications link , and the operation con ( c ) is then used to set up the forwarding communications link 7 from the caller &# 39 ; s communications terminal a to the destination communications terminal c via the service switching point ssp . if the destination communications terminal c takes the call , the forwarding sequences w - as use an operation erb ( answer ) to notify the sequences as of this . this is symbolized in fig2 by two horizontal arrows 11 and 12 . however , the sequences as cannot tell from the operation erb ( answer ) whether the call has been taken on the destination communications terminal c or on the communications terminal b . the sequences are merely notified that the call has been taken . it is now possible to continue performing the sequences as which have waited for the arrival of the operation erb ( answer ). when the operation erb ( answer ) has arrived , the sequences reset the block flag bfm - f , so that the communications terminal b can now take other calls . the sequences as then evaluate the flag cf - f . if the flag cf - f has been set , ga 1 for charge billing does not perform charge billing for the communications terminal b , since a communications link 5 has not been set up to the communications terminal b , of course . in this case , the flag cf - f can be reset , since the forwarding information is no longer required subsequently . the sequences as are then terminated . if the flag cf - f has not been set , however , this means that no call forwarding service was available , and consequently the communications link has been set up to the communications terminal b as originally requested , and the charge billing ga 1 charges for the communications link 5 incurring charges for the communications terminal b and debits the charge account gk - b accordingly . after the charging has been carried out , the sequences as are terminated in this case . at the end of the forwarding communications link 7 ( when the forwarding communications link 7 is terminated on the destination communications terminal c , for example ), the forwarding sequences w - as reset the flag cf - f . the forwarding sequences w - as are then terminated . the forwarding sequences w - as can charge for the forwarding communications link 7 before they come to an end . this is not shown in fig2 , since this charging corresponds to the charging normally found in such communications networks . by way of example , the caller &# 39 ; s charge account gk - a can be debited . the method described above can also be applied advantageously in the situation described below ( not shown in the figures ): let us assume that the home location register ( hlr ) of the communications terminal b stores information for the latter regarding a “ call forwarding not reachable ” service submitted for the communications terminal b . this service ensures that , if the communications terminal b cannot be reached ( for example because it is turned off ), the forwarding communications link 7 is set up instead of the communications link 5 . another prerequisite is that the communications terminal b cannot be reached . if a communications link now needs to be set up to the communications terminal b , then the service switching point ssp and the home location register ( hlr ) perform “ camel 2step interrogation ”. the aim of camel 2step interrogation is to transmit to the home location register ( hlr ) a telephone number ( mobile station roaming number msrn ) on which the communications terminal b can currently be reached . after a first interrogation in the camel 2step interrogation , the sequences as are started in the service control point scp . a second interrogation in the camel 2step interrogation is then performed . in this case , the home location register hlr sends a message prn ( provide roaming number ) to that visitor location register vlr which was previously responsible for the communications terminal b . since the communications terminal b cannot be reached , however , the visitor location register vlr returns an error message instead of the expected “ mobile station roaming number msrn ”. the home location register tells from this error message that the “ call forwarding not reachable ” service now needs to be implemented and prompts the service switching point ssp to trigger the start of forwarding sequence steps w - as in the service control point scp by sending the message n 2 to the latter . in this case , the message n 2 sent is a message initialdetectionpoint idp . in the subsequent course of the sequences as and forwarding sequences w - as shown in fig2 , the method in line with the application then ensures that the sequences as do not bill any communication charges for the communications link 5 which was not set up .
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reference will now be made in detail to the present preferred embodiments of the invention , examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings . wherever possible , the same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts . fig1 is a block diagram showing an optical disc drive sharing switching device and associated application system , according to one preferred embodiment of this invention . the optical disc drive sharing switching device ( 100 ) comprises a reset signal generator ( 120 ), an interrupt signal generator ( 130 ) and a switch control unit ( 110 ). to control the power to the atapi interface equipment and save energy , a power control unit ( 140 ) is also incorporated . the power control unit ( 140 ) cuts off power to a device linked to an optical disc drive ( 160 ), such as an optical disc player ( 150 ), when control of the optical disc drive ( 160 ) is replaced by another device , such as a personal computer ( 170 ). in addition to the optical disc drive sharing switching device ( 100 ), the shared optical disc drive ( 160 ), and the personal computer ( 170 ) and the optical disc player ( 150 ) which share the use of the optical disc drive sharing switching device ( 100 ), are also shown in fig1 . obviously , the personal computer ( 170 ) and the optical disc player ( 150 ) must share the atapi interface in order to use or control the optical disc drive ( 160 ). in practical production , the optical disc drive ( 160 ) and the optical disc drive sharing switching device ( 100 ) may be combined with each other and incorporated either inside the optical disc player ( 150 ) or inside the personal computer ( 170 ) to form an integrated home appliance . the optical disc drive ( 160 ) can be a dvd drive , which can read and / or write a dvd disc , or a vcd drive , which can read and / or write a vcd disc , etc . the optical disc display ( 150 ) can be a dvd player or a vcd player , etc . however , these drives and players raised here are only some examples of the embodiment of the present invention , and the scope of the present invention should not be limited thereby . those skilled in the art can make some modifications or find some equivalents to use instead , or use this technique to other devices sharing the atapi interface devices , without departure from the spirit of the present invention . as shown in fig1 , the interrupt signal generator ( 130 ) generates a plurality of continuous interrupt signals ( int ) having an atapi interface format . in this embodiment , a pulse generator , such as an integrated circuit ne555 , together with a peripheral circuit may be used to produce a signal having a frequency around 230 hz . obviously , other circuits capable of generating a plurality of continuous pulse signals with a pulse width over 25 microseconds may also be used . the continuous interrupt signals ( int ) are used for maintaining a dummy optical disc drive attached to the personal computer ( 170 ) as the optical disc drive ( 160 ) is switched to the optical disc player ( 150 ) after the personal computer ( 170 ) is booted and the presence of an optical disc drive ( 160 ) is detected . hence , there is no need to re - boot the personal computer ( 170 ) and it is able to continue its normal operations . details of the integrated circuit ne555 and its peripheral circuit are illustrated in fig6 . through proper selection of resistors r 1 , r 2 and capacitors c 1 , c 2 , an operating frequency around 230 hz and a duty cycle of around 50 % is easily obtained . the reset signal generator ( 120 ) generates a reset signal ( rst ) having an atapi interface format . the reset signal ( rst ) must be greater than 25 microseconds . in this embodiment , the pulse signal generated by the integrated circuit ne555 is transmitted ; to a dual - channel mono - stable edge - triggering device , such as the device 74hc221 , to produce the reset signal ( rst ). a circuit diagram of the reset signal generator ( 102 ) and its related truth table are shown in fig7 a and 7b respectively . as shown in fig7 a and 7b , when the signal line select from the switch control unit ( 110 ) changes state ( from a logic “ 0 ” to “ 1 ” or vice versa ), the reset signal generator ( 120 ) generates a reset signal ( rst ) and transmits the signal to the optical disc drive ( 160 ). obviously , other circuits capable of generating a reset signal ( rst ) may be employed . the reset signal ( rst ) is used to reset the optical disc drive ( 160 ) while control is switched so that the optical disc drive ( 160 ) can be used by other equipments linked thereto after the switching operation . the power control unit ( 140 ) controls the power to the atapi interface equipment , such as the optical disc player ( 150 ) described in this embodiment . the power control unit ( 140 ) may comprise a relay to control the “ on - state ” and “ off - state ” of the power of the equipment . the switch control unit ( 110 ) also couples with the reset signal generator ( 120 ) and the interrupt signal generator ( 130 ) to serve as a control center . when a switch command from a switch ( not shown ) is received , the switch control unit ( 110 ) issues a select signal select to the reset signal generator ( 120 ). the reset signal generator ( 120 ) generates a reset signal ( rst ). the reset signal ( rst ) may select to connect to the optical disc drive ( 160 ) directly or via the control of the switch control unit ( 110 ) to reset the optical disc drive ( 160 ). the switch control unit ( 110 ) mainly comprises a plurality of three - channel - two - route digital analogue switches , such as a group of cd 4053 devices . the switch control unit ( 110 ) is responsible for switching the connections between a first atapi interface of the personal computer ( 170 ) and a second atapi interface of the optical disc player ( 150 ) to the optical disc drive ( 160 ), according to the switching command . the switching method is shown in fig2 to 5 . first , as shown in fig2 , the optical disc drive ( 160 ) is connected to the personal computer ( 170 ). hence , when the personal computer ( 170 ) is switched on , the optical disc drive ( 160 ) works with the personal computer ( 170 ). since the optical disc player ( 150 ) cannot operate due to a disconnection from the optical disc drive ( 160 ), power to the optical disc player ( 150 ) is cut off . note that the cutting of power to the optical disc player ( 150 ) is non - essential . however , cutting off the power allows for greater energy efficiency and an extended - lifespan for the equipment . fig3 is a block diagram showing the optical disc drive ( 160 ) in the process of switching from a connection with the personal computer ( 170 ) to a connection - with the optical disc player ( 150 ). at this moment , the optical disc drive ( 160 ) is not assigned to any one of the atapi interface devices . the switch control unit ( 110 ) inputs the continuous interrupt signals ( int ), generated by the interrupt signal generator ( 130 ), to the personal computer ( 170 ) so that the personal computer ( 170 ) still detects a virtual optical disc drive ( 160 ) and continues to operate as usual . the reset signal ( rst ), generated by the reset signal generator ( 120 ), is transmitted to the optical disc drive ( 160 ) so that the optical disc drive ( 160 ) is reset . the power source to the optical disc player ( 150 ) is also turned on to prepare for operation of the optical disc drive ( 160 ) once the connections with the optical disc player ( 150 ) are in place . fig4 is a block diagram showing the optical disc drive ( 160 ) fully connected to the optical disc player ( 150 ). at this moment , the interrupt signal generator ( 130 ) continues to send a plurality of continuous interrupt signals ( int ) to the personal computer ( 170 ) so that the personal computer ( 170 ) still detects the presence of a virtual optical disc drive ( 160 ) and maintains its normal operations . the main power source continues to provide power to the optical disc player ( 150 ). since the atapi bus of the optical disc drive ( 160 ) now connects with the optical disc player ( 150 ) and the optical disc drive ( 160 ) is formally assigned to the optical disc player ( 150 ), the playback of pictures and music through the optical disc drive ( 160 ) under the control of the optical disc player ( 150 ) is now possible . fig5 is a block diagram showing the optical disc drive ( 160 ) in the process of switching from operating with the optical disc player ( 150 ) to the personal computer ( 170 ). at this moment , the optical disc drive ( 160 ) is not assigned to any one of the atapi interface devices . meanwhile , the input of a plurality of continuous interrupt signals ( int ), produced by the interrupt signal generator ( 130 ), to the personal computer ( 170 ) is continued so that the personal computer ( 170 ) is still able to detect the presence of a virtual optical disc drive and continues to function normally . a reset signal ( rst ), generated by the reset signal generator ( 120 ), is again transmitted to the optical disc drive ( 160 ) for resetting the drive ( 160 ) and preparing the connection with the personal computer ( 170 ). furthermore , power to the optical disc player ( 150 ) is cut off to increase energy efficiency . as soon as the optical disc drive ( 160 ) switches from a connection to the optical disc player ( 150 ) to a connection to the personal computer ( 170 ), the connective configuration is the same as described in fig2 . in this way , actual connection of the optical disc drive ( 160 ) can be selected on demand . aside from the obvious fact that equipment disconnected from the optical disc drive ( 160 ) is unable to use the optical disc drive ( 160 ), equipment functions are unaffected . in other words , no complicated switching programs are required for sharing the optical disc drive ( 160 ). accordingly , a method for switching the connection with an optical disc drive between a first atapi interface and a second atapi interface can be devised . the method includes the following steps . first , a reset signal ( rst ) and a plurality of continuous interrupt signals ( int ) both having the atapi format are provided . upon receiving a switching command , connection wires linking the optical disc drive with the first atapi interface and the second atapi interface are switched . during the switching process , the reset signal ( rst ) is used to reset the optical disc drive . furthermore , the input of a plurality of continuous interrupt signals ( int ) to the first atapi interface is continued when the first atapi interface is switched to the second atapi interface so that the equipment containing the first atapi interface may continue to function normally . the switching method may further include cutting off power to the equipment containing the second atapi interface when the optical disc drive connected to the second atapi interface is switched back to the first atapi interface . in conclusion , the application of the optical disc drive sharing switching device and method in information processing appliances facilitates the integration of a personal computer with an optical disc player and the shared usage of an optical disc drive . here , no complicated switching programs are required and the personal computer may continue to function normally despite the switching on or off of the connection with the optical disc drive . furthermore , power to equipment not in connection with the optical disc drive may be temporarily cut off to increase energy efficiency and prolong the lifespan of the equipment . it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention . in view of the foregoing , it is intended that the present invention cover modifications and variations of this invention provided they fall within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents .
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in the following description , similar features in the drawings have been given similar reference numerals . turning to the drawings , in particular , fig1 , illustrating a front perspective view of the atv floats as adapted to an atv in a float arrangement wherein , a pair of pontoons 2 attached to a common frame work , which said framework and pontoons 2 are also attached to an atv 6 by means of tensile straps 4 wrapped over a structural member at the front and rear of an atv 6 . turning to fig2 , which illustrates a rear perspective view of the atv floatation device in a trailer arrangement wherein cross tubes 10 of a fixed length protrude a pair of watertight tunnel 11 each traversing a pontoon 2 when said pontoons 2 are in a collapsed position . wheel frame members 20 are fixedly and releasably secured to said cross tubes 10 wherein a pair of wheels 25 are rotationally attached to an axle member 26 of the wheel frame member 20 so as to raise the atv floatation device above the ground surface thus allowing towing of the whole assembly . seat mounts 30 are fixedly attached to the central region of the framework and adapted to each receive therein , a seat 41 having a downwardly protruding stem . additionally , angled fishing rod holders 35 are also fixedly attached to the central region of the framework near the seat mounts 30 . lastly , a motor mount 45 is provided at the rear portion of the framework so as to allow the mounting of a small outboard motor . turning now to fig3 , a right side elevation view of a pontoon of the atv floatation device of the present invention illustrating the arrangement of a pair of watertight tunnels 11 traversing the hollow body of each pontoon 2 . the pontoon &# 39 ; s 2 side portion is slightly recessed to accommodate bolt - on flange plates 16 , which provide the attachment means for said watertight tunnels 11 . two eyebolts 13 , also slightly recessed within the pontoon &# 39 ; s 2 side portion , are provided to allow attaching means of a tensile strap thereto . referring now to fig4 and 5 , both cross - sectional views taken from fig3 of a pontoon 2 of the present invention wherein it can be seen that the pontoons 2 are hollow and have a flattened recessed portion at both sides to better fit flanged tubular inserts thus forming a tunnel 11 through said pontoon 2 . an inner flanged tube 18 has a total length , including both end flanges , equal to that of the inner dimension between said flattened recessed side portions . two outer equally flanged plates 16 have a central opening generally equal to the opening within the inner flanged tubes 18 . the pontoons 2 are bored to have an opening in alignment with both the inner flanged tube 18 and the outer flanged plates 16 . additionally , the pontoons 2 , the inner flanged tube 18 and the outer flanged plates 16 have a plurality of perforations around the central openings of same to accept an equal number of fasteners therethrough in order to tightly assemble the pontoons 2 , the inner flanged tube 18 and the outer flanged plates 16 together so as to form a watertight seal between the pontoon &# 39 ; s 2 inner body volume and ambient air . again from fig4 & amp ; 5 , it can be seen how a cross member 10 traverses the tunnel formed by the above assembly . said cross member 10 , has an outside diameter only slightly lesser than that of the tunnel &# 39 ; s inner diameter so as to enable longitudinal motion between the cross member 10 and the tunnel . in fig4 , the illustration depicts the arrangement of the above in a state where the pontoons 2 would be in a collapsed position such as when in a trailer arrangement . the cross member 10 protrudes outwardly thus enabling sufficient material to releasably attach a later mentioned wheel frame member . a bore 17 is provided through and near each end of the cross member 10 so as to allow fastening the wheel frame member to said cross member 10 . longitudinal motion between the cross member 10 and the tunnel 11 is thereby disabled when a cotter pin 15 is inserted through both a bore 14 in the cross member 10 and the outer flange plate 16 proximal to the center of the floatation device . in fig5 , similar to fig4 but the pontoon 2 is displaced along cross member 10 thereby separating both pontoons 2 so as to widen the stance as a whole . two sets of perforations 14 are bored through the cross member 10 to allow the insertion of the cotter pin 15 therethrough and through the outer flange plate 16 proximal to the center of the floatation device . therefore , the extremities of the cross members 10 are concealed within the tunnel 11 and a seal between the pontoon &# 39 ; s 2 inner body volume and ambient air is maintained . referring now to fig6 , a partial right side elevation view of the atv floatation device of the present invention in a trailer arrangement wherein , a wheel frame member 20 is depicted having a rear seat 50 , a front seat 51 , a curved strut 52 , a support strut 53 , and an axle flange 54 . the assembly comprises two sets of a curved strut 52 , a support strut 53 , and an axle flange 54 both of which are fixedly and perpendicularly attached to each end portion of both the rear seat 50 , and the front seat 51 . a wheel axle traverses the axle flange 54 and a wheel 25 . the assembly thereby mounts quickly to the cross members 10 by first placing the front seat 51 over the front cross member then placing the rear seat 50 under the rear cross member . the wheel 25 center , being behind the rear cross member 10 thereby exerts upward force behind the rear cross member thus the front seat 51 exerting a downward force onto the front cross member . cotter pins again retain this positioning securedly yet releasably . referring now to fig7 , illustrating a sectional view taken from fig8 of the framework to which all components rely on . the tongue generally comprises an inner tube 38 and an outer tube 39 slidably engaged to each other , the inner tube 38 adapted with a hitch adapter 37 . a cotter pin 44 provides a locking member to disable said sliding motion . a motor mount 45 having an extension member 46 is fixedly attached to the top - rear portion of the outer tube 39 . seat mounts 30 and fishing rod holders 35 are also fixedly attached to the top central portion of the outer tube 39 . cross members 10 are secured to the framework by frictionally engaging within a pair of bar retainers 40 wherein the framework rests atop the cross member 10 , and the bar retainers 40 fixedly attached to the lower surface of the outer tube 39 and spaced equally to the space between the cross members 10 thereby preventing the framework and cross members 10 from separating . turning to fig8 , a top plan view of the atv floatation device of the present invention in a trailer arrangement wherein the arrangement can be better seen illustrating the pontoons 2 closer together , and the cross members 10 extending outwardly from said pontoons 2 thus providing attaching means of the wheel frame members 20 . it can also be seen that the framework having seat mounts 30 , fishing rod holders 35 and a motor mount 45 fit comfortably in a narrow space between the pontoons 2 . the tongue is shown recessed into the outer tube 39 and held in place with a cotter pin 44 . in a trailer arrangement , one would simply remove said cotter pin 44 , pull out the inner tube 38 until a secondary bore in the inner tube 38 aligns with the bore of the outer tube 39 , and re - insert the cotter pin 44 through the tube assembly . pontoon access ports 23 are provided in each pontoon 2 . these ports 23 serve two major functions ; one , to give access to the inside of the pontoons 2 for assembly of the through - tunnels , and two , as a storage compartment wherein a ringed bag is inserted at the opening , which is then covered with a lid . referring now to fig9 illustrating a top plan view of the atv floatation device of the present invention in a float arrangement wherein when the pontoons 2 are separated as shown , one can simply drive the atv between the pontoons 2 and over the cross members 10 until the cross members 10 are generally centrally placed under the atv . now the pontoons are ready to be lifted and strapped to the atv using the eyebolts 13 provided at each inner end of the pontoons 2 . as the cross members 10 connect with the atv &# 39 ; s belly area , and the tensile straps are tightened , the floats are then secured firmly with the atv . turning now to fig1 , one can see that once the pontoons are mounted as described in fig9 using the tensile straps 4 , the atv wheels 26 protrude downwardly below the pontoons 2 . this allows the user to ride the atv on both the ground and water bodies . furthermore , on water , the treads 27 of the atv wheels 26 serve as a propulsion system for the floating atv . accordingly , one can also mount a small outboard motor to the atv &# 39 ; s rear cargo rack for added propulsion . finally , in referring to fig1 , a front perspective view from above of the all - terrain vehicle float device of the present invention in a pontoon boat arrangement wherein , the pontoons 2 , slidably engaged with cross members 10 are spaced apart to the extent of the cross members 10 and fixed in place with a cotter pin 44 at each extremity of both cross members 10 . said cross members 10 are frictionally engaged with bar retainers 40 further depicted in fig7 , thus preventing the separation of the framework and the cross members 10 . a tensile strap 4 , secured to the front inner eyebolts on the pontoons 2 is wrapped around the first seat stem 30 so as to ensure the cross members 10 do not disengage front the bar retainers 40 . therefore , the pontoon structure fitted with seats 41 in the seat stems 30 , and a small outboard motor 43 onto the motor mount 45 , along with other features of the present invention , can provide a very useful , and versatile watercraft for the user .
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with reference now to the drawings , and in particular to fig1 through 8 thereof , a new odor - less toilet system embodying the principles and concepts of the present invention and generally designated by the reference numeral 10 will be described . more specifically , it will be noted that the odor - less toilet system 10 comprises air intake ports 27 integrally formed in a toilet bowl rim 12 in fluid flow communication with an exhaust chamber 30 . with reference to fig1 there is shown a toilet comprising a toilet bowl 15 including a toilet bowl outside surface 13 and a toilet bowl inside surface 18 . the toilet bowl 15 has an upper rim portion and a lower rim portion . the upper rim portion has a lower surface disposed outwardly from a top of the lower rim portion . the toilet bowl 15 further comprises a toilet bowl rim 12 having an air chamber 26 having a plurality of air intake ports 27 in fluid flow communication with an inside of the toilet bowl 15 and a conventional water chamber 28 disposed thereunder having a plurality of water outlet ports 29 ( fig7 ). the toilet is shown equipped with a toilet seat 11 , toilet seat lid 14 , and water tank 16 supplied with water from water supply 17 . with reference to fig2 and 3 the air chamber 26 is shown in fluid flow communication with conduit means 20 formed from polyvinyl chloride or other suitable material . conduit means 20 is disposed in front of the toilet and runs up inside a wall ( not shown ) to an exhaust chamber 30 located in an attic . conduit means 20 is in fluid flow communication with the exhaust chamber 30 . preferably , the toilet bowl is structured to have an air duct in fluid communication with the hollow upper rim interior . the air duct leads away from the hollow upper rim interior to a conduit 20 . the conduit 20 leads to an air exhaust port 30 . the exhaust chamber 30 includes a fan 35 electrically connected to a source of power by means of an electrical power cord 34 . the exhaust chamber 30 mounts to a ceiling beam 33 by means of mounting bracket 32 ( fig4 ). an exhaust port 36 is provided to exhaust the air into the atmosphere . an on / off switch 24 ( fig5 ) controls the operation of the fan and is located within reach of the toilet . alternatively , the fan can be controlled by means of well known motion sensing devices such as infra - red sensors and microwave sensors or by means of a pressure sensitive switch 22 shown disposed under the toilet seat 11 which is switched upon a downward pressure being exerted upon the toilet seat 11 ( fig6 ). in use , a person using the odor - less toilet system switches on the fan located in the exhaust chamber 30 by means of either the on / off switch 24 or by exerting pressure upon the toilet seat 11 which switches pressure sensitive switch 22 . alternatively , an automatic motion sensing device senses that the toilet is in use and turns on the fan . the fan draws air from inside the toilet bowl through air intake ports 27 , air chamber 26 , conduit 20 , exhaust chamber 30 and out into the atmosphere through exhaust port 36 . as to a further discussion of the manner of usage and operation of the present invention , the same should be apparent from the above description . accordingly , no further discussion relating to the manner of usage and operation will be provided . with respect to the above description then , it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of the invention , to include variations in size , materials , shape , form , function and manner of operation , assembly and use , are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art , and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by the present invention . therefore , the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention . further , since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art , it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described , and accordingly , all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to , falling within the scope of the invention .
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the following detailed description illustrates the invention by way of example and not by way of limitation . the description clearly enables one skilled in the art to make and use the invention , describes several embodiments , adaptations , variations , alternatives , and uses of the invention , including what is presently believed to be the best mode of carrying out the invention . referring to fig1 , there is shown a vehicle wheel 10 of an automotive vehicle , to which a vehicle wheel alignment sensor unit 12 is mounted by means of a suitable conventional wheel clamp 14 . the wheel alignment sensor unit 12 is pendulously mounted to the wheel 10 through wheel clamp 14 on a mounting shaft 15 so as to swing freely about an axis which is approximately coaxial with the axis of rotation 16 of the wheel 10 . the sensor unit 12 carries a first angle sensor 18 which develops an electric signal representative of the angular position of the sensor unit 12 relative to the vertical plane . a second angle sensor 20 , also carried by the sensor unit 12 , develops an electric signal representative of the angular position of the sensor unit 12 relative to the horizontal plane . the angle sensors 18 and 20 are conventional in the wheel alignment art for making camber and toe measurements , and additional sensors ( not shown ) are commonly carried by the sensor unit 12 for making other angle measurements used in the alignment of the wheels of a vehicle . it is well known that any wobble of the wheel 10 or of the sensor unit 12 during rotation about the axis of rotation affects the measurements made by the angle sensor 18 and 20 . as can be seen in fig2 , wobble or runout present may be represented as a sinusoidal waveform , where the amplitude of the waveform at a given rotational position of the wheel and / or sensor represents the amount of runout present at that rotational position . it is necessary , therefore , either to eliminate the wobble or runout , or to compensate for it . since in many cases it is impractical to eliminate the wobble , the usual practice is to compensate the acquired toe angle and camber angle measurements to correct for the wobble or runout at a corresponding rotational position at which the measurement was acquired . a suitable method for calculating and utilizing runout present at each rotational position is described in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 052 , 111 to carter , et al . turning to fig3 , an absolute rotational position sensor assembly 22 is illustrated generally . the absolute rotational position sensor assembly 22 includes a two - axis hall effect sensor 24 disposed coaxially about an axis φ with a single pole pair magnet 26 coupled to a rotating shaft 28 . the magnet 26 is magnetized diametrically , so that by rotating the shaft 28 , the magnetic field generated by the magnet 26 also rotates . the rotation of the magnetic field through the two - axis hall effect sensor 24 results in two generated voltages , vx and vy , which represent the sine and cosine of the magnetic field direction . as shown in fig4 , calculating a ratio of vx to vy yields a representation of the rotational position of the rotating shaft 28 relative to the two - axis hall effect sensor 24 from an initial position , i . e . provides an absolute rotational position of the rotating shaft 28 . a suitable two - axis hall effect sensor is available from sentron ag , of zug , switzerland , or gmw of san carlos , calif ., and sold under the product identification 2sa - 10 . as shown in fig5 , the two - axis hall effect sensor 24 preferably includes an x - axis hall effect sensor 30 , a y - axis hall effect sensor 32 , a pair of offset cancellation circuits 34 a , 34 b , amplification circuits 36 . programming circuits 38 are provided for enabling and setting a bias circuit 40 for the hall effect sensors , offset parameters , and amplification parameters . preferably , signals from the hall effect sensors 30 , 32 are routed through the offset cancellation circuits 34 a , 34 b and modulated in a modulator circuit 42 prior to amplification . after the modulated signal is amplified , a demodulator circuit 44 separated the corresponding x and y axis signal , which are then routed through corresponding filters and buffering circuits 46 a , 46 b for output . input signals to the two - axis hall effect sensor 24 shown in fig5 include a supply voltage ( vdd ), a supply ground ( gnd ), a clock signal ( pc ), a programming voltage signal ( pv ), and a programming data signal ( pd ). output signals include a common output signal ( co_out ), an x - channel analog output ( x_out ), and a y - channel analog output ( y_out ). those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the two - axis hall effect sensor 24 may be implemented as an integrated circuit component , or as two discrete hall effect sensors mounted in suitable configuration to provide sine and cosine representative values of the rotating magnetic fields . optionally , a single hall effect sensor may be employed to provide 180 ° of rotational resolution , combined with a suitable mechanism to identify within which half - circle of a complete rotation of the mounting shaft the rotational position measurement has been acquired . turning to fig6 , a vehicle wheel alignment sensor unit 100 of the present invention is shown with an absolute rotational position sensor assembly 22 operatively associated with an alignment sensor mounting shaft 102 . housing components which surround and support the mounting shaft 102 , and which comprise the body of the vehicle wheel alignment sensor unit 100 are shown in phantom in fig6 for purposes of clarity . the absolute rotational position sensor assembly 22 is disposed on a supporting structure 104 coaxial with , and adjacent an end of , the mounting shaft 102 . a magnet 106 which is magnetized across a diameter is disposed on the end of the mounting shaft 102 , parallel to the absolute rotational position sensor assembly 22 , such that rotation of the mounting shaft 102 will result in a corresponding rotation of the magnet 106 and an associated magnetic field . as shown in fig7 , output signals from the absolute rotational position sensor assembly 22 are routed to a micro - processor or logic circuit 110 in the vehicle wheel alignment sensor unit 100 . in addition to receiving signals from the absolute rotational position sensor assembly 22 , the micro - processor or logic circuit 110 is configured to communicate with the conventional components of the wheel alignment sensor unit 100 . these include the angle sensors 18 and 20 , a sensor memory 112 , a communications transceiver 114 , such as a radio - frequency or infra - red communications unit , and one or more conventional operator i / o devices 116 such as buttons or leds disposed on the wheel alignment sensor unit 100 . the sensor memory 112 is preferably linked to a short - term power supply 113 , such as an internal battery or a super - capacitor , capable of providing sufficient power to maintain stored data in the sensor memory 112 during interruption or shutdown of a normal power supply ( not show ). alternatively , sensor memory 112 may be a form of re - writable persistent memory , such as mram , which does not require a continuous supply of power to maintain stored data values . in addition to being configured to perform the conventional functions of a vehicle wheel alignment sensor , the micro - processor or logic circuit 110 is configured to utilize the signals received from the absolute rotational position sensor assembly 22 to identify an absolute rotational position of the mounting shaft 102 relative to the vehicle wheel alignment sensor unit 100 . the absolute rotational position sensor 22 provides two pieces of information to the micro - processor or logic circuit 110 , a rotational distance and a direction of rotation . using a known or identified mounting shaft parameter correlated with one or more absolute rotational positions stored in a persistent sensor memory 118 such as an rom , eprom , or eeprom , the micro - processor or logic circuit 110 determines an absolute rotational position of the mounting shaft 102 relative to the vehicle wheel alignment sensor unit 100 and the vehicle wheel 10 , or to a vertical ( gravity ) orientation . subsequent rotation of the mounting shaft 102 relative to the vehicle wheel alignment sensor unit 100 is tracked in a conventional manner by the micro - processor or logic circuit 110 using signals received from the absolute rotational position sensor 22 , once the initial absolute rotational position has been identified . during use , a vehicle wheel alignment sensor unit 100 incorporating the absolute rotational position sensor assembly 22 of the first embodiment is secured to a vehicle wheel , such as through the use of a wheel clamp 14 . prior to the obtaining the first vehicle wheel alignment measurements , the vehicle wheel alignment sensor unit 100 must be compensated for any runout or wobble present in the mounting to the vehicle wheel 10 . a runout compensation procedure is completed , and data representative of , or sufficient to reconstruct , a sinusoidal pattern of runout present for a complete rotation about the mounting shaft 102 is obtained and stored in the sensor memory 112 . as previously described , to compensate a vehicle wheel alignment measurement for runout between the vehicle wheel alignment sensor unit 100 and the vehicle wheel 10 , it is necessary to know the rotational position of one relative to the other about the mounting shaft 102 , as well as the corresponding runout value for that rotational position . upon completion of the runout compensation procedure , the micro - processor or logic circuit 110 continuously tracks all subsequent rotational movements of the mounting shaft 102 relative to the vehicle wheel alignment sensor unit 100 through signals obtained from the absolute rotational position sensor 22 . in addition , upon completion of the runout compensation procedure , the absolute rotational position sensor assembly 22 of the present invention is utilized by the micro - processor or logic circuit 110 to identify an absolute rotational position rc 1 of the vehicle wheel alignment sensor unit 100 associated with at least one point on the runout compensation sinusoidal waveform . position rc 1 is stored in the sensor memory 112 , together with sufficient information to reconstruct the runout sinusoidal waveform for each rotational position of the vehicle wheel alignment sensor unit 100 . upon restoration of power following an interruption in power supplied to the vehicle wheel alignment sensor unit 100 , such as may be caused by a battery discharge , poor electrical contact with the battery leads , or an intentional operator shutdown while in use , which results in a discontinuity in the tracking of the rotational movements or position of the mounting shaft 102 relative to the wheel alignment sensor unit 100 , the micro - processor or logic circuit 110 is configured to utilize the data stored in the sensor memory 112 , together with a new absolute rotational position measurement , to resume normal sensor operation without the need to repeat the runout compensation procedures . assuming that the vehicle wheel alignment sensor unit 100 has not been dismounted from the vehicle wheel 10 during the interruption in power or shutdown , the runout compensation values previously obtained and stored in the sensor memory 112 remain valid for all rotational positions of the vehicle wheel alignment sensor unit 100 . what is unknown immediately after restoration of the power or restart of the system is , the current rotational position of the mounting shaft 102 relative to the vehicle wheel alignment sensor unit 100 . for example , it is possible that the mounting shaft 102 was rotated relative to the vehicle wheel alignment sensor unit 100 during the time the power was interrupted , or the vehicle wheel 10 was rolled forward or backwards . to re - synchronize the current rotational position of the vehicle wheel alignment sensor unit 100 and the stored runout compensation values , the micro - processor or logic circuit 110 is configured to utilize the absolute rotational position sensor assembly 22 of the present invention to obtain a current absolute rotational position rc 2 for the vehicle wheel alignment sensor unit 100 . once the current absolute rotational position rc 2 of the mounting shaft 102 relative to the vehicle wheel alignment sensor unit 100 is obtained by the micro - processor or logic circuit 110 , the current absolute rotational position rc 2 is utilized together with the stored data representative of the sinusoidal runout pattern and previous absolute rotational position rc 1 to re - synchronize the rotation of the mounting shaft 102 relative to the vehicle wheel alignment sensor unit 100 with the previously determined runout compensation sinusoidal waveform . subsequent rotation of the mounting shaft 102 relative to the vehicle wheel alignment sensor unit 100 is tracked by the absolute rotation position sensor 22 , and an associated runout compensation value obtained by the micro - processor or logic circuit 110 using the stored runout sinusoidal waveform data . using the absolute rotational position sensor assembly 22 of the present invention further permits the micro - processor or logic circuit 110 to identify a specific or predetermined absolute rotational position of the mounting shaft 102 , such as a “ zero ” position , “ gravity referenced ” position , or other operator identified rotational position , and to guide an operator to return the vehicle wheel alignment sensor unit 100 to the identified absolute rotational position at any point during a vehicle wheel alignment procedure , including subsequent to a loss of power to the vehicle wheel alignment sensor unit 100 or system shut down . turning to fig8 , an alternate embodiment vehicle wheel alignment sensor unit 200 of the present invention is shown with a pair of absolute rotational position sensor assemblies 22 a and 22 b for providing increased absolute rotational position measurements . the first absolute rotational position sensor assembly 22 a is operatively disposed adjacent to , and coaxial with , and end of the mounting shaft 202 of the vehicle wheel alignment sensor unit 200 . the second absolute rotational position sensor assembly 22 b is operatively disposed parallel to , and adjacent , the mounting shaft 202 . housing components which surround and support the mounting shaft 202 , and which comprise the body of the vehicle wheel alignment sensor unit 200 are shown in phantom in fig8 for purposes of clarity . the first absolute rotational position sensor assembly 22 a is disposed on a supporting structure 204 coaxial with , and adjacent an end of , the mounting shaft 202 . a magnet 206 which is magnetized across a diameter is disposed on the end of the mounting shaft 202 , parallel to the absolute rotational position sensor assembly 22 a , such that rotation of the mounting shaft 202 will result in a corresponding rotation of the magnet 206 and an associated magnetic field . the second absolute rotational position sensor assembly 22 b is disposed on a second supporting structure 208 oriented adjacent to , and perpendicular with , the axis 16 of the mounting shaft 202 . an annular magnet 210 is fixed about the mounting shaft 202 , coplanar with the second absolute rotational position sensor assembly 22 b on the second supporting structure 208 . the annular or ring magnet 210 includes four or more equally spaced pole pairs 210 n , 210 s . rotation of the mounting shaft 202 will result in a corresponding rotation of the ring magnet 210 about the axis 16 and the oscillation of an associated magnetic field at the location of the second absolute rotational position sensor assembly 22 b . the oscillations of the magnetic field associated with the annular magnet 210 results in “ n ” electrical cycles of sine and cosine voltage signals from the second absolute rotational position sensor assembly 22 b , where “ n ” is the number of pole pairs 210 n , 210 s in the annular magnet 210 . as shown in fig9 , output signals from the first and second absolute rotational position sensor assemblies 22 a and 22 b are routed to a micro - processor or logic circuit 211 in the vehicle wheel alignment sensor unit 200 . output signals from the first absolute rotational position sensor assembly 22 a provide one cycle of sine and cosine voltage signals per rotation of the mounting shaft 202 , identical to the operation of absolute rotational position sensor assembly 22 as previously described in connection with embodiment 100 . in contrast to the output signals from the second absolute rotational position sensor assembly 22 b , the output signals from the first sensor assembly 22 a are considered “ coarse ” rotational position measurements . the “ coarse ” rotational position measurement is utilized by the logic circuit or micro - processor 211 to identify which pole pair 210 n , 210 s of the ring magnet 210 is currently disposed adjacent to the second absolute rotational position sensor assembly 22 b . since each pole pair 210 n , 210 s of the annular or ring magnet 210 is equally sized and spaced , i . e . occupies an equal arc about the circumference of the annular or ring magnet 210 , identification of a single pole pair 210 n , 210 s identifies a arcuate range within which the rotational position of the mounting shaft 202 is currently disposed . output signals from the second absolute rotational position sensor assembly 22 b may then be used to identify a highly accurate or “ fine ” rotational position of the mounting shaft 202 within the “ coarse ” arcuate range ( 360 °/ n ) identified by the output signals from the first absolute rotational position sensor assembly 22 a . the degree of accuracy within the “ fine ” range is limited to the measurement precision of the second absolute rotational position sensor assembly 22 b . exemplary output signals from the pair of absolute rotational position sensor assemblies 22 a and 22 b are shown in fig1 . in addition to receiving signals from each absolute rotational position sensor assembly 22 a , 22 b , the micro - processor or logic circuit 211 is configured to communicate with the conventional components of the wheel alignment sensor unit 200 . these include the angle sensors 18 and 20 , a sensor memory 212 , a communications transceiver 214 , such as a radio - frequency or infra - red communications unit , and one or more conventional operator i / o devices 216 such as buttons or leds disposed on the wheel alignment sensor unit 200 . the sensor memory 212 is preferably linked to a short - term power supply 213 , such as an internal battery or a super - capacitor , capable of providing sufficient power to maintain stored data in the sensor memory 212 during interruption or shutdown of a normal power supply ( not show ). alternatively , sensor memory 212 may be a form of re - writable persistent memory , such as mram , which does not require a continuous supply of power to maintain stored data values . in addition to being configured to perform the conventional functions of a vehicle wheel alignment sensor , the micro - processor or logic circuit 211 is configured to utilize the signals received from the absolute rotational position sensor assemblies 22 a and 22 b to identify a high precision absolute rotational position of the mounting shaft 202 relative to the vehicle wheel alignment sensor unit 200 . using a known or identified mounting shaft parameter correlated with one or more absolute rotational positions stored in a persistent sensor memory 218 such as an rom , eprom , or eeprom , the micro - processor or logic circuit 211 determines an absolute rotational position of the mounting shaft 202 relative to , the vehicle wheel alignment sensor unit 200 and the vehicle wheel 10 , or to a vertical ( gravity ) orientation , to a high degree of precision . subsequent rotation of the mounting shaft 202 relative to the vehicle wheel alignment sensor unit 200 is tracked in a conventional manner by the micro - processor or logic circuit 211 using signals received from the absolute rotational position sensors 22 a and 22 b , once the initial absolute rotational position has been identified . use of the vehicle wheel alignment sensor unit 200 is substantially identical to that embodiment 100 described above , but with a greater degree of precision in the absolute rotational position measurements . in an alternate method of use , a vehicle wheel alignment sensor 100 or 200 of the present invention may be mounted to a conventional “ no - compensation ” type wheel adapter . a no - compensation wheel adapter , such as shown in u . s . pat . no . 6 , 427 , 346 b1 to stieff et al , herein incorporated by reference , is designed to facilitate attachment of a wheel alignment sensor unit 100 , 200 to a vehicle wheel 10 without the need for any runout compensation . this type of wheel adapter operates on the assumption that the runout of the vehicle wheel is negligible , and that the manufacturing process of the wheel adapter itself does not induce any additional runout in the system , hence there is no need to rotate the vehicle wheel 10 or the wheel alignment sensor unit 100 , 200 to different positions to compensate for runout within the system . these no - compensation wheel adapters are configured to minimize orientation errors . by configuring the wheel adapter to contact a vehicle wheel 10 ( or other suspension component ) in a reliable and repeatable manner , and by choosing points on the vehicle wheel 10 ( or other suspension component ) that provide a reference which closely represents that plane of rotation of the vehicle wheel 10 , mounting errors incurred by the wheel adapter can be minimized . careful fabrication of the wheel adapter itself to minimal tolerances minimizes any position and orientation errors between the mounting shaft 102 , 202 and the wheel adapter , and the wheel adapter contact points on the vehicle wheel 10 ( or other suspension component ). during mounting of the vehicle wheel alignment sensor unit 100 , 200 to a no - compensation type wheel adapter , a technician is required to determine when the wheel alignment sensor unit 100 , 200 is aligned with the scribed mark on the mounting shaft 102 , 202 at the top - dead - center position , thereby mounting the wheel alignment sensor unit 100 , 200 to the no - compensation adapter in a repeatable manner . by predetermination of an absolute rotational position of the mounting shaft 102 , 202 relative to the vehicle wheel alignment sensor unit 100 , 200 at the scribed mark , the logic circuit or micro - processor 110 , 211 of the present invention may be configured to guide an operator with electronic guidance to correctly mount the wheel alignment sensor unit 100 , 200 on a no - compensation type wheel adapter . signals from the absolute rotational position sensor 22 identify to the micro - controller or logic circuit 110 , 211 when the wheel alignment sensor unit 100 is rotational aligned to the desired position . the micro - processor or logic circuit 110 , 211 may be configured to provide led illumination or a directional indication identifying the rotational position or direction to which the operator should rotate the wheel alignment sensor unit 100 , 200 for mounting on the no - compensation type adapter at the top - dead - center or desired position . the present invention can be embodied in the form of computer - implemented processes and apparatuses for practicing those processes . the present invention can also be embodied in the form of computer program code containing instructions embodied in tangible media , such as floppy diskettes , cd - roms , hard drives , or an other computer readable storage medium , wherein , when the computer program code is loaded into , and executed by , an electronic device such as a computer , micro - processor or logic circuit , the device becomes an apparatus for practicing the invention . the present invention can also be embodied in the form of computer program code , for example , whether stored in a storage medium , loaded into and / or executed by a computer , or transmitted over some transmission medium , such as over electrical wiring or cabling , through fiber optics , or via electromagnetic radiation , wherein , when the computer program code is loaded into and executed by a computer , the computer becomes an apparatus for practicing the invention . when implemented in a general - purpose microprocessor , the computer program code segments configure the microprocessor to create specific logic circuits . in view of the above , it will be seen that the several objects of the invention are achieved and other advantageous results are obtained . as various changes could be made in the above constructions without departing from the scope of the invention , it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense .
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referring now to the drawings , fig1 depicts a schematic overview of a database security model 10 . in this illustrative embodiment , data is stored in two schemas , as “ locked ” data 34 that contain encrypted private data , e . g ., protected personal information ( ppi ), and as non - private application or “ open ” data 36 ( collectively , the “ database ”). locked data 34 include private data that remains encrypted and are not readily available as plain text while open data 36 include data that is readily available . for example , open data 36 may include the job title of a set of individuals , while the locked data 36 include social security numbers ( ssns ), etc . as detailed herein , locked data 34 can only be decrypted with a pair of keys , referred to herein as a private key 50 and a public key 52 . the pair of keys 50 , 52 are kept separate in order to ensure that no single person has access to both keys to access the locked data 34 . in general , application users 42 interface with a front - end database ( db ) application 32 , in which they submit queries and receive back results . for retrieving non - private information , the db application 32 simply interfaces directly with tables in the open data 36 to obtain the necessary information . if it necessary to retrieve private data to execute an inputted query , the db application 32 is not allowed to directly access the locked data 34 . instead , the db application 32 must instead make a call to encr system 30 , which includes one or more encr routines 44 ( also referred to herein as encr_code ) specifically implemented to handle the request . thus , as described herein , although the db application 32 cannot directly access and return private data from the locked data 34 , the db application 32 can provide functionality that allows an application user 42 to interface with private data in a limited fashion indirectly via an encr routine 44 . for example , a user 42 may be able to enter an ssn to the db application 32 to determine if there is a match in the locked data 34 , which will in turn call an encr routine 44 and , e . g ., return a yes or a no . when private data is required to handle a query , the db application 32 submits an encr request to encr system 30 which processes the request and returns an encr result . in some cases , the encr result may include a simple yes / no ( e . g ., a match exists ) or may return actual decrypted private data ( e . g ., a date of birth ). to handle encr requests , encr routines 44 can be implemented in two ways : ( 1 ) in a first approach , the encr routine 44 can use encryption code 45 along with a retrieved public key 52 to encrypt an inputted data record ( e . g ., an ssn ). the encrypted data can then be , e . g ., compared to an encrypted record or records in the locked data 34 to determine if a match exists . using this approach , no data is ever decrypted — instead processing is done by comparing encrypted data records only . ( 2 ) in a second approach , the encr routine 44 can submit a decrypt request , along with the public key , to crypto system 28 . crypto system 28 includes decryption code and private key 50 that can be used ( along with the inputted public key 52 ) to decrypt one or more locked data records . once decrypted , the decrypted data is passed back to the encr system 30 . note that the public key 52 is not stored in the crypto system 28 , but just temporarily used for the decryption request . note that the database application 32 , encr system 30 and crypto system 28 are implemented in operationally distinct spaces or realms ( i . e ., first level and second level , respectively ), such that access to files and processes in one space by a user does not allow for access to another . each system 28 , 30 may comprise its own physical or virtual server space . note also that the security model 10 may be implemented such that either or both the db application 32 automatically retrieves the public key 52 from storage and passes it to encr system 30 and / or a qualified and authorized resource such as the project lead 22 manually retrieves the public key 52 from storage and passes it to the encr system 30 when access to private data is required from the db application 32 or a qualified and authorized resource directly . note that direct access with an account other than app users 42 ( such as the encr user acct ) requires activation of a user account by the gate keeper 18 and authorization from a qualified 3 rd party such as the key master 20 . thus , using this multi - level security approach , once an encr routine 44 is deployed to the encr system 30 , developer resources can easily add functionality to the front - end db application 32 to access private data without having decryption capabilities . thus , neither the application user 42 nor internal developer resources can ever compromise the private data . equally important security issues also arise for higher level administrators who traditionally have system level access to all data . for example , it may be determined that the application users 42 require some additional limited private data access to perform their roles in an organization . in this case , a developer resource under the project lead 22 must write a new encr routine 44 , which may require decryption access to the private data . as discussed in further detail herein , the present approach contemplates at least three different administrative roles , none of which are given unfettered access to the locked data 34 . these roles include a gate keeper 18 , a key master 20 and a project lead 22 . accordingly , rather than provide that developer resource with , e . g ., a key , to allow for decryption , the illustrative security model 10 provides a platform to ensure that no single actor can access locked data 34 . ( 1 ) bifurcated key — the key used to encrypt or lock the data is comprised of at least two separate pieces ( private key 50 and public key 52 ). any actors who have access to part of the key must never be able to access all the other parts of the key to combine all of the pieces together and have the complete key . for example , if the gate keeper 18 and key master 20 have access to the private key 50 then the project lead 22 must not be allowed to access the private key . further , in this example the gate keeper 18 and key master 20 must not be allowed to access or compromise the public key ( 2 ) separation of duties — security duties are broken out into multiple roles creating a system of checks and balances . each actor in the model has at least one other actor that can perform a check or block against that actor individually compromising protected resources . also , an established process for requesting , authorizing , and completing system needs is utilized . for example , a database administrator cannot complete a request from a developer resource to have a secure account activated ( or any request that was not approved by an established role within the organization ). in order for any action to be taken , that action must be authorized by at least one and possibly two other qualified roles . ( 3 ) encryption — the sensitive data is encrypted using a robust algorithm so that the protected resources on their own cannot be read directly — a separate key is needed to unlock the data . ( 1 ) gate keeper 18 , which is responsible for user access to the crypto system 28 and encr system 30 . the gate keeper 18 controls user creation , privileges , and access to objects contained therein . the gate keeper 18 may play a role in managing the private key , but does not have access to public key 52 . ( 2 ) key master 20 , which is either fully or partially responsible for the private key 50 , and storing the private key in the crypto system 28 . the key master 20 also performs a very import audit function and can act as a qualified authorizer of requests whose approval is required for any action to proceed within the model . the key master 20 does not have access to the public key 52 . ( 3 ) project lead 22 , which is responsible for the public key 52 . the project lead 22 can request actions to be performed by the gate keeper 18 ( e . g ., allow access to the encr system 30 ) but these requests may require the authorization of at least one other qualified role such as the key master 20 . the project lead 22 does not have access to the private key 50 . ( 4 ) developer ( s ), which are responsible for application development and maintenance . the developer does not have access to either key , and cannot access live files or servers . instead , the developer must provide updates and changes to the project lead 22 . note that this role is optional and these duties may be performed directly by the project lead 22 . note also that the developer role may include one or many resources of varying levels ( e . g ., senior developer , technical lead , etc .). ( 5 ) security oversight , which is responsible for reviewing application code for back doors and other intentional breach attempts within the db application 32 . note that this role is optional but recommended in cases where , e . g ., sensitive data must be rendered in plain text in the db application 32 . accordingly , as shown in the illustrative embodiment of fig1 , the key master 20 is the only person authorized to temporarily access the crypto system 28 via a crypto user account when allowed by the gate keeper 18 . similarly , the project lead 22 is the only person authorized to temporarily access the encr system 30 via an encr user account when allowed by the gate keeper 18 . as such , access to the crypto system 28 and encr system 30 is highly regulated , and requires at least two people aware of the access . this helps to ensure that no individual can for example install code on either system to capture the public or private key . fig2 depicts a summary of the process of setting up the security model 10 . initially at s 1 , the gate keeper 18 creates user accounts , including crypto user account and encr user account . additional accounts may include an application user account ( e . g ., appuser ) and a locked table user account ( e . g ., lbx_user ). at s 2 , the gate keeper 18 creates database objects including the locked data 34 and open data 36 and at s 3 the key master 20 ( or optionally the gate keeper 18 ) generates a private key 50 and stores it in the crypto system 28 . at s 4 , the project lead 22 provides an obfuscation script to the key master 20 to hide the private key 50 and at s 5 the gate keeper 18 provides login information ( e . g ., crypto_user credentials ) to the key master 20 and at s 6 , the key master logs in , embeds the private key 50 and creates encrypt and decrypt code functions . at s 7 , the project lead 22 verifies that the private key 50 is hidden . note that the role of providing the script could be done by another entity , such as the gate keeper . fig3 summarizes an illustrative process for deploying new encr routines ( encr_code ) 44 . at s 10 , the developer resource provides a script for creating a new encr routine 44 to the project lead 22 . the project lead 22 reviews the script to ensure that no ( or only limited ) private data can be returned at s 11 , and at s 12 the project lead 22 requests a create session for an encr user account ( encr_user ) and requests credentials from the gate keeper 18 . at s 13 , the gate keeper 18 activates the session and provides the credentials and at s 14 the project lead 22 logs on as encr_user and creates the encr routine 44 and inserts seed values into the locked data 34 as needed . at s 15 , the project lead 22 notifies the gate keeper 18 to end the session for encr_user and deploys the code . at s 16 , the project lead 22 generates a public key 52 in a secure storage region and at s 17 , requests access for appuser as needed . the public key 52 is passed as needed . finally , at s 18 , seed values are inserted into the database as needed . the project lead 22 instructs the developer resources on the best use of plain text sensitive information in the application with a goal of minimizing or eliminating the retrieval of plain text sensitive data to the greatest extent possible : a . mask data unless it is absolutely necessary to display in plain text ; b . bulk pulls of plain text sensitive data ( reports ) will run under special accounts that can be made active during specific time windows ; and c . token ids are to be used instead if personal information based ids . search algorithms may be written within the encr routine ( s ) 44 and return masked results and the developer role has no access to the public key 52 . since the developer provides code to the project lead 22 for deployment , the project lead 22 can review the code for attempts to compromise the public key 52 . also , the project lead 22 can utilize a separate repository that is not accessible by the developer to embed the public key 52 inside the application . since the developer cannot access the encr system 30 where the public key 52 is deployed , it is difficult for the developer to compromise the public key 52 . the use of a cypher key allows the public key 52 to be protected as well as the data . note that this offers additional protection since the crypto system 28 code must now accommodate processing a protected public key 52 , so the public key 52 does not necessarily need to be un - encrypted for it to be useful . the added benefit would be more related to cases where the data values were extracted from the database without the corresponding crypto routines . in this scenario , someone with the two keys but not the crypto routines would not be able to convert the data to plain text . the security oversight role may be implemented , particularly when plain text data needs to be returned to the database application 32 . security oversight must not be allowed access to accounts in the database that can access the private key 52 . finally , in one illustrative embodiment , the developer role does not need to have access to the appuser database account . the following checks and balances are provided by the security model 10 . ( 1 ) the key master 20 does not have access to the public key 52 . even with the public key 52 , the key master 20 cannot make calls to decrypt the locked data 34 and cannot access the locked data 34 . best practice dictates , however , that care is taken to keep the public key 52 from the key master 20 . ( 2 ) the developer does not have access to either of the keys and can only connect to the database with the appuser account in lower environments — not live or production environments . the developer could theoretically include surreptitious code in the application intended to compromise the public key and / or unencrypted data returned from encr_code . the following checks serve to prevent these threats from becoming realized vulnerabilities : a . the developer cannot deploy code . the project lead manages deployments and can review the code for backdoors that may try to compromise data b . the developer cannot access the public key . the project lead manages the public key and keeps it stored in a secure repository not accessible by developers . the project lead can look at every instance in the code where the public key is utilized and verify that it is not compromised . c . a security oversight role can be incorporated to serve as a second set of eyes backing up the project lead checks d . the developer cannot connect to the database using accounts that can call the crypto routines . since the gate keeper only processes requests initiated by the project lead , the developer is blocked from requesting access to these accounts e . note that compromised developer credentials can serve as a very powerful attack tool to compromise secure data . therefore , the developer role may not be allowed to have accounts that can access production or live servers , file shares , databases , repositories , etc . : i . a compromised developer account could be susceptible to elevated privileges allowing a threat agent to install malicious code to intercept the public key or detect packets on the wire to gain access to plain text and route this information to an accessible location . to counter this , effective patching , firewall , and network monitoring strategies are recommended . effective personnel management is also important to make sure old or unused user accounts to not remain active . also , plain text sensitive data should only be passed when absolutely necessary . time policies and limit filters are available in some database applications that allow accounts to access data only during certain time windows . network monitors can be set to a higher level of vigilance during these windows . ii . a compromised developer account could be susceptible to elevated privileges allowing the theft of production application files ( including operating system and database files ) to an accessible location . to counter this , it is recommended that the public key be stored in a quality hsm appliance so that it is read and passed by the application at runtime . this way , the public key would not be included in the stolen information and the sensitive data could not be decrypted 3 . security oversight has limited access in that it can only view application code . they may gain access to the public key if it is stored in the code , but because the role cannot access the database code ; these users cannot access the private key . also , because this role cannot connect to the database , they cannot attempt to utilize the public key to try and call encr_code that may return plain text sensitive data . since they may be able to review configuration files that contain connection information , these strings would ideally be stored in an encrypted format to prevent unauthorized attempts to connect to the database . 4 . project lead 22 is one of the most difficult roles to lock down because typically this is the role whose job most requires access to the information that needs to be secured . moreover , this is the one role that can directly access the public key 52 . all that would be needed to view encrypted data would be a connection to the database . in applications that do not return plain text data in the encr routines 44 , the check against the project lead 22 is that a formal request must be entered and approved by a qualified 3 rd party such as the key master 20 in order for the session privilege to be turned to on for the encr_user account , which can directly call the encr routines 44 ( encr_code ) and potentially , if enabled by the gate keeper with proper authorization , the lbx_user account , which could directly call the crypto system routines 28 . when business needs dictate that plain text sensitive data needs to be returned from the encr_code , the project lead 22 could simply connect to the database using the appuser account and pass the public key 52 directly to return unencrypted data . additionally , a malicious agent who compromised the project lead 22 credentials could do the same . consequently , the following are recommended in cases where plain text sensitive data needs to be returned to the front - end application : a . take every step possible mask this data . for instance , searches can be coded into the encr_code in such a way as to mask potential matches but still allow the human to identify the correct match ; b . for reports and other functions that may require multiple records of plain text data , set up a separate account under which these functions run . seek ways to limit and monitor the times when this account can actively connect to the data ; c . employ a security oversight actor to monitor the application code for potential vulnerabilities ; d . investigate network monitoring utilities that can monitor and report on specific types of network traffic and usage ; e . investigate data store application policies limiting connectivity by ip address to prevent the project lead from making a direct connection with the appuser account . 5 . the gate keeper can be the most difficult role to block from compromising the data . since the main check against the gate keeper is that they do not possess the public key , preventing the gate keeper from obtaining the public key is crucial . since the gate keeper 18 is typically a sys level user in the database , there are inherently many means by which the gate keeper 18 can exploit the code to capture the public key 52 . a database running on sis processors in a secure framework will be very difficult for a malicious agent to leverage to compromise the public key 52 from the network or volatile memory . so the principle means of exploit for the gate keeper role is modifying the database code where the public key is passed as a parameter . it is very difficult to completely block the gate keeper role ( and consequently a malicious actor who has compromised the gate keeper credentials ) from modifying the object definitions that compromise the code . but it is possible to detect when this has occurred . for this reason , it is strongly recommended that the key master and project lead set up crypto sentry code checks on all database code where the public key is passed . further , there needs to be an effective and timely response mechanism when these alterations are detected . since the public key will only be passed to certain database routines , the crypto sentry can be focused on only these routines . additional features that can optionally be incorporated to enhance security include the following . items passed in plain text on the wire are vulnerable to breach . hardware and network protections can be used to mitigate this risk . for example , the unencrypted plain text values returned from a call to decrypt sensitive data for use in the front - end application are susceptible to being compromised by network sniffers . securing the network can help mitigate these risks the process of encrypting and / or decrypting data occurs in the random or volatile memory within the data store application . while in - process , there is a potential vulnerability for a malicious agent to scrape the ram in order to compromise the key . utilizing data store applications that incorporate software in silicon ( sis ) hardware that prevents external reads ( scrapes ) will mitigate this risk . likewise , the operating systems that process the public key and pass the value to the data store application can employ the same protections . any time the public key is passed on the wire ( network ), the connection would ideally be encrypted ( i . e . ssl or vpn ). this will ensure the key is encrypted in transit and prevent breach via packet sniffing . keys ( public and private ) will ideally be stored outside of the application . care will need to be taken that these keys are not stored in such a way that it would be easy for a malicious actor to compromise the backup where the keys are stored . strong encryption tools such as advanced encryption standard with a 256 bit key ( aes256 ) are recommended . a strong source code repository is recommended for storing the code that will house the public key . most data store applications possess filter policy roles that only allow connectivity from specific ip addresses . this functionality can be utilized to prevent compromised credentials from being used to connect to the database from unauthorized entry points . the application connection information will ideally be stored in a secured manner such as encrypting the connection string if stored in a configuration file . vulnerabilities may lie within the integrity of the overall architecture ( outside the security model 10 ). for example , unhandled exceptions within an application can be sources of vulnerability . these can be mitigated by runtime application self protection ( rasp ) components , strong firewalls , good software patching practices , network monitoring , etc . since most data store applications provide a mechanism to detect the user id , ip address , server name , etc ., from the calling entity , additional security can be achieved by adding platform specific code to the encr and crypt routines that check for these properties and raise an exception if the server meta data is incorrect . some data store applications provide utilities for separating the duties of accounts within the data store . these utilities can help make it more difficult for the gate keeper and other sys level users in the data store to compromise the data and / or the keys . the keys would ideally be changed every 12 months or less . one means to accomplish this is to write a code routine in the encr_code that takes both the new and the prior public key and makes a call to the crypto_code routine to decrypt using prior key passing the prior public key and then taking the result and calling the crypto_code routine to encrypt the data passing the new public key . the newly encrypted values would overwrite the pre - existing values . for applications that need to display plain text sensitive information from the database , system level application user accounts would be able to log in to the application and view data . consequently , it is most secure if these accounts are disabled and can only be enabled by a project lead request approved by an authorized 3 rd party such as the key master . sensitive data can be tokenized to add an additional layer of anonymity . for example , random ids can be created for each client record , and the random id can then be utilized by the application to represent an applicant , using that id to process sensitive data only when needed . since the id on its own could not be used to identify a given person , it is much safer than using personal information as the record identifier . an alternative approach may be implemented as follows , again with reference to fig1 . the gate keeper 18 creates the crypto_user , encr_user , appuser and lbx_user accounts . note that it is recommended that accounts be created under the ‘ least privilege ’ doctrine . in other words , the accounts will be given the least amount of privilege necessary to perform the needs of the account . additional privileges can be added later if needed if authorized , but it is better to have the account ask for additional privileges rather than automatically have them . 1 ) the gate keeper 18 creates the crypto_read_user account and grants select privileges on the core table that lists objects within the database ( i . e . obj $) 2 ) the gate keeper 18 grants the crypto_user account privileges to connect to the database and to create packages / procedures / functions 3 ) the key master 20 then provides the gate keeper 18 with the private key . 4 ) the gate keeper 20 logs in with the crypto_user account and creates the crypto_code in the crypto system 28 embedding the private key 50 . here is sample code for crypto_code : 6 ) the gate keeper 18 then removes the session privilege from crypto_user so that it cannot connect to the db 7 ) the key master 20 uses the crypto_read_user account to ensure that only one object exists for the crypto_user user account in the crypto system 28 . for example : 8 ) the key master uses the crypto_read_user account to verify the contents of the crypto_code function in the crypto system 28 to ensure that code and private key 50 and public key 52 that will passed in from the encr system 30 are not compromised . for example : 9 ) the key master uses the crypto_read_user account to log a hash value for the crypto_code routine in the crypto system 28 . for example : -- chunk clob inot string blocks of 4000 to ensure consistent hash 10 ) the key master then creates the anomaly detection routine using the hash value returned from above . for example : -- chunk clob inot string blocks of 4000 to ensure consistent hash 11 ) the gate keeper 18 then grants execute privileges on crypto_code in the crypto system 28 to the encr_user account 12 ) the gate keeper 18 then grants the session privilege to encr_user so that it can connect to the db 13 ) the gate keeper 18 grants the encr_user account with privileges to create packages / procedures / functions in the encr system 30 and provides credentials to project lead 22 14 ) the project lead 22 then leads the creation of the encr_code functions in the encr system 30 . in this example , the decrypt routines are not publicly accessible by calls to encr_code routines in the encr system 30 . this ensures that the code cannot be used to compromise the sensitive data . note that decrypt routines are included as calls nested within the public routines , but so long as these nested decryption values are not returned directly ( only true / false is returned ) they do not pose a security threat . note that the script in this example that creates the encr_code routines in the encr system 30 returns an immediate hash value that can be provided to the key master 20 to ensure no tampering occurred by the gate keeper 18 ( or some other malicious actor ) while the encr_user account is active . here is example code : -- chunk clob into string blocks of 4000 to ensure consistent hash value 15 ) the project lead 22 provides the hash value to the key master 20 16 ) the gate keeper 18 then removes the session privilege from encr_user so that it cannot connect to the db 17 ) the gate keeper 18 then grants execute privileges on encr_code in the encr system 30 to any application accounts that will need to utilize the crytpo functionality such as an appuser account 18 ) the key master 20 uses the crypto_read_user account to ensure that only the appropriate number of objects exists for the encr_user user account in the encr system 30 . for example : 19 ) the key master uses the crypto_read_user account to verify the contents of the encr_code function to ensure that no back doors or other breaches have been coded into the routine in the encr system 30 . for example : 20 ) the key master uses the crypto_read_user account to log a hash value for the encr_code routine in the encr system 30 . for example : -- chunk clob inot string blocks of 4000 to ensure consistent hash 21 ) if the hash value returned from above does not match the hash value provided by the project lead 22 , then the deployment is halted as tampering may have occurred and will need to be investigated 22 ) the key master 20 then creates the anomaly detection routine using the hash value returned from above . for example : -- chunk clob inot string blocks of 4000 to ensure consistent hash 23 ) note that typically , the gate keeper 18 can activate either of the code user accounts at any time and modify the crypto and encr code in the crypto system 28 and / or the encr system 30 . by modifying the code , the gate keeper 18 could subvert decrypted data and / or compromise the public key 52 as it is passed in and then be in possession of both keys . in most cases , these code changes would not be detected by either the project lead 22 or the key master 20 . in the tsm ™, the measure that prevents this action from becoming a threat event is the comparison of the code signatures in the anomaly detection routines . if the gate keeper 18 role were to attempt this type of breach , the signature of the modified code would be different than that logged by the key master 20 . consequently , the key master 20 has the ability to serve as a crypto sentry to detect and prevent this type of breach . the frequency of the crypto sentry checks will determine the size of the window available for a gate keeper 18 role to compromise the code . for instance , if the anomaly check routine is performed on every call to an encr system 30 or crypto system 28 routine , then the breach window would be zero . if the call is performed intermittently , then the time window between checks becomes the maximum breach window . regardless of the frequency , the crypto sentry routines become an important check against the gate keeper 18 acting unilaterally to compromised locked data . the anomaly detection routines in the crypto sentry it will need to run in such a manner that the gate keeper 18 cannot deactivate , override or modify . for example , the crypto sentry can be setup to run as an application outside the domain of the gate keeper ( as well as the project lead ). this would be represented in fig1 as a separate realm or space accessible only by the key master 20 , which would have read access to the crypto system 28 and encr system 30 . 24 ) the project lead 22 then creates a public key 52 . note that the ideal place to store the public key 52 is in a hardware security management ( hsm ) appliance with the code that passes the public key 52 to the encr system 30 routines in the database pulling the public key 52 at runtime from the hsm . 25 ) the project lead 22 embeds a routine to manage and pass the public key 52 into the db app 32 . note , that upon successfully authorized request the gate keeper 18 could potentially enable session on a specified account such as lbx_user to call either the crypto system 28 or encr system 30 directly by manually pulling the public key 52 and passing it as a parameter 26 ) note that it is good practice for the project lead 22 to test encr system 30 routines to make sure encryption works properly — particularly if the public key 52 is cypher protected . before testing , however , it is best to ensure that the public key 52 will not be compromised when it is passed in to the crypto system 28 and / or encr system 30 routines . in a further embodiment , the private key 50 is stored both in the crypto system 28 and in a hardware security module ( hsm ). note that if the public key 52 is stored in an hsm it would need to be kept separate from the private key 50 . in this scenario , no decrypted data is returned from encr system 30 . instead , encrypted values are returned and then passed into the hsm along with the public key 52 to decrypt at the point of display . in still a further embodiment , gate keeper 18 manages private key 50 separately from key master 20 . in this scenario the key master 20 becomes a sentry only role ( and potentially the additional authorizer besides the project lead 22 ). in still a further embodiment , the key master 20 role is eliminated . in this scenario , the gate keeper 18 manages the private key 50 and creates crypto system 28 . without the key master 20 to serve as crypto sentry , the gate keeper 18 will need be perform anomaly detection on the encr system 30 and the project lead 22 will need do the same on both the crypto system 28 and encr system 30 . since the project lead will now be able to view the crypto system 28 , the private key 50 will need to be extracted and stored under an account separate ( but accessible ) by crypto system 28 user account . for example , the gate keeper 18 could create a crypto_key_user that creates an object or crytpo key code routine ( preferably obfuscated to prevent over - the - shoulder breaches ) that simply returns the private key 50 , and then grant execute privileges to crypto_user on this new routine . this routine call could be placed in the crypto system 28 , but since the project lead 22 can only view the code ( not execute ) they will not be able to see the private key 50 even as they are checking the crypto system 28 code for anomalies . note that without the key master 18 it will be much more difficult to monitor cases where the project lead 22 is requesting the ability to call the crypto system 28 directly or put public decrypt routines in the encr system 30 . for example , a malicious actor spoofing the project lead 22 role and having the public key 52 could directly request access the crypto system 28 routines from the gate keeper 18 . if granted , this malicious actor would have all the resources needed to compromise locked data . in this scenario , additional 3 rd party oversight and / or approval is recommended . in still a further embodiment , salting can be incorporated into some or all of the locked data 34 values for added security in still a further embodiment , the public key 52 can be cypher protected using the crypto system 28 routines so that it is not stored or passed as plain text . this would involve the gate keeper 18 allowing session connect on the crypto_user account so the project lead 22 could pass the public key 52 to the crypto system 28 cypher routine to get back an encrypted value for the public key 52 . calls in the encr system 30 routines would need to account for the encrypted public key 52 and utilize routines in the crypto system 28 routines that decrypt the public key before combining with the private key 50 . since the cypher value of the public key 52 can still be used to call the crypto system 28 routines to unlock locked data 34 , this only adds protection for cases where the locked data has been exfiltrated along with the private key 50 but without the crypto system 28 . in this scenario , the cyphered public key 52 could not be combined manually with the private key 50 to decrypt the locked data 34 . in still a further embodiment , private key 50 embedded outside of crypto system 28 . the key master 20 executes a script under a separate account ( i . e . crypto_key_user ) to store the private key 50 in a separate object or routine ( preferably obfuscated to prevent over - the - shoulder breaches ) that returns the private key 50 . once this script is executed , the separate account is deactivated . the key master 20 then provides the script to create the crypto system 28 routines to the gate keeper 18 . this crypto system 28 script will contain a call to retrieve the private key 50 from the new object or routine created by the key master 20 . the crypto_user would be granted execute or select privileges on the private key 50 store , but would not be able to view it . in this scenario , the project lead 22 could perform the crypto sentry duties because the project lead 22 can only view the code ( not execute or select from an object )— they will not be able to see the private key 50 even as they are checking the crypto system 28 for anomalies . in still a further embodiment , the crypto system 28 can be written to store previous private keys and have routines to utilize these prior keys . this would allow the keys to be changed periodically without the loss of any locked data . in still a further embodiment , key master 20 can incorporate crypto sentry checks to see if any non - authorized code is making calls to the encryption libraries or the crypto system 28 routines . for example : in still a further embodiment , project lead 22 can temporarily be given access to an account such as lbx_user that can directly connect to the database and execute crypto system 28 routines . for example : 1 ) the project lead 22 requests access to connect to an execute crypto system 28 routines . 2 ) the request is authorized by a qualified 3 rd party such as the key master 20 3 ) the gate keeper 18 gives execute privileges on crypto system 28 to the lbx_user account and sets session privilege for this account to on 4 ) the gate keeper 18 provides user credentials directly to the project lead 22 ession privilege for lbx_user is set back to off immediately following the completion of the work by the project lead 22 fig4 depicts an illustrative computing system 50 for implementing a database security system 70 to implement to above described database security model 10 for an application database 68 . database security system 70 generally includes an account management system 60 for establishing the crypto system 28 and encr system 30 . as noted , the gate keeper role is largely responsible for creating accounts and establishing privileges . as such the account management system 60 would allocate the necessary resource for the gate keeper . application management system 62 is responsible for establishing and managing the db application 32 . associated permissions , firewalls , etc ., may be handled by the application management system 62 . data management system 64 is responsible for setting up database tables and determining which data belongs in locked data 34 and which belongs in app data 36 . communication system 66 provides a platform through which the different roles can communicate with each other . for example , if a developer wanted to deploy a new encrypted code function 44 ( fig1 ), the developer could pass the code or an associated request to the project lead via the communication system 66 . it is understood that database security system 70 may be implemented as a computer program product stored on a computer readable storage medium . the computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that can retain and store instructions for use by an instruction execution device . the computer readable storage medium may be , for example , but is not limited to , an electronic storage device , a magnetic storage device , an optical storage device , an electromagnetic storage device , a semiconductor storage device , or any suitable combination of the foregoing . a non - exhaustive list of more specific examples of the computer readable storage medium includes the following : a portable computer diskette , a hard disk , a random access memory ( ram ), a read - only memory ( rom ), an erasable programmable read - only memory ( eprom or flash memory ), a static random access memory ( sram ), a portable compact disc read - only memory ( cd - rom ), a digital versatile disk ( dvd ), a memory stick , a floppy disk , a mechanically encoded device such as punch - cards or raised structures in a groove having instructions recorded thereon , and any suitable combination of the foregoing . a computer readable storage medium , as used herein , is not to be construed as being transitory signals per se , such as radio waves or other freely propagating electromagnetic waves , electromagnetic waves propagating through a waveguide or other transmission media ( e . g ., light pulses passing through a fiber - optic cable ), or electrical signals transmitted through a wire . computer readable program instructions described herein can be downloaded to respective computing / processing devices from a computer readable storage medium or to an external computer or external storage device via a network , for example , the internet , a local area network , a wide area network and / or a wireless network . the network may comprise copper transmission cables , optical transmission fibers , wireless transmission , routers , firewalls , switches , gateway computers and / or edge servers . a network adapter card or network interface in each computing / processing device receives computer readable program instructions from the network and forwards the computer readable program instructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium within the respective computing / processing device . computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations of the present invention may be assembler instructions , instruction - set - architecture ( isa ) instructions , machine instructions , machine dependent instructions , microcode , firmware instructions , state - setting data , or either source code or object code written in any combination of one or more programming languages , including an object oriented programming language such as java , python , smalltalk , c ++ or the like , and conventional procedural programming languages , such as the “ c ” programming language or similar programming languages . the computer readable program instructions may execute entirely on the user &# 39 ; s computer , partly on the user &# 39 ; s computer , as a stand - alone software package , partly on the user &# 39 ; s computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server . in the latter scenario , the remote computer may be connected to the user &# 39 ; s computer through any type of network , including a local area network ( lan ) or a wide area network ( wan ), or the connection may be made to an external computer ( for example , through the internet using an internet service provider ). in some embodiments , electronic circuitry including , for example , programmable logic circuitry , field - programmable gate arrays ( fpga ), or programmable logic arrays ( pla ) may execute the computer readable program instructions by utilizing state information of the computer readable program instructions to personalize the electronic circuitry , in order to perform aspects of the present invention . aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference to flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams of methods , apparatus ( systems ), and computer program products according to embodiments of the invention . it will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams , and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams , can be implemented by computer readable program instructions . these computer readable program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer , special purpose computer , or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine , such that the instructions , which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus , create means for implementing the functions / acts specified in the flowchart and / or block diagram block or blocks . these computer readable program instructions may also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can direct a computer , a programmable data processing apparatus , and / or other devices to function in a particular manner , such that the computer readable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises an article of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects of the function / act specified in the flowchart and / or block diagram block or blocks . the computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer , other programmable data processing apparatus , or other device to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer , other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computer implemented process , such that the instructions which execute on the computer , other programmable apparatus , or other device implement the functions / acts specified in the flowchart and / or block diagram block or blocks . the flowchart and block diagrams in the figures illustrate the architecture , functionality , and operation of possible implementations of systems , methods , and computer program products according to various embodiments of the present invention . in this regard , each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent a module , segment , or portion of instructions , which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function ( s ). in some alternative implementations , the functions noted in the block may occur out of the order noted in the figures . for example , two blocks shown in succession may , in fact , be executed substantially concurrently , or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order , depending upon the functionality involved . it will also be noted that each block of the block diagrams and / or flowchart illustration , and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and / or flowchart illustration , can be implemented by special purpose hardware - based systems that perform the specified functions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions . computing system 50 that may comprise any type of computing device and for example includes at least one processor 52 , memory 56 , an input / output ( i / o ) 54 ( e . g ., one or more i / o interfaces and / or devices ), and a communications pathway 57 . in general , processor ( s ) 52 execute program code which is at least partially fixed in memory 56 . while executing program code , processor ( s ) 52 can process data , which can result in reading and / or writing transformed data from / to memory and / or i / o 54 for further processing . the pathway 57 provides a communications link between each of the components in computing system 50 . i / o 54 can comprise one or more human i / o devices , which enable a user to interact with computing system 50 . computing system 50 may also be implemented in a distributed manner such that different components reside in different physical locations . furthermore , it is understood that the data security system 70 or relevant components thereof ( such as an api component , agents , etc .) may also be automatically or semi - automatically deployed into a computer system by sending the components to a central server or a group of central servers . the components are then downloaded into a target computer that will execute the components . the components are then either detached to a directory or loaded into a directory that executes a program that detaches the components into a directory . another alternative is to send the components directly to a directory on a client computer hard drive . when there are proxy servers , the process will select the proxy server code , determine on which computers to place the proxy servers &# 39 ; code , transmit the proxy server code , then install the proxy server code on the proxy computer . the components will be transmitted to the proxy server and then it will be stored on the proxy server . the foregoing description of various aspects of the invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description . it is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed , and obviously , many modifications and variations are possible . such modifications and variations that may be apparent to an individual in the art are included within the scope of the invention as defined by the accompanying claims .
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fig1 illustrates the system which uses a combustor 16 to both burn hydrocarbon components from a gas stream 14 exiting the main processor 12 and also to supply heat back to the processor 12 . in this embodiment , main processor 12 is operated for the purpose of heating coal . it will be appreciated , however , that the present invention may be used with any process requiring the burning of hydrocarbons in a gas stream and the recovery of sensible heat . the first process gas stream 14 , is the lean hydrocarbon gas stream produced by picking up volatile components evolved as the coal is heated in main pyrolysis process 12 . hydrocarbon gas stream 14 enters the combustor 16 . combustor 16 includes a burner system 17 . a second process gas stream , indicated by reference numeral 18 , is a hot gas stream exiting from combustor 16 , which contains no hydrocarbons . gas stream 18 has a low oxygen content , approximately 0 . 2 % to 0 . 8 %, and is therefore , practically speaking , inert . gas stream 18 is directed back to main processor 12 to heat a coal bed , not shown , consequently , the recovered heat generated by combustion of the coal volatiles is used as an integral part in main processor 12 . this improves the overall efficiency of main processor 12 by reducing the amount of auxiliary fuel 19 , i . e . natural gas , burned for heating the coal bed in main process 12 . as a result of the present invention , 70 % to 90 % of main processor 12 heat required is provided by the combustion of volatiles in hydrocarbon gas stream 14 while 10 % to 30 % of the heat is provided by the combustion of natural gas . in the system of the present invention the temperature and oxygen concentration within combustor 16 are controlled for efficient and trouble free operation . the temperature is maintained by controlling the ratio of auxiliary fuel 19 and air from a primary air source 21 entering burner system 17 of combustor 16 . it should be noted that primary air source 21 can be a variable speed blower . the air / natural gas flow ratio is typically maintained at 9 : 1 to 15 : 1 , by volume , while hydrocarbons are being burned . in the present embodiment , burner system 17 is a 17 million btu per hour natural gas burner . upon startup of the equipment and before hydrocarbons are available from the main process 12 , the natural gas burner 17 will typically fire at a rate in the range of 3 to 17 million btu / hour . when hydrocarbons are available in hydrocarbon gas stream 14 , natural gas burner 17 typically will fire at a rate in the range of 3 to 8 million btu / hour . oxygen concentration within the system is controlled by a two stage air flow control system 23 . control system 23 has a first flow valve 25 and a second flow valve 27 . the temperature in combustor 16 is measured by a temperature transmitter 29 . the error between the desired temperature ( set point ) and the actual temperature is used to calculate an output for first flow valve 25 . when a higher combustor temperature is desired , more air is sent to burner 17 through flow valve 25 . if a lower temperature is desired , less air is sent . the actual flow of air is measured by an air flow transmitter 31 . auxiliary gas 19 flows through a fuel flow valve 33 . the rate of flow of auxiliary gas is measured by a fuel flow transmitter 35 . the flow of air as measured by air flow transmitter 31 is compared to the auxiliary fuel flow as measured by the fuel flow transmitter 35 . an output is then calculated for the fuel flow valve 33 . by this feedback control , a strict air - to - fuel ratio is maintained . second air flow valve 27 and a trim air flow valve 37 function together with a post - combustor oxygen concentration analyzer 39 to control the proper amount of primary combustion air added to the incoming hydrocarbon gas stream 14 directly into combustor 16 . valves 27 and 37 flow through flow transmitter 38 . the oxygen concentration in gas stream 18 is measured by oxygen concentration analyzer 39 . the error between the desired oxygen concentration ( set point ) and the actual or measured oxygen concentration is used to calculate a position for trim flow valve 37 . valve 37 makes small adjustments in primary air flow to maintain the set point oxygen concentration in the combustor closely to a desired set point . second air flow valve 27 supplies the largest quantity of primary air . air flow valve 27 operates in a slave mode to trim air valve 37 . when trim air valve 37 opens to a predetermined position , air flow valve 27 slowly opens to supply more air . conversely , when trim air flow valve 37 closes to a predetermined position , air flow valve 27 slowly closes to supply less air to the combustor . for example , in main processor 12 for heating coal , valve 27 is a 16 inch diameter actuated butterfly valve used to supply most of the primary air . trim air valve 27 is an 8 inch actuated butterfly valve . when trim valve 37 reaches 60 % open , valve 27 starts to step open from its current position and continues to step open until either : a ) valve 37 closes to less than or equal to 60 % open ; or , b ) the measured oxygen concentration in the combustor exceeds the set point oxygen concentration . conversely , when trim valve 37 closes to a position less than 30 % open , valve 27 starts to step closed and continues to step close until either : a ) trim valve 37 opens to greater than or equal to 30 % open ; or b ) the measured oxygen concentration in the combustor becomes less than the set point oxygen concentration . typical oxygen concentration set points for the coal heating process 12 are in the range of 0 . 2 % to 0 . 8 %. it will be appreciated that , because neither the flow nor the hydrocarbon concentration of hydrocarbon stream 14 can be reliably measured , the amount of additional air required to burn the hydrocarbons cannot be calculated . with the two stage air flow control system 23 , the exact amount of air flow is maintained without the need to know the incoming flow or gas composition of hydrocarbon gas 14 . the staging between valve 27 and valve 37 is necessary to provide accurate air flow control over a wide range of flows . the combustion range for incoming hydrocarbon components from main process 12 was from 0 to 36 million btu / hour . in addition to the primary controls just described , several anticipatory control functions are used to maintain combustion stability . the pressure and flow of hydrocarbon gas stream 14 entering combustor 16 may vary due to changes in the coal bed depth in the main process 12 , gas density changes caused by temperature fluctuations , and due to interactions between the multiplicity of process controls . furthermore , changes in the hydrocarbon concentration are caused by variations in main process 12 conditions and in coal quality . changes in the pressure of hydrocarbon gas stream 14 tend to change the air flow into combustor 16 by applying more or less back pressure to valves 25 , 27 and 37 . air pressure is controlled by pressure control valve 40 . the main processor 12 pressure is measured by a pressure analyzer 42 . from this measurement , a desired air pressure is calculated so that a constant pressure differential is maintained across valves 27 and 37 and across the nozzles 44 , where the air enters combustor 16 . pressure control valve 40 is opened or closed to maintain this calculated pressure at a second pressure analyzer 46 . this provides a repeatable and stable relationship between air flow and valve position for valves 25 , 27 and 37 and minimizes changes and corrections in the air flow . thus , potential air flow changes are anticipated by pressure changes in the process and corrective action is taken by adjusting one valve , i . e . pressure valve 40 . alternatively , the air pressure in the system could be adjusted by the activation of the primary air source , i . e . variable speed blower 21 , activated by a feed back from the pressure analyzer 46 . frequent adjustments to and possible interactions between valves 25 , 27 and 37 are avoided . a surge of lean hydrocarbon gas stream 14 to the combustor will cause rapid quenching of the combustion reaction . a temperature drop or &# 34 ; crater &# 34 ; of over 700 ° f . may be seen in less than 30 seconds . a crater typically has an initial downward drift followed by a rapid temperature plunge . following the temperature plunge , restart of combustion may not be possible without bringing down and restarting main processor 12 . the method of the present invention monitors combustor 16 temperature by the thermocoupler and temperature transmitter 29 . when a drop of a predetermined number of degrees below a set point is detected , an incremental increase in burner air and auxiliary fuel is provided by the opening of burner air valve 25 . fuel valve 33 automatically is opened to maintain the proper air - to fuel ratio . this initial pulse of heat to combustor 16 is followed by a stepwise closing of air valve 25 , which is followed by fuel valve 33 , back to a valve position determined by temperature transmitter 29 . this action typically will reverse the temperature drop in combustor 16 . however , the condition usually associated with a crater is observed to be an excess of hydrocarbon components in hydrocarbon gas stream 14 resulting in a rich condition in combustor 16 resulting in sluggish recovery of the combustor temperature . occasionally a second crater can occur . therefore , in addition to the just described burner pulse , the combustion oxygen is monitored at oxygen analyzer 39 just after a crater . if the oxygen concentration stays a 0 % for a set period of time , air valve 27 is stepped open to provide a step increase of primary air flow . this increase is repeated if the concentration remains at 0 for another period of time . in the main process 12 for heating coal , a crater is anticipated when a temperature drop of 50 ° f . below set point is detected . at this point , valve 25 is opened to 70 % open to provide a sensible heat pulse to the combustor . this is followed immediately by a 1 % closing of the valve every five seconds until the valve reaches the position currently called for at the temperature transmitter 29 . additionally , if the oxygen concentration remains at 0 for 15 seconds after the crater is detected , valve 27 is opened an additional 10 % to raise the primary air flow . this action will repeat if the oxygen concentration remains at 0 for an additional 15 seconds . alternatively , if an optional combustibles detector 50 is connected to combustor 16 , a low oxygen / high combustibles ratio ( i . e . 0 oxygen /& gt ; 0 . 5 % combustibles ) may be used to trigger the opening of valve 27 . it will be appreciated that the combustibles detection device can be combined with the oxygen detector 39 in one device . a final control scheme involves varying the burner air to auxiliary air ratio to improve combustion stability at high primary fuel combustion rates . during initial equipment heat - up , before hydrocarbons are available from main process 12 , a stoichiometric air to auxiliary fuel ratio is maintained to provide oxygen deficient gas to preheat the processing equipment . below 1450 ° f ., this is accomplished by adjusting the relative positions of auxiliary fuel valve 33 and air supply valve 25 in response to the oxygen concentration detector 39 . above 1450 ° f ., the temperature at which combustion of residual hydrocarbons from main process 12 can be accomplished safely , the air / auxiliary fuel ratio in burner 17 is maintained at a slight excess air condition . the oxygen concentration is then maintained by adjusting trim air valve 37 in response to the oxygen concentration detector 39 . for example , in main process 12 for heating coal , the air / auxiliary fuel ratio is stepped up from 9 . 2 : 1 to 15 . 0 : 1 when primary air flow reaches 120 , 000 scfh , or about 12 million btu per hour firing rate . this step is reversed when the primary air flow drops below 100 , 000 scfh . combustion of a lean hydrocarbon gas stream with a heating value of 30 btu / std . ft 3 and an incoming temperature of 200 ° f . combustion of this stream with a resulting gas temperature of 1750 ° f . and resulting oxygen concentration of 0 . 25 %. fuel value of incoming gas stream 20 to 80 btu / std . ft . 3 it will be appreciated that the various changes and modifications may be made in the system of the present invention without departing from the scope of the appended claims . therefore , the foregoing description and accompanying drawing are intended to be illustrative only and should not be construed in a limiting sense .
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in a part - sectional view , fig1 shows an exemplary embodiment of an internal combustion engine 1 having a fuel injection system 2 according to the present invention . fuel injection system 2 includes a cylinder block having a cylinder wall 13 , in which a piston 6 is guided . a connecting rod 14 guides piston 6 in its up - and - down movement along cylinder wall 13 . a cylinder head 3 seals off cylinder wall 13 at its extremity . cylinder wall 13 , piston 6 and cylinder head 3 enclose a combustion chamber 7 . a fuel injector 5 is positioned in cylinder head 3 , preferably in its center . a spark plug 4 is inserted in a bore of cylinder head 3 at a slight lateral offset . moreover , at least one intake valve 11 and at least one discharge valve 12 are present . when fuel injection system 2 is in operation , injection jets ( sprays ) 10 , which together form a cone - shaped fuel jet , are injected into combustion chamber 7 through spray - discharge openings present in fuel injector 5 . a mixture cloud 9 is formed by mixing fuel and air in combustion chamber 7 . mixture cloud 9 is ignited by spark plug 8 . the shape of the cone - shaped fuel jet according to the present invention is explained in greater detail with the aid of fig2 and 3 . it can be inferred from fig1 that combustion chamber 7 of internal combustion engine 1 is designed in the form of a roof - shaped combustion chamber 7 in cylinder head 3 , which includes ridge slopes 15 and a ridge 16 . fuel injector 5 is located at ridge 16 , whereas gas - exchange valves 11 and 12 are located in ridge slopes 15 . this is particularly advantageous when more than two gas exchange valves 11 , 12 are used , since internal combustion engine 1 is more optimally supplied with air in this manner when operated at full load . in order to be able to utilize combustion chamber 7 in an optimal manner and take the position of intake and discharge valves 11 , 12 into account , the present invention provides for fuel injector 5 to be designed in such a way that injection jets 10 , injected into combustion chamber 7 by fuel injector 5 , are injected at an angle that is greater in a longitudinal direction of internal combustion engine 1 than in a transverse direction of internal combustion engine 1 . to illustrate this measure , fig2 a shows a heavily schematized longitudinal section through an exemplary internal combustion engine 1 having four cylinders , while fig2 b shows a section through one of the cylinders in a transverse direction of internal combustion engine 1 . as can be inferred from fig2 a , injection jets 10 are injected with the aid of fuel injector 5 under a maximum opening angle α , which is determined by the position of the spray - discharge orifices of fuel injector 5 . in a transverse direction of internal combustion engine 1 , injection jets 10 , as shown in fig2 b , are injected in accordance with ridge slopes 15 , which delimit combustion chamber 7 , at an angle β , which is smaller than angle α . gas - exchange valves 11 and 12 and also spark plug 4 ( not shown in fig2 b ), thus , are only tangentially grazed by injection jets 10 and are not directly exposed to injection jet 10 . this is advantageous in particular in the case of spark plug 4 , since the thermal shock load and deposit formation on the electrodes are reduced in this manner and the service life of spark plug 4 is extended . a view of a section through injected mixture cloud 9 shows the elliptical form , which is due to the sizes of opening angles α and β differing from each other in two orthogonal spatial directions . because of the lateral flattening of mixture cloud 9 , it is optimally adapted to the shape of combustion chamber 7 . the jet angles that are between the maximum opening angle α and the minimum opening angle β may then be continually approximated to the extreme values by using an arbitrary number of individual injection jets 10 . fig3 shows , by way of example , a mixture cloud 9 made up of ten individual injection jets 10 . maximum opening angle α is not assumed , but merely approximated by two adjacently located injection jets 10 . such a configuration may be advantageous , for instance , when two spark plugs 4 are provided , which should not be exposed to a direct injection so as to avoid the stress of thermal shock , spark plugs 4 being disposed in the sides of the roof ridge . if spark plug 4 is located in the “ roof ridge ”, for example , minimum opening angle β is not assumed , but likewise approximated by two adjacently located injection jets . by using any desired number of spray - discharge orifices of fuel injector 5 , virtually any configuration of injection jets 10 may be generated . jet clearance angle y of individual injection jets 10 may be identical or differ with respect to one another . the configuration of jet clearance angles y is independent of the configuration of opening angles α and β of mixture cloud 9 . the present invention is not restricted to the exemplary embodiment shown and , for instance , is also applicable to fuel injection systems 2 that have more or fewer injection jets 10 , gas - exchange valves 11 , 12 and , in particular , a plurality of spark plugs 4 as well as variable displacement volumes .
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fig1 shows the basic elements of the well - known system by which an electrophotographic printer or laser printer uses digital image data to create a dry - toner image on plain paper . there is provided in the printer a photoreceptor 10 , which may be in the form of a belt or drum , and which comprises a charge - retentive surface . the photoreceptor 10 is here entrained on a set of rollers and caused to move ( by means such as a motor , not shown ) through process direction p . moving from left to right in fig1 there is illustrated the basic series of steps by which an electrostatic latent image according to a desired image to be printed is created on the photoreceptor 10 , subsequently developed with dry toner , and transferred to a sheet of plain paper . the first step in the electrophotographic process is the general charging of the relevant photoreceptor surface . as seen at the far left of fig1 this initial charging is performed by a charge source known as a &# 34 ; scorotron &# 34 ;, indicated as 12 . the scorotron 12 typically includes an ion - generating structure , such as a hot wire , to impart an electrostatic charge on the surface of the photoreceptor 10 moving past it . the charged portions of the photoreceptor 10 are then selectively discharged in a configuration corresponding to the desired image to be printed , by a raster output scanner or ros , which generally comprises laser source 14 and a rotatable mirror 16 which act together , in a manner known in the art , to discharge certain areas of the charged photoreceptor 10 . although a laser source is shown to selectively discharge the charge - retentive surface , other apparatus that can be used for this purpose include an led bar , or , conceivably , a light - lens system . the laser source 14 is modulated ( turned on and off ) in accordance with digital image data fed into it , and the rotating mirror 16 causes the modulated beam from laser source 14 to move in a fast - scan direction perpendicular to the process direction p of the photoreceptor 10 . the laser source 14 outputs a laser beam of laser power pl which charges or discharges the exposed surface on photoreceptor 10 , in accordance with the specific machine design . after certain areas of the photoreceptor 10 are ( in this specific instance ) discharged by the laser source 14 , remaining charged areas are developed by a developer unit such as 18 causing a supply of dry toner to contact the surface of photoreceptor 10 . the developed image is then advanced , by the motion of photoreceptor 10 , to a transfer station including a transfer scorotron such as 20 , which causes the toner adhering to the photoreceptor 10 to be electrically transferred to a print sheet , which is typically a sheet of plain paper , to form the image thereon . the sheet of plain paper , with the toner image thereon is then passed through a fuser 22 , which causes the toner to melt , or fuse , into the sheet of paper to create the permanent image . the idea of &# 34 ; print quality &# 34 ; can be quantified in a number of ways , but two key measurements of print quality are ( 1 ) the solid area density , which is the darkness of a representative developed area intended to be completely covered by toner and ( 2 ) a halftone area density , which is the copy quality of a representative area which is intended to be , for example , 50 % covered with toner . the halftone is typically created by virtue of a dot - screen of a particular resolution , and although the nature of such a screen will have a great effect on the absolute appearance of the halftone , as long as the same type of halftone screen is used for each test , any common halftone screen may be used . both the solid area and halftone density may be readily measured by optical sensing systems which are familiar in the art . as shown , a densitometer generally indicated as 24 is here used after the developing step to measure the optical density of a solid density test patch ( marked sd ) or a halftone density test patch ( hd ) created on the photoreceptor 10 in a manner known in the art . systems for measuring the true optical density of a test patch are shown in , for example , u . s . pat . no . 4 , 989 , 985 or u . s . pat . no . 5 , 204 , 538 , both assigned to the assignee hereof and incorporated by reference herein . however , the word &# 34 ; densitometer &# 34 ; is intended to apply to any device for determining the density of print material on a surface , such as a visible - light densitometer , an infrared densitometer , an electrostatic voltmeter , or any other such device which makes a physical measurement from which the density of print material may be determined . in accordance with the present invention , special test patterns , in particular ramp functions with pixel values uniformly varying between 255 to 0 within a confined space are allocated to a single test patch . the sensor is usually stationary in printers , whereas the photoreceptor belts or drums are allowed to move . if the pixel values of the test pattern are varied in the process direction , then the sensor will pass over the image with all combinations of background , halftone levels and solid area patches . that is , ramp function pixel values are allowed to vary along the process direction . pixel values are held to a constant value along the slow scan direction so that the pattern looks like a wedge in two dimensional space . a one dimensional representation for this type of ramp function is shown in fig2 solid curve ( curve 1 ). the x - axis in this figure represents the spatial distance along the process direction in pixels . this wedge corresponds to a total of 510 pixels , which is equal to 1 . 32 inches of length on the photoreceptor drum . the above test pattern was printed with a known tone reproduction curve . the sensor used was a trek model 565 esv . it should be noted that this technique applies equally well to any thoroughly characterized sensor . it should also be understood that the slope of the wedge pattern can be increased to cover a much smaller length such as 1 inch , 0 . 66 inches and 0 . 33 inches of the photoreceptor . the reading of the sensor is shown by dashed curve # 3 in fig2 . the sensor such as an esv , etac or paper densitometer has an effective aperture of a few millimeters that represents the view area . this view area not only depends on the physical aperture but also is a function of how far it is located above the photoreceptor surface and a function of its response profile . the sensitivity of the sensor may also vary within its aperture . by measuring all these parameters accurately , a very good knowledge of the sensor is gained . the procedure for extracting the tone reproduction curve involves simply convoluting pixel values of the wedge pattern with the sensor model and then plotting the convoluted pixel values with the sensor reading at each sample point along the process direction . curve # 2 , the dotted curve , in fig2 represents the pixel values of the wedge after convoluting with the sensor model . in fig3 solid curve # 1 shows the actual tone reproduction curve . the dotted curve , curve # 2 , shows the measured curve after convoluting with the sensor model respectively for a 1 . 32 &# 34 ;, long wedge pattern . dashed curve # 3 in this figure is shown to represent the trc data when the sensor model is not considered , i . e ., when the input byte values of the wedge pattern are plotted against the sensor reading before convoluting with the sensor model . clearly , an accurate measurement of the trc requires convolution with the sensor model . the notion described above becomes clear if one thinks of a hypothetical long test patch . if a wedge pattern were printed to sweep pixels from 255 to 0 along a 10 inch length and use a sensor with an aperture of a few millimeters like an esv , then the trc obtained by simply plotting the pixel values of the wedge pattern with that of the sensor reading will be very close to the actual curve . this is because the sensor view area is insignificant relative to a 10 inch long wedge pattern , since it covers only 1 - 2 % of the sweep . as the test patch length becomes smaller , the sensor aperture becomes significant compared to the length of the test patch . by using the sensor model , compensation is made for the effects due to the aperture and the sensitivity of the sensor within the aperture . the technique presented has been demonstrated to adequately measure the entire tone reproduction curve when the patch length is down to 0 . 6 inches in length . to implement this technique the convoluted wedge pattern can be stored in the printer memory . as the data from the sensor is read , this data is used along with the data on the convoluted wedge pattern to generate the entire tone reproduction curve as often as after each printed page without additional processing hardware . the number of points on the curve depends merely on how many points can be sampled from the sensor output . with reference to fig4 there is illustrated a flow chart of the measurement of a tone reproduction curve in accordance with the present invention . in particular , there is a background routine illustrated by blocks 202 , 204 , and 206 , in which a sensor profile is initially read , the patch data is initially obtained , and a normalization factor calculated . in particular , in block 202 , the characteristics or profile of any suitable sensor such as an infrared densitometer is read and stored to be factored with the sensed patch data . in block 204 the patch data is sensed and a normalization factor is determined in block 206 . in block 208 , the scan of the inter document test patch is begun and at block 210 , each patch segment is multiplied by the sensor profile and the results accumulated as the interdocument patch moves across the sensor . decision block 212 determines whether or not the end of the patch has been sensed . if not , the sensing and summing operation continues until there is a determination that the end of the patch has been reached . once the patch has traversed the sensor , the summed results are normalized by the normalization factor determined in block 206 and the results stored as shown in block 216 . while there has been illustrated and described what is at present considered to be a preferred embodiment of the present invention , it will be appreciated that numerous changes and modifications are likely to occur to those skilled in the art , and it is intended to cover in the appended claims all those changes and modifications which fall within the true spirit and scope of the present invention .
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at least some embodiments described herein relate to a system that efficiently performs actions ( such as recording and / or broadcasting ) of an online conference that involves video and audio and potentially other forms of media as well . in some cases , this performing of actions is performed by taking advantage of the mechanisms a user may already be familiar with , such as joining an individual into an online conference . the system includes a user interface presentation component that causes , at least under one circumstance , a user interface to be presented on a display of the system . the user interface includes an online conversation portion that shows each of at least some participants in an online conversation that involves at least audio and video . the user interface further includes a contacts portion that shows multiple contacts that each represent entities that may be joined into the online conversation . traditionally , the entities represent individuals that may be joined into the online conversation . however , in accordance with the principles described herein , the entities may also be executable components . for instance , the entities may include one or more recording components and / or one or more broadcasting components . a joining instruction detection component detects instructions to join one or more entities associated with one or more of the plurality of contacts to the online conversation . for instance , such instructions may be caused by the user interacting in particular ways with the user interface . in some embodiments , the user interaction may be quite similar regardless of whether the entity being joined is an individual or an executable component . accordingly , a participate may perform actions to record and / or broadcast the online conversation using mechanism already familiar to the participant , allowing for efficient performance of the action . a joining component responds to such instructions by joining an entity within the online conversation . if the entity is an executable component that performs an action , the executable component responds to the joining by performing the associated action ( such as recording and / or broadcasting ). in some embodiments , after joining an executable component , a visualization of the executable component may appear in the online conversation portion of the user interface , thereby giving everyone notice that the action is being taken . some introductory discussion of a computing system will be described with respect to fig1 . then , the system for efficiently triggering actions with respect to an online conversation will be described with respect to fig2 through 6 . computing systems are now increasingly taking a wide variety of forms . computing systems may , for example , be handheld devices , appliances , laptop computers , desktop computers , mainframes , distributed computing systems , datacenters , or even devices that have not conventionally been considered a computing system , such as wearables ( e . g ., glasses ). in this description and in the claims , the term “ computing system ” is defined broadly as including any device or system ( or combination thereof ) that includes at least one physical and tangible processor , and a physical and tangible memory capable of having thereon computer - executable instructions that may be executed by a processor . the memory may take any form and may depend on the nature and form of the computing system . a computing system may be distributed over a network environment and may include multiple constituent computing systems . as illustrated in fig1 , in its most basic configuration , a computing system 100 typically includes at least one hardware processing unit 102 and memory 104 . the memory 104 may be physical system memory , which may be volatile , non - volatile , or some combination of the two . the term “ memory ” may also be used herein to refer to non - volatile mass storage such as physical storage media . if the computing system is distributed , the processing , memory and / or storage capability may be distributed as well . the computing system 100 also has thereon multiple structures often referred to as an “ executable component ”. for instance , the memory 104 of the computing system 100 is illustrated as including executable component 106 . the term “ executable component ” is the name for a structure that is well understood to one of ordinary skill in the art in the field of computing as being a structure that can be software , hardware , or a combination thereof . for instance , when implemented in software , one of ordinary skill in the art would understand that the structure of an executable component may include software objects , routines , methods , and so forth , that may be executed on the computing system , whether such an executable component exists in the heap of a computing system , or whether the executable component exists on computer - readable storage media . in such a case , one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the structure of the executable component exists on a computer - readable medium such that , when interpreted by one or more processors of a computing system ( e . g ., by a processor thread ), the computing system is caused to perform a function . such structure may be computer - readable directly by the processors ( as is the case if the executable component were binary ). alternatively , the structure may be structured to be interpretable and / or compiled ( whether in a single stage or in multiple stages ) so as to generate such binary that is directly interpretable by the processors . such an understanding of example structures of an executable component is well within the understanding of one of ordinary skill in the art of computing when using the term “ executable component ”. the term “ executable component ” is also well understood by one of ordinary skill as including structures that are implemented exclusively or near - exclusively in hardware , such as within a field programmable gate array ( fpga ), an application specific integrated circuit ( asic ), or any other specialized circuit . accordingly , the term “ executable component ” is a term for a structure that is well understood by those of ordinary skill in the art of computing , whether implemented in software , hardware , or a combination . in this description , the terms “ component ”, “ agent ”, “ manager ”, “ service ”, “ engine ”, “ module ”, “ virtual machine ” or the like may also be used . as used in this description and in the case , these terms ( whether expressed with or without a modifying clause ) are also intended to be synonymous with the term “ executable component ”, and thus also have a structure that is well understood by those of ordinary skill in the art of computing . in the description that follows , embodiments are described with reference to acts that are performed by one or more computing systems . if such acts are implemented in software , one or more processors ( of the associated computing system that performs the act ) direct the operation of the computing system in response to having executed computer - executable instructions that constitute an executable component . for example , such computer - executable instructions may be embodied on one or more computer - readable media that form a computer program product . an example of such an operation involves the manipulation of data . the computer - executable instructions ( and the manipulated data ) may be stored in the memory 104 of the computing system 100 . computing system 100 may also contain communication channels 108 that allow the computing system 100 to communicate with other computing systems over , for example , network 110 . while not all computing systems require a user interface , in some embodiments , the computing system 100 includes a user interface system 112 for use in interfacing with a user . the user interface system 112 may include output mechanisms 112 a as well as input mechanisms 112 b . the principles described herein are not limited to the precise output mechanisms 112 a or input mechanisms 112 b as such will depend on the nature of the device . however , output mechanisms 112 a might include , for instance , speakers , displays , tactile output , holograms and so forth . examples of input mechanisms 112 b might include , for instance , microphones , touchscreens , holograms , cameras , keyboards , mouse of other pointer input , sensors of any type , and so forth . embodiments described herein may comprise or utilize a special purpose or general - purpose computing system including computer hardware , such as , for example , one or more processors and system memory , as discussed in greater detail below . embodiments described herein also include physical and other computer - readable media for carrying or storing computer - executable instructions and / or data structures . such computer - readable media can be any available media that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computing system . computer - readable media that store computer - executable instructions are physical storage media . computer - readable media that carry computer - executable instructions are transmission media . thus , by way of example , and not limitation , embodiments of the invention can comprise at least two distinctly different kinds of computer - readable media : storage media and transmission media . computer - readable storage media includes ram , rom , eeprom , cd - rom or other optical disk storage , magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices , or any other physical and tangible storage medium which can be used to store desired program code means in the form of computer - executable instructions or data structures and which can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computing system . a “ network ” is defined as one or more data links that enable the transport of electronic data between computing systems and / or modules and / or other electronic devices . when information is transferred or provided over a network or another communications connection ( either hardwired , wireless , or a combination of hardwired or wireless ) to a computing system , the computing system properly views the connection as a transmission medium . transmissions media can include a network and / or data links which can be used to carry desired program code means in the form of computer - executable instructions or data structures and which can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computing system . combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer - readable media . further , upon reaching various computing system components , program code means in the form of computer - executable instructions or data structures can be transferred automatically from transmission media to storage media ( or vice versa ). for example , computer - executable instructions or data structures received over a network or data link can be buffered in ram within a network interface module ( e . g ., a “ nic ”), and then eventually transferred to computing system ram and / or to less volatile storage media at a computing system . thus , it should be understood that storage media can be included in computing system components that also ( or even primarily ) utilize transmission media . computer - executable instructions comprise , for example , instructions and data which , when executed at a processor , cause a general purpose computing system , special purpose computing system , or special purpose processing device to perform a certain function or group of functions . alternatively or in addition , the computer - executable instructions may configure the computing system to perform a certain function or group of functions . the computer executable instructions may be , for example , binaries or even instructions that undergo some translation ( such as compilation ) before direct execution by the processors , such as intermediate format instructions such as assembly language , or even source code . although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and / or methodological acts , it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the described features or acts described above . rather , the described features and acts are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims . those skilled in the art will appreciate that the invention may be practiced in network computing environments with many types of computing system configurations , including , personal computers , desktop computers , laptop computers , message processors , hand - held devices , multi - processor systems , microprocessor - based or programmable consumer electronics , network pcs , minicomputers , mainframe computers , mobile telephones , pdas , pagers , routers , switches , datacenters , wearables ( such as glasses ) and the like . the invention may also be practiced in distributed system environments where local and remote computing systems , which are linked ( either by hardwired data links , wireless data links , or by a combination of hardwired and wireless data links ) through a network , both perform tasks . in a distributed system environment , program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices . those skilled in the art will also appreciate that the invention may be practiced in a cloud computing environment . cloud computing environments may be distributed , although this is not required . when distributed , cloud computing environments may be distributed internationally within an organization and / or have components possessed across multiple organizations . in this description and the following claims , “ cloud computing ” is defined as a model for enabling on - demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources ( e . g ., networks , servers , storage , applications , and services ). the definition of “ cloud computing ” is not limited to any of the other numerous advantages that can be obtained from such a model when properly deployed . fig2 illustrates an online conferencing environment 200 in which the principles described herein may be employed . the online conferencing environment 200 includes multiple participant computing systems that participants use to engage in the online conference . the online conference environment 200 also potentially also include an online conferencing infrastructure 210 . the online conferencing environment 200 may include dedicated computing systems that facilitate the online conference . for instance , the online conferencing environment 200 may be an online conferencing service that is implemented in a cloud computing environment or is some other remote network . this embodiment will be referred to herein as the “ service embodiment ”. that said , the principles described herein may also be applied in an environment in which the participant computing systems communicate directly one with another in accordance with a protocol so as to allow the online conferencing to occur . in that case , the online conferencing infrastructure 210 may be thought of as a protocol for each participant computing system communicating with each other , and the underlying hardware ( e . g ., a network such as the internet , or a local network ) that facilitates communication using that protocol . this embodiment will be referred to herein as the “ ad hoc embodiment ”. in the example of fig2 , there are five participant computing systems 201 through 205 involved in an online conference . however , the ellipses 206 represent that there may be any multiple number of participant computing systems engaged in any given online conference via the online conferencing infrastructure 210 . in fact , one of the benefits of online conferencing is that any number of participants may participate , and participants may drop off and join at any time . the participant computing systems 201 through 205 may each be structured as described above for the computing system 100 of fig1 , and include user interface systems as described above for the user interface system 112 of fig1 . each of the participant computing systems 201 through 205 have an associated participant user 211 through 215 respectively . the ellipses 216 again represents that there may be further participant users associated with yet other computing systems represented by the ellipses 206 . fig3 schematically illustrates an online conferencing system 300 that may operate within the online conferencing environment 200 of fig2 . the online conferencing system 300 includes various executable components including a user interface presentation component 310 , a joining instruction detection component 320 , and a joining component 330 . the system 300 also includes a library 340 of executable components that , when executed , perform some operation ( such as recording or broadcasting ) of the online conference . each of the components 310 , 320 and 330 may be structured as described above for the executable component 106 of fig1 . the library 340 is illustrated as including executable components first type 341 ( represented as circles ), and of a second type 342 ( represented as triangles ). however , the ellipses 343 represents that there may be executable components of a single type , or of a variety of types more than two . in one example , the executable components 341 of the first type are recording executable component that , when joined into the online conference , cause at least a portion of the online conference to be recorded . in one example , the executable components of the second type are broadcast components that , when joined into the online conference , broadcast at least a portion of the online conference . three executable components 341 a through 341 c of the first type are illustrated , though the ellipses 341 d represents that there may be any number ( even zero ) of the executable components 341 of the first type within the library . four executable components 342 a through 342 d of the second type are illustrated , though the ellipses 342 e represent that there may be any number ( even zero ) of the executable components 342 of the second type within the library . each of the executable components within the library 340 may be structured as described above for the executable component 106 of fig1 . the user interface presentation component 310 causes , at least under one circumstance , a user interface to be presented on a display of the system . for instance , the user interface presentation component 310 may be present on the online conferencing infrastructure 210 or on a participating computing system ( e . g ., participating computing system 201 ), or may be distributed between the online conferencing infrastructure 210 and a participating computing system . in the case of the participating computing system being structured as described for the computing system 100 of fig1 , the display may be included within , for instance , the user interface system 112 of fig1 . the user interface presentation component 310 may be , for instance , a web site . fig4 illustrates an example of the user interface 400 displayed on the display . the user interface 400 includes an online conference portion 410 , a contacts portion 420 , and an other portion 430 . the precise appearance and locational relationship between these user interface portions is not important to the broader principles described herein . accordingly , the user interface 400 should be seen as a very specific example only . furthermore , the other portion 430 is an optional portion that simply represents that the principles described herein are not limited to user interface that only include an online conference portion and a contacts portion . as an example , the other portion 430 might include a chat window , whereby text may be dispatched from a participant to one or more or all of the other participants in the online conference . the other portion 430 might also include controls , such as mute , volume , pause , fast forward , and so forth . the user interface 400 includes an online conference portion 410 that shows each of at least some of the participants in the online conference . for instance , the online conference illustrates visualizations 411 through 415 that correspond to the participants 211 through 215 ( see fig2 ) of the online conference . in some embodiments , a picture of the participant may be displayed as the visualization . alternatively or in addition , a live video feed may be displayed as the visualization . in yet other embodiments , perhaps just a generic image is displayed to represent the participant accompanied by perhaps a text identification of the participant . the user interface 400 also includes a contacts portion 420 that shows multiple contacts that represents entities that may be joined into the online conversation . in the illustrated embodiment , eight contacts 421 through 428 are illustrated , though the ellipses 429 represents that the contacts potion 420 may include any number of contacts . some of the contacts represent individuals , while some represent executable components . for instance , suppose in this example , that contacts 421 through 426 represents individuals that can actually participate in the online conference . however , the contacts 427 and 428 represent executable components that are not human at all , but perform some action ( such as recording or broadcasting ) when joined into the online conference . referring back to fig3 , the online conferencing system 300 includes a joining instruction detection component 320 . the joining instruction detection component 320 detects instructions to join one or more entities represented by the contacts to the online conference . this instruction may be caused by , for instance , user interaction with the user interface ( e . g ., user interface 400 ) presented by the user interface presentation component 310 . in some embodiments , the user interaction that would cause an individual to join the online conference is similar or the same as the user interaction that would cause an executable component to join the online conference and perform its automated action on the online conference . this allows the action to be performed efficiently with respect to the online conference . a joining component 330 joins an entity within the online conversation when the joining instruction component 320 detects an instruction to join the entity to the online conversation . in some embodiments , when the entity is joined into the online conference , the online conference portion 410 of the user interface 400 is updated to show a visualization of the added entity . for instance , if the added entity were a participant , a visualization of the new participant would be shown in the online conference portion 410 of the user interface 400 . if an executable component is added to the online conference , then some visualization would appear providing notice to the participants that the action performed by the executable component ( e . g ., recording and / or broadcasting ) is occurring on the online conference . for instance , if the recording component 427 was dropped into the online conference portion 410 , icon 417 might be highlighted . similarly , if the broadcast component 428 was dropped into the online conference portion 410 , icon 418 might be highlighted . in some embodiments , the user interaction that triggers joining of an executable component to the online conference is a gesture . the gesture includes a selection gesture as well as a joining gesture . the selection gesture selects a contact corresponding to the executable component in the contacts portion 420 of the user interface . a joining gesture represents that the entity associated with the selected contact is to be joined into the online conference . as an example , the selection gesture may comprise selecting the contact in preparation for movement , and the joining gesture would be dragging at least a copy of the selected contact into the online conference portion 410 of the user interface . this same drag and drop gesture may be the same that the user might perform if selecting and dragging a contact for an individual in order to add that individual as a participant in the online conference . thus , the consistency of the selection and / or joining gestures allows for more efficient and intuitive performance of an action ( such as recording or broadcasting ) with respect to an online conference . the net result is that there is more refined control over performing technical actions on the online conference . as previously mentioned , there may be multiple executable entities of a particular type that may perform an action on an online conference . each of the executable entities of that particular type may perform the action in a distinct way . for instance , if there are a variety of recording components available , one might record the online conference in a default way . another recording component might apply augmented reality to the recorded audio and / or video of the online conference . for instance , by quantizing the video , exaggerating features , and / or smoothing edges , the recorded video may be made more like a cartoon . another recording component may mask out the faces of the participants in the video and / or scramble the frequencies of the audio for anonymity . yet another recording component may annotate the video with for instance , chat content ( with perhaps animation showing the flow of the chat from the participants involved with the chat , text identifying each user , and so forth ). other recording components may add objects into the recording that were not in the original record , or may emphasize objects that are in the recording ( e . g ., the speaker &# 39 ; s head may be made bigger to emphasize that the speaker is presently talking ). levels of customization of the record may also differ by recording component . similarly , multiple broadcast components may be made available , each performing broadcast in a different way . for instance , the channel for broadcasting ( via a cloud service , web page publication , link distribution and the like ) may be different by each broadcast component . the audience may be different by each broadcast component . types of augmented reality imposed on the multimedia stream may be different by each broadcast component . levels of customization of the broadcast may also differ by broadcast component . fig5 illustrates a flowchart of a method for preparing for performing an online conversation in accordance with the principles described herein . much of the method 500 has already been described implicitly from the above . however , the method 500 will now be expressly described . first , a user interface presentation component causes a user interface to be displayed on a display of a system ( act 510 ). for instance , in the above description , the user interface presentation component 310 of fig3 caused a user interface 400 of fig4 to be displayed . recall the user interface had 1 ) an online conversation portion that shows each of at least some participants in an online conversation that involves at least audio and video , and 2 ) a contacts portion that shows a plurality of contacts that represents entities that may be joined into the online conversation . recall also that the entities include individuals as well as at least one executable component . fig6 illustrates a flowchart of a method 600 for joining entities into an online conversation in accordance with the principles described herein . much of the method 600 has already been described implicitly from the above . however , the method 600 will now be expressly described . the method 600 uses the preparation performed in the method 500 of fig5 , and is triggered by an event in the form of detection of a joining instruction to join an executable component into the online conference ( act 610 ). recall that the executable component is associated with a contact in the contacts portion of the user interface , and that the instruction has been caused by user interaction with the user interface . as described above , the joining instruction detection component 320 performs this instruction detection . in response to the instruction , a joining component joins the selected executable component within the online conversation ( act 620 ). this likewise causes the executable component to respond to the joining by causing an action to occur with respect to the online conversation ( act 630 ). as described above , this action could be recording the online conversation in a particular way , broadcasting the online conference in a particular way , or performing some other action with respect to the online conference . accordingly , the principles described herein provide an efficient mechanism to perform automated actions on an online conference . such actions could include , for instance , recording the online conference , broadcasting the online conference , or performing any other actions with respect to the online conference . furthermore , the performing of such actions may be performed using gestures similar to or identical to those gestures that would normally be performed in order to add a participant to the online conference . the present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from its spirit or essential characteristics . the described embodiments are to be considered in all respects only as illustrative and not restrictive . the scope of the invention is , therefore , 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 .
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fig1 shows an example engine 24 as a direct injection gasoline engine with a spark plug ; however , engine 24 may be a port injection gasoline engine , or a diesel engine without a spark plug , or another type of engine . internal combustion engine 24 may include a plurality of cylinders , one cylinder of which is shown in fig1 , which is controlled by electronic engine controller 48 . engine 24 includes combustion chamber 29 and cylinder walls 31 with piston 35 positioned therein and connected to crankshaft 39 . combustion chamber 29 is shown communicating with intake manifold 43 and exhaust manifold 47 via respective intake valve 52 and exhaust valve 54 . while only one intake and one exhaust valve are shown , the engine may be configured with a plurality of intake and / or exhaust valves . engine 24 is further shown configured with an exhaust gas recirculation ( egr ) system configured to supply exhaust gas to intake manifold 43 from exhaust manifold 47 via egr passage 130 . the amount of exhaust gas supplied by the egr system can be controlled by egr valve 134 . further , the exhaust gas within egr passage 130 may be monitored by an egr sensor 132 , which can be configured to measure temperature , pressure , gas concentration , etc . under some conditions , the egr system may be used to regulate the temperature of the air and fuel mixture within the combustion chamber , thus providing a method of controlling the timing of autoignition for hcci combustion . in some embodiments , as shown in fig1 , variable valve timing may be provided by variable cam timing ( vct ); however other methods may be used such as electrically controlled valves . while in this example , independent intake cam timing and exhaust cam timing are shown , variable intake cam timing may be used with fixed exhaust cam timing , or vice versa . also , various types of variable valve timing may be used , such as the hydraulic vane - type actuators 53 and 55 receiving respective cam timing control signals vcte and vcti from controller 48 . cam timing ( exhaust and intake ) position feedback can be provided via comparison of the crank signal pip and signals from respective cam sensors 50 and 51 . in some embodiments , cam actuated exhaust valves may be used with electrically actuated intake valves , if desired . in such a case , the controller can determine whether the engine is being stopped or pre - positioned to a condition with the exhaust valve at least partially open , and if so , hold the intake valve ( s ) closed during at least a portion of the engine stopped duration to reduce communication between the intake and exhaust manifolds . in addition , intake manifold 43 is shown communicating with optional electronic throttle 125 . engine 24 is also shown having fuel injector 65 coupled thereto for delivering liquid fuel in proportion to the pulse width of signal fpw from controller 48 directly to combustion chamber 29 . as shown , the engine may be configured such that the fuel is injected directly into the engine cylinder , which is known to those skilled in the art as direct injection . distributorless ignition system 88 provides ignition spark to combustion chamber 29 via spark plug 92 in response to controller 48 . universal exhaust gas oxygen ( uego ) sensor 76 is shown coupled to exhaust manifold 47 upstream of catalytic converter 70 . exhaust gas sensor 76 is shown coupled to exhaust manifold 48 upstream of catalytic converter 70 . the signal from sensor 76 can be used to advantage during feedback air / fuel control in a conventional manner to maintain average air / fuel at stoichiometry during the stoichiometric homogeneous mode of operation . controller 48 is shown in fig1 as a conventional microcomputer including : microprocessor unit 102 , input / output ports 104 , and read - only memory 106 , random access memory 108 , keep alive memory 110 , and a conventional data bus . controller 48 is shown receiving various signals from sensors coupled to engine 24 , in addition to those signals previously discussed , including : engine coolant temperature ( ect ) from temperature sensor 112 coupled to cooling sleeve 114 ; a pedal position sensor 119 coupled to an accelerator pedal ; a measurement of engine manifold pressure ( map ) from pressure sensor 122 coupled to intake manifold 43 ; a measurement ( act ) of engine air charge temperature or manifold temperature from temperature sensor 117 ; and an engine position sensor from a hall effect sensor 118 sensing crankshaft 39 position . in some embodiments , the requested wheel output can be determined by pedal position , vehicle speed , and / or engine operating conditions , etc . in one aspect of the present description , engine position sensor 118 produces a predetermined number of equally spaced pulses every revolution of the crankshaft from which engine speed ( rpm ) can be determined . fig1 shows engine 24 configured with an after treatment system comprising a catalytic converter 70 and a lean nox trap 72 . in this particular example , the temperatures of catalytic converter 70 and / or nox trap 72 may be measured by temperature sensors in the devices or in the exhaust manifold , or may be estimated based on operating conditions . further , exhaust gas oxygen sensors may be arranged in exhaust passage 47 upstream and / or downstream of lean nox trap 72 . lean nox trap 72 may include a three - way catalyst that is configured to adsorb nox when engine 24 is operating lean of stoichiometry . the adsorbed nox can be subsequently reacted with hc and co and catalyzed when controller 48 causes engine 24 to operate in either a rich homogeneous mode or a near stoichiometric homogeneous mode such operation occurs during a nox purge cycle when it is desired to purge stored nox from the lean nox trap , or during a vapor purge cycle to recover fuel vapors from fuel tank 160 and fuel vapor storage canister 164 via purge control valve 168 , or during operating modes requiring more engine power , or during operation modes regulating temperature of the emission control devices such as catalyst 70 or lean nox trap 72 . it will be understood that various different types and configurations of emission control devices and purging systems may be employed . as will be described in more detail herein , combustion in engine 24 can be of various types , depending on a variety of conditions . in one example , spark ignition ( si ) may be used where the engine utilizes a sparking device to perform a spark so that a mixture of air and fuel combusts . in another example , homogeneous charge compression ignition ( hcci ) may be used where a substantially homogeneous air and fuel mixture attains an autoignition temperature within the combustion chamber and combusts without requiring a spark from a sparking device . however , other types of combustion are possible . for example , the engine may operate in a spark assist mode , wherein a spark is used to initiate autoignition of an air and fuel mixture . in yet another example , the engine may operate in a compression ignition mode that is not necessarily homogeneous . it should be appreciated that the examples disclosed herein are non - limiting examples of the many possible combustion modes . during si mode , the temperature of intake air entering the combustion chamber may be near ambient air temperature and is therefore substantially lower than the temperature required for autoignition of the air and fuel mixture . since a spark is used to initiate combustion in si mode , control of intake air temperature may be more flexible as compared to hcci mode . thus , si mode may be utilized across a broad range of operating conditions ( such as higher or lower engine loads ), however si mode may produce different levels of emissions and fuel efficiency under some conditions compared to hcci combustion . in some conditions , during si mode operation , engine knock may occur if the temperature within the combustion chamber is too high . thus , under these conditions , engine operating conditions may be adjusted so that engine knock is reduced , such as by retarding ignition timing , reducing intake charge temperature , varying combustion air - fuel ratio , or combinations thereof . during hcci mode operation , the air / fuel mixture may be highly diluted by air and / or residuals ( e . g . lean of stoichiometry ), which results in lower combustion gas temperature . thus , engine emissions may be substantially lower than si combustion under some conditions . further , fuel efficiency with autoignition of lean ( or diluted ) air / fuel mixture may be increased by reducing the engine pumping loss , increasing gas specific heat ratio , and by utilizing a higher compression ratio . during hcci combustion , autoignition of the combustion chamber gas may be controlled so as to occur at a prescribed time so that a desired engine torque is produced . since the temperature of the intake air entering the combustion chamber may be critical to achieving the desired autoignition timing , operating in hcci mode at high and / or low engine loads may be difficult . controller 48 can be configured to transition the engine between a spark ignition ( si ) mode and a homogeneous charge compression ignition ( hcci ) mode based on operating conditions of the engine and / or related systems , herein described as engine operating conditions . as described above with reference to fig1 , engine 24 may include a fuel vapor purge system comprising fuel tank 160 , fuel vapor storage device 164 ( which may be a charcoal canister ), and purge control valve 168 fluidly coupled to intake manifold 43 . further , as shown in fig1 , exhaust gas may be routed to the purge system via system 172 . while fig1 shows one example of utilizing exhaust gas in a fuel vapor purge system , various alternative examples are described herein with regard to fig2 - 4 . returning to fig1 , some of the engine exhaust gas is routed through the charcoal canister and then back into the engine intake manifold . as described herein , such an approach may be used to enable purging of fuel vapors without regard to intake manifold vacuum levels . further , it may enable more efficient purging with a lower volume of gas flow due to increased exhaust gas temperature compared with fresh air . such an approach may be particularly suitable for hcci operation , which may run extremely lean and / or with high amounts of egr . specifically , since hcci engines may operate with larger amounts of egr , it may be possible to enable larger amounts of exhaust to be used for purging the stored fuel vapors . further , since hcci exhaust temperature may be lower than exhaust temperature during spark ignition operation ( si ) or other engine modes , this may lower the potential of excessive heat causing degradation to the charcoal canister . note , however , that the use of exhaust gas , such as exhaust gas recirculation ( egr ) gas , to aid purging is not limited to hcci engine operation . for example , it may be used in with cylinder deactivation , camless valvetrains , engine boosting ( supercharging and / or turbocharging ), various forms of variable valve timing , and / or lean burn . for systems in which only exhaust gas , such as egr , is used for purging fuel vapors without fresh air , at least during some conditions , egr tolerance and temperature limits of the storage device , e . g ., charcoal canister , may be considered , alone or in combination . for example , if the charcoal canister can tolerate higher temperatures , then smaller amounts of hotter egr can be used to purge the canister . alternatively , if the egr temperature is too high , the egr may be cooled , so larger amounts of egr can be used to purge the canister , and thus the engine &# 39 ; s tolerance for egr ( combustion stability ) may be considered . alternatively , if both fresh air and exhaust gas are used to purge fuel vapors , temperature of the canister may be regulated by adjusting the relative and / or absolute amounts of the fresh or exhaust gas , or combinations thereof . for example , depending on engine conditions ( e . g . in hcci or si mode , higher vs lower load , etc . ), different amounts of fresh air and / or exhaust gas may be used to purge fuel vapors . still another advantage of utilizing exhaust gas for purging fuel vapors is that it may be possible to purge vapors even during un - throttled ( or lightly throttled ) conditions . for example , a one - way valve , such as a reed valve , can utilize exhaust pressure pulsations to drive the flow , even if negative oscillations would otherwise reverse the flow directions . in some embodiments , the internal combustion engine can be configured to operate in a plurality of purge states . for example , fuel vapors may be purged into all or a subset of engine cylinders operating in a particular combustion mode . alternatively , the engine may be operated with different cylinders in different combustion modes , where fuel vapors are fed to all or a subset of cylinders or cylinder groups . still other examples may be used , as described herein . referring now to fig2 , an alternative embodiment is shown in which a fuel vapor storage and purging system is shown utilizing fresh air and exhaust gas . in this example , valves 168 and 216 are closed and valve 214 is open when the engine is off , to allow fuel vapors from the fuel tank to be captured by charcoal canister 164 , without building up excessive pressure in the tank . when the engine is running and purge of the charcoal canister is desired , valves 168 and 216 can be opened and valve 214 can be closed to route exhaust gas through passage 210 to canister 164 , and purge fuel vapors from canister 164 into intake manifold 43 . a one - way valve 212 is shown between the exhaust passage and fuel canister 164 for enabling exhaust gas to flow toward the canister ( and to the intake manifold 43 ). valve 212 may be any type of one - way valve , but in one example may be a reed - type valve to enable pressure buildup in the presence of pulsating intake and exhaust manifold pressures . control valves 214 and 216 may be used to adjust the relative amount of fresh air and exhaust fed through the fuel vapor storage system , where valves 214 and 216 receive control signals from a controller , such as controller 48 ( see fig1 ). control valve 168 may also be used to control when fuel vapors are fed to intake manifold 43 . in the example of fig2 , it may be possible to utilize a varying amount of exhaust gas and / or fresh air for purging fuel vapors to the engine , depending on operating conditions of the engine via respective control of valves 216 and 214 . referring now to fig3 , still another alternative embodiment is shown in which a bypass passage 330 is shown for routing exhaust gas to the intake manifold without passing through canister 164 . a three way valve 310 may be used to route exhaust gas to one - way valve 212 or to passage 330 , or combinations thereof . in this way , it may be possible to enable addition exhaust gas recirculation ( egr ) flexibility independent of fuel vapor purging operation . for example , egr may be performed without fuel vapor purging , and vice versa via appropriate control of valve 310 . referring now to fig4 , yet another alternative embodiment is shown in which an egr passage 410 is shown separate from purging passage 210 . further , optionally coolers ( 420 and 422 ) may be placed in one or both of passages 210 and 410 to cool the exhaust gas . it is understood that the location or sequence of components may be varied , for example the locations of coolers 420 and 422 relative to valves 134 , 212 , and 216 may be different than that shown in fig4 . also , one or more coolers may be used in the embodiments described in fig2 and 3 . fig5 shows an example routine describing control of a vehicle engine and fuel vapor purging system . note that the example control and estimation routines included herein can be used with various engine system configurations and that the specific routines described herein may represent one or more of any number of processing strategies such as event - driven , interrupt - driven , multi - tasking , multi - threading , and the like . as such , various steps or functions illustrated may be performed in the sequence illustrated , in parallel , or in some cases omitted . likewise , the order of processing is not necessarily required to achieve the features and advantages of the example embodiments described herein , but is provided for ease of illustration and description . one or more of the illustrated steps or functions may be repeatedly performed depending on the particular strategy being used . further , the described steps may graphically represent code to be programmed into the computer readable storage medium in controller 48 as described above , during fuel vapor purging operation . referring now to fig5 , an example routine is described for controlling system operation . specifically , in 510 , the routine determines whether the engine should purge fuel vapors from a fuel vapor storage system . if so , the routine continues to 512 to determine whether the engine can tolerate exhaust gas recirculation ( egr ). this determination may include consideration of whether a lean exhaust gas is present , such as based on exhaust gas sensor 76 , or based on input from other sensors . for example , the engine may be more likely to tolerate egr when running significantly lean , because the exhaust gas contains more oxygen . for example , the lean exhaust gas may be generated by lean homogeneous or lean stratified combustion in the cylinders , or by a mixture of fuel cut - out operation in some cylinders and combustion in other cylinders . also , rather than identifying the exhaust air - fuel ratio , the routine may also identify whether the engine is in a lean combustion mode , such as hcci operation , for example . if the answer to 512 is yes , the routine continues to 514 to determine whether the exhaust gas is within a temperature threshold to feed to a fuel vapor storage canister , such as canister 164 . the temperature may be read from a sensor or estimated , as noted above herein . for example , if the exhaust gas temperature is too high ( e . g ., above a threshold ), the routine may proceed to 516 in which only fresh air is used to purge fuel vapors , rather than using exhaust gas . likewise , if the answer to 512 is no , the routine may also proceed to 516 . otherwise , when the answer to 514 is yes , the routine proceeds to 518 to determine whether the measured or inferred purging gas is within a desired temperature range . for example , in the example where a mixture of fresh air and exhaust gas is fed to a fuel vapor storage and purging system , the routine may identify whether the mixture fed to the system is within a desired temperature range for improved purging , where the desired range may vary with operating conditions such as the level of canister loading , fuel tank pressure , canister temperature , and / or others . alternatively , the routine may monitor the measured or inferred canister temperature and determine whether it is within threshold range . the desired temperature range may be based on various other factors , such as exhaust air - fuel ratio , fuel tank temperature , combustion mode , canister fill level , fuel tank level , and / or combinations thereof . if the temperature is too high , the routing may proceed to 520 to increase the fresh air amount for purging and / or decrease the exhaust gas amount for purging fuel vapors . alternatively , if the temperature is too low , the routing may proceed to 522 to decrease the fresh air amount for purging and / or increase the exhaust gas amount for purging fuel vapors . in either 520 and / or 522 , for example , the routine may adjust a vent valve and / or egr valve such as valves 214 and 216 to vary the mixture , and thus the temperature , of gas fed to the canister . alternatively , the routine may adjust a single valve that adjusts the amount of exhaust gas fed to a canister , such as valve 310 in fig3 . in addition , the routine may also adjust the amount of purge gas fed to the intake manifold based on operating conditions via valve 168 , for example , in 524 . in this way , it is possible to advantageously utilize exhaust gas , such as exhaust gas recirculation , to improve purging performance and reduce reliance on intake manifold vacuum . further , it is possible to take advantage of lean exhaust gas ( which typically results in reduced intake manifold vacuum ) by utilizing the excess oxygen and increased temperature to improve purging of fuel vapors from a fuel vapor storage system such as a charcoal canister . note that in the example where exhaust gas is used to carry fuel purge vapor to the engine , fuel injection , sparking timing , etc . may be adjusted based on a level of fuel vapor in the gas , as well as the exhaust air - fuel ratio . it will be appreciated that the configurations and routines disclosed herein are exemplary in nature , and that these specific embodiments are not to be considered in a limiting sense , because numerous variations are possible . for example , the above technology can be applied to v - 6 , i - 4 , i - 6 , v - 8 , v - 10 , v - 12 , opposed 4 , and other engine types . the subject matter of the present disclosure includes all novel and nonobvious combinations and subcombinations of the various systems and configurations , and other features , functions , and / or properties disclosed herein . the following claims particularly point out certain combinations and subcombinations regarded as novel and nonobvious . these claims may refer to “ an ” element or “ a first ” element or the equivalent thereof . such claims should be understood to include incorporation of one or more such elements , neither requiring nor excluding two or more such elements . other combinations and subcombinations of the disclosed features , functions , elements , and / or properties may be claimed through amendment of the present claims or through presentation of new claims in this or a related application . such claims , whether broader , narrower , equal , or different in scope to the original claims , also are regarded as included within the subject matter of the present disclosure .
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referring to fig1 a communication system 10 using two data transceivers 12 , 14 in accordance with the present invention includes two each of the following elements : modulator 16 ; frequency modulator - transmitter 18 ; transmitter antenna 20 ; receiver antenna 22 ; mixer 24 ; and if amplifier and demodulator 26 ( all connected substantially as shown ). as should be understood , the modulator 16 and frequency modulator - transmitter 18 constitute the transmitter section , and the mixer 24 and if amplifier and demodulator 26 constitute the receiver section . the discussion that follows is addressed specifically to the first transceiver 12 , but it should be understood that the second transceiver 14 operates in a similar fashion , with the exception of its transmit and receive frequencies as discussed further below . during signal transmission , the modulator 16 receives binary transmit data 28 as its input modulation signal , and in accordance therewith provides a modulation signal 30 to the modulator - transmitter 18 . the modulator 16 also provides a modulation feedback signal 32 to the if amplifier and demodulator 26 in the receiver for use in cancellation of the transmit data from the demodulated receive signal ( discussed further below ). the modulator - transmitter 18 outputs a modulated rf signal 34 ( with carrier frequency f1 ), modulated by its input modulation signal 30 , to the transmitter antenna 20 . one component 36a of the radiated transmit signal is received by the second transceiver 14 , and another component 36b is received by the receiver antenna 22 of the subject transceiver 12 for use as its receiver lo signal ( discussed further below ). during signal reception , the receiver antenna 22 receives a modulated rf signal 36c from the second transceiver 14 and the transmitted modulated rf signal 36b from its companion transmitter . the resulting combined signal 38 is received by the mixer 24 which mixes the two signal components to produce an if signal 40 . the if signal 40 has a center frequency f3 which is equal to the difference between the transmitter carrier frequency f1 of the companion transmitter and the transmitter carrier frequency f2 of the second transceiver 14 ( f3 =| f1 - f2 |). the if amplifier and demodulator 26 receives the if signal 40 , demodulates it and outputs the resulting receive binary data 42 . as discussed further below , this demodulation uses a modulation feedback signal 32 to cancel out the effects of the modulation of the transmit signal 36b used as the local oscillator in the receiver . full duplex operation of the two transceivers 12 , 14 is achieved by offsetting their respective transmit carrier frequencies f1 and f2 by that amount desired to be used as the if frequency f3 . full duplex operation is enhanced by using a modulation feedback signal 32 representing the transmitter modulation to cancel out modulation effects within the receiver if signal 40 due to the use of the transmitted modulated rf signal 36b as the receiver local oscillator . a further advantage of the circuit topology of the present invention is the lack of a need for a hard - wired rf interface between the receiver and transmitter , even though only a single local oscillator is used . in other words , even though the sole local oscillator is resident within the transmitter , it need not be hard - wired to the receiver to provide a lo signal thereto , since the lo signal for the receiver is supplied via the transmitter and receiver antennas 20 , 22 as the transmit signal 36b . hence , a much lower frequency interface is all that is needed , i . e . to provide the modulation feedback signal 32 . referring to fig2 a preferred embodiment of a data transceiver 12 in accordance with the present invention can be better understood . the transmitter , namely the modulator 16 and frequency modulator - transmitter 18 , is constructed from a phase - lock - loop (&# 34 ; pll &# 34 ;) 44 which includes : voltage - controlled oscillator (&# 34 ; vco &# 34 ;) 46 ; divide - by - n prescaler 48 ; frequency reference source 50 ; phase comparator 52 ; lowpass loop filter 54 ; and signal summer 56 ( all connected substantially as shown ). the vco 46 produces a rf output signal 34 which is received by the prescaler 48 . the prescaled signal 58 is received by the phase comparator 52 , along with a reference signal 60 from the frequency reference source 50 . the phase comparator 52 compares the relative phases of the prescaled 58 and reference 60 signals and produces an error signal 62 representing the difference between those signal phases . the signal summer 56 receives the error signal 62 and sums it with the transmit data 28 . the sum signal 64 is lowpass filtered by the loop filter 54 to produce the frequency control signal 66 for the vco 46 . as should be understood , with no transmit data 28 applied , i . e . with the transmit data 28 equal to a &# 34 ; zero &# 34 ; value , the sum signal 64 is the same as the error signal 62 . under these conditions , the pll 44 is in a synchronized state , meaning that the phase of the vco 46 output 34 is synchronized , or locked , with that of the reference signal 60 . with transmit data 28 applied , the sum signal 64 , and therefore the vco frequency control signal 66 , become modulated by the transmit data 28 , thereby causing the rf output signal 34 of the vco 46 to be frequency - modulated . it is this rf signal 34 ( which is frequency - modulated ) that is transmitted via the transmitter antenna 20 . as noted above and discussed further below , the filtered sum signal 66 is conveyed as the modulation feedback signal 32 to the receiver section . the receiver , as discussed above , has a receiver antenna 22 and mixer 24 . the if amplifier and demodulator 26 is made up of a serial combination of : bandpass filter 68 ; if amplifier 70 ; frequency discriminator 72 ; signal summer 74 ; bandpass filter 76 ; and amplitude window discriminator 78 ( all connected substantially as shown ). the receive signal 36c from the other data transceiver 14 is received by the receiver antenna 22 , as is the transmitted signal 36b from the companion transmitter . as discussed above , the combined signals 38 are received and mixed within the mixer 24 to produce the if signal 40 . a bandpass filter 68 filters the if signal to reduce incoming signal noise and spurious signals . the filtered signal 80 is amplified by the if amplifier 70 . the if amplifier 70 produces an amplified if signal 82 which goes to the frequency discriminator 72 for demodulation thereof in the form of frequency discrimination . the if amplifier 70 also produces a dc signal which is proportional to the logarithm of the input signal 80 to the if amplifier 70 and thereby represents the signal strength of that signal 70 . accordingly , this dc signal 84 is commonly referred to as a &# 34 ; receive signal strength indicator &# 34 ; (&# 34 ; rssi &# 34 ;) signal . the demodulated signal 86 is summed differentially within the signal summer 74 with the transmit data modulation feedback signal 32 . this causes the effects of the transmit data within the demodulated signal 86 to be netted , e . g . subtracted , out . the resulting difference signal 88 is filtered once again by a bandpass filter 76 . this filtered signal 90 goes to the amplitude window discriminator 78 , along with the rssi signal 84 from the if amplifier 70 ( discussed above ). the filtered , demodulated signal 90 is amplitude window - discriminated , i . e . compared in amplitude against two amplitude thresholds , within the amplitude window discriminator 78 to decode the trinary data back to binary data ( discussed further below ). the rssi signal 84 from the if amplifier 70 is used to enable the amplitude window discriminator 78 ( discussed further below ). the decoded , i . e . binary , data constitutes the outputted receive data 42 . referring to fig3 the frequency modulation of the vco 46 output 34 and the demodulation and decoding of the receive data can be better understood . as discussed above , the transmit data 28 and receive data 42 are binary in form ; however , in between , the data is trinary in form . in other words , the binary transmit data 28 is encoded to trinary data which is used to modulate the transmit signal 34 produced by the vco 46 in the pll 44 . similarly , the receive signal 36c is frequency modulated with trinary data representing binary data . the demodulated and filtered signal 90 also represents trinary data corresponding to the original binary transmit data 28 . the decoding of this trinary data back to binary takes place within the amplitude window discriminator 78 . fig3 a shows a single positive data transition of the transmit data 28 . this step input to the signal summer 56 ( fig2 ) produces a positive - going transient in the sum signal 64 which is filtered by the loop filter 54 . in turn , this causes the vco frequency control signal 66 to also have a positive - going transient , as shown in fig3 b . this positive transient in the vco frequency control signal 66 causes the frequency of the vco output signal 34 to increase accordingly . similarly , the inverse is true , meaning that negative data transitions in the transmit data 28 produce negative transients in the vco frequency control signal 66 and frequency of the output signal 34 . however , within a brief period of time , the pll 44 compensates for such output frequency transients ( by appropriately adjusting the phase error signal 62 ), and the vco frequency control signal 66 returns to its steady - state level . ( in a preferred embodiment of the present invention , the duration of the transient depicted in fig3 b is approximately 8 microseconds .) accordingly , as seen in fig3 c and 3d , a binary transmit data stream 28 produces a vco frequency control signal 66 with positive and negative transients as shown . those portions of the vco frequency control signal 66 waveform labeled a correspond to the steady - state conditions after the pll 44 has compensated for any transients induced by any positive or negative transmit data 28 transitions . those portions labeled b are the positive transient peaks resulting from positive binary data transitions in the transmit data 28 , and those portions labeled c are the negative transient peaks resulting from negative binary data transitions in the transmit data 28 . fig3 c and 3d are also applicable when considering the demodulation and decoding of the receive signal by the receiver . on the receive side , fig3 d represents the filtered , demodulated signal 90 ( trinary data ) inputted to the amplitude window discriminator 78 ( fig2 ). the amplitude window discriminator 78 , with internally set high th and low tl thresholds ( and enabled by the rssi signal 84 ), decodes the trinary input data 90 into two intermediate data signals 42a and 42b , as shown in fig3 e and 3f , respectively . the first intermediate data signal 42a , as shown in fig3 e , is a &# 34 ; positive edge signal &# 34 ;. this signal 42a is a binary signal whose trailing edges , i . e . negative transitions , occur at those points at which the trinary data 90 rises above the high threshold th , and whose leading edges , i . e . positive transitions , occur at those points at which the trinary data 90 falls below the high threshold th . the second intermediate data signal 42b , as shown in fig3 f , is a &# 34 ; negative edge signal &# 34 ;. this signal 42b is a binary signal whose trailing edges , i . e . negative transitions , occur at those points at which the trinary data 90 crosses below the low threshold tl , and whose leading edges , i . e . positive transitions , occur at those points at which the trinary data 90 rises above the low threshold tl . these two intermediate data signals 42a and 42b are logically combined ( e . g . by way of a set - reset flip - flop ) to produce the binary receive data 42 , as shown in fig3 g . as can be seen by comparing fig3 c and 3g , the binary data is thereby faithfully reproduced . referring to fig4 the output frequency spectrum of the transmit signal 34 ( and receive signal 36c ) can be better understood . at the steady - state levels a of the vco frequency control signal 66 , the output frequency remains at the nominal carrier frequency f c = f1 ( commonly referred to as the &# 34 ; center &# 34 ; frequency ). at the positive transient peaks b of the vco frequency control signal 66 , the output frequency increases to an upper &# 34 ; peak &# 34 ; frequency f + p . at the negative transient peaks c of the vco frequency control signal 66 , the output frequency decreases to a lower &# 34 ; peak &# 34 ; frequency f - p . thus , the trinary data , as represented by the vco frequency control signal 66 , produces a frequency - modulated output signal 34 . referring to fig5 a , 5b and 5c , a schematic of a preferred embodiment of a data transceiver 12 in accordance with the present invention will be used to further discuss the structure and operation of the present invention . within the modulator - transmitter 18 ( fig1 ), the vco 46 is a self - excited oscillator which includes transistor q1 and a printed antenna element 20 ( e . g . microstrip ). the phase comparator 52 is an exclusive - or phase comparator u2b . the divide - by - n prescaler 48 is a divide - by - 256 / 257 prescaler u7 ( whose divide ratio is selectable with switch s1 to be either 256 or 257 ), the output of which is amplified and level - converted with two exclusive - or gates u2d and u2c connected as inverters . the final exclusive - or gate u2a , also connected as an inverter , operates with crystal y1 ( approximately 3 . 58 megahertz [ mhz ]) as a crystal oscillator for the frequency reference source 50 . as discussed above , the gain and frequency response of the pll 44 are set , using the components and values as shown , so that a step input to the loop produces the transient response shown in fig3 b . in the receiver , signals from the receive antenna 22 are matched to the mixer 24 with a resonant transmission line ( e . g . microstrip ). the mixer 24 uses a pair of schottky diodes d1 connected in a single - balanced configuration to produce a balanced if signal 40 . the bandpass filter fl1 68 is a two - pole l - c filter ( e . g . toko h354bai - 1425 - dad ), and performs a balanced - to - unbalanced signal conversion , as well as provide selectivity at the if frequency of approximately 3 . 5 mhz . the if amplifier 70 and frequency discriminator 72 are embodied within integrated circuit u6 ( signetics ne604 ). additional if filtering is provided by filter fl2 ( e . g . toko h354bai - 1425 - dad ), and elements c14 , l1 and r8 form a quadrature network for use in the frequency discrimination performed by u6 . noninverted and inverted discriminator outputs 86a , 86b are available ( discussed further below ) using switch s2 . the selected output 86 is summed with the modulation feedback signal 32 ( which is inverted , amplified and phase - compensated with amplifier u5a with a phase delay to compensate for the receiver front - end phase delays ), and then filtered in an active lowpass filter u5b . the rssi signal 84 is used to activate the window discriminator 78 . this activation is achieved by using the output of voltage comparator u1d to selectively provide a current path to ground for the voltage divider r15 , r13 , r17 which provides the reference voltages for voltage comparators u1a and u1b . the action of the window discriminator 78 is to generate pulses for positive - and negative - going transitions in the original data stream as represented by the filtered , demodulated signal 90 . the original data is then derived from a set - reset flip - flop u3a . switches s1 and s2 are used to establish the compatibility of a pair of data transceivers 12 , 14 ( fig1 ) in accordance with the present invention . as discussed above , the transmitter frequency reference and the receiver if are each approximately 3 . 58 mhz . accordingly , the upper and lower peak frequencies are f c + 3 . 58 mhz and f c - 3 . 58 mhz , respectively . with switch s1 set to establish the divide ratio n of u7 at 256 , the transmit carrier f c is approximately 916 . 48 mhz , and with switch s1 set to establish the divide ratio n of u7 at 257 , the transmit carrier f c is approximately 920 . 06 mhz . switch s1 of the first data transceiver 12 is set for n = 256 so that its transmit carrier frequency f c ( and therefore its receiver lo signal 36b frequency ) is 916 . 48 mhz , while switch s1 of the second data transceiver 14 is set for n = 257 so that its transmit carrier frequency f c ( and therefore its receiver lo signal 36d frequency ) is 920 . 06 mhz . therefore , with receiver ifs of 3 . 58 mhz ( and no image frequency rejection ), the first data transceiver 12 can receive and process signals centered about 912 . 90 mhz or 920 . 06 mhz , and the second data transceiver 14 can receive and process signals centered about 916 . 48 mhz or 923 . 64 mhz . with these s1 switch settings , the first data transceiver 12 will receive and process the signals 36c centered about 920 . 06 mhz from the second data transceiver 14 , and the second data transceiver 14 will receive and process the signals 36a centered about 916 . 48 mhz from the first data transceiver 12 . this allows the data transceivers 12 , 14 to operate without interfering with one another and with no self - jamming . furthermore , with these s1 switch settings , switch s2 of the first data transceiver 12 must be set so that the noninverted output 86a of the frequency discriminator 72 ( u6 in fig5 ) is selected , and switch s2 of the second data transceiver 14 must be set so that the inverted output 86b of the frequency discriminator 72 is selected . this ensures that the demodulated signals 90 processed by the amplitude window discriminators 78 of the data transceivers 12 , 14 have the proper polarity . various other modifications and alterations in the structure and method of operation of this invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention . although the invention has been described in connection with specific preferred embodiments , it should be understood that the invention as claimed should not be unduly limited to such specific embodiments .
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referring first to fig1 there is shown a sewing system 8 to which the present invention is applied . the sewing system 8 includes a work - sheet retaining apparatus 10 and a sewing machine 11 . as shown in fig1 the sewing machine 11 includes an arm 12 and a bed 13 . the arm 12 supports a needle bar 16 to the bottom end of which a sewing needle 16a is secured , such that the needle bar 16 is vertically reciprocatable by a main motor 64 ( fig4 ). the bed 13 incorporates a thread - loop catcher ( not shown ) which cooperates with the sewing needle 16a to serve as a stitch - forming device . the work - sheet retaining apparatus 10 includes a table plate 14 the upper surface of which is flush with the upper surface of the bed 13 of the sewing machine 11 . above the table plate 14 , is disposed a work - sheet feed arm 17 to which a work - sheet presser plate 19 is detachably secured . the feed plate 19 has a needle - guide groove 18 formed through thickness thereof . as shown in fig6 ( f ), the presser plate 19 is pressed on a first work sheet , p , such as a &# 34 ; pocket &# 34 ; cutting , whose outer peripheral portion , p1 , is folded and which is superposed on a second work sheet , w , such as a &# 34 ; front body &# 34 ; cutting of a garment . the feed arm 17 feeds , in x and y directions indicated at arrows in fig1 the presser plate 19 and accordingly the pocket and frontbody cuttings p , w pressed on the table plate 14 by the presser plate 19 , from one the table plate 14 of the retaining apparatus 10 to the operative position of the sewing machine 11 where the pocket p is sewn to the front body w by the sewing needle 16a of the sewing machine 11 . the table plate 14 includes an extended portion 14a on which is disposed an automatic work - sheet folding device for automatically folding the outer peripheral portion p1 of the pocket cutting p . the work - sheet folding device includes a support member 20 which is pivotable about a first axis member 20a fixed to the extended portion 14a . the support member 20 is pivoted about the axis member 20a by a first air cylinder 21 fixed to the extended portion 14a . a second air cylinder 22 is fixed to the lower surface of the support member 20 . the air cylinder 22 has a piston 22a to the free end of which a support - plate holder 23 is secured . a generally rectangular , work - sheet support plate 24 , on which the pocket cutting p is to be placed , is detachably secured at the base end thereof to the support plate holder 23 . the shape of the work - sheet support plate 24 defines the profile of the pocket to be produced from the pocket cutting p . the support member 20 includes a pair of axis holders 25 , 25 which cooperate with each other to support a second axis member 26 on which a folding - frame holder 27 pivotally fits . a work - sheet folding frame 28 is detachably secured at the base end thereof to the folding - frame holder 27 . a third air cylinder 29 is fixed to the upper surface of the support member 20 , and has a piston 30 pivotally connected to the top end of the folding - frame holder 27 . a pair of support blocks 31 , 31 pivotally fit on opposite ends of the second axis member 26 , respectively . a generally u - shaped , folding - member holder 32 is detachably secured at two base ends thereof to the pair of support blocks 31 , 31 , respectively . the folding - member holder 32 is a flat member formed of a plate material . on the folding - member holder 32 , five fourth air cylinders 33 , 33 , 33 , 33 , 33 are mounted such that the five air cylinders 33 cooperate with each other to surround the work - sheet folding frame 28 . each of the five air cylinders 33 has a piston 34 to the tip of which is secured a mount member 34a to which a work - sheet folding member 35 is secured . as shown in fig2 each of the five folding members 35 includes an upright portion having a pair of vertical slots 35a , 35a formed through thickness thereof . each folding member 35 is secured to a corresponding mount member 34a by fastening a pair of screws 34b , 34b thereto through the respective vertical slots 35a , 35a . by fastening and loosening the screws 34b , 34b , the vertical position of each folding member 35 may be adjusted relative to the upper surface of the table plate 14 . a pair of fifth air cylinders 36 , 36 are pivotally secured at base ends thereof to opposite side faces of the support member 20 , respectively , and the air cylinders 36 , 36 have respective pistons 37 , 37 pivotally connected to the top ends of the corresponding support blocks 31 , 31 . in the present embodiment , the first air cylinder 21 serves as an actuator for pivoting the support member 20 , thereby pivoting the work - sheet support plate 24 , work - sheet folding frame 28 and folding - member holder 32 , as a unit , toward and away from the table plate 14 . the work - sheet retaining apparatus 10 further includes four clearance adjusting devices 41 mounted on the folding - member holder 32 , as shown in fig2 and 3 . the clearance adjusting devices 41 serve for improving the accuracy of folding of the pocket cutting p . the folding - member holder 32 includes four holes 42 each formed through thickness thereof , outside of the fourth air cylinders 33 associated with the work - sheet folding members 35 . a bridge member 43 bridges each of the four holes 42 , and is fastened to the folding - member holder 32 by screws . each of the four bridge members 43 has an internally threaded portion engaged with an externally threaded portion of an adjusting screw 44 . thus , each of the four adjusting screws 44 is vertically adjustable . an abutment plate 45 is fixed to the bottom end of each adjusting screw 44 , and a knob 46 is fixed to the top end of the same 44 . a rock nut 47 fits on an intermediate portion of each adjusting screw 44 above a corresponding bridge member 43 . the amount of clearance between the folding - member holder 32 and the table plate 14 may be adjusted by rotating the knobs 46 of the clearance adjusting devices 41 . referring next to fig4 there is shown a control device 50 of the present sewing system 8 . the control device 50 controls the respective operations of the first to fifth air cylinders 21 , 22 , 29 , 33 , 36 , the sewing machine 11 , and a vacuum pump 67 ( described later ), for automatically attaching , by sewing , the pocket p to the front body w . the vacuum pump 67 serves for producing air suction to the work - sheet support plate 24 and thereby retaining the support plate 24 on the upper surface of the table plate 14 . the control device 50 is essentially constituted by a well - known microcomputer including a central processing unit ( cpu ) 51 , a read only memory ( rom ) 52 , a random access memory ( ram ) 53 , an input and output ( i / o ) port 54 , and bus 55 connecting the cpu 51 , rom 52 , ram 53 , and i / o port 54 to each other . the control device 50 further includes first to fifth drive circuits 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 to operate first to fifth air valves 48a48b , 48c , 48d , 48e and thereby extend and retract the first to fifth air cylinders 21 , 22 , 29 , 33 , 36 , respectively , and sixth to eighth drive circuits 61 , 62 , 63 to operate the main motor 64 , work - sheet feeding and pressing device 65 ( fig4 ), and vacuum pump 67 , respectively . the work - sheet feed / press device 65 includes an x and a y feed motor ( not shown ) for displacing the work - sheet feed arm 17 or presser plate 19 in the x and y directions ( fig1 ), respectively , and an air cylinder ( not shown ) for pivoting the feed arm 17 about a horizontal axis to press the presser plate 19 on the work sheets p , w on the upper surface of the table 14 or bed 13 . a sewing start and stop ( s / s ) command switch 68 and an up and down ( up / down ) command switch 69 are connected to the i / o port 54 of the control device 50 . the s / s command switch 68 is operable by an operator to start and stop the sewing operation of the sewing machine 11 . the up / down command switch 69 is operable to input command data to pivot the work - sheet support plate 24 , work - sheet folding frame 28 , and folding - member holder 32 , as a unit , toward and away from the table plate 14 . the control device 50 starts the respective operations in response to the command data supplied from the two switches 68 , 69 . the sewing s / s command switch 68 is provided on an operator &# 39 ; s panel ( not shown ) disposed alongside the table 14 , while the up / down command switch 69 is provided below the sewing machine 11 , in the form of a foot switch operable by a foot of the operator . an air pump 70 supplies the first to fifth air valves 48a to 48e with pressurized air , pa , via piping ( not shown ) after having been regulated by a pressure regulator 72 . the first to fifth air valves 48a - 48e are also connected to atmosphere , a , as shown in fig4 . the control device 50 constructed as described above starts , responsive to operation of the sewing s / s command switch 68 , for driving the first to fifth air cylinders 21 , 22 , 29 , 33 , 36 , main motor 64 , and work - sheet feed / press device 65 , as described below , and thereby attaching the pocket p to the front body w . upon operation of the s / s command switch 68 , the control device 50 drives the first to fifth air cylinders 21 , 22 , 29 , 33 , 36 to superpose the pocket cutting p on the front - body cutting w in the previously described steps of fig6 ( a ) through 6 ( e ). subsequently , in the step of fig6 ( f ), the control device 50 operates the work - sheet feed / press device 65 to press the work - sheet presser plate 19 on the pocket cutting p being retained on the work - sheet support plate 24 . consequently , the pocket cutting p and the support plate 24 are pressed on the front - body cutting w provided on the table plate 14 . then , the control device 50 stops the air - suction operation of the vacuum pump 67 and drives the second air cylinder 22 to retract the support plate 24 away from the pocket cutting p . further , the control device 50 drives the feed / press device 65 to move the presser plate 19 together with the cuttings p , w being pressed thereby , to the stitch - forming position of the sewing machine 11 directly below the sewing needle 16a . subsequently , the control device 50 drives the main motor 64 to operate the sewing machine 11 , and concurrently drives the feeding and pressing device 65 to move the presser plate 19 in the x and y directions . thus , the pocket p is attached by sewing to the front body w . detailed explanation of the sewing control of a similar sewing machine is provided in the previously - identified u . s . pat . no . 4 , 821 , 659 , and further description of the operation of the sewing machine 11 is omitted . as shown in fig2 the table plate 14 has a multiplicity of first holes 83 formed through thickness thereof . the first holes 83 are opposed to the work - sheet support plate 24 . an air chamber 85 is provided below the table plate 14 , in air communication with the support plate 24 via the first holes 83 . the air chamber 85 also communicates with the vacuum pump 67 via piping 87 . as shown in fig5 the work - sheet support plate 24 includes , along three sides of the rectangular shape thereof , a tapered , outer peripheral portion 24a which serves for preventing the thickness of the support plate 24 from adversely affecting the folded peripheral portion p1 of the pocket cutting p . the tapered peripheral portion 24a is continuously formed along two lengthwise sides and one widthwise side of the rectangular support plate 24 . the support plate 24 has a multiplicity of second holes 24b which are formed through thickness of the support plate 24 and equidistantly from each other along and inside the tapered peripheral portion 24a . as shown in fig2 the second holes 24b are so positioned as to contact the outer peripheral portion p1 of the pocket cutting p folded onto the lower surface of the support plate 24 . the second holes 24b has a diameter falling in the range of 0 . 3 to 4 . 0 mm , preferably 0 . 8 to 2 . 0 mm . if the diameter of the holes 24b is smaller than the lower limit , 0 . 3 mm , the sucking force exerted to the work sheet p by the vacuum pump 67 through the holes 24b is excessively reduced . additionally , it will be very difficult to form such small - diameter holes in the support plate 24 . a plurality of support plates 24 each of which has identical second holes 24b with a corresponding one of different diameters may be employed to sew a corresponding one of various sorts of materials ( e . g ., thick , thin , dense , or coarse ) as the work sheets p , w . as the diameter of the holes 24b decreases , the number of holes 24b formed increases . there will be described the operation of the work - sheet retaining apparatus 10 constructed as described above . the control device 50 drives the vacuum pump 67 during the steps shown in fig6 ( c ) through 6 ( e ). the vacuum pump 67 sucks air from above the table plate 14 through the piping 87 , air chamber 85 , and first holes 83 , thereby drawing the work - sheet support plate 24 toward the table plate 14 and retaining the support plate 24 on the table plate 14 . thus , the folded peripheral portion p1 of the pocket cutting p is pinched with sufficient force between the support plate 24 and the table plate 14 , so that the degree of immovability of the pocket cutting p is increased on the support plate 24 . when the support plate 24 is retained on the table plate 14 by air suction of the vacuum pump 67 , air is simultaneously sucked by the vacuum pump 67 from above the support plate 24 through the second holes 24b as well as the piping 87 , air chamber 85 , and first holes 83 . thus , the inner portion of the pocket cutting p directly supported on the upper surface of the support plate 24 is retained by air suction on the support plate 24 . thus , the degree of immovability of the pocket cutting p is further improved , so that the pocket cutting p is effectively prevented from moving out of position on the support plate 24 . in the present embodiment , the second holes 24b are provided at positions where the second holes 24b are to engage the folded peripheral portion p1 of the first work sheet p . thus , the second holes 24b effectively contribute to keeping the profile or contour of the first work sheet p whose outer peripheral portion p1 is folded back on the second work sheet w . the conventional work - sheet retaining apparatus as previously described suffers from the problem that a smaller radius of curvature of an arcuate corner of a work - sheet support member thereof corresponding to an arcuate corner 24c ( fig5 ) of the support plate 24 more likely causes a corresponding portion of a work sheet supported thereon to move or wrinkle . in contrast thereto , in the present embodiment , the air sucked through the second holes 24b contributes to keeping in position or shape the outer peripheral contour of the pocket cutting p . therefore , even though the radius of curvature of the arcuate corner 24c of the support plate 24 may be very small , the pocket cutting p is effectively prevented from wrinkling . while the present invention has been described in its preferred embodiment , the present invention may otherwise be embodied . referring to fig7 there is illustrated a work - sheet support plate 90 used in place of the support plate 24 of fig5 . the support plate 90 is constituted by a first rectangular metal plate 91 bent along four sides thereof , and a second rectangular metal plate 92 welded to the first metal plate 91 to seal the same 91 . thus , a hollow space 93 is provided inside the support plate 90 . the welding method may be electric resistance welding such as spot welding . the second metal plate 92 has a plurality of holes 94 corresponding to the second holes 24b of the support plate 24 . the first metal plate 92 has one or more communication holes 95 . when the vacuum device 67 sucks air , the air above the support plate 90 is sucked through the holes 94 , hollow space 93 , and communication holes 95 , so that the support plate 90 is drawn toward the table plate 14 and retained thereon . alternatively , without forming the holes 95 in the first metal plate 91 , it is possible to bend only three sides of the first plate 91 and seal the first plate 92 with the second plate 91 . in the latter case , the remaining one side of the first plate 91 is open to communicate with the vacuum pump 67 . although in the illustrated embodiments the work - sheet retaining apparatus 10 automatically folds the outer peripheral portion p1 of the work sheet p supported on the support plate 24 , 90 , by actuating the air cylinders 21 , 22 , 29 , 33 , 36 , the retaining apparatus 10 may be modified to retain , on the support plate 24 , 90 , a work sheet whose outer peripheral portion has been folded back manually by an operator . in this case , too , the work sheet is surely retained on the support plate 24 by air suction of the vacuum pump 67 through the holes 24b or 93 - 95 formed in the support plate 24 , 90 , so that the work sheet is effectively prevented from moving out of position on the support plate 24 , 90 . while in the illustrated embodiments the holes 24b , 94 are formed in the outer peripheral portion of the support plate 24 , 90 , it is possible to additionally form similar holes in the central portion of the support plate 24 , 90 . the work sheet p is effectively retained on the support plate 24 , 90 , and the degree of immovability of the work sheet p on the support plate 24 , 90 is improved . the top openings of the holes 24b , 94 to engage the work sheet p may be rounded to reduce the friction thereof with the work sheet p . the holes 24 , 94 may have various cross - sectional shapes such as circular or elongate . a smaller number of elongate holes 24b , 94 extending in the direction in which the support plate 24 , 90 is removed away from the work sheet p by the air cylinder 22 , are advantageous to reduce the overall friction with the work sheet p . the work sheets p , w may be various sorts of sheets such as cloth , fabric , leather , or synthetic - resin sheet . the work - sheet folding frame 28 may be provided with third holes similar to the holes 24b , 94 . in this case , it is preferred that , with the folding frame 28 being pressed on the work - sheet support plate 24 , 90 , the third holes be formed at positions offset from , i . e ., not aligned with , the holes 24b , 94 of the support plate 24 , 90 , for preventing the third holes from adversely affecting the air suction of the vacuum pump 67 . the air sucked through the third holes contributes to retaining the work sheet p on the support plate 24 , 90 , and the provision of the third holes facilitates the removal of the folding frame 28 from the work sheet p . alternatively , the folding frame 28 may be constituted by three side portions only , simply for the function of folding downward the outer peripheral portion p1 of the work sheet p . in the latter case , the central area of the folding frame 28 is hollow and has no third holes as described above . it is to be understood that the present invention may be embodied with other changes , improvements , and modifications that may occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention defined in the appended claims .
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reference throughout this specification to “ one embodiment ,” “ an embodiment ,” or similar language means that a particular feature , structure , or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention . thus , appearances of the phrases “ in one embodiment ,” “ in an embodiment ,” and similar language throughout this specification may , but do not necessarily , all refer to the same embodiment . furthermore , the described features , structures , or characteristics of the invention may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments . in the following description , numerous specific details are provided , such as examples of programming , software modules , user selections , network transactions , database queries , database structures , hardware modules , hardware circuits , hardware chips , etc ., to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the invention . one skilled in the relevant art will recognize , however , that the invention may be practiced without one or more of the specific details , or with other methods , components , materials , and so forth . in other instances , well - known structures , materials , or operations are not shown or described in detail to avoid obscuring aspects of the invention . any flow chart diagrams included herein are generally set forth as logical flow chart diagrams . as such , the depicted order and labeled steps are indicative of one embodiment of the presented method . other steps and methods may be conceived that are equivalent in function , logic , or effect to one or more steps , or portions thereof , of the illustrated method . additionally , the format and symbols employed are provided to explain the logical steps of the method and are understood not to limit the scope of the method . although various arrow types and line types may be employed in the flow chart diagrams , they are understood not to limit the scope of the corresponding method . indeed , some arrows or other connectors may be used to indicate only the logical flow of the method . for instance , an arrow may indicate a waiting or monitoring period of unspecified duration between enumerated steps of the depicted method . additionally , the order in which a particular method occurs may or may not strictly adhere to the order of the corresponding steps shown . fig1 a illustrates a rearward perspective view of an exemplary integrated chain adjustment apparatus 100 , in accordance with the present invention . as referenced , an integrated chain adjustment apparatus 100 ( or system ) integrates with a cycle to facilitate adjustment of a chain , such as adjusting the slack on the chain . the integrated chain adjustment system 100 may be configured to facilitating access and preparation of the chain to adjust the slack on the chain . the integrated chain adjustment system 100 forms a unitary piece with the cycle , between the front and rear sprockets , helping to keep the wheel and chain in alignment , both during operation and while performing the chain adjustment . the system 100 is attached to or built into a cycle swing arm for enabling facilitated chain adjustment and providing attachments that add functionality to the cycle . the integrated positioning of the present invention along a longitudinal axis of the swing arm helps retain the wheel and chain in the proper alignment , both during operation and maintenance . in this manner , the integrated chain adjustment system 100 displaces the need for typical chain adjustment tools and procedures , such as measuring alignment markers on the swing arm , creating maximum tension on the chain by pulling the rear wheel , and turning adjuster screws while the chain is taut . additionally , the integrated chain adjustment system 100 provides a mounting portion 106 for enabling attachment of auxiliary members that are useful for adjusting the chain and protecting the chain area . for example , a swing arm slider couples to the mounting portion 106 to form a barrier that protects the swing arm , the rear axle , and the chain from damage . the swing arm slider may remain attached to the integrated chain adjustment system during operation of the cycle , even while the chain is not being adjusted . yet another auxiliary member that attaches to the mounting portion may include a rear stand hook which allows the rear section of the cycle to be raised with a stand during adjustment of the chain , or any maintenance . the integrated chain adjustment system has sufficient structural integrity to support the weight of the cycle in this manner . those skilled in the art will recognize that adjusting the chain requires adjusting both sides of the rear axle . therefore , the integrated chain adjustment system 100 may comprise both left and right embodiments configured to integrate on a brake side and a sprocket side of the cycle . beneficially , the adjustment of the chain is simplified , as fewer tools and setup procedures are required for adjusting , or changing the chain on a cycle . also , the functionality of the cycle is increased . the integrated chain adjustment system 100 includes a housing 102 that is arranged to integrate with a swing arm , forming a unitary piece . the housing 102 serves as a spacer that locks the rear axle into a position relative to the swing arm . the housing 102 also enables additional functionality for the cycle by providing a mounting surface for auxiliary members . the housing 102 includes a front end , a rear end , a left end and a right end . the housing 102 is arranged between the front sprocket and the rear sprocket , often attaching to the swing arm from either the left or right end , depending on whether the integrated chain adjustment system 100 is on the brake side or sprocket side of the cycle . the mounted position of the housing 102 on the swing arm serves as a spacer that at least partially holds the rear axle in a position relative to the swing arm , and helps retain the chain at a predetermined slack . the housing 102 connects to the rear axle through a threaded adjustment fastener that adjustably regulates the distance between the housing 102 and the rear axle , as needed . the adjustment fastener passes through a threaded aperture in the rear axle for adjusting the relative distance therebetween . in some embodiments , the housing 102 may also form a protective cover over the rear axle and sprocket area . those skilled in the art will recognize that the cycle may move at high velocities , and physical contact to the chain , swing arm , and rear axle are common . after a jolt or physical engagement , the chain and rear axle are inclined to misalignment . the housing 102 provides at least partial protection from such damage by forming a protective encapsulation over the rear area of the cycle . suitable materials for the housing may include , without limitation , steel , aluminum , metal alloys , and a rigid polymer . in some embodiments , an elongated adjustment member 104 , having a bolt like shape , extends outwardly from the front end of the housing . the elongated adjustment member serves to enable access to the adjustment fastener through an adjustment opening 110 which is defined by a terminal end of the elongated adjustment member 104 . the elongated member 104 orients towards the front of the cycle , such that the adjustment opening can be accessed away from the rear axle . in this manner , the manipulations are performed away from the rear axle , which may be braced into an unsteady position during chain adjustment . the elongated adjustment member 104 is configured to enable the threaded adjustment fastener to at least partially pass through from the rear axle to the adjustment opening . the adjustment opening 110 enables access to a terminal end of the adjustment screw . a tool , such as an allen wrench , ratchet , screw driver , and the like may be inserted through the adjustment opening 110 and rotated in a direction efficacious for tightening or loosening the chain . in some embodiments , the housing 102 includes one or more mounting portions 106 that provides a surface for attachment of auxiliary members . the mounting portion 106 may define a pair of mounting apertures 110 sized and dimensioned to receive the auxiliary members . the auxiliary member may include a swing arm slider that forms a barrier that extends out from the left or right side of the housing , and helps protect the swing arm , the rear axle , and the chain from damage . the swing arm slider may remain attached to the integrated chain adjustment system during operation of the cycle , even while the chain is not being adjusted . another possible auxiliary member may include a rear stand hook that extends approximately a few inches out from the housing 102 . the rear stand hook mounts to the mounting portion , thus forming a stable foundation . a stand can be used to support the rear section of the cycle busing the rear stand hook as a pillar of support . the rear section of the cycle may be raised into this position with the rear stand hook during adjustment of the chain , or any other cycle maintenance . the rear stand hook and the attached housing have sufficient structural integrity to support the weight of the cycle in this manner . fig1 b illustrates a side perspective view of an exemplary integrated chain adjustment apparatus 150 , in accordance with the present invention . fig1 b as shown . fig2 a illustrates a rearward - side perspective view of an exemplary integrated chain adjustment apparatus 200 , in accordance with the present invention . as shown , in various embodiments , the housing may comprise a convex outer surface . fig2 b illustrates a rearward - side perspective view of an exemplary integrated chain adjustment apparatus 250 , in accordance with the present invention . the housing 102 may define an aperture for providing access to an adjustment fastener 202 . fig3 a illustrates a side perspective view of an exemplary integrated chain adjustment apparatus 300 , in accordance with the present invention . as shown , the out surface of the housing 102 may taper as it travels rearwardly toward the elongated adjustment member 104 . fig3 b illustrates a forward - side perspective view of an exemplary integrated chain adjustment apparatus 350 , in accordance with the present invention . fig3 b as shown . fig4 illustrates a rearward - side perspective view of an exemplary integrated chain adjustment apparatus 400 having a slider , in accordance with the present invention . a swingarm slider is detachably affixed to a mounting portion 106 . the swingarm slide 402 is an auxiliary implement designs to protect the adjustment system 400 and swing arm from impact damage when the cycle impacts a ground surface . fig5 illustrates a rearward - side perspective view of an exemplary integrated chain adjustment apparatus 500 having a rearward stand , in accordance with the present invention . a rear stand hook 502 may be affixed to the mounting portions 106 . the rear stand 502 comprises an auxiliary implement . fig6 illustrates a rearward - side perspective view of an exemplary integrated chain adjustment apparatus having a rearward stand , in accordance with the present invention . the present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from its spirit or essential characteristics . the described embodiments are to be considered in all respects only as illustrative and not restrictive . the scope of the invention is , therefore , 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 .
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it will be helpful in understanding the following discussion to define certain logic terms . each of the logic signals to which reference is made in the following discussions will have one of two possible logic states , a logic 1 or a logic 0 . a logic signal will be designated as a true signal without an asteric following the mnenomic . as an example , clock would be a true signal while clock * would be its inverse . each logic signal , be it the true signal or its inverse , will have an asserted and unasserted state . in the case of clock , a true signal , the asserted state will be a logic 1 and the unasserted state a logic 0 . for clock *, the reverse is true , the asserted state is logic 0 and the unasserted state is logic 1 . a signal goes &# 34 ; true &# 34 ; when it switches from the unasserted to the asserted state and vice versa when it goes &# 34 ; false .&# 34 ; lastly , a flip - flop is in a logic 0 state when the q output is at a logic 0 and the q * is a logic 1 . in the logic 1 state the outputs of the flip - flop are in the reverse states . referring first to fig1 a block diagram of the computer controlled digital in - circuit tester is shown , with a central processing unit ( cpu ) 100 having a set of input / output ( i / o ) ports 102 that are used to communicate between the cpu 100 and the remaining circuits of the digital tester . i / o ports 102 contain standard interface circuits for interfacing the cpu 100 to a peripheral device . as used herein , the term &# 34 ; central processing unit &# 34 ; is meant to include all programmable or programmed devices of any size , such as microprocessors , minicomputers , computers , time - share computers , main frame computers , batch processors , data processors , etc . the digital tester 101 , which responds to commands from the cpu 100 , is composed of test controller 104 , test signal generator 108 , functional test 106 , board select decoder 114 , d , e , f & amp ; g switch selectors 116 , reed switches 120 and a bed of nails 122 . the bed of nails 122 consists of an array of selectable test pins that are contactable with the circuit interconnection nodes of the logic circuits on the printed circuit board of device under test ( dut ) 124 . the dut 124 is a printed circuit board assembly in which the interconnections between the various components are for the most part made with copper lands . each dut 124 will have its own preselected array of test pins that form the bed of nails 122 which contacts the interconnection points or electrical nodes of the circuits on the dut . the test pins that will be used in testing the dut 124 in each test cycle is selected from the bed of nails 122 and programmed into the processor . the dut 124 is placed over the bed of nails 122 and a vacuum to cause the dut pc board assembly to move down and contact the test pins in the bed of nails 122 . the board is caused to move a sufficient amount to cause the spring loaded test pins to compress . this ensures that the test pins are contacting the interconnection nodes of the dut 124 with sufficient force to penetrate the copper land . each pin in the bed of nails 122 has an associated set of selectable switches , designated as the d , e , f & amp ; g switches , connected to it . it should be noted here that the d , e and g switches are provided as a safety feature to protect the digital tester 101 internal circuits from excessive logic voltages that may appear on the electrical nodes of the dut 124 by isolating each test pin through these switches . for the digital tester 101 to work , the d , e and g switches do not have to be provided . however , the f switch is provided so that the test pin which will contact the output test signal node can be connected to the response line 128 . therefore , the set of selectable switches associated with each test pin could be as few as one but as many as desired . as shown in fig1 one terminal of each of these selectable switches is connected to the test pin . during each test cycle , each of the selected test pins that contact the dut 124 can either conduct an input test signal to the dut or can conduct the selected output signal for the dut , or it can alternately do both . if the selected test pin is to input an input test signal , the switch will be selected . the terminals of the e and g switches for each of the test pins that is not connected to its associated test pin are bussed together , respectively . the e switch selects the ext clock signal from the dut to be applied to the master ckock generator 706 ( see fig7 ( a ). the f switch selects the node of the dut that is to be the response signal and applies it to the functional tester 106 ( see fig7 ( a ). each test pin in the bed of nails 122 has the capability of applying a preselected digital test signal to dut 124 through its d switch when the switch is selected . each test pin has an associated digital test signal generator whose output can be connected to the test pin through a d switch . if the test pin is to be connected to the electrical node that is the output signal for the circuit under test , switch f is selected . the f switches for each of the test pins in the bed of nails 122 are also bused together to form the response signal line 128 . response signal line 128 is inputted to the functional tester 106 , where one of four functional tests is performed . because of the large number of test pins available in the bed of nails 122 ( for the preferred embodiment 1 , 024 pins ), practical considerations of constructing the tester require that the test pins be grouped into smaller subsets on boards to accommodate the circuits required to contain the d , e , f & amp ; g switches , to select the appropriate ones of those switches for each test pin used in the test , and to generate the digital test signals for the test . these circuits are chosen for inclusion in the subsets because they are duplicated for each test pin in the bed of nails 122 . for the preferred embodiment , the bed of nails 122 is divided into groups of sixteen test pins . within each group , the e , f and g switches are bussed together . further , the bussed e , f and g selectable switches are connected to buses between the groups of sixteen test pins through selectable switches kfd , ked , and kgd . these selectable switches , kfc , ked and kgd , provide isolation for the internal bussing of the sixteen test pins from the external bussing between the groups of switches . but , in any event , each e , f and g switch for each test pin is connectable to the same bus . the circuits required to generate sixteen separate digital test signals for each of the sixteen test pins in the subset , to select which of the four selectable switches for each test pin that is to be used during the test cycle , and to contain the actual reed switches and their coil drivers to provide the d , e , f and g contacts , are mounted on a single pc board assembly . thus , for the preferred embodiment , a total of 64 boards are required for a bed of nails of 1 , 024 test pins . as shown in fig1 each pc board assembly 103 containing the above described circuits is composed of a pin memory 112 , test signal drivers 118 , a board select decoder 114 , d , e , f & amp ; g switch selectors 116 , and reed switches 120 . still referring to fig1 the digital tester is used as follows : a circuit diagram of the device to be tested is examined to identify the circuits or chips that are to be tested . in general , all nodes will be contacted by a test pin , even unused elements of the integrated circuits . the electrical nodes that are to be used in a test cycle as either an input node or as the circuit under test response node are identified and assigned the number that corresponds to the test pin number that will contact that node when the board assembly is placed on the bed of nails . knowing how the circuit under test is intended to work , computer routines are generated that will , when executed by the computer , cause the tester to generate appropriate test signals to the electrical nodes of the circuit under test . the tester 101 circuits will monitor the response signal and perform intermediate tests on the signal . under computer control , the tester 101 will transmit the results of the intermediate tests to the computer , where a comparison between the measured response and the expected response determines if the circuit has functioned properly . each integrated circuit in the circuit under test is tested during a test cycle defined to be that period during which the digital test signals are actually being applied to the circuit under test . although all of the test parameters are specified by computer software , the actual tests are carried out , for the most part , independently of control of the computer . that is , the computer specifies the type of test that is to be performed , the length of the test cycle , the types of test signals that are to be generated , the test pins to be selected , etc ., prior to initiation of the test cycle . once the test cycle is initiated , the cpu 100 must wait until the test cycle is finished before it acquires the results of the intermediate tests . as a result , the cpu supplies the digital tester 101 with the initial conditions for the test to be performed , before it causes the test cycle to begin . the cpu 100 , acting through i / o ports 102 , initialize the circuits of tester 101 prior to a test cycle , by sequentially addressing each test pin that is to be used in testing of the circuit under test , and selects and latches at least one of the d , e , f or g switches for each of those selected test pins . where appropriate , the kfd , ked and kgd switches are also selected and latched . having selected and closed a switch for each test pin that will apply a test signal to an input node of the circuit under test , and having selected and closed the f switch of the test pin that will be the response signal , the cpu 100 next sequentially transfers to the pin memories 112 the data necessary for the digital test signal generators to generate the appropriate selected test signal for the selected nodes of the circuit under test . pin memory address and data load generator 110 , in response to commands and data from the cpu 100 , stores digital data in pin memory 112 . this data , when read during the test cycle , generates a pattern of one &# 39 ; s and zero &# 39 ; s on the input of test signal drivers 118 . in response to the pattern , the drivers 118 generate the digital test signals that are applied to the selected test pins through their closed d switches . to complete the initialization of the tester 101 , the cpu 100 strobes into test controller 104 the parameters which specify : ( 1 ) whether an internal or an external clock reference signal is to be used to generate the digital tester 101 system clock ; ( 2 ) data which determines the frequency of the system clock derived from the selected reference clock ; ( 3 ) which of the intermediate tests is to be performed on the response signal ; ( 4 ) the length of the test cycle that is to be performed ; ( 5 ) the time during the test cycle in which the response is tested and time during which the response is ignored ; and ( 6 ) data to generate a threshold voltage which enables the digital circuit tester to interface to a wide range of logic voltage levels from different dut &# 39 ; s . having initialized the circuits of tester 101 , the cpu 100 may now initiate a test cycle by issuing the appropriate command to the test controller 104 . at the completion of the test cycle , the cpu 100 transmits a command to the tester 101 to transfer the contents of the functional tester to the computer . a comparison is then made between the actual result that would have been produced from a properly functioning circuit , to determine if the circuit is working . the preceding discussion has been given to explain how the tester is used , so that the following detailed description of the circuits which implement the above - described functions may more readily be understood . shown in fig7 ( b ) are board select decoder 114 , d , e , f & amp ; g switch selectors 116 and reed switches 120 , which function to select and close one or more of the four selectable reed switches for the test pins used during the test cycle . board select decoder 114 and d , e , f & amp ; g switch selectors 116 function as the switch - selecting means for selecting which reed switch is to be closed during the test cycle . a 8 - input nand gate 728 decodes the board address signals , ba0 through ba6 and their inverse , to generate the board select signal bs if this board is selected . each slot of the digital tester into which a board is to be plugged has a unique address assigned to it . as previously discussed , each board contains the circuits for sixteen test pins . this board address is encoded into the connector wiring for the slot , such that the appropriate board address signal ( ba0 through ba6 or its inverse ) is applied as one input to nand gate 728 . the output of nand gate 728 is or &# 39 ; ed in nor gate 730 with a board address override signal ( baor )* to generate the signal bs . the signal baor * is generated when a board select signal is to be generated on all of the boards simultaneously . the board address signals are generated by the test controller 104 in response to commands and data from cpu 100 . cpu 100 also generates reed addresses ( ra0 through ra3 ) and reed group addresses ( rg0 * and rg1 *) which d , e , f and g switch selectors 116 decode , to select , for each of the sixteen test pins on the addressed board , one of the four selectable switches . reed addresses ra0 through ra3 and reed group addresses rg0 * and rg1 * are inputted to d , e , f and g switch selectors 116 to address a plurality of latches , to both store and reset the selection of the selectable switches . the rg0 * and rg1 * signals are decoded to select one of the four selectable switches ( d , e , f or g ), and the address signals ra0 through ra3 are decoded to select one of the sixteen test pins on a board . since the selection process for the d , e , f & amp ; g reed switches is the same , only an explanation for the selection of the d switches will be given . still referring to fig7 ( b ), in the clearing process for the d reed latches 732 and 734 , a bs signal , when true , enables clear reed switch decoder 738 , so that the reed group addresses , on the occurrence of rclr * from cpu 100 , generate one of four possible reed switch clear signals : cd *, ce *, cf *, or cg *. for clearing of the d reed latches 732 and 734 , the signal cd * is generated . this signal is applied to the clear input of the latches 732 and 734 to clear any latches that were set from the previous test cycle . in the reed switch selection process , reed addresses ra0 through ra2 provide a three bit octal address for latches 732 and 734 . reed address ra3 , in conjunction with the reed group signals rg0 and rg1 , are decoded by set reed switch decoder 736 , on the occurrence of r strobe *, to generate four pairs of enabling signals , ed0 * and ed1 * through eg0 * and eg1 *, with each pair selecting the pair of reed latches for each of the four selectable switches for each test pin . in other words , for the d switches , enabling signals ed0 * and ed1 * are generated to enable reed latches 732 and 734 , respectively . with the set / clear * ( s / c *) signal at a logic one , the individual latch addressed by the reed addresses ra0 through ra2 , in conjunction with the enable signal from set reed switch decoder 736 , loads a selection command into the addressed latch . the outputs from d reed latches 732 and 734 are applied to relay drivers 742 to energize the selected d reed switch . in this manner , each of the selectable switches associated with each of the test pins may be selected and latched closed prior to the start of the test cycle . again referring to fig1 test signal generator 108 is shown , composed of pin memory address and data load generator 110 , pin memory 112 and test signal drivers 118 . identical pin memory 112 and test signal driver 118 circuits are contained on each of the tester boards in the digital tester 101 . the output from pin memory address and data load generator 110 is bussed to each of the pin memory 112 and test signal drivers 118 contained on each of the system tester boards . pin memory 112 responds to the board select signal bs to enable the data on the bus from pin memory address and data load generator 110 to be inputted to the selected board . in this way , the circuits for pin memory address and data load generator 110 do not have to be duplicated for each board in the tester in order to generate a digital test signal for each test pin . the function of the test signal generator 108 is to generate , during the test cycle , one of the digital test signals from the set of selectable test signals that includes the gray code set of signals . since the operations of pin memory address and data load generator 110 , pin memory 112 and test signal drivers 118 are identical for each of the tester boards , only a discussion of one will be given . referring now to fig2 ( a ) and 2 ( b ), which illustrates a typical test signal generator 108 , pin memory address and data load generator 110 is shown , composed of pin memory data transfer controller 200 test signal address generator 202 , d and e sync generator 204 , and pin memory address multiplexer 206 . the function of the pin memory address and data load generator 110 is to generate memory addresses and memory data for pin memory 112 . pin memory addresses are generated at two different times . first , prior to a test cycle , data must be transferred and stored in pin memory 112 that will generate the digital test signal to be applied through the selected d switches for each of the selected test pins to the circuit under test . second , during the test cycle , addresses must be generated to pin memory 112 to read the contents of the memory to generate the desired test signal . the pin memory address and data input signals which program the pin memories 112 prior to a test cycle are generated by the pin memory data transfer controller 200 . pin memory data transfer controller 200 , responding to inputs from cpu 100 , generates an 8 - bit data word on memory data lines md0 through md7 . these data lines are inputted to pin memory 112 where tristate buffers 210 , enabled by the bs signal for this board , pass the data to the input of the memories 214 . at the same time , pin memory data transfer controller 200 generates a set of data transfer memory addresses , dtma0 through dtma3 , which are inputted to pin memory address multiplexer 206 . additionally , pin memory data transfer controller 200 generates two control signals , write enable mw * and data transfer memory address mux , dtma mux . the signal dtma mux is inputted to pin memory address multiplexer 206 to cause the data transfer memory address lines to be multiplexed onto the memory address lines ma0 * through ma3 *, which form the input address lines for the memories 214 . the control signal mw * is inputted to the pin memory write enable decoder 208 , to enable a write cycle to the memories 214 . also inputted to pin memory write enable decoder 208 are the memory group addresses mg0 * and mg1 *. the two addresses are inputted directly to decoder 208 from the cpu 100 through i / o ports 102 to generate we0 * through we3 * in the pin memory write enable decoder 208 . each of the memories 214 is able to generate digital test signals for two of the d selectable switches . thus , for a total of sixteen selectable d switches per board , 8 memories are required . the devices that are used in the preferred embodiment of the invention for the pin memories are 16 × 4 bit random access memories such as a 74ls189 manufactured by national semiconductor , inc . it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that memory devices of different storage capacity could be substituted for the memories used in the preferred embodiment , such as four 16 × 1 memory chips . therefore , each pin memory requires four bits of data input and four bits of address input to address and store data in each of the addressable memory locations . since the data lines from pin memory data transfer controller 200 total 8 , two memories or two test signal generators are programmed at the same time . therefore , by bussing a write enable signal to two consecutive pin memories , only four pin memory write enable signals need be generated . the function of pin memory write enable decoder 208 is to generate those four write enable signals . the memory group address lines mg0 and mg1 specify which of the four groups of two - pin memory chips are to be enabled , and when mw * is true , decoder 208 generates one of the four pin memory enable signals we0 * through we3 * specified by mg0 and mg1 . test signal address generator 202 , responding to a start cycle * from test controller 104 , generates the gray code memory address lines , gma0 through gma3 , which are also inputted to pin memory address multiplexer 206 . these address signals are generated during a test cycle to address and output the contents of the memories 214 , to generate the test signal which the d selectable switches will apply to the circuit under test . the gray code memory addresses are multiplexed on to the memory address lines ma0 * through ma3 * by pin memory address multiplexer 206 , when the system dclr * signal and the control signal from pin memory data transfer controller 200 , dtma mux , are both unasserted . a third mode of addressing the pin memories is also possible . this occurs when both the control signal dtma mux and dclr * are at a logic 0 . for this condition , cpu 100 delivers the memory address lines directly from one of the i / o ports 102 to pin memory address multiplexer 206 . that address then appears on the memory address lines ma0 * through ma3 *. when a test cycle begins and gray code memory addresses are generated by test signal address generator 202 , d sync and e sync generator 204 , in response to these addresses , generates the synchronization signals dsync * and esync *. these two synchronization signals are used by the test signal drivers 118 in the generation of the digital test signals that are applied to the dut via the d selectable switches . referring now to fig4 which shows the circuit diagram for pin memory data transfer controller 200 , system commands cmd2 * and cmd3 *, generated in test controller 104 , are used to select one of two operating modes fo the controller 200 . in the first mode , data transfer controller 200 can pass the 8 - bits presented by cpu 100 via i / o ports 102 to the memory data lines md0 through md7 ; or , in the second mode , controller 200 may accumulate sixteen consecutive 8 bit data values from the cpu before that data is placed on the memory data lines . to operate in the first mode , system command cmd14 * is asserted . this signal is inputted to generate mw * which , as previously discussed , enables pin memory write enable decoder 208 ( see fig2 ( a ) and 2 ( b ) to write the 8 bits into the memories 214 . with the assertion of cmd14 *, the data that is presented by cpu 100 to the &# 34 ; a &# 34 ; inputs of multiplexer 424 is muxed onto the memory data lines and strobed into the pin memories 214 enabled by one of the four write enable signals , weo * through we3 *, generated on the output of pin memory write enable decoder 208 . for the first mode of operation , the output of pin memory address multiplexer 206 , ma0 * through ma3 *, is derived from an address specified by cpu 100 on the data lines of one of the output ports of i / o ports 102 . the signal dtma mux is not asserted in this mode , but the signal dclr * is . therefore , pin memory address multiplexer 206 is selecting the data lines from one of the i / o ports 102 output ports to generate the memory address lines . for each 8 bit data word that is to be strobed into the pin memories , a cmd140 signal is asserted . for the second mode of operation of data transfer controller 200 , in which sixteen consecutive 8 bit data words will be stored before transferring to the memories 214 , two steps must occur . first , each 8 bit data word must be strobed into an 8 bit shift register 400 , and second , the contents of shift register 400 must be transferred into 16 × 8 bit shift register 422 , which is acting as the buffer storage device . when shift register 422 is full , system command cmd2 * is asserted to initiate the sequence of transferring the contents of shift register 422 through multiplexer 424 onto the memory data lines . for each 8 - bit data word that is supplied from i / o ports 102 output port number 3 to the input of shift register 400 , port 3 strobe * is asserted to strobe the 8 - bit data word into the shift register 400 . at the same time , port 3 strobe * resets set - reset flip - flop 402 to a logic zero . the q output from flip - flop 402 is inputted to nor gate 404 , whose output switches to a logic zero and removes a clear signal to cascaded binary counters 410 and 412 . removing the clear signal to these two counters enables them to begin counting a 2 mhz internal clock generated by test controller 104 . the q c and q d outputs from counter 410 and the q a output from counter 412 are decoded in or gates 416 and 418 to provide an enabling signal when any one of these three signals is true . this enable signal is inputted as one input to and gate 420 . the other input of and gate 420 is the q b of counter 410 , which is the highest frequency signal on the q outputs of counters 410 and 412 that are used by controllers 200 . as a result , the output of gate 420 generates 7 shift pulses to shift register 400 when the enable signal on the output of or gate 418 is at a logic 1 . inverter 414 inverts the q b of counter 410 to generate 8 shift pulses to shift register 422 . because shift register 400 is presenting one of the 8 data bits to the input of shift register 422 before the generation of any shift pulses , only 7 shift pulses are required by register 400 to input all 8 bits to register 422 ; while 8 pulses are required by register 422 to load that data . when the output of nor gate 404 removes the clear signal to the binary counters 410 and 412 , they begin to generate output signals each of which is half the frequency of the previous output signal . thus , selecting three successive outputs would generate 8 possible states , selecting 4 successive outputs would generate 16 possible states , etc . using this technique , the q b output of counter 410 generates 8 cycles from the time the enable signal from gate 418 went true until the q b output of counter 412 goes true . in this manner , the 8 bit data word that was strobed into shift register 400 by port 3 strobe * is serially clocked into shift register 422 . when the q b output of counter 412 goes true at the end of the eighth shift pulse to shift register 422 , set - reset flip - flop 402 is set to a logic one . this causes nor gate 404 to once again assert a clear pulse clearing counters 410 and 412 back to a counter of 0 . thus , in the second mode , the above - described sequence is repeated for sixteen consecutive 8 bit data words . when shift register 422 contains sixteen 8 bit data words , asserting cmd 9 * initiates the transfer of the contents of shift register 422 to the memories 214 ( see fig2 ( a ) and 2 ( b )). with the assertion of cmd 9 *, set - reset flip - flop 401 is cleared to a logic zero . this causes nor gate 404 to remove the clear signal to the binary counters 410 and 412 . also , the q output of flip - flop 401 causes the 8 bit multiplexer 424 to select the output from shift register 422 applied to its &# 34 ; b &# 34 ; inputs , as the source of the data for the memory data lines md0 through md7 . inverter 426 inverts the select line of multiplexer 424 to generate the control signal dtma mux that is used by the pin memory address multiplexer 206 ( see fig2 ( a )) to enable the data transfer memory address lines dtma0 through dtma3 , generated by counters 410 and 412 , to be multiplexed onto the memory address lines ma0 * through ma3 *. the signal dtma mux is anded with the q b output of counter 410 by nand gate 428 to generate mw * on the output of inverter gate 432 . thus , a write enable clock is generated for each memory address specified by the data transfer addresses dtma0 through dtma3 to store in the memories 214 the 8 data bits multiplexed onto the memory data lines md0 through md7 from shift register 422 . the above sequence continues until sixteen 8 bit data words from shift register 422 have been transferred to the pin memories . at the completion of the transfer , the q c of counter 412 goes true causing interter gate 408 to set flip - flop 401 to a logic 1 . this causes nor gate 404 to once again assert a clear signal to the counters 410 and 412 . because the q c output of counter 412 initiates the clear signal , the q b output of counter 410 will generate 16 cycles before the counting is stopped . thus , when q c goes true and initiates the clear to counter 410 and 414 , the sequence of transferring the sixteen 8 - bit data words to the memories 214 is complete . referring now to fig2 ( b ), which is a block diagram of pin memory 112 and pin drivers 118 , the contents of memory 214 used to generate one of the gray code test signals are shown as a sequence of ones and zeros stored in the sixteen memory locations . shown above each of the bit memory locations is the pin memory address , in hexa - decimal notation , that will produce on the memory output data and enable lines , d0 and e0 , the bit contained in the memory locations shown below the address . the generation of a digital test signal which are applied to the contacts of the selectable d switches from data contained in the contents of memory 214 are the same , and only a discussion of one will be given . still referring to fig2 ( b ), the sequence of ones and zeros produced on the output by the addressing of memory 214 during a test cycle is inputted to the dr0 switch driver 216 . the output signal from this driver is the digital test signal that drives the dut via the selectable dr0 switch . the character of the digital test signal that is generated from the data stored in memory 214 is controlled by the sequence of addresses with which the memory 214 is addressed . two memory 214 output signals are required to generate a digital test signal , one called the data bit ; the other the enable bit . the data bit is the output signal from memory 214 that is lbeled d0 , while the enable bit is the output labeled e0 . as will more fully be discussed below , each memory location , from memory address 1 through e , can select a different wave form from the set of gray code wave forms to be generated by the dr0 switch driver 216 . turning now to fig3 and still referring to fig2 ( b ), the test signal timing diagram is illustrated for various selectable gray code test signals , each signal including an initialization and preset portion . there are sixteen addressable memory locations in memory 214 . the contents of the memory 214 for addresses 0 and f control the initialization and preset portion of the digital wave form . the initialization and preset portion of the digital wave form is generated at the start of a test cycle . with two of the memory 214 storge locations used up for the initialization and preset data , only fourteen gray code test signals can be specified by the remaining memory locations . this number , of course , can be increased or decreased by increasing or decreasing the memory capacity of memory 214 . it is the distinguishing characteristic of a gray code set of wave forms that , when all the waveforms are viewed simultaneously , for any given cycle of a clocking wave form which generates the digital signals , only one signal will have a transition from one logic level to the other . in other words , no more than one transition in all the wave forms that comprise the gray code occur for any given clock cycle . to select one of the gray code test signals , a &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; is recorded in pin memory 214 at the address that corresponds to the desired wave form , and zeros are recorded at the other addresses . thus , for wave form number 2 , a 1 is recorded in memory location 2 ; or for wave form number 13 , a &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; is recorded in memory location d . in addition to the fourteen gray code test signals that can be generated from data stored in memories 214 , other digital test signals are possible , such as logic high , logic low , preset high ( a single positive pulse at the start of the test cycle ), preset low ( a single negative pulse at the start of the test cycle ) and the many permutations that are possible in the basic gray code signals that are generated by the use of the initialization and preset data a long with the enable data recorded in the enable portion of memory 214 . an example of just such a permutation is illustrated in fig3 as signal f 2 . the following is a discussion of how the data in memory 214 generates the digital test signals . shown in fig3 is a portion of the sequence of pin memory addresses that are generated during a test cycle . also illustrated in fig3 are the digital test signals that are generated on the output of dr0 switch driver 216 , according to the data on the d0 and e0 output lines of the pin memory 214 . a transition in the output digital test signal from dr0 switch driver 216 is permitted each time that a 1 is outputted on the d0 , line provided that the e0 line has previously or is concurrently outputting a one . referring to fig3 the four waveforms f 1 , f 1 *, preset high f 1 , preset low f 1 * are shown . disregarding the initialization and preset portion of those waveforms , it can be seen that on each occurrance of memory address 1 , a transition in f 1 occurs . as will be discussed below , the drive enable f 1 signal can modify the illustrated waveforms for f 1 ; but for the f 1 waveforms shown in fig3 drive enable f 1 went true during the initialization portion of the test cycle . for the initialization and preset time of the test cycle , the sequence of pin memory addresses is , in sequence , address 0 , address f , an address designated as &# 34 ; don &# 39 ; t care &# 34 ;, and once again , address f . the address designated as &# 34 ; don &# 39 ; t care &# 34 ; is so labeled because regardless of what address is generated by test signal address generator 202 , signals dsync and esync are absent , as nothing is permitted to happen in the dr0 switch driver 216 to cause a change in the generated test signal . illustrated in fig3 for the wave forms f 1 and its derivatives showing the four possibilities for the initialization and preset portion . the generation of these four wave forms is possible for each of the fourteen gray code test signal . for the wave forms illustrated , the signal drive enable f 1 was asserted at address 0 in the initialization and preset portion of the test cycle by having a &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; recorded in the enable portion of memory 214 at address 0 . a different result would have occurred had the enable bit been stored in a different memory location . this result is illustrated for the wave form f 2 in which the enable portion of memory 214 has a &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; recorded in location 3 and location 4 . the result of two 1 &# 39 ; s recorded in the enable portion of the memory 214 is an enabling of the dr0 switch driver 216 on the first occurrence of a &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; on the e0 , and a disabling of f 2 on the second occurrence of a &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; on e0 . the illustrated wave form f 2 in fig3 is the signal generated from the data that is shown as stored in memory 214 in fig2 ( b ). on the first occurrence of the memory address 3 , drive enable f 2 is asserted and on the first occurrence of address 4 , drive enable f 2 is cleared . the dotted wave forms that are shown for the signals f 2 and drive enable f 2 are the signals that would have been generated had there only been a &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; stored in the enable bit address location 0 . as illustrated in fig3 a transition in the drive enable f signals occur on the first occurrence of a pin memory address with a &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; stored in the enable portion of memory 214 for that address rather than on every occurrence of that address . this is because the illustrated clocking signal ( esync ) in fig3 which clocks the transitions in the enabling flip - flop 602 ( see fig6 and the discussion below ) has been selected to occur only on the first occurrence of a pin memory address . a more detailed discussion of the possible variations in the generation of the clocking signal esync is given in the discussions of the d sync and e sync generator 204 . still referring to fig3 refer also to fig5 which is the circuit diagram of the test signal address generator 202 that generates the sequence of pin memory addresses as illustrated in fig3 . with the assertion of start cycle *, shift register 500 is loaded with a bit pattern that produces on the q a through q d outputs , 0101 , respectively . for four consecutive cycles of the system clock mckl *, the signals init *, cload *, and preset * are generated . these three wave forms are shown in fig3 . the signal cload * loads a fourteen bit binary down counter 506 with an all 1 &# 39 ; s pattern . counter 506 is formed from the cascaded connection of four four bit binary down counters ( not illustrated ). the output of counter 506 is inputted to the three - bit cascaded priority encoders 508 and 510 along with the signals init * and preset *. the outputs from encoders 508 and 510 are logically combined in nor gates 512 , 514 , 516 and inverter 518 to generate the gray code memory address signals gma0 through gma3 , which are inputted to pin memory 206 ( see fig2 ( a )). down counter 506 counts down from an all 1 &# 39 ; s or maximum count to a count of 0 . when counter 506 reaches a count of 0 , one complete cycle of the gray code test signals is complete . if more than one cycle of the gray code signals are desired , the signal dclr * from test controller 104 is not asserted , and down counter 506 continues to count down from a count of 0 to the next count which is once again an all 1 &# 39 ; s count to begin the next cycle . however , for this and each subsequent cycle in the gray code signals , no initialization or preset addresses , 0 or f , will occur . two clocking signals are generated by the d and e sync generator 204 to be used by the test signal drivers 118 to generate the digital test signals on the output of the d switch drivers 216 . these two signals are called dsync * and esync *. fig3 also illustrates these two signals . except for the address &# 34 ; don &# 39 ; t care &# 34 ; in the initilization and preset portion of the sequence of pin memory addresses and on the last occurrence of the &# 34 ; f &# 34 ; address in the test cycle , the signal dsync * is the same as the clock signal mckl *. on the other hand , the signal esync * has the characteristic that it may occur on the first occurrence of each of the pin memory addresses or may occur on the occurrence of any one or all of the memory addresses . referring still to fig5 in which is shown the circuit diagram for the d and e sync generator 204 , the signal dsync * is derived from mckl but is enabled only during a test cycle through and gate 528 and inverter 530 by the signal dclr *. also , during the initialization and preset time of the test cycle when the third pin memory address is generated (&# 34 ; don &# 39 ; t care &# 34 ; address ), all input signals to priority encoders 508 and 510 are at a logic one . this causes the preset disable output from priority encoder 510 to be at a logic 0 . this level causes dsync * to remain high for that &# 34 ; don &# 39 ; t care &# 34 ; pin memory address in the initialization and preset portion . because changes in the output of the digital test signal from the d switch driver 216 are clocked when the signal dsync * goes false in the middle of a pin memory address , for the &# 34 ; don &# 39 ; t care &# 34 ; pin memory address of the initialization and preset time , no transition in dsync * occurs ; thus the label &# 34 ; don &# 39 ; t care &# 34 ;. still referring to fig5 the signal esync * may be selected to occur on only the first occurrence of each of the pin memory addresses , or it can be selected to occur on every occurrence of any address or on every address . this flexibility is achieved as follows : a four - bit data word is inputted to the d sync and e sync generator 204 from the cpu 100 and on the assertion of cmd13 *, is strobed into a sixteen - bit latch formed from addressable latches 532 and 534 . each of the sixteen latches corresponds to one address in the possible sixteen pin memory addresses . the output from latches 532 and 534 are inputted to multiplexers 536 and 538 , respectively . also inputted to multiplexers 536 and 538 are the gray code pin memory addresses gma0 through gma3 . the multiplexed output from multiplexers 536 and 538 are bussed together to form an enabling signal to one input of and gate 540 . the latches 532 and 534 can be programmed to contain all zero &# 39 ; s or all one &# 39 ; s or any of the combinations of one &# 39 ; s and zero &# 39 ; s that are possible . in operation , during the test cycle as the gray code pin memory addresses are generated , the contents of the latch from latches 532 and 534 that corresponds to the generated address is multiplexed to and gate 540 . if a one was stored in the latch , and gate 540 is enabled to pass one cycle of mckl to or gate 542 whose output , acting through inventor 544 , generates the signal esync *. if a zero was stored in the latch , and gate 540 is disabled and no esync * signal will be generated . thus , the signal esync * can be programmed to occur on any address by storing a one in the appropriate latch in latches 532 and 534 . it is also possible to have esync * occur only on the first occurrence of the pin memory address during the test cycle . this is accomplished by a four - bit binary counter 522 in association with a four - bit magnitude comparator 520 . at the start of the test cycle , counter 522 is cleared to a count of 0 . the binary count from counter 522 is compared to the binary code on the gray code pin memory address lines gma0 through gma3 , by four - bit magnitude comparator 520 . when there is a count match , and gate 524 is enabled by the &# 34 ; a = b &# 34 ; output of comparator 520 , to permit one cycle of mckl to be applied as the other input to or gate 542 and thus to generate the signal esync *. the output from and gate 524 is inverted by inverter 526 and provides a clock signal to counter 522 . this increments counter 522 to the next address . the first occurrence of this address by the pin memory address generator 202 will enable another esync * to be generated . once counter 522 has been incremented sixteen times and reaches a count of 0 there will never be another match in magnitude comparator 520 , because the gray code memory address is an all 0 &# 39 ; s or &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; address only during the initialization and present time , which occurs only at the start of the test cycle . the signals dsync * and esync * are inputted to test signal drivers 118 to clock each dr switch driver 216 to generate the digital test signal on the output of the driver ( see fig2 ( b )). shown in fig6 is a circuit diagram of a typical dr switch driver 216 . since all of the dr switch drivers 216 of test signal drivers 118 are identical in operation , only a discussion of one will be given . the data ( d0 ) and enable ( e0 ) lines from memory 214 for test pin 1 of the bed of nails 122 are inputted to d switch driver 216 of fig6 to provide the j and k inputs for flip - flops 600 and 602 , respectively . flip - flop 600 is clocked by dsync which is the buffered inverse of dsync * ( see fig2 ( b )), while flip - flop 602 is clocked by esync , also buffered . the q and q * outputs from flip - flop 600 provide inverse digital signals that control the conduction state of a complimentary pair of field effect transistors q 1 and q 2 . these two transistors switch the output signal dr0 between the power supply and ground potential for the dut being tested to provide the voltage swing for the digital test signal . ground potential for the dut is the same as for the tester . before the q and q * outputs of flip - flop 600 are allowed to control the transistors q 1 and q 2 , the enable flip - flop 602 must be clocked to a logic 1 by esync . open - collector nand gate 604 combines the q output of flip - flop 602 with the q output of flip - flop 600 to provide the control signal for transistor q 1 . open - collector and gate 612 combines the q output of flip - flop 602 and the q * output of flip - flop 600 to provide the control signal for transistor q 2 . driver output dr0 has three allowable states : first , when neither transistor q1 nor transistor q2 is conducting , the driver dr0 is said to be disabled . when the driver is disabled , it does not stimulate the device under test . this disabled state is obtained whenever enable flip - flop 602 is cleared to a logic zero . the output of and gate 612 is low , turning off n - channel - transistor q2 . the output of open - collector nand gate 604 is pulled up to &# 34 ; driver v +&# 34 ; potential by resistor 608 , turning off p - channel transistor q1 . in the disabled state , the output of the driver will be an open circuit . therefore , it is possible to have both the d and the f switch for this test pin selected . during the test cycle , when the driver is disabled , the same node into which a digital test signal was or could have been inputted , a response signal could also be monitored . for some logic devices , that is the manner in which they function . for example , some memory devices require that an address be inputted on the same line that the contents of the memory specified by that address is outputted on . because of the disable node of operation of the driver 216 , the d switches is not required in the set of selectable switches associated with each test pin in the bed of nails 122 . second , when transistor q1 is conducting , the driver output will be high . this state is obtained whichever enable flip - flop 602 and data flip - flop 600 are both set . the output of open - collector nand gate 604 is low , stimulating the p - channel transistor q1 . third , when transistor q2 is conducting , the driver output will be low . this occurs when enable flip - flop 602 is set and data flip - flop 600 is cleared . the output of and gate 612 is high , stimulating the n - channel transistor q2 . note that for either transistor to conduct , the enable flip - flop 602 must be set , and that transistors q1 and q2 may not conduct simultaneously . in addition , the transistors are able to pass 150 milliamperes , enough to drive a logic node &# 34 ; in - circuit &# 34 ;. referring now to fig7 ( a ), which illustrates a block diagram of test controller 104 and functional tester 106 , the command decoder 710 of test controller 104 is shown connected to one of the cpu 100 i / o 102 ports . the function of command decoder 710 is to accept an 8 - bit digital code from cpu 100 and decode it to generate one of thirty - two system commands cmd0 * through cmd31 *. command decoder 710 also generates the miscellaneous system commands , such as board address override baor *, functional test count *, functional test high *, and ext clock select *. shown in table 1 is a list of the system commands along with its functional name . system commands cmd5 * through cmd7 * are used to strobe data from the cpu 100 into latches ( not shown ) that function to generate other signals used by the tester 101 to perform various functions . the signals generated by these three system commands , cmd5 * through cmd7 *, are also shown in table 1 . in particular , this miscellaneous system commands mentioned above are generated by cmd7 * ( mode latch # 2 ) in association with the data on the data lines illustrated in table 1 . the system commands that are generated by command decoder 710 are used to start and stop various functions within the digital tester 101 . table 1______________________________________com - mand skip controller commands______________________________________cmd0 * master resetcmd1 * trigger an execution cyclecmd2 * reed setcmd3 * reed clearcmd4 * reed group clear ( rclr *) cmd5 * control reed latch data line control reeds 0 response line connect 1 connect e pole reed 2 ground e 3 stimuli f 4 ground g 5 not assignedcmd6 * mode latch # 1 data line mode latch # 1 0 dut - reed 1 dut + reed 2 dut + 5v supply relay 3 dut + rv supply relay 4 not assigned 5 not assignedcmd7 * mode latch # 2 data line mode latch # 2 0 count */ high * reg . select 1 baor * 2 ext clock select * 3 not assigned 4 not assigned 5 not assignedcmd8 * shift result registerscmd9 * program data transfercmd10 * mg & amp ; ra & amp ; rg latchcmd11 * threshold voltage latchcmd12 * clock division latchcmd13 * esync setcmd14 * mem writecmd15 * clear esync memorycmd16 * not assignedcmd17 * not assignedcmd18 * pica busy setcmd19 * pica busy resetcmd20 * interupt enablecmd21 * interupt disable cmd22 * ## str1 ## cmd23 * x relay master clear ( mclr ) cmd24 * not assignedcmd25 * not assignedcmd26 * not assignedcmd27 * not assignedcmd28 * not assignedcmd29 * not assignedcmd30 * not assignedcmd31 * not assigned______________________________________ in order to accommodate the various logic voltage levels used by different dut &# 39 ; s , test controller 104 , in response to input data from cpu 100 , generates a negative threshold voltage , (-) threshold , of a value somewhere between the logic low and logic high for that family of integrated circuits . this threshold voltage is summed with signals from the dut to generate a voltage that is applied as an input to a comparator . when the dut signal is equal to a positive threshold voltage , the summed voltage will be zero . a more detailed discussion of the summing circuits will be given below in the discussion of the response line interface 720 . the signal (-) threshold is generated when system command cmd18 * strobes an 8 - bit digital word from the cpu 100 into threshold voltage latch 700 . the output of latch 700 is inputted to digital - to - analog converter 702 , which generates a negative voltage specified by the binary contents of the threshold latch 700 . the system clock which is generated by and used in the digital tester 101 circuits as the master clock is generated by master clock generator 706 . the system clocks mckl and mckl * are outputted by master clock generator 706 by dividing down an 8 mhz oscillator clock signal from internal oscillator 708 in a divide - by - n counter . the vlaue of n is specified by the contents of divide - by - n counter latch 704 . system command cmd12 * strobes an 8 - bit data word ( n ) from cpu 100 into latch 704 to program the divide - by - n counter . oscillator 708 also provides a 2 mhz oscillator clock signal for use by the pin memory data transfer controller 200 ( see fig4 ). when an external clock other than the 8 mhz internal clock is to be used , ext clock select * is asserted to control master clock generator 706 to select the ext clock input as the source of the clock signal to the divide - by - n counter . interface circuit between the tester 101 and dut signal levels of the same design that are discussed below for the response line interface 720 are used to interface the ext clock signal into the master clock generator 706 . still referring to fig7 ( a ), start test cycle generator 714 , in association with the listen enable generator 712 , controls the starting and stopping of the test cycle in which the digital test signals are generated and the response line signal monitored by the functional tester 106 . responding to start test cycle generator 714 , listen enable generator 712 also generates a listen enable signal listen * that is inputted to the functional tester 106 to allow the functional tester 106 to examine the response line signal 128 when the listen enable signal is true . fig8 illustrates the circuit diagram for start test cycle generator 714 and the listen enable generator 712 . start test cycle generator 714 generates the signal start cycle * to indicate the beginning of a test cycle . upon the issuance of the system command cmd1 *, flip - flop 800 is clocked by mckl a logic 1 thus enabling one input of nand gate 814 . because the q output of flip - flop 800 was at a logic 0 prior to the issuance of cmd1 *, the q * output of flip - flop 802 is at a logic 1 when cmd1 * is asserted . this signal is inputted to nand gate 814 as well as the q output of flip - flop 800 so that on the occurence of a logic 1 on the q output of flip - flop 800 , the output of nand gate 814 asserts start cycle *. one mckl cycle later , flip - flop 802 is clocked to a logic zero causing the output of nand gate 814 to switch back to a logic one . thus , start cycle * is asserted for one clock cycle of mckl . following the assertion of start cycle *, dclr * goes true to indicate that a test cycle is occurring . the q output of flip - flop 802 is dclr * which assumes a logic 1 state during a test cycle . a test cycle will continue as long as flip - flop 802 is at a logic one . the three signals start cycle *, dclr * and its inverse dclr are used throughout the digital tester 101 to enable and disable the various functions that are performed . the listen enable generator 712 , as shown in fig8 determines the length of the test cycle and generates a listen enable signal listen * that enables the functional tester 106 to monitor and test the response signal 128 during a test cycle . listen * will be enabled from the first occurrence of a selected pin memory address , although it may not actually be asserted at that time . further conditions must also occur before listen * will be asserted . to better understand the function of listen enable generator 712 , refer to fig1 , which illustrates the timing diagram for five possible digital test signals that are members of the set of digital test signals . each transition in the illustrated waveforms of fig1 occurs when the pin memory address for that test signal occurs ( see fig3 ). thus , a transition in f 3 occurs when the address &# 34 ; 3 &# 34 ; occurs . the listen enable generator 712 generates listen * during the time that two preselected test signals are at a logic one and that a first preselected pin memory address has occurred and that a second preselected pin memory address has not . in other words , listen * can occur between the first occurrence of two pin memory addresses but will not be asserted until two other test signals are simultaneously in a logic one state . for example , fig1 illustrates the generation of listen * that is enabled between address 1 and address 4 with the added conditions that f 2 and f 3 are at a logic one . the signal listen * is generated as follows : listen enable generator 712 , as shown in fig8 has a 16 × 4 bit memory 804 which is similar to the memories 214 in pin memory 112 ( see fig2 ( b )). inputted to memory 804 are the pin memory address signals ma0 through ma3 . these address signals , as previously discussed , are generated both during the test cycle and also during the initialization of the digital tester 101 . also inputted to memory 804 are write enable and data input lines from cpu 100 . during the initialization of the digital tester 101 , data on the data lines md4 * through md7 * are strobed into memory 804 by asserting bit 7 of port # 1 while the pin memories 112 are being programmed . during the test cycle , the contents of memory 804 are outputted to flip - flops 806 , 808 , 810 and 812 under control of the gray code pinmemory address that are used by memories 214 to generate the digital test signals for the test pins . the j and f inputs to flip - flops 806 , 808 and 810 are connected to one of the four output bits from memory 804 . the j and k inputs to flip - flop 812 is connected to the output from and gate 816 that has as one of its two inputs , the last of the four bits from memory 804 . this bit is enabled through and gate 816 by the signal init complete ( see fig5 ) from the test signal address generator 202 . init complete goes true at the end of the initialization and preset portion of the test cycle . the signal init complete is used to prevent the addresses which occur during the initialization and preset portion of the test cycle from terminating the test cycle should those addresses be used in the generation of listen *. the q outputs from flip - flop 806 and 808 are inputted to four input and gate 826 whose output is the signal listen *. the function of flip - flop 806 is to enable one input to and gate 826 when the first occurrence of a pin memory address occurs thereby signifying that one of the possible gray code signals has gone to a logic one . the function of flip - flop 808 is the same as 806 . the q output from set - reset flip - flops 820 and 822 are inputted as the two remaining inputs to and gate 826 . flip - flop 820 is set when flip - flop 810 is clocked to a logic one and flip - flop 822 is reset ( flip - flop 822 was set at the start of the test cycle by dclr *) by the q output of flip - flop 812 through nand gate 824 which was enabled by the q output of flip - flop 820 after flip - flop 820 has been set . in operation , the memory 804 is programmed with logic one &# 39 ; s in the appropriate memory locations so that on the occurrence of the pin memory address , during a test cycle , that are selected to start and stop the generation of the signal listen * during a logic high of any two gray code signals , a logic one will be outputted to flip - flops 806 , 808 , 810 and 812 . when flip - flops 806 , 808 and 810 have been set , listen * will be asserted . when flip - flop 812 is set , listen * will go false terminating the enable signal to the functional tester 106 and the test cycle will be terminated . the q output of flip - flop 822 , which is reset when flip - flop 812 is set , is the signal stop cycle which is inputted to the start test cycle generator 714 to terminate the test cycle . now turning to fig7 ( a ), functional tester 106 is shown , composed of response interface 720 responding to the response signal input 128 and the (-) threshold voltage to generate the response signal rdata . also associated with the output of response line interface 720 is an analog - to - digital converter 722 , for converting the analog response line signal 128 to an 8 bit digital reresentation . the output of analog - to - digital converter 722 is inputted to cpu 100 through one of the input ports of i / o ports 102 when the analog voltage of the response line is desired . functional tester 106 , in addition to the analog - to - digital converter test , performs three other tests . first , the crc function tester 724 monitors a bit stream of 1 &# 39 ; s and 0 &# 39 ; s on rdata , to generate a compact digital code representing the length and character of the bit stream . second and third the count and high function tester 726 counts the number of transistions that occurred in rdata during the test cycle for a count test , while the high test counts the number of system clocks mckl that occur during the logic high periods of the response signal rdata . referring now to fig9 which illustrates the circuit diagram of the functional tester 106 , the response line signal 128 is shown inputted to buffer amplifier 902 through series resistor 900 . the input voltage to buffer 902 is diode limited between + 15 volts and analog ground by diodes d 1 and d 2 . the output of buffer amplifier 902 is inputtedto resistor 905 and to the analog - to - digital converter 722 . the output of buffer amplifier 902 is summed with the (-) threshold voltage generated by the digital - to - analog converter 702 ( see fig7 ( a )), to form the input voltage to comparator 906 . resistors 904 and 905 , which are both connected to the input of comparator 906 , comprise the summing network which adds the (-) threshold voltage to the output of buffer 902 . diodes d 3 and d 4 are connected , in parallel but opposite directions , from the input of comparator 906 to analog ground . with this configuration , d4 limits positive voltages while d3 limits negative voltages . in this way , the input voltage to comparator 906 is limited to voltages of a plus or minus one diode drop about the mid - point of the expected response signal swing of the response line 128 . the output of comparator 906 is the signal rdata , which is inputted to the crc 724 and count and high 726 function testers . as shown in fig9 crc function tester 724 uses a crc generator / checker , such as that manufactured by fairchild semiconductor model 9401 , described in their 1976 catalog entitled &# 34 ; micro - logic &# 34 ;, which catalog is incorporated herein for all purposes . this device generates a cyclic redundancy check code on the signal rdata . the system clock mckl , when not inhibited by listen *, clocks crc generator 724 through nand gates 908 and nor gate 910 . at the completion of the test cycle , the contents of the crc generator 724 are clocked into cpu 100 with the assertion of the command cmd8 *. each assertion of cmd8 * clocks 1 bit of the cyclic redundancy check code into the cpu 100 . as discussed above , the count and high function tester 726 either counts the number of transitionsin rdata during the test cycle or counts the number of system clocks during the test cycle when rdata was true . when the functional test count is true , a cascaded connection of bcd counters 934 , 936 , 938 and 940 count the number of positive transitions of the response signal rdata that occurred during the test cycle . the signal count * is anded with the signal rdata through and gate 930 to generate the clock signal for the bcd counters . when the inhibit signal listen * goes false , the bcd counters are allowed to count . in a similar manner , for the functional test high , nand gate 932 generates a clock signal to the bcd counters from the system clock mckl when the signal rdata is true . at the completion of both the count and high functional test , the contents of the bcd counters are multiplexed onto a single line and inputted to cpu 100 . this multiplexing is accomplished by binary counter 914 and the one - of - four decoders 916 and 918 . the outputs from each of the bcd counters are selectively enabled by a select line for each counter . the common outputs from each of the counters may be bussed together , so that only the output of the bcd counter selected will be presented to the bus . system command cmd8 * is counted by counter 914 , which outputs a 4 bit digital code in which the two lower order bits are inputted to one - of - four decoder 916 , to generate four enable signals . the two upper bits are inputted to one - of - four encoder 918 to generate four select signals . the enable signals are inputted to multiplexer nand gates 920 , 922 , 924 and 926 . the bussed output of each of the bcd counters is inputted as the other input to each of these multiplexer nand gates . the outputs of the multiplexer nand 920 , 922 , 924 and 926 are connected together to form the single output signal count and high result , which is inputted to the cpu 100 via an input port of i / o ports 102 . these multiplexing circuits function so that each assertion cmd8 * causes each succeeding output from the four cascaded bcd counters 934 , 936 , 938 and 940 to be sequentially multiplexed onto the count and high result signal line . when the results from the functional tester 106 have been inputted to the cpu 100 , routines will be executed to compare the measured result to a result that would be expected from a properly functioning dut . based on this comparison , a determination is made as to how the dut performed . in describing the invention , reference has been made to a preferred embodiment . however , those skilled in the art and familiar with the disclosure of the invention may recognize additions , deletions , substitutions or other modifications which would fall within the purview of the invention as defined in the appended claims .
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a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be explained based on the drawings provided . the adhesive applicator b of the present invention will be explained first with reference to fig1 to 4 . fig1 a to c are explanatory views of a configuration of the adhesive container that stores solid adhesive ; fig1 b and 1c are sectional views thereof . fig2 is a block diagram of a configuration of a temperature control means that heats and melts adhesive . fig3 is a flowchart showing the actions of the temperature control means . fig4 is a chart showing fluctuations in adhesive temperature . in fig1 b , a solid adhesive filling chamber ( hereinafter referred to as a filler chamber ) 10 b and an application adhesive tank ( hereinafter referred to as a liquid tank ) 10 a are separated by a wall 10 c in a container 10 that holds adhesive . communicating holes are provided in the wall 10 c to allow adhesive that has become liquefied in the filler chamber 10 b to flow into the liquid tank 10 a . the container 10 is composed of a tub - shaped tray having this filler chamber 10 b and liquid tank 10 a , and is either formed with a metal having high thermal conductivity properties or it has a thermally conductive plate laid at the bottom of the container after forming it of a plastic material that has superior forming characteristics . an applicator roller 30 is rotatably supported on a bearing inside the liquid tank 10 a . this applicator roller 30 is formed by a heat - resistant rubber material that has superior impregnating ability , and is arranged so that an upper half thereof projects upward of the liquid tank 10 a , and a bottom half dips inside of the liquid tank 10 a . the rotation of the applicator roller 30 dips the bottom half of the roller into liquefied adhesive , and the upper half that projects upward applies the adhesive to the sheet bundle . a rotating shaft 31 of the applicator roller 30 is longitudinally arranged at the filler chamber 10 b via communication holes , and a stirring gear 32 that stirs the adhesive in the filler chamber 10 b is mounted to this rotating shaft 31 . a stirring motor m 1 that is capable of both forward and reverse rotation is connected to this rotating shaft 31 . therefore , the rotational drive of the stirring motor m 1 rotates the applicator roller 30 and the stirring gear 32 so the applicator roller 30 stirs the adhesive inside the liquid tank 10 a and the stirring gear 32 stirs the adhesive in the filler chamber 10 b . therefore , the stirring gear 32 and applicator roller 30 compose a stirring rotor , and the stirring motor m 1 composes their drive means . 10 d in the drawings is an adhesive liquid storage unit . this forms a basin for supplying adhesive to the applicator roller 30 at a stable temperature without the adhesive becoming insufficient . a liquid temperature sensor 22 a is provided to detect a temperature of liquefied adhesive in the adhesive liquid storage unit 10 d . this liquid temperature sensor 22 a is composed of a bar - shaped thermistor and is arranged at the adhesive liquid storage unit 10 d separated from the applicator roller 30 . this thermistor is composed of a sintered fine - ceramic semiconductor heat - sensitive element made of several types of transition metal oxides such as mn , co , ni , fe and cu . the liquid temperature sensor 22 a shown in the drawing detects the liquid surface ( the remaining amount of adhesive ) of the adhesive at the same time as detecting the temperature . specifically , this determines the liquid amount from the temperature changes using the liquid surface of the adhesive heated to a temperature higher than room temperature , and detects the residual amount of the adhesive . in that case , the liquid temperature sensor 22 a is arranged at the adhesive liquid storage unit 10 d separated from the applicator roller 30 so that the detection of the liquid surface is unaffected by the rotation of the applicator roller 30 . also , the symbol 34 in the drawings is the control bar . this is arranged along a circumference of the applicator roller 30 in a machine direction of the container , and at a predetermined distance along the circumference of the applicator roller 30 to apply adhesive uniformly to the circumference of the roller . this control bar 34 adjusts the gap with the roller according to the position of the sheet bundle . in the drawings the symbol 36 is a plate - shaped blade arranged to form a predetermined distance ( doctor gap ) to the circumference of the applicator roller 30 to sweep away excess adhesive adhering to the roller circumference . heating means consisting of an electric heater 20 is equipped on such a container 10 . this electric heater 20 is built into the bottom side of the liquid tank 10 a of the container 10 . it is acceptable to arrange the electric heater 20 on either the liquid tank 10 a or the filler chamber 10 b , or on both . in the drawings the filler chamber 10 b and liquid tank 10 a are separated by a wall to prevent the temperature of the adhesive saturated on the applicator roller 30 from dropping when solid adhesive is filled . it is acceptable to preheat the solid adhesive by arrange an electric heater inside the filler chamber 10 b . the following will explain the control of the heating means ( electric heater 20 ) arranged inside the liquid tank 10 a . the liquid temperature sensor 22 a , and a heater unit temperature sensor 22 b that detects the temperature of the container heater unit are arranged in the container explained above . also , an error temperature detection sensor , not shown , is provided in the container 10 . the liquid temperature sensor 22 a directly detects the adhesive temperature inside the container 10 as described above , and the heater unit temperature sensor 22 b is arranged to detect the temperature of the container heater unit when the container 10 temperature is raised by the electric heater ( embedded in the liquid tank 10 a ) embedded in the container 10 . the error temperature detection sensor is arranged , for example , in the container 10 and executes safety measures such as turning off the heater electricity when it detects that the adhesive and container are overheated . these sensors are each connected to a control cpu 26 ( see fig2 ). this control cpu 26 is prepared as a controller of the bookbinding apparatus a , described below , or the adhesive applicator b . it is recorded with a heating control execution program ( for example rom 28 ) as shown in fig2 . also , data ( for example , a target temperature that sets the charging current value , charging times , and a timing setting time ) for executing the heating mode , described below , are prepared in a data table 29 . electric power ( direct current electric power ) 21 and a pulse generator 23 are connected to the electric heater 20 arranged at the container 10 , and this pulse generator is controlled by the temperature control means composed of the control cpu 26 . therefore , a pulse current that corresponds to a command signal from the temperature control means ( control cpu ) 26 is supplied to the electric heater 20 . an electric circuit 24 equipped with the pulse generator 23 is composed of a pwm ( pulse width modulation ) control circuit and is configured to change the voltage by varying the pulse width of the power by a command signal from the control cpu 26 . with this configuration , the heating means ( electric heater 20 ) is controlled to generate heat in the following three heating modes . power to the bookbinding apparatus a is turned on , and when a temperature control starting command is issued , the adhesive applicator b receives this command . then , the adhesive applicator b first detects the adhesive temperature in the container 10 . this adhesive temperature is detected by using either the liquid temperature sensor 22 a or the heating unit temperature sensor 22 b . ( when the apparatus is started up normally , they are both the same temperature .) as shown in fig3 , the heating means 20 is controlled in the following way by the temperature control means ( control cpu ) 26 when the adhesive temperature is at a first setting temperature range ( less than 70 ° c . in the drawings ) for the first mode ; when the adhesive temperature is at a second setting temperature range ( between 70 ° c . and 99 ° c . in the drawings ) for the second mode ; and when the adhesive temperature is at a third setting temperature range ( between 100 ° c . and 131 ° c . in the drawings ) for the third mode . the following will explain temperature control for the apparatus shown in the drawings , presuming the adhesive temperature is not above 130 ° c . when the temperature control command is issued , and that the melting point of the adhesive is 70 ° c . and the adhesive temperature at the optimum condition to apply to sheets is 150 ° c . the first heating mode is composed of the following primary heating step and secondary heating step . electric power is supplied to the heating means 20 at full power until the heating unit temperature sensor 22 b reaches 90 ° c . full power means to supply electric power at maximum output ( 251 watts ) of the tolerance of the electric circuit mentioned above . the pulse current supplied from the pulse generator 23 , explained above , to the electric heater 20 is adjusted by command from the temperature control means ( control cpu ) 26 when heating at full power . when the heating unit temperature sensor 22 b equipped at the container 10 , detects the container temperature to be 90 ° c ., the target temperature is set to 170 ° c ., and electric power that corresponds to that target temperature is applied to the electric heater 20 . when the heating unit temperature sensor 22 b detects the container temperature to be 120 ° c ., the target temperature is set to 150 ° c . after a delay time ta 1 ( 270 seconds ) after this detection signal , and electric power that corresponds to this target temperature is applied to the electric heater 20 . note that the temperature of 150 ° c . is the final temperature setting to adjust the final temperature of the adhesive . at the same time as that temperature adjustment , the applicator roller 30 is rotated by the stirring motor m 1 . the rotation of the applicator roller 30 stirs the adhesive whose temperature has risen to the melting point in the liquid tank 10 a of the container 10 . when the heating unit temperature sensor 22 b detects the temperature of 120 ° c ., the applicator roller 30 is rotated in the opposite direction ( reverse rotation to the application direction ) for five seconds after a delay time tb 1 ( 255 seconds ) after this detection signal . the circumference speed at this time is set to 82 . 5 mm / sec ( low speed ). the reason for causing the applicator roller 30 to rotate in reverse is to sweep away solidified adhesive on the circumference of the roller using the control bar 34 . the reason for limiting the reverse rotation to five seconds is because adhesive will overflow if rotated in that way , and the fluidity of the adhesive is better in the forward rotation than the opposite rotation . the applicator roller 30 is rotated at the low speed . when five seconds have passed , the applicator roller 30 is rotated in the forward direction at 200 mm / sec ( high speed ). after this high speed rotation is continued for 20 seconds , the applicator roller 30 is rotated in the forward direction for 30 seconds at 82 . 5 mm / sec ( low speed ). 280 seconds are required after the container temperature reaches 120 ° c . for the adhesive in the container to reach its final temperature setting of 150 ° c ., then the warming up time is ended . after this waiting time , a warming up end signal is issued . the second heating mode is composed of the following primary heating step and secondary heating step . in the same way as the first heating mode , electric power is supplied to the heating means 20 at full power until the heating unit temperature sensor 22 b reaches 90 ° c . next , when the heating unit temperature sensor 22 b equipped at the container 10 detects the container heater temperature to be 90 ° c ., the target temperature is set to 170 ° c ., and electric power that corresponds to this target temperature is applied to the electric heater 20 . when the heating unit temperature sensor 22 b detects the container heater temperature to be 120 ° c ., the target temperature is set to 150 ° c . after a delay time ta 2 ( 130 seconds ) after a detection signal , and electric power that corresponds to this target temperature is applied to the electric heater 20 . at the same time as that temperature adjustment , the applicator roller 30 is rotated by the stirring motor m 1 . the rotation of the applicator roller 30 stirs the adhesive whose temperature has risen to the melting point in the liquid tank 10 a of the container 10 . when the heating unit temperature sensor 22 b detects the temperature of 120 ° c ., the applicator roller 30 is rotated in the opposite direction ( reverse rotation to the application direction ) for five seconds after a delay time tb 2 ( 40 seconds ) after this detection signal . the circumference speed at this time is set to 82 . 5 mm / sec ( low speed ). the applicator roller 30 is rotated at the low speed . when five seconds have passed , the applicator roller 30 is rotated in the forward direction at 200 mm / sec ( high speed ). after this high speed rotation is continued for 160 seconds , the applicator roller 30 is rotated in the forward direction for 30 seconds at 82 . 5 mm / sec ( low speed ). 235 seconds are needed after the container heater unit temperature reaches 120 ° c . for the adhesive in the container 10 to reach its final temperature setting of 150 ° c ., then the warming up time is ended . after this waiting time , a warming up end signal is issued . the third heating mode is composed of the following primary heating step and secondary heating step . electric power is supplied to the heating means 20 . the power supply is set to the target temperature of 170 ° c ., and electric power that corresponds to that target temperature is applied to the electric heater 20 . when the heating unit temperature sensor 22 b detects the container heater temperature to be 120 ° c ., the target temperature is set to 150 ° c . after a delay time ta 3 ( 90 seconds ) after a detection signal , and electric power that corresponds to this target temperature is applied to the electric heater 20 . at the same time as that temperature adjustment , the applicator roller 30 is rotated by the stirring motor m 1 . the rotation of the applicator roller 30 stirs the adhesive whose temperature has risen to the melting point in the liquid tank 10 a of the container 10 . when the heating unit temperature sensor 22 b detects the temperature of 120 ° c ., the applicator roller 30 is rotated in the opposite direction ( reverse rotation to the application direction ) for five seconds after a delay time tb 3 ( 20 seconds ) after this detection signal . the circumference speed at this time is set to 82 . 5 mm / sec ( low speed ). the applicator roller 30 is rotated at the low speed . when five seconds have passed , the applicator roller 30 is rotated in the forward direction at 200 mm / sec ( high speed ). after this high speed rotation is continued for 130 seconds , the applicator roller 30 is rotated in the forward direction for 30 seconds at 82 . 5 mm / sec ( low speed ). 185 seconds are needed after the container heater unit temperature reaches 120 ° c . for the adhesive in the container 10 to reach its final temperature setting of 150 ° c ., then the warming up time is ended . after this waiting time , a warming up end signal is issued . the temperature settings of 90 ° c . and 120 ° c . in each of the first to the third heating modes are set with consideration to the following . first , the temperatures settings near the electric heater , and adhesive near to and far from this heater are different . particularly , the temperature distribution in solid or gelatinous adhesives varies greatly because the adhesives are not convective . therefore , the differences are big because if the temperature of the heater itself is detected , the set temperature is quickly reached , and if the temperature of the adhesive itself is detected , the temperature rises slowly , and because of the amount of adhesive amount . because there are many unstable elements in detecting the temperatures of the heater and the adhesive , the temperature of the container heater arranged with a heater is detected . the temperature setting of 90 ° c . is suitable so that the adhesive temperature from the melting point ( 70 ° c . in the drawings ) does not overheat the target of 150 ° c . if this is set low , it takes time to reach the target temperature , and if it is set high , there is the possibility of exceeding the target temperature . in the same way , the temperature setting of 120 ° c . is a standard temperature for controlling at the delay time ta ( ta 1 = 270 seconds in the first heating mode ; ta 2 = 103 seconds in the second heating mode ; ta 3 = 90 seconds in the third heating mode ) found through experimentation of the heater . this temperature is not limited to 120 ° c . and can be set to any degree . these three heating modes charge electric power to the heating means as a primary heating step that corresponds to the initial temperature of the adhesive until the temperature of the container heating unit equipped with heating means 20 reaches the predetermined temperature ( set to 120 ° c . in the drawing ). after the container heating unit reaches a predetermined temperature , the second stop supplies electric power to the heating means varying the target temperature gradually after the delay time ta set by experimentation , such as by using a timer , has passed . because the adhesive temperature , container temperature ( container heating unit temperature ), and heater temperature differences and fluctuations are great due to the conditions ( desired temperature , container volume ) of the adhesive for the reasons described above , the heater is controlled according to a time set ( the ta time described above ) by experimentation after the temperature of the container heater reaches a predetermined temperature . therefore , the temperature settings of 90 ° c . and 120 ° c . must be set according to the configuration of the heating device . for example , these settings must be set according to the heater capacity . depending on the configuration , there is room for more than three settings , or to raise the set temperature . the power supply for each mode and the supply times are each set to values gained from experience and through testing . also , the primary heating step supplies electric power until the temperature of the container heater unit reaches the predetermined temperature , and the secondary step supplies predetermined amount of electric power for a preset amount of time . fig4 a , 4 b , and 4 c show fluctuations in adhesive temperature over time in the heating modes described above . in fig4 a , the initial temperature of the adhesive is 23 ° c . this shows the temperature fluctuation when controlling heat with the first heating mode . la in the drawing is the temperature of the ambient air ; lc is the adhesive temperature of the liquid detection sensor ; ld is the adhesive temperature at the applicator roller position ; le is the applied electric power of the electric heater . in these charts , ld represents values of adhesive temperature on the applicator roller 30 measured by a special temperature sensor equipped on an experimental device . the charged electric power is shown with the duty value of the pulse power . note that these conditions are the same in the charts . as is clear from the chart of fig4 a , the charged electric power le is supplied at a time axis ( x axis ) shown in the drawings with full power le 1 ; electric power le 2 is applied that is equivalent to the target temperature of 170 ° c . ; and electric power le 3 is applied that is equivalent to the target temperature of 150 ° c . the temperatures of the container heating units at this time are controlled to 170 ° c . and 150 ° c . while maintaining a timed delay . the adhesive temperature lc of the liquid temperature sensor 22 a reaches the target temperature of 150 ° c . parabolically , and the adhesive temperature ld of the applicator roller quickly reaches the target temperature from an intended temperature . next , fig4 b shows the temperature fluctuations when temperature is controlled by the second heating mode , described above , if the initial adhesive temperature is 70 ° c . the symbols la , lb , lc and ld are the same as described above , but different from fig4 a , the adhesive temperature of the applicator roller 30 quickly rises from the initial temperature and stabilizes at 150 ° c . after slightly exceeding the target temperature of 150 ° c . in the same way , in fig4 c , the initial temperature of the adhesive is 101 ° c ., and this drawing shows the temperature fluctuations when controlling heat with the third heating mode . the following will explain the bookbinding apparatus with the adhesive applicator described above is incorporated . fig5 is an explanatory drawing of the bookbinding apparatus a and an overall configuration of an image forming system equipped with the same . the adhesive applicator b is incorporated into this bookbinding apparatus a . fig6 is an explanatory drawing of the essential portions of the bookbinding apparatus a . as shown in fig5 , the image forming system is composed of a printing apparatus c , and the bookbinding apparatus a that binds printed sheets from the printing apparatus c into booklets , and a stacking apparatus d that conveys and stores printed sheets that will not be formed into a book , is equipped on the bookbinding apparatus a . this printing apparatus c is composed of a known structure of a printer or copier . shown in the drawings , a predetermined sheet is fed from a cassette provided at a paper feeding unit 40 , and a printing drum 41 for example prints to the sheet . a fixer 42 fixes the image by applying heat , and the sheet is sequentially conveyed out of the apparatus from a discharge outlet 43 . the printing drum 41 in the drawing is a photoreceptor drum . the drawing shows an electrostatic printing method that forms an electrostatic latent image on the drum surface by a laser transmitter , then transfers that to the sheet . a variety of printing methods such as silk screen printing or ink jet printing can also be employed . next , the bookbinding apparatus a aligns printed sheets sequentially discharged from the discharge outlet 43 at a stacking tray 44 for a predetermined number of sheets . the symbol 45 in the drawing is a sheet conveyance - in path that guides printed sheets from the discharge outlet 43 to the stacking tray 44 . a sheet bundle aligned and organized on the stacking tray 44 is conveyed to an adhesive application position e ( see the arrow in fig6 ) by gripping conveyance means 46 . particularly , shown in the drawing , the stacking tray 44 is arranged in a substantially horizontal posture , and a bookbinding path 47 where the gripping conveyance means 46 moves the sheet bundle is arranged in a substantially vertical direction . the gripping conveyance means 46 grip a sheet bundle with gripping means on the front and backsides , and turn the sheet bundle first from a horizontal posture to a vertical posture , then conveys the sheet bundle in the bookbinding path 47 in a vertical direction . also , a cover sheet conveyance path 48 that feeds a cover sheet is branchingly connected at this sheet conveyance path 45 . a sheet conveyance out path 49 is connected to this cover sheet conveyance path 48 . specifically , printed sheets from the discharge outlet 43 of the printing apparatus c are fed from the sheet conveyance in path 45 to the stacking tray 44 , and a cover sheet conveyed out from the discharge outlet 43 is supplied to the cover sheet conveyance path 48 that branches from there . at the same time , printed sheets that will not undergo the bookbinding process are conveyed through the bookbinding apparatus a to the stacker apparatus d from the sheet conveyance out path 49 from the discharge outlet 43 via the sheet conveyance in path 45 and the cover sheet conveyance path 48 . the bookbinding path 47 and the cover sheet conveyance path 48 are arranged to mutually intersect . the sheet bundle conveyed from the bookbinding path 47 , and the cover sheet conveyed from the cover sheet conveyance path 48 are joined at the intersection f ( see the arrow in fig6 ). in other words , the cover sheet hs is conveyingly supplied so that a center line matches an intersecting point at the intersection f , and the sheet bundle is aligned at an upside - down - t shape looking from the bookbinding path 47 intersecting thereto . the sheet bundle is then bound with the cover sheet by folding rollers arranged at a downstream side of the intersection f in the bookbinding path 47 . the adhesive applicator b is incorporated as a unit upstream of the intersection f of the bookbinding path 47 . the sheet bundle gripped by the gripping conveyance means 46 and held at an upright posture at the adhesive application position e is applied with a predetermined amount of adhesive ( glue ) at a bottom edge . the container 10 explained in relation to fig1 to 4 is arranged to move along the bottom edge of the sheet in the adhesive applicator b . the container 10 equipped with the adhesive heating means has the aforementioned configuration . therefore an explanation thereof will be omitted . the container 10 is supported to move on a guide rail along a length direction of the sheet bundle held by the gripping conveyance means 46 , and is reciprocatingly moved by a reciprocating motor m 2 . in this way , the container 10 is supported to move in a length direction ( a direction perpendicular to the bundle thickness ) along the backside of the sheet bundle , and is reciprocatingly moved by a reciprocating motor m 2 . at that time , the applicator roller 30 of the container 10 is rotated by the stirring motor m 1 in a predetermined direction , for example a moving direction of the container and an opposite direction . when it is rotated , the adhesive impregnated on the applicator roller 30 is applied to the back of the sheet bundle . after the application process is completed , the container 10 retracts to the outside from the conveyance path . the solid adhesive is supplied to the filler chamber 10 b from a hopper 38 shown in fig1 b according to the liquid amount . on the other hand , the sheet bundle applied with adhesive is sent to the intersection f by the gripping conveyance means 46 , and joined to the covers sheet hs supplied from the cover sheet conveyance path 48 . after two are joined , the sheet bundle is bound into a booklet by the folding rollers 53 , and if required , a cutting unit 50 arranged at a downstream side of the folding rollers 53 can cut the peripheral edges . the sheet bundle bound with the cover sheet in this way is then stacked and stored in the booklet sheet storing stacker 51 . note that the cover sheet hs in the embodiment can be printed with a title , etc ., at the printing apparatus c and then conveyed out in the same way from the discharge outlet 43 , but it is also acceptable to provide an inserter between the printing apparatus c and the bookbinding apparatus a to supply the cover sheet hs from the inserter to the sheet conveyance in path 45 . the inserter apparatus can also be composed of a one or a plurality of stacking trays , kick rollers for separating sheets on a tray to single sheets , and of feeding paths that lead sheets from the kick rollers to the sheet conveyance in path 45 . also , the stacker apparatus d is composed of a discharge tray that sequentially stacks and stores sheets conveyed out from the conveyance outlet 52 of the sheet conveyance out path 49 connected the cover sheet conveyance path 48 . in this apparatus , it is acceptable to provide a finishing unit that finishes sheets from the conveyance outlet 52 by stapling , punching holes or by applying a mark . any known mechanism can be applied as the finishing unit . this application claims priority rights from japanese pat . app . no . 2006 - 40077 , which is herein incorporated by reference . only selected embodiments have been chosen to illustrate the present invention . to those skilled in the art , however , it will be apparent from the foregoing disclosure that various changes and modifications can be made herein without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims . furthermore , the foregoing description of the embodiments according to the present invention is provided for illustration only , and not for limiting the invention as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents .
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fig1 shows a frame 100 according to the present invention . the frame 100 is comprised of two substantially triangular assemblies . a first substantially triangular assembly 134 is defined by a head tube 102 , a top tube 104 , a down tube 106 and a seat tube 110 along with a bottom bracket 108 situated at or near the junction of the down tube 106 with the seat tube 110 . the first substantially triangular assembly 134 involves connection of the top tube 104 and the down tube 106 to the head tube 102 , and this junction is referred to as a first intersection 112 . the top tube 104 and the down tube 106 may connect to the head tube 102 directly adjacent to one another or they may be spaced some distance apart . if they are spaced some distance apart , the frame component defined thereby is not strictly speaking a triangle , but it is a substantially triangular assembly . further , the joinder of the tubes , usually by some kind of welding , may result in some curvature of their intersection making the shape not , strictly speaking triangular . the seat tube 110 and the down tube 106 meet at or near the bottom bracket 108 , and this intersection point is referenced as the second intersection 114 . the bottom bracket 108 is the component through which pedals pass and which bear the torque force associated with their operation . the seat tube 110 extending upwardly from the bottom bracket 108 engages the top tube 104 at a third intersection 116 . the foregoing components form the first substantially triangular assembly 134 . a second substantially triangular assembly 136 is defined by the seat tube 110 , the lower chain stays 120 , and the seat stays 118 . the pairs of lower chain stays 120 and seat stays 118 each pass on either side of a rear tire of a bicycle disposed therebetween . the lower chain stay 120 and the seat tube 110 meet at the second intersection 114 at or near the bottom bracket 108 . the seat tube 110 and the seat stays 118 meet at a third intersection 116 adjacent to where the top tube 104 meets the seat tube 110 . the seat stays 118 and the lower chain stays 120 meet at the drop outs 132 . the drop outs 132 are adapted to receive the rear tire of the bicycle . together the lower chain stay 120 , the seat tube 110 and the seat stays 118 form a second substantially triangular assembly 136 . the triangle may not be perfect shape because the drop outs 132 may have various configurations which make the shape again not strictly speaking a triangle . a second set of chain stays , referred to as upper chain stays 124 are shown . they are disposed inside of the second substantially triangular assembly 136 . at one end the upper chain stays 124 engage the drop outs 132 , and at the other end they engage at least one of the following bicycle frame components : the seat tube 110 , the bottom bracket 108 , and the down tube 106 . in preferred embodiment all three of those components are engaged by the upper chain stays 124 at the second intersection 114 . the first attachment point 126 connects the upper chain stays 124 to the down tube 106 . the second attachment point 128 attaches the upper chain stays 124 to the bottom bracket 108 , and the third attachment point 130 attaches the upper chain stays 124 to the seat tube 110 . one or more of the attachment points may not be provided in a configuration , but they are preferably all provided to provide maximum stability to the frame 100 . fig2 shows the attachment of the upper chain stays 124 and the lower chain stays 120 in greater detail . the area shown in detail in fig2 is the second intersection 114 . at the second intersection 114 the down tube 106 , the bottom bracket 108 , and the seat tube 110 meet , and those components can be seen in fig2 . since it is a closer view , the pedal threads 202 can also be seen . also , since fig2 is in perspective , both upper chain stays 124 a and 124 b can be seen as can both lower chain stays 120 a and 120 b . three upper chain stay attachment points can be seen : ( a ) a first upper chain stay attachment point 204 , which is where the upper chain stay 124 a is affixed to the down tube 106 ; ( b ) as second upper chain stay attachment point 206 , which is where the upper chain stay 124 a is affixed to the bottom bracket 108 ; and ( c ) a third upper chain stay attachment point 208 , which is where the upper chain stay 124 a is affixed to the seat tube 110 . also , the lower chain stay attachment point 210 can be seen , which is where the lower chain stay 120 a is affixed to the bottom bracket 108 . the purpose of the abstract is to enable the u . s . patent and trademark office and the public generally , and especially the scientist , engineers and practitioners in the art who are not familiar with patent or legal terms or phraseology , to determine quickly from a cursory inspection the nature and essence of the technical disclosure of the application . the abstract is neither intended to define the invention of the application which is measured by the claims , nor is it intended to be limiting as to the scope of the invention in any way . while the invention has been shown , illustrated , described and disclosed in terms of specific embodiments or modifications , the scope of the invention should not be deemed to be limited by the precise embodiments or modifications therein shown , illustrated , described or disclosed . such other embodiments or modifications are intended to be reserved especially as they fall within the scope of the claims herein appended .
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referring to the accompanying drawings in which like reference numbers indicate like elements , fig1 is a cross section of a cotton bale under compression , 10 surrounded by a guide track . the cotton bale will have a vertical first side , 12 , a vertical opposite side , 14 , a bottom side , 16 , and a top side , 18 . the baling wire , 20 , is deployed by the automatic baling machine along a path beginning with wire feeder drive ( not depicted ) first in a downward direction parallel to the first vertical bale side , 12 . the wire path is guided by the wire guide track . the wire feed drive propels the wire through a first fixed section of the wire guide track , 22 , which redirects the wire progression through curve , 24 , to a horizontal path parallel to the bottom of the cotton bale 16 . a second straight section of the wire guide track , 26 , parallels the bottom of the cotton bale 16 . in the preferred embodiment this second section of the wire guide track is positioned within a channel under a lateral slot of the lower platen ( not depicted ). in previous embodiments , the second section had moved with the moveable section of track , and exited the lower platen channels to reach a bale ejection position . this configuration still had a deleterious incidence of collision . the terminal end of the first fixed wire guide track section , 28 , is separated from the initial , wire receiving end of the lower straight wire guide track section by a gap , 30 . broken lines , 32 , within the lower straight wire guide track section indicate the track channel tapering out to the wide guide track aperture oriented to receive the progressing wire . a third , moveable section of the wire guide track , 34 , receives the wire as it exits the second , straight lower guide track section and redirects the progressing wire along a second curve , 36 , and then along straight section , 34 , in an upwards vertical direction parallel to the opposing vertical side , 14 , of the cotton bale . the third , moveable section of the wire guide track then redirects the progressing baling wire from an upwards vertical direction through curve , 38 , to a horizontal direction parallel to the top of the bale , 18 . there is a gap , 40 , between the second , straight wire guide track section , 26 , and the third wire guide track section , 34 , receiving aperture , 42 . there is another gap , 44 , between the terminal end of the third wire guide track section , 46 , and a fourth wire guide track section , 48 . the broken lines , 50 , illustrate the wide aperture of the third wire guide track section . the entire third wire guide track section is mounted on a strut assembly ( not depicted here ) which pivots in order to rotate the strut assembly and third wire track section away from the cotton bale after binding to allow the bale to be expelled . the different positions of the third wire guide track section and structure assembly are depicted and described in relation to fig4 below . the fourth wire guide track section , 48 , is straight , about equivalent in length to the width of the cotton bale and parallel to the top of the cotton bale , 18 . the fourth wire guide track section is inserted in a channel under the lateral slots of the upper platen ( not depicted ). the progressing wire exits the fourth guide track section , 48 , and is then received by an upper curved portion of the first fixed wire guide track section , 52 , which receives the wire from the fourth straight , top wire guide track section , 48 , through gap , 54 , and into wide aperture , 56 , and then redirects the wire in a downward vertical direction parallel with the cotton bales &# 39 ; first side , 12 . the wire then exits the terminal end of the upper curved portion , 58 , of the first fixed wire guide track section into a fastening header ( not depicted ). tension is placed upon the wire , drawing it out of the wire guide track and into contact with the bale . a space , 60 , exists between the knot and the first vertical side of the bale , 12 . tensioning pins , 62 and 64 , are actuated by solenoids ( not show ) to extend into the plane of the bale wire loop , to prevent sharp bends in the wire , and maintain the proper length of the wire . the fastener automatically ties the leading end of the wire to the terminal end of the wire at knot , 66 . after the ends of the wire have been knotted , the tensioning pins , 62 and 64 , retract , the pressure on the cotton bale is released , and the consequent expansion of the bale draws the baling wire , 20 , tight , eliminating space , 60 . fig2 illustrates the cotton bale compression apparatus , 110 . bulk fibrous material operations , such as cotton gins , typically compress material in a vertical direction . the bulk fibrous material is first restrained from horizontal expansion within a compartment or “ box ,” 112 , shown by broken lines . this process forms a predetermined volume and / or weight of material into a rectangular form in a compression area either above or below the baling area . the formed but unbound bale of material is then moved to a baling station , 114 , which movement is typically vertical . it is intended that all matter contained in this description and these illustrations shall be interpreted as illustrative rather than limiting . thus , although typical fibrous bulk material compression operations are vertically aligned , with automatic balers being designed to work in conjunction with such configurations , the breadth and scope of the present invention should not be limited to only vertical compression systems , but would apply equally as well to horizontal or other directions of compression for fibrous bulk materials or other bulk materials . fig2 depicts a fixed upper shaft , 116 , maintaining the position of an upper following block , 118 , to which is attached an upper platen , 120 . the upper platen arrests the upper progress of a bale of material , 122 , and holds it during compression . a lower compression piston , 124 , drives in an upward direction from the rectangular compression compartment a lower following block , 126 , to which is attached a lower platen , 128 , upon which rides the rectangular shaped , predetermined weight or volume of fibrous material , 122 . the fibrous material , having been compressed once already in the compression compartment will , upon admission t the bale forming station ( depicted below in fig4 ) expand at first . the lower piston drives the fibrous material rectangle against the upper platen , 120 , whereupon the material is compressed a second time into predetermined dimensions . when the predetermined dimensions are reached , the lower compression piston stops and the following blocks and platens hold the compressed bale of fibrous material in position for the automatic baler machine to wrap the wire around the bale and tie the wire . lateral slots in the upper platen , ( not shown ), allow for release of baling wire from a guide track to contact the bale . lateral channels , 130 aligned with and behind the lateral slots allow insertion of wire guide track sections . in the preferred embodiment the guide track inserted into the lateral channels in the upper following block platen , 120 , would be the fourth independent segment of the guide track ( 48 in fig1 ). likewise , the lateral slots , ( not shown ), of the lower platen , 128 , allow for release of baling wire from the wire guide track to contact the bale . the wire guide track inserted below the lateral slots of the lower platen is the second independent section of the wire guide track ( 26 in fig1 ), in the preferred embodiment . fig3 is an oblique view of a following block , 210 , and platen , 212 , showing in greater detail the structure of the lateral slots , 214 , and channels , 216 . fig3 illustrates the lateral channels &# 39 ; structure designed to receive the wire guide track . fig3 also depicts the platen faces , 218 , which come into contact with the compressed bulk fibrous material . on the platen faces can be seen the lateral slots , 214 , through which the baling wire passes upon being released by the wire guide track ( not depicted ) inserted in the channels . fig4 illustrates a side view of the preferred embodiment of an automatic baler incorporating the present invention . the bale forming and binding apparatus , 310 , has two positions ; the solid lines illustrate a first position wherein a moveable wire guide track section support strut assembly , 328 , complete the wire guide track trajectory when the binding operation is occurring ; and the broken lines illustrate a second position wherein the moveable wire guide track support strut assembly is in a second position , 328 a . the second position allows ejection of the bale from the bale forming station , 346 . a floor plate , 312 , supports vertical support stands , 314 , on either side of the bale - forming and binding station , 346 . a binding assembly carriage , 318 , is borne by stands , 314 . the base extension , 320 of the carriage , 318 , carries the fixed tying heads , 340 , and attached fixed first section of the wire guide track , 22 . in the depicted embodiment , the carriage , 318 , translates in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the drawing along an overhead track , 322 , attached to the upper rear extent of the stands , 314 , whose motion is controlled by drive , 324 . typically bulk fibrous material bales are bound with six baling wires . the depicted embodiment of the present invention has three wire guide tracks . the carriage translates in order that the three wire guide tracks may bind an individual bale six times by tying a first set of three wires , then translating , and tying a second set of three wires . in alternative embodiments of the present invention , the automatic baling machine carriage may contain six wire guide tracks , and thus not require translation in normal operation . extending from the upper forward extent of the stands , 314 , are a pair of pivot axis brackets , 325 , holding the pivot axes , 326 , which carry the moveable guide tracks support strut assembly , 328 . extending forward from the center of the strut assembly , 328 , is a member , 330 , pivotally connected at pin , 332 , to piston arm , 334 , which is extended and withdrawn by action of the piston , 336 . the action of the piston , 336 , may be by any means but is preferably pneumatic . the binding wire entering the apparatus , 310 , from the wire supply ( not shown ) at the wire feed drive , 341 , is directed by guide track sections 22 , 26 , 34 , 48 and 52 , from and to the fastener head , 340 , which fastens the wire into a closed loop , typically with a twist knot . the second wire guide track section , 26 , lies in the channel within the lower platen ( not shown ) attached to the lower following block ( not shown ). the fourth wire guide track section , 48 , lies in a channel within the upper platen below the upper following block ( not shown ). the lower following block is actuated to compress the bulk material ( not shown ) by compression piston ( shown in fig2 ). the third , moveable wire guide track section , 34 , is fixed to the moveable wire guide track section support strut , 328 . the positions 328 a , 34 a , show the parts , 328 , 34 , at their respective positions when the moveable guide track section is removed from the bale - forming station , 346 , for ejection of a bale . the moveable , third guide track section lower entry end , 42 , and second guide track section terminus , 364 , face one another in new cooperation when the moveable guide track section is lowered for operation . the upper fourth guide track section entry end , 366 , and moveable third guide track section terminus , 46 , face one another in near cooperation , to complete the wire guide track circuit when the wire guide track support strut , 328 , is in the first position for baling . the arcuate line , 354 , illustrates the path of motion of the lower terminus of the third moveable guide track section it transits between positions . the third moveable guide track section , 34 , has an upper curve , and a lower curve , both of approximately 90 degrees and , in a preferred embodiment , possessing radii of curvature of approximately six inches and seven inches respectively . fig5 depicts a cross sectional view of the wire guide track , 400 , construction in a closed state for the directing of the wire , 412 , about the bale . the first longitudinal half , 402 , and second longitudinal half of the track , 404 , are separable , and are shown as closed thereby forming the channel , 406 . the first longitudinal half 402 and the second longitudinal half 404 are biased together by a releasable pressure applicator ( not shown ). those skilled in the art would understand that the releasable pressure applicator may be comprised of springs , pneumatic pressure means , hydraulic pressure means , solenoids , electro - servo motors , or similar means of biasing together the two track halves . fig6 depicts a cross sectional view of the wire guide track , 400 a , construction in an open state for the releasing during fastening of a closed loop of the wire , 412 , in the direction shown by the arrow , a , towards the compressed bale ( not depicted ) from between the halves , 402 , and 404 , now separated to release the wire through the open gap , 408 , between them . grooves , 410 , combine to form the two sides of a channel , 406 , when in the closed position . spring means , 414 , mediate the transition of the track between the closed and open positions . in operation as depicted in fig4 , when the movable wire guide track support strut assembly , 328 , is down , the binding wire enters the apparatus from the wire supply ( not shown ) at the wire feed drive , 341 , and enters the fastener head 340 . drive wheels rotate to push wire frictionally through the fastening head , 340 , downwards to the first guide track section , 22 , and across , up , back and then down the other guide track sections , 26 , 34 , 48 and 52 , and then back into fastening head , 340 , until the end of the wire actuates a limit switch ( not shown ). the wire thus forms a loop with an overlapping wire portion location within fastening head , 340 . it is preferred to use # 10 gauge wire that is sold by u . s . wire under the trade name ultra strap galvanized . at this point , tensioning pins ( 62 and 63 , fig1 ) are extended . the tying head twists the wire into a knot . in order to effect tying , tension is placed on the wire by reversing the drive wheels . this tension pulls the wire out from between the two halves , 402 and 404 , of the wire guide track as shown by the releasing action in fig5 and 6 . as the wire is tensioned and breaks out of the channel , 406 , the wire is pulled tight around the bale and also around tensioning pins , 62 , and 64 , respectively . once the tying head has completed the twist knot , tensioning pins , 62 and 63 , are retracted by a solenoid ( not shown ) until they are out of contact with the wire . then , in the instant embodiment , carriage , 318 , fig4 , can translate to a second index position along overhead track 322 . wire is again drawn by feed drive , 341 , to push the wire in a loop through all four guide track sections and back into the fastener head , 340 . then the twist knot process repeats . for cotton bales , six baling wires are used to bind a 500 pound standard density bale of cotton . thus , if three indexing heads are mounted to carriage , 318 , the carriage , 318 , must index between a first position and a second position to provide six baling wires . alternative embodiments include automatic baling machines with six indexing heads , six wire guide tracks and six tying heads , which would obviate the need for the carriage to translate in normal operation . fig7 depicts an oblique view of one - half , 502 , of the straight wire guide track of either section , 26 or 48 . fig8 depicts one - half , 504 , of the curved portion of either wire guide track of section 22 or 52 . fig9 depicts the other half , 506 , of the straight wire guide track of either section 26 or 48 , in the truncated version . fig1 depicts the other half , 508 , of the curved portion of either wire guide track section 22 or 52 , in the truncated version . the hollow grooves , 532 , on the inside surfaces of wire guide track halves , 502 and 504 , when enclosed together by closing the facing halves of wire guide track sections , 506 and 508 , together , form the wire guide track channel to guide the baling wire along the proper path around the bale . the tapered grooves , 532 , of the present invention correspond to the grooves , 410 , in fig5 and 6 , which illustrate the releasing action used in any guide track , with or without the present invention . the wide apertures , 520 , are oriented to receive the leading edge of the baling wire as it progresses around the bale through the wire guide track sections . the wide aperture in the receiving end of the wire guide track is substantially wide enough that the wire guide track may continue to properly guide the wire around the bale in the event of misalignment of wire guide track section ends with one another . the amount of wire misalignment which is accommodated by the wide aperture is enough to allow for a wide gap between track section ends . the taper , 530 , between the aperture and the hollow groove , 532 , is designed to narrow quickly enough so that either # 10 or # 11 gauge baling wire will not curl , fold over upon itself or jam as it progresses into the next guide track section . the most preferred dimensions are substantially a widening ratio of about 1 . 56 : 1 vertically and 1 . 33 : 1 horizontally . the most preferred embodiment , by way of example and not limitation , begins at an aperture width of 3 . 75 ″ and tapering to a channel width of 2 . 4 ″. the angle of increase is about 22 ″ vertically and 18 ″ horizontally . via curve or hard chine , equivalently , this tapering ratio may change to about 9 ° vertically and 0 ° horizontally , or about 1 . 14 : 1 vertically , over the rest of the length of the guide track channel . alternatively and equivalently , the taper may run the length of the guide track section with a smooth change in angle or no change in angle . in the most preferred embodiment , the exit channel is 0 . 312 inches wide . at these dimensions , the preferred embodiment is capable of maintaining a desired gap between guide track sections of two to four inches . smaller gaps are still beneficial and enabled by the present invention . alternative embodiments would equivalently bridge operative gaps in excess of four inches . fig7 - 10 also illustrate a partition 550 for creating multiple receptacles within the wide aperture 520 for receiving wire . the partition 550 is operatively connected to the inside face of one - half of the wire guide track . in some embodiments , each wire guide track section half includes the partition 550 . the partition 550 is preferably connected to the wire guide track through the use of bolts or screws , but may be attached by other means , such as by welding . the partition 550 can have various shapes and only one possible shape is shown . the partition is optimally shaped to guide the progressing wire either upwardly or downwardly such that wire enters the wide aperture 520 , the progressing wire is directed above or below the partition 550 , and the wire is guided into the tapered groove 532 . in some embodiments , there may be more than one partition . alternative embodiments of the present invention would include either both halves of the wire guide track having wide aperture to groove tapers as depicted in fig7 and 9 . where both cooperating halves are channeled , they are designed as mirror images to correspond with one another . alternatively , a truncated funnel for one of the two guide track halves , as depicted in fig9 and 10 , is designed simply to receive the baling wire as it progresses from the prior wire guide track section . in this embodiment , tapered groove , 532 , in the first half of the wire guide track sections , 502 and 504 , as depicted in fig7 and 8 , is sufficient to guide the wire . the term “ strap ” is a recognized industry term of art understood by those with skill in the art to mean generically wire , metal bands , plastic bands or other types of straps . the preferred embodiment of the present invention uses “ straps ” that are wire , most preferably 10 - gauge wire . those with skill in the art will understand from the use of the term “ strap ” that the scope of the present invention applies equivalently to both wire , metal bands , plastic bands and any other kind of binding strap used in bulk material baling . the embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical application to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention and various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated . as various modifications could be made in the constructions and methods herein described and illustrated without departing from the scope of the invention , it is intended that all matter contained in the foregoing description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative rather than limiting . thus , the breadth and scope of the present invention should not be limited by any of the above - described exemplary embodiments , but should be defined only in accordance with the following claims appended hereto and their equivalents .
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fig1 shows a block diagram which contains steps in a method of reducing measured values . in a first step 101 , the measured values are divided into classes . in particular , the division into classes is carried out with the effect that all the measured values which belong to one set of setting parameters are combined in one class . to this extent , each alteration to the setting parameters of the technical system found a new class . in particular , altering the setting parameters is associated with a transient process of the technical system , this process , as opposed to a steady - state behavior , containing extreme fluctuations in the measured values . in a step 102 , individual measured values within one class are screened out . these may be , for example , erroneous measured values , that is to say measured values which exhibit a high deviation with respect to the other measured values or an average of the measured values or measured values from the transient process . there are a number of possible ways of screening out individual measured values within a class : 1 . measured values which are too poor ( based on a predefined comparative value ); 4 . determining a representative measured value as a representative for a plurality of measured values , in that the representative measured value is determined as an average of the measured values in a class or as a maximum value or a minimum value of these measured values . measured values of this type are preferably not taken into account ; they are removed from the respective class . this results in a considerable reduction in the number of measured values . in a step 103 , individual classes are screened out . one criterion for screening out an entire class consists in that the class contains less than a predefined number of measured values . in a step 104 , the measured values reduced in number are used for further processing . further processing is , in particular , a simulation and / or a draft design of the technical system . fig2 shows a schematic sketch of a recovery boiler . in the following text , by using the example of a “ recovery boiler ”, an exemplary embodiment of the method described above will be illustrated . in the paper and pulp industry , various chemicals and also heat and electrical power are needed for the digestion of pulp . with the aid of the recovery boiler , the chemicals used and additional thermal energy may be recovered from a thickened waste process liquor ( black liquor ). a measure of the recovery of the chemicals is of critical importance for the economy of the overall plant . the black liquor is burned in a char bed 201 . in the process , an alkaline melt is produced and flows away via a line 202 . in further process steps , the chemicals used are recovered from the constituents of the alkaline melt . heat of combustion which is released is used to generate steam . the combustion of the waste liquor and therefore the recovery of the chemicals begins with the atomization of the black liquor via atomizer nozzles 204 into a combustion chamber 203 . as they fall through the hot flue gas , particles of the atomized black liquor are dried . the dried liquor particles fall onto the char bed 201 , first combustion and chemical reduction taking place . volatile constituents and reaction products pass into an oxidation zone , in which oxidizing reactions proceed and in which the combustion is completed . important objectives for the control of the recovery boiler are the steam production in order to obtain power , compliance with emission values from environmental points of view and the efficiency of the chemical reduction . the combustion operation , and therefore the objectives , are controlled in particular by the supply of air at three levels ( primary air ( pa ), secondary air ( sa ), tertiary air ( ta )). the overall process is subject to numerous influences , which have to be taken into account during the modeling : a ) the measurement of the variables is subject to fluctuations which are often extreme ; b ) influencing variables which are not measured and cannot be measured exist ; c ) at each alteration to the settable parameters transient processes occur ; d ) the technical plant becomes soiled and is cleaned at predefined intervals , which has the effect of a drift over time in each case in the system behavior . the measured variables of the overall process are subdivided into input variables ( cf . fig3 ) and output variables ( cf . fig5 ). measured variables are stored every minute . four of the input variables are simultaneously also actuating variables ( also : settable parameters ; cf . fig4 ). the actuating variables are to be viewed substantially as free parameters of the overall process which can be set independently of one another . some of the other input variables are more or less dependent on the actuating variables . according to one predefinition , the variables “ bl front pressure ” and “ bl back pressure ” are always to be regulated equally in the recovery boiler . the four actuating variables ( cf . fig4 ) are preferably to be stored as actuating variables ( with the desired , preset value ) and as input variables ( with the measured , actual value ). in the recovery boiler , one problem consists in the fact that , depending on the settable parameters , specific objectives , which are defined via measured variables , have to be met . here , a three - stage procedure is selected in order to solve the problem : 1 . the objectives to be considered are modeled by means of stochastic methods , these models being updated by means of new measurements ( data - driven , empirical modeling ). in this case , it is expedient to use not just a single model but global models for the identification of interesting areas in a parameter space determined by the objectives , and to use local models for the exact calculation of optimum operating points . the models used are assessed by means of quality measures . 2 . if the models considered are not sufficiently accurate because of the state of the data ( quality measure ), new operating points are deliberately evaluated in order to improve the model ( experimental design ). in addition , by using global stochastic optimization methods with regard to the objectives , attractive regions are identified on the basis of the current global model . 3 . for the local optimization , local models are constructed , and the data sets which are available are , if appropriate , deliberately expanded ( experimental design ). the objectives are physical / technical or economic criteria which , as a rule , have to meet boundary conditions and / or safety conditions . it is often the case that a number of these criteria have to be considered at the same time . a stochastic model can be used in particular for the purpose of simulating the objectives to be optimized and their dependence on the parameters to be set in the computer . this is necessary when measurements are very costly or very time - consuming . in the case of safety requirements , possible hazardous situations can be avoided . in the case of the recovery boiler , on - line optimization , which is based on a plurality of items of data , is necessary , since the physical / chemical processes cannot be modeled quantitatively with sufficient accuracy and because the behavior of the plant is subject to fluctuations in the course of operation . the knowledge about this behavior must continually be expanded by means of the deliberate selection of new operating points . therefore , within the context of on - line optimization , the above - described three - stage procedure of stochastic modeling at mathematical optimization is to be recommended . the a input variables ( aεn , n : set of natural numbers ) generally depend on n actuating variables nεn and on random effects . they can be described as follows : let ( ω , s , p ) be a probability space and b v be a borel σ - algebra over r v ( r : set of real numbers ) for each vεn . the input variables are represented by a projection φ which can be measured via b n × s − b a : the definition set of the projection φ is a cartesian product of two sets . if one considers the respective projections onto the individual sets , then the following projections are obtained : φ x : ω → r a , ω → φ ( x , ω ) for all , xεr n ( 2 ), φ ω : r n → r a , x → φ ( x , ω ) for all ωεω ( 3 ). { φ x ; xεr n } is a stochastic process having an index set r n and a projection φ ω is a path in this stochastic process for each event ωεω . in the case of the recovery boiler , n = 4 and a = 14 ( following the elimination of the variable “ bl back pressure ”). because of the required ability to measure the projection φ x for each xεr n , the projection φ x is a random variable . under suitable additional preconditions , expected values and higher moments can be considered . this access makes the step possible from stochastic models to deterministic optimization problems . in the case of a deterministic optimization problem , the target function can be set directly by means of a variable , while the stochastic variable influences the target function but does not permit any deliberate setting . the process model m of the recovery boiler will be described as a function depending on the input variables and further random effects . in this case , let ( ω , s , p ) be the above probability space . the process model m is then a projection which can be measured by b a × s − b b : since the recovery boiler is subject to a cyclic drift over time ( from cleaning phase to cleaning phase ), a description using a time parameter is also conceivable . the output variables may be represented by projections that can be measured by b n × s − b b : if the respective projections onto the individual sets of the definition set are considered , then the following projections are obtained ψ x : ω → r b , ω → ψ ( x , ω ) for all , xεr n ( 7 ), ψ ω : r n → r b , x → ψ ( x , ω ) for all ωεω ( 8 ). { ψ x ; xεr n } is a stochastic process having an index set r n , and the projection ψ ω is a path in this stochastic process for each ωεω . in the recovery boiler , b = 15 . the fact that , when defining ψ , no distinction is drawn between the events ω used , does not mean that there is any restriction , since ω can be represented as a cartesian product of an ω 1 and an ω 2 . the above representation therefore also comprises the model : ( x , ω 1 , ω 2 )→ m ( φ ( x , ω 1 ), ω 2 ) ( 10 ). using the descriptions in the two preceding sections , it is possible to combine the input variables and the output variables together to form measured variables φ . φ is a projection that can be measured by b n × s − b m , where m = a + b , and if the respective projections onto the individual sets of the definition set are considered again , then the following projections are obtained : φ x : ω → r m , ω → φ ( x , ω ) for all , xεr n ( 13 ), φ ω : r n → r m , x → φ ( x , ω ) for all ωεω ( 14 ). { φ x ; xεr n } is a stochastic process with an index set r n and the projection φ ω is a path in this stochastic process for each ωεω . for each chosen tuple x of actuating variables , a large number of implementations of φ x in the recovery boiler are determined and stored , that is to say for each x j εr n , numerous implementations are considered . the stored data sets djk of the recovery boiler are therefore ( n + m ) tuples : d jk = ( x j φ jk ) , k = 1 , 2 , … , v j ; j = 1 , 2 , … , u . ( 16 ) ( j 1 & lt ; j 2 ){ haeck over ( )}(( j 1 = j 2 ){ circumflex over ( )}( k 1 & lt ; k 2 )) since , for each tuple x of actuating variables , there are generally a number of implementations of φ x , because of the complex stochastic properties of the process to be considered , the first step in the statistical data analysis is obviously to divide the classes of parameters by forming arithmetic averages . in addition , obviously erroneous data sets are separated out . an obviously erroneous data set is , for example , a physically impossible measurement which cannot possibly occur in real terms , in particular on the basis of a setting which has been made . 1 . data sets in which the variable “ bl front pressure ” is not equal to the variable “ bl back pressure ” are screened out , since these two values must be equal according to the predefinition of the plant control system . the loss of data is very small . 2 . the data sets are divided into classes in which the four setting parameters ( pa , sa , ta , bl front pressure , see above ) are successively constant overtime , that is to say the jth class consists of the data sets d j *. 3 . classes in which there are fewer than 30 data sets are screened out , in order that transient processes do not have any great influence . 4 . for each class , an arithmetic average { overscore ( φ )} j and an empirical standard deviation sj are determined for all the measured variables : φ _ j = 1 v j · ∑ k = 1 v j φ jk , ( 17 ) s j = ( ( 1 v j - 1 · ∑ k = 1 v j ( φ jk ( 1 ) - φ _ j ( 1 ) ) 2 ) 1 2 ⋮ ( 1 v j - 1 · ∑ k = 1 v j ( φ jk ( m ) - φ _ j ( m ) ) 2 ) 1 2 ) . ( 18 ) 5 . classes in which the averages for the variables pa , sa , ta or bl front pressure are too far removed from the corresponding setting parameters are screened out . in these classes , therefore , the setting values could not be reached . characteristic statistical variables for the given classes and their graphical representation in addition to the arithmetic averages and the empirical standard deviations which have been determined for the individual classes , a common standard deviation s is further determined in accordance with s = ( ( 1 v - 1 · ∑ j = 1 u ( v j - 1 ) s j ( 1 ) 2 ) 1 2 ⋮ ( 1 v - 1 · ∑ j = 1 u ( v j - 1 ) s j ( m ) 2 ) 1 2 ) ( 19 ) here , u stands for the number of classes ( 205 here ) and v for the sum of v j , that is to say v is the number of all the measured values used ( 38 , 915 here ). although other modifications and changes may be suggested by those skilled in the art , it is the intention of the inventors to embody within the patent warranted hereon all changes and modifications as reasonably and properly come within the scope of their contribution to the art .
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the description is divided into three sections corresponding to the three categories of structural form . the first category of structural form is now described . fig1 shows a lock adapted to be fastened to a door and having a key in the form of a card , fig3 shows the lock of the first embodiment in a larger view , partially in longitudinal section and partially in elevation , before the insertion of the key , fig4 is a section at the level of one wide side of the pusher , showing the carriers which are in toothed engagement with each other , fig5 is a section along the line v -- v of fig4 fig6 is a showing corresponding to fig4 but with the carriers turned forward one step after displacement of the pusher by means of a command key , fig7 is a section along the line vii -- vii in fig6 fig8 is a top view of the pusher in accordance with the second embodiment , shown on a larger scale , fig9 is a greatly enlarged detail view of a portion of the pusher in the region of the carrier and of the control member associated with it , arranged on the housing side , fig1 is an intermediate position upon the forward displacement of the pusher , with the control member swung by the control magnet , fig1 shows the following intermediate position , indicating the forced turning movement of the carrier , fig1 is a partial top view of the pusher with carrier and the multi - member pawl turning it , referring to the third embodiment , fig1 is a cross section through the pusher at the height of a permanent magnet which is arranged in the manner of a pendulum , referring to the fourth embodiment , fig1 is a cross section through the pusher at the height of a permanent magnet which can be displaced by 180 ° around a transverse axis , and in all the magnetically operating embodiments , the lock shown in fig1 and 2 has an elongated lock housing 1 associated with a door ( not shown ). at its one end , the housing has a rotatable knob 2 by means of which a latch or bolt can be pulled back if the lock is in locking position . the knob 2 can be coupled with a push pin 3 of square cross section which is the carrier of an inner knob ( not shown ) lying on the inside of the door . by means of this knob the latch or bolt ( not shown ) can be pulled back at any time . in order to be able to actuate the lock from the outside of the door , the lock housing is provided on the edge side opposite the turn knob 2 with an insertion slot 4 into which a card - shaped key 5 can be inserted . the key 5 is a card provided with magnetic coding which is of sufficient stiffness in order to be able by means of it to displace a pusher 6 which is guided within the lock housing 1 . the pusher 6 is received by an inner housing 7 which is inserted into the lock housing 1 and bears two guide plates 8 and 9 which are arranged parallel to the pusher 6 . the guide plate 8 is a plate consisting of ferromagnetic iron while the other guide plate is anti - magnetic . the guide plate 8 is thicker than the guide plate 9 which is adjacent to it , and it is acted on by a leaf spring 10 which , on its part , rests against the bottom 11 of the inner housing 7 . before the insertion of the key 5 , the guide plates 8 , 9 lie flat against each other . if the key 5 enters between the guide plates 8 and 9 , the guide plate 8 moves out , under spring action , in the direction towards the bottom 11 . the antimagnetic guide plate 9 , on its part , rests against a blocking plate 12 consisting of non - magnetizable material . in the embodiment shown , brass is used for the blocking plate . in the blocking plate 12 there are , suitably distributed , circular blocking openings 13 which , in the initial position of the pusher 6 , correspond to blind holes 14 in the latter . in some of the blind holes , pin - shaped permanent magnets 15 are introduced which , in their turn , are attracted by the guide plate 8 and pass through the blocking openings 13 . depending on their arrangement , the permanent magnets , in this case , act with their south pole or north pole on the guide plate 9 . accordingly , the pusher 6 cannot be displaced . furthermore , it is under the action of a tension spring 16 which urges it in the direction towards the insertion slot 4 . the tension spring 16 is connected at one end to a pin 17 of a cover 18 covering the pusher 6 and on the other end to a control projection 19 extending from the pusher 6 . the projection is provided with an oblique surface 20 by means of which , upon forward displacement of the pusher 6 , a leaf spring 21 which is fastened to the inner housing 7 at the height of the insertion slot 4 can be shifted in the direction indicated by the arrow x , it carrying along with it a coupling sleeve 22 and thereby bringing the turn knob 2 into a coupling position with the push pin 3 , which then permits the door to be opened . the forward displacement of the pusher 6 , however , is possible only after insertion of the proper key 5 which , in the completely inserted position , rests with its edge side 5 &# 39 ; against a drive shoulder 23 of the pusher , said shoulder lying towards the inside of the lock . in the key - insertion position , the corresponding permanent magnets 15 are then aligned with correspondingly positioned magnetization regions of the key . in this way , the permanent magnets are repelled in the direction towards the blind holes 14 and accordingly leave the blocking openings 13 of the blocking plate 12 . in order to change the magnetic closing code , the pusher 6 in accordance with the first embodiment has four turnable carriers 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 which are coupled with each other and each of which is provided with a recoding magnet 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 developed as tumbler member . on the outside , the carriers 24 to 27 are provided with a toothing by which they are in toothed engagement with each other . in order to receive the carriers , holes 32 of suitable diameter are provided in the pusher 6 . the carriers , each of which is provided with a recoding magnet , are so arranged with respect to each other that the recoding magnets , due to the turning motion of the carriers , move one after the other in each case into the position in front of an obstacle or out of said position . the obstacle 33 is formed by a transverse edge of a longitudinal groove 34 which extends in the direction of displacement y of the pusher 6 . since four recoding magnets or tumbler members are present , four such longitudinal grooves 34 are also provided . they are located in the cover 18 of the inner housing 7 which covers the pusher 6 . the two longitudinal grooves 34 which are arranged further inward in the lock have a greater distance from each other than the other two longitudinal grooves 34 . however , of the four recoding magnets 28 to 31 , only one in each case acts as true coding magnet or true tumbler member . in accordance with fig4 and 5 , this is the recoding magnet 28 . with its end which faces the blocking plate 12 , it extends , when the successor key 36 is not inserted , into a longitudinal slot 35 lying in direction of displacement in the blocking plate 12 . the other recoding magnets 29 , 30 , 31 can then extend into corresponding blocking openings 13 of the blocking plate 12 so that they assume in this case a function similar to the permanent magnets . if the lock is associated , for instance , with a hotel - room door , the guest has a guest key which is comparable to the key 5 . with it , all permanent magnets 15 and recoding magnets 29 , 30 , 31 are so displaced that they come out of engagement with the blocking openings 13 . in this way , the pusher 6 can be pushed in the direction of the arrow y , producing a coupling with the turn knob 2 . only the recoding magnet 28 or tumbler member is not shifted in this case . movement of the pusher is nevertheless possible due to the longitudinal slot 35 in the blocking plate 12 . if another guest moves into the hotel room which was previously used , then a recoding of the lock is effected prior to this by the hotel , using the command key shown in fig5 which serves as successor key . it has a first region e which causes the resetting . the corresponding regions are shown in dash - dot line in fig5 . by means of the first region a all permanent magnets , and by means of the supplementary region e also the recoding magnet 28 or tumbler member , are brought out of engagement with the blocking plate 12 . the recoding magnet 28 therefore extends into the longitudinal groove 34 . upon the following displacement of the pusher in the direction indicated by the arrow y by means of the successor key 36 , the corresponding end of the recoding magnet 28 then comes against the obstacle 33 of the longitudinal groove 34 and thereby forces the turning of the carrier 24 and of the other carriers meshing with it in the direction shown by the arrow . after a displacement of the pusher 6 , the position shown in fig6 and 7 is reached . the previous recoding magnet 28 has left its position of alignment with the longitudinal groove 34 while the recoding magnet 29 of the carrier 25 has come into the recoding position . it is therefore no longer possible to effect a displacement of the pusher by means of the previous guest key because the recoding magnets or tumbler members have changed position . furthermore , the new guest must be issued a modified guest key by means of which he can suitably displace all magnet except for the recoding magnets 29 . by means of a successor key 36 of the hotel , which also has the regions a and e , also this recoding can be changed again , in which case another recoding pin then comes into the corresponding recoding position ; see fig7 . variations with respect to this embodiment are possible in the manner that the number of carriers is changed . it is also possible to provide each carrier with more than one recoding magnet . in accordance with the second embodiment , shown in fig8 to 12 , the pusher is designated by the numeral 37 . its construction corresponds to the pusher 6 . one change is that the pusher now receives two carriers 38 and 39 which lie alongside each other at the same height . on its end facing away from the insertion slot , each carrier 38 , 39 is continued in a switch cam 40 which extends over the corresponding wide surface 37 &# 39 ; of the pusher and which forms switch cam edges 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 which , in their turn , are arranged in the manner of a maltese cross . each carrier 38 , 39 also receives a recoding magnet 45 which is similar to a tumbler member and cooperates with a corresponding blocking opening in the blocking plate 12 . the maltese - cross - like switch cam 40 passes through an inner opening 46 in a control member 47 which is fixed in position . the mounting pin 48 thereof is seated in suitable manner on the cover 18 of the inner housing 7 . the mounting place of the single - arm control member 47 faces , in this connection , the direction of insertion of the key . by an edge which lies approximately perpendicular to the direction of displacement of the pusher 37 , the inner opening 46 forms an obstacle 49 . the inner opening 46 is so developed that , in the starting position of the pusher , three corners of the maltese cross form stop surfaces for two inner opening walls 50 , 51 which are at right angles to each other . furthermore , there is also provided on this pusher 37 a stop 52 against which the rear edge 53 of the control member 47 comes . in this way , the latter is secured against turning . upon displacement of the pusher , this securing is only eliminated when the control magnet 54 has passed , for instance , through the idle stroke . the stop 52 together with the edge 53 also effects the last part of the remaining rotation of the maltese cross into the basic position shown in fig8 upon the return displacement of the pusher . at the height of the mounting place of the control member 47 , a suitably polarized control magnet 54 is guided in the pusher 37 . upon the use of a normal key , for instance a guest key , this control magnet 54 is not displaced since the end of the control magnet 54 which faces the blocking plate extends in a longitudinal slot in the blocking plate 12 . if a recoding of the lock is to take place , a successor key is to be used as in the case of the preceding embodiment . by the corresponding regions thereof the permanent magnets , the tumbler - member - like recoding magnet 45 and the control magnet 54 are brought out of engagement with the blocking plate . after passing through a small idle stroke , the end of the control magnet 54 which extends beyond the wide surface 37 &# 39 ; of the pusher strikes a control flank 55 of the control member 47 and lifts the latter into the position shown in fig1 . in this way , the result is obtained that the obstacle 49 then lies at the height of the switch - cam edge 41 . upon further displacement of the pusher 37 the position shown in fig1 is reached . from that figure it can be noted that the carrier 39 is turned by the obstacle 49 in the direction indicated by the arrow . after complete forward displacement of the pusher 37 , the position shown in fig1 is then present . in this position , the carrier 39 and the recoding magnet 45 accordingly assume a different position of angular rotation . if the pusher 37 is now brought again into its starting position , the aforementioned remaining rotation of the carrier 39 takes place , so that the recoding magnet 45 is then aligned with another blocking opening in the blocking plate . the guest key which was previously used then no longer arranges this relocated recoding magnet and the pusher 37 , accordingly , cannot be displaced forward in order to open the lock . if the hotel room door is locked , then the next guest is to be issued a correspondingly coded key . in the case of the modified third embodiment shown in fig1 , the control member 56 is developed in the manner of a multi - member pawl . it has an angle lever 58 which is mounted on the housing side by the pin 57 . its one lever arm 58 &# 39 ; lies in the region of movement of a control magnet 54 . here also there is a short idle stroke between the control magnet 54 and the lever arm 58 &# 39 ;. the other lever arm 58 &# 34 ; bears , by means of a pivot pin 59 , a pawl lever 60 the locking tooth 61 of which , forming an obstacle , cooperates with the teeth of the carrier 62 developed as a ratchet wheel . this carrier receives a recoding magnet 63 representing the tumbler member . a spring ( not shown ) urges the angle lever 58 in counterclockwise direction . its initial position is limited by a stop 64 on the housing side . the pawl lever 60 is also associated with a spring ( not shown ) which is seated , for instance , on the pivot pin 59 and urges the pawl lever 60 into toothed engagement with the carrier 62 . if the normal key is used , the permanent magnets of the pusher 65 and the holding magnet 63 are brought out of engagement with the blocking plate 12 . the control magnet 54 passes , in this connection , through a longitudinal slot in the blocking plate 12 and accordingly does not exert any blocking function . the change in the closing code is effected in this third embodiment also by means of a corresponding successor key the regions of which displace , in addition to the other magnet pins , also the control magnet 54 and lift it out of the blocking plate . the end thereof which protrudes beyond the wide surface of the pusher 65 thus lies at the height of the lever arm 58 &# 39 ; of the control member 56 . during the forward movement of the pusher 65 , the control magnet 54 , after an idle stroke , acts on the lever arm 58 and swings the angle lever 56 , the carrier 62 , which is mounted in the pusher 65 , being turned further as a result of further forward displacement of the pusher 65 and via the pawl lever 60 . the recoding magnet 63 is thereby imparted by displacement a different position with respect to the pusher 65 . in this position , it is aligned , when the pusher 65 has been displaced backwards , with a blocking opening of the blocking plate 12 , so that the previously used key no longer locks . a new key must then , in the case of a lock for a hotel room door , be turned over to the new guest . in this embodiment two similarly shaped carriers 62 with blocking member 56 can also be associated with the pusher 65 . a modification of this embodiment could be effected in the manner that instead of the pawl lever 60 an escapement is provided , as in the case of a clockwork . a clock spring which can be wound up is then associated as force storage means with the carrier or its shaft . the lever arm 58 is not necessary in this embodiment . via the control magnet 54 , the escapement , upon the forward displacement of the pusher receives the command to permit the carrier to turn further by one step , which force then results from the clock spring . in accordance with the fourth embodiment , shown in fig1 and 15 , the pusher is provided with the reference number 66 . at least one of the permanent magnets 67 borne by it is guided , by the end thereof facing the blocking plate 12 , in a blocking - plate longitudinal - slot opening 69 . parallel to this there extends another blocking - plate longitudinal - slot opening 70 . with regard to the permanent magnet 67 , it may be a control magnet for a previously described control member . in order to change the closing code , the following guest receives a successor key 68 , shown dash - dot line in fig1 , which has two adjacent magnetic zones 71 , 72 for the permanent magnet 67 . these zones form the supplementation region e which effects the resetting . the arranging of the other permanent magnets ( not shown ) is effected by a first region which is associated with the closing code . the zone 71 is so polarized that it acts in repulsion after the pushing in of the successor key 68 . in this way , the permanent magnet or control magnet 67 is pushed into the position shown in dash - dot line in fig1 . by the displacement then of the key with the pusher 66 , the control member lying in the path of the control magnet 67 is acted upon . after complete forward advance of the pusher , the position shown in dash - dot line in fig1 is reached . in this position there takes place a pendulum displacement of the permanent magnet 67 into the other pendulum position , caused by the magnetic zone 72 of opposite polarity . in order to permit the pendulum - like movement of the permanent magnet 67 , the end of the receiving opening 73 which faces away from the key is circular while the opposite end is oval . the longitudinal dimension of this oval is located transverse to the direction of displacement y of the pusher 66 . in order that the permanent magnet 67 does not swing prematurely , the blocking plate 12 is provided between the longitudinal slot openings with a thickening , designated 12 &# 39 ;, in front of which the lower end of the permanent magnet comes upon an attempted displacement . the shifted end 67 &# 39 ; is pulled through zone 72 into the adjacent locking - plate longitudinal - slot opening 70 and remains there even upon the further closing actuation by this successor key 68 . the key previously used , on the other hand , cannot effect any displacement of the pusher 66 . a further resetting can only be caused by a successor key which is issued again and which forms correspondingly magnetized regions . a modification is possible to the effect that , instead of the control - plate longitudinal - slot opening 69 a circular locking - plate blocking opening is selected . the permanent magnet 67 then acts like the other permanent magnets . after the return of the pusher into its initial position , it always returns to the blocking - plate blocking opening . for the recoding , a successor key is then used which corresponds to the key 68 . this means that the pendulum movement takes place in the forward displaced position of the pusher , whereupon the key magnetization or the magnetic zone 72 pulls the shifted end 67 &# 39 ; into the blocking - plate longitudinal - slot opening 70 . such an embodiment is then independent of a control function for a carrier . the fifth embodiment can be noted from fig1 and 17 . the pusher 74 is provided with an elongated recess 75 which extends transverse to its direction of displacement . from the side of the pusher facing the locking plate 12 there extend centrally two mounting recesses 76 which are opposite each other and into which mounting pins 77 extend . these pins are part of a cylindrical sleeve of plastic which surrounds a permanent magnet 78 . when the key is not introduced , the polarized end 78 &# 39 ; of the permanent magnet 78 which faces the blocking plate 12 is pulled into a blocking - plate longitudinal - slot opening 80 lying in the direction of displacement of the pusher 74 , up to the guide plate 9 . the blocking - plate longitudinal - slot opening 80 widens in t - shape at the end opposite the insertion slot 4 , forming a transverse slot 81 . if a successor key 82 is now inserted the supplementary region e of which causes the resetting has two adjacent zones 83 , 84 which are of opposite magnetic polarity , permanent magnet 78 is acted on in repulsion by the zone 83 . it thus passes into the position shown in fig1 in which the end 78 &# 39 ; facing the key still remains within the longitudinal slot 80 . this is obtained in the manner that the mounting recesses 76 limit the movement of the permanent magnet 78 . during the forward displacement , the end of the magnet pin which extends beyond the corresponding wide surface of the pusher can serve to control a control member which effects a recoding of a carrier - side coding pin . the permanent magnet 78 thus serves as control magnet . as soon as the permanent magnet or control magnet 78 reaches the transverse slot 81 , it swings 180 ° since it is exposed to the force of attraction of the magnetic zone 84 , and it is pulled up into the longitudinal slot 80 . further , use of the successor key 82 then does not lead to any controlling of the permanent magnet 78 and thus to any recoding . this must then again be effected by means of another key in which the magnetic regions are suitably polarized . if the permanent magnet 78 is not used as control magnet and only one blocking - plate blocking - opening is provided for it , an alternate possibility of closing can be obtained by means of corresponding keys . this means that after locking by means of the one key , locking is possible only by means of another key . repeated successive locking by means of one key can then no longer be effected a variant could be obtained in the manner that the key is imparted an additional coding upon the insertion of the key , the evaluation of this additional coding takes place . if the key has the correct coding then an obstacle by which a recoding is effected is brought into the position of action , whether it be a displacement of a permanent magnet or a displacement of a recoding magnet held by a carrier . the locking - plate openings and locking - plate longitudinal slots may possibly also be provided in an additional plate . the force accumulator can be so coupled with the pusher that it is wound up to a certain amount by each displacement of the pusher . since as a result of the more frequent normal key actuation , the pusher is actuated more frequently without a resetting displacement , it results statistically that it never completely discharged . fig1 a lock in elevation with bolt pushed forward and corresponding successor key , fig1 a top view of the lock , seen in the direction of the lock cover , fig2 a longitudinal section through the lock with the successor key inserted , fig2 a top view of the lock , with the lock cover omitted and with tumblers in locking position , fig2 a top view of the lock parts , with tumblers omitted and successor key inserted , corresponding to the forward - closed position of the bolt , fig2 a side view of the lock parts shown in fig2 , fig2 a showing corresponding to fig2 but after a 180 ° locking rotation of the successor key , in which position the bolt is retracted over a part of the distance and the fixing - tooth carrier is in pushed - back position of release , fig2 also a showing corresponding to previous fig2 and 24 with multi - bit key turned more than 180 ° in the position in which the successor key lifts a swing bolt and also shifts the tumblers , fig2 a showing similar to the preceding figures , in which the successor key is turned completely through 360 ° with bolt moved completely backward and fixing - tooth carrier assuming a locking position , fig2 a subsequent showing , after fig2 , during the forward closing of the bolt . the lock shown in fig1 to 27 has a box - like lock housing 85 with a lock bottom 86 and lock - box sidewalls 87 , 88 , 89 and 90 extending from it . the lock parts mentioned below are covered by a lock cover 91 . the latter contains in the center a key insertion opening 92 which extends in the longitudinal direction of the lock . from the lock bottom 86 there extends centrally a centering mandrel 93 which extends up into the key insertion opening . between said mandrel and the lock - box sidewall 88 there extends a pin 94 integral with and extending from the lock bottom 86 , against which pin the lock cover 91 also rests and into which a lock cover fastening screw engages . the pin 94 serves in part for a longitudinal guiding of a plate - shaped carrier 95 which is provided in the region between the pin 94 and the lock - box sidewall 88 with a fixing tooth 96 this tooth extends up to the bottom of the lock cover 91 . in the central region , the carrier 95 is provided with a key - engagement opening 97 . above the latter there is a recess 98 which by means of a lower flank forms a blocking shoulder 98 &# 39 ;. a bent portion 99 of a blocking lever 101 mounted below the carrier 95 and spring - urged in direction of engagement by means a leaf spring 102 comes in front of said shoulder . flat alongside the carrier 95 there is a bolt 103 . it forms a thicker bolt head 103 &# 39 ; which passes through the lock - box sidewall 90 and adjoining which there is a thinner bolt tail 103 &# 34 ;. the end of the latter is slotted for the guiding engagement of the pin 94 . the bolt tail 103 &# 34 ; is provided at its center with a control opening 104 . on the side facing away from the carrier 95 there is present on the bolt a recess 105 to receive a bolt rocker 106 . the latter is mounted around a bolt - side bolt 107 and serves in part to form the closure engagement niche 108 of the bolt control opening 104 . a leaf spring 106 &# 39 ; acts on this bolt rocker 106 in clockwise direction , the rocker receiving support on the lower flank of the recess 105 . adjoining the bolt head 103 &# 39 ; there is a turn 109 which extends in the locking direction of the bolt up to the lock cover 91 . in the region between the bolt tail 103 &# 34 ; and the turn projection 109 there is a blocking opening 110 for a blocking tooth 111 of a tumbler plate 112 which rests on the bolt tail 103 &# 34 ; and is swingable around the pin 94 . above that plate there extend seven tumblers 113 of identical development . in contradistinction to the tumbler plate 112 , the point of swing of the tumblers 113 is variable . for this purpose , the region of each tumbler 113 facing the fixing tooth 96 forms an arcuate slot 114 which is passed through by the pin 94 . the edge which extends concentrically to the slot 114 is provided with a toothing 115 . depending on the basic position of each tumbler 113 , the fixing tooth 96 engages into a corresponding tooth gap . the end of each tumbler 113 and the tumbler plate 112 which is opposite the toothing 115 is provided with a stepped - down turn opening 116 . all tumblers form a central control opening 117 and are so acted upon by leaf springs 118 in counterclockwise direction that with the bolt 103 closed they rest on the turn projection 109 ; see fig2 . with respect to the key shown in the figures , it is a successor key 119 . it has a key shaft 120 and a key handle 121 . from the lower end of the key shaft 20 there extends an opening 122 of circular cross section for the entrance of the centering mandrel 93 . in radial direction there protrudes from the key shaft 120 a closing - code bit - step region a . it comprises seven bit steps 123 which serve for the arranging of the tumblers 113 . in the extension of the closure - code bit - step region there is a supplementation region e . the bit step 124 which directly adjoins the bit steps 123 serves for the control of the tumbler plate 112 . the next , wider bit step 125 is intended for the controlling of the bolt 103 . it is then adjoined by a bit step 126 by means of which the release position of the carrier 95 can be brought about . the lowermost bit step 127 , on its part , serves for controlling the blocking lever 101 . diametrically opposite the bit steps 124 to 127 the supplementation region e has a drive wing 128 which extends exclusively in the plane of the tumbler plate 112 and of the bolt tail 103 &# 34 ;. it is adjoined , with the formation of a gap 129 which is arranged at the height of the bit steps 126 and 127 , by an anti - pullout wing 130 . furthermore , diametrically opposite the closing - code bit steps 123 there is an additional bit - step region b the bit steps 123 &# 39 ; of which incorporate the new closure code . the key can be removed only when the bolt 103 is pushed forward . if the locking code used , for instance , by a prior user is to be changed , then a prescribed successor key 119 is issued to the following user . it comprises the bit - step regions a , e and b . the bit - step region a corresponds in its locking code to the locking code used for the predecessor key while the additional bit - step region b incorporates the new locking code . since the anti - pullout wing 130 lies on the same side as the bit - step region b , the wing serves as aid in orientation upon the insertion of the successor key 119 into the lock . the insertion movement is limited by the lock bottom 86 so that the corresponding bit steps are then aligned with the corresponding lock ward parts , see fig2 . upon the locking rotation which then commences , the tumblers 113 are so swung by the bit steps 123 of the region a associated with the locking code that the turn openings 116 thereof lie coinciding one above the other and thus permit the withdrawal of the bolt 103 , the turn projection 109 moving into the turn openings 116 . this is possible because the tumbler plate 112 is simultaneously brought out of engagement by the bit step 124 . during the locking rotation from the position in fig2 into the position in fig2 , along with the bit step 125 which strikes a control edge 104 &# 39 ;, the bolt 103 is pulled back approximately one - third of its total closure path . the step 125 therefore effects a partial displacement of the bolt in order to show the authorization for resetting . furthermore , the blocking lever 101 is lifted by the bit step 127 of the supplementation region e , its angle part 99 moving away from the blocking shoulder 98 &# 39 ;; see the dash - dot showing in fig2 . in this way , the carrier 95 is released for displacement . the corresponding displacement of the carrier takes place in the manner that the bit step 126 strikes against a drive shoulder 97 &# 39 ; of the key engagement opening 97 . the carrying along of the carrier 95 into the position shown in fig2 has the result that the fixing tooth 96 leaves the toothing 115 of the tumblers 113 in this position , which is turned 180 °, the anti - pullout wing 130 is also swung below the carrier 95 , so that the key can not be withdrawn from this position . furthermore , the key can no longer be turned back out of this position since the blocking lever 101 has again dropped back into its starting position and thus lies within the region of turn of the bit step 127 . the turning of the key in clockwise direction must therefore be continued . in accordance with fig2 , the drive wing 128 of the successor key 119 strikes in this connection against the bolt rocker 106 . furthermore , by means of the bit steps 123 &# 39 ; of the additional bit - step region b , the spring - actuated tumblers 113 are shifted into their new basic position , as is possible because the fixing pin 96 is still in release position . during the further turning of the successor key 119 into the position shown in fig2 and therefore after movement through a total angle of turn of 360 °, the bit - step 126 of the supplementation region e comes against another driver shoulder 97 &# 34 ; of the key engagement opening 97 of the carrier 95 and shifts it thus in toward locking direction , the fixing tooth 96 dropping into the corresponding tooth space of the toothing 115 of the tumblers 113 with locking of the different basic positions of the tumblers . thereupon , during this remaining turning path , the drive wing 128 has entered into the closure engagement niche 108 and has thus completely moved the bolt back . in this position the blocking tooth 11 of the tumbler plate 112 engages into the blocking opening 110 of the turn projection 109 , which is not shown . the successor key 119 cannot be withdrawn from this position since the bit - step engages below the carrier 95 . the forward closing of the bolt 103 now requires an opposite closing rotation and therefore in counterclockwise direction . in this connection the drive wing 128 extends into the closure engagement niche 108 of the bolt 103 which is formed in part by the bolt rocker 106 and carries it along with it . the space 129 between the drive wing 128 and the anti - pullout wing 130 has the effect that the key cannot come into to contact with the carrier and the blocking lever . during this closing rotation , the tumblers 113 are also displaced by the additional bit - step region b . after the carrying out of a rearward closing rotation of 180 °, the bolt 103 then assumes its forward closed position from which the successor key 119 can be withdrawn . for the reward closing of the bolt , the successor key must then be so inserted that the additional bit - step region b and therefore the new region , lies on the left - hand side . upon the then following closing rotation , the blocking lever 101 and the carrier 95 are not displaced . only the tumblers are arranged correctly , so that only the bolt is closed backward via the drive wing 128 of the successor key 119 . the rearward closing rotation is completed after about 180 ° so that the position in accordance with fig2 is then again present . a key which follows the successor key 119 would then have the appearance that it is provided with the bit - step region b above the bit - steps 124 , 125 , 126 , 127 . a new additional bit - step region would then be provided in diametrically opposite position . from the foregoing it is clear that the change does not affect the supplementation region e . the later remains the same at all times . a variation is effected solely on the first bit - step region associated with the closing code . it is furthermore to be noted that the supplementation region e of the key enters into action only when the first region , bit - step region a , agrees with the closing code of the tumblers . if such agreement is absent , the tumblers prevent a closing rotation . the third category of structural form is now described . in detail , fig2 shows a longitudinal section through a lock developed in the form of a closure cylinder , with key of cross - shaped section , fig2 shows the closure cylinder with key introduced , partially in elevation and partially in a section turned 45 °, fig3 shows in perspective the key used in accordance with fig2 and 29 , fig3 shows in perspective a successor key of modified embodiment , fig3 is a section along the line xxxiii -- xxxiii of fig3 , fig3 is a section along the line xxxiv -- xxxiv of fig3 , fig3 is a section along the line xxxv -- xxxv of fig3 , fig3 is a section corresponding to fig3 , the successor key being turned 90 °, fig3 is a section corresponding to fig3 , with the successor key again inserted in a position shifted 90 °, fig3 is a section along the line xxxviii -- xxxviii of fig3 , and fig3 is a showing similar to fig3 , the key together with the cylinder core being turned 90 °. the lock which is developed as closure cylinder 131 has a housing 132 of circular shape in cross section . within a central bore 133 it receives a cylinder core 134 which extends over somewhat more than half the length of the housing 132 . within the housing 132 and cylinder core 134 there are arranged four rows of housing pins 135 and core pins 136 at equal angles apart . accordingly , the cylinder core has a key channel 137 of cross - shaped cross section into which the facing ends of the core pins 136 extend . pin springs 138 act on the housing pins 135 which , in their turn , push the core pins in inward direction . in order that the pin springs 138 do not emerge from the bores that receive the housing pins 135 , the housing 132 is covered by a shell 139 . from the side of the housing 132 opposite the cylinder core 134 a bore 140 of larger cross section than the core bore 133 is provided in it , a reset ring 141 being turnably housed therein . said ring can be engaged in 90 ° positions . for this purpose , a blind hole 142 extends from the shell surface of the reset ring 141 in order to receive a detent pin 143 which is urged by spring in outward direction . the conical tip of said pin cooperates with four detent niches 144 lying in the same cross - sectional plane and distributed over the circumference . in each case , one of these detent niches 144 extends at the height of a row of tumbler pins . within a central bore 145 the diameter of which corresponds the core bore 133 , a reset core 146 is mounted . the reset ring 141 and the reset core 146 serve to receive a single row of tumbler pins 147 . they also consist of core pins and housing pins and are urged by spring in inward direction . the reset core 146 furthermore contains a cross - shaped channel 148 in the extension of the key channel 137 . the cross arms 148 &# 39 ; of said channel have the same arm width . the bore 145 is continued on the other side of the reset ring 141 by a bore section 149 of larger cross section . a closure member 150 provided with an eccentrically arranged driver pin 151 extends in turnable manner into said section . the closure member 150 contains an arcuate slot 152 into which a stop 153 of the housing 132 which lies on the same cross sectional plane of the closure cylinder extends . the length of the bore slot 152 is so large that the closing rotation of the closure member of 150 is less than 90 °. a blind bore 154 extends from the end surface of the closure member 150 facing the reset core 146 , in order to receive a coupling member 155 of pot shape . the bottom 156 of said pot faces the reset core 146 and bears an eccentrically arranged driver pin 157 . the diameter of this pin is less than the width of the cross arms 148 &# 39 ;. in the direction of its engagement the coupling member 155 is acted on by a compression spring 158 . the coupling member 155 is made unturnable in the blind bore 154 by a radially aligned control wing 159 which lies at the height of the bottom 156 of the pot , for which wing longitudinal groove 160 extends from the blind bore 154 . the control wing 159 is provided with an oblique surface 161 which slopes down in the direction towards the rim of the pot . this surface cooperates with a conical tip of a control pin 162 which is arranged for displacement in radial direction within the closure member 150 . a compression spring 163 arranged on its stepped - down shaft pushes the control pin 162 in the direction towards the oblique surface 161 . the end of the control pin 162 which is towards the outside cooperates with a locking pawl 164 which is arranged in a longitudinal recess 165 extending from the shell side of the housing 132 . the locking pawl 164 is a single - arm lever . its mounting pin 166 lies close to the separation between reset ring 141 and housing 132 . approximately at the height of its center the locking pawl 164 forms a blocking projection 167 which points in the direction of the reset ring 141 and extends into one of four blocking niches 168 arranged spaced equally apart in circumferential direction . the engagement is brought about by a compression spring 169 which acts on the locking pawl 164 . when the locking pawl 164 is engaged , the detent pin 143 also extends into one of the detent niches 144 . the control pin 162 then also serves for a further function . for this purpose it is provided near its conical tip with a control zone which is formed by a notch groove 170 . the said control zone cooperates with a feeler pin 171 which is arranged crosswise to the direction of movement of the control pin . the control member 155 forms a suitable bore 172 for said pin . when the coupling member 155 is in engagement in the cross - shaped channel 148 the feeler pin 171 rests against the wall surface of the control pin 162 . the feeler pin 171 extends in this connection beyond the separation surface between closure member 150 and reset core 146 . in this connection it acts on one of four longitudinal pins 173 arranged equally apart on the circumference which are housed in corresponding longitudinal bores 174 which completely pass through the reset core 146 . the longitudinal pin 173 which is acted on by the feeler pin 171 extends with its opposite end into one of four blocking openings 175 of the cylinder core 134 which are arranged spaced equally apart on the circumference . fig2 and 34 show that the longitudinal pins 173 are acted on in each case by a compression spring 176 in direction opposite their engagement . the key channel 137 of the cylinder core 134 has its cross arms aligned with those of the cross - shaped channel 148 in the reset core 146 . one of the cross arms 137 &# 39 ; is narrower than the other cross arms ; see in particular fig3 and 39 . the closure cylinder 131 shown in the drawing can be closed by means of a key 177 shown in fig2 and 30 . the key is of cross - shape in cross section and forms two thinner sections 178 and 179 of the cross which are arranged at a right angle to each other they correspond in their thickness to the width of the cross arm 137 &# 39 ;. the other sections 180 , 181 of the cross correspond to the width of the other cross arms of the key channel 137 and also to the width of the cross arm 148 &# 39 ; of the cross - shaped channel 148 present in the reset core 146 . the key 177 has a first region a which is associated with the closure code and which extends up to the place of separation between cylinder core 134 and reset core 146 . the supplementation region e which causes a resetting joins it from that place on . according to fig2 , a resetting has already been effected . the sections 178 to 181 of the cross are provided at the height of region a with closure notches 182 . they represent the closure - code notch region . with the key 177 inserted , therefore , all housing pins 135 and core pins 136 are so aligned that their place of separation lies at the height of the outer surface of the cylinder core ; see fig2 . the supplementation region e which adjoins the first region a has control notches 183 only at the cross - shaped section 181 . the other cross sections are without closure notches in the region there . by means of the control notches 183 the spring actuated tumbler pins 147 are so aligned that their place of separation lies at the height of the outer surface of the reset core 146 . a nose 184 then extends from the free front end of section 178 . when the key 177 is inserted , however , this nose is shifted at an angle to the driver pin 157 and accordingly does not act on the driver pin . with the key 177 completely inserted , the nose 184 extends furthermore to the place of separation between reset core 146 and closure member 150 . this means that the control pin 162 is then also not displaced the blocking engagement between locking pawl 164 and reset ring 141 is thus assured . upon a closing turning of the key 177 , the cylinder core 134 , the reset core 146 , and , via the coupling member 155 , the closure member 150 are carried along . the connection between the two cores 134 and 146 is assured in this connection also by the one longitudinal pin 173 ; see fig2 . the reset ring 141 remains in its position upon this closing rotation , which amounts to less than 90 °. this means that the key can not be withdrawn in the forward - closed position . the withdrawal thereof rather requires a turning back of the cores 134 , 146 into their initial position . to be sure , the key 177 could be inserted turned by an angle of 90 °. however , no arranging of the tumbler pins 147 then takes place . if the closing of the closure cylinder is to be changed , a successor key 185 is turned over to the new user . this key is developed similar to the predecessor key 177 . the successor key 185 also consists of the two regions a and e . however the cross - shaped sections 179 &# 39 ; and 181 &# 39 ; are now thinner than the predecessor key 177 . this means that their thickness corresponds to the width of the cross arm 137 &# 39 ; of the cross - shaped channel 137 . the other sections 178 &# 39 ; and 180 &# 39 ; are now developed with such a thickness that the width corresponds to the other cross arms of the key channel 137 . if this successor key 185 is inserted into the closure cylinder , then the position shown in fig3 , 33 , 34 , 35 , and 38 is obtained . therefore only the housing pins 135 and core pins 136 are positioned by the first region a . the cross - shaped section 180 &# 39 ;, which is free of closure notches in the supplementation region e , does not adjust the tumbler pins 147 . on the other hand , the nose 184 of the cross - shaped section 178 &# 39 ; strikes the driver pin 157 and thus moves the coupling member 155 against spring action . in the end position of the coupling member 155 , the driver pin 157 has then left the corresponding cross arm 148 &# 39 ; of the cross - shaped channel 148 . at the same time as the displacement of the coupling member 155 , the control pin 162 , via its control wing 159 , is moved outward in radial direction . its end swings the locking pawl 164 against spring action , its blocking projection 167 releasing the facing blocking niche 168 . with the displacement of the blocking pin 162 , the notch groove 170 also comes into alignment with the feeler pin 171 , so that the longitudinal pin 173 , via the compression spring 176 , now assumes the position shown in fig3 and thus eliminates the combination engagement between cylinder pawl 134 and reset pawl 146 . upon a closing rotation by means of the successor key 185 by 90 °, the cylinder core 134 is thus carried along , together with reset core 146 and reset ring 141 . the closing displacement is limited by the drive pin 157 which then engages into the next cross arm 148 &# 39 ; of the key channel and therefore after a closing turn of 90 °. the position shown in fig3 and 39 is then present . further turning of the key forward or backward is then not possible . if the closure cylinder 131 is now to be actuated in the normal manner , the successor key 185 is to be withdrawn and inserted in an angular position shifted by 90 ° in order to bring the control notches 183 into engagement with the tumbler pins 147 . in exactly the same way as in the case of the predecessor key , an incorrect insertion of the successor key 185 does not result in any closing action . if necessary , a modified new successor key can be inserted which changes the closing of the closure cylinder and excludes the previously used successor key 185 . also in the case of this version there is a compulsory sequence in the use of the successor key . it is not possible to skip over the use of a successor key .
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to calibrate prior art display systems comprising groups of light emitting elements , such as light emitting diodes ( leds ), prior practice has been to store values of the commission internationale de l &# 39 ; eclairage ( cie ) chromaticity coordinates ( x , y ) for photopic vision and luminance for each pixel to calculate transformation matrices for color calibration . however , using the cie chromaticity coordinates ties the display to a specific color space and standard , thereby precluding any operation with alternate color spaces or in the scotopic vision color space . in other words , the prior art systems use stored values which already include correction factors or coefficients which limited the calibration of the light emitting elements to certain color spaces and standards . in contrast , the system disclosed herein stores luminance and chromaticity data for each of the light emitting elements with the display panels to which the elements belong . from the stored normalized power spectral density function ( npsd ) for each light emitting element , calibration matrices are dynamically derived for the color space required . advantageously , this methodology allows the disclosed system to compensate for the differences in photopic ( day - time ) and scotopic ( night - time ) vision , as well as the implementation of other color spaces . the disclosed system allows for separate luminance measurement and calibration of a display in the field . the luminance , or brightness , of the light emitting elements used in such displays varies with age and use , while the chromaticity remains comparatively constant . thus , it is important to be able to adjust the luminance calibration separately from the chromaticity as the display gets older . the disclosed system stores data for luminance and chromaticity separately so that an in - field luminance only calibration system may be used to maintain screen uniformity over the lifetime of the product . because luminance calibration is easier to perform than chromaticity calibration , this significantly reduces the complexity of in - situ calibration without compromising the accuracy of such calibrations . accurately measuring the chromaticity of a light emitting element requires a full spectral measurement of the element and is typically performed under controlled conditions . because only color information is required at this stage , and not luminance , only the npsd is measured , which may then be adjusted for luminance at a later time . this substantially simplifies the measurement procedure . fig1 is an illustration of an embodiment of the present patent showing a light emitting element spectral measurement system . in this description , the light emitting elements 101 of a display panel 100 are leds . each of the leds 101 of the display panel 100 may be measured using diffraction grating spectrometers 103 , such as the usb4000 manufactured by ocean optics , inc . of dunedin , fla . if necessary , the light from each of the leds 101 may be passed through a diffusing element 104 to homogenize the light output from each pixel . the spectrometers 103 accept input from a fiber optic channel , which attaches to an optical element to aid measurements , such as a collimating lens , or cosine - correcting lens . a number of measuring heads of the spectrometers 103 may be mounted on a moving head . the heads are positioned above each led , allowing measurement of each of the leds spectral characteristics . following successful measurement , the head may be moved to the next bank of leds until all leds are measured . note that as npsd is being measured , very accurate control of the distance of the measurement optical elements from the leds is not critical . however , controlling the signal - to - noise ratio ( snr ) and ensuring that the spectrometer does not limit may be important . 4 . the number of leds to be calibrated at one time ; and these parameters may be optimized to achieve a satisfactory cycle time . further improvement in measurement time may also be achieved by adding additional spectrometers . fig2 is a further illustration of an embodiment of the present patent showing an led spectral measurement system utilizing multiple spectrometers . optical receptors 105 , each of which utilizes an optical element such as a collimating lens or cosine corrected lens , are located above each of the leds 101 of the display panel 100 . a number of these receptors ( four are illustrated here , although the patent is not so limited ) connect together via a fiber optic splice 106 that sums the light from each connected receptor 105 and transmits the result to a spectrometer 107 . as illustrated , five spectrometers would allow measurement of 20 leds . illuminating only one led per splice unit ( denoted a , b , c , and d in fig2 ) at a time , allows five simultaneous readings to be taken . four readings , one for each of the a , b , c , and d leds , will measure the entire array . care needs to be taken that the surrounding environment does not significantly contribute to the measurement , and that neighboring leds do not interfere with each other . interference of neighboring leds may be controlled , for example , through careful lens selection or through the use of optical baffles . the fiber diameter and measurement distance each may need to be chosen to minimize the exposure time required to measure each led while preventing saturation of the spectrometer and maintaining an acceptable signal - to - noise ratio . preferably , the leds are set to 100 percent on during this measurement , i . e . no pulsing associated with pwm signals . because the linear ccd detector within the spectrometer is progressively scanned , an led fed with a pulsed signal may result in a missing reading , which will be manifested as a hole in the spectrum . if pulsing an led is required , then the missing data may be compensated for by software through detection of any faults and interpolation and by multiple scans . fig3 is an illustration of the typical npsd function of red , green , and blue leds that are commonly utilized in video displays . as can be seen in fig3 , the red and blue power spectral density ( psd ) functions are narrow and do not overlap . thus , the red and blue leds may be measured simultaneously , thereby reducing the number of measurements required by 33 percent . as the green psd function overlaps the blue and red , it may be preferable to measure it separately . however , to further reduce the measurement time , all three colors may be measured simultaneously by interpolating the spectra where the green led spectrum overlaps the red and blue led spectra . while psd functions accurately represent the power ( radiance ) components of the light being emitted , they do not provide a simple way for mathematically quantifying a color or the way a human perceives a color . the science of the relationship between psd and perceived color is referred to as colorimetry . in 1931 , the cie developed a standard set of three color - matching functions for describing color as perceived by a standard observer , and this system has been internationally adopted as a standard method of color definition for luminous and source displays ( i . e . not influenced by an alternative psd such as reflective display ). the cie system consists of a luminance component ( y ) and two additional color or chromaticity components ( x and z ). the three components are based upon a series of experiments , and the result is that a color can be expressed in three tristimulus values . fig4 shows the standard color matching functions . from the psd of a given color , the cie x , y and z tristimulus values may be determined by correlating the psd with each of the corresponding color matching functions as shown below . where : x , y and z are 1 × n matrices representing the color functions ( n is typically 3 ) and psd is a n × 1 matrix representing the psd of the color . note that x , y and z take into account brightness or luminance . in terms of perception of color independent of brightness , the cie proposed a method of normalizing the xyz tristimulus values to obtain two chromaticity values or coordinates with x and y determined as follows : these coordinates form the basis of the standard cie 1931 color diagram and are used in prior display systems for calibration . the cie values include correction factors or coefficients . for more sophisticated color processing , it is preferable to store the npsd data in the product and determine the appropriate cie tristimulus values within the fixture or controller . this technique allows using other color matching functions such as the cie 1964 10 degree observer functions ( proposed to be more accurate in low ambient light conditions ), cie 1960 , cie 1976 functions or any other color spaces known in the art . if only cie x , y , and z are required , then only x and y need to be stored , because z ( required to form the complete matrix ) can be easily determined from the relationship z = 1 . 0 − x − y . note that as we are ultimately only interested in determining x and y , normalized psd functions can be measured so the repeatability of luminance measurement in this process is not of concern . for some leds , the psd may be highly dependent upon drive current , for example , with nichia green leds . the psd may also be slightly influenced , but this influence is largely overshadowed by the high dependence of luminance on junction temperature , and thus ambient temperature and drive current . this must be taken into account when determining the operating current of the leds , as changing this later on in the life of the product will require complete recalibration of both chromaticity and color . luminance is a photometric unit , as opposed to a radiometric one , based on the statistical response of the human eye that provides a measure of perceived brightness . luminance has a unit of candela per square meter . the candela is an si unit and is the measurement unit for luminous intensity , which is defined as the power emitted by a light source in a particular direction spectrally weighted by a luminosity function that is modeled on the spectral response of the human eye . the cie 1931 specification includes a series of standard observer luminosity functions for photopic ( the response during daylight hours centered around 555 nanometers ) and scotopic vision ( the response during night hours centered around 505 nanometers ). these luminosity functions are illustrated in fig5 . note the similarity between the photopic curve in fig5 and the cie tristimulus function for luminance ( y ). substantial care should be taken when measuring absolute luminance , particularly regarding calibration of the measurement unit and ambient light conditions . it is much easier to determine relative luminance , particularly if the ambient conditions can be controlled . within a batch of leds , it is possible for a 1 : 1 . 4 ratio between the most and least bright leds . this means that the least bright led could be 71 percent of the luminance of the brightest led . thus , accurate determination of luminance is critical to maintaining uniformity . additionally , the luminance of an led degrades with temperature and time , so while the psd or color of the led might not change much over the led &# 39 ; s life , the brightness does , and this degradation is the primary source of uniformity degradation in led displays . uniformity degradation may appear as if the color is changing , particularly with white , where all leds are illuminated . however , this degradation is almost entirely due to the varying luminance levels for each primary changing independently , changing the color mix . typically , green and blue degrade substantially more than red . the disclosed calibration system uses a two stage process for measuring luminance ; first a ccd based imaging system is used to determine the relative luminance between each led for each color , and then a standard luminance meter is used to determine the average absolute luminance for the panel . the two measurements may then be combined to obtain absolute luminance readings for each color , for each pixel . though a ccd based system can be calibrated , the system may drift over time and the calibrated reference point is needed to correct this drift . control of the ambient temperature and ambient lighting conditions are critical for ensuring repeatability for luminance measurement . additionally , the thermal time constant of the display must be determined experimentally . the thermal time constant is the time required for a display panel to reach steady state luminance readings for red , green , and blue when operating at the chosen calibration temperature . the display panels need to be stored for a sufficient period of time at the calibration temperature , and then each display panel must be run for an identical period of time before measurements are taken . the calibration system has ambient temperature measurement capability and will only calibrate when the environment is within specification . a suitable calibration temperature may be , for example , 20 degrees c .± 1 degree c . parameters that require strict control when measuring luminance may include but not be limited to : 8 . light reflections ( can be controlled through the use of optical baffles .) 10 . regular verification of the system through the use of standard modules with known calibration the more controlled the environment and the process , the more accurate and repeatable the calibration will be . appropriate checks and balances need to be incorporated into the calibration process to ensure that these ambient conditions are not only within specification , but also logged for future diagnostic purposes . but even with the cautionary notes above , the measurement of , and proper calibration for , the luminance of the leds of the display panels is relatively easy and can be done in - situ , i . e ., at the installed display . on the other hand , properly measuring the chromaticity of the leds in - situ is very difficult given the difficulty in measurement under controlled conditions . once all measurements have been taken for the leds of a display panel , the luminance and chromaticity data are stored on the display panel . fig6 form an overall display 200 formed by a plurality of display panels 100 arrayed in tiles of rows and columns . in this representation only nine display panels 100 are shown and are separated to better illustrate their organization . graphic or video information for each of the light emitting elements 101 of each display panel 100 to display is passed from a central video processor unit controller 205 over a data bus 223 which interconnects the display panels 100 and connects them to the controller 205 . the controller 205 can receive display information as represented by an external source 219 . to process the information for display by each display panel 100 and its constituent light emitting elements 101 , the central controller 205 has a graphics processor unit ( gpu ), a central processing unit ( cpu ), network interface card ( nic ) and memory storage 209 , and the high - speed data bus 223 carries the display information to the display panels 100 . although a nic is depicted , the video processor may be connected by any output means to the display panels , including , for example , video transport ( e . g ., dvi , hdmi , vga , or other ). each display panel 100 also has a memory unit 109 which holds the measured luminance and chromaticity data described for each light emitting element so that the element remains properly calibrated . memory units 109 for only two display panels 100 are shown for drawing simplicity . preferably the memory units 109 are based on nonvolatile memory , such as eeprom integrated circuits , so that the stored data is not lost when power is cut to the display panels . the video processor unit controller 205 also performs the calibration and recalibration procedures described below . a second bus 221 , shown by a dotted line , interconnects the display panels 100 and connects them with the controller 205 . as shown by the double - headed arrow , the panels 100 can pass their luminance and chromaticity data to the controller 205 for processing and once processed , the controller 205 can send the data back to the control panels 100 for storage . it should be understood that accompanying the luminance and chromaticity data there is information to identify the display panel and constituent light emitting element to which the data refers . with this arrangement the central controller 205 can perform the calibration and recalibration procedures so that the individual light emitting elements are matched over the entire display . this contrasts with less desirable calibration ( and recalibration ) procedures by which the elements are matched over a display panel . more details on a display system are described in u . s . patent application ser . no . 12 / 415 , 627 , filed mar . 31 , 2009 , ser . no . 12 / 484 , 200 , filed jun . 13 , 2009 , and u . s . provisional patent applications 61 / 072 , 597 , filed mar . 31 , 2008 , and 61 / 170 , 887 , filed apr . 20 , 2009 , which are incorporated by reference . calibration and recalibration : determination of the tra matrix for each pixel the measured chromaticity and luminance data of each light emitting element is used to calculate the calibration values for the element . some prior art products simply calculate a transformation matrix ( tra ) based upon the color and luminance measurements and a predetermined destination color space ( such as pal or ntsc ). however , to recalibrate luminance in the future , both parameters may need to be stored separately , because when combined into a tra , luminance and chromaticity cannot be independently extracted . notwithstanding the above , it may be advantageous to additionally store the cie x , y chromaticity coordinates as well as luminous intensity for each led in the memory unit 109 for each display panel 100 , as shown in fig6 . as discussed above , because x + y + z = 1 . 0 , it is only necessary to store x and y . thus , an example matrix stored in the eeprom follows : the method described below for determining the transformation matrix is based almost entirely on smpte recommended practice 177 - 1993 entitled “ derivation of basic color television equations .” in order to assist with understanding , the appropriate section of that document is referenced in square brackets . form source ( target matrix ) ( p ). in the smpte recommended practice “ source ” refers to the source color space , but in this case this is the target color space . in order to duplicate the same color space as the source ( e . g . pal ), the pal color space would be the target color space . however , to exploit the extended color gamut it may be necessary to adjust these coordinates . adjustments will provide a display with more vibrant , but less accurate colors . for decorative applications of video display products , it is generally preferable to exploit maximum color gamut . the required color space may be selected in a control system , and this information is sent to the display to calculate the tra . including this selection may allow the user to determine if they prefer accuracy or vibrancy . red ( x sr , y sr ) e . g . ( 0 . 64 , 0 . 3 ) for pal red green ( x sg , y sg ) e . g . ( 0 . 3 , 0 . 6 ) for pal green blue ( x sb , y sb ) e . g . ( 0 . 15 , 0 . 06 ) for pal blue additionally , the source white point ( x w , y w ), needs to be defined . a common white point is d65 which is the standard for television transmission ( 0 . 3127 , 0 . 329 ). note here that each coordinate for the w matrix is normalized with respect to y w ( luminance ) so that white luminance as a value of 1 . 0 ( i . e . r = g = b = 1 for white ). compute the coefficient matrix . these coefficients effectively determine the relative gain required from each of the primaries such that r = g = b = 1 produces white . compute the final source normalized primary matrix npm s as the product of ps and cs : this finally relates the linear rgb values from the video signal to cie x , y , z tristimulus as : note that for the npm s , y sr + y sg + y sb = 1 . 0 , so the ratios of y sr , y sg and y sb represent the ratios of red , green , and blue that are required to get the designated white point . for example , for pal , these ratios are : red 21 percent , green 72 percent and blue 7 percent . form destination ( led display ) primary matrix ( p ). the same process is repeated to determine the destination normalized primary matrix ( npm d ), which may be based upon the chromaticity coordinates obtained in the calibration process . this allows the determination of tristimulus values for a destination rgb color : thus , it is possible to determine the rgb values required to reproduce a given set of tristimulus values : consequently , it is possible to determine the rgb values required for the target color space to reproduce the color of the source rgb color space , and , in turn , determine the transformation matrix . note that if any term in the tra is negative , then the target on source color space cannot be rendered completely by the display . to maximize accuracy , negative coefficients need to be allowed for and coefficients of less than zero are rounded to zero . gain adjust the tra . the process above works on normalized luminance , so the scale factors on gains must also be applied to each color to get the target luminance . the process also assumes that red , green , and blue are adjusted so when set to 100 percent , they combine to form the white point , at the target luminance . assume , for example , a target luminance is l w is 5000 candela per square meter . this luminance may be multiplied by the square area for each pixel to determine a target luminous intensity pen pixel for white ( iw ). the luminous intensity for each led measured at the time of calibration , i r , i g , and i b is stored in the memory 109 of the corresponding display panel . the second row of the npm d ( y dr , y dg and y db ) determines the ratio of the red , green , and blue leds that are required to meet the set white point . for example , for red , i w × y dr determines the luminous intensity required of the red led to meet the red requirement of the white set point , for the given i w . thus , the gain adjustments required for each led , where a gain of 1 gives the required luminous intensity to meet the white point at the specified brightness are : note that if any of the gains are greaten than 1 . 0 , then that color cannot be displayed at the requested luminance level . to determine the pwm values for each of the leds in an efficient manner , these gains may be included the tra . thus , the pwm values required for the leds ( range 0 . 0 to 1 . 0 ) are : note that all these calculations occur in linear space , therefore any gamma correction must be performed following the color space conversion . once tras have been calculated for each led , a test may be required to verify the calibration . measuring the relative luminance at an led level may be difficult because the pwm is active , and due to the progressive scanning of the ccd , errors may occur . higher grade , ultra - fast , scientific ccds can compensate for this effect , as can increasing the exposure time , although due to the high brightness compensation may also be difficult . to truly test accuracy , a high - speed , scientific ccd with x , y and z color filters is required , including , for example , ccds available from radiant imaging , inc . of redmond , wash . on munatest . alternatively , a standard spectroradiometer such as a cs - 1000 on spectrascan may be used to determine panel compliance . embodiments disclosed herein may provide for one on more of the following advantages . first , the calibration system disclosed herein may allow for calibration of displays to arbitrary color spaces . the calibration system disclosed herein may also allow for the adjustment of a display to both photopic vision ( day ) and scotopic vision ( night ). furthermore , the calibration system disclosed herein may allow for enhanced screen uniformity across a display as the elements within a display wear . finally , the calibration system disclosed herein may reduce the complexity of in - field calibrations of displays . the display can be recalibrated by remeasuring the luminance of the light emitting elements only in - situ . this description of the invention has been presented for the purposes of illustration and description . it is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form described , and many modifications and variations are possible in light of the teaching above . the embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical applications . this description will enable others skilled in the art to best utilize and practice the invention in various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to a particular use . the scope of the invention is defined by the following claims .
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the term “ alkyl ,” as used herein , refers to a straight - chain or branched saturated group with 1 - 20 carbon atoms , derived from an alkane by the removal of one hydrogen atom . the term “ alkenyl ,” as used herein , refers to a monovalent straight - chain or branched group of 2 - 12 carbon atoms containing at least one carbon - carbon double bond , derived from an alkene by the removal of one hydrogen atom . the term “ alkoxy ,” as used herein , refers to an alkyl group attached to the parent molecular group through an oxygen atom . the term “ amino ,” as used herein , refers to a — nr a r b group , where r a and r b are independently selected from hydrogen , alkyl , aryl or heteroaryl . the term “ aminocarbonyl ,” as used herein , refers to an amino group , as defined herein , attached to the parent molecular moiety through a carbonyl group , as defined herein . the term “ aminocarbonyloxy ,” as used herein , refers to an aminocarbonyl group , as defined herein , attached to the parent molecular moiety through an oxygen atom . the term “ aryl ,” as used herein , refers to a carbocyclic ring system , mono - or bi - cyclic , having one or two aromatic rings . the aryl group can also be fused to a cyclohexane , cyclohexene , cyclopentane or cyclopentene ring . the aryl groups of this invention are optionally substituted . the term “ oxo ,” as used herein , refers to ═ o , and the term “ carbonyl ,” as used herein , refers to a c ═ o group . the term “ cycloalkyl ,” as used herein , refers to a monovalent aliphatic cyclic hydrocarbon group of 3 - 12 carbons derived from a cycloalkane by the removal of one hydrogen atom . the terms “ halo ” and “ halogen ,” as used herein , refer to f , cl , br , or i . the term “ heteroaryl ” represents an aryl group containing in which one , two , or three ring atoms are substituted with heteroatoms independently selected from nitrogen , oxygen , and sulfur . the term “ methylene ,” as used herein , refers to a — ch 2 — group . the term “ perfluoroalkyl ,” as used herein , refers to an alkyl group in which all of the hydrogen atoms have been replaced by fluorine atoms . the term “ phenyl ,” as used herein , refers to a monocyclic carbocyclic ring system having one aromatic ring . the phenyl group can also be fused to another ring . the phenyl groups of this invention can be optionally substituted . the term “ prodrug ,” as used herein , represents compounds that are transformed in vivo to the parent compound of the above formula , for example , by hydrolysis in blood . a thorough discussion is provided in t . higuchi and v . stella , pro - drugs as novel delivery systems , vol . 14 of the a . c . s . symposium series , and in edward b . roche , ed ., bioreversible carriers in drug design , american pharmaceutical association and pergamon press , 1987 , both of which are incorporated herein by reference . the terms “ thioalkoxy ,” and “ thio ,” as used herein , refer to an alkyl group attached to the parent molecular group through a sulfur atom . the term “ treating ,” as used herein , refers to reversing , alleviating , or inhibiting the progress of the disease , disorder or condition , or one or more symptoms of such disease , disorder or condition , to which such term applies . depending on the condition of the patient , as used herein , this term also refers to preventing a disease , disorder or condition , and includes preventing the onset of a disease , disorder or condition , or preventing the symptoms associated with a disease , disorder or condition . as used herein , this term also refers to reducing the severity of a disease , disorder or condition or symptoms associated with such disease , disorder or condition prior to affliction with the disease , disorder or condition . such prevention or reduction of the severity of a disease , disorder or condition prior to affliction refers to administration of the composition of the present invention , as described herein , to a subject that is not at the time of administration afflicted with the disease , disorder or condition . “ preventing ” also refers to preventing the recurrence of a disease , disorder or condition or of one or more symptoms associated with such disease , disorder or condition . the terms “ treatment ” and “ therapeutically ,” as used herein , refer to the act of treating , as “ treating ” is defined above . the compounds of this invention may be prepared by the general methods and examples presented below , and methods known to those of ordinary skill in the art . optimum reaction conditions and reaction times may vary depending on the particular reactants used . unless otherwise specified , solvents , temperatures , pressures , and other reaction conditions may be readily selected by one of ordinary skill in the art . specific procedures are provided in the synthetic examples section . reaction progress may be monitored by conventional methods such as thin layer chromatography ( tlc ) and mass spectrum ( ms ). intermediates and products may be purified by methods known in the art , including column chromatography , high pressure liquid chromatography ( hplc ), and recrystallization . additional abbreviations which have been used in the descriptions of the schemes and the examples that follow are : dmf for n , n - dimethylformamide , dmso for dimethylsulfoxide , and thf for tetrahydrofuran . as shown in scheme i , reaction of i with one equivalent of cyanothioacetamide ii in a suitable solvent such as ethanol , in the presence of a suitable base such as n - methylmorpholine produces intermediates iii . reaction of iii with substituted cyclic , heterocyclic , and polycyclic ketones iv , e . g ., cyclopentanones , cyclohexanones , cycloheptanones , piperidinones , pyrrolidinones , azepanones , tetrahydrofuranones , decalones , cyclohexanediones , and tetrahydropyranones , in a suitable solvent such as ethanol , in the presence of a suitable base such as n - methylmorpholine or morpholine , provides the intermediates v . reaction of v with chloro - or bromoacetamide in a suitable solvent such as ethanol or acetone , in the presence of a suitable base such as potassium carbonate , sodium ethoxide , potassium tert - butoxide , with or without heating , provides compounds of formula vi . substituent r 1 may be further modified by methods known in the art to produce additional compounds of the invention . for example , as illustrated in scheme ii , beginning with substituted or unsubstituted piperidinones , pyrrolidinones , azepanones with protected groups , the procedure above affords via . the protecting group of via is removed by methods and conditions known in the art to produce vii . substituent r 1 may be modified by commonly known methods to make other desired substituents ( viii ) by reaction of vii with an additional reagent such as an alkyl halide , aromatic or aliphatic carboxylic acid , acid halides , sulfonyl halide , anhydride , isocyanate , and isothiocyanate , in a solvent such as dmf , dichloromethane , thf , in the presence of a suitable base such as triethylamine , diisopropylethylamine , pyridine , and potassium carbonate . to a mixture of 2 - thiophencarbaldehyde ( 22 . 4 g , 0 . 2 mol ) and 2 - cyanothioacetamide ( 22 g , 0 . 22 mol ) in 250 ml of ethanol was added n - methylmorpholine ( 30 . 3 g , 0 . 3 mol ) at room temperature . the resulting mixture was stirred at room temperature overnight . the solid was filtered and washed with ethanol to give 28 . 2 g ( 72 %) of product as a yellow solid after drying in vacuo . 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , dmso - d6 ): δ 10 . 0 ( brs , 1h ), 9 . 45 ( brs , 1h ), 8 . 37 ( s , 1h ), 8 . 12 ( d , j = 4 . 8 hz , 1h ), 7 . 88 ( d , j = 3 . 3 hz , 1h ), 7 . 32 ( dd , j = 3 . 3 , 4 . 8 hz , 1h ). es ms m / z 195 ( m + h ) + , 193 ( m − h ) − . to a mixture of 2 - cyano - 3 - thiophen - 2 - yl - thioacrylamide ( 4 . 38 g , 22 . 5 mmol ) and 1 - boc - 3 - pyrrolidine synthesized from pyrrolidinol by reference procedures ( synthetic commun . 1985 , 15 ( 7 ), 587 - 598 ) ( 4 . 16 g , 22 . 5 mmol ) in 200 ml of anhydrous ethanol was added morpholine ( 3 . 94 g , 45 mmol ) at room temperature with stirring . the resulting mixture was heated to reflux overnight . then , 2 - chloroacetamide ( 4 . 21 g , 45 mmol ) and k 2 co 3 ( 6 . 23 g , 45 mmol ) were added . the reaction mixture was continued to heat at 80 ° c . overnight and then cooled to room temperature . the crystals was filtered and washed with ethanol and water to give the desired product as yellow crystals . 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , dmso - d6 ): δ 7 . 92 ( dd , j = 1 . 2 , 5 . 1 hz , 1h ), 7 . 33 ( dd , j = 1 . 2 , 3 . 6 hz , 1h ), 7 . 30 ( dd , j = 3 . 6 , 5 . 1 hz , 1h ), 7 . 26 ( brs , 1h ), 5 . 97 ( d , j = 10 . 5 hz , 2h ), 4 . 70 ( d , j = 6 . 0 hz , 2h ), 4 . 45 ( d , j = 10 . 5 hz , 2h ), 1 . 42 ( m , 9h ). es ms m / z 417 ( m + h ) + , 415 ( m − h )—. to a suspension of 3 - amino - 2 - carbamoyl - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 5 , 7 - dihydro - 1 - thia - 6 , 8 - diaza - s - indacene - 6 - carboxylic acid tert - butyl ester ( 4 g , 9 . 6 mmol )) in 70 ml of anhydrous methanol was added dropwise 7 ml of acetyl chloride under argon . the resulting mixture was stirred for 48 hours at room temperature . the solid was filtered and washed with methanol to give 3 . 14 g ( 93 %) of the yellow product as its hydrochloride salt . 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , dmso - d6 ): δ 10 . 20 ( brs , 2h ), 7 . 96 ( dd , j = 1 . 2 , 5 . 1 hz , 1h ), 7 . 36 ( dd , j = 1 . 2 , 3 . 6 hz , 1h ), 7 . 32 ( brs , 2h ), 7 . 31 ( dd , j = 3 . 6 , 5 . 1 hz , 1h ), 6 . 02 ( brs , 2h ), 4 . 63 ( s , 2h ), 4 . 42 ( s , 2h ). es ms m / z 317 ( m + h ) + , 315 ( m − h ) − . a mixture of 3 - amino - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - 1 - thia - 6 , 8 - diaza - s - indacene - 2 - carboxylic acid amide hydrochloride ( 70 mg , 0 . 2 mmol ), benzyl bromide ( 38 mg , 0 . 22 mmol ), and triethylamine ( 0 . 2 ml ) in 2 ml of anhydrous dmf was heated at 60 ° c . for 24 hours . the solvent was removed in vacuo , and the residue was purified by preparative hplc to give a yellow solid . 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , dmso - d6 ): δ 7 . 83 ( d , j = 5 . 1 hz , 1h ), 7 . 32 ( m , 3h ), 7 . 31 ( d , j = 3 . 6 hz , 1h ), 7 . 26 ( dd , j = 3 . 6 , 5 . 1 hz , 1h ), 7 . 22 ( m , 2h ), 7 . 22 ( brs , 2h ), 5 . 96 ( brs , 2h ), 4 . 02 ( s , 2h ), 3 . 86 ( s , 2h ), 3 . 72 ( s , 2h ). es ms m / z 407 ( m + h ) + , 405 ( m − h ) − . the following compounds were prepared by using the same procedure described in example 1 , substituting a suitable aldehyde for 2 - thiophencarbaldehyde as the starting material . in some cases , if the product was not recrystallized from methanol or ethanol , the reaction mixture was purified by flash column chromatography or preparative hplc . 3 - amino - 6 - pyridin - 2 - ylmethyl - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - 1 - thia - 6 , 8 - diaza - s - indacene - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 7 ) 3 - amino - 6 - pyridin - 3 - ylmethyl - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - 1 - thia - 6 , 8 - diaza - s - indacene - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 20 ) 3 - amino - 6 -( 2 - methyl - benzyl )- 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - 1 - thia - 6 , 8 - diaza - s - indacene - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 22 ) 3 - amino - 6 -( 3 - fluoro - benzyl )- 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - 1 - thia - 6 , 8 - diaza - s - indacene - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 23 ) 3 - amino - 6 -( 3 , 5 - dimethoxy - benzyl )- 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - 1 - thia - 6 , 8 - diaza - s - indacene - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 24 ) a mixture of 3 - amino - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - 1 - thia - 6 , 8 - diaza - s - indacene - 2 - carboxylic acid amide hydrochloride ( 70 mg , 0 . 2 mmol ), bromomethyl cyclopropane ( 54 mg , 0 . 4 mmol ), and triethylamine ( 0 . 2 ml ) in 2 ml of anhydrous dmf was heated at 60 ° c . for 24 hours . the solvent was removed in vacuo and the residue was purified by preparative hplc to give pure products as a yellow solid . 1 h - nmr ( 500 mhz , dmso - d6 ): δ 8 . 00 ( d , j = 5 . 1 hz , 1h ), 7 . 31 ( d , j = 3 . 6 hz , 1h ), 7 . 26 ( dd , j = 3 . 6 , 5 . 1 hz , 1h ), 7 . 22 ( brs , 2h ), 6 . 05 ( brs , 2h ), 4 . 90 ( s , 2h ), 4 . 75 ( s , 2h ), 3 . 30 ( d , j = 7 . 0 hz , 2h ), 1 . 15 ( m , 1h ), 0 . 65 ( m , 2h ), 0 . 40 ( m , 2h ). es ms m / z 371 ( m + h ) + , 369 ( m − h ) − . the following compounds were prepared by using the same procedure described in example 2 , substituting a suitable halide for bromomethyl cyclopropane . in some cases , if the product was not recrystallized from methanol or ethanol , the reaction mixture was purified by flash column or preparative hplc . 3 - amino - 6 -( 3 - chloro - propyl )- 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - 1 - thia - 6 , 8 - diaza - s - indacene - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 3 ) 3 - amino - 6 -( tetrahydro - pyran - 2 - ylmethyl )- 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - 1 - thia - 6 , 8 - diaza - s - indacene - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 4 ) 3 - amino - 6 -[ 5 -( 2 - methoxy - phenyl )-[ 1 , 2 , 4 ] oxadiazol - 3 - ylmethyl ]- 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - 1 - thia - 6 , 8 - diaza - s - indacene - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 5 ) 3 - amino - 6 -( 3 - methyl - butyl )- 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - 1 - thia - 6 , 8 - diaza - s - indacene - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 6 ) 3 - amino - 6 -( 2 - benzoyloxy - ethyl )- 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - 1 - thia - 6 , 8 - diaza - s - indacene - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 9 ) 3 - amino - 6 - phenethyl - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - 1 - thia - 6 , 8 - diaza - s - indacene - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 10 ) 3 - amino - 6 - cyclohexylmethyl - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - 1 - thia - 6 , 8 - diaza - s - indacene - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 11 ) 3 - amino - 6 -[ 2 -( 4 - chloro - phenyl )- 2 - oxo - ethyl ]- 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - h - 1 - thia - 6 , 8 - diaza - s - indacene - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 12 ) 3 - amino - 6 -( 3 - hydroxy - 2 - methyl - propyl )- 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - thia - 6 , 8 - diaza - s - indacene - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 13 ) 3 - amino - 6 - isobutyl - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - 1 - thia - 6 , 8 - diaza - s - indacene - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 14 ) 3 - amino - 6 -( 2 - hydroxy - ethyl )- 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - 1 - thia - 6 , 8 - diaza - s - indacene - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 15 ) 3 - amino - 6 - pentyl - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - 1 - thia - 6 , 8 - diaza - s - indacene - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 16 ) 3 - amino - 6 -( 2 - methoxy - ethyl )- 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - 1 - thia - 6 , 8 - diaza - s - indacene - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 17 ) 3 - amino - 6 - carbethoxymethyl - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - 1 - thia - 6 , 8 - diaza - s - indacene - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 18 ) 3 - amino - 6 -[ 2 -( 1 , 3 - dioxo - 1 , 3 - dihydro - isoindol - 2 - yl )- ethyl ]- 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - 1 - thia - 6 , 8 - diaza - s - indacene - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 19 ) a mixture of 3 - amino - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - 1 - thia - 6 , 8 - diaza - s - indacene - 2 - carboxylic acid amide hydrochloride ( 0 . 7 g , 2 mmol ), 1 - chloro - 3 - bromopropane ( 4 mmol ), and triethylamine ( 2 ml ) in 10 ml of anhydrous dmf was heated at 60 ° c . for 24 hours . the solvent was removed in vacuo , and the residue was purified by silica gel column ( chloroform / methanol , 40 : 1 ) to give pure compound as a yellow solid . 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , dmso - d6 ): δ 7 . 88 ( d , j = 5 . 1 hz , 1h ), 7 . 29 ( d , j = 3 . 6 hz , 1h ), 7 . 27 ( dd , j = 3 . 6 , 5 . 1 hz , 1h ), 7 . 22 ( brs , 2h ), 5 . 98 ( brs , 2h ), 4 . 00 ( s , 2h ), 3 . 77 ( s , 2h ), 3 . 67 ( t , j = 6 . 3 hz , 2h ), 2 . 78 ( t , j = 6 . 3 hz , 2h ), 1 . 90 ( m , 2h ). es ms m / z 393 , 395 ( m + h ) + . a mixture of 3 - amino - 6 -( 3 - chloro - propyl )- 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - 1 - thia - 6 , 8 - diaza - s - indacene - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 78 mg , 0 . 2 mmol ) and morpholine ( 44 mg , 0 . 5 mmol ) in 4 ml of ethanol was heated at 100 ° c . for 24 hours . the solvent was removed in vacuo , and the residue was purified by silica gel column ( chloroform / methanol , 30 : 1 ) to give the pure compound as a yellow solid . 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , dmso - d6 ): δ 7 . 88 ( d , j = 5 . 1 hz , 1h ), 7 . 29 ( d , j = 3 . 6 hz , 1h ), 7 . 27 ( dd , j = 3 . 6 , 5 . 1 hz , 1h ), 7 . 22 ( brs , 2h ), 5 . 98 ( brs , 2h ), 4 . 59 ( s , 2h ), 4 . 35 ( s , 2h ), 3 . 80 ( m , 4h ), 3 . 67 ( t , j = 6 . 3 hz , 2h ), 3 . 20 ( m , 4h ), 3 . 15 ( t , j = 6 . 3 hz , 2h ), 2 . 00 ( m , 2h ). es ms m / z 444 ( m + h ) + , 442 ( m − h ) − . the following compounds were prepared by the same procedure described in example 3 , substituting suitable nucleophilic reagents for morpholine , as for compound 27 . in some cases , if the product was not recrystallized from methanol or ethanol , the reaction mixture was purified by flash column chromatography or preparative hplc . to a mixture of 2 - cyano - 3 - thiophen - 2 - yl - thioacrylamide ( 4 . 38 g , 22 . 5 mmol ) and 1 - boc - 3 - piperidone ( 4 . 49 g , 22 . 5 mmol ) in 200 ml of anhydrous ethanol was added morpholine ( 3 . 94 g , 45 mmol ) at room temperature with stirring . the resulting mixture was heated to reflux overnight . then , 2 - chloroacetamide ( 4 . 21 g , 45 mmol ) and k 2 co 3 ( 6 . 23 g , 45 mmol ) was added . the reaction mixture was continued to heat at 80 ° c . overnight . the solvent was removed in vacuo , and the residue was purified by silica gel column ( chloroform / methanol , 40 : 1 ) and recrystallized from methanol to give a yellow crystalline product . to a suspension of 3 - amino - 2 - carbamoyl - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 5 , 8 - dihydro - 6h - 1 - thia - 7 , 9 - diaza - cyclopenta [ b ] naphthalene - 7 - carboxylic acid tert - butyl ester ( 100 mg ) in 10 ml of anhydrous methanol under argon 0 . 5 ml of acetyl chloride was added dropwise , and the resulting mixture was stirred overnight at room temperature . the reaction mixture was neutralized with 7n ammonia in methanol and evaporated to dryness under vacuum . the residue was purified by silica gel column ( chloroform / methanol , 30 : 1 ) to give a yellow solid . 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , dmso - d6 ): δ 7 . 88 ( d , j = 5 . 1 hz , 1h ), 7 . 28 ( dd , j = 3 . 6 , 5 . 1 hz , 1h ), 7 . 16 ( d , j = 3 . 6 hz , 1h ), 7 . 01 ( brs , 2h ), 5 . 64 ( brs , 2h ), 4 . 84 ( brs , 1h ), 3 . 16 ( s , 2h ), 2 . 94 ( m , 2h ), 1 . 86 ( m , 2h ). es ms m / z 331 ( m + h ) + , 329 ( m − h ) − . a mixture of 3 - amino - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 - tetrahydro - 1 - thia - 7 , 9 - diaza - cyclopenta [ b ] naphthalene - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 66 mg , 0 . 2 mmol ), benzyl bromide ( 38 mg , 0 . 22 mmol ), and triethylamine ( 0 . 2 ml ) in 2 ml of anhydrous dmf was heated at 60 ° c . for 24 hours . the solvent was removed in vacuo , and the residue was purified by preparative hplc to give pure products as a yellow solid . the following compounds were prepared by using the same procedure described in example 4 and substituting a suitable halide for benzyl bromide as for compound 31 . in some cases , if the product was not recrystallized from methanol or ethanol , the reaction mixture was purified by flash column or preparative hplc . to a mixture of 2 - cyano - 3 - thiophen - 2 - yl - thioacrylamide ( 0 . 39 g , 2 mmol ), 2 - ethoxy - cyclopentanone ( 0 . 26 g , 2 mmol ) in 10 ml of ethanol was added n - methylmorpholine ( 0 . 4 g , 4 mmol ). the resulting mixture was refluxed overnight , and 2 - chloroacetamide ( 0 . 38 g , 4 mmol ) and anhydrous potassium carbonate ( 0 . 55 g , 4 mmol ) were added with stirring . the reaction mixture was further heated at reflux overnight . the cooled reaction mixture was poured into 50 ml of ice - water , and the precipitate was filtered and washed with water to give the crude product as a yellow solid . the product was further purified by silica gel column to produce a yellow solid . 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , dmso - d6 ): δ 7 . 88 ( dd , j = 2 . 7 , 3 . 6 hz , 1h ), 7 . 28 - 7 . 26 ( m , 2h ), 7 . 24 ( brs , 2h ), 5 . 8 ( brs , 2h ), 4 . 87 ( dd , j = 4 . 5 , 6 . 9 hz , 1h ), 3 . 79 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 65 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 43 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 77 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 35 ( m , 1h ), 1 . 98 ( m , 1h ), 1 . 31 ( t , j = 6 . 9 hz , 3h ). es ms m / z 360 ( m + h ) + , 358 ( m − h ) − . the following compounds were prepared by the same procedure described in example 5 , substituting a suitable cyclic ketone for 2 - ethoxy - cyclopentanone as for compound 35 . when flash column chromatography was insufficient for purification , the crude product was further purified by preparative hplc . 3 - amino - 7 - methyl - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - cyclopenta [ b ] thieno [ 3 , 2 - e ] pyridine - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 37 ) 3 - amino - 7 - carbomethoxymethyl - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - cyclopenta [ b ] thieno [ 3 , 2 - e ] pyridine - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 40 ) 3 - amino - 7 - carbethoxymethyl - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - cyclopenta [ b ] thieno [ 3 , 2 - e ] pyridine - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 41 ) 3 - amino - 7 - hexyl - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - cyclopenta [ b ] thieno [ 3 , 2 - e ] pyridine - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 59 ) 3 - amino - 7 - heptyl - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - cyclopenta [ b ] thieno [ 3 , 2 - e ] pyridine - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 60 ) 3 - amino - 7 - cyclopentyl - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - cyclopenta [ b ] thieno [ 3 , 2 - e ] pyridine - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 61 ) 3 - amino - 8 -( 2 - cyano - ethyl )- 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 - tetrahydro - thieno [ 2 , 3 - b ] quinoline - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 62 ) 3 - amino - 8 - isobutyl - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 - tetrahydro - thieno [ 2 , 3 - b ] quinoline - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 63 ) 3 - amino - 8 - benzyl - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 - tetrahydro - thieno [ 2 , 3 - b ] quinoline - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 64 ) 3 - amino - 8 - propyl - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 - tetrahydro - thieno [ 2 , 3 - b ] quinoline - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 65 ) 3 - amino - 8 - phenyl - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 - tetrahydro - thieno [ 2 , 3 - b ] quinoline - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 66 ) 3 - amino - 8 -( 3 - methoxy - phenyl )- 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 - tetrahydro - thieno [ 2 , 3 - b ] quinoline - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 67 ) 3 - amino - 8 - cyclohexyl - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 - tetrahydro - thieno [ 2 , 3 - b ] quinoline - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 68 ) 3 - amino - 8 - methoxy - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 - tetrahydro - thieno [ 2 , 3 - b ] quinoline - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 69 ) 8 - allyl - 3 - amino - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 - tetrahydro - thieno [ 2 , 3 - b ] quinoline - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 70 ) 3 - amino - 8 - carbethoxymethyl - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 - tetrahydro - thieno [ 2 , 3 - b ] quinoline - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 71 ) 3 - amino - 6 - methyl - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 - tetrahydro - thieno [ 2 , 3 - b ] quinoline - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 72 ) 3 - amino - 6 - ethyl - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 - tetrahydro - thieno [ 2 , 3 - b ] quinoline - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 73 ) 3 - amino - 7 - methyl - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 - tetrahydro - thieno [ 2 , 3 - b ] quinoline - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 74 ) 3 - amino - 4 -( 3 - methyl - thiophen - 2 - yl )- 5 - oxo - 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 - tetrahydro - thieno [ 2 , 3 - b ] quinoline - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 75 ) 3 - amino - 4 -( thiophen - 2 - yl )- 5 - oxo - 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 - tetrahydro - thieno [ 2 , 3 - b ] quinoline - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 76 ) 3 - amino - 4 -( 4 - chloro - phenyl )- 5 - oxo - 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 - tetrahydro - thieno [ 2 , 3 - b ] quinoline - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 77 ) 3 - amino - 5 - oxo - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 1 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 - hexahydro - thiochromeno [ 2 , 3 - b ] pyrrole - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 78 ) to a mixture of 2 - cyano - 3 - thiophen - 2 - yl - thioacrylamide ( 6 . 3 g , 33 mmol ), 2 - oxocyclopentaneacetic acid ( 4 . 6 g , 33 mmol ) in 70 ml of ethanol was added n - methylmorpholine ( 6 . 6 g , 65 mmol ). the resulting mixture was refluxed overnight , then 2 - chloroacetamide ( 6 . 1 g , 65 mmol ) and anhydrous potassium carbonate ( 9 . 0 g , 65 mmol ) was added with stirring . the reaction mixture was continued to reflux overnight . the reaction mixture was cooled to room temperature and the solid was filtered and washed with ethanol . the sodium salt of product was dissolved in 100 ml of water and neutralized with 10 % hydrochloric acid to ph & lt ; 6 . the precipitate was filtered and washed with water to give 3 . 7 g ( 31 %) of pure product as a yellow solid . 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , dmso - d6 ): δ 12 . 24 ( brs , 1h ), 7 . 87 ( d , j = 5 . 1 hz , 1h ), 7 . 27 - 7 . 24 ( m , 2h ), 7 . 18 ( brs , 2h ), 5 . 93 ( brs , 2h ), 3 . 55 ( m , 1h ), 2 . 94 ( dd , j = 3 . 9 , 16 . 2 hz , 1h ), 2 . 68 ( m , 2h ), 2 . 40 ( m , 2h ), 1 . 75 ( m , 1h ). es ms m / z 374 ( m + h ) + , 372 ( m − h ) − . a solution of 3 - amino - 7 - carboxymethyl - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - cyclopenta [ b ] thieno [ 3 , 2 - e ] pyridine - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 75 mg , 0 . 2 mmol ), morpholine ( 19 mg , 0 . 22 mmol ), and 1 - hydroxybenzotriazole ( 30 mg , 0 . 22 mmol ) in 2 ml of anhydrous dmf was cooled to 0 ° c ., then dcc ( 45 mg , 0 . 22 mmol ) was added . the resulting mixture was stirred at 0 ° c . for 2 hours , then at room temperature for 48 hours . the solvent was removed in vacuo and the residue was recrystallized from methanol to give a pure product as yellow crystals . 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , dmso - d6 ): δ 7 . 87 ( dd , j = 1 . 2 , 4 . 8 hz , 1h ), 7 . 27 ( dd , j = 3 . 6 , 4 . 8 hz , 1h ), 7 . 23 ( dd , j = 1 . 2 , 3 . 6 hz , 1h ), 7 . 18 ( brs , 2h ), 5 . 93 ( brs , 2h ), 3 . 61 ( m , 1h ), 3 . 55 ( m , 4h ), 3 . 47 ( m , 4h ), 3 . 04 ( dd , j = 3 . 9 , 15 . 9 hz , 1h ), 2 . 71 ( m , 2h ), 2 . 57 ( dd , j = 9 . 3 , 15 . 9 hz , 1h ), 2 . 39 ( m , 1h ), 1 . 75 ( m , 1h ). es ms m / z 443 ( m + h ) + , 441 ( m − h )—. the following compounds were prepared by the same procedure described in example 6 , substituting a suitable amine for morpholine as for compound 38 . in some cases , if the product was not recrystallized from methanol or ethanol , the reaction mixture was purified by flash column or preparative hplc . 3 - amino - 7 -[( 2 - hydroxy - 2 - phenyl - ethylcarbamoyl )- methyl ]- 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - cyclopenta [ b ] thieno [ 3 , 2 - e ] pyridine - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 39 ) 3 - amino - 7 - methylcarbamoylmethyl - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - cyclopenta [ b ] thieno [ 3 , 2 - e ] pyridine - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 42 ) 3 - amino - 7 -{[( 5 - methyl - furan - 2 - ylmethyl )- carbamoyl ]- methyl }- 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - cyclopenta [ b ] thieno [ 3 , 2 - e ] pyridine - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 43 ) 3 - amino - 7 -[( 2 - methoxy - benzylcarbamoyl )- methyl ]- 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - cyclopenta [ b ] thieno [ 3 , 2 - e ] pyridine - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 44 ) 3 - amino - 7 -{[( pyridin - 2 - ylmethyl )- carbamoyl ]- methyl }- 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - cyclopenta [ b ] thieno [ 3 , 2 - e ] pyridine - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 45 ) 3 - amino - 7 -[( 2 - pyridin - 2 - yl - ethylcarbamoyl )- methyl ]- 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - cyclopenta [ b ] thieno [ 3 , 2 - e ] pyridine - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 46 ) 3 - amino - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 7 -[( 4 - trifluoromethyl - benzylcarbamoyl )- methyl ]- 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - cyclopenta [ b ] thieno [ 3 , 2 - e ] pyridine - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 47 ) 3 - amino - 7 -[( 3 - methyl - butylcarbamoyl )- methyl ]- 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - cyclopenta [ b ] thieno [ 3 , 2 - e ] pyridine - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 48 ) 3 - amino - 7 - dimethylcarbamoylmethyl - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - cyclopenta [ b ] thieno [ 3 , 2 - e ] pyridine - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 49 ) 3 - amino - 7 - cyclobutylcarbamoylmethyl - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - cyclopenta [ b ] thieno [ 3 , 2 - e ] pyridine - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 50 ) 3 - amino - 7 - cyclohexylcarbamoylmethyl - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - cyclopenta [ b ] thieno [ 3 , 2 - e ] pyridine - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 51 ) 3 - amino - 7 -[ 2 -( 4 - hydroxy - piperidin - 1 - yl )- 2 - oxo - ethyl ]- 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - cyclopenta [ b ] thieno [ 3 , 2 - e ] pyridine - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 52 ) 3 - amino - 7 -[ 2 - oxo - 2 -( 4 - pyridin - 2 - yl - piperazin - 1 - yl )- ethyl ]- 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - cyclopenta [ b ] thieno [ 3 , 2 - e ] pyridine - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 53 ) 4 -[ 2 -( 3 - amino - 2 - carbamoyl - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - cyclopenta [ b ] thieno [ 3 , 2 - e ] pyridin - 7 - yl )- acetylamino ]- piperidine - 1 - carboxylic acid ethyl ester ( 54 ) 3 - amino - 7 -{[ 2 -( 1 - methyl - pyrrolidin - 2 - yl )- ethylcarbamoyl ]- methyl }- 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - cyclopenta [ b ] thieno [ 3 , 2 - e ] pyridine - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 55 ) 1 -[ 2 -( 3 - amino - 2 - carbamoyl - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - cyclopenta [ b ] thieno [ 3 , 2 - e ] pyridin - 7 - yl )- acetyl ]- piperidine - 4 - carboxylic acid ethyl ester ( 56 ) 3 - amino - 7 -[( 3 - morpholin - 4 - yl - propylcarbamoyl )- methyl ]- 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - cyclopenta [ b ] thieno [ 3 , 2 - e ] pyridine - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 57 ) 3 - amino - 7 -{[ 3 -( 2 - methyl - piperidin - 1 - yl )- propylcarbamoyl ]- methyl }- 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - cyclopenta [ b ] thieno [ 3 , 2 - e ] pyridine - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 58 ) to 70 mg ( 0 . 22 mmol ) of 3 - amino - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - 1 - thia - 6 , 8 - diaza - s - indacene - 2 - carboxylic acid amide hydrochloride in 3 . 0 ml of dmf was added dropwise 40 μl of diisopropylethylamine and 26 μl of phenyl isothiocyanate with stirring at 0 ° c . the resulting mixture was continuously stirred at room temperature for 6 hours . the solvent was removed in vacuo and the residue was recrystallized from methanol to give the pure product as a yellow solid in 92 % yield : silica gel tlc ( 1 : 5 methanol - chloroform ); 1 h nmr ( 300 mhz , dmso - d6 ) δ 9 . 29 ( s , 1h ), 7 . 94 ( d , 1h , j = 4 . 8 hz ), 7 . 36 - 7 . 28 ( m , 8h ), 7 . 16 - 7 . 13 ( m , 1h ), 5 . 99 ( s , 2h ), 5 . 13 ( s , 2h ), 4 . 89 ( s , 2h ). es ms m / z 452 ( m + h ) + , 450 ( m − h ) − . the following compounds were prepared by using the same procedure described in example 7 , substituting a suitable isothiocyanate for phenyl isothiocyanate , as for compound 79 . in most cases , 1 . 0 equivalent of 3 - amino - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - 1 - thia - 6 , 8 - diaza - s - indacene - 2 - carboxylic acid amide hydrochloride in dmf was added dropwise 1 . 1 equivalent of diisopropylethylamine and 1 . 0 equivalent of isothiocyanate at 0 ° c . then the resulting mixture was stirred at room temperature for 4 to 16 hours and monitored by tlc . the solvent was removed in vacuo and the residue was purified by a silica gel column chromatography eluting with 10 - 25 % methanol in chloroform or recrystallized from methanol to give the pure products as a yellow solid in 80 - 99 % yield . 3 - amino - 6 -[( tetrahydro - furan - 2 - ylmethyl )- thiocarbamoyl ]- 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - 1 - thia - 6 , 8 - diaza - s - indacene - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 80 ) 3 - amino - 6 - cyclopentylthiocarbamoyl - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - 1 - thia - 6 , 8 - diaza - s - indacene - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 81 ) 3 - amino - 6 - butylthiocarbamoyl - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - 1 - thia - 6 , 8 - diaza - s - indacene - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 82 ) 3 - amino - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 - p - tolylthiocarbamoyl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - 1 - thia - 6 , 8 - diaza - s - indacene - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 83 ) 3 - amino - 6 - benzylthiocarbamoyl - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - 1 - thia - 6 , 8 - diaza - s - indacene - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 84 ) 3 - amino - 6 -( 3 - methoxy - phenylthiocarbamoyl )- 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - 1 - thia - 6 , 8 - diaza - s - indacene - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 85 ) 3 - amino - 6 -( 3 - phenyl - propylthiocarbamoyl )- 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - 1 - thia - 6 , 8 - diaza - s - indacene - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 86 ) 3 - amino - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 -( 3 - trifluoromethyl - phenylthiocarbamoyl )- 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - 1 - thia - 6 , 8 - diaza - s - indacene - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 87 ) 3 - amino - 6 -( 4 - fluoro - phenylthiocarbamoyl )- 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - 1 - thia - 6 , 8 - diaza - s - indacene - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 88 ) 3 - amino - 6 -( 3 , 5 - dichloro - phenylthiocarbamoyl )- 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - 1 - thia - 6 , 8 - diaza - s - indacene - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 89 ) 4 -[( 3 - amino - 2 - carbamoyl - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 5 , 7 - dihydro - 1 - thia - 6 , 8 - diaza - s - indacene - 6 - carbothioyl )- amino ]- benzoic acid methyl ester ( 90 ) 3 - amino - 6 - cyclopropylthiocarbamoyl - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - 1 - thia - 6 , 8 - diaza - s - indacene - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 91 ) 3 - amino - 6 -( 3 , 5 - dimethyl - phenylthiocarbamoyl )- 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - 1 - thia - 6 , 8 - diaza - s - indacene - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 92 ) 3 - amino - 6 -( 2 - morpholin - 4 - yl - ethylthiocarbamoyl )- 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - 1 - thia - 6 , 8 - diaza - s - indacene - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 93 ) 3 - amino - 6 -( 3 - morpholin - 4 - yl - propylthiocarbamoyl )- 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - 1 - thia - 6 , 8 - diaza - s - indacene - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 94 ) to 20 mg ( 0 . 06 mmol ) of 3 - amino - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - 1 - thia - 6 , 8 - diaza - s - indacene - 2 - carboxylic acid amide hydrochloride in 3 . 0 ml of dmf was added 51 ul of 1 . 0 m solution of diisopropylethylamine in thf and 7 . 3 mg ( 0 . 06 mmol ) of 2 - chloroethyl isothiocyanate at 0 ° c . with stirring . the resulting mixture was continuously stirred at room temperature for 16 hours . the solvent was removed in vacuo to dryness . the residue was recrystallized from methanol to give the pure product as a yellow solid in 70 % yield : silica gel tlc r f 0 . 80 ( i : 8 methanol - chloroform ); 1 h nmr ( 300 mhz , dmso - d 6 ) δ 7 . 97 ( dd , 1h , j = 6 . 0 , 1 . 2 hz ), 7 . 37 - 7 . 30 ( m , 4h ), 6 . 00 ( s , 2h ), 5 . 07 ( s , 2h ), 4 . 82 ( s , 2h ), 3 . 98 ( t , 2h , j = 15 . 0 hz ), 3 . 68 ( t , 2h , j = 15 . 0 hz ). es ms m / z 540 ( m + h ) + , 538 ( m − h ) − . to 50 mg ( 0 . 158 mmol ) of 3 - amino - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - 1 - thia - 6 , 8 - diaza - s - indacene - 2 - carboxylic acid amide hydrochloride in 3 . 0 ml of dmf was added dropwise 0 . 16 ml of 1 . 0 m solution of diisopropylethylamine in thf and 0 . 16 ml of 1 . 0 m solution of 4 - cyanophenyl isocyanate in thf with stirring at 0 ° c . the resulting mixture was continuously stirred at room temperature for 8 hours . the solvent was removed in vacuo to dryness . the residue was recrystallized from methanol and further purified by hplc to give the pure product as a yellow solid in 93 . 7 % yield : silica gel tlc r f 0 . 80 ( 1 : 5 methanol - chloroform ); 1 h nmr ( dmso - d 6 ) δ 8 . 94 ( s , 1h ), 7 . 94 ( d , 1h , j = 3 . 0 hz ), 7 . 73 - 7 . 67 ( m , 4h ), 7 . 36 - 7 . 27 ( m , 4h ), 5 . 98 ( s , 2h ), 4 . 92 ( s , 2h ), 4 . 68 ( s , 2h ). es ms m / z 461 ( m + h ) + , 459 ( m − h ) − . the following compounds were prepared by using the same procedure described in example 9 and substituting a isocyanate for 4 - cyanophenylcyanate as for compound 106 . in some cases , if the product was not recrystallized from methanol or ethanol , the reaction mixture was purified by flash column chromatography or preparative hplc . 3 - amino - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 5 , 7 - dihydro - 1 - thia - 6 , 8 - diaza - s - indacene - 2 , 6 - dicarboxylic acid 2 - amide 6 - phenylamide ( 96 ) 3 - amino - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 5 , 7 - dihydro - 1 - thia - 6 , 8 - diaza - s - indacene - 2 , 6 - dicarboxylic acid 2 - amide 6 - benzylamide ( 97 ) 3 - amino - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 5 , 7 - dihydro - 1 - thia - 6 , 8 - diaza - s - indacene - 2 , 6 - dicarboxylic acid 2 - amide 6 - ethylamide ( 98 ) 3 - amino - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 5 , 7 - dihydro - 1 - thia - 6 , 8 - diaza - s - indacene - 2 , 6 - dicarboxylic acid 2 - amide 6 -[( 4 - phenyl - piperazin - 1 - ylmethyl )- amide ] ( 99 ) 3 - amino - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 5 , 7 - dihydro - 1 - thia - 6 , 8 - diaza - s - indacene - 2 , 6 - dicarboxylic acid 2 - amide 6 - thiophen - 3 - ylamide ( 100 ) 3 - amino - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 5 , 7 - dihydro - 1 - thia - 6 , 8 - diaza - s - indacene - 2 , 6 - dicarboxylic acid 2 - amide 6 - cyclohexylamide ( 101 ) 3 - amino - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 5 , 7 - dihydro - 1 - thia - 6 , 8 - diaza - s - indacene - 2 , 6 - dicarboxylic acid 2 - amide 6 -[( 6 - morpholin - 4 - yl - pyridin - 3 - yl )- amide ] ( 102 ) to 50 mg ( 0 . 158 mmol ) of 3 - amino - 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - 1 - thia - 6 , 8 - diaza - s - indacene - 2 - carboxylic acid amide hydrochloride in 3 . 0 ml of dmf was added dropwise 0 . 32 ml of 1 . 0 m solution containing diisopropylethylamine ( dipea ) in thf and ( 0 . 16 mmol ) of 2 - chloroacetyl chloride in 1 . 0 ml of dmf , according to standard procedures . the resulting mixture was continuously stirred at room temperature for several hours , and the progress of the reaction was monitored by tlc . the solvent was removed under vacuum , and the residue was recrystallized from a polar solvent . similar procedures were used for 3 - amino - 6 -[ 2 -( 4 - benzyl - cyclohexylamino )- acetyl ]- 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - 1 - thia - 6 , 8 - diaza - s - indacene - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 103 ) and 3 - amino - 6 -( 6 - morpholin - 4 - yl - pyridine - 3 - carbonyl )- 4 - thiophen - 2 - yl - 6 , 7 - dihydro - 5h - 1 - thia - 6 , 8 - diaza - s - indacene - 2 - carboxylic acid amide ( 105 ). in some cases , if the product was not recrystallized from methanol or ethanol , the reaction mixture was purified by flash column chromatography or preparative hplc . all products were verified by nmr spectroscopy . a mixture of 2 - cyano - 3 - thiophen - 2 - yl - thioacrylamide ( 290 mg , 1 . 533 nmol ), trans - 1 - decalone ( 280 mg ) and morpholine ( 2 drops ) was microwaved in a sealed vessel with the following condition : 300 watts , 75 ° c ., 300 psi , 5 min run time , 25 min hold time without stirring . the resulting mixture was passed through a silica gel column eluted with 5 % acetone in chloroform to yield 180 mg ( 36 . 0 %) of the benzoquinoline product as an enantiomeric mixture . 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , dmso - d6 ): δ 8 . 30 ( brs , 1h ) 7 . 86 ( m , 1h ), 7 . 24 ( m , 2h ), 1 . 0 - 3 . 5 ( m , 14h ). to a solution of the above intermediate ( 180 mg , 0 . 55 mmol ) in ethanol ( 5 ml ) was added potassium carbonate ( 114 mg , 0 . 83 mmol ) and 2 - chloroacetamide ( 77 . 6 mg , 0 . 83 mmol ). this solution was heated at 80 ° c . overnight with stirring . the resulting solution was evaporated to dryness and passed through a silica gel column eluted with 5 % acetone in chloroform to yield 23 . 4 mg ( 11 %) of the amino - carboxamide . this product was determined to be an enantiomeric mixture ( 55 % and 42 %) by analytical hplc . 1 h - nmr ( 300 mhz , dmso - d6 ): δ 8 . 30 ( brs , 1h ), 7 . 87 ( d , j = 5 . 1 hz , 1h ), 7 . 2 ( m , 3h ), 5 . 74 ( brs , 1h ), 1 . 0 - 3 . 5 ( m , 14h ). based on the unexpected discovery that numerous protein kinase inhibitors may be employed as antiviral agents , the inventors generally contemplate that known and novel kinase inhibitors may be used as antiviral drugs and vice versa — antiviral drugs as kinase inhibitors ( e . g ., in the treatment of diseases known to be associated with dysregulation of kinases , especially including neoplastic diseases ). thus , in one general aspect of the inventive subject matter , all known kinase inhibitors , and particularly those contemplated herein and / or involved in a signaling cascade may be employed as antiviral agents ( and vice versa ). for example , various contemplated compounds exhibit ikkβ inhibitory activity and have been demonstrated by the inventors to be effective anti - hbv agents . however , it should be recognized that numerous other kinase inhibitors may also demonstrate an antiviral effect against a variety of viruses other than hbv , and especially contemplated alternative viruses include those in which the virus directly or indirectly interferes with the host cell &# 39 ; s signal transduction , and / or in which the viral infection is associated with an inflammatory response of the host ( e . g ., hcv ). still further , it should be recognized that contemplated anti - hbv compounds may also be used as therapeutic agents against diseases associated with ikkβ dysregulation which may include , melanoma , mammary carcinoma , non - small cell lung carcinoma , colorectal carcinoma , squamous - cell carcinoma , leukemia , lymphoma , thyroid carcinoma , fibrosarcoma , pancreatic cancer , prostate cancer , multiple myeloma , ovarian cancer , rheumatoid arthritis , multiple sclerosis , psoriasis , or inflammatory disorders . therefore , the inventors especially contemplate pharmaceutical compositions in which contemplated kinase inhibitory compounds are present at a concentration effective to inhibit or reduce viral propagation in a patient &# 39 ; s cell . the term “ viral propagation ” as used herein especially includes reduction of viral replication , synthesis , processing and / or assembly of viral polypeptides , viral entry into the host cell , and release of viral particles from an infected cell . it is particularly preferred that contemplated compounds are included in a pharmaceutical composition that is formulated with one or more non - toxic pharmaceutically acceptable carriers . the pharmaceutical compositions may be specially formulated for oral administration in solid or liquid form , for parenteral injection , or for rectal administration . the pharmaceutical compositions of this invention can be administered to humans and other animals orally , rectally , parenterally , intracistemally , intravaginally , intraperitoneally , topically ( as by powders , ointments , or drops ), bucally , or as an oral or nasal spray . the term “ parenteral ” administration as used herein refers to modes of administration which include intravenous , intramuscular , intraperitoneal , intrasternal , subcutaneous and intra - articular injection and infusion . pharmaceutical compositions for parenteral injection preferably comprise pharmaceutically acceptable sterile aqueous or non - aqueous solutions , dispersions , suspensions or emulsions as well as sterile powders for reconstitution into sterile injectable solutions or dispersions just prior to use . examples of suitable aqueous and non - aqueous carriers , diluents , solvents or vehicles include water , ethanol , polyols ( such as glycerol , propylene glycol , polyethylene glycol , and the like ), and suitable mixtures thereof , vegetable oils ( such as olive oil ), and injectable organic esters such as ethyl oleate . proper fluidity can be maintained , for example , by the use of coating materials such as lecithin , by the maintenance of the required particle size in the case of dispersions , and by the use of surfactants . contemplated compositions may also contain adjuvants such as preservative , wetting agents , emulsifying agents , and dispersing agents . prevention of the action of microorganisms may be ensured by the inclusion of various antibacterial and antifungal agents , for example , paraben , chlorobutanol , phenol sorbic acid , and the like . it may also be desirable to include isotonic agents such as sugars , sodium chloride , and the like , prolonged absorption of the injectable pharmaceutical form may be brought about by the inclusion of agents which delay absorption such as aluminum monostearate and gelatin . in some cases , in order to prolong the effect of the drug , it is desirable to slow the absorption of the drug from subcutaneous or intramuscular injection . this may be accomplished by the use of a liquid suspension of crystalline or amorphous material with poor water solubility . the rate of absorption of the drug then depends upon its rate of dissolution , which , in turn , may depend upon crystal size and crystalline form . alternatively , delayed absorption of a parenterally administered drug form is accomplished by dissolving or suspending the drug in an oil vehicle . injectable depot forms are made by forming microencapsule matrices of the drug in biodegradable polymers such as polylactide - polyglycolide . depending upon the ratio of drug to polymer and the nature of the particular polymer employed , the rate of drug release can be controlled . examples of other biodegradable polymers include poly ( orthoesters ) and poly ( anhydrides ) depot injectable formulations are also prepared by entrapping the drug in liposomes or microemulsions which are compatible with body tissues . the injectable formulations can be sterilized , for example , by filtration through a bacterial - retaining filter , or by incorporating sterilizing agents in the form of sterile solid compositions which can be dissolved or dispersed in sterile water or other sterile injectable medium just prior to use . solid dosage forms for oral administration include capsules , tablets , pills , powders , and granules . in such solid dosage forms , the active compound is mixed with at least one inert , pharmaceutically acceptable excipient or carrier such as sodium citrate or dicalcium phosphate and / or a ) fillers or extenders such as starches , lactose , sucrose , glucose , mannitol , and silicic acid , b ) binders such as , carboxymethylcellulose , alginates , gelatin , polyvinylpyrrolidone , sucrose , and acacia , c ) humectants such as glycerol , d ) disintegrating agents such as agar - agar , calcium carbonate , potato or tapioca starch , alginic acid , certain silicates , and sodium carbonate , e ) solution retarding agents such as paraffin , f ) absorption accelerators such as quaternary ammonium compounds , g ) wetting agents such as , cetyl alcohol and glycerol monostearate , h ) absorbents such as kaolin and bentonite clay , and i ) lubricants such as talc , calcium stearate , magnesium stearate , solid polyethylene glycols , sodium lauryl sulfate , and mixtures thereof . in the case of capsules , tablets and pills , the dosage form may also comprise buffering agents . solid compositions of a similar type may also be employed as fillers in soft and hard - filled gelatin capsules using such excipients as lactose or milk sugar as well as high molecular weight polyethylene glycols and the like . the solid dosage forms of tablets , dragees , capsules , pills , and granules can be prepared with coatings and shells such as enteric coatings and other coatings well known in the pharmaceutical formulating art . they may optionally contain opacifying agents and may also be of a composition such that they release the active ingredient ( s ) only , or preferentially , in a certain part of the intestinal tract , optionally , in a delayed manner . examples of embedding compositions which can be used include polymeric substances and waxes . the active compounds may also be in micro - encapsulated form , if appropriate , with one or more of the above - mentioned excipients . liquid dosage forms for oral administration include pharmaceutically acceptable emulsions , solutions , suspensions , syrups and elixirs . in addition to the active compounds , the liquid dosage forms may contain inert diluents commonly used in the art such as , water or other solvents , solubilizing agents and emulsifiers such as ethyl alcohol , isopropyl alcohol , ethyl carbonate , ethyl acetate , benzyl alcohol , benzyl benzoate , propylene glycol , 1 , 3 - butylene glycol , dimethyl formamide , oils ( in particular , cottonseed , groundnut , corn , germ , olive , castor , and sesame oils ), glycerol , tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol , polyethylene glycols and fatty acid esters of sorbitan , and mixtures thereof . besides inert diluents , the oral compositions may also include adjuvants such as wetting agents , emulsifying and suspending agents , sweetening , flavoring , and perfuming agents . compositions for rectal or vaginal administration are preferably suppositories which can be prepared by mixing the compounds of this invention with suitable non - irritating excipients or carriers such as cocoa butter , polyethylene glycol or a suppository wax which are solid at room temperature but liquid at body temperature and therefore melt in the rectum or vaginal cavity and release the active compound . compounds of the present invention can also be administered in the form of liposomes . as is known in the art , liposomes are generally derived from phospholipids or other lipid substances . liposomes are formed by mono - or multi - lamellar hydrated liquid crystals that are dispersed in an aqueous medium . any non - toxic , physiologically acceptable and metabolizable lipid capable of forming liposomes may be used . the present compositions in liposome form may contain , in addition to a compound of the present invention , stabilizers , preservatives , excipients , and the like . the preferred lipids are the phospholipids and the phosphatidyl cholines ( lecithins ), both natural and synthetic . methods to form liposomes are known in the art . see , for example , prescott , ed ., methods in cell biology , volume xiv , academic press , new york , n . y . ( 1976 ), p . 33 et seq . the compounds of the present invention may be used in the form of pharmaceutically acceptable salts derived from inorganic or organic acids . by “ pharmaceutically acceptable salt ” is meant those salts which are , within the scope of sound medical judgment , suitable for use in contact with the tissues of humans and lower animals without undue toxicity , irritation , allergic response and the like and are commensurate with a reasonable benefit / risk ratio . pharmaceutically acceptable salts are well - known in the art . for example , s . m . berge , et al . describe pharmaceutically acceptable salts in detail in j . pharmaceutical sciences , 1977 , 66 : 1 et seq . the salts may be prepared in situ during the final isolation and purification of the compounds of the invention or separately by reacting a free base function with a suitable acid . representative acid addition salts include , but are not limited to acetate , adipate , alginate , citrate , aspartate , benzoate , benzenesulfonate , bisulfate , butyrate , camphorate , camphorsulfonate , digluconate , glycerophosphate , hemisulfate , heptanoate , hexanoate , fumarate , hydrochloride , hydrobromide , hydroiodide , 2 - hydroxyethansulfonate ( isethionate ), lactate , maleate , methanesulfonate , nicotinate , 2 - naphthalenesulfonate , oxalate , pamoate , pectinate , persulfate , 3 - phenylpropionate , picrate , pivalate , propionate , succinate , tartrate , thiocyanate , phosphate , glutamate , bicarbonate , p - toluenesulfonate and undecanoate . also , the basic nitrogen - containing groups may be quaternized with such agents as lower alkyl halides such as methyl , ethyl , propyl , and butyl chlorides , bromides and iodides ; dialkyl sulfates like dimethyl , diethyl , dibutyl and diamyl sulfates ; long chain halides such as decyl , lauryl , myristyl and stearyl chlorides , bromides and iodides ; arylalkyl halides like benzyl and phenethyl bromides and others . water or oil - soluble or dispersible products are thereby obtained . examples of acids which may be employed to form pharmaceutically acceptable acid addition salts include such inorganic acids as hydrochloric acid , hydrobromic acid , sulfuric acid and phosphoric acid and such organic acids as oxalic acid , maleic acid , succinic acid and citric acid . basic addition salts can be prepared in situ during the final isolation and purification of compounds of this invention by reacting a carboxylic acid - containing moiety with a suitable base such as the hydroxide , carbonate or bicarbonate of a pharmaceutically acceptable metal cation or with ammonia or an organic primary , secondary or tertiary amine . pharmaceutically acceptable salts include , but are not limited to , cations based on alkali metals or alkaline earth metals such as lithium , sodium , potassium , calcium , magnesium and aluminum salts and the like and nontoxic quaternary ammonia and amine cations including ammonium , tetramethylammonium , tetraethylammonium , methylamine , dimethylamine , trimethylamine , triethylamine , diethylamine , ethylamine and the like . other representative organic amines useful for the formation of base addition salts include ethylenediamine , ethanolamine , diethanolamine , piperidine , piperazine and the like . preferred salts of the compounds of the invention include phosphate , tris , and acetate . actual dosage levels of active ingredients in the pharmaceutical compositions of this invention may be varied so as to obtain an amount of the active compound ( s ) that is effective to achieve the desired therapeutic response for a particular patient , composition , and mode of administration . the selected dosage level will depend upon the activity of the particular compound , the route of administration , the severity of the condition being treated , and the condition and prior medical history of the patient being treated . however , it is within the skill of the art to start doses of the compound at levels lower than required to achieve the desired therapeutic effect and to gradually increase the dosage until the desired effect is achieved . generally , dosage levels of about 1 to about 500 , more preferably of about 5 to about 50 mg of an active compound per kilogram of body weight per day are administered orally to a mammalian patient . if desired , the effective daily dose may be divided into multiple doses for purposes of administration , e . g ., two to four separate doses per day . the following examples are provided to illustrate the inhibition of replication of ikkβ and hbv by compounds in the invention . however , it should be appreciated that numerous modifications of the compounds , assay , and virus may result in similarly beneficial results . consequently , the examples below are given only to provide exemplary guidance to a practitioner . a cell - based assay screening system using an nfκb - luc cell line was designed to study ikkβ activity . the parental cell line of nfκb - luc is the 293 human embryonic kidney cell line , which was transfected to express the firefly luciferase gene under the control of an nfκb responsive element . treatment of nfκb - luc cells with tumor necrosis alpha ( tnfα ) induces activation of ikkβ , leading to phosphorylation , ubiquitination and degradation of iκb , and the subsequent translocation of nfκb to the nucleus . nuclear translocation of nfκb results in its ability to initiate gene transcription , which can be detected by the luciferase reporter system . therefore , in this system , inhibition of ikk enzymatic activity is expected to result in inhibition of luciferase activity . for compound testing , 7500 nfκb - luc cells were added per well of 384 - well plates and incubated for 16 hours at 37 ° c . in a humidified incubator with 5 % co 2 . cells were pre - incubated with various concentrations of compound diluted in mem / 10 % fbs . after one hour , cells were treated with 20 ng / ml tnfα diluted in mem / 10 % fbs . after a 4 . 5 - hour incubation , cells were lysed and luciferase activity was measured . ikkβ inhibitory activity was calculated based on reduction of the luciferase signal and expressed as ec50 ( effective concentration to reduce the luciferase signal by 50 %). for determination of ic50 values , an in vitro ikkβ assay was designed to study ikkβ enzymatic activity in a cell - free system . his - tagged human ikkβ expressed from a baculovirus construct in sf9 insect cells and glutathione s transferase ( gst )— iκbα fusion protein ( iκbα residues 1 through 54 ) expressed in e . coli were purified and utilized in an in vitro radiolabel incorporation assay . the reaction contained 25 mm hepes , ph7 . 4 , 50 mm nacl , 1 mm mgcl2 , 0 . 2 mm edta and 2 . 5 mm dtt . purified ikkβ ( 100 nm ) was pre - incubated with compound for 30 minutes at room temperature . the kinase reaction was initiated by adding 5 μm gst - iκbα substrate , 1 μm unlabeled atp and 0 . 5 μci 33 p - γ - atp . the reaction was allowed to proceed at room temperature for 60 minutes and terminated by the addition 100 μl 1 % trichloroacetic acid ( tca ). the reaction was transferred to a 96 - well glass fiber filter plate previously blocked with 1 % pyrophosphate . the filter plate was washed five times with water and twice with absolute ethanol and dried . liquid scintillation cocktail was added to each well and radiolabel incorporation was quantified using the packard topcount hts scintillation counter . inhibition of ikkβ activity was calculated based on reduction of the radioactive signal and reported as ic50 ( inhibitory concentration to reduce the signal by 50 %). hepg2 cells were transduced using a baculovirus to deliver the hbv genome essentially as previously described ( delaney et al . in hepatology 1998 ; 28 : 1134 - 1146 ). transduced cells were cultured in supplemented emem media with 10 % fetal bovine serum in a 5 % co2 incubator at 37 ° c . for three days in the presence of test compounds . the cells were lysed in a buffer containing 0 . 5 % np - 40 and 500 mg / ml proteinase k . a solid - phase hybridization was performed to capture the viral dna and to label the target dna with digoxigenin - labeled dna probes . the viral dna was detected by elisa , using horseradish peroxidase - conjugated anti - digoxigenin antibodies . the ec50 values were determined using excelfit software from the inhibition values of a titration curve for each compound . for cc50 determinations , the same titration of compounds was co - cultured with non - transduced hepg2 for three days under the conditions described above . the promega celltiter 96 aqueous one solution cell proliferation assay was used to measure cell proliferation / viability . the cc50 values were determined using excelfit software from the inhibition values of the titration curve for each compound . table i below lists selected compounds with their structures and corresponding antiviral activity ( ec50 in μm ). antiviral activity was determined using assays as described above . all tested compounds had a cc50 value of greater than 50 . 000 μm . nd means not determined . ( legend : a : & lt ; 1 μm , b : 1 - 10 μm , c : & gt ; 10 μm ) thus , specific embodiments and applications of protein kinase inhibitors have been disclosed . it should be apparent , however , to those skilled in the art that many more modifications besides those already described are possible without departing from the inventive concepts herein . the inventive subject matter , therefore , is not to be restricted except in the spirit of the disclosure . moreover , all terms employed herein should be interpreted in the broadest possible manner consistent with the context . in particular , the terms “ comprises ” and “ comprising ” should be interpreted as referring to elements , components , or steps in a non - exclusive manner , indicating that the referenced elements , components , or steps may be present , or utilized , or combined with other elements , components , or steps that are not expressly referenced .
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the present invention was designed with reference to an automotive parts washing apparatus in which a water / caustic wash fluid is used to clean automotive parts . the parts are often grease covered , resulting in a two - phase liquid system , additionally containing metal shavings , nuts , bolts and miscellaneous solid objects . separation of the gross solid matter is desirable since the washing fluid is recycled . while reference in the specification is made to the specific application to which this device has already been successfully applied and demonstrated , it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that the instant invention has a myriad of applications , far beyond the specific application discussed in the working example below . fig1 is a partially broken away view of the apparatus of the instant invention . a separator 10 , in this embodiment is constructed out of an ordinary pipecross . the separator 10 has a main upper outlet 12 , a main lower outlet 14 , a horizontal , main fluid intake 16 and a horizontal , pump - side fluid outlet 18 . the minimum number of main ports into the separator is four and separators having more ports than the four described here are intended to be within the scope of the invention and the appended claims . disposed within the separator 10 is a deflector / separator plate 20 . in the presently preferred embodiment , plate 20 is curved , but it is intended that a flat plate angularly disposed within the separator 10 is within the scope of the instant invention . a more complete discussion of the characteristics and requirements of the plate 20 appears below , specifically with reference to fig3 and 7 . a shear jet 22 is also disposed within the separator 10 . in this embodiment , the shear jet 22 is coaxially disposed within the main upper outlet 12 , communicating externally of the separator 10 . it is intended that the inner diameter of the shear jet 22 is less than the inner diameter of the main ports ( 12 , 14 , 16 and 18 ). this reduced diameter insures that the velocity of the fluid entering from the jet is typically higher than the velocity of fluid entering the separator from the horizontal , main fluid intake 16 . the desirability of the increased velocity will be come more apparent below . the shear jet 22 terminates at the deflector / separator plate 20 , being received within a jet aperture 24 through the body of the plate 20 . thus the shear jet 22 effluent enters the separator 10 below a plate upper surface 26 . as described more fully below , variations of this shear jet embodiment are possible , such as the use of a plurality of jets disposed angularly within the main upper outlet . also it is possible to provide the shear jet 22 in two longitudinal sections whereby one such section is permanently welded to the plate jet aperture 24 . the other section of the jet 22 would be permanently fixed within the upper outlet 12 . the connection between the two sections of the jet 22 need not be completely sealed , as slight leakage would provide a showering of fluid upon the plate upper surface 26 . additional disclosure of the relationship between the jet 22 and plate 20 is provided below with reference to the alternate embodiment shown in fig7 . referring to fig1 it can be seen that the deflector / separator plate 20 divides the separator 10 into two regions . an upper chamber region 30 is bounded by the plate upper surface 26 , the main upper outlet 12 and the horizontal , pump - side fluid outlet 18 . a lower chamber region 32 is bounded by the plate lower surface 28 , the main lower outlet 14 and the horizontal , main fluid intake 16 . it is necessary that the plate 20 be sealingly received within the separator 10 such that fluid communicates from the lower region 32 to the upper region 30 only through the deflector / separator plate 20 . in the presently preferred embodiment , wherein the deflector / separator plate is constructed of metal , traditional welding techniques are used to affix the plate 20 to the separator 10 inner walls . the weld is also extended to insure that the plate 20 is sealed against the inner wall . it is intended however that alternate materials of construction are within the scope of this invention . for example , polyvinylchloride pipes are used in many diverse applications . it is possible to construct a separator 10 and plate 20 from polyvinylchloride . in that application , chemical adhesives , for example epoxies and silicon caulking , could be used to sealingly fix the deflector / separator plate 20 within the separator 10 . a backflush inlet 34 is provided to communicate externally from the upper chamber region 30 . although described more fully below with reference to fig4 and 5 , suffice it to say that the backflush inlet 34 is useful to forcibly eject any type of solid material which may accumulate on , in or near the plate perforations 36 . a special valving arrangement and mode of operation are described below for the use of this backflush inlet 34 . it is also noted that a plurality of backflush inlets may be provided in which multiple fluid jets are directed toward and impinged upon the plate perforations 36 . such multiple inlets could be ganged together by attachment to a manifold capable of distributing fluid to a series of inlets . the particular use environment will determine the need and desirability of a plurality of backflush inlets , such knowledge being within the ordinary skill of an artisan in this field . fig2 shows a cross sectional view taken along the line 2 -- 2 in fig1 . this view is intended to show the spatial relationship , in the preferred embodiment , of the main lower outlet 14 , the shear jet 22 and the deflector / separator plate 20 . in this particularly preferred embodiment , the shear jet 22 is concentric with the main lower outlet 14 . in the embodiment wherein a plurality of shear jets is provided ( see fig6 ), it is intended that the jets all be disposed directly above the main lower outlet 14 to prevent the creation of any additional turbulence or backflow from the reflection of the fluid jet against the lower chamber region 32 wall . it is also contemplated at this time that the use of a plurality of shear jets ( as shown for example in fig6 ) could potentially eliminate the need for the deflector plate at all , or could result in a greatly modified design of the plate . additional research work is presently ongoing to test this principle and more completely define and characterize the crucial parameters . it is believed at this time that the shear caused by the higher velocity fluid entering the chamber interacts with the fluid and contained particles to drive the particles downwardly towards the main lower outlet 14 . the fabrication of the deflector / separator plate 20 is shown in detail in fig3 . the below described method relates only to curved and metal plates . as noted above , a flat plate and pvc materials of construction are intended to be within the scope of this invention . the important characteristic resulting from this particular method of fabrication is that the perforations 36 through the plate 20 have a varied &# 34 ; pore diameter .&# 34 ; as shown in broken lines in fig3 the perforations in the lower surface of the plate 28 have a smaller diameter than the perforations on the upper plate surface 26 . this perforation characteristic prevents solid particles from stubbornly lodging within the perforations since anything which passes through the smaller pore diameter must necessarily pass through the larger pore diameter extant on the plate upper surface 26 . in the presently preferred embodiment , a flat plate 20 is perforated by known techniques , e . g . punching or drilling , and then the plate is rolled to add the curvature shown in the figure . this rolling step causes the plate to be elongated on the upper plate surface while compressing the lower plate surface . this force variation results in the pore diameter variation shown by the broken lines in fig3 . a particularly preferred method of use of the separator apparatus is now described with reference to fig4 . in this application the preferred apparatus described above is shown in fig4 but it will be apparent that other apparatus can be provided which are within the scope of the instant invention . an automatic automobile parts washer 40 is used to degrease and cleanse automobile parts 42 . a liquid sprayer 44 is disposed within the washer 40 to inject a caustic soda wash onto the part 42 . wash fluid liquid 46 accumulates in the bottom of the washing apparatus 40 . in this embodiment , a wash fluid recycle line 48 is provided to recycle the wash fluid to the sprayer 44 . the wash fluid 46 which accumulates in the washer 40 contains particles and other solid materials , as well as emulsified oil and greases . in order to recycle the fluid from the bottom of the washer 40 to the sprayer 44 , the fluid must pass through the recycle line 48 towards the pump intake 50 and pump 52 . as noted above one of the more vexing problems related to systems of this type is that solid particles entrained with the fluids are fed to the pump and thereby damaging to the pump impeller , often tearing the impeller and resultantly losing the seal required to effect the fluid transfer . to prevent the passage of solids from the washer bottom to the pump 52 , the separator 10 is installed in the wash fluid recycle line 48 to separate the solids from the pump intake 50 to thereby prevent damage to the impeller in pump 52 . the pump effluent is then directed back towards the sprayer 44 . an isolation valve 54 is provided in the sprayer feed line 55 to close off the washer 40 from the pump 52 when required . a bleed line 56 is tapped off of the pump effluent / sprayer feed line 55 and connected to a backflush inlet line 58 which contains a backflush valve 60 . the bleed line 56 is also connected to a shear jet line 62 and shear jet valve 64 before passing into the shear jet 22 . the result of this flow scheme is that solid particles 66 are directed toward , separated from and deflected away by the deflector / separator plate 20 . the solid particles are maintained within the lower chamber region and pass out of the separator 10 through the main lower outlet 14 . a return line 68 is connected to the main fluid outlet 14 to return wash fluid to the washer 40 through the screen box 70 . the &# 34 ; filtered &# 34 ; wash fluid then passes into the upper chamber region 30 , into the horizontal , pump - side fluid outlet 18 and through a reducer 72 . the configuration shown in fig4 represents the steady state run mode of the instant method and apparatus . note that the backflush valve 60 has the letter &# 34 ; c &# 34 ; alongside . this notation indicates that during the steady state operation of this apparatus , the backflush valve 60 is closed . shear jet valve 64 however is open during this time to permit fluid at a higher pressure than on the intake side of the pump to pass into the separator 10 through the shear jet 22 . with reference to fig5 the &# 34 ; backflushing &# 34 ; mode is shown in partial detail . in fig5 the backflush valve 60 is open and the shear jet valve 62 is designated as closed . in this configuration the bleed line 56 is open to the pump effluent , causing the injection of higher pressure fluid toward and impinging upon the plate upper surface 26 . this action permits the dislodgement of any entrapped particles or solids which may have become lodged in the plate perforations 36 . a quick backflushing can be accomplished without long periods of shutdown in the pump operation . fig6 shows an alternative embodiment of the separator apparatus . two variations from the particularly preferred embodiment merit attention . the first relates to the shear jet 122 . in the preferred embodiment described with reference to fig1 there was only a single shear jet . in this embodiment a single shear jet feed 122 is provided . branching off from this single feed is a manifold 124 which feeds a plurality of shear jets 126a , 126b , 126c and 126d . as in the case of a single shear jet , the ends are sealingly fixed within apertures in the deflector / separator plate . fig6 also shows a variation on the backflush inlet described above with reference to fig1 . in particular , a plurality of backflush inlets 134a , 134b and 134c are provided . each of these backflush inlets is connected to a manifold in turn connected to a backflush inlet line tapped into the pump bleed line . these multiple backwash jets permit more vigorous and localized backflushing to dislodge particles from the plate perforations . fig7 describes a separator 10 having a pipecross - like chamber 150 in which the sidewalls are removable . the above - described preferred embodiment utilized existing hardware . this embodiment represents a novel design specifically developed for this application . as with the conventional pipecross , this embodiment uses four major ports , a main upper outlet 152 , a main lower outlet 154 , a horizontal , main fluid intake 156 and a horizontal , pump - side intake 158 . in this embodiment a removable deflector / separator plate 160 is provided for ease of installation and maintenance . it is also possible to provide a customer with series of plates having perforations of varied size and selected to fit the particular application required . a longitudinal sectional shear jet 162 comes preaffixed to the deflector / separator plate . the length of the longitudinal section is chosen to allow insertion and removal of the plate through the sidewall openings . front plate 164 and rear plate 166 are shown in exploded view . they are to be bolted to the main pipecross - like chamber using bolts 168 . clearly the amount and strength of the bolts is dependent upon the operating pressure of the system to which it is applied . rear plate 166 also has an orifice 169 which is used to act as a backflush inlet . fig8 shows a cross sectional view of the instant invention wherein two longitudinal sections are combined to form the shear jet 162 . in this embodiment there is a slight gap between the lower section 162 and the upper section within the main upper outlet 152 . this gap as shown in the figure permits fluid to leak out of the shear jet and disperse jets of fluid against the deflector / separator plate upper surface . fig8 also shows a baffle 170 attached to the lower surface of the plate . the baffle allows the deflection of large particles directly toward the lower fluid outlet . this baffle 170 is preferably located on between the fluid intake and the shear jet . the baffle is useful in the particularly preferred embodiment of fig1 and can be attached to the plate by conventional welding techniques . having described the invention with respect to preferred embodiments , it is apparent that there are other embodiments and examples which are within the scope of the appended claims . for example , it is possible to hook together a series of these devices having plate perforations of diminishing size . this could enable ultrafiltration without pressure drop problems . it is also suggested that the perforation diameter be selected in light of the impeller diameter . it is a safe working assumption that particles whose size permits them to pass through the impeller will not damage the impeller . therefore , one criteria for selecting pore diameter should include the pump impeller diameter . it is also noteworthy that while the instant invention has been described with reference to being a pump filtration device it can be used without a pump . with respect to the shear jet and the backflush inlet , while the preferred embodiment has been described with reference to using a pump bleed line , it will be apparent to ordinary artisans that other sources may be used for these fluid inlets . for example , it is possible to use the instant apparatus as a mixing chamber by utilizing the shear jet to introduce a second fluid . the backflush inlet may also be connected to a separate fluid source , not the pump bleed nor the shear jet fluid source . in an apparatus similar to the one described in fig4 a 3 hp , 3 phase ingersoll - rand pump was installed . the pump is characterized by high volume low pressure operation . it is estimated that the pump has a 150 gpm capacity . the pump inlet is 11 / 4 inches with an outlet of 1 inch . a standard off the shelf 11 / 4 inch pipecross was used to fabricate the separator according to the procedures described above . a 3 / 8 inch tube was used for the shear jet . after eighteen hours of continuous run time attached to the automobile parts washer there has been no degeneration in the measured flow rate and no pump damage despite the presence of solids . in selecting the size of the separator chamber , it is suggested that the pipecross - like chamber be of a larger diameter than the intake line . this extra volume acts as a reservoir slowing the fluid velocity and making the separation of the solids easier . it is also useful to neck down the outlet side of the separator as it feeds the pump . this insures that the pump will not be starved when , for example , the shear jet is valved off and the backflush is momentarily turned on . it is also suggested that the separator be installed at a distance upstream of the pump . this volume also acts as a reservoir of fluid so that momentary flow changes will not adversely affect pump performance . the deflector plate should also be designed to be of sufficient strength since the solids entrained in the liquids could impart significant momentum to the plate upon impact . solid particle size and fluid velocity must be accounted for in choosing plate thickness .
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the present invention provides a generalized method for creating associations between parameters of programming objects , such as activex controls , and associated parameters of a container application . that is , properties and events of activex controls are respectively bound to data variables ( i . e ., “ tags ”) and scripts of the container application . the container application could comprise , for example , industrial automation and control software having tags representative of the state of various sensors or industrial processes . scripts of the container application include a sequence of script commands for invoking functionality of the container application , thereby allowing a user to specify how the application operates . fig1 is a block diagram of a computer system 100 in which the present invention may be implemented . the computer system 100 includes a user station 102 that communicates with a system storage unit over network 106 . the system storage unit 104 comprises a direct access storage device , such as magnetic disk storage , in which data files are stored . the user station 102 includes a central processing unit (“ cpu ”) 108 , a display 110 , and a main memory 112 . the cpu operates in response to user commands , which it receives via a keyboard 114 or graphical user input device 116 . the user station 102 can communicate with one or more other user stations or a network server unit over the network 106 . the main memory 112 contains a variety of data structures and information , including an operating system , application programs , program objects , and user data . the main memory is represented as a single entity , but those skilled in the art will appreciate that the main memory can comprise a combination of random access memory (“ ram ”), hard disk drives , optical disk drives , and other storage devices containing logically segmented storage locations . the main memory includes a computer program containing a sequence of program instructions whose execution implements the present invention . the operating system contained in the memory 112 supports an object - oriented programming environment for the execution of object - oriented programs , such as those written in , for example , the c ++ programming language . accordingly , the memory contains program objects that are data structures of an object - oriented programming language . application programs are invoked , or launched , by a user through the keyboard 114 or graphical input device 116 . the application programs can be written in a variety of languages , including c ++. the display 110 comprises a display device such as a video terminal that displays computer output and indicates system operations . display objects can be pictured on the display and the user can designate data operations on the display by using the input device 116 or equivalent graphical user input device . in an exemplary implementation the computer system 100 may also send commands to , and receive data from , one or more industrial sensor or process control devices 120 . the state of each such device 120 is reflected by the value of an associated tag , each of which may be a parameter of the container application . in the exemplary implementation the container application comprises an industrial automation software program , such as the intouch program module developed by wonderware corporation of irvine , calif . the wonderware intouch module includes a tool kit for building screens and interfaces , and a graphical user interface for monitoring and controlling the devices 120 . for example , in the context of electrical distribution the software toolkit of the wonderware intouch module enables rapid development of three dimensional representations of electrical distribution switchgear . the switchgear elevational representations have logical connections to the switchgear devices . an elevation can be modified to any dimensions with an essentially infinite number of combinations and arrangements of meters and protection devices to quickly and accurately represent a customer &# 39 ; s switchgear . in addition , a tabular representation of metering and setup / set point information is generated automatically with the appropriate database server links established . the wonderware intouch module is disposed to provide similar representations and accompanying database links in other areas of industrial automation and control . fig2 is a diagram of a dialog box 150 for a bound object which has been instantiated in a container application as described hereinafter . in the exemplary implementation of fig2 , the bound object comprises an activex control identified as textcontrol . when instantiated in a container application using conventional techniques , the dialog box 150 could be expected to include the “ control name ”, “ general ”, “ colors ” and “ fonts ” pages . in accordance with the invention , a “ properties ” page is included to provide a mechanism for viewing and altering relationships between properties of the bound object ( i . e ., textcontrol ) and corresponding tags of the container application . in addition , an “ events ” page serves to display the relationship between various events of the bound object and associated scripts of the container application . referring to fig2 , the properties page of textcontrol reveals that the property backcolor is bound to the tag backgroundcolor of the container application . the arrow graphic 152 indicates that a bidirectional relationship has been established between the property backcolor and the associated tag backgroundcolor . that is , changes in the value of the tag backgroundcolor will be reflected in the value of the property backcolor , and vice versa . fig2 also indicates that the property bottomtextline is bound to the tag textline 3 of the container application . the arrow graphic 154 indicates that changes to the tag textline 3 will result in corresponding changes being made to the property bottomtextline . the solid vertical line at the right edge of the arrow graphic 154 indicates that a user will not be permitted to define the relationship between bottomtextline and textline 3 such that changes to the former induce corresponding changes to the latter . this situation may arise when , for example , the tag textline 3 is “ read only ”, or when there exists some other reason why it is impermissible to bind the tag textline 3 to the property bottomtextline . it is also seen that that the property forecolor is bound to the tag textcolor of the container application . the arrow graphic 156 indicates that changes to the tag textcolor will result in corresponding changes being made to the property forecolor . the absence of a right - pointing arrow in arrow graphic 156 indicates that changes to forecolor will not affect the value of textcolor . since a solid vertical line does not appear at the right edge of the arrow graphic 156 , a user will be permitted to allow changes in the property forecolor to cause corresponding changes in the tag textcolor . fig2 further shows the property textjustification to be bound to the tag tag 1 . however , the absence of any arrow graphic proximate the displayed name tag 1 indicates that changes to the property textjustification will not induce changes in the tag tag 1 , nor vice versa . fig3 provides a view of the dialog box 150 in which the events page has been selected . this view reveals that the event click is bound to the script clickscript of the container application . in the exemplary implementation of fig3 no further graphic representation is provided of the binding between the event click and the property clickscript . referring again to fig2 , the associations between the parameters of the bound objects and corresponding tags of the container application may be modified by using the graphical input device 116 to change the state of the applicable arrow graphic . for example , in a particular implementation each arrow graphic will cycle between various permitted associative states ( e . g ., unidirectional , bidirectional ) in response to repeated selection by the device 116 . in a preferred embodiment , the binding between a container application and a bound object is implemented using the capability of the underlying window system . the present invention is described assuming , for exemplary purposes and without limitation , that the underlying window system is similar to the microsoft windows 3 . 1 operating system (“ windows ”). except as otherwise noted hereinafter , conventional techniques are utilized to install objects ( e . g ., an activex control ) within the windows environment for subsequent binding to a container application in accordance with the invention . once an object has been installed , the process of binding an object to a container application in accordance with the invention is initiated by instantiating the installed object in the container application . in an exemplary embodiment the container application comprises an object - oriented industrial automation program such as , for example , the intouch program developed by wonderware corporation of irvine , calif . in this exemplary embodiment the container application creates windows which themselves function as containers for activex control objects . after a control object has been placed in such a window and its parameter associations have been selected via a dialog box ( fig2 ), the window may be saved and closed in response to commands provided to the container application . a compiling operation is preferably invoked when the container window and contained control object are saved , thereby creating a “ compiled window ”. the container window and contained control object may then be generated from the compiled window during subsequent execution of the container application . upon such placement of an installed object in a window of the container application , a dialog box such as that shown in fig2 is presented via display 110 . the desired associations between properties of the installed object and tags of the container object may then be selected via pointing device 116 so as to create a bound object . once one or more installed objects have been so bound to the container application , the window of the container may be compiled with the bound objects so as to create a “ compiled window ”. during execution of the container application the compiled window is read and interpreted , which results in the creation of the bound object within the run - time environment . in a preferred implementation the compiled window is stored as a file of predefined format , in which each object ( e . g ., shapes , wizard utilities , activex controls ) present within the window of the container application is represented as a block of data . utilization of a particular predefined format for the compiled window file is not necessary for implementation of the present invention , and differing file formats for the compiled window may offer advantages in particular applications . fig4 provides a graphical representation of an instance 160 of an installed object and the resulting control site 162 established within a window 166 of a container application as a consequence of such instantiation . those skilled in the art will appreciate that a standard control site having certain well defined properties is generated upon placement of an object such as an activex control within a window of a windows compatible container application . in accordance with the invention , the control site 162 differs from such a standard control site in that sets of one or more property sinks 168 and event sinks 170 are provided to facilitate the parameter associations depicted in fig2 and 3 . the control site 162 defines a standard interface 172 for communicating with the instantiated object 160 through a corresponding standard interface 174 thereof . referring to fig5 , there is shown a block diagram of the structure of a property sink 168 included within the control site 162 . the property sink 168 defines a tagname field 178 for identifying the name of the tag to be associated with the property object specified by the pointer within the field 180 . an association field 182 specifies the type of association ( e . g ., unidirectional ) to be established between the tag object and property object identified by the pointers within the fields 184 and 180 , respectively . in the exemplary case of fig5 , the association field 182 would specify a unidirectional relationship between the tag object textcolor and the property object textjustification . the association field 182 registers any change in the relationship between a tag object and corresponding property object effected using the pointing device 116 in the manner described above with reference to fig2 . fig6 shows a block diagram of the structure of an event sink 185 included within the control site 162 . the event sink 185 defines a dispid field 186 containing an identifier corresponding to a given event . in addition , a cstring field 187 is provided for storing the name of a script for the container application associated with the event . the name in the cstring field is provided to the container application in response to occurrence of the given event , which executes the corresponding script . referring to fig7 , there is shown a tag object 190 of the type identified by field 184 of the property sink of fig5 . the tag object 190 includes a tagname field 192 , ptacc handle field 194 , and status flag field 196 . the contents of the tagname field 192 will be identical to the contents of the tagname field 178 included within the property sink 168 . in a preferred embodiment the ptacc handle field 194 provides a unique identifier for a particular tag . this identifier is returned by a dynamically linked library (“ dll ”) named “ ptacc ” to requesting third party applications . fig8 provides a block diagram of the structure of a property object 200 of the type identified by field 180 of the property sink of fig5 . as is indicated by fig8 , the property object 200 includes a dispid field 202 for identifying a particular parameter of the bound object ( e . g ., activex control ). in an exemplary implementation the industry standard dispatch interface (“ idispatch ”) of the bound object furnishes an index stored in the dispid field in response to a call by the container application for a method of the bound object . the container application then calls an “ invoke ” method of the object &# 39 ; s dispatch interface , which causes the object to retrieve the method associated with the index in the dispid field 202 . the desired method is then called by the bound object . the property object 200 further defines a “ cstring ” field 204 for storing the name of the tag corresponding to the container property associated with such tag . also included within the property object 200 is an “ assoctype ” field 206 which records the type of association between such container property and tag . in addition , a “ cocxtag ” field 208 is provided for storing a pointer to an object wrapper surrounding methods used by the container application to interface with tags . the property object 200 also defines a “ cocxproperty ” field 212 for holding a pointer to an object wrapper surrounding methods for changing properties of the bound object . when a compiled window ( described above ) is loaded during execution of the container application , the property sinks 168 and event sinks 170 associated with the compiled window are regenerated and used to record any change in the operative association between properties of bound objects and corresponding tags of the container application . fig9 and 10 are respective flowchart representations of the manner in which changes in such properties potentially induce corresponding changes in such tags , and vice versa . referring to fig9 , in step 220 a property of a bound object is caused to change in state or value ( i . e ., a “ property change ”) and the associated control site ( fig4 ) of the bound object is notified ( step 222 ). it is then determined whether the notification received at the control site is with regard to a property change ( step 224 ). if not , no further processing relating to a potential change in the value of an associated container tag is performed ( step 226 ). if the notification corresponds to a property change , it is attempted to identify the property sink ( fig5 ) corresponding to the property being changed ( step 228 ). if a corresponding property sink is not found ( step 230 ), then no further processing is performed ( step 232 ). in the case where a corresponding property sink is identified , an onevent member function is called ( step 234 ). the onevent member function serves to convert the property change into a corresponding change in state or value of the associated tag ( i . e ., a “ tag change ”). in step 236 , an operation is performed to validate the proposed tag change arising from the property change . in a preferred implementation this validation process entails determining whether the proposed tag change is within a predefined range of valid tag values . if the proposed change is not validated ( step 238 ), no further processing is performed ( step 240 ). in the case where the property change is validated , the container application makes the corresponding validated change in the associated tag ( step 242 ). referring now to fig1 , in step 250 a tag change is experienced by a tag monitored by the container application and a notification message is generated in response . in step 254 it is then determined whether the notification message corresponds to an industry standard “ dbchange ” message ( i . e ., a type of message which has been registered in the windows environment to facilitate interpretation by a receiving application ). if not , no further efforts are made to make a property change corresponding to the tag change ( step 256 ). if the window message corresponds to a dbchange message , it is attempted to identify the property sink ( fig5 ) associated with the tag experiencing a change ( step 258 ). if an associated property sink is not found ( step 260 ), then no further processing is performed ( step 262 ). in the case where a corresponding property sink is identified , an ontagchange member function is called ( step 264 ). the ontagchange member function serves to convert the tag change into a corresponding property change . in step 266 , an operation is performed to validate the parameters returned by the ontagchange member function . in a preferred implementation this validation process entails determining whether the proposed property change falls within a predefined range . if the proposed change is not validated , no further processing is performed ( step 267 ). in the case where the property change is validated ( step 268 ), a pointer to the appropriate property object is retrieved from the associated property sink ( step 270 ). if the retrieved pointer is invalid ( step 272 ), then no further processing is performed ( step 274 ). if a valid pointer has been retrieved , then a corresponding change is made in the associated property via an interface of the application program ( step 276 ). in a preferred implementation of the procedure set forth in fig1 , several object classes described in c ode s ection i are invoked . specifically , ctagserver and cocxtag are classes disposed to “ wrap ” various methods for interfacing with the tags monitored by the container application . each “ wrapper ” instance of this class provides an interface between the container application and any proprietary methods for interfacing with such tags . the class cpropsink corresponds to a specific implementation of a property sink . the class cocxproperty is designed to wrap properties of control objects and to store pointers ( i . e ., idispatch ) associated locations of such properties . the setvalue member function uses the idispatch pointer to change the value of a control object property associated with a tag experiencing a corresponding change . in c ode s ection i , the “//” expression is used to identifies comments to the code . code section i ctagserver : lresult ctagserver :: windowproc ( uint message , wparam wparam , lparam lparam ) { if ( message == m_dbchgmsg ) { // interpret the lparam as a handle of a tag hpt hpt = ( hpt ) lparam ; // get the tag associated with this message . cocxtag * ptag = ( cocxtag *) getextralong ( hpt , 0 ); if (! ptag ) return false ; // get the sink associated with this tag . itagchange * psink = ( itagchange *) getextralong ( hpt , sizeof ( long )); // if there is a sink call it else call tags virtual method . if ( psink ) psink -& gt ; ontagchange ( ptag ); else ptag -& gt ; ontagchange ( null ); return true ; } return cwnd :: windowproc ( message , wparam , lparam ); } ontagchange : void cpropsink :: ontagchange ( cocxtag *) { // make sure there is a property object associated with this tag // if not then initialize one if (! m_pprop ) initproperty ( ); // verify that there is a property , tag and that the association between // the two indicates that the tag changes the property ( this relationship // is defined by the graphic on the property page when the association // is defined ) if ( m_bignorechange ∥ ! m_pprop ∥ ! m_ptag ∥ (( m_assoctype != tag_changes_prop ) & amp ;& amp ; ( m_assoctype != both ))) return ; // some flags here solve some timing problems intended to solve // circular events . ie . tag change property which changes tag which // changes property ... m_bignorechange = true ; m_pprop -& gt ; setvalue ( m_ptag -& gt ; getvalue ( )); m_bignorechange = false ; as is indicated by fig3 , the dialog box of a bound object represents any association existing between event occurrences in the object and scripts defined by the container application . in the exemplary embodiment of fig3 , a user may alter such associations by performing editing operations upon the dialog box displayed by the events page . in c ode s ection ii below , exemplary code is provided for effecting the association of event occurrences to the execution of container scripts contemplated by the present invention . specifically , c ode s ection ii includes the definition of a class “ cscriptsink ” disposed to facilitate implementation of the event sinks described with reference to fig6 . in particular , cscriptsink causes event notification messages generated by the bound object to be registered and sent to the container application . c ode s ection ii further includes definition of a class defined as “ cocxitem ”, which is responsible for creating control sites in response to instantiation of bound objects as described above with reference to fig4 . also defined is the member function “ oncmdmsg ”, which is operative to : ( i ) determine the type of an event notification which has occurred , ( ii ) locate the associated container script per the relationship defined in the applicable events page ( e . g ., fig3 ), and ( iii ) cause execution of the associated script . calls to the function oncmdmsg may be made in accordance with the standard com protocol . code section ii cocxitem : bool cocxitem :: oncmdmsg ( uint nid , int ncode , void * pextra , afx_cmdhandlerinfo * phandlerinfo ) { afx_event * pevent = ( afx_event *) pextra ; if ( ncode == cn_event & amp ;& amp ; ! m_bdesignmode ) { cocxsink * psink = null ; switch ( pevent -& gt ; m_eventkind ) { case afx_event :: event : { // get the event sinks cstring stext ; psink = m_eventsinks . getitem ( pevent -& gt ; m_dispid ); if (! psink ) return false ; // create an event object cocxevent event ( pevent , this ); // get the script name for the current event stext = psink -& gt ; gettext ( ); // cause the script to execute psink -& gt ; onevent (& amp ; event , stext ); return true ; } // // other cases here // } } return cwnd :: oncmdmsg ( nid , ncode , pextra , phandlerinfo ); cscriptsink : void cscriptsink :: onevent ( cocxevent * pevent , cstring szscriptname ) { cstring szcomposed ; cstring szeventname ; uint dwparamcount ; uint dwindex ; cstring szparamname ; _variant_t vtparamvalue ; ceventtableutil event ; // essentially build up a structure that holds the types // and values for the script to execute properly szeventname = pevent -& gt ; geteventname ( ); dwparamcount = pevent -& gt ; getparamcount ( ); szcomposed = szeventname ; for ( dwindex = 0 ; dwindex & lt ; dwparamcount ; dwindex ++) { szparamname = pevent -& gt ; getparamname ( dwindex ); vtparamvalue = pevent -& gt ; getparamvalue ( dwindex ); szcomposed += szparamname ; event . addnamedvariant (( lpcstr ) szcomposed , vtparamvalue ); szcomposed = szeventname ; } // register the message wwizardcallmsg = registerwindowmessage (“ intouchwizardcallmsg ”); // send the registered message over to the main application oesexecutescript ( m_stext , pevent -& gt ; getocxinstancename ( )); // clear out the table of parameter information event . resetcontent ( ); although the above application has been described primarily in terms of particular implementations of techniques for creating associations between contained objects and various parameters of container applications , one skilled in the art will be able to develop alternative implementations based upon the teachings herein . thus the application is meant only to be limited by the scope of the appended claims .
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this section provides terms and their definitions that are used within the present patent application . nglu — known good layout universe includes a collection of known good layout templates containing regions for images to be placed . these layouts can be used to define collages and photobook pages for output . it can also be used for digital signage , digital frames and digital photobooks . nglu canvas — an area defined by a width and height that contains nglu regions laid out in a pleasing pattern . the canvas &# 39 ; s width and height are typically the dimensions of a collage or a photo book page . nglu layout algorithm — a method of automatically selecting the best layout , for any given selection of images , from a collection of template based layouts . the method also includes placing each image into the proper region by using image placement criteria . nglu region — a designated area where an image can reside . regions typically have a standard aspect ratio i . e . 4 × 3 , 16 × 9 , panoramic , etc . they can be portrait or landscape . score — images are ranked by the algorithm as it tries to put each image into each region and compares its aspect ratio , and resolution with the regions aspect ratio and resolution ( dpi ). aspect ratio score result is a range from 0 to 100 . resolution score is a 10 when image resolution is higher than the region and 0 when its resolution is less than the region . image area score is an additional value added to the score if the image aspect ratio is similar to the regions aspect ratio . the result is the image &# 39 ; s width * height as it is placed in the region . ( units are in inches ) nglu template file — xml file that contains a canvas , image region definitions and text node regions . one objective of nglu selection and fitting algorithm is to find the ( most appropriate ) region for each image . it must perform image — region attribute comparison and do it very quickly . performance is important . fig9 - 10 show two algorithms for nglu and are described below . the algorithm iterates through the collection of regions from each layout within the collection of layouts and scores each image in each region and finds the best region for each image . it continues this iteration through the collection of layouts until all layouts within the collection have the same set of images placed within all of their regions . the collection of layouts are scored and sorted by score and served up to the client for viewing . the customer initially views the highest ranking layout . one main objective of nglu is to not crop images when placing them into regions . this is a design requirement as cropping often leads to poor results from 20 most consumers &# 39 ; perspectives . each image has attributes stored in association with it that describes it to some extent . example stored attributes are aspect ratio and image resolution . each image region within a template has an aspect ratio and size that describes what type of image that would be most appropriate for that particular region . the algorithm scores images based on the image &# 39 ; s resolution and aspect ratio and how it compares to a particular region . an image with equivalent aspect ratio will also have an additional image area score added to its overall score for that image region comparison . initially the algorithm analyzes the images and determines what its aspect ratio ( dimensions ) and resolution are . the algorithm creates an initial mapping of images to regions and computes a fitness score for each image based on the region that it is initially assigned to . an overall sum total score for the entire template mapping is computed and is the baseline starting point before the algorithm iterates through the list of regions . the algorithm updates the overall sum total score after each iteration through the list of regions and runs until the highest overall sum total score is achieved . it continuously iterates through the list of regions comparing candidate 10 image &# 39 ; s attributes with the region &# 39 ; s attributes and computing a new candidate image score . when the candidate image &# 39 ; s new fitness score is higher than the regions &# 39 ; currently assigned image &# 39 ; s score , the algorithm enters into a potential swap condition . once the potential swap condition occurs , the region &# 39 ; s existing image is scored against the candidate image &# 39 ; s assigned region and if the new combined score is higher than the old combined score then the swap occurs . the idea is to only swap if the combined score for the two images is higher than the non swap score , increasing the templates overall score . the initial state of the algorithm will contain a list of regions h and a list of images i . there will be an initial mapping of images to regions where i i maps to h i , in maps to h n . this initial mapping will also produce an initial fitness measurement score as a starting point for the algorithm . each image to region mapping will be scored based on attributes computing / matching . the initial total score computed on the entire mapping will be our initial best solution . the nglu algorithm will run for a computed number of iterations ( number of images × number of regions ). the nglu algorithm performs an imaginary swap of the existing image i i with a every image i r in the list of images and computes a fitness measurement score based on the attributes the image i r satisfies and determine if the i r image is a better fit with region h i . if i r to h i is a better fit then it compares both images ( i i and i r ) scores with their new possible swapped regions ( h i and h r ) to determine if the fitness measurement score is an overall better fit . if the average fitness measurement score is better , then the swap occurs . after the process is applied to each region in the list , a total score for all image to region mappings will be computed by summing the entire list of image scores and compared with the previous total score . this sum total score is given to the template layout . this process occurs for each layout in the collection . a single run of the algorithm iterating over each region will produce a better solution candidate than the last . the nglu selection and fitting algorithm performs several tasks in order : based on a user &# 39 ; s selection ( quantity ) of images it selects a collection of predefined layouts that that have an equal number of image regions in each layout . i . e . 4 images ( 1 landscape and 3 portraits ) will cause the algorithm to pull up all layouts with 4 regions . nglu places all of the selected set of images into image regions in each of the nglu layouts by using a scoring method which uses the images resolution and aspect ratio attributes to determine which region each image should go in . once all images have been placed into the collection of selected layouts , the layouts are scored / ranked and sorted by score / rank in descending order . the nglu layouts are then served up to the client starting with the highest scoring nglu layout . nglu provides the client app the capability to index through the sorted layouts forwards and backwards allowing the user / customer to select which layout they prefer . dynamic randomly created layouts that are generated by the present software are purchased by customers . those layouts can be saved to the hard drive ( kiosk ) as a template layout for later non - dynamic use by future customers . we can analyze these layouts for characteristics that can aid in determining what a customer constitutes as a good layout . determine average amount of white space area that exists in the collages or this information can be used to determine an overall customer preference of white space area versus image area , i . e . white space area / total image area of purchased layout . this number can be compared with dynamically created kpk layouts so that kpk can favor layouts that have the similar ratio value that is based on customers purchase preferences . this could be per customer , if they are an identified 15 customer ( such as facebook customer ). this type of layout favoring could be applied on a per kiosk basis , or geographically or globally . determine the average number of images used on a photobook page layout . this information can be used to determine an overall preference whether customers prefer more or less images on a collage or photobook page layout . when the software creates photobooks it can use this information to determine how many pages to create based on the number of images selected for the photobook and the customers preference number of images per page . i . e . (# of pages =# of customer images selected / preference # images per page ) this could be per customer if they are an identified customer ( facebook customer ). this reference could be applied on a per kiosk basis , or geographically or globally . determine the average amount of margin on the collage or photobook layout . this information can be used to determine an optimum amount of margin based on what customers prefer on a collage or photobook page layout . when the software creates photobooks it can use this information to determine how much to scale the layout to effectively attain the preferred margin size . this could be per customer if they are an identified customer , ( facebook customer ). this preference could be applied on a per kiosk basis , or geographically or globally . determine which layouts are most popular by keeping track of which ones are used for customer purchased collages and photobooks . this information can be used to effect the scoring mechanism when ordering the many candidate layouts for a collage or photobook page . when multiple layouts get created for a single collage or a single photobook page , instead of just using layout properties like layout aspect ratio score or anti - thumbnail score to score the layout , the popularity of the layout can be factored into the overall layout score . this can enable the layout ordering mechanism to present the more popular layouts while still taking into account the normal layout attributes . this preference could be applied on a per kiosk basis , or geographically or globally . background image selection for a collage or photobook page , did customer select one of their own images as the background , or did they select a pre - canned kiosk themed background . this information can be used to determine if the kiosk should automatically select one of the customer &# 39 ; s images for the background or suggest using a pre - canned kiosk provided themed background . the software would determine this by collecting how many purchased layouts use customer images versus pre - canned kiosk content . this could be per customer if they are an identified customer , ( e . g . facebook customer ). this preference could be applied on a per kiosk basis , or geographically or globally . did customer use a canned pre - provided themed kiosk background and which ones were used . this information can be used to reorder the preprovided themed backgrounds based on customer popularity . when a customer chooses a background theme , the kiosk can order the themed backgrounds by popularity such that customers get to see the most popular first . this could be per customer if they are an identified customer , ( facebook customer ). this preference could be applied on a per kiosk basis , or geographically or globally . determine which pre - provided themed kiosk background was selected for the purchased collage or photobook pages . this information can be used to determine which pre - provided themed backgrounds customers like . this can be used in negotiating the acquisition of background themes from artists based on which themes sell best . by employing machine learning to weed out least customer selected themes , the kiosk can use this data to create a business model where only customer purchased backgrounds are licensed from artists . this could be used for cost savings . this preference could be applied geographically or globally . greeting cards use custom backgrounds and textual predefined textual content that are purchased from artists . determine which cards are more popular based on customer purchase data . use this data to reorder which cards . this could be used to show the post popular first or it could be used to use sales promotionals to sell the less popular ones . this could be applied on a per kiosk basis , or geographically or globally . determine the layout &# 39 ; s text font type ( i . e . times roman , arial , etc . . . ) and accumulate data to determine which fonts are more popular . this information can be used to order the fonts based on popularity . the kiosk can display the most popular fonts first . this preference could be applied on a per kiosk basis , or geographically or globally . determine which upsells are more successful than others and use this information to a ) display more popular upsells , b ) use the information to enhance least successful upsells . customers are going to being allowed to edit and create photobook layouts by moving and changing the sizes of images in the layout . customers are going to be able to add clip art to any locations in the layout . customers are also going to be able to add caption text and journal text within the layout . these customer edited / created layouts can be saved to the kiosk hard drive and online servers as template based layouts . this enables our current layout system to reuse these customer edited / created layouts ( saved ) by serving these up to new customers . this approach can allow customer created layouts to become kiosk layouts that can be offered to other customers . accent color ( auto collage , and photobook page background color selection ) automatically creates colorized backgrounds dynamically . the algorithm for selecting the optimal background color uses colors extracted from within the group of images for the layout . it selects the most common color but also uses weightings based on rob color sum value to select the best color . the kiosk will also present to the customer the other remaining candidate background colors that can also be used as the background color . store or save the customer &# 39 ; s ( manually ) selected color along with all candidate colors for that layout . run an analysis algorithm to determine customers preferences : the first goal for this algorithm is to determine if customers prefer darker versus lighter colors . determine the average color from all the candidate colors found in the images ( within a layout ). determine if the customer &# 39 ; s manually selected color out of the candidate colors is darker or lighter than the average candidate color . keep a running tally of manually selected darker versus lighter color . use this information to re - weight the auto color selector algorithm to conform more to the customer &# 39 ; s preference . the second goal is to determine if there are more popular colors over other colors . this would require keeping a tally of virtual color buckets and dropping the customers manually selected colors into the color buckets . this information could be used to re - weight certain colors over other colors so that the auto color selector algorithm will choose those more preferred colors over the less preferred colors in the auto color selector algorithm so that it favors the more popular colors based on the customers preferences when it automatically selects the background color . we could , in general , use geographical information to apply geographical preferences to regions . the following is a detailed description of how preferred embodiments perform the layout process and store / serialize customer purchased layout information . with reference to fig1 a , the collage application installed on a computer system is initiated at step 101 . at step 102 , the user selects n number of images via a gui provided by the application . after the user selects images , hplm starts the page layout at step 103 in the collage creation process ( same as step 203 in fig2 ) by receiving the n number of images selected by the user at step 204 . hplm then requests nglu to reply whether it supports n number of region layouts at step 205 . if nglu returns false then at step 208 hplm initiates dle to produce a layout with n number of regions ( same as step 508 in fig5 ). at step 509 dle obtains dimensions and orientation for the n images and pages . at step 510 dle starts the task of creating three unique dynamic layouts by calculating layouts using simulated annealing . at step 511 dle balances the layout , calculated at step 510 , at step 511 and then scales it to fit the page at step 512 . dle determines if layout is unique compared to the one or two other ones of the three dynamic layouts . if this step is performed for the first time in the loop then the algorithm identifies the first layout as unique . if the layout is determined at step 513 as not unique , then the layout is discarded and , at step 514 , the images are resized and sent back to step 510 . if the layout is unique at step 513 , dle determines if three layouts have been created at step 515 . if there are not three then the process of creating a new dynamic layout is repeated at step 510 . once the three layouts have been created , hplm converts the dle layouts to nglu layouts at step 516 and adds them to the nglu component ( database ) at step 517 for later use . hplm then verifies that the new recently created dle layouts exist and are available in nglu . hplm then initiates nglu to produce a known good layout with n number of regions at step 206 . at step 207 the hplm procedure ends . steps 206 and 207 need not occur in the sequence shown and can be interchanged . nglu is able to use the newly created layouts from dle to populate layouts with the n number of images . referring to fig3 , at step 301 nglu is initiated . once nglu receives n number of images at step 302 it first checks to see if n number region layouts exist in its collection at step 303 . in the case where dle was used to create new layouts ( fig5 ) n number region layouts would then exist and are used . in the case where dle has not been executed then nglu performs the following task : if n number region layouts don &# 39 ; t exist , then at step 304 nglu reads the database &# 39 ; s storage folder structure and locates all predefined layouts . at step 305 , nglu sets the layout_count equal to the number of predefined xml layouts in n_region folder . nglu then iterates through however many xml predefined layouts exist in all n_region folders in steps 306 and 307 . this loads all layouts for a given product size . calculating a compatibility score for each layout begins at step 308 and proceeds to step 409 of fig4 . nglu performs fitting on all n number layouts using the n number of images by iterating over each layout and populating each layout with n number of images at step 410 . for each layout in the collection of layouts nglu fills each opening / region in the layout with an image by assigning an image to each opening region until all openings contain one image at steps 411 and 412 . nglu then initiates compatibility score calculation on each image in its assigned opening at step 413 which initiates the process shown in fig6 at step 613 . the beginning score is initialized to zero at step 614 . nglu computes aspect ratio difference as between an image and its assigned opening at step 615 . if the aspect ratio difference is less than 0 . 78 then an amount of ( 100 minus the aspect ratio difference ) multiplied by 5 is added to the score at steps 616 and 617 . also , an optional calculation includes nglu computing an image area amount for the image which is then added to the score ( not shown in flow chart ). after this nglu takes one of two paths based on whether the image aspect ratio is less than or greater than the region aspect ratio . path # 1 — if image aspect ratio is less than region aspect ratio then a new image width and height get calculated as shown at step 619 . nglu computes a new image width (“ newimagew ”) by assigning it the region &# 39 ; s width (“ regionw ”). nglu computes a new image height (“ newimageh ”) by assigning it newimagew multiplied by the image &# 39 ; s aspect ratio . if newimageh is greater than region height (“ regionh ”) as illustrated at step 620 , then nglu re - computes a newimageh by assigning it the regionh . nglu also re - computes newimagew by assigning it the newimageh multiplied by the image &# 39 ; s inverse aspect ratio , both shown at step 621 . path # 2 — if image aspect ratio is greater than region aspect ratio then a new image height and width get calculated differently than path # 1 . nglu computes newimageh by assigning it the regionh ; and nglu computes newimagew by assigning it newimageh multiplied by image &# 39 ; s inverse aspect ratio , both shown at step 623 . if newimagew is greater than regionw at step 622 then nglu re - computes a newimagew by assigning it the regionw . nglu also re - computes newimageh by assigning it the newimagew multiplied by the image aspect ratio both shown at step 624 . once one of the paths has been performed nglu adds an amount equal to the calculated newimagew and newimageh based area ( newimagew multiplied by imageimageh ) as part of the layout &# 39 ; s compatibility scoring at step 625 . nglu computes a resolution score at step 626 by first calculating the image resolution and the region area resolution . if the image resolution is larger than the region resolution at step 627 then nglu adds a value of 10 to the compatibility score at step 628 . nglu then verifies that every image in an opening has had an initial compatibility score calculated at step 415 , then nglu visits each opening in the layout at step 416 . for each opening in the layout nglu iterates through the collection of n number of images using them as possible candidate images to replace existing images currently assigned to openings within the layout beginning at step 417 . nglu determines if a swap should occur as follows . nglu calculates a compatibility fitting score for the candidate image using the current opening at step 418 . nglu also calculates a compatibility fitting score for the current image and the candidates opening . nglu adds both scores together for a combined score and compares them to the combined score from the existing candidate and current image &# 39 ; s scores at step 419 . nglu checks for a swap condition by comparing the old combined scores with the new possible swap scores at step 420 . if new combined potential swap score is larger than the original combined scores , then a swap occurs at step 421 , and the candidate is assigned to the current opening and the current opening &# 39 ; s image is assigned to the candidate image &# 39 ; s opening . this continues until all of the n number of images have been scored against the current opening and combined scores have been compared and checked at step 422 . nglu continues to iterate over every opening at step 423 until every image has been tried in every opening and potential swap combined scores have been computed and compared with existing combined scores . this ultimately ensures that each image is in the most appropriate opening based on aspect ratio , image area and resolution scoring as illustrated in fig6 . nglu computes a total score for the layout and this score gets saved and used later for sorting the layouts within the layout collection . once nglu has iterated over all the layouts at step 310 and performed fitting on every layout it next sorts the layouts in descending order within the collection at step 311 based each layout &# 39 ; s total compatibility score . nglu provides the first layout , the highest scoring layout , within the sorted collection available to the client application at step 312 . hplm , upon the customer purchasing the layout based product at step 104 , initiates serializing the customer purchased preferred layout at step 105 , also shown as step 109 in fig . ie . hplm initiates nglu to serialize the purchased preferred layout as a nglu predefined layout file at step 106 . the file is in an xml format and since it is stored , it can be loaded for later use as an nglu layout . future customers can use this layout without hplm having to invoke the dle to create new layouts . this process allows the kiosk to learn from customer what constitutes customer layout preferences . fig7 illustrates a first embodiment of an electronic system 20 that can be used in generating an image enhanced product . in the embodiment of fig7 , electronic system 20 comprises a housing 22 and a source of content data files 24 , a user input system , 58 , 68 , and an output system 26 , 56 , 66 connected by hardwire or wirelessly to a processor system 34 . the source of content data files 24 , user input system 58 , 68 or output system 26 , 56 , 66 , and processor system 34 can be located within housing 22 or , in other embodiments , circuits and systems of the source of content data files 24 , user input system 58 , 68 or output system 25 , 56 , 66 , can be located in whole or in part outside of housing 22 . the source of content data files 24 can include any form of electronic or other circuit or system that can supply digital data to processor system 34 from which processor system 34 can derive images for use in forming an image enhanced item . in this regard , the content data files can comprise , for example and without limitation , still images , image sequences , video , graphics , multimedia , and computer generated images . sources of content data files 24 can optionally capture images , such as digital cameras , to create content data for use in content data files by use of capture devices located at electronic system 20 and / or can obtain content data files that have been prepared and edited by or using other devices . in the embodiment of fig7 , source of content data files 24 includes sensors 38 , detachable or internal memory and / or storage 40 , and a communication system 54 . sensors 38 are optional and can include light sensors , biometric sensors and other sensors known in the art that can be used to detect conditions in the environment of system 20 and to convert this information into a form that can be used by processor system 34 of system 20 . sensors 38 can also include one or more image / video sensors 39 that are adapted to capture still or video images . sensors 38 can also include biometric or other sensors for measuring involuntary physical and mental reactions such sensors including , but not limited to , voice inflection , body movement , eye movement , pupil dilation , body temperature , and p4000 wave sensors . storage / memory 40 can include conventional memory devices including solid state , magnetic , optical or other data storage devices . storage / memory 40 can be fixed within system 20 or it can be removable . in the embodiment of fig7 , system 20 is shown having a hard drive 42 , a disk drive 44 for a removable disk such as an optical , magnetic or other disk memory ( not shown ) and a removable memory slot 46 that that couples to a portable removable memory device 48 such as a removable memory card , usb thumb drive , or other portable memory devices , which mayor may not have a removable memory interface 50 for communicating with removable memory slot 48 . data including , but not limited to , control programs , digital images , programmed applications , metadata , still images , image sequences , video , graphics , multimedia , and computer generated images can also be stored in a remote memory system 52 such as a personal computer , network server , computer network or other digital system . remote system 52 is shown coupled to processor system 34 wirelessly , however , such systems can also be coupled over a wired network connection . in the embodiment shown in fig7 , system 20 has a communication system 54 that in this embodiment can be used to communicate with an optional remote memory system 52 , an optional a remote display 56 , and / or optional remote input 58 . a remote input station including a remote display 56 and / or remote input controls 58 ( also referred to herein as “ remote input 58 ”) can communicate with communication system 54 wirelessly as illustrated or can communicate in a wired fashion . in an alternative embodiment , a local input station including either or both a local display 66 and local input controls 68 ( also referred to herein as “ local user input 68 ”) can be connected to processor system 34 using a wired ( illustrated ) or wireless connection . communication system 54 can comprise for example , one or more optical , radio frequency or other transducer circuits or other systems that convert image and other data into a form that can be conveyed to a remote device such as remote memory system 52 or remote display 56 using an optical signal , radio frequency signal or other form of signal . communication system 54 can also be used to receive a digital image and other data from a host or server computer or network ( not shown ), a remote memory system 52 or a remote input 58 . communication system 54 provides processor system 34 with information and instructions from signals received thereby . typically , communication system 54 will be adapted to communicate with the remote memory system 52 , 56 , 58 by way of a communication network such as a conventional telecommunication or data transfer network such as the internet , a cellular , peer - to - peer or other form of mobile telecommunication network , a local communication network such as wired or wireless local area network or any other conventional wired or wireless data transfer system . user input system 58 , 68 provides a way for a user of system 20 to provide instructions to processor system 34 . this allows such a user to make a designation of content data files to be used in generating an image enhanced output product and to select an output form for the output product . user input system 58 , 68 can also be used for a variety of other purposes including , but not limited to , allowing a user to arrange , organize and edit content data files to be incorporated into the image enhanced output product , to provide information about the user or audience , to provide annotation data such as voice and text data , to identify characters in the content data files , and to perform such other interactions with system 20 as will be described later . in this regard user input system 58 , 68 can comprise any form of transducer or other device capable of receiving an input from a user and converting this input into a form that can be used by processor system 34 . for example , user input system 58 , 68 can comprise a touch screen input , a touch pad input , a 4 - way switch , a 6 - way switch , an 8 - way switch , a stylus system , a trackball system , a joystick system , a voice recognition system , a gesture recognition system a keyboard , a remote control or other such systems . in the embodiment shown in fig7 , remote input system 58 can take a variety of forms , including , but not limited to , a remote keyboard 58 a , a remote mouse 58 b , and a remote control 58 c , and a local input 68 includes a local keyboard 68 a and a local mouse 68 b . output system 26 is used for rendering images , text or other graphical representations in a manner that allows an image enhanceable item to be converted into an image enhanced product . in this regard , output system 26 can comprise any conventional structure or system that is known for printing or recording images , including , but not limited to , printer 29 . printer 29 can record images on a tangible surface using a variety of known technologies including , but not limited to , conventional four color offset separation printing or other contact printing , silk screening , dry electrophotography such as is used in the nexpress 2100 printer sold by eastman kodak company , rochester , n . y ., usa , thermal printing technology , drop on demand ink jet technology and continuous inkjet technology . for the purpose of the following discussions , printer 29 will be described as being of a type that generates color images . however , it will be appreciated that this is not necessary and that the claimed methods and apparatuses herein can be practiced with a printer 29 that prints monotone images such as black and white , grayscale or sepia toned images . in certain embodiments , the source of content data files 24 , user input system 58 , 68 and output system 26 , 56 , 66 can share components . processor system 34 operates system 20 based upon signals from user input system 58 , 68 , sensors 38 , storage / memory 40 and communication system 54 . processor system 34 can include , but is not limited to , a programmable digital computer , a programmable microprocessor , a programmable logic processor , a series of electronic circuits , a series of electronic circuits reduced to the form of an integrated circuit , or a series of discrete components on a printed circuit board . as is illustrated in fig8 , local user input 68 can take the form of an editing studio or kiosk 70 ( hereafter also referred to as an “ editing area 70 ”). in this illustration , a user 72 is seated before a console comprising local keyboard 68 a and mouse 68 b and a local display 66 which is capable , for example , of displaying multimedia content . as is also illustrated in fig8 , editing area 70 can also have sensors 38 including , but not limited to , image sensor 39 , audio sensors 74 and other sensors such as multispectral sensors that can monitor user 72 during a user or production session . the vast majority of layouts have elements within the layout that can be grouped in columns or rows . columns can also be grouped within rows and rows can be grouped in columns and so on . superglu is a method of overcoming the challenge of diverse aspect ratio images existing within the same layout . it &# 39 ; s a technique that can be applied to an existing template based layout . superglu analyzes the template layout and extracts the intent of the layout and massages the layout by scaling the images to fit into the original layout boundaries . most template layouts can be broken down into groups and subgroups of rows and columns of images . images within a row for example can be scaled such that they all have the same height which maintains conformity within the row . images within a column can be scaled such that they all have the same width maintaining conformity within the column . whole rows can be scaled and columns can be scaled . by scaling elements and sub elements in a layout it is possible to eliminate inconsistent gutter space as well as unnecessary white space . to understand how the analysis portion of the algorithm works we walk through analyzing a typical layout : step 1 ) determine the gutter distance ( size ) step 2 ) find the rows . find openings with the same vertical location and same height and are separated by the gutter distance . put them into a row . single openings can also be put into single rows . step 3 ) [ optional ] find all the columns . find openings with the same horizontal locations and same width and are separated by the gutter distance . put them into the column . step 4 ) combine rows inside of columns . rows and openings with the same horizontal location and the same widths can be combined into the same column . step 5 ) combine columns inside of rows . columns with the same vertical location and same height can be combined into the same row . step 6 ) determine if all openings have been used in steps 2 through 5 . if not then repeat steps 2 through 5 until : a ) all openings have been combined into rows and columns b ) all rows and columns have been combined into columns and rows until there is only one encompassing row or column . step 7 )— assign images to openings . step 8 )— assign scale factor to each image . the scale factor will be adjusted as the images , rows and columns are scaled . the resulting data structure is a tree with openings at it &# 39 ; s leafs with rows and columns as its branches . after analysis , images are assigned to the openings within the rows and columns . each image is assigned a scale factor . the scale factor will be adjusted as the images , rows and columns are scaled . the following steps detail an example process of laying out the images within the rows and columns : step 1 scale all images in each row to have the same height by adjusting the images scale factor . adjust the images horizontal positions to maintain gutter size . step 2 scale all rows ( images ) within each column to have the same width by adjusting the images scale factor . adjust the row &# 39 ; s vertical positions to maintain gutter size . step 3 scale all columns within a row to have the same height by adjusting the encompassed images scale factor . adjust columns horizontal positions to maintain gutter size . step 4 if innermost columns and rows have been scaled to have the same heights and widths respectively and we are at the outermost parent row or column , then scale the outermost row or column to fit within the layout boundary . the exemplary embodiments have been described in detail with particular reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof , but it will be understood that variations and modifications can be effected within the spirit and scope of the invention .
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fig1 shows a dense wavelength division multiplexed ( dwdm ) signal 11 present within an optical telecommunication system ( not shown ). predefined wavelength regions λr1 - λr4 are selected by the optical noise monitor constructed according to the preferred embodiments of the present invention . in this example , five channel signals s1 - s5 of the dwdm signal 11 are shown and four predefined wavelength regions λr1 - λr4 are shown interposed between wavelengths λ1 - λ5 of each of the channel signals s1 - s5 . under normal operation of the optical telecommunication system , the noise power within each of the predefined wavelength regions λr1 - λr4 is within a specified noise level . an increase in noise power above the specified noise level indicates that one or more components of the optical telecommunication system , such as an edfa , multiplexer or switch are faulty and need adjustment or replacement . thus , noise monitoring is a valuable diagnostic tool for verifying performance of an optical telecommunication system . noise power within each of the predefined wavelength regions λr1 - λr4 is monitored by filtering optical noise energy within the predefined wavelength regions λr1 - λr4 and then detecting the total noise power within the predefined wavelength regions λr1 - λr4 using an optical detector . noise power density of the optical energy within each of the predefined wavelength regions also provides a useful measure of performance of the optical telecommunication system . since the optical detector responds to the total optical noise power within each of the predefined wavelength regions , the noise power density is obtained by first establishing the noise - equivalent bandwidth ( nebw ) for each of the predefined wavelength regions selected by the optical noise monitor . the nebw of each predefined wavelength region is established by applying to the optical noise monitor , a noise signal having known , uniform optical power density over the predefined wavelength regions λr1 - λr4 and dividing the total noise power within each of the predefined wavelength regions by the optical power density of the applied noise signal . the total optical noise power as sensed by the optical detector is then divided by the nebw to yield the optical noise power density , for example , the optical power per 0 . 1 nanometer of optical wavelength . signal - to - noise ratio ( snr ), another specified operating parameter of the optical telecommunication system , is monitored by comparing the signal power p1 - p5 of each of the channel signals s1 - s5 to the detected noise power within adjacent predefined wavelength regions λr1 - λr4 , normalized according to the nebw of each of the predefined wavelength regions . typically , the noise floor n is more than 30 db lower than the power levels p1 - p5 of the channel signals s - s5 . to accurately distinguish noise power in the predefined wavelength regions λr1 - λr4 from the power of the channel signals s1 - s5 , the noise monitor constructed according to the preferred embodiments of the present invention is selective enough to pass optical energy within each of the predefined wavelength regions λr1 - λr4 to a detector , while substantially attenuating the level of the channel signals s1 - s5 at the detector . fig2 shows an optical noise monitor 10 constructed according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention . the dwdm signal 11 is incident on an optically transparent member 12 , a solid block or frame , supporting a series of multi - pass filters f1 - f4 . the dwdm signal 11 is then cascaded through the member 12 and is incident on the series of multi - pass filters f1 - f4 . each of the multi - pass filters f1 - f4 is selective to a distinct one of the predefined wavelength regions λr1 - λr4 . for example , multi - pass filter f1 is selective to the predefined wavelength region λr1 and transmits optical energy at wavelengths within the predefined wavelength region λr1 to a corresponding detector d1 . the multi - pass filter f1 reflects optical energy at wavelengths outside the predefined wavelength region λr1 , such as the channel signals s1 - s5 and optical energy at wavelengths in the predefined wavelength regions λr2 - λr4 . similarly , multi - pass filter f2 reflects optical energy at wavelengths outside the predefined wavelength region λr2 and transmits optical energy at wavelengths within the predefined wavelength region λr2 to optical detector d2 . multi - pass filter f3 reflects optical energy at wavelengths outside the predefined wavelength region λr3 and transmits optical energy at wavelengths within the predefined wavelength region λr3 to optical detector d3 . multi - pass filter f4 reflects optical energy at wavelengths outside the predefined wavelength region λr4 and transmits optical energy at wavelengths within the predefined wavelength region λr4 to optical detector d4 . although each of the multi - pass filters f1 - f4 includes various optical elements , as an illustration , the elements are described for the first multi - pass filter f1 in the series . the dwdm signal 11 that propagates through the member 12 is incident on a first surface a1 of the a filter element e1 . the filter element e1 is an interference filter such as a fabry - perot filter or other type of optical filter having a bandpass optical transmission characteristic . the center wavelength of the filter element e1 is centered within the predefined wavelength region λr1 . optical energy at wavelengths within the passband of the filter element e1 is transmitted through the filter element e1 to a first reflector r1 , while optical energy at wavelengths outside the passband of the optical element e1 is reflected and is cascaded to the other optical elements e2 - e4 of the multi - pass filters f2 - f4 of the series . the reflector r1 directs the transmitted , band - limited optical energy 13a back to the filter element e1 where it is incident on a second surface b1 of the filter element e1 . the optical energy is further band - limited as it propagates through a second pass through the filter element e1 . after the second pass through the filter element e1 optical energy is incident on a second reflector r2 adjacent to the first surface a1 of the filter element e1 , which directs the optical energy through a third pass through the filter element e1 . with each pass through the filter element e1 , the optical energy is progressively band - limited to narrower and narrower bandwidths . after a third pass through the filter element e1 , the multi - pass filter f1 is selective enough to band - limit the transmission of optical energy to wavelengths within the predefined wavelength region λr1 while rejecting channel signal s1 and channel signal s2 on either side of the predefined wavelength region λr1 . the band - limited noise signal ns1 is incident on optical detector d1 which produces an output current i1 responsive to the total noise power within the predefined wavelength region λr1 . the resulting output current i1 indicates the total noise power within the predefined wavelength region λr1 and this noise power is monitored via the output current . changes in the noise power are used to indicate changes in operating performance of an optical telecommunication system , or to locate faulty components within an optical telecommunication system . each of the other multi - pass filters f2 - f4 in the series have similar reflectors r1 , r2 and filter elements e2 - e4 , except that each of the filter elements e2 - e4 has a passband having a center wavelength that is centered within a separate one of the predefined wavelength regions λr2 - λr4 . fig3 shows an optical noise monitor 20 constructed according to a second preferred embodiment of the present invention . in this preferred embodiment the dwdm signal 11 is incident on an optically transparent member 22 , a solid block or frame , supporting a series of multi - pass filters f21 - f24 . the dwdm signal 11 is then cascaded through the member 22 and is incident on the series of multi - pass filters f21 - f24 . each of the multi - pass filters f21 - f24 is selective to optical energy at wavelengths within a distinct one of the predefined wavelength regions λr1 - λr4 . for example , multi - pass filter f21 is selective to the predefined wavelength region λr1 and transmits optical energy at wavelengths within the predefined wavelength region λr1 to a corresponding detector d1 . the multi - pass filter f21 reflects optical energy at wavelengths outside the predefined wavelength region λr1 , such as the channel signals s1 - s5 and optical energy at wavelengths in the predefined wavelength regions λr2 - λr4 . similarly , multi - pass filter f22 reflects optical energy at wavelengths outside the predefined wavelength region λr2 and transmits optical energy at wavelengths within the predefined wavelength region λr2 to optical detector d2 . multi - pass filter f23 reflects optical energy at wavelengths outside the predefined wavelength region λr3 and transmits optical energy at wavelengths within the predefined wavelength region λr3 to optical detector d3 . multi - pass filter f24 reflects optical energy at wavelengths outside the predefined wavelength region λr4 and transmits optical energy at wavelengths within the predefined wavelength region λr4 to optical detector d4 . each of the multi - pass filters f21 - f24 includes a cascaded arrangement of optical filter elements and as an illustration , the filter elements are described for the first multi - pass filter f21 in the series . the first multi - pass filter includes three filter elements e1a - e1c . each of the filter elements e1a - e1c is an interference filter such as a fabry - perot filter or other type of optical filter having a bandpass optical transmission characteristic . optical energy at wavelengths within the passband of the filter element e1ais transmitted through the serial arrangement of filter elements e1a - e1c , while optical energy at wavelengths outside the passband of the optical element e1a is reflected by the filter element e1aand is cascaded to the other multi - pass filters f22 - f24 of the series . alignment of the center wavelengths of the passbands of each of the filter elements e1a - e1c provides for progressive band - limiting of optical energy as the optical energy propagates through each of the filter elements e1a - e1c . typically , the center wavelength of each of the filter elements e1a - e1c is centered within the predefined wavelength region λr1 . after passing through the third cascaded filter element e1c , the multi - pass filter f21 is selective enough to band - limit the transmission of optical energy to wavelengths within the predefined wavelength region λr1 while rejecting channel signal s1 and channel signal s2 on either side of the predefined wavelength region λr1 . the band - limited noise signal ns1 is incident on optical detector d1 which produces an output current i1 responsive to the total noise power within the predefined wavelength region λr1 . the resulting output current i1 indicates the total noise power within the predefined wavelength region λr1 and this noise power is monitored via the output current . changes in the noise power are used to indicate changes in operating performance of an optical telecommunication system , or to locate faulty components within an optical telecommunication system . each of the other multi - pass filters f22 - f24 in the series have similar filter elements to the filter elements e1a - e1c , except that each of the filter elements included within the multi - pass filters f22 - f24 has a passband having a center wavelength that is centered within a separate one of the predefined wavelength regions λr2 - λr4 . in the preferred embodiments of the present invention , a parallel arrangement of multi - pass filters is shown . the multi - pass filters are arranged on either side of the optically transmissive member and optical energy outside the passband of each of the optical filter elements in the multi - pass filters is cascaded to successive multi - pass filters in the series along a zig - zag propagation path within the member . the parallel arrangement of multi - pass filters restricts the angular incidence of optical energy on the filter elements , such as interference filters . alternatively , other arrangements of multi - pass filters are used to cascade the optical energy between successive multi - pass filters in the series .
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referring now to the figures , and more particularly fig1 the main components of a cardiac trainer t constructed in accordance with this invention include a heart model h ( shown in outline ) having a longitudinal axis l — l , animating network n , a control device c and a source of compressed air s . as shown in fig2 a , 2 b the heart model h , is constructed and arranged to conform in anatomical details to an actual human heart . the heart model h may be made with different sizes , shapes , colors , etc . to simulate an adult or a pediatric heart . moreover heart model h may also simulate either a healthy or a diseased heart , as required . preferably , the heart model h is hollow . in one embodiment of the invention , the heart model h is formed with cavities 10 , 12 that simulate respectively the right and the left atrium and ventricle . optionally , these chambers 10 , 12 may include valves or non - functioning elements simulating heart valves ( not shown ). in this embodiment the heart model h is not animated . in another embodiment , the heart model h is formed with altered - shaped cavities to hold the animation network n . in either embodiment , the cavities 10 , 12 of the heart model h are accessible through holes 14 simulating connections to the circulatory veins and arteries . as discussed in more detail below , advantageously , the holes 14 may be used to supply compressed air to the animation network n . as seen in the fig2 a , 2 b the heart model h consists of two components , an inner cast 16 which simulates the cardiac muscles or myocardium and an outer shell 18 that simulates the epicardium . both members 16 and 18 are made of silicone . the inner cast 16 typically has a thickness of about { fraction ( 3 / 16 )} to ⅜ ″ and the shell 18 has a thickness of about { fraction ( 1 / 16 )} to { fraction ( 3 / 16 )}″. preferably , at certain predetermined locations , silicone tubes 20 having a diameter of about ⅛ ″ and a length of 1 . 5 ″ are attached to the heart model h to simulate arteries . these tubes may be filled with a red colored liquid to simulate blood . the flow chart of fig3 depicts a method for fabricating the heart h in accordance with the invention . in the first step 100 a block of wax having the approximate size and shape of the myocardium is carved to create hollow cavities that define the interior spaces of the heart . in step 102 a casting medium such as a rigid urethane is poured into the block of wax to create two positive master cores . next , in step 104 the exterior of the block of wax is sculpted to define the final shape and size of the desired myocardium . in step 106 a first negative master mold is made that corresponds to the original exterior sculpture using standard molding techniques . when the wax is removed from the mold , the elements that remain are the negative master mold 62 for the myocardium ( see fig5 ); and the two positive master cores ( such as cores 60 , in fig5 ) that define the cavities 10 , 12 of the heart . the two positive master cores have convoluted interlocking shapes and are registered by alignment sockets ( not shown ) to the master negative mold . in step 108 the cores are removed from the negative master mold and a solid positive master of the myocardium layer exterior is created . the solid positive master is also made of a rigid urethane . in step 110 the registered cores are returned to the alignment sockets in the negative master and a plurality of interior castings are made by pouring liquid silicone rubber into the mold and letting it set . in step 112 each casting is dressed by applying paint to its outer surface so that it resembles the myocardium . it was found that silicone - based paints provide superior results for this purpose . in some cases , some extra tissues may also be simulated by adding dabs of silicone on the castings with a spatula . after the castings are dressed , they are allowed to dry for about four hours . each casting thus dressed forms a corresponding inner cast 16 . in step 114 clay or other suitable material is added to the first positive master thereby forming a second positive master having substantially the shape and size of the final heart model h . that is , the clay added to the first positive master in this step defines the shape and size of the outer shell 18 . in step 116 a second negative master is formed from the second positive master . in step 118 the castings from step 112 are placed into the second negative master to form a second mold . in step 120 a substantially transparent or translucent silicon rubber is poured into the second mold to form shell 18 around inner cast 16 . after the shell is set , in step 122 each casting is removed from the mold and cut open . the cores defining cavities 10 , 12 are removed through the cuts and the castings are then closed and sealed by applying silicone rubber into the cut . the resulting assembly is finished to form the heart model h . as part of this finishing step , a shiny clear coat of silicone is applied to the outer surface , for example by applying a light spray . the resulting heart model h has glistening , wet look and feel that is very realistic . this heart model may be used as a teaching tool by itself . if it is provided with the vessels 20 , the heart module may be used as a means of practicing on these vessels as well . in order to provide even more realism , the heart model h can be animated by installing an animation network n . the animation network n is constructed from a plurality of pneumatic tubes arranged so that they change dimension when actuated by a gas ( typically , air ) under pressure . more specifically , the tubes are arranged so that when the network n is activated , the tubes contract and expand sequentially in a manner so as to cause the heart module to twist about two perpendicular axes at a predetermined rate resulting in a three - dimensional twisting motion that simulates the motion of an actual heart . as shown in fig1 the network n includes two tubes . the first tube 24 is arranged in a spiral pattern with loops arranged around longitudinal axis l — l . the second tube 26 is arranged in loops oriented around axis m — m perpendicular to longitudinal axis l — l of the heart model h . fig4 shows details of tube 24 , it being understood that except for its length , tube 26 has the same construction . tube 24 is formed of a thin flexible plastic pipe 32 and a woven mesh 34 . both the pipe 32 and mesh 34 are radially expandable . one end of the tubes is sealed as at 28 while the other end is open to receive the coupling 33 arranged to provide air under pressure as discussed below . importantly adjacent to each of the ends of the tube , the mesh 34 is attached to the pipe 32 by an adhesive , by ties or other similar means . in this configuration , the mesh 34 and pipe 32 are arranged so that when the respective tube is pressurized , the radial expansion of the pipe 32 causes the mesh 34 to expand radially as well , however , because of the attachment between the pipe and the mesh at 30 , the mesh forces the pipe 32 to contract axially . the meshes may be made of nylon or polyester . the pipes may be made of latex and have a outer diameter of ⅛ - ⅜ ″. while various configurations can be used for providing the animation network , the preferred embodiment is shown in fig1 . the open end 32 of each tube 24 , 26 is connected by a respective extension 38 for attachment to control device c . the tubes are inserted in the heart model h as follows . as mentioned above , one of the steps of the process of making the heart model h is the making of cavity sculptures ( step 102 , fig3 ). as part of this step , the cavity sculptures 60 shown in fig5 are provided with grooves ( not shown ) that define the desired shapes for the tubes 24 , 26 . after the cavity sculptures or cores are completed , the tubes 24 , 26 are wound around the cavity sculpture 60 . then , when the cores are positioned in the first negative master 62 ( step 110 ), the tubes 24 , 26 are automatically properly oriented and positioned so that when the interior casting is formed , it envelopes the tubes 24 , 26 . as seen in fig5 a substantial portion of the tubes 24 , 26 extends beyond the cores 60 . as a result , when each interior casting is over between the cores 60 and the first negative master , the tubes 24 , 26 are firmly embedded in the casting and , eventually in the cast 16 . returning to fig1 the control device c includes a control circuit 40 , two automatic valves 42 ( one for each tube 24 , 26 ) operated by the control circuit 40 through respective solenoids 44 and a rate selector 41 that can be used by an operator to select a ‘ beat ’ rate for the heart model h . the control circuit 40 provides the means for controlling the selectively the air flow into the tubes 24 , 26 , from compressor s . the control circuit 40 may be a microprocessor , for example a basic stamp ii by parallax , inc . the microprocessor is programmed to open and close the valves in a predetermined sequence to selectively pressurize tubes 24 , 26 . for example , as shown in fig6 the tubes 24 , 26 may be pressurized in a sequence , as shown , at regular intervals , dependent on the rate selected by the user on a rate selector 41 . preferably , the tube 26 is pressurized first , and tube 24 is pressurized about 100 - 150 msec later , as illustrated in fig6 . it was found that with this arrangement the heart module h is imparted a three - dimensional rocking motion very similar to the motion of a live , beating heart . those skilled in the field will recognize that other means of imparting motion to the heart module h may be used as well . for example , a liquid may be used instead of air to selectively pressurize the tubes 24 , 26 . moreover , while in the embodiment shown a closed system is used , a circulatory system may also be provided in which the blood flow through the heart module h is also mimicked . as mentioned above , the heart module h may be provided with one or more blood vessels 20 . a method for making these blood vessels 20 is now described in conjunction with the flow chart of fig7 . in step 210 , a metal rod that approximates the inside diameter of a particular vessel is provided and covered with a nylon mesh . preferably the nylon mesh is rolled around the rod . the rod is then inserted into a tube having an inner diameter that is slightly larger than the rod and mesh in step 212 to approximate a desired thickness . silicone or urethane modeling material is pumped into the tube and around the rod in step 214 at about 100 psi . the model vessel thus obtained has the look and feel of a real vessel . the mesh provides reinforcement to hold sutures for simulating a medical procedure where suturing is required . the selection of materials and the narrow width also permit the vessel to simulate the collapse of a real vessel . they may be attached to other body organs , such as the heart or a thorax , by tying off an end with a guide string and threading the guide string through a hole in the organ . the guide string may then be removed after using it to pull the vessel into the organ . the vessels 20 may be used to practice coronary artery anastomosis while the heart model h is ‘ beating .’ as shown in fig8 upon completion , the heart model h may be placed within a replica thorax x . the thorax is preferably an typical - sized adult male chest intended to represent a patient lying on his back form the neck to diaphragm and shoulder to shoulder . it is mounted to a flat base meant to sit on a tabletop . the thorax may be provided with openings or incisions such as a sternotomy , partial or full , inset with a soft casting to represent the sternotomy opening . additional openings or incisions , might include thoracotomy opening or endoscopic ports . at the edge of the sternotomy is a pericardial - like well , which serves as a sling for the heart h . the well is lined with a soft , flexible reinforced pericardium - like material . the thorax x may also contain lima and rima pedicles tucked under the edges of the sternotomy that contain left or right internal mamary arteries and veins that are capable of being dissected from the thorax x . the thorax x may also serve to conceal the control device c in its base . the thorax x may be augmented with other components as well . one alternative has full artificial skin . another thorax x has artificial ribs and intercostals spaces which permit rib retraction . the thorax x may be simplified to permit a dimension that allows it to be placed in a portable suitcase container . although the invention has been described with reference to various embodiments , it is to be understood that these embodiments are merely illustrative of an application of the principles of the invention . numerous modifications , in addition to the illustrative embodiments of the invention discussed herein may be made and other arrangements may be devised without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . for example , it will be readily apparent to one skilled in the art that the disclosed methods may be used to replicate biological organs other than the heart . similarly , alternative means for generating muscle - like motion in a motion distribution network in an encapsulated layer of a model will also be apparent . moreover , the control device c can be disposed inside the heart model as well thereby reducing the overall size and complexity of the subject cardiac surgical trainer .
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it will be readily understood that the components of the present invention , as generally described and illustrated in the drawings herein , could be arranged and designed in a wide variety of different configurations . thus , the following more detailed description of the embodiments of the system and method of the present invention , as represented in the drawings , is not intended to limit the scope of the invention , as claimed , but is merely representative of various embodiments of the invention . the illustrated embodiments of the invention will be best understood by reference to the drawings , wherein like parts are designated by like numerals throughout . in general , soil may be improved on a large or small scale by addition of organic matter such as peat moss . likewise , soils may be made more serviceable by tillage . on a large scale , soils are typically improved by growing and then plowing in ( turning under ) certain residue of crops , or even manure crops , plants selected and grown exclusively for their addition of organic matter likewise , waste materials from corrals , grain stalks ( straw ), and the like may be plowed into tracts of land in order to improve their organic content and their capacity to hold water for use by plants . in many environments aeration may be required by the constitution of the soil , or due to an inability to till the soil . for example , a farm field may rely on ripping ( sub - soiling ), plowing ( turning ), disking ( breaking up ), harrowing ( leveling ), hilling , rowing , cultivating , or any or all of those tillage operations over the course of an agricultural year . by contrast , a lawn or golf green will see virtually no surface tillage on such a large and general scale . meanwhile , various activities like walking or driving over such ground may lead to compaction of the soils . thus , aeration devices may penetrate soils to break them up and provide them access to air for “ aeration .” gelatin is a naturally occurring polymer . gelatin binds with water to form a “ gel .” the existence of naturally occurring polymers such as gelatin has been augmented by the development of synthetic polymers . one such polymer is polyacrylamide . polyacrylamide ( pam ) and other similar gels have been used for different types of binding processes . for example , a gel , when wet , may be easily formed , and when dry may become something of a glue or binder . likewise , gels typically are formed of long polymer chains and thus are often durable in the face of erosive actions such as water running over them . accordingly , gels such as pam may serve as a treatment for surfaces of ground in order to minimize erosion by the passing of water thereover . horticulture is the culture of plants . plants rely on water as a transport mechanism in order to draw nutrients from the ground into the plants through the roots and into the stems , leaves , and so forth . likewise , water acts as a transpiration cooling mechanism by evaporation out through the leaves and other foliage of a plant . however , watering in many environments is problematic . too much watering may result in shallow roots . meanwhile , too little watering may place undue stress on plants . in some locations , water is usually plentiful , so irrigation systems are not installed . nevertheless , bouts of periodic drought or low rainfall need to be evened out . in locations where irrigation is used , soils may still have water retention limitations requiring excess irrigation due to water seeping away in porous soils or running off the surface of comparatively impervious soils . a soil amendment in accordance with the invention may assist in retaining water between rainfall or irrigation sessions to reduce stress on plants . referring to fig1 , a material 10 in accordance with the invention may include a substrate 12 , also called a carrier 12 , formed of a suitable material for placement in the vicinity of a root system of a plant . for example , a substrate may be a particle of sand . in certain embodiments , even gravel , rock , vermiculite , perlite , or the like in a potting environment may operate as a substrate . in some embodiments , a substrate may be formed of either organic or inorganic material . for example wood chips , sawdust , compost , and the like may be comminuted , sorted , or both to provide particles for use as a substrate ( carrier ) in a material , process , and apparatus in accordance with the invention . nevertheless , it has been found very effective to use sand as a substrate 12 inasmuch as it is submersible in water and will not float as many organic materials will when dry . likewise , the sand as substrate 12 may be quarried , sorted , or purchased at any suitable degree of comminuted size . small sized spaces or interstices between individual grains of the sand substrate 12 provide ample space and minimum distance for water to surround each of the substrate 12 particles . in the illustrated embodiment , a substrate 12 may be secured to an absorber 18 by a binder 14 formed of a third material or simply a hydrated region of the absorber rendered tacky ( e . g ., adhesive ) by slight , impartial wetting . the binder 14 , the absorber 18 , either , both , or neither , may be distributed as a comparatively thin layer on the surface of the substrate 12 . typical materials for binders may include wetted regions of particles of an absorber 18 . binders 14 may be selected from both temporary and permanent binders 14 . temporary binders may be sugar - based or otherwise water soluble materials . for example , corn syrup , molasses , and the like may form temporary binders . in the presence of water , such material may ultimately dissolve . nevertheless , so long as the substrate 12 is not turned , mixed , or otherwise disturbed significantly , any other materials supported by the binder 14 would not be expected to dislocate . otherwise , certain naturally or synthetically occurring polymers may also be used as a binder 14 . lignicite may be used as a binder 14 . lignicite is a byproduct of wood and provides material having good adhesive properties , and substantial permanence as a binder 14 on a substrate 12 . other polymers may be used to form a binder 14 . for example , various materials used as glues , including mucilage , gelatin , other water soluble polymers including , for example , elmer &# 39 ; s ™ glue , and the like may also operate as binders 14 to bind materials to a substrate 12 . in certain embodiments , water , or perhaps more correctly a dampened portion of the hydrating polymer itself with water , may be the binder . for example , it has been found that dampening the carrier 12 with water in a proportion of from about one quarter to about 10 percent water by weight will effect adhesion of absorbent 18 . however , below about ½ percent , adhesion is not as universal as typically desired . even though adhesion is not required , adhesion of the absorber 18 to the carrier 12 aids the even distribution of the absorber . otherwise , some degree of segregation of absorber and carrier may occur . also , above about 6 percent water by weight dampening the carrier 12 , the handling of the mixture of a carrier 12 and absorbent 18 becomes more difficult . the gel becomes slippery , and adhesion of carrier 12 particles together becomes more common and problematic . the absorber 18 may be added as a film layer on the carrier , but is easily added as a powder ( e . g ., comparatively smaller particles than the granules of the carrier 12 ) at a proportion of from about 1 percent to about 20 percent by weight , but typically between about 4 percent and 10 percent by weight . a suitable design point is a proportion of from about 6 to about 7 percent by weight in certain embodiments , the substrate 12 may be used in soils in outdoor environments . in other situations , the substrate 12 may be implemented in indoor pots and planters . in other embodiments , the substrate 12 may be used as a filler material in planters or pots having transparent or translucent walls . in such embodiments , a pigment 16 may be added . likewise , even if the substrate 12 and its contents bound thereto are not to be seen , they may be pigmented with an appropriate pigment 16 simply for the purpose of identification during selection , sale , or installation . accordingly , a pigment 16 may be provided . the pigment 16 may be implemented in any of several manners . for example , the substrate 12 may have pigment 16 applied prior to the application of either the absorber 18 or any form of optional binder 14 . in alternative embodiments , the pigment 16 may actually be included in the binder 14 , which becomes a pigmented coating on the substrate 12 . in yet other embodiments , the pigments 16 may be added to an absorber 18 ( e . g ., hydration particle 18 ) either as a pigment 16 mixed therein , or as a pigment 16 applied as a coating thereto . pigment may be added to water used to bind the absorber 18 to the substrate 12 . thus the location of the pigment 16 in the figures is schematic and may be applied in any alternative location or application method , or be eliminated . likewise for any binding material 14 . particles 18 of an absorber 18 ( e . g ., hydrophilic material ) may be bonded to the substrate 12 in any suitable manner . particles may be sized to substantially coat or periodically coat the substrate 12 . in certain embodiments , the absorber 18 such as a hydrophilic material 18 may be a powdered polymeric material 18 such as polyacrylamide . in other embodiments , the particles 18 may actually be organic material having capillary action to readily absorb and hold water . in one presently contemplated embodiment of an apparatus in accordance with the invention , the particles 18 may be powdered polymeric material in a dehydrated state , and having a capacity to absorb water , typically many times the weight of a particular particle 18 . the substrate 12 , in certain embodiments , may be sand . the sand will typically be cleaned and washed to remove dust and organic material that may inhibit the binder 14 from being effective . likewise , the substrate 12 may be sized of any suitable size . for example , sand particles may range from much less than a millimeter in effective diameter or distance thereacross to approximately two millimeters across . very coarse sands may have even larger effective diameters likewise , in certain embodiments , gravel of various sizes may operate as a substrate 12 . however in one presently contemplated embodiment , washed and dried sand such as is used in construction , such as in concrete , has been found to be suitable . fine sands such as masonry sands tend to be smaller , and also can function suitably in accordance with the invention . accordingly , the distance across each particle 18 may be selected to provide an effective coating of powdered particles 18 on the substrate 12 . in one presently contemplated embodiment , the effective diameter of the particles 18 may be from about a 30 mesh size to about a 100 mesh size . for example , a sieve system for classifying particles has various mesh sizes . a particle size of about 30 mesh , able to pass through a 30 mesh sieve , ( i . e ., about 0 . 6 mm ) has been found suitable . likewise , powdering the particles 18 to a size sufficiently small to pass through a 100 mesh ( i . e ., about 0 . 015 mm ) sieve is also satisfactory . a mesh size of from about 50 mesh to about 75 mesh is an appropriate material dimension to obtain excellent adhesion of particles 18 with or without a separate material as the binder 14 , leaving a suitable size of particle 18 to absorb significant liquid at the surface of the substrate 12 . as a practical matter , about half the volume of a container containing a substrate 12 as particulate matter will be space , interstices between the granules of the substrate 12 ( carrier 12 ). one advantage of using materials such as sand as the substrate 12 is that a coating of the particles 18 may provide a substantial volume of water once the particles 18 are fully saturated . by contrast , where the size of the particles 18 is too many orders of magnitude smaller than the effective diameter or size of the substrate particles 12 , less of the space between the substrate particles 12 is effectively used for storing water . thus , sand as a substrate 12 coated by particles 18 of a hydrophilic material such as a polymer will provide substantial space between the substrate particles 12 to hold water - laden particles 18 . the diameter of the particles 18 , or the effective diameter thereof , is typically within about an order of magnitude ( e . g ., 10 ×) smaller than the effective diameter of the particles of the substrate 12 . this order of magnitude may be changed . for example , the order of magnitude difference less than about 1 order of magnitude ( i . e ., 10 ×) may still be effective . similarly , an order of magnitude difference of 2 ( i . e ., 100 ×) may also function . however , with particles 18 too much smaller than an order of magnitude smaller than the effective diameter of the substrate 12 , the interstitial space may not be as effectively used . likewise , with an effective diameter of particles 18 near or larger than about 1 order of magnitude smaller than the size of the particles of the substrate 12 , binding may be less effective and the particles 18 may interfere more with the substrate itself as well as the flow of water through the interstitial spaces needed in order to properly hydrate a material 10 . referring to fig2 , an embodiment of a process for formulating the material 10 may involve cleaning 22 the material of the substrate 12 . likewise , the material of the substrate 12 may be dried 23 to make it more effective in receiving a binder 14 . the material of the substrate 12 may then be blended 24 with a “ binder ,” whether a separate adhesive material or simply water 14 . that is , water as a binder 14 may be added in order to wet the absorber 18 and thus serve as the “ binder 14 ” agent . the portion of the absorber that takes in the small amount of water added may be rendered tacky by hydration , facilitating adhering to the substrate 12 . blending 24 may begin before addition 25 of a binder 14 , and may continue or recur throughout any addition of materials in the process 20 . blending 24 may also begin after addition 25 of a material . the brackets indicate that it is optional , but it has been found effective for more complete and random distribution . with water , an amount of from about ½ percent to about 10 percent will serve with 2½ percent being a good design point to aim for . however a range of water content should be considered as the response of materials to temperature and relative humidity may vary the most desirable amount of water . in one embodiment , a ribbon blender may provide an effective mechanism to perform continuous blending as the binder 14 is added 25 . other types of mixers , such as rotary mixers , and the like may be used . however , a ribbon blender provides a blending 24 that is effective to distribute binder 14 as it is added 25 . for example , if an individual particle of the substrate 12 receives too much binder 14 ( e . g ., adhesive , water , etc . ), and thus begins to agglomerate with other particles of the substrate 12 , a ribbon blender will tend to separate the particles as a natural consequences of its shearing and drawing action during blending 24 . as the binder 14 is added 25 to the mixture being blended 24 , the individual particles of the substrate 12 will be substantially evenly coated . at this stage , the binder 14 , particularly if it is a polymer of some type rather than simply water , may also be heated in order to reduce its viscosity and improve blending . likewise , the material of the substrate 12 or the environment of the blending 24 may be heated in order to improve the evenness of the distribution of the binder 14 on the surfaces of the substrate 12 materials or particles 12 . in one embodiment , using a tacky or adhesive binder , blending 24 is complete when coating is substantially even , and the texture of the material 10 has an ability to clump , yet is easily crumbled and broken into individual particles . at that point , addition 26 of the hydrophilic particles 18 of the absorber 18 may be accomplished . adding 26 the particles 18 as a powder into the blending 24 is a stable process . typically the particles 18 attach 27 or bind 27 at a location of the substrate 12 particles , thus removing from activity that location . accordingly , other particles 18 , rather than agglomerating with one another , continue to tumble in the blending 24 until exposed to a suitable location of binder 14 of the substrate 12 . again , if too much water is used as a binder 14 , particles 18 of the absorber may agglomerate . thus , the adding 26 of the particles 18 or powder 18 of absorber , ( i . e ., polymer , hydrophilic material , etc .) may be designed without excessive binding capacity , in order to be a self - stable process providing a substantially even coating on all the particles of the substrate 12 . when the substrate 12 and absorber 18 are no longer segregated nor individually distinguishable , and the resulting material 10 pours or flows freely , the mixing works well and is bonded or otherwise mixed and adhered properly . the material 10 formulated by the process 20 may be dusted with particles 18 and will pour freely . the material 10 is completed by mixing the carrier 12 , coated with the absorber 18 , to assure a coating thereof by an optional repellant 19 , such as fumed silica 19 ( alternatively called silica fume and fume silica ). typically , once binding 27 of the absorber 18 to the carrier 12 is completed , the repellent 19 may be introduced 28 to the mix . this introduction 28 may occur immediately upon completion of the binding 27 , or may be delayed by hours , even days . nevertheless , when water is used as the binder 14 , it is sometimes beneficial to introduce 28 the repellent 19 right away . for example , additional excessive tumbling and stirring required for introducing 28 the repellent may tend to dislodge some of the absorbent particles 18 . a final coating of hydrophobic silica fume may be introduced 28 and distributed 29 as a repellant 19 to an absorber 18 on a substrate 12 or carrier 12 . distribution 29 of the repellent 19 may be done by any of several methods for example , repellant may be introduced 28 and be distributed 29 as a suspension in alcohol . the liquid mixture may be applied to a surface , distributing the particles of the fumed silica over the surface . upon evaporation of the alcohol , the particles remain , adhered to the surface . introducing 28 the repellent 19 may be done by adding the repellent 19 , such as fumed silica 19 , as a finely divided powder into the material 10 in its current , that is , then current , condition . for example , in some embodiments , the repellent 19 may be dry and simply added as a powder to then adhere by electrostatic attraction . in other embodiments of the process 20 , the repellent 19 may be distributed in alcohol to then be applied . eventually , the alcohol would be evaporated , leaving the powder well distributed 29 . upon a thorough distribution 29 of the repellent 19 , at a suitable ratio selected to repel liquids for a preselected time , the distribution 20 may be complete . at that point , the repellent 19 should be thoroughly distributed 29 , with no significant , residual amount segregated from the main material 10 . the repellant 19 may be added to repel liquids , such as water , for a preselected time in order to aid machine operation during soil amendment , such as by injection . the preselected time may serve as a delay to support settling into the soil before becoming active , to provide time for ground penetrations to close up , thus preventing swelling and extrusion of the material from ground penetrations , and so forth . even material 10 intentionally or accidentally spread on top of the ground may settle into turf or soil before absorbing water , thus reducing or eliminating slippery surface conditions after application . fumed silica , as an industrial material is formed as a byproduct of silicon metals such as ferrosilicon alloys . for example , certain magnet core iron is a silicon alloy of iron . silica fumes react with oxygen to form an amorphous silicon dioxide . other methods of manufacture include a continuous flame hydrolysis technique converting silicon tetrachloride to a gas where it is reacted with water to form the silicon dioxide ( silica ) and hydrochloric acid . fumed silica is a material used as a thickening agent in various liquid formulations in the chemical industry . fumed silica has a chain - like particle morphology . thus the particles have an ability to bond by weak hydrogen bonds . as an amorphous material effective to create weak hydrogen bonds in liquids , it forms therewith a thixotropic fluid that flows in response to sufficient shear force . otherwise , it remains sufficiently viscous to resist flow , even against forces of gravity and surface tension in many liquid coating products . particle sizes in accordance with the invention may be less than a micron in effective diameter . cement particles are about the size to pass through a number 325 mesh sieve . the material size of fumed silica particles is typically about one percent of that of a particle of the cement used to form concrete . in fact , the small size makes this porous , volcanic - ash - like material an excellent constituent in hydraulic cement . structural concrete of over 15 , 000 psi compressive strength is possible by inclusion of silica fume in the admixture . fumed silica , or silica fume is naturally hydrophilic . however , it can be treated with organosilicons to convert the naturally hydrophilic silica to a hydrophobic material . in practice , it has been found adequately effective to introduced 28 and distribute 29 silica repellant 19 dry . the silica powder 19 is sufficiently dielectric to be distributed 29 by dry mixing with the carrier 12 particles coated with absorber particles 18 . electrostatic charge appears to adhere the repellant to the surface of the material 12 , while also spacing individual particles 19 of the repellant 19 at maximum distance from one another . the result is a substantially equidistant distribution 29 of particles 19 over the surface of the material 12 , each held to the surface by electrostatic forces . distribution 30 of the material 10 may be conducted in a variety of ways and may include one or several processes . for example , distribution may include marketing distribution from packaging after completion of blending 24 , shipping to distributers and retailers , and purchase and application by users . an important part of distribution 30 is the deployment of the material 10 around the roots of a plant . in one embodiment of an apparatus and method in accordance with the invention , the material 10 may be poured , as if it were simply sand 12 or other substrate 12 alone . since the powdered absorber 18 or particles 18 will substantially occupy the binder 14 ( whether water or adhesive ), the material 10 will not typically bind to itself , but will readily pour just as the initial substrate material 12 will . the amount of repellant 19 introduced 25 may range from about two hundred fifty parts per million by weight to about ten percent by weight with respect to the combined weight of the carrier 12 and absorber 18 . in embodiments contemplated for many commercial purposes , the amount of repellant 19 may typically range from about one tenth percent to about one percent by weight with respect to the combined weight of the material 10 constituting the carrier 12 and absorber 18 . amending 31 a soil material may be accomplished by any of several methods . for example , in one embodiment , the hydrator material 10 may be added to a body of soil by mixing , layering , placement around the root system , or other method of distribution and stabilization . in several embodiments , the amending 31 may occur by churning the hydrator material 10 into potting soil or ground soils . in other embodiments , amending 31 may involve penetrating soils in order to place the hydrator material 10 below the surface of the soil . working 32 the material 10 into a soil may occur by active cultivation , by the passage of time , by watering and thus flowing the material 10 as granules with the water to a place of lower elevation from a place of higher elevation . for example , settling and migration of particulate materials 10 will serve to work 32 the material 10 into the soil . time is a significant factor in working 32 materials into the soil . for example , injecting or inserting the material 10 into soils or into a cavity in soils may benefit from waiting some period of time for watering , motion , gravity , and other phenomena to act on the material 10 to migrate it downward and to settle it within the soil . by whatever mechanism , the material 10 is worked 32 into the soil . thereafter , activating 33 the hydrator material 10 may be initiated by typically adding liquid , such as irrigation water . depending upon the preselected time for which the repellent 19 has been selected and applied , initiating activation 33 may precede by a considerable time , from seconds to many days , the actual response of absorption of liquids by the material 10 . for example , at some levels of application of the repellent 19 , a material 10 may begin absorbing water within a matter of minutes or even seconds after being exposed to water . accordingly , a material 10 may be injected into the soil by a water injection jet , by which the material 10 flows quickly down a tube or chute behind a jet of water . since the tube is itself wet with residual moisture from the water jet , it may absorb water and plug the machine if not properly treated . accordingly , with the repellent 19 treated material 10 , only a matter of seconds are needed in order to alleviate failing of the injection machine . in other embodiments , it may be desirable to provide time for the material 10 to settle into a cavity in the soil . for example , if soil is opened up by disking , drilling , aerator punching , water jet penetration , or the like , it may be desirable to wait a matter of hours or days for the soil to settle and for any opening at the surface of the soil to close . for example , hydrating a large body of the hydrator material 10 immediately after insertion into the soil may cause swelling sufficient to extrude the material 10 back out of the cavity 36 into which it is placed . thus , the activation 33 may occur over time , beginning with initial exposure to moisture , and ending when the absorber 18 is fully active and capable of absorbing maximum water exposed to the material 10 . after the material 10 has been activated 33 , then cycling 34 of hydration will occur with each watering cycle . for example , upon exposure to water , the material 10 will absorb water into the absorber 18 . upon a period of extended lack of water , or by absorption of water from the material 10 into the roots of plants , the moisture in the material 10 , and more particularly in the absorber 18 , will be depleted . the cycling 34 continues upon re - watering of the soil 52 near the plants 44 relying upon the material 10 . referring to fig3 , in one embodiment of an installation 35 , distribution 30 may include pouring a layer of the material 10 near a plant . in the illustration of fig3 , the process 35 or installation 35 may include forming a cavity 36 in the ground ; by any suitable method . methods for perforating soils may include drilling , aerator punching , disking , jet penetration , or the like . following perforation , insertion or pouring of the hydration material 10 may be done manually or by machine . for example , for a container such as a pot , planter , or the like one may assemble the potting soil in layers , including a layer of the hydration material 10 . alternatively , a tool may penetrate the soil near roots and a user may pour the material 10 in the resulting cavity 36 . in the illustrated embodiment , the cavity 36 may have a surrounding environment 37 such as the ground . a potting mixture 38 or potting soil 38 may fill a portion of the cavity 36 . a mixture of horticultural soil may include a mixture of peat moss , humus , or compost along with other drainage materials . for example , gravel , sand , vermiculite , perlite , or the like may be mixed with an organic material such as peat moss or compost in order to provide drainage in addition to the moisture capacity of the organic material . the material 10 in accordance with the invention may be disposed in a layer 40 poured around a root ball 42 of a plant 44 . accordingly , the layer 40 may provide to the root ball 42 , or to individual roots a surrounding environment 40 having both ease of water transport or drainage through the substrate 12 ( e . g ., sand , etc .) while also having the particles 18 of hydrophilic material 18 to absorb and maintain water within the interstitial spaces between the substrate 12 particles . in another embodiment , a machine may perforate the soil of a golf course , lawn , farm , or the like by penetrating the soil with a tool or implement of any known type . thereafter , the hydration material 10 may be poured , driven , washed , swept , jetted , or otherwise introduced into the resulting cavity . in one embodiment , a jet of water may form a cavity penetrating a soil location . a quantity of the material may be positioned by a machine to follow the jet into the cavity formed by the jet . in another embodiment , a punch ( e . g ., such as an aerator known in the art or of new design ) may core out a cavity 36 , removing the soil therein and may then replace the removed soil core with an injection of granulated hydration material 10 in accordance with the invention . in another embodiment , a disk or seed drill ( e . g ., cultivation tool to open , fill , and close a trench for seed or the like ) may open a trench , a conduit may pour the material 10 into the trench , and the disk or drill may either move the soil back to cover the material 10 , or simply allow a lifted portion of the soil to drop back into place . it is not imperative that the substrate 12 or carrier be inorganic . substrates 12 may be chosen from soil , sand , compost , organic particles , seeds , insecticides , wetting agents , fungicides , fertilizers , root stimulants , or any other soil amendment of organic or inorganic types . various companies products may be used as soil amendments under various trademarks , such as profile ™, nutrimulch ™, and field and fairway ™. various machines under trademarks such as dryject ™, graden ™, csi ™ and others may be used to introduce soil amendments into soils . a drill may create a hole , a corer may remove a plug of soil , a disk may cut into soil , or a like process may form a cavity 36 to place a soil amendment 10 . for example , in one embodiment , a drill ( e . g ., like a common drill to make vertical holes ) may drill cavities 36 of from about one inch to about 15 inches in length several inches apart , typically 3 inches to a foot apart , and most typically about 5 to 8 inches apart . penetrations may be made in arrays by a drill or jet array or in lines by a row of drills , jets , or other penetration devices passing over and periodically making cavities 36 in the soil . however , premature hydration of a material 10 may foul a machine during distribution of the material 10 into the soil . likewise , premature absorption of water by the material may cause local swelling of the ground therearound or extrusion of the material 10 as it swells . thus , in one embodiment of a material in accordance with the invention , the type , amount , and disposition of the repellant 19 on the absorber 18 , substrate 12 , or all such features thereof may be selected to provide a preselected time during which the material 10 may be exposed to liquid without effectively absorbing or swelling sufficiently to be “ activated ” for regular and complete absorption and retention of water . for the preselected time , the repellant will act to prevent access by liquid water to the absorbent 18 . over time , it has been found that water vapor can and will pass through the spatial envelope defined by the repellant 19 . it appears that a greater quantity of repellant tends to maintain liquids at bay for a greater time . thus , for example , it has been found that the gross or general absorption of water by an absorber 18 such as polyacrylamide may be delayed from about several seconds to about six days , when used in an amount of from about one twentieth of one percent to about five percent , respectively , by weight of the material 10 . as more and more water vapor passes and begins binding to the absorber 18 , the absorber 18 will swell . at some point , the absorber will swell sufficiently to breach and escape the envelope defined by the repellant 19 . projecting out into available liquid water , the absorber 18 will then begin absorbing water up to its physical limit . thereafter , the material 10 , in a long cylindrical penetration into the ground , in a network of fissures blasted into the ground , in a trench , in a layer 40 , or otherwise disposed in a soil or the ground may provide a dynamic reservoir within the cavity 36 . the material 10 may be engineered to resist hydration for a predetermined time . thereafter , it may , by that same engineering design , maintain a high degree of hydration ( e . g ., water held in a gel ) that will not drain into the environment 37 , nor be readily evaporated out . to this end , a top dressing 46 or a top layer 46 may be laid down on top of the layer 40 or soil 52 in order to provide some protection against evaporation from heat , sun , air , and the like . the top layer 46 may be formed of the same potting soil or other material of the layer 38 below the plant 44 and the root ball 42 . various suitable top layers 46 exist and are known in the horticulture arts . for example , mulches , wood chips , synthetic materials , plastic sealing , and the like may be used as a covering layer 46 . inhibiting heat transfer and excessive access to air and heat may assist in reducing evaporation from the layer 40 of the material 10 . referring to fig4 , an alternative embodiment of an installation 35 may include the cavity 36 and an environment 37 as discussed above . in the embodiment of fig4 , the root ball 42 may be surrounded by a distributed mixture 48 or fill 48 that includes the material 10 mixed into another potting soil mixture . for example , in the embodiment of fig4 , a potting soil mixture of any suitable combination of materials ( e . g ., selections from vermiculite , perlite , sand , peat moss , compost , soil , gravel , or the like as recited hereinabove ) may be mixed with the material 10 throughout . a top layer 46 forming a suitable dressing to minimize evaporation from heat or wind may still serve well . once applied to soils , the material 10 works 32 its way into the soil by natural settling , watering , and operation of weather and gravity . also , the particle size , softening of soils with watering , and the swelling and contraction with absorption and release of moisture all act to work the particles 10 into the soil , whether initially injected into the soil or applied as a top dressing . the material 10 may typically include from about 1 percent to about 20 percent of an absorber 18 , also called a hydrophilic material 18 or absorbent particles 18 . the particles 18 may be formed of a naturally occurring material , such as a cellulose , gelatin , organic material , or the like . in one embodiment , a synthetic gel , such as polyacrylamide may be used for the absorber particles 18 , in a ratio of from about 1 to about 20 percent particles 18 compared to the weight of the substrate 12 . in experiments , a range of from about 5 to about 10 percent by weight has been found to be most effective for the effective amount of absorber particles 18 . sizes of particles 18 may range from about 20 mesh to smaller than 100 mesh . particles 18 of from about 50 to about 75 mesh have been found most effective . the binder 14 may typically be in the range of from about in ¼ percent to about 3 percent of the weight of the substrate 12 . a range of from about 3 / 4 percent to about 1½ percent has been found to work best . that is , with a binder such as lignicite , ¼ of 1 percent has been found not to provide as reliable binding of particles 18 to the substrate 12 . meanwhile , a ratio of higher than about 3 percent by weight of binder 14 to the amount of a substrate 12 , such as sand , when using lignicite as the binder 14 , tends to provide too much agglomeration . the pouring ability of the material 10 is inhibited as well as the blending 24 , due to agglomeration . other binders also operate , including several smaller molecules that are water soluble . for example , glues , gelatins , sugars , molasses , and the like may be used as a binder 14 . again , water alone may be used as a binder 14 by exposing particles 18 of absorber 18 to a limited amount thereof . for example , mixing from about ½ percent to about 6 percent water by weight , with respect to the substrate 12 , one may mix the absorber 18 in , and the absorber 18 will absorb the water and bind to the substrate 12 or carrier 12 . a tumbling type of mixing has been found effective . below ½ percent water , binding will still occur , but has not typically been found to be universal , reliable , nor complete . likewise , greater than 6 percent water still works to bind the absorber . in any event humidity and temperature effects may affect the mixing and binding processes . however , above about six percent water , the absorber 18 tends to take on too much water , resulting in agglomeration of the carrier particles 12 by the moistened particles 18 of absorbent material 18 therebetween . within the range of from about ½ percent to about 6 percent water , by weight , mixing works well , adhesion of particles 18 to the substrate 12 works well , and the material 10 still flows freely as a granular material . one substantial advantage for the material 10 in accordance with the present invention is that the material remains flowable as a particulate or sand - like material 10 into the area of roots and under a rootball or around the individual open roots of plants being transplanted . with the repellant 19 applied thereto , such flowing works well even in the presence or water . for example a water jet creating a cavity in soil can draw a slug or charge of delayed - hydration material 10 into a conduit of a machine for delivery into the cavity formed by a water jet . properly formulated , the material 10 , during the preselected time for which it is designed , remains substantially unaffected by the moisture or humidity in the delivery machine , a delivery conduit , exposure to the jet drawing the charge into the cavity , residual water in the cavity , nor subsequent irrigation of surrounding soils and the cavity . thus , soil dressing machinery is not fouled , soils do not swell excessively ( e . g ., operationally perceptibly ), and the use of property such as grounds , fairways , and greens is not unduly interrupted . handling and application is simple , and the ability of granular material 10 to flow under and around small interstices between roots or between potting materials provides for a very effective application . the material 10 treated with repellant 19 aids in simplifying storage , drilling , delivery , and recovery . referring to fig5 , a tool 50 , may introduce the material 10 into a soil 52 or plot 52 in soil . in certain embodiments , the tool 50 may be embodied as a corer that will remove soil . in others , the tool 50 may be a drill . in the illustrated embodiment , the tool 50 is a jet conduit 50 that injects a jet of water into the soil 52 forming the cavity 36 . in the illustrated embodiment , following the evacuation or formation of a cavity 36 , by the water , a quantity of the material 10 follows the water through the tool 50 and fills up the various portions , both central and extremities 54 of the cavity 36 . ultimately , continued watering may further move material 10 from the center of the cavity 36 into the extremities 54 by operation of gravity , water fluidization , and so forth . typically , the material 10 will not fill the cavity 36 completely . this provides for the cavity 36 to subsequently close at its opening near the surface of the soil 52 . by closure of the opening of the cavity 36 , the material 10 experiences a greater restriction to exiting the cavity 36 upon swelling with hydration . actually , the process or the cycling 34 of hydration , passing onto a dryer condition , and then being re - hydrated will also tend to work on the cavity 36 and promote distribution of the material 10 and settlement thereof into the lower extremities 54 of the cavity 36 . certain experiments were conducted using the material 10 in accordance with the present invention with or without repellent 19 in accordance with the principle of the experiment . for example , in one experiment various sizes of planting pots were used ranging in size from one quart to one gallon , two gallons , and five gallons . various plants were tested including geraniums , hibiscus , and indian hawthorn . in one experiment , a five gallon potting container was half filled with a potting soil mixture of conventional type . approximately one liter of the material 10 was added as a layer on top of the potting soil . three geraniums plants where then planted in the material 10 . the remainder of the pot was filled with a potting soil mixture . the pot was placed where it could drain and was watered liberally , with the excess water running out of the drainage apertures in the pot . four such pots were set up , each having three geranium plants . four additional pots were set up without using material 10 in a layer 40 around the roots of the plants . all plants were planted and all pots were prepared on the same day . the same amount of water was applied to each of the pots . after 10 days , the untreated plants lacking the material 10 in the extra layer 40 of the material 10 to hold the water appeared to be extremely stressed . in fact , the plants stressed sufficiently that after 15 days they appeared dead . plants potted in the layer 40 of the hydrated material 10 still appeared healthy after 10 days and after 15 days . at 35 days after watering , the plants in the treated pots containing the layer 40 of hydrating material 10 began to appear stressed . upon watering , they responded well and returned to full hydration and health . the plants in the untreated pots did not recover . another test used hibiscus plants with four pots treated with the layer 40 of a hydrating material 10 and four pots untreated . all pots were the same size . the watering process was the same . thus , as with the geranium experiment , all pots were watered equally . after 15 days the hibiscus plants that had not been treated with the extra layer 40 of the hydrating material 10 appeared very stressed . after 20 days , the plants in the untreated plots were turning brown . in contrast , hibiscus plants in the treated pots having an extra layer 40 of hydrating material 10 appeared healthy after 15 days and even out to 22 days , when the hibiscus plants in the untreated plots were in the browning stages of dying . after 38 days , the hibiscus plants in the treated pots began to show stress . water was provided to plants at 38 days . the untreated pots were watered the same as the treated pots . plants in the untreated pots did not respond . the plants in the treated pots responded well and continued living healthily upon the watering at 38 days . in one experiment , an indian hawthorn was planted in the ground . about a liter of the material 10 was laid about the roots in a layer 40 as described hereinabove . in this instance , the experiment was conducted in an environment of natural ground . the indian hawthorn plants were placed in holes approximately 18 inches across by about 15 inches deep . in each instance , the hole 36 prepared for the plant was partially filled with a soil and wetted . two plants were placed in holes treated with approximately 1 liter of the material 10 , each . a control was created by planting two additional indian hawthorns using each step the same , in preparation of the hole , placement of the soil in the hole , and watering of the soil and the plants . in the control , none of the material 10 was used . no further water was applied . after 20 days , the untreated shrubs appeared to be dry with some stress . after 33 days , the plants in the untreated holes were dead . meanwhile , the treated shrubs remained healthy throughout . in another experiment , the foregoing experiment was repeated using two additional indian hawthorn plants and treating the soil with a layer 40 containing about 1½ liters of the hydrating materials 10 near the roots . in that experiment , after 20 days , the shrubs appeared healthy . at 33 days , the shrubs began to show a minimal amount of stress . at 40 days , the stressed plants were watered and responded well , returning to health and continued life . in all of the foregoing experiment series , the particles 18 were of polyacrylamide , and the substrate 12 was sand . the polyacrylamide constituted approximately 5 percent by weight of the overall material 10 . the particle size 18 was approximately a 60 mesh granularity . in certain experiments , the material 10 was formulated with only water as a binder 14 . a range of ½ percent to about 6 percent was found effective to maintain reliable performance yet very reliable and simple mixing and handling of the substrate 12 and absorber particles 18 in the ratios discussed hereinabove . colorant was sometimes added in suitable proportions to the water in order to provide colored material 10 . the best performance , without agglomeration of particles of substrate 12 by the absorber , and without leaving unattached particles of absorber in any significant fraction in the mixed material 10 seemed to occur when using water within this range with a good design point being near about 2½ percent water by weight . thus from about 1 percent to about 5 percent is recommended , with a very desirable range of from about 2 percent to about 3 percent for best results . however , this may be adjusted for temperature and humidity available in the environment . experiments with the repellant 19 ranged from about 1 / 40 percent to about 5 percent by weight of the material 10 . at a zero percentage control , having no repellant 19 , absorption of water occurred immediately upon introduction of the water to the absorber 18 . at 1 / 40 percent , the effect of delay was perceptible but almost unnoticeable . at about 1 / 20 percent , the preselected time for delay of gross absorption of water by the material 10 was about five minutes . at 1 / 10 percent , delay was typically from about 40 seconds to a minute before large scale absorption by the absorber material 18 . at 5 percent repellant 19 by weight , the delay time for activation of the material 10 was six days to observe even a minimal absorption of water by the material 10 . experiments with repellant 19 in a proportion of from about 1 / 10 percent to about 1 percent provided suitable delays for avoiding fouling machines and permitting soils to return to normal without premature swelling that may cause undue swelling , extrusion from soil cavities , slippery consistency , and so forth . experiments conducted on seeds as a substrate 12 resulted in germination of the seeds by surrounding water vapor while the exterior of the seeds remained dry throughout the experiment . the present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from its spirit or essential characteristics . the described embodiments are to be considered in all respects only as illustrative , and not restrictive . the scope of the invention is , therefore , 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 .
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referring to fig1 and 2 illustrating one embodiment of the invention , a safety band or belt wind - up device comprises one side plate 1 of a frame and the other side plate 1 opposite thereto , between which a base plate 2 extends . a wind - up shaft 3 is rotatably supported by the two side plates 1 and is rotatively driven in a webbing wind - up direction which is a counterclockwise direction as viewed in fig1 by means of a wind - up spring mounted on the opposite side plate 1 . in a condition shown in fig1 a webbing or belt 5 extends from a location radially remote or a relatively long distance from the shaft 3 because the length of the webbing 5 has been wound about the shaft 3 . the wind - up shaft 3 is provided at its end with a gear 6 rotatable in unison with the shaft 3 . an idle gear 7 adapted to be brought into engaged and disengaged positions with the gear 6 is rotatably mounted through a collar 9 on a shaft 8 fixed to a shifter 22 rockable about a shaft 20 fixed to the side plates 1 clearly shown in fig2 which is a sectional view taken along the line ii -- ii of fig1 . a radially extending cam member 10 is fixed to the idle gear 7 and rotatable therewith about the shaft 8 . on the shaft 20 is also mounted a stop gear 11 in mesh with the idle gear 7 . a cam member 12 is fixed to the stop gear 11 and rotatable therewith about the shaft 20 in the same manner as the idle gear 7 . the cam member 12 also radially extends to engage the cam member 10 at two positions , such that these cam members are restrained thereat as will be described later . the stop gear 11 is formed on the opposite side of the shifter 22 with a casing 13 for receiving therein a restoring spring 14 . the restoring spring 14 has an inner end anchored in a slit 21 of the shaft 20 and an outer end fixed to the inside 13a of the casing 13 and rotatively drives the stop gear 11 in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in fig1 so that upon disengaging the idle gear 7 and gear 6 , the idle gear 7 and stop gear 11 are returned to and stopped at a first restraint position as shown in fig1 where the cam members 10 and 12 are engaged and restrained with each other . the wind - up force lock means according to the invention is formed in this manner . the portion of the shifter 22 through which the shafts 8 and 20 pass is in the form of two plates within which space the gears 7 and 11 and the like are received . the shifter 22 includes one plate - like portion extending to the left as viewed in fig1 to which is secured one end of a shifter restoring spring 17 having the other end anchored to a protrusion provided on the side plate 1 . in this manner , the shifter 22 is driven in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in fig1 and the counterclockwise rotation of the shifter 22 is limited by a stopper 18 extending from the side plate 1 . the device further comprises a mechanism 25 for rocking or swinging the shifter 22 in response to the engagement or disengagement of a buckle of a safety belt to bring the gear 6 and idle gear 7 into engagement or disengagement with each other . the mechanism 25 includes a flexible tube 27 extending through an opening of a cover 23 for covering the components of the device and accommodating therein steel balls 26 closely arranged in a row along a longitudinal axis of the flexible tube 27 . onto the inner end of the flexible tube 27 is fitted a cap 28 with which is arranged a rod 29 urged or pressed downwardly as viewed in fig1 against the uppermost steel ball 26 by a rod restoring spring 30 . with this arrangement , the shifter 22 is rotated in a clockwise direction about the shaft 20 by means of the rod 29 raised upwardly as viewed in fig1 upon the engagement of the buckle , if the steel balls 26 are adapted to be urged upon the engagement of the buckle . in this manner the gear 6 and idle gear 7 are brought into engagement with each other . the steel balls may be pushed , for example , by manually pushing a button secured to the outer end of the tube 27 after the engagement of the buckle . it is , however , convenient to effect the pushing of the steel balls in an automatic response to the insertion of a tongue into the buckle . such an example is shown in fig5 which is a front elevation of a buckle and illustrates a cover 40 , a push button 41 adapted to be urged in a tongue inserting direction , and a base member 43 supporting a latch member engaging the tongue 45 . in this embodiment , a slider 44 for pushing out the tongue 45 upon disengagement is slidably urged by the inserted tongue 45 to push a rod 47 . accordingly , the rod 29 is maintained in its raised position under the buckle engaged condition . upon disengaging the buckle , the slider 44 is slid to the right as viewed in fig5 and the rod 29 , steel balls 26 and rod 27 are returned to their original positions with the aid of the force of the rod restoring spring 30 . the operation of the embodiment constructed as above described will be explained hereinafter . so long as the buckle of the safety belt device is not latched , the wind - up force lock means is in the condition shown in fig1 and only the wind - up shaft 3 and gear 6 are rotated by drawing the webbing out of the device . when the webbing is drawn to a suitable length , the buckle is latched , so that the rod 29 is pushed against the force of the rod restoring spring 30 as shown in fig3 under which condition the gear 6 engages the idle gear 7 . accordingly , even if the wind - up spring drives the wind - up shaft 3 in the direction for winding up the webbing 5 , it is not wound up because the gear 6 fixed to the wind - up shaft 3 is prevented from rotating in the direction for winding up the webbing 5 because the idle gear 7 in mesh with the gear 6 is prevented from rotating in the clockwise direction due to the restraint of the cam members 10 and 12 . therefore , a user is not subjected to the force of the webbing wind - up spring while he is equipped with the safety belt . under the condition shown in fig3 however , it is possible to draw the webbing out of the device to a certain length , because the rotation of the gear 6 in the clockwise direction or the rotation of the idle gear 7 in the counterclockwise direction is not prevented by the cam members 10 and 12 . the extent to which the webbing can be drawn is determined by the design of the device . with this embodiment , the gears 6 , 7 and 11 have sixteen , twenty - six and twenty - five teeth , respectively , and therefore the rotating ratio of the gear 6 to the idle gear 7 is 26 to 16 . on the other hand , now we take into account the number of rotations of the idle gear 7 which rotates from the position shown in fig3 in the counterclockwise direction while the stop gear 11 rotates in the clockwise direction to a position where the cam members 10 and 12 are again engaged and restrained with each other . when the idle gear 7 has rotated one revolution from the position shown in fig3 in the counterclockwise direction , the stop gear 11 has rotated 1 1 / 25 revolution in clockwise direction and the cam members 10 and 12 are shifted in phase under which condition they are not engaged with each other . in this manner , the shift in phase between the cam members increases until the idle gear 7 has rotated approximately 24 revolutions in the counterclockwise direction , and the cam members are engaged and restrained with each other in another position shown in fig4 when the idle gear 7 has rotated 24 revolutions . accordingly , it is permitted to draw the webbing while the gear 6 has rotated approximately 24 × 26 / 16 = 39 revolutions in clockwise direction as viewed in fig3 . this number of rotations of the gear 6 is somewhat too large for an allowable length of the drawn webbing . it should be however understood that the allowable length of the drawn webbing can be fairly freely determined by suitably selecting the number of teeth of the respective gears . it is further understood that the various changes and modifications may be made in the invention without departing from the spirit and scope thereof . for example , the mechanism for driving the shifter 22 may be electrical means using a solenoid . moreover , an idle gear may be mounted on a wind - up shaft rotatably relative thereto and brought into locked or unlocked relation to the wind - up shaft by sliding a clutch member on the wind - up shaft in its axial direction . furthermore , the steel balls may be replaced with a push - pull wire or hydraulic or pneumatic means . in addition , when the shifter 22 is moved to bring the idle gear 7 and stop gear 11 into the locked relation to the wind - up shaft 3 upon latching the buckle , the movement of the steel balls in the above embodiment may be converted into a movement of means like a link mechanism to accumulate the movement of the steel balls and thereafter the link mechanism is returned to its original position to release the accumulated movement as by drawing the webbing to move the shifter 22 , thereby preventing the webbing from being locked in loosened condition and therefore locking the webbing in tightly fitting manner with a person . in brief , the device according to the invention is characterized in utilizing two gears having cam members which are brought into locked or unlocked relation to a wind - up shaft and various modifications of the other aspects may be made . the device according to the invention does not exert the tensile force of the webbing on the user being equipped with the safety belt and is capable of drawing and winding up the webbing within a determined length from the equipped condition . referring to fig6 - 10 illustrating another embodiment of the invention , a wind - up device comprises one side plate 101 and the other side plate 101 opposite thereto , between which a base plate 102 extends and wind - up shaft 103 is rotatably supported and is rotatively driven in a clockwise direction as viewed in fig6 by means of a wind - up spring provided on the side plate 101 on the opposite side of the side plate shown in the drawing . the wind - up shaft 103 is provided on its one end with a main gear 106 adapted to rotate in unison together with the wind - up shaft 103 . the shaft 103 comprises a latch plate 103a forming one part of an emergency lock mechanism for the wind - up device ( fig1 ). the emergency lock mechanism is for locking a seat belt in an emergency such as a collision , which is conventional . this mechanism will not be described in further detail since this is not essential for an understanding of the invention . an idling gear 107 is movable between its engaged and disengaged positions with the main gear 106 and comprises a pinion gear 107a adapted to be in mesh with the main gear 106 and a bull gear wheel 107b normally in mesh with a stop gear 111 described later . the idling gear 107 is rotatably mounted on a shaft 108 fixed to a shifter 122 which is swingable together with a rotating shaft 120 provided extending between the two side plates 101 . the rotating shaft 120 and shaft 108 are incorporated in the shifter 122 and thereafter preferably coated with a resin coating , thereby absorbing noise on the coated surfaces to obtain a silent operation and preventing a malfunction due to rust . in this case , the rotating shaft 102 and shaft 108 are fixed in position to a clamp plate 105 by caulking the ends of the shafts or by heating such as by high - frequency heating ( fig9 ). a circular clip or snap ring 120a is provided on the other end of the rotating shaft 120 . a radially extending cam 110 is mounted on the shaft 108 and rotatable thereabout together with the idling gear 107 . a stop gear 111 in mesh with the gear wheel 7 is rotatably mounted on the shaft 120 in unison with the shifter 22 . in a manner similar to the idling gear 107 , the stop gear 111 is integrally formed with a radially outwardly extending cam 112 rotating together with the stop gear 111 . the cam 112 engages the cam 110 in two positions to restrain the rotations in determined directions with each other . in one position shown in fig6 the idler gear 107 and stop gear 111 are prevented from rotating in counterclockwise and clockwise directions , respectively . in the other position which occurs when the cam members 110 and 112 assume positions substantially opposite to those shown in fig6 with respect to a line connecting centers of the gears 107 and 111 , the gears 107 and 111 are prevented from rotating in clockwise and counterclockwise directions . the stop gear 111 is formed on the opposite side of the shifter 122 with a casing 113 for receiving therein a restoring spring 114 ( fig1 ). the restoring spring 114 has an inner end anchored in a slit 121 ( fig1 ) of the shaft 120 and an outer end fixed to a slit of the inside 113a of the casing 113 and rotatively drives the stop gear 111 in a clockwise direction as viewed in fig6 so that upon disengaging the idle gear 107 and main gear 106 , the idle gear 107 and stop gear 111 are returned to and stopped at a first restraint position as shown in fig6 where the cam members 110 and 112 are engaged and restrained with each other . a solenoid assembly 130 for operating the shifter 122 in response to the engagement and disengagement of the buckle of the sheet belt will be then explained . the solenoid assembly 130 is fitted within a cavity 101d of the side plate and fixed thereto by means of a bracket 132 integrally forming one part of the solenoid assembly 130 and having lugs 132a and 132b extending from its sides bolted to the side plate 101 . the bracket 132 serves as a beam to reinforce the cavity 101d of the side plate 101 which would otherwise weaken the side plate . an actuator 133 is connected to the shifter 122 by means of a press fitted pin 131 passing through an opening 122a ( fig8 ) of the shifter 122 and is urged by means of a coil spring 117 upwardly as viewed in fig7 . the upper end of the coil spring 117 is stably supported at four points on the pin 131 and two notches 122b of the shifter 122 ( fig8 ). when the solenoid assembly 130 is energized , the actuator 133 is pulled downwardly against the force of the spring 117 and the shifter 122 is rotated in the counterclockwise direction as viewed in fig6 . when the solenoid assembly is deenergized , the actuator 133 is returned upwardly with the aid of the force of the spring 117 and therefore the shifter 122 is rotated in the clockwise direction as viewed in fig6 until its end becomes near an upper wall of a waterproof cover 135 ( fig7 ). the mechanism above described between the side plates 101 is covered by a cover 123 fixed thereto and the solenoid assembly 130 , within the cavity 101d of the side plate and exposured to the inside thereof is protected by the waterproof cover 135 . in this manner , the mechanism between the side plates 101 is substantially completely closed from the outside by the covers 123 and 135 with the exception of the lugs 132a of the bracket 132 and an opening through which lead wires l pass . the waterproof cover 135 includes flange portions 135a except the lower portion as viewed in fig7 which extend over the outer surface of the side plate 101 and are fixed together with the lugs 132a and 132b of the bracket 132 to the side plate 101 by means of common setscrews . the lower end of the cover 123 is inserted between a protrusion 135b and the lower portion of the waterproof cover 135 and jointed together at the shoulders of the covers . between the lugs 132a and 132b of the bracket 132 and the side plate 101 are inserted the flange portions 135a of the waterproof cover 135 made of a plastic resin to form an electric insulator which prevents magnetic flux from leaking during the solenoid energized condition to obtain the effective attraction . the operation of the device of this embodiment above described will be explained hereinafter . at first , a webbing 145 is drawn out of the device and a buckle is latched while the webbing is being tensioned against the force of the wind - up spring . at the moment a buckle switch bsw is closed to supply a current from a battery b to a solenoid s ( fig1 ). when the solenoid assembly 130 is energized in this manner , the shifter 122 is rotated in the counterclockwise direction as above described to bring the idle gear 107 and the main gear 103 into mesh with each other ( fig1 ). under this condition shown in fig1 , the wind - up shaft 103 is prevented from rotating in the webbing wind - up direction because the idle gear 107 in mesh with the main gear 103 is prevented from rotating in the counterclockwise direction as viewed in fig1 by the engagement of the cam members 110 and 112 . therefore , a user is not subjected to the force of the webbing wind - up spring while he is equipped with the safety belt . under the condition shown in fig1 , however , it is possible to draw the webbing out of the device to a certain length , because the rotation of the main gear 106 in the counterclockwise direction or the rotation of the idle gear 107 in the clockwise direction is not prevented by the cam members 110 and 112 . it is then possible to draw the webbing from a comfortable position to a certain length . the webbing must of course be drawn against the forces of the webbing wind - up spring and restoring springs 114 and 117 accommodated in the casing 113 of the stop gear 111 . the extent to which the webbing can be drawn is determined depending upon the gear ratios of the main gear 106 , gears 107a and 107b of the idle gear 107 and stop gear 111 , because the rotation of the main gear 106 in the counterclockwise direction is prevented by a second restraint of the cam members 110 and 112 which occurs after the main gear 106 has rotated a certain number of revolutions . when the buckle is released , the buckle switch bsw is opened to deenergize the solenoid assembly 130 so that the shifter 122 is rotated in the clockwise direction by the force of the coil spring 117 so as to return to the condition shown in fig6 . the idle gear 107 and main gear 106 are disengaged from each other in this manner and therefore with the aid of the restoring spring 114 the idle gear 107 , stop gear 111 and the cam members 110 and 112 are returned to and stationary at the condition shown in fig6 . as can be seen from the description the device of this embodiment is insusceptible to dust , salt water or the like and comfortable to use . while the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to preferred embodiments thereof , it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing and other changes in form and details can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention .
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the parallax barrier shown in fig5 comprises a polarisation modifying layer 20 and a polariser in the form of a polarising sheet 21 . the polarisation modifying layer 20 comprises aperture regions 22 in the form of parallel elongate slit regions arranged to rotate linear polarisation 23 of incoming light through 90 degrees . the aperture regions 22 are separated by barrier regions such as 24 which are arranged not to affect the polarisation of the incoming light . the regions 22 may for instance comprise appropriately aligned half waveplate polarisation retarders or 90 degree polarisation rotators . the aperture regions 22 are disposed at the desired pitch of the parallax barrier , incorporating any viewpoint correction as described hereinbefore , and are of the width required for the parallax barrier slits . typical values for the pitch and width of such slits are 200 micrometers and 50 micrometers , respectively . the aperture regions 22 have an optic axis aligned so as to rotate the input polarisation through 90 degrees . for instance , when the parallax barrier is disposed in front of a liquid crystal display ( lcd ) of the thin film transistor ( tft ) type , light from the lcd is polarised at + 45 degrees to a vertical axis of the lcd with which the strip - shaped aperture regions 22 are parallel . the optic axis is therefore arranged so that the polarisation of light 25 output from the slit regions is at − 45 degrees with respect to the same vertical axis . the barrier regions 24 are transparent regions with little or no effect on the transmitted light , which therefore remains polarised at + 45 degrees . the polarising sheet 21 has a polarising direction indicated at 26 which is substantially orthogonal to the polarisation direction 23 of incoming light and hence of light passing through the regions 24 . however , the polarisation direction 26 is parallel to the polarisation direction of light passing through the slit regions 22 so that the parallax barrier operates in a barrier mode with incoming light being transmitted through the slit regions 22 and being substantially blocked or extinguished through the parts of the barrier defined by the barrier regions 24 . in order to operate the parallax barrier in a non - barrier mode , the polarising sheet 21 is disabled , for instance by being removed . in this mode , the strip regions 22 are substantially invisible because they are not analysed by any polarising sheet . by arranging for the regions 22 and 24 to haves substantially the same transmissivity , there should be no undesirable visual artefacts , such as moire beating with the pixel structure of an associated lcd . although the slit regions 22 still rotate the polarisation direction of the incident light , this is not visible to the human eye when the polarising sheet 21 has been removed . in this mode , the parallax barrier allows the full spatial resolution of the associated lcd to be available for 2d display with very little attenuation of light . the parallax barrier of fig5 may be used to replace the front parallax barrier 4 shown in fig1 so as to provide an autostereoscopic 3d display constituting an embodiment of the invention . a convenient way of arranging for the polariser sheet 21 to be removable is illustrated in fig6 a . the polariser sheet 21 is attached to the remainder of the autostereoscopic display by double hinges 30 and 31 . this allows the polariser sheet 21 to be swung over the front of the display with the polariser alignment controlled by the base line of the hinges and optionally further constrained by a location datum on the opposite edge of the polariser sheet from the hinges . in the 2d mode , the polariser is folded over the rear of the display unit and stored flush against the rear of the display unit . another convenient way of arranging for the polariser sheet 21 to be removable is illustrated in fig6 ( b ). the polarising sheet 21 is formed on a transparent film having a longitudinal region which is transparent and non - polarising . the film is wound on rollers 28 and 29 disposed at either side of the lcd 1 and polarisation modifying layer 20 . the rollers 28 and 29 are driven , for instance by an electric motor , so that the polarising region 21 or the transparent non - polarising region of the film may be disposed in front of the lcd 1 and layer 20 . alternatively , the rollers 28 and 29 may be operated manually . when the polarising region 21 is in front of the lcd 1 and layer 20 , the display operates in the 3d mode whereas , when the transparent non - polarising region of the film is in front of the lcd 1 and layer 20 , the display operates in the 2d mode . fig6 ( c ) illustrates a further way of switching between 3d and 2d modes of operation . in this case , the polarising sheet 21 is permanently disposed in front of the lcd 1 and the layer 20 but is rotatable about an axis perpendicular to the sheet 21 . when the rotary position of the polarising sheet 21 is such that it transmits light from the slit regions 22 but extinguishes light from the barrier regions 24 , the display operates in the 3d mode with a front parallax barrier as illustrated at a . thus , a barrier is formed with narrow transmissive slits and wide opaque gaps , however , when the polarising sheet 21 is rotated through 90 ° it blocks or extinguishes light from the slit regions 22 but transmits light from the barrier regions 24 . in this case , as illustrated at b , light is transmitted through wide “ slits ” whereas narrow opaque “ gaps ” are formed . although the arrangement illustrated at b may be thought of as continuing to act as a parallax barrier , the viewing regions are not as well - defined and a broad 2d region is produced . the residual opaque regions will reduce the brightness in the 2d mode compared with displays in which there are no opaque regions formed by the parallax barrier . this is a convenient technique but there may be some residual moire effects in the 2d mode from black areas on the mask . if the parallax barrier 4 in the known types of display such as those shown in fig1 and 4 were made removable in order to provide a full resolution high brightness 2d mode of operation , it would have to be provided with mounts which defined the location in five degrees of freedom , namely two translation axes and three rotation axes , to positional tolerances of the order of 5 micrometers . it is also particularly difficult to maintain parallelism between the parallax barrier 4 and the slm 1 . any bow in either element would cause deviations in the window generating moire pattern . this results in reduced viewing freedom and increased levels of cross talk of the display . a removable element would have to compensate for such bows and this is very difficult to achieved in a robust manner with low cost overheads while preserving ease of use and reasonable bulk in the removable element . the effective plane of the parallax barrier shown in fig5 is at the plane of the polarisation modifying layer 20 . the alignment of this layer 20 with the associated lcd determines the optical alignment of the autostereoscopic display . for the parallax barrier shown in fig5 the layer 20 may be left permanently fixed to the associated lcd and so can conform to any bows in the lcd , minimising the degradation to window quality . this ensures rigidity and allows for adhesives or other forms of permanent fixative to be employed , for instance during manufacture or as a subsequent fitment using precision alignment tools which are available on lcd production lines . the removable polarising sheet 21 merely needs to be realigned in one rotational axis on replacement in front of the sheet 20 . the tolerance on translational position is merely that the whole of the display surface be covered by the polariser sheet 21 and rotations around axes in the plane of the display surface do not affect the polarisation absorption axis . accordingly , the only requirement is for rotational alignment about an axis normal to the display surface to ensure good extinction of light from the barrier regions 24 . in order to reduce light leakage from the barrier regions 24 to below 1 %, the alignment tolerance is of the order of plus or minus 5 degrees and this is easy to satisfy . fig7 illustrates the use of the parallax barrier of fig5 in a rear parallax barrier autostereoscopic display . the polarisation modifying layer 20 is disposed adjacent the lcd 1 and the polariser sheet 21 acts as an input polariser and is disposed between the layer 20 and the backlight 3 . the lcd 1 has an input polariser 32 whose polarisation direction is aligned so as to pass light from the strip regions 22 and to block light from the barrier regions 24 . thus , the polarisation directions of the input polariser sheet 21 and the lcd polariser 32 are orthogonal . in order to provide a full resolution high brightness 2d mode , the polariser sheet 21 is removed from the light path . the strip regions 22 are shown in the drawings as being fabricated on a substrate and , in particular , on the outer surface of the substrate , ie : the surface of the substrate facing away from the lcd 1 . this is merely an example as the strip regions 22 may be fabricated on either surface of the substrate , if the strip regions are fabricated on the inner substrate surface , ie . that facing the lcd 1 , they may be in contact with the lcd 1 and will be protected from scratching and dirt by the substrate . furthermore , the optimum viewing distance of the display in the 3d mode is set by the separation of the liquid crystal layer in the lcd 1 and the strip regions 22 . with the strip regions 22 on the inner surface of the substrate , the separation is reduced and hence the optimum viewing distance is reduced . fig8 illustrates a rear parallax barrier display in which the removable polariser 21 forms part of the backlight . the backlight comprises a light source 33 and a reflector 34 which , in the 3d mode , direct light through the polariser sheet 21 into a light guide 35 . the light guide 35 has on its output surface a patterned sheet 36 for providing uniformity of illumination of the lcd 1 and a polarisation preserving diffuser 37 to scatter the output light into a wider range of angles . such diffusers may be lenticular in nature . this arrangement allows the use of a relatively small polariser 21 at the input surface of the light guide 35 . the polariser 21 can be moved out of the light path by a relatively short movement in order to achieve the full resolution high brightness 2d mode of operation . fig9 illustrates an autostereoscopic display having a polarised light source of the type illustrated in fig8 but in which the polariser 21 is fixed at the input of the light guide 35 . the light source 33 is illuminated for 3d operation . the display comprises a further unpolarised backlight in the form of a light source 38 , a reflector 39 and a light guide 40 . the light guides 35 and 40 are disposed such that output light from the light guide 40 passes through the light guide 35 . in the full resolution high brightness 2d mode , the light source 33 is extinguished and the light source 39 is illuminated so that unpolarised light passes through the light guide 35 and illuminates the lcd 1 through the layer 20 . fig1 shows an example of a front parallax barrier autostereoscopic display which is switchable between 3d and 2d modes without requiring any mechanical movement . the polarisation modifying layer 20 is disposed adjacent the output surface of the lcd 1 and the exit polariser sheet 21 is located at the output of the display . a switchable quarter wave rotator 41 is disposed between the sheet polariser 21 and the layer 20 . the rotator 41 is switchable between a first state in which it does not affect the transmitted polarisation and a second state which causes the polarisation states to be equally transmitted through the sheet polariser 21 . in the second state , the rotator 41 acts as a quarter waveplate with the optic axis at 45 degrees to the polarising axis of the sheet polariser 21 . thus , the linear polarisations from the regions 22 and 24 are both converted to circular polarisations of opposite handedness of which 50 % is transmitted by the sheet polariser 21 . an advantage of this type of arrangement is that the control element 41 may be spatially controlled so that the two modes co - exist in different regions . this allows some parts of the display to operate in the 2d mode and other parts in the 3d mode . the display shown in fig1 a differs from that shown in fig1 in that the switchable quarter wave rotator 41 is replaced by a switchable diffuser 42 . the diffuser 42 is switchable electronically between depolarising and non - depolarising states . such a diffuser may be embodied as a polymer dispersed liquid crystal device . in its low diffusing state , the switchable diffuser 42 has substantially no effect on operation so that the display operates in the autostereoscopic 3d mode . in the more highly diffusing state , the diffuser 42 has two effects . firstly , the diffuser destroys the polarisation of incident light so that light from the regions 22 and 24 are transmitted substantially equally through the exit polariser sheet 21 . secondly , the diffuser destroys the directionality of light through the system by scattering the transmitted light into random directions . however , the scattering effect of the diffuser 42 does not need to be strong because the loss of polarisation is sufficient to cause the display to operate in the 2d mode . the diffuser 42 is merely required to provide sufficient scattering for an adequate angle of view of the display . thus , the diffuser 42 is required to provide less dense scattering of light than for known types of system so that a brighter 2d mode may be achieved . the display shown in fig1 b differs from that shown in fig1 a in that the positions of the layer 20 and the switchable diffuser 42 are interchanged . a switchable diffuser 42 may also be used in rear parallax barrier arrangements . the diffuser 42 may also be controllable so that different regions can be controlled to operate in different modes so as to provide a display in which some regions operate in the 2d mode and others simultaneously operate in the 3d mode . this arrangement may be more appropriate because the diffuser will not substantially affect image visibility in the 2d state . the parallax barriers disclosed herein may be used in the display disclosed in british patent application no 9702259 . 4 . this display is of the autostereoscopic type and includes an indicator visible to an observer so that the observer can position himself at the optimum viewing location . in some circumstances , it may be advantageous to be able to disable the visual position indication and this may be achieved by disabling the part of the parallax barrier which provides the indication , for instance as described hereinbefore for mixed 3d and 2d operation . fig1 illustrates a display of the rear parallax barrier type similar to that shown in fig7 but in which the polariser sheet 21 is replaced by a mask 43 and a parallax optic 44 which is illustrated as a lenticular screen but which may alternatively comprise a parallax barrier . the parallax optic 44 is optional because the parallax between the mask elements of the mask 43 and a pixel black mask within the lcd 1 serve to generate viewing zones 45 but with larger overlaps at the boundaries between the zones . the mask 43 comprises horizontal strips arranged , for example , as groups of three strips with each group comprising a polarising strip , a clear strip and an opaque strip . each group of strips is associated with a parallax element , in the form of a lenticule , of the lenticular screen 44 . the mask 43 is vertically movable with respect to the lenticular screen 44 . in the position illustrated in fig1 , the polarising strips are aligned with the lenticules of the screen 44 so as to provide 3d operation with an observer located in a zone indicated at 45 . an observer in the zone 45 , which is the normal viewing zone of the display , can thus perceive a 3d image . when 2d operation is required , the mask 43 is moved relative to the screen 44 so that the clear strips are imaged into the zone 45 , this allows the display to operate in the full resolution high brightness 2d mode . switching between 3d and 2d modes can therefore be achieved by a relatively small movement . the dark or opaque strips are used to avoid leakage of polarised light into the unpolarised viewing region and vice versa . the mask 43 may be made by any suitable method , such as that disclosed in jp 63 - 158525a . although the optical functions of the regions 22 and 24 of the parallax barrier could be reversed so that the barrier regions 24 rotate the polarisation and the strip regions 22 have substantially no effect on polarisation , the arrangement described hereinbefore with reference to fig5 is generally preferred . in particular , the dark level of the opaque regions formed by the barrier regions 24 and the associated regions of the polariser sheet 21 are effectively provided by two crossed polarisers without any intermediate ( optically active ) element , this provides strong extinction of light over a broad range of wavelengths and so minimises cross talk in the display . a possible alternative arrangement of the parallax barrier in the displays is for the two polarisers to have parallel polarisation directions , the barrier regions 24 to be optically active in order to provide the polarisation rotation , and the slit regions 22 not to affect polarisation . as described hereinbefore , in such an arrangement , the critical opaque regions of the barrier rely on the performance of the polarisation rotating material to achieve high extinction and light leakage of less than 1 %. a possible means for achieving this makes use of a polymerised layer of twisted nematic liquid crystal having a thickness which satisfies the first minimum criterion as the regions 24 . an advantage of such an arrangement is that the slit regions 22 are neutral and therefore have optimum chromatic performance to provide a 3d mode with reduced colour imbalance . the polarisation rotation performed by the strip regions 22 does not generally work optimally over such a broad range of wavelengths . thus , some parts of the visible spectrum are transmitted less than others . fig1 illustrates the calculated transmission of unpolarised light through an output polariser of the lcd 1 , a waveplate made of a uniaxial birefringent material known as rm257 available from merck ( uk ), and the polariser sheet 21 . when the two polarisers have their polarising axes crossed , transmission is highest by design at the centre of the visible spectrum but declines towards either end of the visible spectrum . if the centre wavelength is correctly chosen , the transmitted light maintains a good white colour balance . it may be necessary to adjust the balance between red , green and blue colour channels of the lcd 1 to ensure correct colour display in the 3d mode . such colour balance change may , for example , be precalibrated and set in drivers for the 3d image software or in the design of colour filters of the lcd to optimise between 2d and 3d colour spectra . the curve shown in fig1 for parallel polarisers is that which would have applied to the opaque barrier regions if the barrier regions 24 had rotated that polarisation . the centre wavelength of the system provides good extinction of light . however , towards the edges of the spectrum , the transmission substantially increases . in order to ensure cross talk levels of not more than 1 %, the barrier must provide a 100 : 1 contrast ratio across the visible spectrum . as indicated by fig1 , this would not be achieved with parallel polarisers and polarisation rotators as the barrier regions 24 . fig1 illustrates the transmission performance through two crossed polarisers without any intermediate optical element . the extinction of light is substantially improved and the desired contrast ratio is achieved throughout the whole range of wavelengths from 450 to 750 nanometers . this arrangement with , for instance , waveplates creating the slit apertures and crossed polarisers defining the opaque regions of the barrier is therefore the optimum configuration for most applications . the polarisation modifying layer 20 may be made , for example , by the deposition of a layer of reactive mesogen , such as rm257 , which is patterned by standard photolithographic techniques into the slit structure . a convenient mask for etching is an existing parallax barrier . fig1 illustrates a method of making the polarisation modifying layer 20 . in fig1 ( a ), an alignment layer 60 is applied to a substrate 61 . the alignment layer 60 may , for instance , comprise rubbed polyimide , polyamide , or silicon oxide . fig1 ( b ) shows the application of an optical retarder layer 62 whose alignment direction is determined by the alignment layer 60 . the retarder layer 62 comprises any suitable birefringent material which may be aligned and subsequently fixed in a pre - determined direction . a suitable material comprises a liquid crystal polymer or a reactive mesogen . an example of a suitable reactive mesogen is that known as rm257 ( as mentioned hereinbefore ) available from merck uk having a high birefringence which allows the use of relatively thin layers . as shown in fig1 ( c ), regions 63 of the retarder layer 62 are exposed to ultraviolet radiation through a mask 64 so as to be photopolymerised . as shown in fig1 ( d ), the unpolymerised regions are then removed , for instance by an etching process , to reveal the desired patterned optical retarder arrangement . the patterned retarder is then planarised by means of a planarisation layer 65 . the layer 65 fills the gaps left by the removed unpolymerised retarder material as illustrated in fig1 ( e ). the material of the planarisation layer 65 is preferably isotropic , transparent and substantially similar in thickness to the retarders 63 . suitable materials include acrylic and epoxy resins . the method of making the polarisation modifying layer 20 illustrated in fig1 differs from that illustrated in fig1 in that , after the selective polymerisation shown in fig1 ( c ), the unpolymerised retarder material 62 is not removed . the layer is heated to a temperature above the isotropic transition point of the unpolymerised retarder material , which is cured in an isotropic state by exposure to long wavelength ultraviolet radiation . this results in a layer having regions of isotropic material 66 and birefringent material 63 as illustrated in fig1 ( d ). the method illustrated in fig1 differs from that illustrated in fig1 in that a chiral dopant i & amp ; added to the reactive mesogen mixture before application as the retarder layer 67 . the chiral dopant introduces a continuous rotation of the retarder direction on passing through the layer so as to provide a guiding twisted retarder . selective polymerisation is performed as shown in fig1 ( c ). fig1 illustrates a method of making a retarder array which differs from that illustrated in fig1 in that a further patterned retarder 72 is formed . after the planarisation layer 65 is applied as shown in fig1 ( e ), another alignment layer 69 , for instance of the same type as the alignment layer 60 , is applied , for instance in the same way . the alignment layer 69 is applied with an alignment direction different from that of the alignment layer 60 . a further retarder layer 70 , for instance of the same type as the retarder layer 62 , is formed , for instance in the same way , on the alignment layer 69 . the layer 70 is selectively exposed to ultraviolet radiation through a mask 71 so that regions 72 forming the further patterned optical retarder are photopolymerised . the unpolymerised regions are then removed as illustrated in fig1 ( i ) and a further planarisation layer 73 is formed as illustrated in fig1 ( j ). by using this technique , it is possible to provide alternate areas of retarders aligned in different directions for use as described hereinafter . by repeating the process steps illustrated in fig1 ( b ) to 18 ( e ), multiple stacked layers of patterned retarders may be fabricated . fig1 illustrates a method of making a retarder array which differs from that shown in fig1 in that the standard alignment layer 60 is replaced by a layer of linearly photopolymerisable material 74 , for instance of the type described in “ surface induced parallel alignment of liquid crystals by linearly polymerising photopolymers ”, schadt et al , japanese journal of applied physics , vol 31 ( 1992 ), page 2155 and in ep 0 689 084 . the layer is selectively exposed to radiation of a first linear polarisation through a mask 64 as shown in fig1 ( b ) to form exposed regions a . the unexposed regions b are then exposed by a mask 76 to radiation having a different linear polarisation . thus , alternate regions of the alignment layer 28 provide different alignment directions , for example different by 45 ° or 90 °. the retarder layer 62 is then applied as shown in fig1 ( d ) as described hereinbefore . however , the retarder layer adopts the alternate directions imposed by the underlying part of the alignment layer 75 and so does not require selective photopolymerisation . instead , the retarder layer 62 may be cured by exposure to a uniform ultraviolet source . fig2 illustrates a method of making a retarder array which differs from that shown in fig1 in that the alignment layer 60 is rubbed twice . it is first rubbed in the direction a . photoresist material 77 is applied and selectively polymerised through a mask 64 as shown in fig2 ( d ). this may be done using known photolithographic techniques . the unpolymerised material is removed leaving the polymerised photoresist material 78 and regions of the underlying alignment layer 60 exposed . the assembly is then rubbed in a second direction b to produce an alignment layer with a spatially varying alignment direction 79 . a technique of this type is disclosed in “ four domain tn - lcd fabricated by reverse rubbing or double evaporation ” chen et al , sid95 digest , pages 865 to 868 ”. the photopolymerised photoresist material is then removed . the retarder layer 62 is then applied as shown in fig2 ( h ). however , the retarder layer adopts the alternate directions imposed by the underlying parts of the alignment layer 79 and so does not require selective photopolymerisation . instead , the retarder layer 62 may be cured by exposure to a uniform ultraviolet source . alternative techniques for manufacturing the patterned polarisation modifying layer are disclosed in u . s . pat . nos . 2 , 647 , 440 and 5 , 537 , 144 . the polarisation rotation may be achieved by means of at least two physical effects . according to the first , polarisation rotation is provided by an optical retarder which employs a birefringent material . such a material is characterised in that the refractive index for light propagating in the material depends on the orientation of the polarisation with respect to the optic axis of the material . the optic axis is set by molecular or crystalline structure of the material . in the case of a uniaxial birefringent material , there is one refractive index for light propagating with a plane of polarisation parallel to the optic axis and another refractive index for light propagating with a plane of polarisation perpendicular to the optic axis . light with a plane of polarisation between these may be considered as a sum of these polarisations without loss in generality . if the material is given a thickness t such that light of wavelength λ suffers a phase delay of π between the fast and slow polarisations , then the element is termed a “ half waveplate ” or “ λ / 2 plate ”. the thickness is then given by : where δn is the difference between the two refractive indices and m is an integer . plane polarised light incident on such an optical element undergoes a rotation in the plane of polarisation of twice the angle between the incident plane of polarisation and the optic axis of the material . thus , if a half waveplate is oriented at 45 degrees to the incident plane of polarisation , the light exits the element with a 90 degree change in the plane of polarisation . a second physical effect is that produced by a polarisation rotator . such an element , which may be embodied by a reactive mesogen with a chiral dopant , comprises a material which is birefringent in any one thin slice but in which the angle of the optic axis rotates in a defined manner between slices to describe a spiral . such an optical element causes polarisation rotation by guiding and can be made to rotate an incident plane of polarisation through 90 degrees for a broad range of wavelengths . the rotation of the polarisation may further be provided by a combination of these two effects , for instance in order to optimise device performance . the tolerance of the angular alignment of the polariser sheet 21 with respect to the lcd 1 is determined by the level of light leakage which may be tolerated through the opaque regions of the parallax barrier . such leakage must be very low and preferably less than 1 %. the extinction of light from two perfect crossed polarisers with an angle θ between their axes is given by : the rotational angles for 1 % of light leakage are given by the solutions to the equation l ( θ )/ l ( 0 )= 0 . 01 and the angles are θ = 84 . 3 °, 95 . 7 °. thus , there is a tolerance of approximately plus and minus 5 degrees about the ideal value of 90 degrees . such an angular tolerance can easily be achieved by simple mechanics or alignment by eye against a reference mark . fig2 illustrates a front parallax barrier type of display in which the parallax barrier is modified by the provision of a quarter waveplate 46 fixed to the layer 20 with its fast axis vertical and a quarter waveplate 47 fixed to the polariser sheet 21 with its fast axis horizontal . the polarising directions of the polariser sheet 21 and an output polariser 48 of the lcd 1 are at minus and plus 45 degrees , respectively , the quarter waveplate 46 converts the linearly polarised light from the layer 20 to circularly polarised light . similarly , the quarter waveplate 47 converts the circularly polarised light back to linearly polarised light . with such an arrangement , the angular alignment tolerance can be substantially relaxed . in practice , quarter waveplates are only “ perfect ” at their design wavelength . at other wavelengths , the retardance within the plate is not correct to generate perfect circular polarisation and an elliptical state results . however , if the two quarter waveplates 46 and 47 are arranged such that their optical axes are mutually orthogonal , then the inaccuracy in retardance of one plate 15 substantially cancelled by the inaccuracy in the other plate . as the polariser sheet 21 and the quarter waveplate 47 are rotated about an axis substantially normal to the display surface , the cancellation of imperfection of the quarter waveplates 46 and 47 breaks down and the non - perfect nature of these plates becomes apparent . fig2 illustrates the extinction of light through the barrier regions 24 using this arrangement and for relative angular rotations of 0 , 5 , 10 and 15 degrees . transmission below 1 % for the majority of the visible spectrum can be achieved for angular displacements up to 10 degrees . thus , an alignment tolerance of plus or minus 10 degrees can be achieved and is twice that which is available when the quarter waveplates 46 and 47 are omitted . fig2 illustrates another parallax barrier which differs from that shown in fig5 in that the polarisation modifying layer 20 comprises a patterned retarder . the patterned retarder may be made , for instance , by any of the methods illustrated in fig1 to 20 and described hereinbefore . the aperture regions 22 comprise λ / 2 plates whose optic axes are aligned at 45 ° to the polarisation direction of the light 23 . the barrier regions 24 comprise λ / 2 plates whose optic axes are aligned at 0 ° to the polarisation on direction of the light 23 . thus , the polarisation of the light 23 passing through the barrier regions 24 is not affected and the light is extinguished by the polarising sheet 21 . the polarisation of the light 23 passing through the aperture regions 22 is rotated by 90 ° and the light therefore passes through the polarising sheet 21 . thus , in the 3d mode , the device functions as a parallax barrier as described hereinbefore . an advantage of the parallax barrier shown in fig2 is that the patterned retarder forming the layer 20 is planar so that there is substantially no phase step for light passing through the regions 22 and 24 of the layer 20 . diffraction effects are therefore reduced so that there are substantially no variations in illumination uniformity or flicker in the illumination as an observer moves with respect to the display . diffraction effects may also be , reduced by planarisation of the layer , for instance as illustrated in fig1 to 17 . the parallax barrier shown in fig2 and 25 differs from that shown in fig2 in that the polarisation vectors and the optic axes are rotated by 45 °. an input polariser 21 ′, which may comprise the output polariser of an associated lcd , has its polarisation axis oriented at 45 °. this is typical of lcd output polarisers , for instance of the twisted nematic type . the optic axes of the aperture regions 22 are oriented at 90 ° whereas the optic axes of the barrier regions 24 are aligned at 45 ° so as to be parallel to the polarisation vector of light from the input polariser 21 ′. the polarising sheet 21 has its polarising axis oriented at − 45 ° so as to be orthogonal to the polarising axis of the input polariser 21 ′ (− 45 ° is optically equivalent to + 135 ° as indicated in fig2 ). fig2 illustrates an arrangement in which the polarising sheet 21 is omitted and the polarising function is provided by analysing glasses 21 ″ worn by an observer . the glasses 21 ″ comprise polarising lenses with the polarising axes oriented at 90 ° so as to be orthogonal to the polarisation vector of the polarised light 23 . however , the polarising axes and the optic axes may be rotated to any desired angle provided the angular relationships are maintained . such an arrangement allows the use of conventional polarising sunglasses , which may be removed to allow the display to be viewed in the 2d mode . another important manufacturing issue is the matching of the viewing angle of the layer 20 and , when present , the plate 80 to the lcd 1 . when viewed from off - axis positions , light reaching the eyes of the observer travels obliquely through the layer 20 . such oblique light rays experience slightly different polarisation conditions because of their different orientation within the birefringent layers and the different layer thicknesses . contrast and colour performances of lcds degrade with increasing viewing angle . the aperture regions 24 of the barrier may also experience colour and transmission changes with off - axis viewing . it is therefore desirable for waveplate layer thicknesses to be chosen so as to give uncoloured transmission for the widest range of angles . furthermore , the pre - tilt of reactive mesogens or liquid crystals , if used to fabricate the waveplates , should be carefully chosen for the same reason . in order to improve the performance of the elements performing the rotation of polarisation when such elements are embodied as birefringent retarders , they may be fabricated as two or three layers of retarder of specific thicknesses and relative optic axis angles . combinations of waveplates for broadband performance are disclosed for example in proc . ind . acad . sci , vol . 41 , no . 4 , section a , pp . 130 , s . pancharatnam “ achromatic combinations of birefringent plates ”, 1955 . fig2 shows a passive polarisation modulating optical element 11 comprising a layer of birefringent material having substantially fixed birefringence . the thickness and birefringence of the layer are such that it acts as a half waveplate but with different regions acting as retarders with optic axes oriented in different directions , in particular , the element 11 has first retarders 12 and second retarders 13 . the retarders 12 and 13 and 13 comprise parallel vertical strips formed within the layer and alternating with each other . the strips 12 are of the same width and have their optic axis aligned at 45 ° with respect to a reference direction . the strips 13 are of the same width and have their optic axes aligned at 90 ° to the reference direction . the optical element 11 shown in fig2 co - operates with an input polariser 14 to form an optical device . the input polariser 14 may , for example , comprise an output polariser of a liquid crystal device . the input polariser 14 supplies linearly polarised light whose polarisation vector is at 45 ° to the reference direction . the polarisation vector of the light from the polariser 14 is parallel to the optic axes of the retarders 12 , which therefore have substantially no effect on the polarisation vector . accordingly , light leaving the retarders 12 has its polarisation vector at 45 ° to the reference direction . the optic axes of the regions 13 are aligned at 45 ° to the polarisation vector of the input light . accordingly , the retarders 13 behave as half waveplates and rotate the polarisation vector of light through 90 ° so that the output light from the retarders 13 has its polarisation vector at 135 ° to the reference direction . fig2 and 30 illustrate an arrangement which differs from that shown in fig2 and 28 in that the optic axes of the element 11 and the polarising direction of the polariser 14 are rotated through 45 °. thus , the polarisation vector of the light from the polariser 14 is at 0 °, as is the light leaving the retarders 12 , whereas light leaving the retarders 13 has its polarisation vector rotated to 90 °. fig3 and 32 illustrate an optical device of the type shown in fig2 and 28 co - operating with an output polariser 15 to form a parallax barrier . the polarising direction of the output polariser 15 is orthogonal to that of the input polarised 14 . the polariser 15 therefore substantially extinguishes light passing through the retarders 12 but passes light leaving the retarders 13 . the polarisation rotation performed by the retarders 13 does not generally work optimally over the whole of the visible spectrum . thus , some parts of the visible spectrum are transmitted less than others . fig3 illustrates the calculated transmission of unpolarised light through the device shown in fig3 and 32 with the element ii made of a uniaxilly birefringent material known as rm257 available from merck ( uk ). with the polarising axes of the polarisers 14 and 15 orthogonal , transmission is highest by design at the centre of the visible spectrum but declines towards either end of the visible spectrum . if the centre wavelength if correctly chosen , the transmitted light maintains a good white colour balance . fig3 illustrates the performance for a device of the type shown in fig3 and 32 but with the polarising axes of the polarisers 14 and 15 parallel to each other and the optic axes of the retarders 12 and 13 interchanged . in this case , extinction of light through the retarders 12 relies on broad band half waveplate performance . the centre wavelength provides good extinction of light but the transmission substantially increases towards the edges of the spectrum . in order to ensure cross talk levels of not more than 1 %, the parallax barrier in an autostereoscopic display must provide a 100 : 1 contrast ratio across the visible spectrum . as illustrated in fig3 , this would not be achieved with parallel polarisers and polarisation rotators acting as barrier regions between slit regions of the parallax barrier . fig3 illustrates the transmission performance through two cross polarisers without any intermediate optical element . the extinction of light is substantially improved and the desired contrast ratio is achieved throughout the whole range of wavelengths from 450 to 750 nanometers . this corresponds to the arrangement illustrated in fig3 because the retarders 12 have their opticaxes aligned with the polarisation vector of the input light and therefore have substantially no effect on the polarisation vector . in general , such an arrangement is preferable because it is capable of meeting the contrast ratio requirements of a parallax barrier . however , in applications where achromaticity of the transmitted light is more important than contrast ratio and achromatic extinction of light , an arrangement of the type shown in fig3 and 32 but with the output polariser axis rotated by 90 ° may be preferable . the element 11 may be bonded to the input polariser 14 so as to allow accurate tolerancing of relative tilts of the strip - shaped retarders 12 and 13 and the pixel structure of an lcd of which the polariser 14 is a part . this also allows index matching of the interface so as to reduce reflections within the device . examples of suitable materials which fulfil the requirements of the high transparency , achromaticity and thermal expansion similar to the polariser 14 and the element 11 include organic adhesives such as epoxy resins , acrylic polymers and those based on polyurethane adhesives . the device illustrated in fig3 and 32 may be used as the parallax barrier 4 of the autostereoscopic 3d display shown in fig1 . the retarders 13 then act as slits of the parallax barrier whereas the retarders 12 act as the opaque regions between the slits . when viewed from off - axes positions , light reaching the eye of an observer travels obliquely through the layer forming the element 11 . such oblique light rays experience slightly different polarisation conditions because of their different orientation within the birefringent layer and the longer propagation path through the layer . light through the barrier elits may therefore experience colour and transmission changes with off - axis viewing . however , the image contrast is substantially unaffected by viewing angle performance of the parallax barrier . for 3d displays using lcds as the slm , the viewing angle performance may be configured to give minimum visibility of chromaticity of the white state , in some arrangements , it may be that the colouration variations tend to be worse in a direction parallel to the alignment direction of the barrier slits . similarly , the lcd may have a viewing angle performance which is configured so that the most limited viewing direction is generally in the vertical direction . for the lcd , off - axis viewing causes degradation of contrast and colouration of the display , thus , if the worst viewing angle of the retarder is aligned with the worst viewing angle of the slm , the performance of the parallax barrier can be disguised by the worse image appearance of the slm . the retarders 12 and 13 are formed in a single layer whose optical properties , apart from optic axes , are uniform throughout the layer . further , the layer may be of substantially constant thickness . such an arrangement allows the layer 11 to be bonded to other layers without an air gap and without the need for planarisation . the viewing freedom of the 3d image is partly determined by the alignment of the barrier slits with the pixels of the lcd in the display shown in fig1 . tilting of the barrier slits with respect to the lcd causes a fringe misalignment which results in loss of viewing freedom and potentially areas of image cross talk on the display . this causes increased visual stress for an observer and is thus undesirable . by forming the layer 11 in contact with the polariser 14 , such tilts can be substantially avoided . in particular , techniques exist for providing the desired alignment and , by forming the layer 11 integrally with the associated lcd or other device , accurate alignment can be provided during manufacture and is not substantially affected by environmental conditions , such as mechanical shocks and changes in temperature . in order to operate a display of the type shown in fig1 in the 2d mode , the output polariser 15 may be removed or otherwise disabled . in this mode , it is desirable for the patterned structure of the optic axes of the element 11 to be invisible . for instance , the retarders 12 and 13 should have the same light absorption performance in order to avoid the visibility of moire beating with the lcd structure . another artefact which should be avoided is diffraction from the phase structure of the parallax barrier . such diffraction may beat with the pixel structure of the lcd to give some low contrast moire interference effect . with the optical element 11 , the diffraction efficiency of the phase structure is substantially reduced compared with known arrangements . for instance , the orthogonal linear polarisation states in the light from the retarders 12 and 13 do not substantially interfere with each other . the phase step between the retarders 12 and 13 is minimised because the retarders are formed in the same material with substantially the same refractive index . fig3 illustrates another technique for reducing the levels of diffraction . during manufacture of the optical element 11 as described in more detail hereinafter , a mask having the appearance shown at 20 is used to define one of the alignment layer orientations shown at 21 in order to form the element . the parallax barrier slits arc therefore defined by non - straight boundaries . instead , the boundaries are of sine wave shape . this results in a plurality of different diffraction structures because of the different aspect ratios so that the diffraction effects are blurred . this structure also allows some vertical blurring of the diffraction structure . however , care should be taken to minimise beating of the diffraction structure vertically with the vertical pixel structure . fig3 illustrates a first method of making the optical element 11 . the element is made on a substrate 30 on which an alignment layer 31 is formed , for instance by spin coating . the alignment layer comprises a linearly photopolymerisabie material , such as that described in “ surface induced parallel alignment of liquid crystals by linearly polymerised photopolymers ”, schadt et al , japanese journal of applied physics , vol 31 1992 , p 2155 and in ep 0 689 084 . the alignment layer 31 is exposed to radiation of a first linear polarisation through a mask 32 to form exposed regions a . the unexposed regions of the layer 31 are then exposed through a mask 33 to radiation having a different linear polarisation to form the exposed regions b . thus , alternate regions of the alignment layer 31 provide different alignment directions , for example differing by 45 ° or 90 °. the alignment layer 31 is then covered by a retarder layer 34 , for instance by spin coating . the retarder layer 34 comprises any suitable birefringent material which may be aligned and subsequently fixed in a predetermined direction . a suitable material comprises a reactive liquid crystal polymer containing a diacrylate and / or a monoacrylate . an example of a suitable material is known as rm 257 from merck ( uk ). the retarder layer 34 is then fixed or polymerised , for instance by exposure to ultraviolet radiation , so as to form the fixed retarder 35 . the optic axis of the retarder layer 34 adopts the alternate directions imposed by the underlying parts of the alignment layer 31 and so does not require selective polymerisation . also , there is no removal of the retarder material during processing , which allows remote exposure from a broad area source and avoids the risk of sticking of the retarder material to a mask . the substrate 30 is selected so as to minimise any birefringence which would otherwise affect the performance of the optical element , for instance reducing contrast ratio or degrading the chromatic performance of a device . for instance , the substrate 30 may be a suitable float glass of appropriate flatness so as not to distort the fringe structure in the case of a 3d display when the optical element is disposed at or near the polariser 14 . fig3 illustrates a second method of making the optical element . the substrate 30 is coated , for instance by spin coating , with a polyimide alignment layer 31 . the polyimide may comprise a material known as pi 2555 available from du pont dissolved in 1 : 20 in a solvent comprising a mixture of n - methyl - 2 - pyrrolidine and 1 - methoxypropan - 2 - ol known as t9039 and also available from du pont . for instance , the layer 31 is formed by spinning in an open bowl spin coater at 4000 rpm for 30 seconds . the polyimide layer 31 is then cured by heating at 170 ° centigrade for two hours . alternatively , the alignment layer may be silicon oxide depending on the requirement of the reactive mesogen effect for pre - tilt . the alignment layer 31 is rubbed with a soft cloth so as to impose a preferred direction and pre - tilt on the alignment layer , as indicated at a . a layer 36 of photo - resist is formed on the alignment layer 31 , for instance by spin coating . the photo - resist 36 is selectively exposed through a mask 37 , for instance in the form of a chrome copy of a desired parallax barrier so that , following exposure through the mask 37 , the photo - resist covers areas of the optical element which are intended to form the opaque regions between the parallax barrier slits . the unexposed photo - resist is then removed . the element is then re - rubbed so as to introduce a second different alignment of the alignment layer , for instance at 45 ° or 90 ° to the previous alignment . in some cases , it may be necessary to rub the revealed regions of the alignment layer 31 at an angle different from that which would have been necessary in the case of a previously unrubbed alignment layer so as to achieve the desired alignment direction . this may be necessary because the original alignment layer may continue to have an effect on the surface energy following the re - rubbing . thus , a rubbing direction different from the desired alignment orientation by 10 ° to 20 ° may be required to correct for the surface energy . the re - rubbed regions arc indicated at b . the remaining photo - resist is then removed , for example by washing with acetone . a retarder layer 39 , for instance of the type described hereinbefore with reference to fig1 , is then applied by spinning and its optic axis adopts the directions imposed by the underlying parts of the alignment layer 31 . the retarder layer 39 is then fixed , for instance by exposure to ultraviolet radiation to form the retarder 40 .
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a dc switchgear having a commutation - type dc circuit breaker of embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings . fig3 is a schematic circuit of a dc circuit breaker having a commutation - type dc circuit breaker c . in fig3 , a main circuit a provided with a main switch 3 and a saturable reactor 10 which are comprised of a commutation - type dc circuit breaker c is interconnected with a dc power source 60 and a load 70 . the commutation - type dc circuit breaker c is provided with a commutating circuit b which is connected to the main circuit a having the main switch 3 . the commutating circuits b are electrically disposed parallel to the main switch 3 in the main circuit a , and a commutating capacitor 8 and a commutating switch 2 are interconnected in series in the one of the commutating circuit b . also , a non - linear resistor 9 disposed in the another commutating circuit b is electrically disposed in parallel to the main switch 3 in the main circuit a the non - linear resistor 9 in the another commutating circuit b acts for absorbing an electromagnetic energy of the main circuit a . fig1 is a schematic cross sectional view of a dc switchgear having a commutation - type dc circuit breaker of an embodiment of the present invention . the dc switchgear having a commutation - type dc circuit breaker c in fig1 is structured by connecting a main circuit a including a main switch 3 and a saturable reactor 10 that interconnects a dc power source 60 and a load 70 and turns on and off a current flowing in the main circuit a , and a commutating circuit b including a commutating capacitor 8 , a commutating switch 2 and a non - linear resistor 9 electrically disposed parallel to the main switch 3 . the commutating capacitor 8 and the commutating switch 2 are interconnected in series in the commutating circuit b . the non - linear resistor 9 in the commutating circuit b is connected in parallel to the main circuit a . the main devices being structured the dc switchgear are accommodated separately in a dc circuit breaker accommodating box 41 , a front accommodating box 40 a disposed on the front of the dc circuit breaker accommodating box 41 , and a rear accommodating box 42 a disposed on the back of the dc circuit breaker accommodating box 41 . main standardized devices being structured the commutation - type dc circuit breaker c are accommodated in the dc circuit breaker accommodating box 41 . specifically , the dc circuit breaker accommodating box 41 internally includes , at the bottom of the front , a main switch driving device 1 which provides with the main switch 3 for extinguishing arc for the current flowing in the main circuit a and the commutating switch 2 for passing a current to be superimposed on the current flowing in the main circuit a . the main switch driving device 1 drives the main switch 3 for generating a current zero from the superimposed current to shut off the current to the main circuit a . the dc circuit breaker accommodating box 41 further internally includes , behind the main switch driving device 1 , a non - linear resistor 9 provided in the commutating circuit b for absorbing energy and a saturable reactor 10 for reducing a current change ratio around the current zero in the main circuit a . the dc circuit breaker accommodating box 41 internally includes , above the non - linear resistor 9 and saturable reactor 10 , a commutating capacitor 8 for supplying a commutating current to the main switch 3 ; control devices 4 to 7 for controlling and operating individual devices disposed in the dc circuit breaker accommodating box 41 are provided in front of the commutating capacitor 8 . the dc circuit breaker accommodating box 41 internally includes , at the bottom of the back , a bus bar 13 connected to an external dc power supply 60 ; connection conductors 11 a , 11 b , and 11 c provided in other spaces in the dc circuit breaker accommodating box 41 are connected to the bus bar 13 . the main switch 3 and commutating switch 2 disposed in the dc circuit breaker accommodating box 41 are respectively electrically connected to the individual devices , bus bar 13 , and connection conductors 11 a , 11 b , and 11 c through isolating points 14 a to 14 c ; an overcurrent detection relay 11 for detecting an overcurrent is attached to the connection conductor 11 a through which the main circuit current flows . the rear accommodating box 42 a is disposed on the back ( rear side ) of the dc circuit breaker accommodating box 41 ; the rear accommodating box 42 a is removably connected to the dc circuit breaker accommodating box 41 with connecting members 51 such as bolts and nuts . the rear accommodating box 42 a has a rear door 32 for opening and closing the rear accommodating box 42 a ; when the rear door 32 is opened , an operator can perform maintenance and inspection for a fuse disconnector 21 , a protection relay 22 for circuit protection , a dc current transformer 23 a for detecting the current in the main circuit , a rectifier box 25 , a dc voltage transformer 26 , and a main circuit on a load side , which are all disposed in the rear accommodating box 42 a . the main circuit on the load side of the rear accommodating box 42 a is formed as a lower drawer . the front accommodating box 40 a is disposed in front ( front side ) of the dc circuit breaker accommodating box 41 ; the front accommodating box 40 a is removably connected to the dc circuit breaker accommodating box 41 with connecting members 51 such as bolts and nuts . the front accommodating box 40 a has a front door 31 for opening and closing the front accommodating box 40 a ; when the front door 31 is opened and the main switch driving device 1 accommodated in the dc circuit breaker accommodating box 41 is drawn out from the inside of the dc circuit breaker accommodating box 41 toward the outside of the front accommodating box 40 a , the main switch driving device 1 is separated from the isolating points 14 a to 14 c accommodated in the dc circuit breaker accommodating box 41 , and thus the main switch 3 , commutating switch 2 , and the like of the accommodated devices can now be serviced for maintenance and inspected . a control unit 30 a for the switchgear is attached to the back of the front door 31 mounted on the front accommodating box 40 a , the control unit 30 a comprising an auxiliary relay and a control switch for the switchgear , lamps for status indication , a failure indicator , and the like . the front side of the front door 31 or the rear side of the control unit 30 a for the switchgear has a switch , lamps , and a failure indicator . terminal blocks 20 a to 20 c at which electric cables are terminated are provided on an internal side surface of the front accommodating box 40 a ; the control unit 30 a is electrically connected through the terminal blocks 20 a to 20 c to the individual devices constituting the dc switchgear that are disposed in the dc circuit breaker accommodating box 41 and rear accommodating box 42 a . as described above , the main devices accommodated in the dc circuit breaker accommodating box 41 , which is part of the dc switchgear in this embodiment , take a standardized device arrangement . in a specific example of a standardized arrangement of the devices disposed in the dc circuit breaker accommodating box 41 , the dc circuit breaker accommodating box 41 includes , as the device arrangement standardized for the dc circuit breaker accommodating box 41 in its inside : the main switch driving device 1 , which is movable and has the main switch 3 and commutating switch 2 , the non - linear resistor 9 and saturable reactor 10 , which are disposed behind the main switch driving device 1 , the commutating capacitor 8 disposed above the non - linear resistor 9 , the control devices 4 to 7 disposed in front of the commutating capacitor 8 , the bus bar 13 disposed at the bottom on the rear side inside of the dc circuit breaker accommodating box 41 , the connection conductor 11 b connected to the bus bar 13 , the isolating points 14 a to 14 c connected to the main switch 3 , the commutating switch 2 , the bus bar 13 , and the connection conductors 11 a to 11 c , and the overcurrent detection relay 11 attached to the connection conductor 11 a , in which the main circuit current flows . according to the dc switchgear including a commutation - type dc circuit breaker c in this embodiment , the devices which are accommodated in the dc circuit breaker accommodating box 41 are constructed in a standardized arrangement for the dc circuit breaker accommodating box 41 as described above , the devices accommodated in the dc circuit breaker accommodating box 41 can be used as the standardized arrangement regardless of the specifications and application of the product . and the devices disposed in the front accommodating box 40 a and the rear accommodating box 42 a mounted on the front and back of the dc circuit breaker accommodating box 41 a , which constitute the dc switchgear are just making a change the types , structures , and arrangement thereof according to the specifications and application of the product . consequently the devices accommodated in the dc circuit breaker accommodating box 41 having the above standardized device arrangement can be used without changing the arrangement thereof . accordingly , when a dc switchgear is designed and manufactured , changes can be made quickly and easily by just making a change of the devices disposed in the front accommodating box 40 a and the rear accommodating box 42 a according to the desired specifications and application , so that labor hours and time taken to design and manufacture the dc switchgear with a commutating dc circuit breaker suitable for various applications and specifications can be reduced . that is , as described above , a dc circuit breaker accommodating box 41 having the standardized device arrangement can be standardized and manufactured . since it is also possible to concurrently manufacture the three accommodating boxes constituting the dc switchgear , that is , the front accommodating box 40 a and rear accommodating box 42 a that accommodate devices other than in the above standardized device arrangement and the dc circuit breaker accommodating box 41 having the above standardized device arrangement , the efficiency of designing and manufacturing the dc switchgear is increased . accordingly , labor hours and time taken to design and manufacture a dc switchgear can be reduced , and furthermore an inexpensive dc switchgear can be implemented . when control power is supplied to the inside of the dc circuit breaker accommodating box 41 , it becomes possible to shut off dc current only by a device accommodated in the dc circuit breaker accommodating box 41 when an overcurrent , back flow , or other failure is detected in the main circuit a . accordingly , when only the dc circuit breaker accommodating box 41 having the above standardized device arrangement is delivered to a customer and a separately manufactured or exiting front accommodating box 40 a and rear accommodating box 42 a are integrally connected to the dc circuit breaker accommodating box 41 to configure a dc switchgear , the resulting dc switchgear can function as a dc switchgear having a commutation - type dc circuit breaker c . that is , when a dc circuit breaker accommodating box 41 with a standardized device arrangement is manufactured in a standard way , a various types of customers &# 39 ; demands not only for a newly - designed dc switchgear having a commutation - type dc circuit breaker c , but also for modification of dc switchgear having a commutation - type dc circuit breaker c can be flexibly met . according to this embodiment of the present invention , it is possible to provide a dc switchgear having a commutation - type dc circuit breaker for which labor hours and time taken to design and manufacture a dc switchgear suitable for various applications and specifications can be reduced by standardizing the design of a dc circuit breaker accommodating box . fig2 is a schematic cross sectional view of a dc switchgear having a commutation - type dc circuit breaker of another embodiment of the present invention . the dc switchgear in this embodiment and the dc switchgear , shown in fig1 , in the previous embodiment have a common basic part in their arrangements , so explanation of the common arrangement will be omitted and only different arrangements will be described . when the arrangement of the dc switchgear having a commutation - type dc circuit breaker , shown in fig2 , in this embodiment is compared with the arrangement in the previous embodiment shown in fig1 , there is no difference in the arrangement of the devices accommodated in the dc circuit breaker accommodating box 41 , which has a standardized device arrangement , because standardized devices are placed . however , the device arrangement of the devices disposed in the rear accommodating box 42 b differs from the device arrangement , shown in fig1 , in the previous embodiment in that a disconnector 27 , a dc current transformer 23 b , a rectifier box 25 , a dc arrestor 28 , and a main circuit a on the load side 70 are provided . furthermore , the main circuit a on the load side 70 is changed to an upper drawer . the devices accommodated in the front accommodating box 40 b also differs from the arrangement , shown in fig1 , in the previous arrangement ; control units 30 b and 30 c for the switchgear are attached to the back of the front door 31 , the control units 30 b and 30 c each comprising an auxiliary relay and control switch for the switchgear , lamps for status indication , a failure indicator , and the like . the front side of the front door 31 or the rear side of the control unit 30 b or 30 c has a switch , lamps , and a failure indicator . terminal blocks 20 d to 20 f at which electric cables are terminated are provided on an internal side surface of the front accommodating box 40 b ; the control unit 30 b is electrically connected through the terminal blocks 20 d to 20 f to the individual devices constituting the dc switchgear that are disposed in the dc circuit breaker accommodating box 41 and rear accommodating box 42 b . as in the embodiment in fig1 , the main devices accommodated in the dc circuit breaker accommodating box 41 , which is part of the dc switchgear in this embodiment , take a standardized device arrangement . in a specific example of a standardized arrangement of the devices disposed in the dc circuit breaker accommodating box 41 , the dc circuit breaker accommodating box 41 includes , as the device arrangement standardized for the dc circuit breaker accommodating box 41 in its inside : the main switch driving device 1 , which is movable and has the main switch 3 and commutating switch 2 , the non - linear resistor 9 and the saturable reactor 10 , which are disposed behind the main switch driving device 1 , the commutating capacitor 8 disposed above the non - linear resistor 9 , the control devices 4 to 7 disposed in front of the commutating capacitor 8 , the bus bar 13 disposed at the bottom on the rear side inside of the dc circuit breaker accommodating box 41 , the connection conductor 11 b connected to the bus bar 13 , the isolating points 14 a to 14 c connected to the main switch 3 , the commutating switch 2 , the bus bar 13 , and the connection conductors 11 a to 11 c , and the overcurrent detection relay 11 attached to the connection conductor 11 a , in which the main circuit current flows . as is understood from the above explanation , there is a difference in part of the product specifications between the dc switchgear , shown in fig2 , in this embodiment and the dc switchgear , shown in fig1 , in the previous embedment . the front accommodating box 40 b and rear accommodating box 42 b respectively disposed on the front and back of the dc circuit breaker accommodating box 41 having the standard device arrangement are removably connected to the dc circuit breaker accommodating box 41 having the standard device arrangement with connecting members 51 such as bolts and nuts , making it possible to attach them to the dc circuit breaker accommodating box 41 and remove them from the dc circuit breaker accommodating box 41 . fig2 shows a state in which the front accommodating box 40 b and rear accommodating box 42 b are separated from the dc circuit breaker accommodating box 41 , the arrangement of the devices in which is standardized . as described above , a structure is employed that enables the front accommodating box 40 b and rear accommodating box 42 b to be attached to the dc circuit breaker accommodating box 41 , the arrangement of the devices in which is standardized , and removed from the dc circuit breaker accommodating box 41 , so even when the specifications of the dc switchgear are changed after a product is delivered to a customer , the dc circuit breaker accommodating box 41 having the standardized device arrangement in it can be still diverted and used . in this embodiment as well , since the dc circuit breaker accommodating box 41 having the standard device arrangement in it can continue to be used , so it is also possible to concurrently manufacture the three accommodating boxes constituting the dc switchgear , that is , the front accommodating box 40 b and rear accommodating box 42 b that accommodates devices other than in the above standardized device arrangement and the dc circuit breaker accommodating box 41 having the above standardized device arrangement , the efficiency of operations for designing and manufacturing the dc switchgear is increased . accordingly , labor hours and time taken to design and manufacture a dc switchgear can be reduced , and furthermore an inexpensive dc switchgear can be implemented . according to this embodiment of the present invention , it is possible to provide a dc switchgear having a commutation - type dc circuit breaker for which labor hours and time taken to design and manufacture a dc switchgear suitable for various applications and specifications can be reduced by standardizing the design of a dc circuit breaker accommodating box . the present invention can be applied to a dc switchgear and , more particularly , to a dc switchgear including a commutation - type dc circuit breaker .
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fig1 shows a perspective view of a modular document printing system which can advantageously employ the apparatus of the instant invention . the printing system 11 is shown to comprise a feeder module 13 , printing modules 15 , 17 and 19 and receiver module 21 which are coupled together to form an integrated high speed modular document printing system . each of the printing modules 15 , 17 and 19 , as will hereinafter be explained , can employ a document hole mask circuit for the different document sensors within each printing module . a more detailed description of the modular document printing system can be found in the previously referenced application entitled a modular high speed document printing system . fig2 shows a schematic of the modular document printing system of fig1 which includes the document feeder module 13 , printing modules 15 , 17 , 19 and the receiver module 21 . the dashed portion shows the document path 53 from the feeder module through each of the printing modules to the document receiver module . within the feeder module 13 is the system control 55 for controlling processing of documents by the printing system . also within the feeder module is a feed sensor 57 coupled to the system control 55 . the feed sensor could , for example , be a solid state detector which includes in a single housing a phototransistor and a light emitting diode . the diode and phototransistor are provided on the same side of the document path and are angularly related so that light from the diode would be reflected to the phototransistor when an article or document in the document path 53 passes the sensor 57 . the reflection of light to the phototransistor on the surface of the article results in a feed sensor pulse fs being propagated from feed sensor 57 to system control 55 . the feed sensor 57 could , however , be any type of sensor including a magnetic sensor depending upon the type of article or document which is being printed by the system . a document progressing from the feeder module 13 to the first printing module 15 passes lead edge sensor 59 and skip or black - spot sensor 61 . the lead edge sensor and the skip sensor are most advantageously of the optical type described for the feed sensor 57 . it is felt that one skilled in the art would be able to provide such a sensor which generates an output pulse whenever a document is passing beneath the sensor and does not provide an output pulse when no document is in the path of the sensor . thus it can be seen that if one or more apertures are present in a document in the path of the lead edge sensor 59 the output of the sensor will be low for the time it takes the aperture to pass completely past the sensor . the lead edge sensor 59 generates a lead edge sensor pulse which is supplied to the system control 53 as well as to the module control 70 of the first printing module 15 . the document hole mask circuit i receives the signal from the sensor 59 and processes it in a manner which will hereinafter be described before providing it to the system control 53 and the module control 70 . after the document passes the lead edge sensor 59 it encounters the document platen 63 , trip sensors 67 and the end stop 69 . the end stop 69 is selectively employed to arrest the movement of the document through the printing module 15 and position the document in a preselected manner on the surface of the platen 63 . the trip sensor 67 is similar to the lead edge sensor 59 in that it is an optical sensor and produces a high output when a document is passing beneath the sensor and a low output when there is no document or there is an aperture in the document beneath the trip sensor . printing module 17 receives a document from the printing module 15 and includes in the document path 53 another lead edge sensor 71 employed with document hole mask circuit i . the lead edge sensor 71 and hole mask circuit i cooperate to generate a pulse les2 which is supplied to both the system control 75 and the module control 80 of the printing module 17 whenever a document is passing beneath the sensor 71 . the printing module 17 further includes black spot sensor 73 , document printing platen 75 , trip sensor 77 , circuit 78 and end stop 79 . these elements function in the same manner as their complements in printing module 15 . printing module 19 receives documents from the printing module 17 and as are found in the printing modules 15 and 17 the module 19 includes a lead edge sensor 81 , document hole mask circuit i , black spot sensor 83 , platen 87 , trip sensor 89 , document hole mask circuit 91 and end stop 92 . more details on the functioning of the document printing platen , end stop and lead edge sensors and trip sensors can be found in the incorporated copending patent applications . fig3 exemplifies a type of document which could be printed by the modular high speed printing apparatus within which the instant hole mask circuit is employed . the document in fig3 will be recognized to be a conventional bank check 101 having a customer identification field 103 , account field 105 and a series of apertures 107 which in this case are located along the top edge of the document . assuming that a document such as 101 is presented to the first lead edge sensor 59 within document path 53 in such a manner that the apertures are within the scan area of the lead edge sensor 59 it can be seen that the signal from the lead edge sensor will contain at least three interruptions , or low values , within the scan of the document 101 . the hole mask circuit of the instant invention is capable of masking out these interruptions such that the lead edge sensor will produce a continuous output pulse for a complete scan of the document from its right hand edge to its left hand edge . fig4 shows an embodiment of the instant hole mask circuit which provides a simple and economical apparatus for masking out the presence of valid apertures in a document . the apparatus includes a lead 109 receiving the outputs from a document sensor and providing them through inverter 111 to or gate 113 . the other input to or gate 113 is the inverted output from a free running oscillator which for example , could be running at the rate of 10 khz . the or gate 113 functions as the trigger to one - shot 115 . the one - shot 115 has a selectable time constant which is controllable by the values of capacitor 117 and resistor 119 . in the example shown the values of the capacitor 117 , resistor 119 have been selected such that the one - shot will time out after five milliseconds ( ms ) and if the documents are being conveyed past the sensors at the speed of 100 inches per second , 5 ms will correspond to one - half inch of document movement and , therefore , a one - half inch aperture could pass by a document sensor without resulting in one - shot 115 timing out . the q output of one - shot 115 is les1 and corresponds to a high value representing the presence of a document beneath the associated document sensor . the q output is les1 and is a low value indicating that no document is currently within the associated document sensor . the les1 and les1 signals are provided as previously shown to the system control and the module controls . in operation of the device , the one - shot 115 will time out whenever the input on the trigger t is continuously high for the time constant of the one - shot . in the embodiment which has been described a pulse from a document lead edge sensor will go high when the light from the light emitting diode is reflected off the document and received by the phototransistor . this high value is inverted by inverter 111 to present a low to or gate 113 whenever a document is present within the associated document sensor . normally , the one - shot 115 will be retriggered every time the value of the oscillator goes high and will maintain q at a high output by continuously retriggering the one - shot before it times out . if , however , no document is present within the lead edge sensor the signal over lead 109 will be low and will be inverted by 111 to present the high or true value to or gate 113 for that period equal in duration to the period wherein no document is sensed by the lead edge sensor . if or gate 115 is held in a constant true state the one - shot will be inhibited from being retriggered by the oscillator and after 5 milliseconds will time out to thus generate a low output on q . it can be seen that if the output from the sensor over lead 109 is low because of the presence of an aperture in the document then the duration of the low value over lead 109 controls whether the one - shot 115 will time out . the operation of the instant whole mask circuit may best be understood when the timing diagram of fig5 is considered in conjunction with the sample document of 101 and its effect on the embodiment shown in fig4 . the document 101 is shown to include three apertures 107 . as has been previously explained whenever there is no document present within a lead edge sensor or when an aperture is present within a lead edge sensor the output from the lead edge sensor will be low and , conversely , whenever a document is present within the sensor the output from the lead edge sensor will be high . in fig5 the output from the lead edge sensor for the document shown in fig1 is graphically illustrated as waveform a . the output from the document sensor goes high concurrently with the presence of the document in the sensor . upon reaching the aperture 107 the output goes low for the period that it takes the aperture to pass the sensor . in the illustrated case assuming the aperture is 1 / 4 inch and the document is moving at 100 inches per second the output from the lead edge sensor will go low for 2 . 5 ms . after encountering the first aperture 107 the signal from the lead edge sensor goes back high until the second and then the third apertures 107 are encountered . waveform c exemplifies the output of the oscillator supplied as an input to or gate 113 and waveform b shows the inverted output from the lead edge sensor . waveform d shows that in the illustrated example the inverted output from the lead edge sensor is never continuously high for the time - out constant of the one - shot 115 and thus the oscillating input will continuously retrigger the one - shot such that a continuously high output is provided over les1 . since the period of the one - shot is 5 ms the output from les1 will be high for 5 ms longer than will be the output from the lead edge sensor . it should be understood that while the above description sets forth the use of a hole mask circuit in conjunction with a document lead edge sensor that it is intended that the hole mask circuit be employed whenever the presence of valid apertures is not to effect the output of the sensor . to summarize the operation of the disclosed hole mask circuit in general terms it can be seen that the apparatus receives an output from a document sensor and by incorporating a retriggerable device the circuit masks out any change in the value of the signal from the document sensor which is of a duration less than the time constant of the retriggerable device . thus , by selecting the appropriate time constant of the retriggerable device it is possible to process documents which contain valid apertures . the inclusion of this hole mask circuit within the previously mentioned modular high speed document processing system greatly adds to the flexibility of the system by inhibiting the erroneous generation of signals by the document sensors indicating that a document is not present therein . the foregoing description of a document hole mask circuit is intended to be explanatory of an apparatus for accommodating valid apertures in documents processed by a modular document processing system . it will be understood from the foregoing that various changes may be made in the preferred embodiment as illustrated herein and it is intended that the foregoing material be taken as illustrative only and not in a limiting sense . the scope of the invention is defined by the following claims .
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two human sperm proteins have recently been isolated , c19 and c23 , that appear to be lysozyme - c paralogues . these proteins are classified as lysozyme paralogues because of their high degree of conservation of critical amino acids found in other lysozyme - c &# 39 ; s . however , they differ significantly from the known human lysozyme - c in nucleic acid and amino acid sequence , and their genes are located on different chromosomes . the new proteins c19 and c23 are approximately 15 kda with pi &# 39 ; s of 5 . 2 and 5 . 9 , respectively . they possess sequence homology to the known human lysozyme - c ; however , c19 and c23 are located on chromosome 17 and the x - chromosome , respectively , and thus these two genes represent new human lysozyme - like genes . the nucleic acid sequence and the deduced amino acid sequence of c19 are represented by seq id no : 1 and seq id no : 3 , respectively , and nucleic acid sequence and the deduced amino acid sequence of c23 are represented by seq id no : 2 and seq id no : 4 , respectively . c19 and c23 each contain a signal peptide . the initial c19 polypeptide is synthesized as a 215 amino acid polypeptide ( seq id no : 2 ) having a mw of 23 . 4 kda and a pi of 8 . 0 . the mature c19 peptide is 128 amino acids ( seq id no : 8 ) and has a mw of about 14 . 6 kda and pi of 5 . 0 . the initial c23 polypeptide is synthesized as a 159 amino acid polypeptide ( seq id no : 4 ) having a mw of 17 . 9 kda and a pi of 5 . 9 . the mature c23 peptide is 138 amino acids ( seq id no : 9 ) and has a mw of about 15 . 7 kda and pi of 5 . 9 . c19 and c23 have 48 . 8 % sequence identity between one another and have 52 % and 44 % amino - acid sequence identity with the one known mature human lysozyme c , respectively , and 44 % and 43 % amino - acid sequence identity with the predicted lysozyrne homologue on chromosome 17q11 . 2 . c19 is most closely related to human lysozyme ( 52 % sequence identity ), whereas c23 is most closely related to chicken lysozyme ( 51 % sequence identity ). the gene encoding c19 is located on chromosome 17 and is 6012 bp in length . the c19 gene contains 5 exons ( 109 , 309 , 159 , 79 and 164 bp , respectively ) and 4 introns ( 3436 , 1125 , 443 and 188 bp , respectively ). the gene encoding c23 is located on chromosome xp11 . 1 and is 1950 bp in length . the c23 gene contains 4 exons ( 169 , 159 , 79 and 181 bp , respectively ) and 3 introns ( 428 , 830 , and 104 bp , respectively ). interestingly , exons 3 and 4 of c19 have a sequence identity with exons 2 and 3 of c23 greater than the overall sequence identity between the two complete proteins ( i . e . greater than 48 . 8 %) and exons 3 and 4 of c19 are identical in size to exons 2 and 3 of c23 , respectively . the expression of c19 and c23 is limited to the testes ( see fig1 ). to further characterize the expression of c19 and c23 , antibodies were generated against c19 and c23 . those antibodies are specific for the target peptide and do not cross react with each other &# 39 ; s repective lysozyme - like protein . c19 immunofluorescence and c19 and c23 em localization experiments demonstrate that expression of the c19 and c23 proteins is localized in the sperm acrosome . recombinant c19 and c23 have been expressed in e . coli and in yeast . the proteins expressed in yeast were produced in a form that is secreted into the medium , and c19 was purified from the media and used in an assay to test for lysozyme activity . secretion of the putatively processed forms of c19 and c23 ( c23 was in crude form ) as soluble proteins from pichia pastoris revealed no lysozyme activity for c19 and c23 using micrococcus lysodeikticus as the lysozyme substrate . in particular , micrococcus lysodeikticus was grown to confluence on a petri plate and the cells were contacted with 330 u of human lysozyme c ( as a positive control ), a reagent blank ( as a negative control ) and 1650 u of the purified soluble c19 protein ( yrc19 ). lysozyme activity was observed in the human lysozyme c portion ( the positive control ) as indicated by a zone of clearance about the introduce sample , but no activity was detected for yrc19 . although these compounds fail to exhibit lysozyme activity in the present assay , these compounds may still exhibit antibacterial / antiviral activity through an unknown mechanism . of all known lysozyme - c sequences (& gt ; 75 ), 20 amino acid residues are invariant ( see fig2 and 3 ). c19 contains all but two of those invariable amino acids ( e35t , y54n ). the amino acid 35 - e is considered a critical amino acid for catalytic function ( i . e . cleaving the polysaccharide bond between n - actetylglucosamine and n - acetylmuramic acid ). c23 contains all but one ( d53e ) of the 20 conserved amino acids . the amino acid 53 - d is considered a critical amino acid for catalytic function ; however , g - type lysozymes do not have a d in the corresponding position . homologous genes of c19 and c23 have also been isolated by applicants from other mammalian species ( for example , mice ), that contain similar mutations in the catalytic - residues of these genes . in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention , modified versions of the c19 and c23 proteins are provided wherein the 35 - t of c19 is converted to 35 - e ( seq id no : 5 ) and the 53 - e of c23 is converted to 53 - d ( seq id no : 6 ). it is anticipated that when these single amino acid substitutions are made in each lysozyme - like protein , the modified proteins will exhibit lysozyme activity and thus can be used as alternative compounds in all applications currently utilizing known human lysozyme - c . furthermore , in one embodiment a modified version of c19 is prepared wherein the 35 - t is converted to 35 - e and 54 - n is converted to 54 - y ( seq id no : 7 ). this modified version of c19 is also expected to have lysozyme activity . the c19 and c23 native polypeptides when modified to have lysozyme activity can be used in any of the applications described in u . s . pat . nos . 4 , 945 , 051 , 5 , 585 , 257 , 5 , 618 , 712 and wo 9924589 ( de19749973 ), the disclosures of which are expressly incorporated herein . the novel lysozymes of the present invention can also be used as the active agent in antibacterial wound dressings , dental plaque preventing formulations , anti - inflammatory throat lozenges , anti - acne compositions , sprays for controlling dry mouth condition and as food additives to prevent spoilage . it has also been reported that lysozyme may be effective against hiv ( lee - huang . s ., pnas 96 : 2678 , 1999 ). in one embodiment , a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of seq id no : 8 , seq id no : 9 , seq id no : 10 , and seq id no : 11 is used as the active agent in an antibacterial and antiviral composition . in one preferred embodiment , a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence of seq id no : 10 or seq id no : 11 is used as an antibacterial and antiviral agent . the lysozyme proteins of the present invention can also be combined with standard antibacterial and antiviral agents to enhance the efficacy of those agents . in accordance with one embodiment , a composition comprising an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of seq id no : 8 , seq id no : 9 , seq id no : 10 , and seq id no : 11 is used as an antibacterial / antiviral additives to intravaginal gels or foams to reduce the risk of sexually transmitted diseases . in another embodiment , compositions comprising the native c19 or c23 polypeptides or fragments thereof are used as contraceptive agents . in particular , the unmodified c19 and c23 proteins are anticipated to have sperm specific functions that can be the basis of a contraceptive vaccine , designed to prevent capacitation / fertilization . for example in accordance with one embodiment the c19 or c23 polypeptides or fragments thereof , are used as components of a contraceptive vaccine . in one aspect of the invention , c19 and c23 polypeptides ( either separately or in combination ) are delivered to a subject to elicit an active immune response . the vaccine acts as a temporary and reversible antagonist of the function of the egg surface proteins of the invention . for example , such vaccines could be used for active immunization of a subject , to raise an antibody response to temporarily block the sperm &# 39 ; s access to the egg - plasma antigen . in one aspect of the invention , an antigen could be administered at a certain period of the month , for example during ovulation of a female subject to block fertilization . in another aspect of the invention , c19 and c23 polypeptides ( either separately or in combination ) are used as vaccines for permanent sterilization of a subject . such vaccines can be used to elicit a t - cell mediated attack on the eggs , having an othoritic effect , useful as a method for irreversible sterilization . methods for generating t - cell specific responses , such as adoptive immunotherapy , are well known in the art ( see , for example , vaccine design , michael f . powell and mark j . newman eds ., plenum press , new york , 1995 , pp 847 - 867 ). such techniques may be particular useful for vetinary contraceptive or sterilization purposes , where a single dose vaccination may be desirable . in one embodiment , the present invention is directed to a purified polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence of seq id no : 2 , or an amino acid sequence that differs from seq id no : 2 by one or more conservative amino acid substitutions . more preferably , the purified polypeptide comprises an amino acid sequence that differs from seq id no : 2 by 10 or less conservative amino acid substitutions . alternatively , the polypeptide may comprise an amino acid sequence that differs from seq id no : 2 by 1 to 3 alterations , wherein the alterations are independently selected from a single amino acid deletion , insertion or substitution . alternatively , one embodiment of the present invention is directed to a purified polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence of seq id no : 4 , or an amino acid sequence that differs from seq id no : 4 by one or more conservative amino acid substitutions . more preferably , the purified polypeptide comprises an amino acid sequence that differs from seq id no : 4 by 10 or less conservative amino acid substitutions . alternatively , the polypeptide may comprise an amino acid sequence that differs from seq id no : 4 by 1 to 3 alterations , wherein the alterations are independently selected from a single amino acid deletion , insertion or substitution . another embodiment of the present invention encompasses polypeptides comprising an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of seq id no : 5 , seq id no : 6 , seq id no : 7 , seq id no : 8 , seq id no : 9 and amino acid sequences that differs from seq id no : 5 , seq id no : 6 , seq id no : 7 , seq id no : 8 or seq id no : 9 by 10 or less conservative amino acid substitutions . the present invention also encompasses fragments of seq id no : 2 and seq id no : 4 , wherein the peptide fragment is at least ten amino acids in length and comprises ten contiguous amino acids that are identical in sequence to an ten contiguous amino portion of seq id no : 2 or seq id no : 4 . in one embodiment , the present invention provides methods of screening for agents , small molecules , or proteins that interact with polypeptides of seq id no : 2 or seq id no : 4 . the invention encompasses both in vivo and in vitro assays to screen small molecules , compounds , recombinant proteins , peptides , nucleic acids , antibodies etc . which bind to or modulate the activity of c19 or c23 and are thus useful as therapeutics or diagnostic markers for fertility . for example , the c19 or c23 polypeptide , or a bioactive fragment thereof , can be used to isolate ligands that bind to the respective native polypeptide under physiological conditions . the method comprises the steps of contacting the c19 or c23 polypeptide with a mixture of compounds under physiological conditions , removing unbound and non - specifically bound material , and isolating the compounds that remain bound to the c19 or c23 polypeptide . typically , the c19 or c23 polypeptide will be bound to a solid support using standard techniques to allow rapid screening compounds . the solid support can be selected from any surface that has been used to immobilize biological compounds and includes but is not limited to polystyrene , agarose , silica or nitrocellulose . in one embodiment the solid surface comprises functionalized silica or agarose beads . screening for such compounds can be accomplished using libraries of pharmaceutical agents and standard techniques known to the skilled practitioner . in accordance with one embodiment the c19 and c28 polypeptides and peptide fragments are used to isolate oocyte proteins that bind to c19 and c28 . the procedures for recovering oocyte proteins and screening for ligands that bind to c19 and c23 are well known to those skilled in the art . in one embodiment the c19 or c23 polypeptide is immobilized to a solid support and the proteins are contacted with a solution / suspension of oocyte proteins under conditions that allow binding . unbound and non - specific bound materials are then washed from the solid support and the remaining bound materials are recovered and analyzed ( by microsequencing , for example ). microsequencing of the recovered proteins will allow for the design of nucleic acid probes and primers for the identification and cloning of the corresponding genes that encode the recovered proteins . the present invention also encompasses nucleic acid sequences that encode the c19 and c23 polypeptides , and bioactive fragments and derivatives thereof . in particular the present invention is directed to nucleic acid sequences comprising the sequence of seq id no : 1 , or seq id no : 3 , or fragments thereof . in one embodiment , purified nucleic acids comprising at least 20 contiguous nucleotides ( i . e ., a hybridizable portion ) that are identical to any 20 contiguous nucleotides of seq id no : 1 or seq id no : 3 are provided . in other embodiments , the nucleic acids comprises at least 25 ( contiguous ) nucleotides , 50 nucleotides , 100 nucleotides , or 200 nucleotides of seq id no : 1 or seq id no : 3 . one embodiment of the present invention includes nucleic acids that hybridize ( under conditions defined herein ) to all or a portion of the nucleotide sequence represented by seq id no : 1 or its complement . alternatively , the present invention also includes nucleic acids that hybridize ( under conditions defined herein ) to all or a portion of the nucleotide sequence represented by seq id no : 3 or its complement . the hybridizing portion of the hybridizing nucleic acids is typically at least 15 ( e . g ., 20 , 25 , 30 , or 50 ) nucleotides in length . hybridizing nucleic acids of the type described herein can be used , for example , as a cloning probe , a primer ( e . g ., a pcr primer ), or a diagnostic probe . the dna sequence of seq id no : 1 , seq id no : 3 , or fragments thereof , can be used as probes to detect homologous genes from other vertebrate species . nucleic acid duplex or hybrid stability is expressed as the melting temperature or tm , which is the temperature at which a nucleic acid duplex dissociates into its component single stranded dnas . this melting temperature is used to define the required stringency conditions . typically a 1 % mismatch results in a 1 ° c . decrease in the tm , and the temperature of the final wash in the hybridization reaction is reduced accordingly ( for example , if two sequences having & gt ; 95 % identity , the final wash temperature is decreased from the tm by 5 ° c .). in practice , the change in tm can be between 0 . 5 ° c . and 1 . 5 ° c . per 1 % mismatch . the present invention is directed to the nucleic acid sequence of seq id no : 1 and seq id no : 3 , and nucleic acid sequences that hybridize to - those sequences ( or fragments thereof ) under stringent or highly stringent conditions . in accordance with the present invention highly stringent conditions are defined as conducting the hybridization and wash conditions at no lower than − 5 ° c . tm . stringent conditions are defined as involve hybridizing at 68 ° c . in 5 × ssc / 5 × denhardt &# 39 ; s solution / 1 . 0 % sds , and washing in 0 . 2 × ssc / 0 . 1 % sds at 68 ° c . moderately stringent conditions include hybridizing at 68 ° c . in 5 × ssc / 5 × denhardt &# 39 ; s solution / 1 . 0 % sds and washing in 3 × ssc / 0 . 1 % sds at 42 ° c . additional guidance regarding such conditions is readily available in the art , for example , by sambrook et al ., 1989 , molecular cloning , a laboratory manual , cold spring harbor press , n . y . ; and ausubel et al . ( eds . ), 1995 , current protocols in molecular biology , ( john wiley & amp ; sons , n . y .) at unit 2 . 10 . in another embodiment of the present invention , nucleic acid sequences encoding the c19 or c23 polypeptides can be inserted into expression vectors and used to transfect cells to enhance the expression of those proteins on the target cells . in accordance with one embodiment , nucleic acid sequences encoding c19 or c23 , or a fragment or a derivative thereof , are inserted into a eukaryotic expression vector in a manner that operably links the gene sequences to the appropriate regulatory sequences , and recombinant c19 or recombinant c23 is expressed in a eukaryotic host cell . suitable eukaryotic host cells and vectors are known to those skilled in the art . in particular , nucleic acid sequences encoding c19 or c23 may be added to a cell or cells in vitro or in vivo using delivery mechanisms such as liposomes , viral based vectors , or microinjection . accordingly , one aspect of the present invention is directed to transgenic cell lines that contain recombinant genes that express c19 or c23 . the present invention also encompasses antibodies , including anti - idiotypic antibodies , antagonists and agonists , as well as compounds or nucleotide constructs that inhibit expression of the c19 and c23 genes ( transcription factor inhibitors , antisense and ribozyme molecules , or gene or regulatory sequence replacement constructs ), or promote expression of c19 and c23 ( e . g ., expression constructs in which c19 or c23 coding sequences are operatively associated with expression control elements such as promoters , promoter / enhancers , etc .). antagonists of c19 and / or c23 function can - be used to interfere with the capacitation of vertebrate sperm and fertilization of an ovum , and thus used as contraceptive agents . furthermore , antibodies against the c19 or c23 protein can be used for the diagnosis of conditions or diseases characterized by expression or overexpression of c19 or c23 , or in assays to monitor patients being treated with c19 or c23 agonists , antagonists or inhibitors . in accordance with one embodiment , antibodies are provided that specifically bind to c19 or c23 . in particular , a c19 or c23 polypeptide , fragments thereof , or other derivatives , or analogs thereof , may be used as an immunogen to generate antibodies - which immunospecifically bind such an immunogen . in accordance with one embodiment of the preset invention an antigenic compound is provided for generating antibodies , wherein the compound comprises an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of seq id no : 2 , seq id no : 4 , seq id no : 5 , seq id no : 6 , seq id no : 7 , seq id no : 8 and seq id no : 9 . the antibodies generated can be formulated with standard carriers and optionally labeled to prepare therapeutic or diagnostic compositions . antibodies to c19 or c23 may be generated using methods that are well known in the art . in one embodiment , rabbit polyclonal antibodies to an epitope of c19 or c23 , is obtained . for the production of antibody , various host animals , including but not limited to rabbits , mice , rats , etc can be immunized by injection with a c19 or c23 peptide . various adjuvants may be used to increase the immunological response , depending on the host species , and including but not limited to freund &# 39 ; s ( complete and incomplete ), mineral gels such as aluminum hydroxide , surface active substances such as lysolecithin , pluronic polyols , polyanions , peptides , oil emulsions , keyhole limpet hemocyanins , dinitrophenol , and potentially useful human adjuvants such as bcg ( bacille calmette - guerin ) and corynebacterium parvum . for preparation of monoclonal antibodies directed toward an egg surface protein sequence or analog thereof , any technique which provides for the production of antibody molecules by continuous cell lines in culture may be used . for example , the hybridoma technique originally developed by kohler and milstein ( 1975 , nature 256 : 495 - 497 ), as well as the trioma technique , the human b - cell hybridoma technique ( kozbor et al ., 1983 , immunology today 4 : 72 ), and the ebv - hybridoma technique to produce human monoclonal antibodies ( cole et al ., 1985 , in motctonal antibodies and cancer therapy , alan r . liss , inc ., pp . 77 - 96 ). in an additional embodiment of the invention , monoclonal antibodies can be produced in germ - free animals utilizing recent technology ( pct / us90 / 02545 ). according to the invention , human antibodies may be used and can be obtained by using human hybridomas ( cote et al ., 1983 , proc . natl . acad . sci . u . s . a . 80 : 2026 - 2030 ) or by transforming human b cells with ebv virus in vitro ( cole et al ., 1985 , in monoclonal antibodies and cancer therapy , alan r . liss , pp . 77 - 96 ). in fact , according to the invention , techniques developed for the production of “ chimeric antibodies ” ( morrison et al ., 1984 , proc . natl . acad . sci . u . s . a . 81 : 6851 - 6855 ; neuberger et al ., 1984 , nature 312 : 604 - 608 ; takeda et al ., 1985 , nature 314 : 452 - 454 ) by splicing the genes from a mouse antibody molecule specific for epitopes of c19 or c23 together with genes from a human antibody molecule of appropriate biological activity can be used ; such antibodies are within the scope of this invention . according to the invention , techniques described for the production of single chain antibodies ( u . s . pat . no . 4 , 946 , 778 ) can be adapted to produce egg surface protein - specific single chain antibodies . an additional embodiment of the invention utilizes the techniques described for the construction of fab expression libraries ( huse et al ., 1989 , science 246 : 1275 - 1281 ) to allow rapid and easy identification of monoclonal fab fragments with the desired specificity for egg surface proteins , derivatives , or analogs . antibody fragments which contain the idiotype of the molecule can be generated by known techniques . for example , such fragments include but are not limited to : the f ( ab ′) 2 fragment which can be produced by pepsin digestion of the antibody molecule ; the fab ′ fragments which can be generated by reducing the disulfide bridges of the f ( ab ′) 2 fragment , the fab fragments which can be generated by treating the antibody molecule with papain and a reducing agent , and fv fragments . in the production of antibodies , screening for the desired antibody can be accomplished by techniques known in the art , e . g . elisa ( enzyme - linked immunosorbent assay ). the foregoing antibodies can be used in methods known in the art relating to the localization and activity of the c19 or c23 proteins of the invention , e . g ., for imaging these proteins , measuring levels thereof in appropriate physiological samples , in diagnostic methods , etc . antibodies generated in accordance with the present invention may include , but are not limited to , polyclonal , monoclonal , chimeric ( i . e “ humanized ” antibodies ), single chain ( recombinant ), fab fragments , and fragments produced by a fab expression library . these antibodies can be used as diagnostic agents for the diagnosis of conditions or diseases characterized by expression or overexpression of c19 or c23 , or in assays to monitor patients being treated with c19 or c23 receptor agonists , antagonists or inhibitors . the antibodies useful for diagnostic purposes may be prepared in the same manner as those described above for therapeutics . the antibodies may be used with or without modification , and may be labeled by joining them , either covalently or non - covalently , with a reporter molecule . in accordance with one embodiment an antibody is provided that specifically binds to a polypeptide selected from the group consisting of seq id no : 2 , seq id no : 4 , seq id no : 5 , seq id no : 6 , seq id no : 7 , seq id no : 8 and seq id no : 9 . in one preferred embodiment the antibody is a monoclonal antibody . in one embodiment antibodies against the c19 and / or c23 proteins are used as contraceptive agents that prevent the binding of sperm cells to eggs . an experiment was conducted to determine if the antibodies against c19 and c23 could interfere human sperm &# 39 ; s ability to bind to eggs ( see example 2 ). the assay was conducted in vitro using human sperm and hamster eggs . c19 and c23 are on the acrosome membrane and are only exposed upon permeablization of the acrosome . only approximately ⅓ of sperm undergo acrosome reaction in vitro . as seen in example 2 , antibodies against c19 significantly interfered with sperm cells ability to bind to hamster eggs while no effect was observed for the antibody generated against c23 . these results suggest that a unique receptor for the c19 protein may exist on mammalian eggs , and this receptor itself could serve as a target for contraceptive agents . the present invention also encompasses compositions that can be placed in contact with sperm cells to inhibit the function of the c19 and c23 protein ( i . e . either by inhibiting the expression of the c19 and c23 proteins or by interfering with the protein &# 39 ; s function ). in particular the compositions may comprise peptide fragments of c19 or c23 , or analogs thereof that arataken up by the sperm cells and compete for binding with c19 and c23 &# 39 ; s natural ligands . such inhibitory peptides can be modified to include fatty acid side chains to assist the peptides in penetrating the sperm cell membrane . compositions comprising a c19 or c23 inhibitory agent can be used to modulate fertility of an individual , and in one embodiment , the inhibitory agents function as a male contraceptive pharmaceutical . in accordance with one embodiment a composition is provided that comprises an eight to fifteen amino acid sequence that is identical to an eight to fifteen contiguous amino acid sequence of seq id no : 2 or seq id no : 4 and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier . preparation of semen specimens and solubilization of sperm proteins were performed as previously described ( naaby - hansen et al , 1997a .) for analytical two - dimensional electrophoresis the detergent / urea extracted proteins were separated by isoelectric focusing ( ief ) in acrylamide tube gels prior to second dimensional gel electrophoresis ( sds - page ), which was performed in a protean ii xi multi - cell apparatus ( bio - rad , richmond , calif .) or on large format ( 23 × 23 cm ) gels ( investigator 2 - d electrophoresis system , esa ) which were also employed for preparative 2d gel electrophoresis . electrotransfer to nitrocellulose membranes and subsequent visualizing of the proteins by gold staining was accomplished as previously described ( naaby - hansen et al , 1997 ) while electrotransfer to pvdf membranes ( 0 . 2 mm pore size , pierce ) was carried out as described by henzel et al . ( 1993 ) using the transfer buffer composition of matsudaira ( 1987 ) ( 10 mm 3 -[ cyclohexylamino ]- 1 - propanesulfonic acid , 10 % methanol , ph 11 ). the immobilized proteins were visualized by staining in a solution containing 0 . 1 % commassie r250 , 40 % methanol and 0 . 1 % acetic acid for one minute , followed by destaining in a solution of 10 % acetic acid and 50 % methanol for 3 × 3 minutes . the 86 kda coomassie - stained protein spot was cored from three 1 . 5 mm thick 2 - d sds - page gels of human sperm extracts . the gel cylinders were minced into a slurry in 1 ml of pbs and emulsified with an equal volume of complete freunds adjuvant . six hundred ul of this emulsion was intradermally injected into a new zealand white rabbit , followed by two monthly subcutaneous booster injections of similarly - prepared antigen with incomplete freunds adjuvant . serum was collected 10 days after each booster injection . the c19 and c23 stained protein spots were cored from a 1 . 5 mm thick 2d sds - polyacrylamide gel and fragmented into smaller pieces . the proteins were destained in methanol , reduced in 10 mm dithiothreitol and alkylated in 50 mm iodoacetamide in 0 . 1 m ammonium bicarbonate . after removing the reagents , the gel pieces were incubated with 12 . 5 ng / ml trypsin in 50 mm ammonium bicarbonate overnight at 37 ° c . peptides were extracted from the gel pieces in 50 % acetonitrile in 5 % formic bcid and microsequenced by tandem mass spectrometry and by edman degradation at the biomolecular research facility of the university of virginia . differentiation of leucine and isoleucine in the sequences were determined by edman sequencing of hplc isolated peptides . a degenerate deoxyinosine containing primers were used to isolate the c19 and c23 cdna clones based on the microsequencing data and using pcr technology . a northern blot containing 2 mg of poly ( a ) + rna from eight selected human tissues was obtained from clontech . the northern blot was probed with a 32 p - labeled c19 cdna ( fig1 a ) or 32 p - labeled c23 cdna ( fig1 b ). probes were prepared by random oligonucleotide prime labeling ( feinberg and vogelstein , 1983 ). hybridization was performed in expresshyb solution ( clontech ) at 68 ° c . for 1 h followed by three washes in 2 × ssc , 0 . 05 % sds at room temperature and two washes in 0 . 1 × ssc , 0 . 1 % sds for 20 min at 50 ° c . a normalized rna dot blot containing 89 to 514 ng of mrna from 50 different human tissues was obtained from clontech and probed with 32 p - labeled c19 cdna or 32 p - labeled c23 cdna . the normalized ( 100 - 500 ng ) poly -( a )+ mrnas present on the grid were isolated from various tissue sources including : whole brain , amygdala , caudate nucleus , cerebellum , cerebral cortex , frontal lobe , hippocampus , medulla oblongata , occipitallobe , putamen , substantia nigra , temporal lobe , thalamus , subthalmic nucleus , spinal chord , heart , aorta , skeletal muscle , colon , bladder , uterus , prostate , stomach , testis , ovary , pancreas , pituitary gland , adrenal gland , thyroid gland , salivary gland , mammary gland , kidney , liver , small intestine , spleen , thymus , peripheral leukocyte , lymph node , bone marrow , appendix , lung , trachea , placenta , fetal brain , fetal heart , fetal kidney , fetal liver , fetal spleen , fetal thymus , fetal lung , and 100 ng total yeast rna , 100 ng yeast trna , 100 ng e . coli rrna , 100 ng e . coli dna , 100 ng poly r ( a ), 100 ng cot 1 human dna , 100 ng human dna , 500 ng human dna . the blot was hybridized in expresshyb solution ( clontech ) containing salmon sperm dna and human placental cot - 1 dna overnight at 65 ° c . the blot was then washed three times in 2 × ssc , 1 % sds at 65 ° c . followed by two additional washes in 0 . 1 × ssc , 0 . 5 % sds at 55 ° c . before exposing the filter to x - ray film . hybridization was only detected in the testis rna dot . motile sperm were harvested by the swim up method of bronson and fusi ( 1990 ). briefly , a 500 ml sperm sample underlaid in 2 ml of bww media containing 5 mg / ml hsa . sperm were allowed to swim up for 1 . 5 - 2 h . swimup sperm were collected and 8 ml of bww + 5 mg / ml hsa was added . the composition was spin at 600 × g for 8 min at rt , the supernatant was removed and 8 ml of media was added to the pellet . the resuspended pellet was spun at 600 × g for 8 min at rt . the supernatant was removed and 50 ml of bww containing 30 mg / ml hsa was added to the pellet . total sperm cells were counted and then incubated overnight in bww + 30 mg / ml hsa at a concentration of 20 × 10 6 sperm / ml . female hamsters received i . p . injections of 30 iu pmsg followed by 30 iu of hcg 72 h later . 14 - 16 h following hcg injection , hamsters were sacrificed and oviducts are collected in bww media containing 5 mg / ml hsa . cumulus cells were removed with 1 mg / ml hyaluronidase , the eggs were washed and zona pellucidae removed with 1 mg / ml trypsin . the eggs were then thoroughly washed and allowed to rest in the incubator . sperm was diluted to 20 × 10 6 sperm / ml and incubated with appropriate dilutions of pre - immune or immune sera ( initially a 1 : 10 and 1 : 50 dilution of sera is tested ) in paraffin oil covered microdrops for 1 h . hamster eggs were added to the drops containing the sperm + antibody . the gametes were then co - incubated for 3 h . eggs were washed free of unbound and loosely bound sperm by serial passage through 5 ( 50 ml ) wash drops . the same pipet is used for all eggs washed in an individual experiment . eggs are then stained by short - term ( 5 - 15 s ) exposure to 1 mm acridine orange - 3 % dmso in bsa / bww ( 30 mg / ml ), washed through 4 ( 50 ml ) wash drops and mounted under 22 × 22 mm coverslips . under uv illumination , unexpanded head s of oolemma - adherant sperm were counted and sperm that had penetrated the ooplasm exhibited expanded green heads . all experiments were repeated 3 times
| 2 |
certain terminology is used in the following description for convenience only and is not limiting . the words “ right ”, “ left ”, “ top ”, “ bottom ”, “ front ”, and “ back ” designate directions in the drawings to which reference is made . the words “ inwardly ” and “ outwardly ” refer to directions toward and away from , respectively , the geometric center of the pet crate and designated parts thereof . the words “ a ” and “ one ”, as used in the claims and in the corresponding portion of the specification , are defined as including one or more of the referenced item unless specifically stated otherwise . this terminology includes the words specifically noted above , derivatives thereof and words of similar import . referring now to fig1 - 25 , wherein like numerals indicate like elements throughout , a preferred embodiment of a foldable pet crate 10 is shown . the pet crate 10 includes a base 12 , left side 20 , right side 22 , front door 40 , split rear wall 60 and top panel 80 . the base has left , right , front and back base walls , and a bottom panel . these components and their assembly to form the foldable pet crate 10 are described in detail below along with the method for transitioning the pet crate from an assembled to a folded position . referring to fig1 - 3 , 9 , 10 , 14 and 15 , the base 12 is shown in detail . the base 12 preferably includes a bottom panel 13 side walls 14 , 15 , a front wall 16 with two latch mounting recesses 17 , and a back wall 18 . the corners of the base 12 are rounded to prevent damage to items the crate may be rested on , such as flooring or a car seat . wheel recesses 19 are provided in which wheels 11 , shown in fig6 , are detachably mounted . the base 12 is preferably formed as a blow molded polymeric component in a single piece having an inner skin and an outer skin with reinforcements being provided by projections and recesses on the bottom thereof , as shown in detail in fig1 . as shown in fig1 , preferably the inner surface of the base 12 is smooth to allow for easy clean - ups . the side walls 14 , 15 , front wall 16 and back wall 18 help to contain spills or pet accidents . while the preferred material is polypropylene , those skilled in the art will recognize that other suitable polymeric materials and possibly other materials may be used to form the base 12 . referring to fig1 - 4 , 6 , 10 , 16 and 17 , the left and right sides 20 , 22 are shown . the left and right sides 20 , 22 each include a polymeric frame member 23 , 24 respectively , in which a respective air - permeable grate 25 , 26 is pivotably mounted . the grates 25 , 26 are preferably a metal grates , but also may be a metal mesh , a fabric screen , or a flat panel with holes formed therein . latches 27 are provided at the rear edge of the left side 20 and at the front edge of the right side 22 to hold the pivoting grates 25 , 26 in a closed - position . the grates 25 , 26 form doors for ingress and egress from the crate 10 . the front edge of the left side grate 25 is preferably , pivotably mounted to the front of the frame 23 using clips 28 , see fig6 for the left side , and a rear edge of the grate 26 for the right side 22 is pivotably mounted to the rear edge of the frame 24 also using clips 28 , as shown in fig4 . as will be more clearly recognized from fig1 - 3 , this provides two separate side doors for ingress and egress which is particularly useful when the center divider 95 is slid into channels formed in the top panel and the base , to split the main confine area in crate 10 into two separate confined areas . as shown in detail in fig1 and 17 , hinge lugs 30 are provided at the bottom of the frames 23 , 24 . the hinge lugs 30 are connected via brackets to the base 12 in order to allow the left side and right side panels to pivot down into the base 12 during a folding operation for placing the crate 10 into a folded position . additionally , as shown most clearly in fig1 and 16 , engagement protrusions 31 are provided along the front edges of the frames 23 , 24 for holding the front door 40 to prevent racking when the front door 40 is in the closed position , as described in more detail below . as shown in fig1 and 16 , projections 32 are also provided along the top edges of the frames 23 , 24 for engagement with the top panel 80 . preferably , the left side and right side frames 23 , 24 are made of blow molded single - piece polymeric material , such as polypropylene . those skilled in the art will recognize that other suitable polymeric materials may also be utilized . while the right side 24 has been shown in detail in fig1 and 17 , those skilled in the art will note that the left side 23 is generally a mirror image thereof , with the exception of the placement of the latch receiving recesses being switched from front to back and the hinge location for the grate 25 being moved to the front of the left side 23 . the pivotably attached grates 25 , 26 are preferably formed of welded steel and may be painted or coated with a polymeric or chromed material depending upon the particular application . alternatively , they may be made from stainless steel or any other suitable material . the latches 27 , shown in detail in fig2 , are preferably made of a polymeric material and are attached to the frames using mechanical fasteners , adhesive or any other suitable means . although the exploded view in fig1 shows the grates 25 , 26 located inside the respective frames 23 , 24 for illustrative purposes , they are in fact located on the outside of the frames 23 , 24 and pivot outwardly to open . the latches 27 hold the grates 25 , 26 in the closed position by trapping the free ends of the grates 25 , 26 opposite the pivotal attachment between the recessed portion of the frames 23 , 24 and the extended latch tongue 28 . it is noted that the width of the frames 23 , 24 is less than a distance between the front wall 16 and rear wall 18 of the base 12 so that both the left side 20 and the right side 22 can be pivoted downwardly about the hinges 30 into a folded position on top of the bottom panel 13 of the base 12 . a catch 66 shown in fig1 for the right side 22 , and shown in detail in fig2 a , is used to hold the split rear wall 60 in the open position . the catch 66 is pivotably connected to the back of both the left and right sides 20 , 22 . for the left side 20 , the catch 66 would be similarly mounted in the opposing position to the right side 22 . the catch 66 can be a simple hook or a flexible catch and can have either a smooth or ribbed surface , and holds the split back panel 60 in the opened configuration against the back edges of the left and right sides 20 , 22 . as shown in fig2 a , the preferred catch 66 is preferably a c - shaped hook with a smooth inner surface . an alternate catch is shown in fig2 b . referring to fig1 - 3 , 5 , 10 and 11 - 13 , the front door 40 of the crate 10 is comprised of the front frame 42 and a front grate 44 affixed thereto . the frame 42 preferably includes pivot pins 45 , 46 and slide rails 47 , 48 located on opposite sides thereof as shown in detail in fig1 - 13 . the pivot pins 45 , 46 are pivotably held in tracks 50 , 51 mounted on the inner side of the top panel 80 along the left and right side edges thereof as described in detail below . the slides 47 , 48 are sized to fit between the protrusions 31 on the front edges of the left side frame 23 and right side frame 24 when the front door 40 is closed , as shown in fig1 and 2 . recesses 49 are provided at the bottom front edge of the front frame 42 which are engaged by latches 27 mounted on the front wall 16 of the base 12 in order to hold the front door 40 in a closed position . releasing the latches 27 allows the front door 40 to pivot open about the pivot pins 45 , 46 and then be slid inwardly via the slide rails 47 , 48 moving along the door tracks 50 , 51 into a stowed position under the top panel 80 , as shown in fig2 and 27 . in the preferred embodiment , the front door frame 42 is preferably made of blow molded polymeric material , such as polypropylene . those skilled in the art will recognize that other suitable polymeric materials may be utilized . as shown in detail in fig1 , preferably a recess 52 is provided for mounting the grate 44 into the frame 42 . as the grate 44 is fixed mounted preferably using mechanical fasteners or clips or the like , it is mounted from the inside of the front door frame 42 and thus the front door 40 presents an outward smooth flush appearance , which facilitates its sliding into the open , stowed position under the top panel 80 . the front door grate 44 is preferably made of a metallic material , and can be painted , polymeric coated , or chrome coated steel , or may be made of stainless steel or any other suitable material . referring now to fig3 , 8 and 10 , the foldable split rear wall 60 will be described in detail . the foldable split rear wall 60 includes a lower grate 62 and an upper grate 64 which are pivotably connected together along a medial portion by tubular clips 65 along the adjoining edges thereof . the bottom edge of the lower grate 62 is pivotably connected to the upper portion of the rear wall 18 of the base 12 using clips or brackets to allow pivoting movement of the lower grate 62 relative to the base 12 . the upper edge of the upper grate 64 is pivotably connected to the back edge of the top panel 80 , preferably using clips or brackets to allow pivoting movement of the upper grate 64 relative to the top panel 80 . preferably , the catches 66 or 66 ′ shown in fig1 and in greatly enlarged detail in fig2 a and 24 b , are pivotably mounted to the back edges of the left side frame 23 and right side frame 24 . these catches can be pivoted so that the center region of the rear wall 60 is hooked and held in position against the back edges of the left and right side frames 23 , 24 respectively . with the preferred catches 66 , the slot in the catch 66 , shown in fig2 a is large enough to engage the bottom wire of the upper grate 62 and the top wire of the bottom grate 64 . these catches 66 can also be pivoted upwardly in order to release their engagement with the horizontal bars used to form the upper and lower grates 62 , 64 in order to allow the rear wall 60 of the pet crate 10 to be folded in half to facilitate folding of the pet crate 10 , as discussed in further detail below . alternatively , the catches 66 ′ of fig2 b could be used . the upper and lower grates 62 , 64 are preferably formed of a metallic material and may be painted , polymeric coated or chrome coated steel , stainless steel or any other suitable material . the catches 66 are preferably formed of a polymeric material and preferably include teeth 67 to help engage and hold their position on the bars forming the grates 62 , 64 . referring now to fig1 , 2 , 7 , 10 and 18 - 21 , the top panel 80 is shown in detail . the top panel 80 includes a frame 82 having a door recess 83 in which a top hatch door 90 is located . as shown in fig1 , recesses 87 are provided along the bottom facing left and right sides of the top frame 82 which are complementary to the engagement projections 32 provided along the top edges of the left and right side frames 23 , 24 . the front door tracks 50 , 51 are preferably connected to the underside of the top frame 82 along the left and right sides and may be connected using mechanical fasteners , adhesives or any other suitable means . the handle 85 is preferably located along the right side edge of the top panel 80 opposite from the wheels 11 located on the base 12 . latches 86 are provided at each of the left and right sides of the top 80 . as shown in fig3 a and 34 b , the latches 86 may be moved between open and closed positions . the latches 86 are preferably over - center pivotable latches as shown in fig3 a and 34 b , or can be of any other suitable type , such as the latch assemblies 27 or other types of latches or catches for engaging or releasably holding two pieces together . the latches 86 engage protrusions at the top edges of the left and right sides 20 , 22 , respectively , as shown in fig3 a , and then are pivoted upwardly about a connecting link which also pivots to an over - center position to retain the top panel 80 in the assembled position . the top frame 82 is preferably a blow molded polymeric part and includes stiffening recesses located on the underside thereof as shown in fig1 . these provide a structure that is both lightweight and having high rigidity based on the formation of the frame 82 as a blow molded part . preferably , the top door 90 has hinge pins 91 and is pivotably mounted in the door recess 83 of the top frame 82 . a latch 27 is also mounted in a latch recess 88 in the top frame , shown in fig1 , opposite from the hinge side of the top door 90 to hold the top door 90 closed . preferably finger recesses are molded into the top frame 82 along the edge of the door recess 83 to allow for easier opening of the door 90 when the latch 27 is released . the door 90 is preferably a blow - molded polymeric part , and is shown in detail in fig2 and 21 . the hinge pins 91 are preferably integrally molded to the door 90 . stiffening recesses are preferably provided in the underside of the top door 90 and are clearly shown in fig2 . referring to fig2 , the latch assembly 27 is shown in detail , and includes a slide member 34 located in a tubular body 36 . a flexible catch 35 on the slide member 34 is normally biased outwardly , and extends through openings 37 or 38 in the body 36 . in the illustrated position , in which the latch assembly 27 would be closed , the flexible catch is in the first opening 37 . in order to open the latch assembly , the flexible catch 35 is pressed inwardly , and the slide member is moved back so that the flexible catch 35 passes under the frame piece between the openings 37 , 38 , and then springs elastically out to its normal position and catches in the second opening 38 . based on the arrangement of the flexible catch 35 with the fixed end being located to the right in fig2 , and the free end that acts as a catch being toward the left , the latch can be closed by just pushing the slide member 34 to the right , with the flexible catch 35 being automatically deflected by the frame piece as the slide member moves toward the right in fig2 , toward the illustrated closing position . referring now to fig2 - 33 , a series of views are shown of the crate 10 being broken down from the fully assembled position to the folded position . referring to fig2 , the pet crate 10 is shown with the front door 40 having been folded upwardly about the pivot pins 45 , 46 and being shown in the process of sliding inwardly along the left and right door tracks 50 , 51 . this is accomplished via releasing the latches 27 located along the front wall 16 of the base 12 which allows the front door 40 to initially pivot open . fig2 shows the front door 40 in the totally stowed position under the top panel 80 . after releasing the catches 66 and the top latches 86 , the top panel can now be pivoted upwardly about its back edge , and fig2 shows the top panel 80 pivoted up to a vertical position . fig2 shows the tope panel 80 and split rear wall 60 pivoted further back away from the left and right sides , and the right side 22 is being folded inwardly on top of the base 12 about the hinges 30 . fig3 shows the left side 20 being folded down on top of the base 12 while the user holds the top panel 80 off to the rear , while it is still connected to the base 12 via the split rear wall 60 . fig3 shows the split rear wall 60 having been now folded inwardly , so that the bottom edge of the top grate 64 and the top edge of the bottom grate 62 extend inwardly and the top grate 64 folds on top of the bottom grate 62 allowing the rear edge of the top panel 80 to be lowered against the top of the rear wall 18 of the base 12 . fig3 shows the top panel 80 now being folded downwardly on top of the base 12 in which the left and right sides 20 , 22 and the split rear wall 60 having already been folded into the recess created by the front and rear walls 16 , 18 of the base 12 . fig3 shows the crate 10 in the fully folded configuration . clamps , latches or straps may be provided to secure the crate 10 in this folded configuration , which may be separate from or incorporated into the base 12 or the top panel 80 . in this configuration , a user can grasp the handle 85 and roll the folded crate 10 via the wheels 11 located on the base 12 on the opposite side from the handle 85 . while the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail , it will be recognized by those skilled in the art from the present disclosure that changes may be made to the above described embodiment of the invention without departing from the broad inventive concept thereof . it is understood , therefore , that this invention covers all modifications are within the scope and spirit of the invention as defined by the appended claims and / or shown in the attached drawings .
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